Here is a clever WordPress Help Sheet to save on your desktop wallpaper.

WordPress Cheat Sheet Wallpaper was originally published on Atlanta WordPress Coach. All rights reserved.

Our small group Atlanta WordPress training and mentorship program enables you to learn and work on what you need—when you need it. We know particular features of WordPress are mind boggling when you are getting started.

Our WordPress mentor program is designed to be one-on-one; however, we understand finances are a bit tough for many people so we decided to create an affordable “group” mentorship program.

The secret to learning is not just showing up for a workshop and taking notes. It’s what you do with the things you are taught that makes the difference.

Bring all your notes from those other workshops

Bring your laptop, your frustrations, your questions and all those notes from other workshops.

We will:

• Explain the fundamentals of WordPress and business marketing to you
• Help you establish and secure a keyword rich domain name (URL)
• Assist you with setting up your web hosting account
• Install and setup your WordPress site with the Genesis Prose theme
• Illustrate how to optimize your WordPress site for the search engines
• Show you how to write content for your ideal customer and for the search engines
• Provide 2.5 hours personalized face-to-face mentoring and training every month
• Prepare you to integrate your offline marketing efforts with your online presence
• Hold you accountable to your goals with bi-monthly coaching calls
• Provide access to our ever growing library of online video tutorials

We’ll work hand-in-hand. Play. Experiment. Build things. Take them apart. Fail. Fail again. 

It’s the only way.

Marietta — 4th Thursday 9am-12pm	Marietta — 2nd Saturday 8:30am-11am

Atlanta WordPress Mentor Program was originally published on Atlanta WordPress Coach. All rights reserved.

The primary focus of Atlanta WordPress Coach is educating my students (as individual business owners or part of a corporate enterprise) about how they can use WordPress to get the most out of their website or blog.

Because all students are different—with different aims, dreams and goals—I spend time listening to their heart. Only then can we transform their vision into an online representation of who they are, and the passion they desire to share.

I believe desire is divine.

If you have desire in your heart for your website, let’s talk.

Teaching WordPress Touches Souls was originally published on Atlanta WordPress Coach. All rights reserved.

Version 3.3 has significant improvements for beginners with pointer tips for new features included in each update, a friendly welcome message for first-time users, and revamped help tabs throughout the interface.

The latest and greatest WordPress includes a new drag-and-drop uploader, hover menus for the navigation, a new toolbar, improved co-editing support, and a new Tumblr importer… Matt Mullenweg and WordPress video

Think Twice Before Upgrading

1. Be sure your hosting account will support the new WordPress 3.3 version. This is particularly important if you are not with Bluehost, HostGator and InMotion Hosting, our recommended hosting services.
2. Check the compatibility of your existing plugins. (There are several plugins that are known incompatibly at this moment.) Jump over to the WordPress plugin repository and search for each of the plugins you use.  Have they been updated within the last year and AT MINIMUM compatible with 3.0?

When Should You Upgrade?

I like to wait 7-10 days after a major production release before upgrading. Delaying a few days allows the developers time to identify and fix bugs and quirks. I know your finger is itching to touch the upgrade button, but wait! Make sure you have a complete backup of your site. You don’t want an upgrade ruining your site.

Overall WP 3.3 is more user friendly than ever! Give the upgrade the attention it needs to be done right (or drop me an email to hire me to assist) and you’ll be glad you did!

Drop me a comment below and let me know if you have any questions, thoughts, or suggestions to share with others about upgrading WordPress versions! The more ideas we share the more we help everyone.

WordPress 3.3 – Think Twice Before Upgrading was originally published on Atlanta WordPress Coach. All rights reserved.

Learn to use WordPress to build your own full-featured web site.  You receive step-by-step instruction on getting started with WordPress and manage all aspects of your site, all by yourself!  You also learn how to install and configure powerful themes and plug-ins to add a variety of useful features to your site.

In this 3-hour workshop, Kathy—in her laid-back style—takes the intimidation out of WordPress. You learn how to use WordPress in easy-to-understand pieces (because Kathy doesn’t speak geek).

Get your questions answered throughout the session.

Learn and practice:

• Using and customizing your dashboard.

• Creating and editing your posts and pages.

• Adding media: photos, artwork, videos and audio.

• Installing and setting up Kathy’s top ten plugins.

• Install and setting up widgets— with a look at some of the more popular ones.

• Using the power of links.

• Creating and using categories and tags.

• Creating customized menus for your navigation bar and sidebar.

• And more tips and tricks.

You can expect to…

Walk away with more confidence in the ability to control your WordPress website / blog yourself and make the most out of WordPress’s awesome features.

Enjoy a comfortable, efficient classroom setting with your own workspace for your laptop and reliable WiFi Internet connections at the Office Suites PLUS at Sterling Point/Perimeter.

NOTE: Please be prepared for this workshop by installing WordPress or using a free account on WordPress.com. Also, have a theme installed, or at least activate the default Twenty Eleven theme. (Important to know: You cannot add plugins to WordPress.com)
Contact me if you have any questions about preparing to learn WordPress.

Refund Policy: Payment is non-refundable. But you will receive full credit for a future workshop, online class or webinar. No expiration date.

Learn to Use WordPress: Atlanta Workshop was originally published on Atlanta WordPress Coach. All rights reserved.

Easily Embed Videos in WordPress Posts

All you need to do is paste the video URL into the content area. Make sure the URL is on it’s own line and not clickable (hyperlinked). For example:

Here is how you can get started with Google Analytics:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ID

Wasn’t that super easy.

What are the White-Listed Providers?

• YouTube
• Vimeo
• DailyMotion
• blip.tv
• Flickr (both videos and images)
• Viddler
• Hulu
• Qik
• Revision3
• Scribd
• Photobucket
• PollDaddy
• Google Video
• WordPress.tv (only VideoPress-type videos for the time being)
• SmugMug (WordPress 3.0+)
• FunnyOrDie.com (WordPress 3.0+)

If your videos or other media are uploaded on one of these sites, then WordPress will automatically embed. Otherwise, you have to post the embed code manually.

How-To Easily Embed Videos in WordPress Posts was originally published on Atlanta WordPress Coach. All rights reserved.

How to Install WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast

Installation of this plugin is the same as installing any other WordPress plugin. First you need to Download WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast, and then you need to activate it. You should see a new tab added in the admin panel called SEO with Yoast’s logo on it.

How to Setup WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast

The settings I select are the ones recommended in a video presentation by Yoast. Advanced users can ignore any selection which fall outside your preferences. If you are a beginner and you want to use Yoast’s WordPress SEO plugin, then please follow along the steps carefully.

Step 1. Data Transfer

Many of you probably have another WordPress plugin like All in One SEO pack, or a theme framework like Genesis, Thesis, or Headway dealing with your SEO data. You need to make sure all of your previous data is transported to this plugin before you deactivate the other one. To accomplish this, I recommend using SEO Data Transporter by StudioPress. If you are installing this plugin on a new site or if there is no other SEO feature, you should skip this step.

Step 2: General Settings

Let’s review what you see in the “Dashboard” page of Yoast WordPress SEO plugin.

The Use meta keywords tags box is checked. This allows you to see the Meta Keywords in the post edit panel. The second option is for Disabling the date in snippet preview for posts, yet there is no harm leaving it unchecked. The advanced part of WordPress SEO is good for some posts or plugins, so it is good to leave it unchecked. Anything below the first section should be left unchecked like the image above.

Step 3: Webmaster Tools

If you know a little bit about SEO, then you have probably heard that each of the popular search engines, Google, Yahoo, and Bing allows the site owners to have some sort of webmaster tools area. This section of the plugin lets you see inside stats about your site in the specific search engines. In order to verify your site to see those inside data, you have to add a meta tag to your site, or upload a file. Simply add the meta code you received from the search engines in the respective fields.

Continue Reading »

Getting Fancy with WordPress SEO Plugin was originally published on Atlanta WordPress Coach. All rights reserved.