This course is helpful and fun. If you are completely new to the topic, you will leave with an understanding of the tools that are available to you and how to start using them. With some practice, you will soon be ready for one more advanced Luckyweb's courses. Rafi is a very patient teacher and he explains tasks in a clear manner so that also complete beginners have the opportunity to follow and learn. This is a fun class with interesting students from different backgrounds and industries. I recommend it to anyone who is new to WordPress and is thinking about building a website with it.
Read moreWordPress workshop at Kensington Central library
Archived Luckywebs page from 2015, preserved as first published.
From the Luckywebs archive: this page is preserved as it was first published in 2015. Details, dates and offers on it are historical.
History of WordPress Workshops
I first began running WordPress workshop at Kensington Central library back in 2014 and it really took off! People of all ages and profession were attending. There were even some people from Amazon and Google attending these sessions which I found was quite interesting. But what I found out was the following:
- Most of them have heard of WordPress
- Some of them had a blog on WordPress.com
- Hardly anyone knew any coding (programming languages)
Tri-Borough Reference Librarian Nina Risoli making the introductions
Difference between WordPress.com and self-hosted version of WordPress (wordpress.org)
Option 1: WordPress.com
If you are happy to run a blog and focus only on content generation, then go ahead and open a free account on wordpress.com. You can even buy a unique domain and have your blog there or go for the free option and have your blog address as yourblogname.wordpress.com where yourblogname is the name you choose for your blog.
WordPress trainer Raf Akbar teaching how to start a blog using WordPress at the Kensington Central Library in London.
Option 2. WordPress.org (self-hosted)
If on the other hand you want complete control over your blog, add functionalities, have control over creating email addresses, FTP, database etc. then go for this option. While WordPress is free for both options, you will need to sign up for a web hosting package and pay a monthly fee in order to run this self-hosted version of WordPress. Make sure you choose a web hosting package that offers the 1-click install option for WordPress.
5 Quick Tips About the self-hosted version of WordPress
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If you are complete beginner to WordPress, sign up to WordPress.com and practice setting up your blog for free.
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If you have opened a WordPress.com account and got used to using that version of WordPress but want more flexibility and control, sign up for a web hosting package and install the self-hosted version of WordPress.
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Always test a WordPress theme (the actual layout, template or look and feel of your blog/website) on sites like gtmetrix.com and tools.pingdom.com and make sure they don’t have scores below 75%. Any lower and your site will take so long to load that first-time visitors will simply leave your site at the first signs of delay in page load.
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While there are over 37,000 free plugins available to install, avoid installing plugins too many. Try not to go beyond 15.
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Maintain good structure of a page or post. H1 is usually the title of the page and post so use H2 fonts for headings inside the page/post followed by H3 and H4. Having structured content will get you on the good books with Google.
5 Signs You Should Invest In a web hosting package to run your WordPress website
- You want to build your website your way
- Need to add extra functionalities (Ecommerce, membership, forms, social media feeds etc.)
- Want to create domain related email addresses (looks more professional than gmail/yahoo)
- Need to customise the layout of your website
- Want full control of your website/blog
If you’re ready learn the right way, then sign up to the next WordPress course at Google campus.
Great experience, very informative. The course was an excellent overview of setting up a website, then Rafi broke down each section into steps to follow. Rafi was very generous with his time overrunning to allow for Q&A. I feel confident now to create my own website Thank you
Read moreIt's been a great course. If you want to create your first website without, this is a good course to get started. Rafi explained everything by making the learning process easy and has been so professional and kind enough to answer any question.
Read moreRafi is a very experienced and patient teacher. He is adept at explaining how to build a SEO ready website from scratch, explaining the basic concepts you'll need to create the foundations so when you leave the course, you have the confidence to add your own content. I would highly recommend his courses, no matter what skill set you have or website you have in mind.
Read moreRafi WordPress workshop is absolutely good, he is very patient and very knowledgeable. I learned the how to build my website and the difference between plugins and widget which for me as a beginner was unheard of. I particularly appreciated learning how to secure my site he gave us step by step instruction on how to do it as well as recommending trustful sources to find tools and how to search for them on google. Brilliant class I really recommend.
Read moreI have been working with Rafi since 2011. firstly with the Enterprise society at University College London, where Rafi run two Wordpress courses during our events. These courses were very well attended and we received very positive feedback. Secondly, Rafi has been helping me build a blog with high profile interviews, targetted at the well-educated public in my home country (Brazil). We've been having Skype sessions combined with screenshare, during which Rafi helped me customise theme, homepage, posts, adding slider images, resizing images, etc.The amazing thing is that Rafi teaches me the steps, so I become independent in building the website. Moreover, Rafi is very approachable and patient. I highly recommend Rafi .
Read moreEver since I've met Rafi at a fashion networking event a few years ago, he has been super helpful in helping me build my website using WordPress. He always answers any questions I might have and makes the whole process of creating, designing and building your website a whole lot easier. I am very happy that he is always there when I need him. His workshops are brilliant, where he makes everything quite straightforward to understand, even if you have little or no experience of websites or coding. I would recommend him at any point. Great job, Rafi!
Read moreHave a burning small business project that needs me to personally get directly involved in writing up a website to express the ideas to the final consumers, and then regularily update it. The hand on session Luckywebs has been immensely helpful and has demonstrated that I will be capable of achieving this objective. The instruction was focused relevant and extremely well presented , and will continue with future sessions in the future . Great ! Have a burning small business project that needs me to personally get directly involved in writing up a website to express the ideas to the final consumers, and then regularily update it. The hand on session Luckywebs has been immensely helpful and has demonstrated that I will be capable of achieving this objective. The instruction was focused relevant and extremely well presented , and will continue with future sessions in the future .
Read moreRafi is a great teacher and the course is very informative. Why learn to build a website or blog if it isnt going to be SEO ready? Rafi helps with all of that and has some extra tools as well. I Definetly recommend his class to any newbie!
Read moreA great seminar! I will definitely be coming back to update my skills with WordPress and will be bringing friends along who desperately need to build their own websites. Ravi is a great teacher who made everything look so simple. Highly recommend it! Jay Kay
Read moreExcellent free workshop hosted in RBKC libraries
Read moreI highly recommend this course. It is great for beginners, who have never worked with WordPress before. The course is very intense and informative for a 7 hours session. Rafi was amazing. He was very patient with all of us and made sure we understood every step. I feel confident to finally crate my own website.
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