Using WordPress and a flexible framework like Genesis on a host like WPEngine can save you hours of both installation, planning, and troubleshooting. We did an analysis of our WordPress design and development time sheets and discovered that before we were using the Genesis and WPEngine solution, on average we were spending a majority of our time (around 38 hours a week) on setting up WordPress (using the “5 minute install” method), developing the functionality requirements of the site, and then troubleshooting the site after we were finished. This left us with not a whole lot of time to do other things that we enjoy.
However, after we began using our Genesis and WP Engine WordPress install, we found that setup took us around 2 minutes, common functionality requirements dipped to around 5 minutes as they were in the Genesis Framework, and troubleshooting dropped to around two hours. Wow, aren’t our lives better!
WordPress with Genesis and WP Engine Class Overview
During the two hour session, we will show how we use our first topic will be hosting. We will cover some basic plans and then talk about why we use WPEngine. We will then install WordPress on WP Engine servers (if you are using another host, it is fine, but we recommend WP Engine). (30 minutes)
After we install WordPress, we then will go over some basic frameworks that can make designing and maintaining your WordPress site easier. We will install Genesis on top of WordPress and go over some basic functionality of the framework. (45 minutes)
After the framework is setup, we will go over some basic tools in Chrome and Firefox that can help you work through problems on your site. (15 minutes)
We will then review some popular plugins and provide a list of plugins that we typically use on all of our sites. (5 minutes)
Lastly, we will go over some basic functions of WordPress. (5 minutes)
For the last 10 minutes, we will answer any questions.
We will also provide a help desk for an hour of the SEO presentation for further questions.
Materials/Skills needed:
- Basic knowledge of WordPress (how to create posts and pages, install a plugin, install a theme)
- Become acquainted with the Genesis Framework
- Become acquainted with WPEngine
- Computer
Resources for WordPress with Genesis and WP Engine Presentation
During our presentation, you will need the following links:
Genesis Plugins:
- Simple Hooks: allows you to insert code into the framework
- See the Genesis Visual Hook Guide for placement of hooks
- Simple Sidebars:
- Allows you to add sidebars to your pages
- http://www.studiopress.com/plugins/simple-sidebars
- Simple Edits
- http://www.studiopress.com/plugins/simple-edits
- Genesis Simple Edits lets you edit the three most commonly modified areas in any Genesis theme: the post-info, the post-meta, and the footer area.
- search for Genesis in wp plugin directory gives 5 pages of results
SEO:
- WordPress SEO by Yoast: http://yoast.com/wordpress/seo/#utm_source=wpadmin&utm_medium=plugin&utm_campaign=wpseoplugin
- BWP Google XML Sitemaps
- Google Analytics:http://yoast.com/wordpress/google-analytics/
- blog posts: http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/12/16/9-seo-plugins-every-wordpress-blog-should-have/
- http://mashable.com/2009/03/20/wordpress-seo-plugins/
- Web Ninja Google Analytics
CONTACT FORMS
- Contact Form 7 (free) : http://contactform7.com
- Gravity Forms (paid) : http://www.gravityforms.com/
OTHER:
- Heat Map
- This plugin will help you to analyze where people click on your site. As the result you will discover where better to place banners, how to organize navigation, where to put advertisements like AdSense and more.
- http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/heatmap/
- WP PageNavi:
- can add page navigation to the bottom of your pages
- http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-pagenavi/