WebStart

Course Outline

The agenda online has for some time been shifting from scratch-built websites (designed in HTML, PHP etc), to Open Source platforms like WordPress. WordPress now represents one of the best and easiest ways of publishing a small business website. It’s quick, easy to work with, can have a professional look and functions. And crucially, it’s now easy to change or add pages due to its built-in Content Management System.

Who’s this for?

This course is for small business owners who want a low cost but professional way of running a website that doesn’t require a web designer to constantly make the changes for you. If you need a website where you can make changes 24/7, have limited or no web design experience, are on a modest budget, and are in a hurry, this is for you. This not a ‘techy’ course and is not appropriate for designers/developers who require WordPress modification skills.

Before the course

Beforehand you get 1 hours help from the trainer setting everything up in readiness for your first day, allowing you to progress straight into adding page structure and content. This means you can have your domain ready, hosting setup, WordPress installed and the professional theme in place before you start*.

In order to achieve rapid progress, all delegates need to:

1. Buy or own a domain (eg www.yourwebsite.co.uk) and the username and password to access this domain. To buy a domain www.ukreg.com.
2. Buy the Linux Mega Deal hosting package at Catalyst 2 hosting. This costs £11.99+vat per year, has everything you need and excellent tech support for the future. www.catalyst2.com/webhosting/single/linux/megadeal.

No other hosting packages are covered, this is because the range and type of hosting makes it not cost effective. If in doubt or don’t want to copy over an existing website, simply buy a new domain to experiment on. Don’t worry if this sounds complicated, we simply need a username and passwords for your domain and your hosting, the rest can be set-up for you.

What you get

• Two day course in adding content to WordPress
• Professional WordPress template worth £75
• Help with set-up of hosting, WordPress & your professional template*

Outcomes

Clearly there is a limit to what can be achieved in two days, this is first and foremost a course/workshop. It doesn’t promise a completed website but a working website can be achieved in the time. It offers a uniquely low cost to get started with a professional looking small business website, and insights into creating content that will perform well in search engines and convert into real enquiries.

After the course

You can get free support and advice from Catalyst 2 (the hosting company). In addition, WordPress is supported by 100,000s of developers and designers worldwide, allowing you a multitude of free or low-cost opportunities from shopping carts to forums.

Format

Very small groups, max 8 delegates allowing for individual attention and quick progress.