How to Quickly Learn WordPress If You’re New

Do you want to quickly build your coaching site? Are you convinced that WordPress is the way to go? (I think so). Are you ready to learn how to use it, plugins, themes and all?

To give you a good pile of resources to begin learning, I ran over to my LinkedIn buddies at the WordPress Experts group (It’s tough to keep up on everything, especially with this need for eating, sleeping and pooping! There just isn’t enough time in the day!).

So, I sought help from my web design peers, and here are suggestions for learning WordPress fast. After this list, I’ll give you my personal tips for getting up to speed.

Dive in. Head on over to YouTube and search for video tutorials on setting up and using WordPress. Nothing beats getting your hands dirty and jumping into the sandbox. Setup a website for learning so you can mess around, learn and make mistakes.

Lynda.com. They’ve got lots to learn there. People love the visual style of teaching there. I haven’t dabbled, but have heard great things over the years.

WPKB.com. WordPress Knowledge Base is dedicated to new and experienced users with several video tutorials to get you started with WordPress.

WP101.com. I haven’t used this, but looks like it could be “on the money”, as it’s entirely focused on “learning WordPress fast”. There’s a free starter course which I would do as a quick start.

WPBeginner.com. I haven’t spent much time here, but they have plenty of free articles and a course for learning to build your own site on WordPress. I would surely spend some time here.

WordPress for Dummies Book. There’s good info in there. I’ve personally poked through this at Barnes and Noble a few times. Seems Dummy books are growing like wildfire.

A quick note. As WordPress evolves books and printed materials can get dated. Thus, menus might not exactly look the same, or the layout might be slightly different from in an image. Often you can figure out what to do. Don’t be afraid to click. Thus, learning from websites that are solely focused on teaching WordPress will remain current – whereas YouTube Videos and printable documents tend to go stale.

My personal suggestions are:

1. Get into a starter course from one of the above, WPBeginner looks good to me.

2. Get any domain name to play with, like kennsplayground.com at GoDaddy.com. Also, get hosting at GoDaddy when you buy your domain name.

3. Quickly set up the hosting account and install WordPress.

4. Install themes, play around, and don’t be afraid to click around. Learn from the starter course.

5. Oh, and ask your host for support, or your training course teachers, or at the LinkedIn group I mentioned above, WordPress Experts.

When it comes time to build your coaching business website, you should grab my guide (for the do-it-yourselfer OR you will hire a designer), in which I give you my favorite themes, choice plugins, and a bunch of tips for getting the job done on WordPress.

It’s a good way to tackle the project smoothly AND ensure you’re designing for client attraction (and not just to “build something”).

Got another resource for learning WordPress or a trick or two? Love to hear about it. Post your comment.