What is WordPress? Why is it so famous? How could it really benefit me?
These are the questions running through the minds of many thousands of designers out there who have not tapped into this invaluable resource. WordPress is the future of your web design world. It is what empowers freelance designers to meet tight deadlines and not die of stress when it comes to new and complicated manageable functionality. It is what gives so many an edge over the masses and enables us as designers to work faster and better.
If it’s this valuable, how do I get it? How much does it cost me in the means of time and effort?
It costs nothing in the way of price, and minimal in the way of time learning to use it, with unparalleled dividends. How to get it is simple: Go to http://wordpress.org/ and go to the download section. Get the zip file, and read the directions for how to mount it. More or less this is the process:
Go to the directory where you have your site, and upload the unzipped package of the WordPress files. Nextly, open example.com/wp-admin/ in your internet browser of choice. This will walk you through as simple form of installing some simple things for your WordPress site. One it says that WordPress works, you can go to your dashboard and get a feel for it. Now comes to uploading your work to it. Add your XHTML, CSS, etc. (the entire site you have made) to a folder in a subdirectory called wp-content. You will see other premade themes that come with WordPress already there. Create a directory for your own WordPress theme, and upload it.
Then go back to the wp-content folder. Go into another one of the theme directories, and go to their CSS file. You will see at the top a section with some info. It will be inside of some “/* */” brackets. Copy and paste this into the top of your CSS file, and change the info to feature your info. From there, go back to your WordPress dashboard, and go to the sidebar. Go to appearance, themes, and click. You will see your theme with no picture as one of the options. Click activate, and presto, you’re ready to go.
From this point, the sky is the limit as to what you can do with WordPress. There are many hundreds of plugins, add-ons, and tricks that will take you into your future with this design style. You can make any style, any type of site, and have it fully content manageable so that you can leave it to the client ready to use.
WordPress can be used for so many things including e-commerce sites, photo blog functions, social networks, SEO optimization, and so many more things. Learning how to use it, accessing your files through it, and so much more is within your reach as you use it for your advantage. You will see in no time at all that WordPress is perfect for you and your needs.
Next, learn how to build phenomenal landing pages or build a custom WordPress theme using Catalyst.
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Professional speakers are always adapting their websites in order to be more successful. I have been speaking to a lot of speaker bureau managers, event planners and meeting planners since I began promoting MotivationalSpeakersWorldwide.com. I discovered that these professionals can usually predict the success of a professional speaker simply by looking at their website for a few moments. Professional speakers who are attuned to this are changing their websites to match this perception. If your goal is to become a competitive force in the professional speaking arena, it is important for you to meet these expectations as well.
Although every speaker site will be unique to that speaker’s personality, all successful professional speaker sites have a unique home page layout different from the layout for the other pages on the site. In fact, it is not unusual for more established professional speakers to have three different layouts for their site, the home page, the numerous subpages, and then a different layout for their blog.
I would like to focus on the three most typical home page layouts used by professional working speakers. Hands down, there are three that are used most often. Those home page layouts are:
Layout #1:
Layout #1 is the most popular among professional speakers. It shows a full or nearly full size image of the speaker to the left of the screen, and focuses on various content, including text, videos, books, and other images to the right of the screen. While the left and the right sides of the screen are the most prevalent, you will typically also find search box to the top of the screen and videos, images or other boxes on the bottom.
Layout #2:
The second layout is the most similar to layout #1, except that the content is contained on the left part of the web page and the speaker’s picture is moved to the right. This layout is typically chosen if the designer or the speaker feel that the content is more important to the reader of the web site than the speaker. Other than that reversal, the remainder of the two layouts are very similar.
Layout #3:
The home page layout that is third in popularity is the familiar 3 column layout we are all familiar with on the web now. Content is usually spread out between the left and the right column, and the middle column features the speaker with a picture or video display. The three columns allow for an unlimited number of ways to organize the home page in a unique manner.
I have heard a lot of feedback that three column formats for professional speaker home pages can feel cluttered or too busy. Their usefulness if you have products or a book to promote or want to include an opt-in box mean you should keep this layout as an option. The important thing is to make sure to use caution when planning a three column layout.
It is critical for professional speakers to have a home page that is unique to their message yet meets the needs of event and meeting planners. The best advice when choosing your home page design is to review as many different samples of websites from other successful professional speakers. Your layout should ultimately showcase your content and your personality in the best light possible.
Marty Dickinson is the founder of HereNextYear.com and co-author of Web Marketing All-in-One for Dummies. He has been a full-time Internet marketer for 15 years. He is a internet marketing speaker on the subjects of websites for professional speakers and has just recently developed MotivationalSpeakersWorldwide.com, an online directory of professional and up and coming speakers.. Unique version for reprint here: Professional Speaker Website Layouts that Get Results.
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