This is a quick guide for beginners new to WordPress. For more detailed information, you can always ask me and I’ll be glad to help.

Log in

To log in to your site:

1. Go to http://www.yourwebsite.com/wp-admin. (you must type in your actual website)
2. Enter your username and password, and then click the Log In button.

At any time, you can click the Visit Site button at the top of the page to return to your site. You might want to bookmark the link you entered in Step 1 for future reference.

Create a Page

Pages are for content such as About Me, Contact Me, Legal Information, Company Information, etc. Pages are often used to present information about your company or your site that is somehow timeless — information that is always applicable. You can use Pages to organize and manage any amount of content. (By the way, it’s a good idea to always have an About page and a Contact page — see this advice from Lorelle.) You create pages by clicking the Add New tab under the Pages heading. Add a title and content, and then click the Publish button. At any time you may click the Preview button to see what your page will look like. Once a page has been created, you can click the Edit tab under the Pages heading to navigate back to that page and continue editing it.

Create a Post

Posts are the regular blog entries you write, if your site is set up for blogging capability. You write posts by clicking the Add New tab under the Posts heading. Complete the fields and information, select or create a category, and then click the Publish button. When you write blog posts, keep your paragraphs short and use subheadings. Once a post has been created, you can click the Edit tab under the Posts heading to navigate back to that page and continue editing it.

I use WordPress on all of my clients’ websites, unless they specifically request another content management system, and here is why:

Publishing

WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform. It allows you to add and remove pages, edit content, add blog posts, review comments and more, all within a well designed and regularly updated web interface. The workflow is intuitive, and it stays out of your way, giving you only the tools you need, and only when you need them.

Design

It allows for entirely custom design layouts and unlimited templates. With WordPress, it’s simple to create one template for the home page, another for regular pages, another for blog posts, etc.

Extendability

There are, as of this writing, 4,245 available plugins on the WordPress website. Plugins can extend WordPress to do almost anything you can imagine, from shopping carts to image galleries to contact forms.

Reliability

The WordPress website claims over 22 million downloads of the software. With this many users, they offer almost endless plugins, fantastic documentation, active user forums, and regular maintenance and feature updates. Many web designers know WordPress so you can feel secure that you will always be able to get help with your site, whether it is from myself or another designer.

Price

WordPress is entirely free to use. Not too shabby!