Create and Publish a WordPress Website
At the end of this Workshop you will walk away with a good understanding of your WordPress Dashboard (Admin Area)! This training is for anyone who already has access to his/ her self-hosted WordPress Admin Area and wants to learn how to customize and manage the website’s Admin Area, add/ edit pages and posts, photo galleries, widgets, menus, download and configure essential plugins and more.
Please note that during this training we will be downloading important plugins to your WordPress website – this training is therefore for all those who already have a (non-free) WordPress website (self-hosted WordPress website) hosted by a hosting company such as BlueHost, AfriHost, Hetzner, or any other hosting company or individual. There are over 500 000 plugins in the WordPress repository – in this training we cover the important ones.
Should you not yet have a WordPress website and should your objective be to learn how to create a free website on WordPress I recommend you attend the Training Course ‘Create Free Website‘ >
Update your Website to the Latest WordPress Version
Update Plugins
Configure Settings in the Admin Area
-
General
-
Writing
-
Reading
-
Discussion
-
Media
-
Permalinks
-
Rating
Download, Activate and Configure Jetpack
Bring the power of the WordPress.com cloud to your self-hosted WordPress. Configure the following plugins within Jetpack:
Carousel – With Carousel active, any standard WordPress galleries you have embedded in posts or pages will launch a gorgeous full-screen photo browsing experience with comments
Contact Form – A contact form is a great way to offer your readers the ability to get in touch, without giving out your personal email address.
Gravatar Hovercards – Hovercards enhance plain Gravatar images with information about a person: name, bio, pictures, their contact info, and other services.
Likes – Likes allow your readers to show their appreciation for your posts and other published content using their WordPress.com accounts. Your readers will then be able to review their liked posts from WordPress.com.
Mobile theme – There’s a good chance that visitors to your site will be using a smartphone, and it’s important to provide them with a great reading experience while on the small screen.
Omnisearch – Search once, get results from everything! Currently supports searching posts, pages, comments, media, and plugins.
Related posts – “Related Posts” shows additional relevant links from your site under your posts.
Sharing – Let visitors to your site share your pages and posts with their friends.
Subscriptions – Easily allow any visitor to subscribe to all of your posts via email through a widget in your blog’s sidebar. Every time you publish a post, WordPress.com will send a notification to all your subscribers.
Tiled Galleries – Create elegant magazine-style mosaic layouts for your photos without having to use an external graphic editor. When adding a gallery to your post, you now have the option to select a layout style for your images. WordPress added support for Rectangular, Square, and Circular galleries.
WordPress.com Stats – There are many plugins and services that provide statistics, but data can be overwhelming. WordPress.com Stats makes the most popular metrics easy to understand through a clear and attractive interface.
Download, Activate and Configure very important Plugins
Resize Image – Simple plugin to automatically resize uploaded images to within specified maximum width and height
Photo Album – Easily create and manage photo albums
Login Redirect – Redirect users to different locations after logging in – this is important as you don’t want to confuse users by getting them to the admin area after logging in. You want users to land on the homepage after they login.
Embed Document – this plugin lets you upload and embed your documents easily in your WordPress website without any additional browser plugins like Flash or Acrobat reader.
User Role – Change/add/delete WordPress user roles and capabilities
Akismet – Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from comment and trackback spam.
Colours – Customize the colours of the Twenty Fourteen Theme
Google Calendar
The best calendar for your WordPress site. Lots of incredible useful features. It works and does not conflict with other plugins:
- Create New Calendar
- Settings
- Create Events
- Embed Calendar in a Page or Blog
- Embed Calendar in a Widget on the sidebar
Users
- All Users
- Add/ Invite New
- Your Profile/ Personal Settings
Appearance – Themes
Choose a theme – you can change the look of your blog with over 380 attractive WordPress themes ranging from professional to fun to crazy, and you can switch themes instantly with just a click of a button. Each theme allows you to customize your sidebar using widgets, and several themes let you upload your own photo or image for the header bar.
Pages
Add/ edit/ pages: Home, Gallery, Contact us
- Screen Options
- Save Draft/ Publish
- Title
- Content
- Page Attributes
- Featured Image
Posts/ Blogs
- The difference between ‘pages’ and ‘posts’
- Screen Options
- Save Draft/ Publish
- Title
- Content
- Categories
- Tags
- Featured Image
- Author
Photos, Galleries and Photo Albums
Media Search
How to quickly search for a photo in the media library: it enables you to search by ‘item’, ‘date’, ‘keyword’.
Image Attachment Details
- URL
- Title
- Caption
- Alt text – let images help your Search Engine rankings
- Description
Image Attachment Display Setting
- Media File
- Attachment Page
- Custom URL
Gallery Type
- Thumbnail Grid
- Tiled Mosaic
- Square Tiles
- Circles
- Tiled Columns
- Slideshow
Wrap Text
Wrap text around Image
Embed Videos
Embed a YouTube Video to a Page or Post; Embed a Video as a Widget
Google Maps
Easily add, customize and embed Google maps on pages and posts and… in widgets
Download a PDF file
Easily download any document s.a Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, PDF, a Power Presentation and more.
Menus
Add a Nav Bar, Menus and drop-down Menus
Widgets
- Gallery – display a photo gallery or slideshow as a widget
- Top Posts & Pages – shows your most viewed posts and pages.
- Top Rated – a list of your top rated posts, pages or comments.
- and more…
Time: 09h00 – 14H00
Refreshments: There will be a tea break.
What to bring: a lap-top and a mouse (a tablet is useless for this type of training). There is high speed WiFi at the venue (but bring your 3G as backup).
Hands-on: This is a hands-on Event. During this workshop you are going to create your own website.
Meet new friends and learn how to create and publish a website.
Gallery
Click an image to view in a carousel
Sanele Makhoba attended Private Training ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’ 
Lori Lea attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’ 
Sharon Rose attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’ 
Gabi von Graevenitz attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’ 
Jabu Sibisi attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’ 
Chris Moodley and Gerhard Aspeling (L to R) attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’ 
Louise Carmichael, Jules Belasyse-Smith and Jennifer Hooper attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’ 
Muneer, Shelby and Carlson (L to R) attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’
Maggie Tideswell attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’ 
Amanda Jonker attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’ 
Stuart Wilson attended ‘Create and Publish a WordPress Website’
Meet new Friends and Learn how to Create and Publish a WordPress Website
Thanks so much Tony. I’ve learnt so much from your course.
I am impressed with my brand new website, and so grateful to Tony! He has helped me so much, and I thought I knew what to do, but the tips and tricks were fantastic. Great attitude, and wonderful way of explaining.
Hi Lori, very nice meeting you and being able to give you Training on WordPress. You already had a good grasp of WordPress, now you just have to bring it all together and continue learning… Best wishes, TT
Thanks for summarizing weeks of self-training into a few hours Tony!
Hi Sharon, an absolute pleasure having you here. You make a very good point: the Training “summarizes weeks of self-training into a few hours…” Best wishes with your website. TT
Thank you so much Tony for helping me create a beautiful website for myself. Your training was so helpful and I would highly recommend.
Thank you Gabi. It was an absolute pleasure having you here and best wishes with your website. TT
Thank you very much Tony for the most enlightening training session… and the most easy to follow style of your presentation. I am delighted with the training.
Thank you very much Jabu. It was a great pleasure giving you Training on WordPress and best wishes with your new website.
Tony is open about the topic and his methods help a lot with understanding on the subject matter. Thanks Tony it was an amazing experience
Thank you very much Carlson. It was fantastic having you here. Looking forward to seeing you at ‘Google AdWords’ Training. TT
Tony is a fantastic trainer. As someone who does have website building experience but not on WordPress, it was a refreshing look at something I am not used to. His training methods are extremely hands-on and very easy to understand. At no time did I feel overwhelmed. Thanks Tony and I will most certainly recommend you to everyone!
Wow, how kind of you Alicia. You picked up WordPress incredibly fast. Best wishes with your new website. TT
Thanks Tony. Enjoyed your course and will definitely be back.
Thank you very much Muller. It was great having you here and best wishes with your new website. I look forward to seeing you at the next Training Course. TT
Tony, thank you so much! Your WordPress training is literally going to change my life. You have made what seemed and impossible task, i.e. developing my own website, so achievable. I look forward to further training very soon
Dear Julie, it was an absolute pleasure having you here. Thank you so much for your lovely comment. Best wishes with your work. TT
I loved the training Tony … so much tips and tricks …I will come and attend your Google Analytics training too…
When is your SEO training please ??
Thank you for your time and training !!!
Very kind of you Koos. It was great having you here and I look forward to seeing you at the Google Analytics Training. TT
What a successful day. Learnt a great deal. Thanks Tony
Thank you Roelf, it was great having you and Mary-Anne attend the training. Look forward to visiting your new website soon. TT
awesome training – many thanks Tony !!
The Boss 🙂
Thank you Jon-Jon. Your work w.r.t hiking is impressive – thousands of followers on Facebook – wow!! Best wishes with your hiking website.
Thank you very much Tony, your experience with WordPress was incredibly useful. An excellent course and I now feel ready to set up the website that I need for my business
.
Thank you Lesley, it was great seeing you again. Best wishes with your new website. TT
Great workshop – the power of WordPress has been revealed!
Thank you Tabitha. Quite agree, WordPress has amazing features. Much success with your website. TT
Dear Tony
Thanks so much for the WordPress course on 4th January. Your approach helped me to gain confidence and understanding of the amazing possibilities with WordPress and I am pretty sure I can now use our website to gain commercial advantage.
Dear Penny, thank you so much. It was very nice meeting you. Best wishes with your website. TT
Very informative training, thank you very much Tony!!!
Hi Joanne, it was great meeting you. Best wishes with your new website. TT
Thank you so much Tony! Its a Great course and I learned so much 🙂
Hi Marco, you are a fast learner. Thanks for attending and best wishes with your new website. TT
Wow Tony! Thanks very much for enlightening me on how to use WordPress, you made it very informative, I learnt so much doing this course and it was absolutely worth my while.
Hi Adelaide, fantastic to hear. Best wishes with your new site. TT
Thank you Tony, I learned stacks of new information, and feel empowered to tackle new challenges.
That is good news Ernest. Best wishes with your new site. TT
Great! Learnt a lot, very useful.
Thank you Nafisa. TT
Wow, Tony. I learned so much. Will be coming for more lessons. I am definitely on my way to becoming a #wordpress guru
Yes you are Makika. Thank you. Look forward to seeing you at the next one. TT
What a Good Training indeed
Thanks Tony
Thank you Thapelo. TT
Very informative, and time saving
Thank you Christina. TT
Thank you so much for this brilliant training Tony.
This was such an awesome session. We will be back for sure.
Regards,
Michael & Russell
Thank you Michael and Russell.
Really looked forward to this training and have thoroughly enjoyed it and learned a great deal. I didnt have any prior knowledge of web design or wordpress and am walking away feeling quite pleased with myself. Cant wait to play around and practice now… thank you Tony, you’re a great and patient teacher!
Thank you Kim.
Really great training, I have really learnt a lot.
Regards
Diane
Thank you Diane.
Fantastic training Tony!! Thanks for all the insights on WordPress!!
Thank you Ntokozo.
Thanks Tony, for a very informative morning – I learned a huge amount and it was presented in such a user-friendly way. Highly recommended.
Thank you Noeline.
Thanks a lot Tony,I have learned more than I could have on my own.
Glad I could be of help.
Thanks Tony, the course was great. It is very informative and helped me a lot.
Thanks Sue.
Had a great day’s training.
All seemed so easy – well presented with great enthusiasm.
Thanks Tony!
Thanks Adrian.
Thanks Tony, the course was both entertaining and informative. A real gem of the industry
Thank you Joshua. Remember to post your training to Fun Seekers.
Thanks for the amazing training – learnt so much in just one day 🙂
Thank you Sue.
Hi Tony – Thanks for the WordPress training, i have been putting off the learning WordPress for years, and this morning i learned enough to start using it 🙂 Thanks for your help Tony!
Thank you Kobus. Looking forward to surfing the upcoming chocolate website.
I arrived as a complete novice and I am now able to build a very sophisticated web site. Very interesting course and well worth attending
Thank you James,
This training is highly recommended to anyone who needs to learn more about WordPress
Many thanks Vanessa.
WOW! Tony, thank you so much 🙂 it has been great! I have learnt so, so much! Thank You 🙂
Thank you Manuela and thanks for the lunch also.
Definitely worth it for learning the fundamentals you need to create a website. I’m usually self-taught when it comes to website related work (ASP, PHP, MySQL) using a lot of Google, but would have missed a lot of important fundamentals and information about good plugins to use, so the course was definitely invaluable.
Thanks Keldon, it was great having you, Steph and Rynhardt here.
Thanks, very informative and simple. Look forward to creating many great sites! M
Thanks Matthew, I am looking forward to visit your new website.
How refreshing! Tony is very dedicated, by making sure that you have grasped all important concepts. Thanks Mr T!
Many thanks Bettina. Great having you here!
A brilliant training that had me up and running with a nice new website within a few hours! Thanks, Tony!
Thank you Lance. Glad I could be of help.