Unlike a business card where the information can remain unchanged for years or decades, websites should be updated often, but for many people, websites are just a small, but necessary part of their business. While WordPress makes it easy for even the most un-tech savvy to manage and update business websites, there’s still a bit of a learning curve when learning how to use WordPress. Ready to get started managing your website? These are some of the best tools to learn about using WordPress for beginners.
Start with the WordPress Basics
If you don’t have a lot of IT experience, it’s a good idea to get started with the basics. WordPress vocabulary is used universally across web development so learning this early will also help you with any potential Shopify, SquareSpace, or Wix websites you may also want to work on. Ready for a deeper dive into WordPress Basics? WordPress offers a great overview broken down into sections allowing budding webmasters to get their info right from the source. YouTube also is filled with creators who offer tutorials including step-by-step WordPress videos for more visual learners. WordPress courses can be a great way to test your newfound knowledge and learn at your own pace.
Add Style with Themes
WordPress makes it easy to run an attractive and functional website no matter your skill level. The open-sourced platform means that anyone can write or distribute plugins and themes and this has led to a lot of innovation. WordPress themes can be found for cheap and can easily add the design and style continuity to create a beautiful and engaging website. Installing a WordPress theme can be done in just a few clicks and while most people use the built-in style options, these are also customizable using CSS. CSS is a web development language that’s used to add stylish flair to the HTML code that powers WordPress. CSS is a much more advanced skill, so it may be helpful to check out videos tailored to your skill level or videos created for non-techy folks.
Use Plugins for Performance
Plugins are packaged pieces of software that can easily be added to a website to add functionality. Plugins can do everything from creating photo galleries, optimizing files, inserting forms and many other things and are very easy to install. You can access the WordPress plugin marketplace right from inside your Admin panel and all plugins have how-to and needed information in their respective marketplace pages.
Show Off with SEO
SEO is how your site can be seen by more people on search engines like Google. SEO is a moving target and there will always be new ranking factors and techniques, but learning the basics of SEO helps to establish a good foundation. There are a lot of resources for learning SEO to help your site perform at the highest levels. Check out SEO gurus like Neil Patel, Matt Cutts, and Rand Fishkin for info, videos, and email newsletters that will keep you up-to-date on the latest trends and tricks in WordPress SEO. It’s also a good idea to use SEO plugins like Yoast or RankMath to help you monitor the performance of your site while easily adding schema markup and other SEO-boosting tools.
Learning WordPress is a great skill for business owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to create and manage a website. Check out our online WordPress courses or contact us today to learn more about our WordPress web design and management services.
