Welcome to the site! WordPressforWomen.com is all about providing you with everything (and I mean everything) that you need to make your WordPress (WP) site rock and roll. For those of who are familiar with WP you know there are no limits to what you can do with a WP-enabled site. For those of you who aren’t so familiar with the wonders of WordPress, I’ll give you a little primer on the WP’s “wow factor.”

What Is WordPress and Why Is It So Awesome?

WordPress started out as a blogging software. If you want to know the exact “whens” and “hows” they got started, just visit the WordPress site. According to the creators of WordPress, “WordPress is a state-of-the-art semantic personal publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability.”

What, you ask, does that mean?

In plain language (and that’s all we speak on this site) it means that WordPress is software that you can use to create a website (not just a blog) that will look awesome, comply with the constant changes in the web and offer all kinds of neat things that you can add to your website that was only possible if you were a programmer before.

And if that wasn’t incredible enough, it’s free. That’s right, FREE! No catches, no gotchas, no small print; it’s 100%, I swear on the life of my son, FREE!

So how can they do that? Well, the software is what’s known as open-source, which means they make the programming code available to anyone and everyone. And what that does is encourages other software developers to add onto and create new gadgets (aka, as plugins, widgets, chicklets, etc.) that make WP rock and roll.

For instance, let’s say you’re a professional speaker or a consultant who has speaking engagements throughout the year. Wouldn’t it be great if you could show in a calendar on your website where and when you’re going to be speaking. In the old days you’d have to hire a programmer or find a web designer to write a program that would do that. It could cost you a pretty penny plus might be limited to the technology you were using so forget about moving your website if your host (the company that owns the server where your website resides) turns out to be a dud. Now enter WordPress! Guess what? WordPress has plenty of calendars for your choosing, and (yep!) they’re free.

Or, let’s say, you sell products on eBay and would like to have a website that shows your eBay listings on the front page. In the old days you’d have to learn a bit about basic coding, figure out how to make the changes to the file, then figure out how to upload the file to your server and do this everytime you make a change to the listing…you see where I’m going with this. But with WordPress, a developer has already created a WordPress plugin that let’s you show your eBay listings on your website really easily (btw - if you don’t know what a WordPress plugin is, we’ll have a training video on that real soon).

And I also want to add that Google and the rest of the search engines love, Love, LOVE sites that are using WP software. Why? Because of how the software works, these sites already have a great start on being optimized for the search engines. We’ll cover that in greater detail along with what else you can do to further improve your search engine visibility and rankings.

Further, but not finally, WordPress is comfortable with all of the Web 2.o stuff going on. Web 2.0? What’s that, you say? We’ll be getting into that, as well, but it’s basically how the web is evolving. It’s the user-generated, user-filtered content (in text, audio and video) that’s exploding onto the web. Heard of MySpace, YouTube, FaceBook, Digg, del.icio.us, or Squidoo? These sites are just a fraction of the social media sites that will define the new web…Web 2.0, and WordPress has been leading charge.

I could go on and on singing the praises of this software, platform, whatever you want to call it. WordPress, in my opinion, is the best choice today for the average person who is really serious about making some money on the Internet.

Why Should You Listen to Me?

How do I know that? Because I’ve been in this business since the start of the World Wide Web…mid-90s, back in the days when the Mosaic browser broke onto the Internet allowing surfers to view images not just words online. You could call me a veteran, of sorts, just don’t call me old! I’m a forty-something self-taught web designer and marketer who is sharing what I know to those who want to know. My goal is to take the techno-speak out of the conversation so ordinary people will be able to leverage the Internet to their benefit. And in the spirit of WP, I’m going to offer it all for free! Free tips, free resources, free templates, free images, free training, everything to get you going…for free. I will be underwriting this effort using ads that will be placed throughout the site to help, not get in the way of, your learning experience (I absolutely loathe the games some sites play by cramming so many ads into their site that it makes it hard to find the real content).

Of course, if you don’t have the stomach or the time to do this all yourself, I can certainly help you a little or a lot for a modest fee. Just ask!.

Finally, a note about the name of the site: for the past “ump-teen” years my market has been providing women with the tools to create their own businesses and flexible careers. It’s what I know. I also know that many women (and men, for that matter) are not comfortable with a lot of the high-tech jargon. Although I am an engineer, I don’t like the techno-speak that so many of us are bombarded with today. I figure, if you can say it so most people can understand you, so much the better. That’s why I will do my best to explain this on a level that we all can understand. Lastly, I really liked the alliteration in WordPress for Women! Guys, if it works for you, welcome!

Let me know how I’m doing by your comments to my posts! Looking forward to the dialog!

2 Responses to “About WordPress for Women”

1. Sarah says:
   

   Alleluia! I think you might be the answer to my all my WP problems! I’m off to look around and will contact you if I can’t find what I’m looking for!!!

2. Kristin says:
   

   Hello Susan! I am enjoying your tutorials. They are a big help. Found them on YouTube. Please, when you are able, keep adding to them. A series on programming a theme would be great (not just designing, but actually implementing)…a follow up to your header customizing tutorial perhaps. And is it possible to use Dreamweaver to design a theme, if so, how. Just some ideas. Thank you again!

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