So, you’re ready to start creating your home on the intarnetwebtubes, and you’ve chosen to use WordPress for building your site because you’ve read that using it is so easy that a computer novice can build their own website in a couple of hours. You may have even read that you don’t need to know anything about HTML, CSS, or PHP to build a “stunning” WordPress website. Then there are the “expert-rockstar-ninjas” who claim they can help you become one as well after a couple of hours of WordPress training.
Don’t believe the hype.
Some of those claims are true to a degree, but they should be looked at through a critical lens, and taken with a grain of salt. No one can become an expert, or a rockstar/ninja for that matter, in a couple of hours of exposure to any piece of software, be it WordPress, Excel, or Final Cut Pro. I wish I could state otherwise, but it wouldn’t be true. Mastery in any area requires hours and hours of working on that skill, approximately 10,000 of them according to people like Malcolm Gladwell. I’ve been designing and building websites for 13 years, and I’ve been teaching software programs and coding languages for 10 years. Those two areas have been my primary focus and full-time job for the last 10-13 years, and while I do feel a certain level of mastery in many areas, it obviously didn’t happen overnight, or as a result of my turning a part time hobby into a business 2 months after helping a friend or colleague figure out WordPress or Dreamweaver. Although I generally recommend WordPress for building sites when I think it’s appropriate, and it’s become a frequently requested training topic, it’s just one of several applications and languages I teach.
Let me address some of the claims I see all-too frequently around WordPress specifically.
Claim: WordPress is so easy that a computer novice can use it to build their own website.
Reality: Being very comfortable or, dare I say, proficient with your computer is a prerequisite for learning almost all software, and WordPress *is* software. This claim throws up a red flag for me, and it should for you too.
Claim: Using WordPress doesn’t require any knowledge of HTML, CSS, or PHP.
Reality: Technically, this is true, but if you want to make the design and layout aspects of your site match what you really have in mind, and you haven’t hired someone to handle that part for you, it’s helpful to know XHTML and CSS at the very least. No, it’s not required, but it’s incredibly useful.
Claim: “I’m a WordPress expert/rockstar/ninja/(insert additional buzzwords here), and I can make you one too, by teaching you all you need to know in 2 – 8 hours!”
Reality: Um… no. Seriously, no. If someone makes this claim, please put your checkbook/credit card/cash back in your pocket and walk away. This claim is a giant red flag the size of North and South America for me. While it’s true that a full day of training can give you a good ramp-up into using WordPress, especially if that day is spent hands-on, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is software proficiency. If someone makes that claim, as an educator, I have to question it. Being able to explain concepts is one thing, but being able to explain them in a way that helps learners truly get it, and be able to put that knowledge into practice, is quite another.
After that day of learning is done, you need to use those skills on a regular basis. It comes down to practice. To provide some perspective, I’ve been using Photoshop since version 2.5, which means I’ve been using it for about 17 years(!), and I’ve used it almost daily in that time, and all these years later, I’m skill learning things about the program. My proficiency in Photoshop, Dreamweaver, and Final Cut Pro has come from using all of those programs almost daily for clients, and my own projects. Practice, practice, practice.
Claim: Once you’ve chosen a theme and added your content, there’s virtually nothing else you need to do to your WordPress site, and you can easily update it whenever you want.
Reality: Yes, you can definitely update your site whenever you want. The “easily” part depends on what you’re doing, but let’s call that a truth with caveats. The other part… Wrong. Even self-cleaning ovens need manual cleaning from time to time to get the tough gunk removed. WordPress doesn’t magically maintain itself. There’s a difference between updating and maintaining a WordPress site. Updating is adding content and additional functionality, like a slideshow, survey, or contact form. Maintenance means staying current on updates to the WordPress core, plugins, and themes, and backing up your database on a regular basis. Maintenance is not a one-time thing, it’s an ongoing process that needs to be understood to keep your site functioning smoothly, and to help keep it secure.
Then there are the possible variables. For example, I recently added a custom blog to an existing website for a client, but the client’s hosting company isn’t the greatest, and doesn’t allow for automatic updates to the WordPress core or plugins. They have a 1-click/Quick-Install of WordPress, but it doesn’t work, and even if it did, they only provide WordPress 2.3, which is so old and outdated, that it’s a giant security risk. I couldn’t even add widgets to the sidebar, or edit the custom theme I created via the dashboard. I had to manually upload all plugins, and edit the theme files via an FTP program. The expert-rockstar-ninjas don’t usually mention manual things, or unforeseen variables like this. Is it likely that you’ll encounter an issue like this? Hopefully not, especially if you’re using a good hosting company, but sometimes even an automatic upgrade doesn’t go as planned, and may need to be done manually.
Claim: I/we can teach you how to use WordPress, but you’re required to use the hosting service I/we provide or the hosting company I/we recommend.
Reality: Danger danger, Will Robinson!! Why are you required to use a specific hosting company to install and use an Open Source tool that’s free? Yes, WordPress is free. Even WordPressMU, the version that allows you to create multiple blogs from one installation, is free. You should be free to use any hosting company you choose that supports WordPress. Why would someone require you to use a specific hosting company? The easy answer would probably be that they’re making money from your referral, which is pretty common. I’m all for making recommendations for solid, reliable hosting companies, and even making a few bucks from an affiliate account, but I believe you should be honest and up front about it. For the record, I have no affiliate accounts, so I derive no benefit from any of my hosting recommendations.
The other answer may be that the person doing the teaching only knows how to install WordPress on a specific hosting company. Every hosting company has a different administration set-up and interface. Some hosting companies use pretty standard admin panels like cPanel or Plesk, while others use custom panels. Many hosting companies offer WordPress as a 1-click/Quick-Install, and some don’t offer that at all, but have what you need to install WordPress manually (MySQL and PHP). If someone is teaching WordPress, it may take a couple of minutes of clicking around in a hosting company admin panel to figure out that company’s method of installing WordPress, if they provide one. If the company doesn’t, that WordPress trainer should know how to install it manually, and this includes setting up a database.
The takeaway from this is you should ask lots of questions of the person/business providing the training, and take a close look at their website. If their site is running WordPress, look for the following:
- At the bottom or the page, or in one of the sidebars, is there a login or admin link?
- When you look at the website address, does the URL look like http://www.theirdomain.com/?page_id=21?
- If you view source for a page on their site, and you see a line like this: <meta name=”generator” content=”WordPress …” />, is the WordPress version lower than 2.8.6?
- If their site has a blog, are the posts attributed to “admin”?
- If you view source, is their site missing meta tags with descriptions and keywords?
These things are red flags. They’re also pretty basic “WordPress 101″ things, and shouldn’t be present on a truly experienced WordPress trainers (or WP designers) site. If these things are present, I’d recommend looking for other trainers.