Topics Covered in Class 1 including Homework Assignment

BACKGROUND – INTRO

• Video Intro
• Subscribe to RSS Feed by submitting email address in box to the left <—-
• Compare a Blog vs a Website
  o Blog can easily be changed
  o Has a dashboard
  o No FTP – explain
  o Allows comments and posts
  o Contains an RSS feed for “broadcasting” your content to other places
  o SEO friendly
  o Social Media friendly
• Mention Blogger/Blog spot – Google products
• Introduce WordPress
  o First created in 2001
  o Open source code
  o Thousands of developers, no license fees to use
• Show sample WordPress blogs
• Compare difference between free WP (www.wordpress.com) and paid WP (www.wordpress.org)
  o examine “domain name” & hosting
• WordPress.com – free
  • Yourname.wordpress.com (can use domain name mapping)
  • Some design limitations (costs additional to change CSS)
  • Can’t publish Google Adwords/some photo galleries/third-party widgets
  • WordPress displays text ads on your blog to logged-out users who aren’t regular visitors
  • No FTP capabilities since you have no server
• WordPress.org – free templates for hosting :  http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
  o Paid Templates for hosting
  • Template Monster
  • Socrates
  • No design limitations
  • Easy to monetize

GET CONSENSUS ON HOW MANY FREE OR PAID?

SHOW HOW TO INSTALL WORDPRESS ON PAID HOSTING ACCOUNT

SHOW HOW TO SETUP ON FREE HOSTING ACCOUNT
 

HOMEWORK

PAID HOSTING:

• Use custom domain name
• WordPress-friendly Hosting accounts
• Go Daddy
• Host Gator
• Network Solutions
• Blue Host
• Dream Host

More info – WordPress For Beginners:  http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons

WordPress API Key

To obtain an API key (application programming interfaces), you simply need to sign up here:  http://akismet.com/wordpress/   Select “personal blog” and it will be free.

Note: Once you get your AKISMET API Key, login to your dashboard, make your way to your plugins area and locate the AKISMET plugin, click it and follow the prompts to activate the plugin. 

FREE HOSTING

Free:  http://wordpress.com/
Great step-by-step tutorial:  http://learn.wordpress.com/

TEST BLOG:

TEST BLOG:  www.samsonmedia-blog.com/blog/wp-admin

LI:  test

PW:  test123