In an earlier blog post I wrote about changing my website to a WordPress format as it would allow me to update the website much more easily than the previous version, and also allow me to integrate a blog into the website.

The main thing that put me off doing this for so long was that I didn’t really know what was involved and wondered if I would have the ability to create a website that I liked. I spoke with some people, namely @jimmykonty who gave me the assurance and confidence that I would be able to get to grips with WordPress.

SET-UP & INSTALLATION

What I didn’t want to do was pay my server costs to the host (1&1) and then find that I was unable to do what I wanted. Fortunately you are able to install a program called WampServer which allows you to host a local MySQL database on your computer so that you can play around with WordPress without ever having to upload anything to the internet. This may seem like a daunting task, but it isn’t. I found a 2 step tutorial (Step 1 & Step 2) which walks you through it every step of the way. Read them through a couple of times and you are good to go. Don’t forget to follow the instructions for The Famous 5 Minute Installation over on the WordPress website. It really is very easy.READY TO GO

You’re all installed and ready to go; now what? Simple, just have a play around with WordPress to see what you can create and how you can create it. There is lots of detailed documentation in the WordPress Codex main page that are all very easy to work through and won’t fry your brain. There is even a short guide about creating a site from scratch, follow it and you’ll soon know what you are doing.It took me several sessions to fall on a design layout that I liked for my website, but each session I learnt a little bit more about how to create what I wanted. If ever you get stuck try a Google search for your problem, or better still, refer to the WordPress forums where there are literally thousands of posts to search through. You’ll never be searching long for the answer you need. If you’re still unsure make a post, it wont be long before it’s answered. Be aware that if you want to have a website with multiple pages and a blog, you will need to create a static front page. Also if you only want people to be able to comment on your blog you will need to not allow comments on the pageOnce you have decided on the layout and that WordPress is very easy to use, it’s time to contact your website host and make the switch to a package that has a MySQL database included with it (if you don’t already have this). 1&1 offer their Dual Basic Plus package which is only £2.49 a month to new customers and it includes 1 database. If you intend to have more than 1 website hosted you will need more than 1 MySQL database, but your web company should be able to help answer your queries.

The hardest challenge I had was getting WordPress installed on my 1&1 database, there are guides on the WordPress website and the 1&1 FAQ page. Once it was all set up I decided to simply create that pages I wanted on the website and copy & paste the info from my offline site.

CUSTOMISATION

This is where it gets really fun and interesting! There are nearly 15,000  plug-ins available to customise you website/blog to make it ever better and more user friendly. Ones that I particularly like are Tweet Blender, which adds my Twitter feed to the homepage, and WordPress SEO whic helps you optimise your website for search engines. It doesn’t do it for you, so there is still some work involved, but it is a lot easier. From what I have found there is nearly always a plug-in to do what you want.So there you have it, a short guide about how to get set up and running with WordPress. It is so easy if you take the time to read the documentation and invest a bit of time learning it, you’ll wish you had made the switch sooner. I hope that you found this post interesting and useful and that it has encouraged you to make the change.

As you may have noticed I can just re-designed my website using WordPress.

It was something that I had wanted to do for a long time but had continually put off because I was unsure how hard it was going to be, as a non-techie, to learn a web design application from scratch.

After a few weeks I finally decided on the final layout, and do you know what, it wasn’t anywhere near as hard as I had imagined. Each time I went online I picked up something new and it all helped me to design a website that I am very happy with.

I’ve seen that a few other tweeters have mentioned about WordPress and that they are unsure about using it. To try and help them (and others) I will create a blog post over the next few days going through how I got to grips with it.

If you are one of those wanting to move your website to WordPress, please let me know what your major concerns are and I will attempt to put your mind at ease!