INTRODUCTION

Foreword

This book is essentially a huge walkthrough from zero knowledge of Internet Technologies to building yourself your first, smart looking, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) aware website on the Wordpress platform.

In this book, I will just take your hand and show you all the steps, systematically, making sure you are not left wondering whether or not you are on the right track: you will know, I will show you!

You must be wondering what are the prerequisites before starting this book:

•PhD in theoretical physics

•10 years webmaster experience

No, just kidding! All you need (realistically, trust me!) :

•An Internet connection

•A web browser, be it Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari on any platform (UNIX, Windows, iOS or else)

•A working knowledge of email and Internet

In a nutshell if you surfed the web before, you’re good to go! Even if you have no clue what on earth those Safari and other UNIX beasts are, fear not, all is fine, just go ahead!

So do not worry my friend, hold on to your seat and please join me for this travel on your way to Wordpress proficiency, you can do it too! ;)

About The Author

Jeff studied Computer Science then Business (France and United Kingdom). He worked as a consultant, auditor and business analyst for mostly multinational companies (including two Big 4 Audit Firms). He has been living in Turkey for over 9 years.

He launched an online doctor appointment website called "Doktoragit" (meaning “go to the doctor”) and received a prestigious Alt?n Örümcek Awards (Golden Spider) for it.

During this stint as a would-be entrepreneur he discovered Wordpress and was blown away by its possibilities, hence his wanting to write a (hopefully) simple, easy to use book to get quickly up and running with Wordpress without sacrificing vital elements such as security and maintenance.

Passionate about any kind of technology, he recently discovered the Apple universe and became an apple fan boy (this book was written on Apple Pages using a MacBook Pro :) ).

Who Is This Book For?

When I say “For Ages 9 to 99!” of course it means anyone can do it. In terms of your profile, you are really likely to find yourself in one of the following audiences:

•An individual who wants to have his/her own website...For private purpose. Example of this:

•Family website

•CV website

•Blog

•A small business owner ready to make the jump to the Internet or wanting to upgrade their existing old fashioned website at a bargain. For commercial purpose. Among potential such people:

•Restaurant owner

•Photographer

•Artist

•Manufacturing company

•Importer

•Exporter

•Consultant

•Etc...

It does not really matter what type of website you are after, Wordpress can cater to your needs.

Disclaimer

In this book I sometimes advise you to choose and buy a service or a product to make your life easier. This means ALL of the following statements are true:

•If you click on their logo, text link or use the given coupon in this book or on my recommended service page then buy something, I might get a little kickback (actually you might too! I have some special discounts for my readers! :) )

•The opinions in this book are mine only and are not established under any kind of influence, pressure, gift or money

•The only reason I mention such services or products is that I genuinely and sincerely believe that they will add value to the task you are undertaking which is to build your own website

•I am not liable for any potential issues with services or products mentioned in this book

What Are Your Motivations For Wanting An Online Presence?

These are a few reasons why you would want to read and follow this book's recipes:

•You finally decided your business would look a lot more professional with an online presence (e.g. too many people asked you “What is your business' web address?” and you had to cough to cover your embarrassment)

•This is the way the world goes, to look for something most people search on Google, if you want to be found and increase your traffic and prospects you just need this presence

•Your new commercial law requires you to have an internet presence. “OUCH! It is going to hurt my wallet! I have no chance, need to do something about it!”

What Will You Find In This Book?

In this book I not only try to give you all you need to quickly set Wordpress up - which if you are well prepared can be done in a reasonably short amount of time - but also give some best practices in terms of adding plugins for doing many things, add pages and posts to it, monitoring your website (measurement) and start marketing it.

Do not expect an academic book with all the fancy words and theory. This book does not purport to be a Bible on this subject, it simply hopes to be a useful and practical walk through that will enable virtually anyone to have a good understanding of the subject and especially get up and running to a very good standard in no time.

This process is as follows and makes up the main chapters of the book:

CHAPTER 1: Wordpress

Here the idea is pretty much to sell you Wordpress, to explain, show, demonstrate why it is an excellent choice as the platform for your Internet endeavor.

CHAPTER 2: Your Domain Name

Your domain name (yourdomain.com) is a critical part of your identity on the Internet. This chapter deals with how to choose a domain name, how to buy one and which options to choose. There is also a reminder of the importance of using strong passwords and how to easily remember them.

CHAPTER 3: Your Hosting Company

Now you need some real estate of the Internet to physically store your Wordpress installation. You need a server to host your website. This chapter is about choosing an internet hosting company (according to which criteria), how to buy it and finally how to link your domain name to your hosting account.

CHAPTER 4-5: Wordpress Installation

All about setting up the Wordpress software on your server. First an easy way, full automatic way of installing Wordpress followed by a completely manual way (including set up of related database).

CHAPTER 6-9: Google Apps

These chapters explains how to set up your domain for Google Apps. Basically, it will enable you to get an yourname@yourdomain.com email address with Gmail’s awesome infrastructure (meaning easy way of receiving emails on your smartphone). This chapter explains everything step by step including all email migration.

CHAPTER 10: Finding Your Way Around Wordpress

Here, you will find the basics of the Wordpress interface. It includes how to write your first post and page etc...

CHAPTER 11: About Media

This chapter explains some basic ideas about digital photography, what to bear in mind then how to add a picture to a post. It also explains how to add a video as well as how to access all this with your iPad or actually many other mobile devices.

CHAPTER 12: Themes in Wordpress

You want your site to have an awesome design, don’t you? Then you need to know about Themes. Where to get them, how to install them. This is what this chapter is about.

CHAPTER 13-14: Working With Your Theme

Once you have chosen a theme you need to customize it, adapt it to your needs. This chapter is crucial to this book as this is where we will take a raw product and produce a final one as far as appearance is concerned. After this chapter your website should be awesome! :)

CHAPTER 15-17: Wordpress Plugins

The real power of Wordpress lies in its plugins. There are quadrillions of plugins, so probably there are a few doing just what you want your website to do...without any coding needed on your part. In this chapter, we will go over a selection of my favorite plugins and how to install and configure them.

CHAPTER 18: Hardening Wordpress (Security)

Wordpress is pretty awesome and secure. However, every so often some security holes are found and can be exploited by malicious people. This chapter is about preparing yourself and minimizing the risks to your Wordpress installation. I strongly advise you to read this chapter carefully and install the related (free) plugins.

CHAPTER 19: Search Engine Optimization...