Business Website Blueprint

Module 1: Getting Started

We’ll start by focusing on the foundational pieces of your online presence. By the time you’re finished, you’ll have a domain name, a web host, and a working version of WordPress installed and ready to go.

Lessons:

• Your Business Domain Name
• Finding a Web Host
• Installing WordPress: Manual
• Installing WordPress: cPanel

Module 2: Planning Your Business Website

What’s the difference between a disappointing website and a website that becomes an indispensable business asset? In a word, planning. Before we start building anything, we’re going to spend some time thinking about our goals and developing a plan. This phase includes everything from planning our content to creating a budget (ensuring we won’t have unanticipated expenses later on).

Lessons:

• Defining Your Business Website
• Content Planning
• Diagram Your Website
• Create a Site Budget

Module 3: Site Design with WordPress Themes

Once we’ve finished the planning phase, it’s time to start thinking about how we want our website to look. Fortunately, the WordPress theme system makes it nearly impossible to build an ugly looking website. Unfortunately, the popularity of WordPress creates a whole new challenge — finding the right theme for your site. In this module, you’ll learn more about WordPress themes and get plenty of advice on how to find the perfect theme for your business website. There’s also an emphasis on finding a mobile-friendly theme that ensures smartphone using customers have the best possible experience when they visit the site.

Lessons:

• WordPress Themes: Introduction to business themes
• Themes: Where to Look
• Find the Perfect WordPress Theme for Your Website
• Thoughts on Theme Selection
• Theme Evaluation

Module 4: Building Your Website

Finally, it’s time to build the site. In this module, you’ll see the step-by-step process of creating a business website from scratch with WordPress. This in-depth module walks you through every stage of the site-building process.

Lessons:

• Project Overview
• Preparing to Build The Site
• Creating Core Content
• Creating News and Blog Posts
• Set the Home Page and Blog Page
• Organizing Content
• Theme Options – Theme Customizer
• Build the Home Page
• Make a Product Catalog with WooCommerce
• Contact Page
• “Final” Site Review
• Customize CSS
• Enhancing Core Content with Beaver Builder
• Site Migration

Module 5: Adding Business Features

With the core website in place, it’s time to add some business functionality. In this module, we’ll add features that create a richer experience for the site’s visitors, and provide more information and actionable data to you as a business owner.

Lessons:

• Collect Web Analytics with Google Analytics and Monster Insights
• Yoast SEO and Google Webmaster Tools
• Email Marketing with MailChimp
• The Events Calendar
• Making Social Connections
• Improve On-Site Search
• Create a Survey

Module 6: Ongoing Maintenance

The easiest way to ensure that your business website remains happy, healthy, and secure is to perform routine maintenance. This module shows you what you need to do to keep WordPress current and your website safe.

Lessons:

• WordPress Security Plugin: Better WP Security Setup Guide
• Upgrading Your WordPress Website
• Prepare for the Worst: WordPress Disaster Planning
• WordPress Backups with BackupBuddy
• WordPress Backups with VaultPress

Bonus Training

• On-Page SEO Learn how to optimize your WordPress content for maximum search engine ranking. This one-hour session provides all the details of on-site and on-page search engine optimization.
• A Beginners Guide To Customizing WordPress with CSS. This one-hour webinar presents a simple method for making small design adjustments with CSS.  Best of all, no child theme is required.
• Think Mobile: Strategies for success on the mobile web. In-depth coverage of the mobile revolution. Learn how to make your smartphone using customers happy.
• WordPress Security Briefing. Avoid common security problems and keep your WordPress site secure with this one-hour security briefing.