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The Best Free Resources for Building a WordPress Site

Hatef Yamini - Monday, May 17, 2010
Recently, I gave a presentation at NetSquared DC, the local meetup for social changemakers and technologists. We meet monthly, and the most popular topic is how to build websites. But a lot of our members are small business and small nonprofits without a web development budget. So I put together this list of some of the best free WordPress resources.

I also compiled a list of Do's and Don'ts to help guide newcomers as they build their first website.

Here's the audience guide I developed for that presentation.

Great one-click hosting for WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal

What makes these hosts so good? Well, to begin with they offer great service at a reasonable price. But even more important for web newbies is the fact that these hosts allow 1-click installation of everything you need to get up and running with WordPress. That means you don't have to know any technical information, you don't have to download anything and you don't have to use FTP. With these hosts, you just click one button and your WordPress installation is complete. To be clear and fair, these aren't the only hosts that provide 1-click install, so if you know of others please add them to the comments and I'll add them to this list.
  • http://www.bluehost.com/
  • http://www.dreamhost.com/
  • http://mediatemple.net/
  • http://laughingsquid.net/
  • http://www.siteground.com/
  • http://www.rackspace.com

Free photo editing tools

WordPress wins award for best overall open source CMS

OK, this isn't really a resource, but it's a good article and it provides some context to this awesome CMS.

Free video tutorials on using WordPress

  • http://wordpress.tv/flavor/wordpressorg/
Text based WordPress training:
  • http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Lessons

Top 10 WordPress plugins:

  1. Forms
  2. SEO Friendly images: http://www.prelovac.com/vladimir/wordpress-plugins/seo-friendly-images
  3. Add a facebook like button to your wordpress blog
    1. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/like/
    2. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/facebook-like-button/
    3. http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/facebook-like-button-plugin/
  4. Disqus plugin http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/disqus-comment-system/
  5. Share this http://secure.sharethis.com/publishers/getbutton?type=wpplugin
  6. All in one SEO pack http://semperfiwebdesign.com/portfolio/wordpress/wordpress-plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/
  7. If your theme doesn’t have a special place for inputing your Google Analytics code, use Google Analyticator http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-analyticator/
  8. Akismet comment spam control http://akismet.com/
  9. Site maintenance plugin let’s you show an under construction sign while you perform maintenance or changes to the site: http://talkpress.de/blip/wet-maintenance-wordpress-plugin
  10. Mailchimp subsribe form http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mailchimp/
    1. Then sign up for Mailchimp for a free account at http://www.mailchimp.com

Great sources for WordPress Themes

  • http://wordpress.org/extend/themes/
  • http://www.studiopress.com/
  • http://www.bestwpthemes.com/#premium_business
  • http://www.rockettheme.com/wordpress
  • http://www.templatesold.com/
  • http://ithemes.com/
  • http://mashable.com/2009/01/07/wordpress-2-7-themes/

Top 25 Do's and Don'ts For Building a Website (not in any order)

  1. Do use software to reduce the size of any images you host on your site
  2. Do design your text to be easy to scan by using header tags and writing in shorter chunks of information
  3. Do put your contact information in the footer so it appears on every page.
  4. Do use a web form, rather than an email address to let people contact you.
  5. Do update your content frequently
  6. Don’t use flashing or blinking text or page counters
  7. Don’t use a Flash intro
  8. Don’t use coming soon or under construction. If it’s not ready, don’t publish it.
  9. Don’t use background music, especially if it auto-starts
  10. Don’t use an auto-start video
  11. Do keep your site structure consistent, don’t swith elements around
  12. Don’t use a funky navigation. It will probably only annoy your visitors
  13. Do create a site map page. People still use them
  14. Do create an FAQ page, these can be very popular
  15. Don’t use ALL CAPS in your text
  16. Don't use a lot of italics, it’s hard to read online
  17. Don’t use anything beyond <H5>
  18. Do use clear and consistent hyperlinks. Don’t make anything look like a hyperlink if it isn’t a hyperlink
  19. Do use H1 for your post titles, H2 and H3 for everything else.
  20. Do use categories and tags for your posts
  21. Do include images in your posts so their not boring
  22. Do add your facebook and twitter accounts to your site
  23. Do regularly backup your site either manually http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Backups or automatically http://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Backups#Automatic_Backups
  24. Do keep backups of your theme, especially before you attempt a theme modification. http://wordpress.jdwebdev.com/blog/backup-theme/
  25. Do set up feedburner for your blog
  26. http://www.google.com/support/feedburner/bin/topic.py?topic=13252
    b. http://feedburner.google.com
  27. Top 10 Todo’s for SEO
    General tips:
    • Focus on creating great content
    • Don’t try to trick Google

    1. If you’re a local business set up your Google.com/places webpage
    2. Use kewords in your blog titles
    3. Write frequently, the more content you have the more likely you’ll be found
    4. Use permalinks and follow these instructions: http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Permalinks
    5. Set up your Google Webmaster Tools account and register your site
    6. For every image, make sure to provide a Title and Alt tag: http://siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress/wordpress_seo.htm#headings
    7. Follow the tips on this website http://www.siteground.com/tutorials/wordpress/wordpress_seo.htm
    8. Watch this 30 minute video for free on Google about how to use Google Webmaster http://services.google.com/breeze/webmasters/googleforwebmasters/
    9. Enter a meta description for each of your pages
    10. Check out this awesome resource from WordPress: http://codex.wordpress.org/Search_Engine_Optimization_for_WordPress


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