Slides from a Presentation made to the WP Melbourne Meetup April 10th 2013 by Warren Denley. Provides an introduction to WordPress themes and plugins - what to look for, where to find them, how to install them and how to use them. Also includes a look at the top 10 plugins recommended by the presenter.

1. WordPress Melbourne User Group April 2013
PIMP YOUR SITE
An Introduction to Themes and Plugins
Warren Denley
http://diywebsitecoach.com
https://www.facebook.com/diywebsitecoach

2. WHAT ARE THEMES?
• Control the way content is displayed on your site
• Allow you to easily change the look of your site
• Can add functionality to your site

3. WHERE DO I GET THEMES?
• WordPress repository (wordpress.org/extend/themes)
• Theme Forest (themeforest.net)
• Genesis (studiopress.com)
• Other premium themes (Thesis, Headway, etc)

4. HOW DO I SELECT A THEME?
• Start with your content requirements
• Consider your layout preferences
• What additional functionality do you need?
• How easy is it to customise?
• Can it grow with your site?

5. HOW DO I INSTAL THEMES?
• From your WordPress dashboard (FTP not required)
• Directly from the WordPress repository
• Upload from your computer

6. WHAT ABOUT
CUSTOMISATION?
• Most themes provide an options panel in the dashboard
• Level of customisation varies between themes
• Widgets
• Custom CSS
• Custom functions (hooks and filters)

7. WHAT ARE PLUGINS?
• Simple way to add functionality to your site
• May be as simple as adding a “Pin It” button
• Can be as complex as a full blown e-commerce solution
• Generally don’t change the overall styling of your site

8. WHERE DO I GET PLUGINS?
• WordPress repository (wordpress.org/extend/plugins)
• Code Canyon (codecanyon.net)
• Premium vendors

9. HOW DO I SELECT PLUGINS?
• Be clear about your requirements
• Sometimes it is worth paying
• Check reviews
• Don’t go overboard

10. HOW DO I INSTAL PLUGINS?
• From your WordPress dashboard (FTP not required)
• Directly from the WordPress repository
• Upload from your computer

11. HOW DO I USE A PLUGIN?
• Some plugins require a licence key
• Options pages
• Widgets
• Shortcodes (eg, [button]Click here![/button])
• background only

12. TOP 10 SUGGESTED PLUGINS

13. GRAVITY FORMS
(gravityforms.com)
• Cost: $39 - $199
• What it does:
Simple visual editor for creating and managing
forms on your site.
• Key Features:
Multi-page forms, huge range of field types,
conditional fields, Paypal integration, aWeber/
MailChimp integration, spam protection

14. BACKUP BUDDY
(ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy/)
• Cost: $75 - $150
• What it does:
Scheduled and manual site backups. Restore
or migrate your site
• Key Features:
Range of offsite storage locations, backup
scheduling, full site backup or database only,
easy site migration & restore

15. SOCIAL SHARING TOOLKIT
(wordpress.org/extend/plugins/social-sharing-toolkit/)
• Cost: FREE
• What it does:
Add social sharing functionality to your posts
and pages
• Key Features:
Wide range of social media connections,
integration with Bit.ly for link shortening

16. LINK WITHIN
(linkwithin.com)
• Cost: FREE
• What it does:
Show related stories under each post
• Key Features:
Customisable factors to determine related
stories

17. SEEDPROD COMING SOON
(seedprod.com)
• Cost: $29 - $99
• What it does:
Create professional “coming soon” and
“maintenance mode” pages
• Key Features:
email list integration, responsive design, social
sharing, site access controls

18. WORDPRESS SEO BY YOAST
(yoast.com/wordpress/seo/)
• Cost: Free
• What it does:
Helps optimise your pages for the search
engines
• Key Features:
meta data management, page analysis, XML
sitemap

19. SUCURI
(sucuri.net)
• Cost: $90 - $290 per year
• What it does:
Constantly monitors and protect your site
against malware and hacker attacks
• Key Features:
Plugin help “harden” your site, server side
monitoring, malware removal included

20. POPUP DOMINATION
(popupdomination.com)
• Cost: $77
• What it does:
Lightbox style email optin
• Key Features:
Proven customisable designs, page targeting,
A/B split testing, comprehensive analytics

21. WOO COMMERCE
(woothemes.com/woocommerce)
• Cost: Freemium
• What it does:
Turns your WordPress site into a full
eCommerce site
• Key Features:
Multiple payment gateways, product
management, sales tracking, inventory
management, extensible

22. S2MEMBER
(s2member.com)
• Cost: Fremium
• What it does:
Membership site management
• Key Features:
access control, multiple membership levels,
PayPal integration