• About This Book p. 1
• Foolish Assumptions p. 2
• Icons Used in This Book p. 2
• Beyond the Book p. 3
• Where to Go from Here p. 3

• Discovering Blogging p. 8
• Understanding WordPress Technologies p. 10
• Archiving your publishing history p. 10
• Interacting with your readers through comments p. 12
• Feeding your readers p. 12
• Tracking back p. 14
• Dealing with comment and trackback spam p. 14
• Using WordPress as a Content Management System p. 15

• Defining OpenSource p. 20
• Understanding WordPress Licensing p. 23
• Applying WordPress Licensing to Your Projects p. 25

• Discovering WordPress Release Cycles p. 30
• Upgrading your WordPress experience p. 30
• Understanding the cycles of a release p. 31
• Finding WordPress release archives p. 32
• Keeping Track of WordPress Development p. 33
• Downloading Nightly Builds p. 35

• Finding Other WordPress Users p. 38
• Finding WordPress news and tips on community websites p. 38
• Locating users on social networks p. 39
• Users Helping Users p. 39
• WordPress support forums p. 40
• WordPress user manual p. 41
• Make WordPress p. 41
• Discovering Professional WordPress Consultants and Services p. 42
• WordPress designers p. 44
• Developers Consultants p. 45
• Contributing to WordPress p. 46
• Participating in Live and Virtual WordPress Events p. 47

• Comparing the Two Versions of WordPress p. 50
• Choosing the hosted version from WordPress.com p. 50
• Self-hosting with WordPress.org p. 54
• Hosting Multiple Sites with One WordPress Installation p. 56
• Discovering WordPress VIP Services p. 59

• Establishing Your Domain p. 64
• Understanding domain name extensions p. 64
• Considering the cost of a domain name p. 65
• Registering your domain name p. 65
• Finding a Home for Your Site p. 66
• Getting help with hosting WordPress p. 69
• Dealing with disk space and bandwidth p. 70

• Understanding SFTP Concepts p. 73
• Setting Up SFTP on Your Hosting Account p. 75
• Finding and Using Free and Easy SFTP Programs p. 77
• Connecting to the web server via SFTP p. 78
• Transferring files from point A to point B p. 82
• Editing files by using SFTP p. 82
• Changing file permissions p. 83

• Exploring Preinstalled WordPress p. 88
• Installing WordPress Manually p. 91
• Setting up the MySQL database p. 91
• Downloading the WordPress software p. 93
• Uploading the WordPress files via SFTP p. 93
• Running the installation script p. 95

• Understanding the Basics of Web Security p. 104
• Updating WordPress p. 105
• Installing patches p. 106
• Using a firewall p. 106
• Using Trusted Sources p. 107
• Managing Users and Passwords p. 107
• Hardening WordPress p. 108
• Enabling multifactor authentication using the Two Factor Authentication plugin p. 109
• Limiting login attempts p. 111
• Disabling theme and plugin editors p. 112
• Filtering by IP address p. 113
• Killing PHP execution p. 114

• Getting Notified of an Available Update p. 118
• Backing Up Your Database p. 120
• Updating WordPress Automatically p. 122
• Updating WordPress Manually p. 124

• Migrating Your Existing Site to WordPress p. 128
• Movin’ on up p. 128
• Preparing for the big move p. 129
• Converting templates p. 130
• Moving your site to WordPress p. 131
• Importing from Blogger p. 131
• Importing from LiveJournal p. 133
• Importing from Movable Type and TypePad p. 135
• Importing from Tumblr p. 136
• Importing from WordPress p. 138
• Importing from an RSS feed p. 139
• Finding other import resources p. 140
• Moving Your Website to a Different Host p. 141
• Creating a backup and moving manually p. 141
• Moving the database and files to the new host p. 142

• Logging in to the Dashboard p. 148
• Navigating the Dashboard p. 149
• Welcome to WordPress! module p. 150
• Site Health Status module p. 151
• At a Glance module p. 152
• Activity module p. 153
• Quick Draft module p. 154
• WordPress Events and News module p. 155
• Arranging the Dashboard to Your Tastes p. 156
• Changing the order of modules p. 156
• Removing Dashboard modules p. 158
• Finding Inline Documentation and Help p. 158

• Configuring the Settings p. 162
• General p. 162
• Writing p. 166
• Reading p. 166
• Discussion p. 169
• Media p. 175
• Permalinks p. 176
• Privacy p. 181
• Creating Your Personal Profile p. 183
• Setting Your Site’s Format p. 186
• Posts p. 187
• Media p. 187
• Pages p. 188
• Comments p. 188
• Appearance p. 189
• Plugins p. 189
• Users p. 189
• Tools p. 190

• Understanding User Roles and Capabilities p. 194
• Allowing New User Registration p. 194
• Adding New Users Manually p. 196
• Editing User Details p. 197
• Managing a Multi author Site p. 199
• Tools that help authors communicate p. 199
• Tools to promote author profiles p. 200
• Tools to manage multi author blog posts p. 201

• Deciding to Allow Comments on Your Site p. 204
• Positive aspects of allowing comments p. 204
• Reasons to disallow comments p. 205
• Interacting with Readers through Comments p. 206
• Tracking Back p. 206
• Managing Comments and Trackbacks p. 207
• Tackling Spam with Akismet p. 209
• Activating Akismet p. 210
• Configuring Akismet p. 212

• Archiving Content with WordPress p. 214
• Building categories p. 215
• Changing the name of a category p. 216
• Creating new categories p. 219
• Creating and Editing Tags p. 221

• Using the Block Editor p. 226
• Discovering available blocks p. 226
• Discovering core blocks p. 228
• Inserting new blocks p. 236
• Configuring block settings p. 239

• Composing Your Post p. 253
• Refining Your Post Options p. 256
• Publishing Your Post p. 260
• Being Your Own Editor p. 262

Understanding the Difference between Pages and Posts p. 265
Creating the Front Page of Your Website p. 266
Creating the static page p. 268
Setting page options p. 269
Assigning a static page as the home page p. 270
Adding a Blog to Your Website p. 272

• Adding New Files to the Media Library p. 276
• Getting to know allowed media file types p. 276
• Uploading a new file to the Media Library p. 276
• Uploading multiple files at once p. 279
• Understanding Media Library Features p. 281
• Filtering options in the Media Library p. 281
• Other Media Library view settings p. 287
• Viewing and Editing Media File Details p. 288
• Editing file details on the Edit Media page p. 288
• Editing images in the Media Library p. 290
• Discover Some Great Plugins to Manage Media p. 292

• Inserting Images into Your Content p. 297
• Uploading an image from your computer p. 298
• Inserting an image from the Media Library p. 301
• Using the Columns Block to Insert Multiple Images in a Row p. 307
• Inserting a Cover Image into a Post p. 310
• Inserting a Photo Gallery p. 311
• Inserting Video Files into Your Posts p. 312
• Adding a link to a video from the web p. 316
• Adding video from your computer p. 319
• Adding video using the embed block p. 321
• Inserting Audio Files into Your Blog Posts p. 322
• Inserting Audio Using the Embed Block p. 325
• Podcasting with WordPress p. 327

• Understanding the Importance of Analytics p. 331
• Exploring the Options for Tracking Data p. 334
• Understanding Key Analytics Terminology p. 334
• Adding Google Analytics to Your WordPress Site p. 336
• Signing up for Google Analytics p. 337
• Installing the tracking code p. 337
• Verifying that you installed the code properly p. 337
• Using the data from the plugin p. 341

• Exploring Reasons for a Social Media Listening Hub p. 342
• Eavesdropping on yourself p. 342
• Keeping tabs on your brand p. 344
• Exploring Different Listening Tools p. 344
• Monitoring with Google Alerts p. 344
• Tracking conversations on Twitter with RSS p. 346
• Searching communities with Boardreader p. 347
• Creating Your Own Personal Monitoring Mix p. 348
• Editing the Dashboard to Create a Listening Post p. 350

• Understanding the Importance of Search Engine Optimization p. 354
• Outlining the Advantages That WordPress Presents for SEO p. 354
• Understanding How Search Engines See Your Content p. 356
• Using links as currency p. 359
• Submitting to search engines and directories p. 360
• Optimizing Your Site under the Hood p. 360
• Metadata p. 360
• The robots.txt file p. 361
• Researching Your Niche p. 361
• Creating Search Engine Strategies p. 363
• Setting up your site p. 363
• Improving your site’s SEO practices p. 364
• Dealing with duplicate content p. 366
• Creating an editorial SEO list/calendar p. 367
• Establishing a routine for publishing on your site p. 367
• Creating a link-building strategy p. 369

• Exploring MustUse Plugins for SEO Best Practices p. 372
• Yoast SEO p. 372
• XML Sitemap Generator for Google p. 375
• Redirection p. 377
• WPOptimize Cache Clean Compress p. 379

• Getting Started with Free Themes p. 386
• Understanding What to Avoid with Free Themes p. 388
• Previewing Themes on the Themes Page p. 390
• Installing a Theme p. 393
• Browsing the free themes on the Dashboard p. 396
• Previewing and activating a theme p. 397
• Exploring Premium Theme Options p. 399

• Discovering Block Themes p. 403
• Why block themes are different p. 404
• Finding block themes p. 404
• Finding available options in block themes p. 405
• Exploring the Site Editor p. 407
• Using the Site Editor p. 409
• Navigation screen in the site editor p. 409
• Applying styles in the site editor p. 413
• Managing pages in the site editor p. 416
• Working with and creating templates p. 418
• Understanding Block Patterns p. 423

• Discovering Block Patterns p. 425
• Synced and unsynced block patterns p. 426
• Block patterns and template parts p. 428
• Using Existing Block Patterns p. 429
• Creating Block Patterns p. 432
• Finding New Block Patterns p. 436

• Extending WordPress with Plugins p. 442
• Identifying Core Plugins p. 443
• Distinguishing between Plugins and Themes p. 444
• Finding Plugins on the WordPress Website p. 446
• Searching for plugins from the Dashboard p. 447
• Finding plugins through WordPress.org p. 450
• Evaluating Plugins before Installing p. 450
• Details p. 450
• Ratings p. 451
• Active installations p. 452
• Advanced View p. 453
• Support p. 454
• Finding Plugins Outside the WordPress Website p. 454
• Comparing Free and Commercial Plugins p. 456

• Installing Plugins from the WordPress Dashboard p. 459
• Manually Installing Plugins p. 461
• Finding and downloading the files p. 462
• Reading the instructions p. 464
• Upgrading Plugins p. 465
• Updating on the Plugins screen p. 465
• Updating on the WordPress Updates screen p. 467
• Updating manually p. 468
• Activating and Deactivating Plugins p. 469
• Deleting Plugins p. 470
• Deleting via the Dashboard p. 470
• Deleting manually p. 472

• Exploring Activate-and-Go Plugins p. 475
• Discovering Settings Screens p. 476
• Akismet p. 477
• XML Sitemap Generator for Google p. 478
• Yoast SEO p. 481
• Using Widget Blocks p. 483
• Yoast SEO Breadcrumbs p. 483
• Spotlight Social Feeds p. 483
• Additional widgets to try p. 485
• Enhancing Content with Shortcodes p. 486
• Gallery shortcode p. 486
• Embed shortcode p. 487
• Embed Twitter links p. 489

• Deciding When to Use the Multisite Feature p. 494
• Understanding the Difference between Sites and Blogs p. 496
• Setting Up the Optimal Hosting Environment p. 496
• Checking out shared versus dedicated hosting p. 497
• Exploring subdomains versus subdirectories p. 498
• Choosing Linux Apache MySQL and PHP server environments p. 498
• Adding a virtual host to the Apache configuration p. 500
• Configuring PHP p. 502

• Enabling the Network Feature p. 504
• Exploring the Difference between Subdirectories and Subdomains p. 505
• Installing the Network on Your Site p. 506
• Disabling the Network p. 509

• Exploring the Network Admin Dashboard p. 511
• Managing Your Network p. 513
• Settings p. 514
• Sites p. 520
• Users p. 524
• Themes p. 527
• Plugins p. 527
• Stopping Spam Sign-Ups and Splogs p. 530

• Setting Default User Permissions p. 532
• Registering users p. 533
• Controlling access to sites p. 534
• Importing users p. 535
• Changing Defaults p. 538
• Site-specific sign-up p. 538
• User role management p. 539
• Exploring Default Site Settings p. 540

• Using One Theme on Multiple Sites p. 542
• Enabling themes for individual sites p. 543
• Installing themes for network use p. 545
• Setting the default theme for sites p. 546
• Gathering and Displaying Network-Wide Content p. 547
• Adding posts from network sites p. 548
• Listing network sites p. 548
• Using and Installing Network-Wide Plugins p. 550
• Discovering Handy Multisite Plugins p. 552

• Finding Your Way with Domain Mapping p. 553
• Setting up a custom domain p. 554
• Editing DNS records p. 556
• Setting the Site Domain p. 559
• Setting Up Multiple Networks p. 560