First website, looking for tips (wordpress)

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jamsomito

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I recently got some server space on hostgator, and I'm looking to start up a website for a little side business of mine. It's mostly an outlet for my creative side and my passion for tech. The idea is to put up a website that ties together my written articles, youtube videos, and social media thoughts/links, etc.

So I'd like to have:
1. Homepage with summaries of recent articles and videos
2. Structured "database" of articles that sorts by category
3. Static page explaining repair, build, and consulting services I offer
4. Social media feed (page or sidebar, haven't decided yet)
5. Structured "database" of YouTube videos that sorts by category

I'd like to have comments active for registered users on any article or video.

Right now, I'm struggling with:
a. Site template - Mine looks very basic. Is it just a ton of work to make something smooth and professional, or can I find better templates out there? Would you recommend paid templates?
b. Article categorization - It just doesn't look the way I want. I think a different template will help with this. Or would you recommend a certain plugin for this?
c. YouTube videos - I don't have any on my site yet (some in the works), but is there a preferred plugin for this sort of thing?
d. Social media feeds - I have a plugin that works, but formatting doesn't look very good. Is there a go-to plugin for this?
e. User registration - I have had a bunch of blacklisted users sign up on my site already. Is there a good way to manage this?

TL;DR
So really I just don't know how much to spend vs finding free plugins and templates, and I don't know what the best ones out there are. What are your recommendations?
 
You definitely have to look into the templates. You can find a whole heaping of free ones on the WordPress site and see if anything catches your eye. Otherwise, a paid template might have a look you're more interested in. They can be found through a simple Google search.

Sometimes you just have to thumb through them to give you ideas regarding what look best suits your content.

I'd say start with a good template and get some content together, then start looking for the plugins you need on the WP site. For that I try to find the top ones for a need and read the reviews, try them out, etc.
 
Thanks for the advice. That's more or less what I'm doing right now. There's just so much out there its eating up all my time.
 
I recently got some server space on hostgator, and I'm looking to start up a website for a little side business of mine. It's mostly an outlet for my creative side and my passion for tech. The idea is to put up a website that ties together my written articles, youtube videos, and social media thoughts/links, etc.

So I'd like to have:
1. Homepage with summaries of recent articles and videos
2. Structured "database" of articles that sorts by category
3. Static page explaining repair, build, and consulting services I offer
4. Social media feed (page or sidebar, haven't decided yet)
5. Structured "database" of YouTube videos that sorts by category

I'd like to have comments active for registered users on any article or video.
Click to expand...

WordPress can do all of those things for you with minimal effort (at least compared to doing it from scratch!), so if you are not already using a CMS like WordPress that is what you should be looking into.

Right now, I'm struggling with:
a. Site template - Mine looks very basic. Is it just a ton of work to make something smooth and professional, or can I find better templates out there? Would you recommend paid templates?
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've never been a fan of the default WordPress theme. A site like ThemeForest has plenty of ready-to-use templates (for WordPress and other CMSes) that are nice and affordable. You can also find free themes around the internet that are pretty good (I use a slightly tweaked version of a theme called Arras for example). Much like computer cases though, it is very much up to personal preference.
b. Article categorization - It just doesn't look the way I want. I think a different template will help with this. Or would you recommend a certain plugin for this?
Click to expand...
Well, partly a theme will help but you will also need to figure out a system to categorize and tag your articles and then you can work to lay them out on the front-end. You can create categories and sub-categories with Wordpress where it will list out the articles (or excerpts with links, depending on the theme) like the archive pages, but restricted to the selected category. If you are looking for a page with a list of links only, I don't believe WordPress supports this out of the box but a plugin might...
c. YouTube videos - I don't have any on my site yet (some in the works), but is there a preferred plugin for this sort of thing?
d. Social media feeds - I have a plugin that works, but formatting doesn't look very good. Is there a go-to plugin for this?
Click to expand...
c. I am not aware of any, I've always done it the manual way of using embed codes. I know that there is a plugin for adding videos via shortcodes, but I'm not aware of one that can auto-import videos. I imagine it is possible to do with some coding though.
d. I"m assuming you mean... having your social network posts show up on your blog (and not the other way around? (For that use Jetpack's publicize or another plugin) Well, I know that Jetpack has a plugin to import twitter feeds that people seem to like, but beyond that I have no experience here, sorry.
e. User registration - I have had a bunch of blacklisted users sign up on my site already. Is there a good way to manage this?
Click to expand...
I would definitely use a plugin and not WordPress' built in registration thing as it's pretty crappy compared to what you can get with a plugin like Paid Memberships Pro (and I'm sure there are some decent free alternatives). What are you using the registration for though? To restrict content based on user groups? Just curious because if you don't need users to have accounts, I would just disable it completely from within the WordPress dashboard and save yourself the trouble--spammers are going to hit it hard.
TL;DR
So really I just don't know how much to spend vs finding free plugins and templates, and I don't know what the best ones out there are. What are your recommendations?
Click to expand...

When it comes to WordPress, there are good bits of software on both sides (free and paid for), and in the end I think it mostly comes down to convenience and how much time you are willing to put into it versus paying for a more polished and ready-to-go solution. Honestly, themeforest is probably a good bet as spending $40 to get a nice theme an some support is going to save you a lot of headaches heh. I have yet to pay for plugins (I tried the paid memberships pro one and it worked well but I ended up scraping the subscriber/donation content plan), but if it does what you want and you have the money go for it, it's less fun than figuring it out on your own but a lot less stressful and you can concentrate on your content rather than the back end stuff.

I hope it helps and good luck with the blog! Feel free to PM me a link to yours when it's live.
 
Thanks much, wolfofone

I started looking for other templates this weekend and I think like you said a lot of the functionality I'm looking for can be had in a better one; thanks for that tip. It might take me a while to find the right one though, there's so many out there.

Regarding plugins, thanks also for your suggestions there.

Also, I never thought about allowing strictly anonymous commenting. I'm not limiting content to anyone... I guess I thought requiring a user to register before commenting would be protection against the spammers, but I guess not. I actually just got another blacklisted user :mad:. I'll check out the plugin you suggested.

And I'll certainly send you a link when it's up. It's up now, but it's too much of a work in progress
 
I have fallen in love with the layout & options of this FREE simple theme just released for .ORG
https://wordpress.org/themes/edin

It was recently released for wordpress .COM ~ here is a review & screenies:
http://wptavern.com/edin-a-beautiful-free-business-theme-for-wordpress


I usually just use Canvas from woothemes.com & bend it to my will...
It's called Canvas for a reason... ;)

http://www.woothemes.com/products/canvas/
http://demo.woothemes.com/?name=canvas
http://docs.woothemes.com/document/canvas/

:)
 
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Hi, has someone used Edin yet on WP site? I was wondering if there are any speed issues to go along with it?
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For themes on Wordpress, there are plenty of sharp looking free ones - they'll just have the authors name at the bottom or something, and may not have the high quality stock/background pictures, which is fine.

As far as security and managing users, I have Wordfence which scans your Wordpress for known vulnerabilities. It also tracks things like login attempts. I had one IP address attempt admin login 20 times, I got an email notification, so I logged in and blocked the IP. First ban, woot!

Whether you should pay for a plugin is your discretion. Do you have a budget to spend? Are you thoroughly satisfied with the free service the plugin has provided so far? Would you like the additional features the premium version provides? Go for it then.

Oh yeah, YouTube videos are intuitive - I'm pretty sure you just paste the URL or embed code that's it. I read that somewhere but have yet to try it.
 
As Wolfofone mentioned, Envato Marketplace/ThemeForest has a lot of WordPress themes, starting very inexpensively and going up from there (depending on completeness). This is their top seller, which is very themeable and pretty extensive in scope: http://themeforest.net/item/avada-responsive-multipurpose-theme/2833226

Here are the top freebies on github: https://github.com/search?o=desc&q=wordpress+theme&s=stars&type=Repositories&utf8=✓

Also look here- https://wrapbootstrap.com/themes/wordpress
 
I believe that the look of your site plays a big role in the attractiveness of it for people. You can look for a pre-made themes for Wordpress on the internet, there is a huge amount of them. My personal opinion is that one should better buy a ready-made template like those from http://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes.php , they are not so expensive. It will have a high-quality design and interface. Also, it may be customized with some plugins if you need.
 
Frog Themes makes some nice wordpress themes, they are paid though. If you're not dead set on wordpress, you could give squarespace a try. Similar functionality, but simpler for the end user. Wordpress is more customizable overall though
 
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