{"id":6980,"date":"2012-06-19T09:13:43","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T13:13:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.shareaholic.com\/?p=6980"},"modified":"2014-05-13T11:06:37","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T15:06:37","slug":"top-10-faq-about-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/top-10-faq-about-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"Answers to The Top 10 Most FAQ About WordPress"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/ShareaholicLogo2.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" title=\"ShareaholicLogo\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/ShareaholicLogo2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"50\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Want more people to share your WordPress posts? Download the latest version of\u00a0<a title=\"Shareaholic for WordPress\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/publishers\/sharing?utm_campaign=Shareaholic_Blog&amp;utm_source=Blog_CTA&amp;utm_medium=Top_CTA&amp;utm_content=top_10_faq_about_wordpress\" target=\"_blank\">Shareaholic for WordPress<\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">We\u2019ve recently announced our sponsorship of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/we-love-wordpress-shareaholic-is-speaking-at-wordcamp-boston\/\">WordCamp Boston<\/a> and we couldn\u2019t be more excited<span>! (We also have <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/janetaronica\">one of our own<\/a>\u00a0speaking.) To get ready for WordCamp, we\u2019re having a WordPress-themed week here at the Shareaholic blog.<\/p>\n<p>Here are our answers to the top 10 <a title=\"WordPress FAQs\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/beginners-guide\/15-most-frequently-asked-questions-by-wordpress-beginners\/\" target=\"_blank\">frequently asked questions about WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">1. What\u2019s the difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org?<\/h3>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-6983 alignright\" title=\"blue-xl\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/blue-xl.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The main difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org is that the former is hosted on WordPress\u2019 server while the latter is hosted on an external server. WordPress.com is a great option for first-time bloggers as it simplifies your experience by not allowing you the choice of installing custom themes and plugins or adding code of your own.<\/p>\n<p>WordPress.org allows you much more flexibility because you control where the site is hosted. You can install a variety of plugins, create custom themes and even edit the blog\u2019s code directly.<\/p>\n<p>WordPress.com does allow you to upgrade to receive some of the benefits of WordPress.org, but you will have to pay. WPBeginner offers\u00a0<a title=\"WordPress.com vs WordPress.org\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/beginners-guide\/self-hosted-wordpress-org-vs-free-wordpress-com-infograph\/?display=wide \" target=\"_blank\">a more detailed explanation<\/a> of the sites\u2019 relationship.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">2. I want to be able to customize my blog\u2014so I\u2019ll go with WordPress.org. How do I go about getting my blog set up?<\/h3>\n<p>First, you must find a place to host your blog. Many different sites offer hosting capabilities. For more information, you should check out WP Beginner&#8217;s tips on <a title=\"WordPress hosting\" href=\"http:\/\/www.wpbeginner.com\/wordpress-hosting\/ \" target=\"_blank\">how to choose the best WordPress hosting solution<\/a>. No matter which hosting platform you decided to go with, you must make sure that it provides you with the following features:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>PHP 5.2.4 or greater<\/li>\n<li>MySQL 5.0 or greater<\/li>\n<li>The mod_rewrite Apache module<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>After deciding on a host, make sure that you have text editor software and a FTP client. Text editor software allows you edit files in a text format (not a binary format), which will make sure you can correctly edit your blog. WordPress.org recommends several programs <a href=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Glossary#Text_editor\">here<\/a> (<em>not<\/em> Microsoft Word). An FTP client will allow you to upload files and folders to your WordPress site, which is essential to the structure of your blog.<\/p>\n<p>Note: this all must be done before downloading WordPress. After you complete these three steps, install WordPress on your computer.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">3. How do I install WordPress?<\/h3>\n<p>WordPress has a famous 5-minute installation. (Note: you must do this after finding a host, text editor and FTP client.) <a href=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Installing_WordPress\">Visit WordPress\u2019 site<\/a> for some awesome direction\u2014they explain it in both simple and detailed terms better than I ever could.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">4.\u00a0How do I choose a theme?<\/h3>\n<div style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a title=\"impressive_portfolio_wordpress_theme by denharsh, on Flickr\" href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/denharsh\/4371940187\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/farm3.staticflickr.com\/2741\/4371940187_2d8a7b7088.jpg\" alt=\"impressive_portfolio_wordpress_theme\" width=\"500\" height=\"269\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 2010 Harsh Agrawal<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">As we said in last week\u2019s post (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/2012\/06\/the-ultimate-beginners-guide-to-wordpress\/\">the Ultimate Beginner\u2019s Guide to WordPress<\/a>), choosing a theme is extremely important and can be time-consuming if you let it be. Before sifting through the endless themes available, brainstorm on what type of theme you need. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.famousbloggers.net\/wordpress-theme.html\">Taking direction<\/a> from <em>Famous Bloggers<\/em>, here are the things you should consider when choosing a theme:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Price \u2013 How much will it cost you to have this theme? Can you afford it? Is it worth it?<\/li>\n<li>Site Structure \u2013 How usable will the site be? Will it be easy for your readers to navigate?<\/li>\n<li>Prior HTML Knowledge \u2013 Do you need to customize extensively? (If you are just starting out, you will want a simple theme that doesn\u2019t need additional work.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once you decide which elements you need in a theme, check out the following sites to download themes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpexplorer.com\/top-free-themes\">WPExplorer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.woothemes.com\/themes\/\">WooThemes<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/wordpressthemes101.com\/\">WordPress Themes 101<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/themeforest.net\/\">Theme Forest<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wpmods.com\/\">WP Mods<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">5. What are plugins and how do I use them?<\/h3>\n<p><center><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Shareaholic-Classic-Bookmarks1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6991\" title=\"Shareaholic Classic Bookmarks\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Shareaholic-Classic-Bookmarks1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"287\" height=\"69\" \/><\/a><\/center>Instead of learning how to extensively program to customize your blog, you can use plugins to add customized elements to your site. Find them in the <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/\">Plugin Directory on WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few that we recommend downloading:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/shareaholic\/\">Shareaholic\u00a0For WordPress<\/a> \u2013 Make social sharing easy! With Shareaholic, you can customize your sharing buttons to fit in with your theme and receive free analytics on blog and social media traffic.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/wptouch\/\">WPTouch<\/a> \u2013 This plugin creates a standard mobile theme for your blog that works on almost every device imaginable.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/all-in-one-seo-pack\/\">All in One SEO Pack<\/a> \u2013 An easy plugin to make sure you are fully maximizing your SEO capabilities.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gravityforms.com\/\">Gravity Forms<\/a> \u2013 A great way to build forms to collect information from your users in minutes. It\u2019s perfect to create contact forms.<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.afterthedeadline.com\/\">After the Deadline<\/a> \u2013 Double-check your spelling and grammar with more precision than Word.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">6. How do I manually change the layout?<\/h3>\n<p>This is where you will need a bit of coding knowledge. To get up to speed, <a href=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Writing_Code_in_Your_Posts\">check out this page<\/a>. Basically, you will have to go to the Editor tab under Appearance to tinker with the CSS\/HTML of the site design.<\/p>\n<p>You can also edit individual posts\u2019 layouts while you writing by clicking the HTML tag in the upper-right corner. As a beginner, you are probably unfamiliar to HTML, so check out <a href=\"http:\/\/www.w3schools.com\/html\/default.asp\">this guide<\/a> for simple tips on using it.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">7. What\u2019s the difference between HTML and CSS?<\/h3>\n<p>HTML is the language used to construct the entire website&#8217;s structure. CSS formats the style of the page to make the HTML look nice. It can align, decorate or position the HTML better than if you were to try using HTML alone.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re having issues with your website design, <a href=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/CSS_Troubleshooting\">check out these tips<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">8. How do you measure the website stats?<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2012-06-18-at-4.21.21-PM1.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-6999 aligncenter\" title=\"Screen Shot 2012-06-18 at 4.21.21 PM\" src=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2012-06-18-at-4.21.21-PM1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"223\" height=\"467\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2012-06-18-at-4.21.21-PM1.png 371w, https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2012-06-18-at-4.21.21-PM1-191x400.png 191w, https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2012-06-18-at-4.21.21-PM1-143x300.png 143w, https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/Screen-Shot-2012-06-18-at-4.21.21-PM1-300x630.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 223px) 100vw, 223px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>WordPress.org does not come preset with an analytics option\u2014you have to install another plugin. We recommend the <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/googleanalytics\/\">Google Analytics plugin<\/a> as it can be as simple or as complicated as you would like it to be. If you have installed Shareaholic, you can also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/publishers\/analytics\">use our analytics<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">9. How do I get people to share my content?<\/h3>\n<p>Besides <a href=\"http:\/\/wordpress.org\/extend\/plugins\/shareaholic\/\">downloading sharing buttons<\/a> that make it easy for your readers to post to their social networks, you need to make sure you have content that they enjoy. On our blog, we call it \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/2011\/12\/7-habits-of-highly-shareable-bloggers\/\">shareable content<\/a>\u201d because it is content that you create with the purpose of being shared by others. Basically, make sure that you understand your audience, write compelling headlines and copy and use several types of media to entertain your readers. This is both a science and an art, and usually takes a ton of practice before you get it right.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"subheader\">10. I have more questions that you didn\u2019t answer! Where should I go?<\/h3>\n<p>Though a little tricky to figure out at first, WordPress provides some tremendous resources for you as you learn more about the platform and blogging in general. We\u2019ve tried to cover the basics, but definitely take a look at their \u201c<a href=\"http:\/\/codex.wordpress.org\/Getting_More_Help\">Getting More Help<\/a>\u201d section to answer other questions you may have.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Do you have a WordPress blog? What are some tips you wish you knew when you started?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Want more people to share your WordPress posts? Download the latest version of\u00a0Shareaholic for WordPress. We\u2019ve recently announced our sponsorship of WordCamp Boston and we&hellip;&nbsp;<br \/><a class=\"continue-reading\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/top-10-faq-about-wordpress\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":6983,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[606,522],"tags":[295,260,158,156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.shareaholic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}