Lessons
Day 1
1What Can WordPress Do?
07:49 2WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
10:41 3Domains and Hosting
08:14 4Domains Q&A
10:00 5Demo: 1-Click Install on HostGator
08:53 6Audience Q&A
38:03 7WordPress Dashboard Oveview
32:31WordPress Dashboard: Settings
33:22 9Audience Q&A
03:42 10Working with Posts
33:44 11Working with Pages
30:46 12Audience Q&A
34:57 13Using WordPress Plug-ins
44:26 14WordPress Themes
27:13 15Final Q&A
04:05Day 2
16Managing Your Media
35:20 17Managing Your Media Q&A
05:48 18Working with Video
09:39 19Top 5 Photo Plug-ins
19:57 20Top 5 Themes for Video
13:56 21Top 5 Video Plug-ins
10:37 22Creating a Discussion
09:53 23Moderating Comments
12:26 24Creating Ratings and Polls
11:27 25Purchasing a Theme
17:58 26Customizing a Theme
08:23 27Editing Code for Non-Geeks
24:54 28Customizing Themes Q&A
07:43 29CSS Crash Course
24:15 30Using the WordPress Codex
13:13 31Creating and Using Menus
08:28 32Lightbox Plugins
13:13 33WordPress Codex, Menus and Plugins Q&A
08:43 34General WordPress Q&A
10:17 35Optimizing Images for the Web in Photoshop
32:30 36Optimizing Images Q&A
10:56 37Displaying High Resolution Images on the Web
11:35Day 3
38Protecting Images Online
22:06 39Adding Watermarks
17:56 40Copywriting Images
08:40 41SEO 101
24:00 42Engaging Your Audience
05:26 43URL Shortening
09:54 44Exporting/Importing WordPress Data
10:33 45Backing Up WordPress
13:26 46Security 101
24:20 47Spotting Trustworthy Themes/Plugins
24:32 48Trustworthy Themes/Plugins Q&A
21:13 49Battling Spam
18:38 50Dealing with a Hacked Site
15:41 51Protecting Your Site
10:46 52Using Web Fonts
24:08 53Web Fonts Q&A
11:36 54Thanks + Credits
04:04 55Monetizing Your Content
24:55 56Final Q&A
28:31Lesson Info
Engaging Your Audience
So let's talk a little bit about my my strategy when I'm talking about block posts and engaging your audience and also about social outreach. Because this is, Ah, big big topic. So when we talk about blogged posts, I think a lot of people get overwhelmed when they think about blog's because they think, OK, I have toe produce this master piece of work and, you know, everybody's gonna be reading it blah, blah, blah. But in actuality, I would tell you number one right, what you're passionate about, Whatever that is. Because passion can show through in writing. Writing is a very personal thing, like photography, for instance. And so when you're going through to write, don't necessarily right just to write. Okay, because nobody is going, like if I just wouldn't did a block post today about you know? Okay. I had a granola bar for breakfast this morning. Yeah, that makes for a compelling Twitter update. Maybe, but it does not, you know, it does not a block post make you know what I mean. So, ...
like, for instance, on my site, you know, I've gone through a lot of changes in the past year. You know, I lost a bunch weight. I took a new job. I got married. Um, hydra. Um And so, um, I wrote this long block post the other day about striving for happiness and not success, and about all the different changes that I've gone through and why I've made those changes because of the fact that I wanted to be happier, not necessarily more successful. And so that was something that I am absolutely passionate about. There were a ton of people that disagreed with my point of view. There are a ton of people that read it and found it inspirational. There were a ton of people that read it and said, Yeah, you know, that's that's good. I can't do it myself. But I agree with the premise, and so, you know, I get a lot of traction off of stuff like that. And I think it's because of the fact that people see that I really mean what I say in that post, right? I'm not just I'm not just writing that to make me sound like, uh, you know, some of those business gurus that so you know, books or whatever, so I mean, that's what I do. I write stuff that you know I care about. I mean, I phone. Ah, graffiti 101 That's another topic I did the other day when I before I bought my digital SLR. The only camera that I literally had was my IPhone. And so I had to find a way to produce, uh, decent photographs with that phone, which is difficult. I mean, mobile phones are not exactly a photographic marvel, right? And so I I created this post so that people understand how, Because people were asking me there, like, how do you get this photo like that with an IPhone or your king? And so I did that. You know, I write about all different types of stuff. I mean, you can see all the different, you know, topics, and I do all around there. So, um, that would be my number. One thing would be to absolutely without a doubt write what you're passionate about at the same time when people come to your site and they will If you start writing enough content to start producing content, people will come to you. Okay? Don't ignore them. Don't ignore the people you have to engage your audience. If you do not engage your audience, they will find no reason to come back because most people come to a blogging comment on it because they want to start a conversation. If you don't continue the conversation now, remember, don't feed the trolls. So if people if people come there and say, You know you stink, just, you know okay, whatever, skip over that one and go to the next one and engage them in conversation because there's a ton of people out there that are in different parts of the world, different places that don't necessarily get this type of interaction any other way other than posting online somewhere. So if you engage your audience, whether it's to block post social networking or whatever, that's a way to create a community of folks that will not only be engaged with you but what you're doing. And if you can engage them of what you're doing, chances are you're gonna get a follower slash customer for life. And so you know, I have people that have been watching my podcast for years. I've been doing the podcast since 0506 They've been following me since day one on that thing. Any time I do a video, any time I do a class, A workshop or whatever, I know those core group of folks are going to come and they're going to buy it or they're gonna attend it. There's a few of them that have that. I've heard their names already being asked questions on the Internet. I've recognized some of these names, and so I know that you're out there. Hi, by the way. And so you know, I know these people and I know them because I've engaged with them because I've interacted with them. All right? Okay, social outreach. That's That's one of the other things I want to talk about. So if you're not adding social aspects to your belong the Google plus ones, the tweet buttons to the Facebook like buttons and all that kind of stuff, you're really doing yourself a disservice because people like that stuff. Okay, whether we like it or not, we're in this social ecosystem, all right, and we were talking this morning about how we dislike Facebook, and I have nothing personal against people who do use Facebook. It's just not for me. Um, but I understand the importance of having a Facebook fan page understand the importance of your Facebook like button and all that stuff. So, you know, use that to your advantage. Don't necessarily put so much emphasis on it. That that's all you're doing because you're trying to drive people here to this website. You're not trying to drive people to other places, but if they find you through those other places and flock to you, the more the merrier, right?
Class Materials
bonus material with enrollment
Ratings and Reviews
a Creativelive Student
I watched all three days of the course. I am a photographer. The course was titled WordPress for Photographers. Only about 5% of the course was tailored to photographers. Most of the content and discussion was for pro website consultants and bloggers. That aside, Mr. Seeley is so well versed in what he knows well. Imagine sitting in front of the camera for 3 straight days remaining articulate and very professional! The class was really presented for bloggers, not photographers. An example of this is on day 3 where the presenter, after talking about photographers' concerns for an hour or two, said he wanted to transition out of photography into blogging. The class seemed short on the type of content that photographers need. It would have served photographers better if the students present in the studio were all photographers. Discussions on watermarking, photo file size and image theft/copyright infringement showed that Mr. Seeley's background in the needs of photographers is lacking, while his expertise in graphics and web design are VERY impressive. Too much of the class time was devoted to answering narrowly focused tech support questions from people other than photographers. It was a wonderful class for the audience that hijacked it, but it should have been titled and described differently if it was intended for web-blog designers. I really liked the energy, humor, and expertise of Mr. Seeley but the class was too-often off-mission. On day 1, it would have been very productive to show a photographer's WP website that was esthetically beautiful and had all the bells and whistles photographers are looking for. Then explain how you get from nothing to the final website using WordPress. That would have met the needs of pro photographers!
Shannon
Justin is an excellent presenter. He's easy to listen to and it's obvious he knows his stuff. As a presenter/trainer, I really appreciated his ability to stick with his outline while he fielded questions, both off and on topic. It takes some balancing to do that. He was good at noting questions that were too far afield and I think he actually answered all of them by the end of the three days. I would definitely attend more classes presented by him. Thanks, Justin and CreativeLIVE.
a Creativelive Student
Amazing class! Superb presentation! Justin kept the technical geek-speak to a minimal and made the entire class easy to understand and fun! I think this class should be called Wordpress for the Non-Geek! (As others have said there was not a lot of information specific to photographers, but when it was referenced there was great examples and information provided!)