Rob Stone’s Home Page

Hosting, Software and Themes

The world of WordPress and Hosting Options are very confusing.  Let me help you navigate those waters and build your WordPress site efficiently and affordably on GoDaddy where I can get you three years of hosting and domain name registration for $108.  GoDaddy offers free back-up’s to your email address, 512 meg of storage and a free email addresses using Office 360.

WordPress.org is the repository site for WordPress’s free open source software.  I”ll download that software for you and upload it on your GoDaddy hosting site, connect it to the mySQL database included with your hosting and install the most current rev of WordPress for your site along with the free Akismet anti-spam software.

WordPress Themes

There are hundreds of free and pay themes for WordPress.   A WordPress Theme is a collection of files that work together to produce a graphical interface with an underlying unifying design for a website. These files are called template files. A Theme modifies the way the site is displayed, without modifying the underlying software.  I installed the 2018 theme, used here, or any other free or pay theme that you like or would work with your site.  Themes are responsive which mean they look great on a PC or smart phone.

 

 

 

Plugins & Widgets

WordPress Plugins extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites.  WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress.  I’ll install and integrate the following plugins for your site:

MailChimp – Mailchimp is a marketing automation platform and email marketing service.  I’ll set you up your own free MailChimp account and integrate it with your site whereas you can add a email newsletter sign up form like this so you can collect email addresses from your potential customers or blog followers straight to your MailChimp account.  There you can build email marketing campaigns and send out emails to your potential customers, potential customers or followers.

Contact Form 7 – I’ll create a contact form to go in your “contact us” page like this one.  You’ll get an an email every time someone fills out your form and hits send.

Yoast SEO – The #1 WordPress SEO Plugin.  I’ll install Yoast SEO and have it do the following:

  • Advanced XML Sitemaps functionality at the push of a button.
  • Full control over site breadcrumbs
  • Set canonical URLs to avoid duplicate content. Never have to worry about Google penalties again.
  • Title and meta description templating for better branding and consistent snippets in the search results.

Jetpack – Jetpack adds interactive widgets and site statistics to track your views and clicks.

You’ll get site stats like these:

A WordPress Widget is a small block that performs a specific function. You can add these widgets in sidebars also known as widget-ready areas on your web page.

Widgets are amazingly powerful especially when combined with Jetpack that give you interface with Google Maps for Hours and Info.

I’ll install Jetpack and set up the Blog Subscriptions widget to allow followers to receive an email every time you post a blog post.  It looks like this:

About

Check out my portfolio I created while obtaining my Web Development  degree at Wake Technical Community College in Raleigh.

Rob’s Web Development Portfolio

Blog

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My Sites

WordPress now makes up %31 of the internet.  It is simple and powerful and anyone can learn how to use it to add content.  I’ve replaced several static sites with interactive WordPress sites for non-profits and they are thriving under my direction. The above sites are used to show upcoming events, membership applications, important information …

Continue reading “My Sites”

Contact

Please feel free to contact us with any comments or questions.  We appreciate all correspondence.


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