WordPress 3.5 Training Guide

1. Information Point Technologies WordPress 3.5 Training Guide

2. Getting started If you see a link in your navigation titled “log-in”, you can click on it to access the WP login screen. You also may be able to log-in directly from your site. Normally, you will type your website’s URL followed by “/wp-admin/”. For example, “www.ipoint-tech.com/wp-admin/”

3. The Dashboard A B This is your WordPress Dashboard, every action you take will start at this page. “Posts”(A) and “Pages” (B)are two very different entities. “Posts” are organized around categories (e.g. Blog, News, Products, Articles, Services, Resources) while “Pages” have no category and stand alone (e.g. Contact Us, Legal Disclaimer, Terms of Service). Normally, you will write posts.

4. Adding a post A Drag your cursor over the “Posts” tab on the left-hand side of the dashboard. You will see a few options, but let’s click on “Add New” first (A), to get started with your new post. (You can also click on the main “Posts” tab to show you a list of all of your current posts).

5. Adding a post This is the title field (A) This is the context field (B) This is the editing screen. You should notice that the left-hand navigation menu remains the same. The title field is marked “A” while the context field is marked “B” *Tips for tagging your post can be found on the following slide.

6. Posts are entries organized by categories automatically making the site more user-friendly for you, your visitors and search engines. The title should contain at least one of your keywords/phrases Keep it short and simple Title your post before writing content NEVER change your title after you have published it (TIP: If you wish to change your title, create a new page and copy the content over to it. Then you can delete the old page) Remember to spell check! title tips (SEO Purposes)

7. Tagging your post A B You also need to tag your post before you publish it. Type your tags/keyword phrases separated by comas in the Tags input field (A).Then click on the “Add” button (B). *Tips for tagging your post can be found on the following slide.

8. Tags are key words or phrases that help your target audience find the right content. They are used extensively by various search engines. Each entry should have no more than 2-5 tags The tags must be relative to the content, otherwise you may be punished by search engines (in other words, the tags should show up in your content exactly how they are written) Your content should be built around the tags and keywords you use Use keyword that people actually search for tag tips

9. Tagging your post A After clicking on the Add button, you will see a list of your tags underneath the input field(A). You can delete tags by clicking the “x” located on the left-hand side of each tag.

10. Adding a category A Categories to choose from Now you need to choose a category to determine where you post will be published (A). If you do not have any categories, leave this field blank as “Uncategorized”. We will cover adding new categories later on in this guide.

11. Allowing comments A After your categories are chosen, you will see a “Discussion” field on the bottom left of the screen (A). This allows users to comment on your posts, which can be useful when it comes to SEO. The default setting is to allow comments. However, if you do not wish to have comments, simply uncheck the box.

12. Publishing a post A B Now that you have completed the post title, content, tags, categories and discussion fields, it is time to publish the post to your site. ***Be sure to check out your post in advance by clicking the “Preview” icon (A) in the top right of the screen. If you are satisfied with the formatting, click the “Publish” icon right below the preview button (B). A yellow box underneath “Add New Post” at the top of the screen will alert you that the post has been published.

13. Editing a post A B Another important WordPress feature is the ability to edit your posts for whatever reason. Go to the Dashboard page and click the “Post” tab (A) or drag your cursor over “Posts” to click on “All Posts” (B). Either option will take you to a list of all your posts.

14. Editing a post A You should now see a list of all your posts. The first entry on the list should be your most recent (A). To begin the editing process, click the title of the post.

15. The toolbar 8 7 4 2 5 6 1 3 9 11 10 12 Editing and creating new posts follow the same process, so you should already be familiar with the title field, body content, tags, categories etc. Here, we will discuss the basics of the editing toolbar and its variety of uses: 7. Paragraph alignment (left, center, right) 8. Hyperlink/Unlink (icons are grey until a word is highlighted) 9. More Link- inserts the hyperlink “more” at the end of a shortened version of your post, which will take the user to the entire post. 10. Spell check 11. Full screen view 12. Expand menu- which includes more gadgets listed on the next slide… Bold Italic Strikethrough Bulleted List Numbered List Blockquote- indents a paragraph both right & left

16. The toolbar pt. 2 D B A C A. Formatting List — Provides a list of additional HTML codes, such as Headings, that can be used to format text. B. Copy-and-Paste Plain Text — Click on this icon when you are pasting plain text, such as text from a web page, into your post. C. Copy-and-Paste MS Word Text — Click this icon when you are pasting text that was originally written in Microsoft Word. This avoids the custom editing codes/characters MS Word uses. It also makes for safer posts, ensuring your aren’t copying some hidden code that can be carried over from MS Word. D. Special character palette — If you want to use a special character, such as a foreign character or a financial symbol, clicking on this button will provide you a pop-up window of special characters that you can click on to insert into your post.

17. Adding a hyperlink If you wish to insert a hyperlink, first highlight the text where the link will be placed. (A) The hyperlink icon will now appear in the toolbar, so click on it (B). A pop-up will ask you to type in the destination URL, or choose a target field. Don’t worry about Title and Class just yet B A

18. Adding a hyperlink Type your target URL in the first field (A). Or, choose a current page on your site as the link’s destination (B). It is usually most simple to copy/paste a URL from your web browser to avoid misspellings and typos. Click the “Add link” icon to create the hyperlink. A B

19. Adding a hyperlink B A Your new hyperlink (A) will show up underlined in a different color (normally blue). When a user clicks on it, it will now direct them to the URL you provided. Now, let’s check out the HTML view (Text tab), of WP just for kicks (B).

20. Html (Text) view A Context between “<em>” anchors is HTML code for “italic” Context between “<a>” anchors is HTML code for a link Viewing HTML code makes one appreciate programs like Word Press, which automatically write it. Every formatting action has a code associated with it. The HTML view can be useful if you are troubleshooting a formatting error. Let’s get back to the Visual mode (A).

21. Adding other media A You can upload a variety of other media into your WP posts. The “Add Media” menu is located at the top left of the toolbar (A).

22. Adding a photo A A large “Insert Media” box should appear on your screen. Click the “select files” icon (A) and navigate your computer to find the photo you wish to upload. Select or double-click the image to engage the editing screen (found on the following slide).

23. Adding a photo • You will now see an attachment details box on the right-hand side of the upload screen. • Title your picture, but be more descriptive and use relevant keyword phrases to enhance your SEO. • The Caption field is also very important, as we will examine on the next slide. • Don’t worry about the description field. It simply describes the photo in the WP Admin media list.

24. The caption text becomes the alternative (alt) text in the image tag. This helps when the image link is broken, and is also useful for the visually impaired • Search engines such as Google are giving more weight to alternative text when determining search rankings • 90% of users will read the caption of a picture even if they don’t read anything else on your page • A good caption should: • Relate to your topic • Contain your main point • Use relevant keywords/phrases for SEO • NEVER over-stuff your caption with keywords. Google will discover this quickly and penalize your site’s ranking the caption field

25. Adding a photo: alignment Underneath the attachment details fields you will see the attachment display settings. The alignment field let’s you choose the position of your photo in the post: “None” will place your photo either on the top or bottom of your body content. “Left” will place the photo on the left, content on the right. “Right” will place the photo on the right, content on the left. “Center” means the image will be placed in the middle of the body text.

26. Adding a photo: adding links You also have the option to link your photo to either a custom URL, attachment page or media file. If you don’t want a URL linked to your photo, choose “None”. 1 2 3 Custom URL: Links your photo to any outside website Attachment Page: Links your photo to a page within your own website 3) Media File: Links the photo to it’s original image file (generally a larger image of the picture will pop-up).

27. Adding a photo: sizing The sizing options are pretty straight-forward. They progress from smallest to largest, top to bottom. B A The pixel dimensions are listed next to the different sizes. If you do not know the width dimensions of your post, your best option is to choose a medium size (A) and link the photo to it’s full-size version in the “Link To” field (i.e. choose the “Media File” option) (B).

28. Adding a photo A After you have completed the above fields and are satisfied with your dimensions, you’re ready to insert your photo into the post! (A)

29. Preview/save changes A A B B You will now see your photo inserted into the body field of your post. You should always preview your changes (A) to make sure the formatting is correct before you update and save changes to your post (B).

30. Deleting a post B A If you wish to delete a post, you have a few options. Click the “Posts” tab on the left side of the dashboard to get a list of your posts. You may now either: Hover your cursor over a title and click “Trash” under the post you select (A) Normally used when deleting multiple posts, click the boxes of the posts you want to get rid of, then choose “Move to trash” from the bulk actions list (B)

31. Deleting a post A You can also delete a post while you are on the editing screen. There is a “Move to trash” icon on the right side of the screen just above the categories (A).

32. A note on deleting content… This is where the “edit” icon is located before clicking on it Before deleting a post, take some time to think how it will effect your SEO. Older pages tend to rank higher, and if you delete content then it is virtually gone forever (you delete your SEO rankings as well, for that content). If you have relevant content which is seasonal, for example, you can store it in WP rather than deleting the post and writing a new one each year. Simply choose the “Edit” tab next to the status field on the right. Select “Draft”- it will be warehoused in you WP dashboard until you are ready to publish it.

33. Adding a category A When you need to add a new category, click on the “Categories” link under the Posts drop-down menu on the top left-hand corner of the page (A).

34. Adding a category There are tips under the category fields to help you fill them out. Category Name- Type the category name as you wish it to appear on the navigation menu of your website. Category Slug- This is the “internet-friendly” version of your category name (the same title, with no spaces). Category Parent- You can add parent categories with multiple sub-categories to your website (i.e. The category “Products” is the parent to subcategories “T-shirts” and “Jeans”). If you do not want a parent category, choose “None” from the drop-down menu.

35. Adding a category Description (optional)- If you wish to describe your category to greater detail, feel free to write a brief sentence or two here(A). A

36. Adding a category Once you have specified all the category fields, click the “Add new category” icon at the bottom of the page (A). A

37. Adding a category You should now see your new category at the top of your list on the right-hand side of the screen. You can edit/delete categories the same way as posts (hover the cursor over the title).

38. Adding a page Now that you have had practice adding posts and categories, let’s create a new page for your website. Adding a page follows the same process as before. Scroll over the “Pages” icon tab on the Dashboard’s drop-down menu and select “Add New” to get started. If you click on the “Pages” tab, a list of all your pages will appear. You can edit/delete them the same way as posts and categories.

39. Adding a page The editing page for posts and pages is the same, except you will not choose a category for the web page. Remember, to NEVER change the title after you publish anything!If you want to change the page title, you should create a new page, copy over the text from the current page and delete the old page. (Why?- Search engines may accidently read your old title if it has existed for a while, even if you change the content. To avoid confusion and hurting your SEO rankings, it is best to be safe and follow the steps above when changing a title.) For now, go ahead and enter some body content.

40. Adding a page As you did with your post, scroll down to the Discussion field and decide whether or not to allow comments on your page.

41. Adding a page A C B When you have typed in all the content, be sure to click the “preview” icon (A) on the top right to see how your new page will look. If you are satisfied, click the “Publish” icon (B) to save and post your page. Or, you can save your page to be published later by selecting that option from the Page Status menu (click edit) (C)

42. Adding links Links are sometimes called a “blogroll.” Similar to posts, they are organized by categories. Links are widgets that normally appear on the site’s sidebar navigation. Hover your cursor over “Links” on the left-hand side of the Dashboard and click “Add New”, or click the “Links” icon to bring you to a list of all your links

43. Adding links A B E C D • Type in the Name of the link as it will appear in the blogroll/link list (A). • Type or copy/paste the URL (hyperlink) in the Web Address(B). • You can also add a description of the link, if you choose (C). • Select a category (otherwise a default category will be assigned) (D). • Click the Add Link button (E).

44. Finishing up A B You should see a yellow band below the Add New Link heading, which says “Link added” (A).If you go back to your full page of links, you will see it added to the list (B).

45. Graduation! That’s it! You now know how to add and edit essential content to your web site using WordPress v3.5. Congratulations!