Beginners Guide to WordPress: Website Building Workshop

Online Workshop for Photographers with Philip Bedford - conducted by Zoom screenshare. Maximum of 8 participants.

Note: This is for people who have never used WordPress before and are at beginner level. Existing users of WordPress are welcome but do bear in mind we’ll be covering the very basics.

WordPress is one of the most versatile website building platforms, supporting over 35% of websites on the internet, with potentially infinite customisation options and plugin features to supercharge your website, giving you the edge over your competition. WordPress offers loads of free design templates to help you build your website in just a few hours. And it’s FREE to get started!

Whether you already have a site and want to manage it properly or are starting completely from scratch, this is the course for you.  Philip will show you how to create a website using WordPress from the beginning and be able to customise it to suit your needs, as well as looking at lots of options for further developing your site once you've managed the basics.

This webinar is specifically aimed at photographers, with professional wedding and landscape photographer and RPS workshop co-ordinator, Philip Bedford, who has built varied websites using WordPress including his own www.philipbedford.co.uk & www.pbweddingphotography.com. Philip will lead you through the initial set up of a free WordPress account and how to build your own free website, as well as discussing upgrade options.

Philip will offer advice and guidance on the best templates for photographers, how to structure your website to display your portfolio and services and different ways of displaying your images for that WOW factor!

The course is suitable for both amateur and professional photographers who are interested in showcasing their portfolio, and anyone who wants to know more about this powerful website building platform.

Please note this course requires an intermediate level of computer literacy. The class does not include training in e-commerce or creating online shops, but options for this will be discussed at the end in our Q&A session. 

Content

You will learn how to do all of the following with your free website:

• Apply an attractive design using easy templates, customise the style and colours
• Set up and run a great website of your own
• Add and edit text content, customise the title and logo
• Preparing images for websites and creating galleries
• Look at adding pages, structure and navigation menus
• Create and customise your contact form
• Add widgets and features for social networking
• Basic SEO tips and tricks to make your website search engine friendly
• We’ll also look at learning to add other features and functionality you need to run and develop a fantastic website
• We’ll also look at how you can get your own domain name and upgrade and price options

• There will be a half hour lunch break, and other breaks during the day.

• After the workshop, Philip will share access to his Wordpress resources on his padlet page, which includes lots of handouts used for the course. Please have some pen and paper to make a few notes, but there are lots of handouts to accompany the workshop. 

Optional Additional Costs

You may wish to purchase a domain name and upgrade your WordPress to allow you to use plugins and other features not included in the free version. Prices typically range from between £36.00 - £240.00 per year. However, upgrading is not essential to completing the course. This will be explained at the beginning of the course, and Philip will run through price options. 

IMPORTANT

Please look out for the attachment in your confirmation email. If you don't receive it, please email learning@rps.org  

Philip will need access to your email address to enable him to send you any workshop notes - we will presume that by booking this course you are giving permission unless you contact us to state otherwise. Philip will also send you links to online resources to help you get started.

Overseas participants - Please check the time of the workshop if you are outside the UK. This link which will help you to calculate the timing of the online workshop: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/custom.html

Tutor profile  

Philip Bedford has been running workshops with the RPS for the past year and has been teaching photography classes and workshops for over a decade. Philip manages a range of different WordPress based websites, including his own www.philipbedford.co.uk & www.pbweddingphotography.com. He has run his own freelance photography business for over ten years and is continually developing a broad portfolio of photographic work. He also teaches at numerous Adult and Further Education organisations in Brighton and London.

How to prepare

Ahead of the class you’re strongly encouraged to put some thought into the content and branding of your website – for example, colour preferences, text for different pages, and any images or logos you’d like to use. We’ll discuss ways of doing this in the workshop, and advice and guidance will be given on the structure of your website. It is suggested that you have a collection of images/portfolios that you would like to display on your photography website, anything from between 10-100 images. Having a pen and paper to hand to make notes is advisable.

Follow up support

Any additional support required will be chargeable by the hour.