An overview of website knowledge for professional Community Managers.

1. Nadine Wildmann
Meeple Communications

2. TOPICS
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• Domain Names
• Registrars
• Pointing Domain Name to Web Host
• Transferring Domain Registration
• Web Hosting
• Evaluating and selecting
• Hosting account types
• Cpanel
• Inside Self-Hosted WordPress

3. TERMINOLOGY
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4. ELEMENTS TO MANAGE
WORDPRESS.ORG = SELF-HOSTED
Domain Names
• Purchase
• Sub-domains
• Addon to hosting
account
• Repoint DNS
• Transfer ownership
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Website
• Content
• Users
• Backups
• Usage rights
Web Hosting
• Vendor selection
• Purchase
• Websites
• Email
• Software
• Moving
• Security
• Backup and
restore

5. TYPES OF CORPORATE STRUCTURES
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Individual or small operation – no tech team
Small business – external tech vendor
Medium or large business – internal tech
team (IT)

6. INTERNAL TECH TEAM
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7. EXTERNAL TECH VENDORS
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One employee or group interfaces with tech
vendor
Tech vendor may be responsible for
• Computer purchases and maintenance
• Internet Service
• Computer Network
Web Manager interfaces with web services
vendor
• Web Hosting Account
• Security
• Backups
• Domain Registration
• Website content

8. NO TECH TEAM
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One or more employees are responsible for
• Computer purchase and maintenance
• Internet Service
• Computer Network
Web Manager is responsible for
• Web Hosting Account
• Security
• Backups
• Domain Registration
• Website content

9. WEB MANAGER
 Domain registration
 Login
 Date of expiration
 Auto-renew
 Web Hosting account
 Login
 Date of expiration
 Auto-renew
 Back-up system
 Security
 Website
 Login
 User permissions
 Copyrights to content
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When you start your
job, check these

11. SELF-HOSTED WORDPRESS
WORDPRESS.ORG
You buy a web hosting
plan
You install WordPress
through your web host
You can access your
WordPress website, as
well as your hosting
control panel
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Your
Computer
Your
Web Host
Your Website
Backend

12. HOSTING MANAGEMENT
A domain name is your URL, such as www.yourdomain.com.
You pay a registrar or a web host annually to own the domain
Hosting account – you pay a web host such as Siteground
You can purchase domain names from your web host, for an annual
fee of around $15
If you purchased your domain somewhere else, you need to assign it
to your hosting account
Use a platform such as WordPress for building you website, you install
it into your domain through your web host through cpanel, most
hosts have simple WordPress installations
Manage security, email accounts and databases through the web
host’s control panel (cpanel)
If your domain name is not registered through your web host, then you need to point the domain name from the
registrar to the web host. This is different than transferring domain registration from one registrar to another.
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13. ACCOUNT LOGINS
Domain registrar
Web hosting account, if different
Control Panel – cpanel if required by
host
WordPress backend – the Dashboard
 http://yourdomain.com/wp-admin
Google Search Console
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14. SELF-HOSTED STEPS
• Select a Web Host such as Siteground
• Select a Hosting Plan such as Shared
• Select your domain name
• Pay
• Access Cpanel and Install WordPress
• Login to your WordPress Dashboard
• Register your site with Google Search Console
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15. SELECTING A WEB HOST
You want
• Reputation
• Speed (GoDaddy is large and well known, but can be
very slow)
• Live Chat 24/7
• Cpanel
• Free domain name
• Free or low-cost SSL
• WordPress support including one-click install
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O U R B E S T W O R D S
M A N A G I N G C O R P O R A T E W E B S I T E S A N D B L O G S
N A D I N E W I L D M A N N

16. SELECTING A PLAN
Shared
• Can slow down the site
• Simpler to manage
• Less expensive
Advanced
• More secure
• Require more technical expertise
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18. CPANEL
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Access Cpanel through your web host, they can
help you
Use Cpanel for
• Email
• Create accounts
• Forward email
• Installing WordPress
• Uploads
• i.e. Uploading Duplicator plugin files to restore or
transfer a site

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CPANEL

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CPANEL

21. CPANEL FILE MANAGER
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22. CPANEL ADD EMAIL ACCOUNT
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Live Chat is your friend

24. GOOGLE SEARCH CONSOLE
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https://search.google.com/search-
console/about

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WORDPRESS ELEMENTS
Core / Loop
Content – Text, Images, Media
Theme – Design, Functionality
Plugins – Added functionality
Widgets
Menu
Dashboard Settings
WP-Admin is the classic Dashboard

26. PLUGINS
• WordPress has over 57,000 plugins.
You can usually find one to do what you need.
• Evaluation is similar to Themes – Popularity, Last
update
• Try them out
• Search and review through the Dashboard
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27. WIDGETS
Widget Sources
 WordPress
 WordPress comes with standard default widgets
 Widgets are managed in Appearance / Widgets
 Plugins
 Many Plugins will install widgets
 Plugin widgets will be added to Appearance / Widgets
Widget Display Areas
 Themes come with one or more widgetized areas
 Common areas are sidebars, footer, home page
 In Appearance / Widgets or Customize you select the display area for each
widget
 Widgetized areas are relevant when selecting a theme
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CONTENT MANAGEMENT
User-friendly content management
–Formatting
–Media
–Drafts and Reviewing
–Page Preview
–Category and Tag labeling
Visual Editor and HTML views
Permalinks - WordPress makes it easy to control
the url links that Google sees

29. DASHBOARD
• Screen Options
• Settings
• Posts
• Media
• Pages
• Appearance / Themes / Widgets / Menus / Customize /
Edit CSS / Theme Editor
• Plugins
• Tools
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MENUS
• Static and Category pages can be combined
on one navigation bar
• Or create two separate menus
• Drag and slide menu for sub-pages

31. WORDPRESS RESOURCES
Wordpress.org
• Themes
• Plugins
• Support
LinkedIn WordPress Groups
Facebook Groups such as WPBeginner
Engage – WordPress help for non-techies
Matt
Automattic
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