106 – How to Teach Someone WordPress
Announcements
WordPress Webinar
– January 4th: Custom Post Types
– Benefits of Using Them / How to Use them
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NMX (New Media Expo) is less than three weeks away
– I’m on a panel talking about the benefits of growing your brand with a podcast
– I’ll be doing a live podcast session
– http://nmxlive.com
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– http://wordpress.org/news/2012/12/elvin/
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- WordPress 3.5 New Tools
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Listener Feedback
Chad Warner (http://optimwise.com)
I offer my clients a WordPress update maintenance service, which includes updates to WordPress core, plugins, and themes. I offer this to clients who have their own hosting and those whose sites are hosted in my hosting account. I tell clients that it’s critical to keep their sites updated for the sake of security, and that I remove the hassle by handling the updates.
In 2012 I charged $10/mo for this service, but in 2013 I’m raising it to $20/mo because of the work involved. I’m usually handling backups and sometimes troubleshooting plugins and themes that break, which can be time-consuming. Almost all my clients pay for each year upfront.
Main Topic
Amy London (http://www.amylondon.com)
How do you teach someone how to use WordPress?
– Here’s how I do it
– Sign up for a free meetingburner.com account or use similar screen sharing application like Skype
– Run ScreenFlow in the background so I can give the clients a copy at the end
– Take them to the WordPress dashboard page and login with their credentials
– I talk about the Dashboard first
– Then highlight the other areas (Posts – Comments) & (Appearance – Settings) just a high level overview
– Then I show them how to add a post / page.
– How to save / schedule a post
– http://www.videousermanuals.com/
Call To Action
- Back up your site and install WordPress 3.5
I provide my clients links to WordPress admin resources, which I have on my blog at http://optimwise.com/wordpress-admin-learning-resources/. Here are the resources:
Dec 12, 2012http://wp.tutsplus.com/sessions/wp101-basix-training/
http://ithemes.com/tutorials/
http://codex.wordpress.org/Administration_Screens
http://en.support.wordpress.com/
http://ithemes.com/publishing/getting-started-with-wordpress/
http://www.dummies.com/store/product/WordPress-For-Dummies-4th-Edition.productCd-1118073428.html
Most of my clients are local, so in addition to providing these resources, I often do about an hour of in-person training when I hand off a site.
@Chad Warner Thanks for sharing Chad. Those are some great resources!
Dec 13, 2012@Chad Warner Tutplus and WordPress Codex is great resource to learn. But there are also some free eBooks available on web which teach some WordPress SEO and Plugins that we should use.
Dec 17, 2012Great podcast Dustin. As always, I learned something. I currently am at the point of wondering how valuable my screen shot guides are for my clients. I have recorded videos and provided customized tutorial guides – depending on he client. It is something that I include in my package as well. It’s important to me that my clients leave understanding how to use their website. Online tutorials are great but may be too broad for someone who has not used WordPress before. They just want to know how to use their specific site and all the sites I create are customized to fit the need of each client therefore some of each tutorial is unique. I love the idea of Meeting Burner though. I really think that would be very helpful and a time saver for me as well. Thanks for the tip and for another great topic.
Dec 19, 2012@CascadeVDesigns One thought that I have had is to have a set of generic videos that show people around WordPress, ie. posts, pages, comments. Then create a unique video that highlights the key points of their website. Anyways, that might be an option!
Dec 19, 2012I accidentally came across a great resource for WordPress, especially in light of one of your recent episodes. I signed up for Google Analytics and installed the Google Analyticator plugin in. At the bottom of the plugin page was an ad for an e-book: “A Better WordPress for Clients” by @troydean. It required a subscription, so I went through the process and got the e-book. It totally blew me away! It’s about 84 pages, and I read it all yesterday.
Dec 21, 2012He shows how to make a stripped down version of the dashboard for the client to use, leaving only the menu options they need. He also shows how to change the branding so it is personalized for each client. There’s a free plugin to help with this: “White Label CMS.” He also has a premium plugin that has a video users manual (“WP Video User Manual”). He also goes ahead and introduces some SEO basics. Through all of it, he shares how he teaches his clients when he hands the site over to them.
I thought I would pass this on. It is definitely worth the time and effort to sign up (http://www.videousermanuals.com/ and scroll to the bottom of the page).
@JoshuaWRivers
Dec 21, 2012Wow Joshua – great resources! I am downloading Troy’s ebook now. Thanks for sharing.
@CascadeVDesigns I should have just horded this so I can give the best service for clients! MWAHAHAHAHA! Just kidding – glad to share it! I get so many great resources and ideas here, I just had to share it right away.
Dec 22, 2012