Help With WordPress for Beginners

Working with WordPress initially was a huge challenge for me. With little prior computer knowledge, I often found myself frustrated and wishing there was someone there to help me that spoke plain English. Yep, even “WordPress for Dummies” often stymied me. One of the problems is that younger people who have grown up with computers gave me answers that skipped some of the initial steps and that left me totally lost and frustrated.It reminded me of computer classes I had taken in the classroom setting. It seemed I was always a click or two behind, and my screen looked very different from what the teacher had on the screen and I was totally lost.

Let WordPress beat me & walk away, or buckle down and learn it-my choice.

That sounds harsh, but it was a reality. I decided that I was not ready to succumb to becoming a dinosaur paralyzed by the age of technology. I started taking every online class I could find. I bought online tutorials, and watched them until I finally got it. I read everything I could get my hands on, and experimented with online tools.

I had paid a handsome sum to someone to build my previous website. I imagined that when I got it I would be up and running in a jiffy. I was sure wrong. I was not expecting to get merely a bare bones website. The theme was installed and the colors adjusted to the color scheme I wanted. I was confused, and when I asked about it, I was assured that it would look a lot better when I added content. Let me tell you, that was easier said than done.

The website was done? It was now up to me.

I had invested a large sum of money. I could not afford to just walk away, so I dived in, determined to learn how to use this website in the ways I had envisioned. Slowly but surely, class after class, I built the website, added content, and got a little traction. I added pluggins, videos, screencasts, pictures, and a lot of written blogs. I did a couple of reviews. I worked really hard, but there was a problem.

The amount of traffic I was attracting was not great, that is an understatement. It became evident to me that there was something really wrong. I belong to several online paid accountibility groups that are a tremendous help. I asked for a site review, and got some great feedback. There were some critical mistakes. Fixing them will take a long time. I am working on fixing them, but as I went through the process, I made a discovery about myself. The lightbulb went on one day.

I discovered that, although it was tough, I loved the challenge of learning how to make technology work. I jump out of bed at 4:00 AM, get my coffee, and fire up my Mac. (they are awesome-that is another story). I am totally energized, and solving a problem is so cool. Now my friends and even my kids ask for my advice and my help. Who would’ve thunk?

I decided that I would start another website, and do things right from the beginning. This time is different in a lot of ways.

Help Others Learn WordPress Using My Website as an Example

I am going to take the website from idea to profit. That is the motto of one of my favorite mentors, Lynn Terry.
I have built it entirely myself.
I am going to demonstrate how I am doing the steps for you
I want to show you the steps to get it right-from the beginning. This will be a work in progress, and you have a front row seat.

WordPress.com is different from WordPress.org, Make Sure You Choose .org

There is a big difference between WordPress.com & WordPress.org when it comes to building a business blog. I know it is confusing if you are just starting out. For years my son has bent my ear about open source. I understood the concept, but to be honest, until I really started learning about websites, it didn’t hit home.
Basically, open source is a world wide techie community that collaborates on making technology free to use. It is possible because lots of people contribute to the projects. There is always someone who is finding ways to improve the projects. They have forums and discuss ways to improve things. If a bug is found, there are lots of people who will jump in and fix it. WordPress is a prime example. It has a huge developer base, and lots of support.

I have told you that with my catering business I had a really nice website built. The problem was that I had no idea how to change a thing on it, so it pretty much just sat there housing a place for our menu. I thought I was really up to date since my business had a website, woo-hoo.
When I started the search for a way to help others and build a new business, I heard about blogging. As a matter of fact, I started a free blog that went nowhere. Now I take full responsibility for that fact. I only posted a couple of blogs a month, and then was disappointed that I did not get any traction.
Then I started down the path of really searching for the information to get it right. Along the way I have found some great resources, and some not so great information. One of the things I learned is that almost everyone I took classes from pointed me to WordPress. However, there are some really important reasons to choose the self hosted ( .org) version for your business.
Differences between WP.com & WP.org
Freedom and Flexibility are the two best words I can think of to describe the difference.
You want to be the person who is in control of your business. The .com version has a lot of restrictions you have to follow. The self hosted (.org) version has few restrictions
You want to make your business the primary focus. When you use free hosting sites,  you have no control over what ads will show up or they are or where they are placed. If you choose a free host like the .com version, one of the first things your visitor may see when they click on your site is an ad for another company. That very well may entice them to click on it and you have lost them before they even check you out.
Google takes note of how long people spend on your site as a way to determine relevance. If that ad on the top of the site encourages them to click to another site, you are sabotaging your business.
When you choose .org, you will deal with very few restrictions. That’s right, just like most things in life, read the fine print. A lot of the free hosting sites make it hard if not impossible to do business.
I know this sounds blunt, but if you are wanting to regarded as an expert or a real professional, you are not doing yourself a fair  to have your domain be www. expert.wordpress.com. Sorry to say it, but it makes you look cheap and unprofessional. The best analogy I can come up with right this minute is a comparison – would you take your car to an established service centre or a backyard mechanic.
There is an amazing array of themes and plugging available to the self hosted (.org) sites, so the amount of flexibility and customisation is huge! The sky is the limit. You can sell your products and services, choose to place ads on your site, host a membership site and so much more.
I am assuming that since you are taking the time to read this, you are interested in starting a blog for your business so you can make money. I will try to help make good choices based on my experience, and although it will cost you a little to buy your own domain and host it, this is one of the things that is just important to make the investment.
I have mentioned this in other posts, but I personally use Blue host. :mrgreen: (you are getting it-I use and like it and then recommend it)  It costs me $6.95 per month, and I can host an unlimited number of sites there for that price. One site or ten, it costs $6.75 per month total.They also sell domain names, and it is just easier to purchase it there so you can start building your site right away. I just purchased a domain for a site I am building for a friend, and it cost $10. I know that when I get in the mode of starting a website, I am really jazzed up about it and want to be free to get busy right away. That is why I recommend purchasing the domain where you are going to host it.