The infamous and undying debate between WordPress and Joomla still lingers, but the overall importance of what they offer rests solely with your ability to improve your brand marketing.  In order to achieve your goal of a widespread and consistent message, you have to use a system that is both user friendly and easy to understand from your perspective.  There has yet to be another software as easy to install, implement, amend, and generally use than WordPress.  With that said, I have put together a compilation of videos and tutorials for those of you new in the WordPress realm.  However, these will all help you get a better grasp of the content management system and how you can use WordPress to your advantage.

Installation

In general, your installation will be put through your website host which most hosts already have the latest version of WordPress available at a click of a button (or two).  In fact, Fantastico is one of the most well-known script installers available to users, and I have found an excellent video that takes us through the installation process with Fantastico:

First and foremost, make sure you record and/or remember the username and password you choose for the control panel. Second and more or less as a suggestion, if you are going to operate through for your blog I would also suggest operating/designing your site through WordPress as well so you avoid any glitches with outsourced plug-ins and add-ons (to be covered a little later in this post).

Logging In To WordPress

Taking this  step by step slowly, after you have WordPress installed you now have to log into your admin panel.  Even though this video takes us through a UK site, you can get the general idea behind what needs to be done to access the WordPress control panel:

As a point of emphasis, if you are using a public computer as you log into your WordPress control panel, make sure you do not click on the “Remember Me” box as you absolutely do not want to risk a security breach and allow someone else access to all of your site controls.

Theme Work

Rather than providing you with a tutorial on how to install a WordPress theme, I want to strongly urge you to customize the look and feel of your WordPress powered website.  Too many companies fail to take the time (and money) to invest in their online image which is primarily ridden on the back of your website.  Do yourself a favor, stand out from the competition, and custom design your site that fully and unequivocally delivers your brand message.

Create A Post

If you are going to use your site to blog (which you absolutely should to maximize your online impact), it is incredibly important that you understand how to create a blog post on WordPress.  As a forewarning, this is a longer video because there is a little more involved in posting than there is for the installation and the logging in steps. Take a look:

If you don’t have the time to watch this complete video, please make sure you bookmark this page and come back to watch it for your own benefit.

Create A Page

Most websites that are business related have pages within their site.  Pages are permanent structures that deliver content that you want to be viewed on a regular basis and easily found within the navigation menu(es).  With that said, pages are very similar to posts when it comes to WordPress, but without explaining it blindly to you, here is a descriptive video:

However, before you create your pages, make sure that you either consult with your design company with regard to how your site will be laid out when it comes to your page hierarchy. In other words, you don’t want a slew of pages in your menu, but more-so the most important (or “parent”) pages and the lesser priority (or “children”) under the parent pages. Again, contact us if you have any questions on this step.

In general, this beginner’s tutorial should be able to get you started in the right direction.  However, stay tuned or contact us for more information on search engine optimization with WordPress, and how you can fully implement social media as well as other add-ons with the WordPress platform.  Enjoy spreading the good word of your brand through your new WordPress site!

Need Help?

If blogging and website design are something that you are interested in but don’t know how to get started, contact us today to schedule your free marketing analysis.

Sources:
“The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing”-E-Book
SlideShare.net
Image Source: HubSpot, “The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing”, E-Marketer.com