This document provides an overview of a WordPress 101 presentation by Laura Hartwig. It covers the basics of setting up and customizing a WordPress site, including choosing themes and plugins, settings, posts and pages, media, comments, and more. Tips are provided throughout on SEO, security, and usability best practices for a WordPress site. The presentation aims to give attendees an understanding of the core functionality and customization options in WordPress.

1. So You Think
You Know
WordPress?
WordPress 101
Deep Dive

2. Your Instructor
Laura Hartwig has been a WordPress Website
Developer and Trainer since 2011. She ran
WordPress Westchester in NY and founded
Columbia WordPress Meetup. She has presented
at WordCamps in NY, CT, and NC. She uses her
skills to create powerful, flexible, easy-to-use
websites for small businesses. She is also the
author of WPDecoder.com
Follow this presentation at
https://www.slideshare.net/LauraHartwig

3. What we’ll cover
Basic settings
Choosing the best theme & plugins
SEO
Security
Follow along: slideshare.net/LauraHartwig
Tip
SEO stands for Search
Engine Optimization.
This is about how you
rank on Google, Bing,
etc.

4. Why
WordPress?
Using WordPress is a no-brainer.
There's a reason 43% of the web
uses it.
Tip
Read full article:
kinsta.com/blog/why-use-
wordpress
1. The software is free and open-source
2. It adapts so you can make any type of
website
3. It supports numerous media types
4. It’s easy to learn and has a huge
community
5. You can scale up and expand your
website with themes and plugins
6. It doesn’t take a genius to manage
7. SEO comes first
8. You have full control of your website
9. The blogging is hands down the best in
the business
10. Everyone is doing it

5. WordPress.org
vs
WordPress.com

7. What you will need:
Domain name
Hosting
(and an email provider) Tip
Siteground is a great
host for beginner users.

8. The Quick Install
One of the nicest things about WordPress is
that it’s really easy to install. Be sure you have
a host with CPanel and you can install
WordPress in 5 minutes.

9. Tip
Make sure you install a
SSL certificate.

10. Don’t
Don’t leave your
username as “admin”
Do
Always choose https
(meaning you have a
SSL certificate) when
possible.

11. Settings
Once WordPress is set up, most people want
to get into adding their content right away
and go straight to creating pages or posts, but
there are some settings we should look at
first.

12. Settings
➔ General
Site Title & Tagline, Email
Address, and Timezone
➔ Permalinks
Make sure you set up your
permalinks to work best for SEO
➔ Reading
Front page, Blog page, Search
Engine Visibility

13. SEO Tip
Be sure to fill out your
Site Title and a
meaningful Tagline
Security Tip
Uncheck the
Membership box unless
you specifically want
people to register on
your site

14. SEO Tip
Set your permalinks to
be readable and SEO
friendly
SEO Tip
Don’t leave the default
category as
“uncategorized”

15. Tip
Set your homepage
here unless you want
your blog posts there
SEO Tip
Discourage search
engines on any staging
sites or sites you don’t
want google to index

16. The
Dashboard
➔ Updates
Very important! We will get to
this later.
➔ Posts & Pages
Categories & Tags
➔ Media
Alternative text, title, caption, and
description
➔ Comments

17. Tip
Don’t leave your
username as “admin”
Tip
Always choose https
(meaning you have a
SSL certificate) when
possible.
Tip
Be sure to check out this
box for local WordPress
events
Tip
These boxes can be
moved around so the
ones that are most
helpful to you are on top

18. Post/Pages
➔ Pages are static
Use these for About, Contact,
FAQs pages
➔ Posts
Are usually shown on Blog page
and the newest one shows up
first. Older ones are paginated
automatically
➔ Otherwise they are very
similar

19. Tip
Don’t leave your
username as “admin”
Tip
Always choose https
(meaning you have a
SSL certificate) when
possible.
Tip
You can collapse the left
menu if you want more
room for editing

20. Pages

21. SEO Tip
Post at least once a
month to keep content
updated for Google

22. Featured Images
● These are the default images that may
show up on your blog page, depending on
your theme
● They also show up when your page/post is
shared on social media

24. SEO Tip
Link to your other pages
as much as possible!

25. Sub Pages
● Important for navigation and site hierarchy
● Does not affect menu on front end of site
● Will help you find pages in the back end
SEO Tip
Page hierarchy is
important for SEO! It
helps Google
understand relationships

26. Sub Pages

28. Posts

29. Categories vs Tags
● Categories are there to help identify what
your blog is really about. It is to assist
readers finding the right type of content on
your site. Categories are hierarchical, so
you can sub-categories.
● Tags are meant to describe specific details
of your posts.

30. Examples
● Categories might be food like Pizza, Steak,
Pasta, etc
● Tags would be the ingredients that might
crossover between these categories like
tomatoes, butter, garlic

31. Categories & Tags can
be edited and deleted

33. Comments
SEO Tip
If you approve a spam
comment, you will get a
lot more and it could
hurt your site. Watch
out for vague comments
➔ Can be turned on or off
➔ Posts and/or Pages
➔ Spam can get out of
control without spam
plugin
SEO Tip
Real comments can be
good for SEO by adding
more info and key
words, but not easy to
get.

34. Tip
You can bulk edit
comments.

35. Comments
1. Commenter Gravatar
2. Commenter Name
3. Commenter Website URL
4. Commenter Email Address
5. Commenter IP Address
6. Time and Date Comment was submitted
7. Comment Text
8. Comment Moderation Options. You can approve, spam or trash a comment with one click. Reply, Quick
Edit or Edit will open up a new screen for you to write a reply to the comment or edit the comment.
9. Post Name
10. Number of Comments on the Post, Link to View Post
Tip
Set up your gravatar
across all WordPress
blogs at en.gravatar.com

36. Media Library
➔ Photos/Videos
➔ PDF’s, Word Docs
➔ Audio files
➔ Other file types can be
added through plugins and
embeds
SEO Tip
Uploading videos to
YouTube allows the fast
streaming of Google
servers as well as more
eyes to lead back to
your site.

37. Media Library
● Can be accessed through Page/Post
● Or from the media library link in the
dashboard

39. Accessibility Tip
Alt text is important for
people using screen
readers or those for who
images don’t show.
SEO Tip
Be sure to fill out image
info! It’s the only way
Google will know what
your image is.
Don’t Skip This

40. SEO Tip
Make sure image file
sizes are as small as
possible without losing
resolution to help with
loading time.
Image
sizes

41. Editing Images
● The WordPress image editor is weak
● I recommend Canva.com for image editing

42. Editing Images

43. Appearance
➔ Themes
➔ Customize
➔ Widgets
➔ Menus
➔ Theme Editor

44. Themes
SEO Tip
Choosing a streamlined
theme will usually mean
a faster theme. Excess
options usually cause
bloat that slow down
sites.
➔ Free
➔ Paid -one time fee
➔ Paid - yearly updates
➔ Custom

46. Theme Options
● Free WordPress theme
● Paid theme like Genesis or Elegant Themes
● Other paid theme through Themeforest like
Avada
And a note about page builders

47. What is a Theme?
Tip
Better to use plugins for
functionality rather than
themes so that you can
change themes without
losing functionality.
Tip
When you change a
theme, all your content
and WordPress & plugin
settings remain the
same, only the look of
the site changes.

48. What is changed by a theme?
● Colors and Fonts
● Text styling
● Layout including widget areas
● Header/Footer options

50. Tip
Themes with year
names are created by
WordPress.org

51. Free Themes
● Usually a footer credit which cannot be
removed
● Limits on widgets areas and styles
● Sometimes poor support and lack of
updates
● Many free themes have a paid upgrade

52. Paid Themes
● Examples: Genesis by StudioPress and Divi
by Elegant Themes
● Have been around for years
● Have a whole team to offer support, not
just one developer
● Offers lifetime access and updates

53. Hello Theme
This is a free theme
offered by the
Elementor page builder
people

56. Divi Builder Themes
Once you pay for the
builder, a huge number
of themes are included

58. Child Themes
● Save your changes in case your theme is
updated - and if it’s a good theme, it will be
● Sometimes offered with paid themes or can
be set up with a plugin
● Must use them!!

59. EnvatoMarket
(Themeforest.net )
● Check ratings, support, last update, and
how long it’s been around
● Keep in mind that the price usually only
covers one year (or less) of supports and
updates

61. Theme Updates
● Just like plugins and WordPress core,
themes (if you have a good one) should
have updates
● Child themes rarely have updates, but
these should be pursued with caution
because you can lose all your
customizations

63. Page Builders
● Use drag and drop interface for those who
are not developers
● Make sure they work with your theme
● Best options are Elementor, Beaver Builder
& Divi Builder

64. Gutenberg Default Block Editor

65. Elementor

66. Divi

67. Beaver

68. Beaver

69. Beaver Mobile options

70. Customizer
➔ Basically just another way
to get to the same features
➔ Some people feel more
comfortable accessing
items this way
➔ Completely dependant on
your theme

71. The
Customizer

72. Widgets

73. Widget Areas
● Depends on the theme, but usually this
gives a way to customize the sidebar,
footer, and sometimes other areas
● Many plugins will have widget areas that
can be added like calendars or event lists
● Adding a search option is super important

76. Menus

77. Menus
● Your theme determines how many menus
show
● Don’t forget to set your menu location
● Like other content, menus stay despite
theme and can be moved around

79. Menu Locations

80. Theme Editor

81. Theme Editor
● What you see here will be determined by
your theme, but you will always have
style.css file and functions.php file
● When you first go to the editor, you should
see this ...

83. Theme Editor
● Like it says, be very careful making
changes here. Better to make them
through a file editor in your host’s cpanel
● Always have a backup when making edits.
Unlike pages/posts, there is no copy of
previous versions

85. Plugins
➔ Greatly increase
functionality of sites
➔ Over 59K free plugins
available
➔ Can be found at
WordPress.org/plugins or
on the backend of your site

86. Whatever you want to
do

87. Plugin Options
● Whatever functionality you need from your
website, there is probably a plugin that will
help you create it
● Includes ecommerce, forms, anti-spam,
page builders, SEO, backups, and more
● The more plugins, the more chances of
conflicts

88. Choosing a Plugin
Check these things:
● Last Update
● Number of Users
● Ratings
● Support
If it’s a paid plugin, check support
and length of time

89. Plugin Updates
● Super important for security and
functionality
● If your site isn’t working, make sure
updates are done first before further
investigation
● Always backup before updates!
● Enable automatic updates

92. Core Updates

93. Users
➔ Different users have
different permissions
➔ Keep users at lowest
possible level
➔ Can create custom user
roles/permissions with
plugins

94. User Notes
● Subscribers can read
sites that are
“private” (sometimes
paid)
● Contributors &
Authors can only edit
and delete their own
posts

95. Tools
➔ Import
Bring all your posts, pages,
media and other info from
another WordPress site
➔ Export
Take all your posts, pages, media
and other info to another
WordPress site

96. SEO Tips
➔ Use Page Hierarchy
➔ Name All Images Something
Meaningful
➔ Keep Content Updated
➔ Remember Page Speed is
important
➔ Use HTTPS
➔ Use Internal Links
➔ Make Sure There is Text on the
Home Page

97. Security
Even if you think you would not be a target,
you are
➔ Use a strong password
➔ Do your updates
➔ Remove Unused
themes/plugins/files/users
➔ Security plugins
➔ Captcha for logins
➔ Backup

98. $50 ticket includes Sat & Sun sessions, lunch,
snacks, the After Party Sat evening, and a
WCATL t-shirt. Purchase tickets:
https://atlanta.wordcamp.org/2023/tickets
/
April 18-19

99. Questions?
LauraHartwigDesign@gmail.com
https://www.slideshare.net/LauraHartwig