Getting Dirty with Wordpress

[puckman]

Its time for me to get started with wordpress. I know most of the basics about using wordpress.com, and how to build a hosted site, its remarkably easy. But I want to do much more with it, so I need to do the self install and find my own host.

With Wordpress I want to;
Build Ecommerce sites (affiliate mktg, lead gen, blog)
Build Content Sites(blogs, info sites that lead to ecommerce, monetize with ads)

I know a lot of Wordpress dev's who are pretty cheap, but I want to try my hand at doing it on my own. Any suggestions on how to learn it? Most of the WordPress 101 training stuff I have seen is too basic for me. I need to know the ins and outs of using the downloaded free version, and hosting on my own.

Thanks.

 

Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

[murlin99]

For the most part its all CSS. As far as modules and more advanced stuff that is controlled through the wordpress API's WordPress API's « WordPress Codex .

 

[mayana]

I don't know how advanced you are yet, but if you want something pretty quick, you can set-up your Wordpress site in about 5 minutes if you use HostGator for your hosting. Then, all you need is a third-party FTP utility if you need to upload any additional plug-ins or themes. You can do the a lot of the CSS editing directly from your Wordpress back-end (I'm still learning this).

There are a ton of really great (and free) themes and plug-ins that you can use with Wordpress if you are looking for e-commerce. One that I've used in the past is WooThemes and WooCommerce. They have a free theme and a free WooCommerce plug-in, but if you want advanced functionality, you'll have to either pay for one of their (moderately priced) premium themes or plug-ins. Of course, you could always learn to do it yourself, too.

One thing to be sure about if you are doing a site yourself is security. There are some cool, free plug-ins that help keep hackers/spammers off your site, too.

Hope that helps!