Tips for a Great Website Foundation

Corey Freeman WordCamp Raleigh 2013

About Corey Freeman (ME!)

Working with WordPress since 2004

Specialize in Headway Themes

Fan of website optimization

Owner of World’s most frustrating dog.

authenticcorey.com / @coreyfreeman

Olive the PuppyDirector of Operations

What Makes a Great Website?

A Breakdown of Our Goals

A Successful Website…

Loads quickly

Looks amazing

Is easy to find

Gets users coming back

The Stages of Website Creation

Development

Design

Optimization

Content/Promotion/Etc

“Terminal Optimization”

Similar to “terminal velocity.”

Do the most amount of work right now so you can focus on content/promotion/money forever and ever.

Random Puppy Break

DevelopmentBuilding Your Website

Setting Up Your Hosting

Your ideal host has three major factors:

Great Customer Support

Affordable Pricing

Excellent Service

Suggestions

Media Temple ($20/month Grid Service)

Digital Ocean ($5/month droplets)

DreamHost/BlueHost/HostGator

Use WordPress.org

Ease of Customization

Plugins & Theme Frameworks

Pick Your Own Hosting Package

Easier to Work with Freelancers

Less Expensive in the Long-Run

Essential Plugins

*Only* install plugins you absolutely need! Do your research.

Pick plugins that have been updated recently (in the last 6 months)

Go with repository or premium plugins. No back-alley websites!

WordPress SEO by Yoast, Akismet, Limit Login Attempts, Redirection, Gravity Forms, BackUp Buddy, Subscribe to Comments Reloaded, Clean Archives Reloaded

[Detour] JetPack

If you’re using Jetpack, make sure you DISABLE features you’re not using (e.g. math, spelling/grammar, subscriptions, Json, gravatar hovercards, etc…)

My favorite is sharing, stats, publicize, and the image CDN

DesignTips for Scalability

Eg. Headway Themes, Genesis, Thesis, PageLines, etc.

Take a giant chunk of work out of design development.

Are continuously developed and have a large community for support and expert services.

Typically mobile responsive and ready for extensions.

Are fun to use :)

Theme Frameworks

Headway Themes (headway101.com/go/headway)

Visual oriented WordPress design tool.

Built to customize any and all layouts and elements of WordPress sites.

Mobile Responsive

My personal favorite :)

Puppy Break pt 2

Argument for Custom Design

Build your design around your content so you don’t have to do multiple redesigns.

Easier to brand when you brand from the ground up.

Easier optimization and conversion tweaks later. (Less “Hacking”)

Things to Keep in Mind When Designing

MOBILE. Go responsive. Avoid apps unless you have a really good reason and a LOT of money for updates.

Limit the amount of images that the design needs to work for faster loading times.

Make sure every color has a function. Copy, callout, background, emphasis, etc.

PS. Child Themes

Child themes are good if you want to do a LOT of custom code customization. But it’s not necessary for Headway Themes :)

They’re uploaded like themes, but require the parent theme installed.

Outsourcing Design & Development

Pay more now or you’ll have to pay again later for someone like me to fix an “affordable” design.

Don’t be afraid to shop around and ask for what you want. Ask questions!

Do not fear the idea of code.

Tips for Optimization Speed & SEO

Heavy LiftingStart development once your design is FINISHED. DONE. No more colors. Pencils down.

W3 Total Cache with CloudFlare

JetPack’s CDN for Images or another CDN to supercharge.

WP Optimize on occasion (database clean-up)

Reduce the ClutterRemove deactivated plugins & themes, except WP default theme.

Remove “Unattached” images and files that aren’t part of the design.

Remove spam and empty auto-drafts, empty your trash.

Assess the plugins you’re using and reduce them whenever possible.

Regular Maintenance

Create back-ups using a plugin like BackUp Buddy and store them locally or on Amazon S3

Enable scheduled back-ups from your host.

Regularly update or use an update/concierge service.

Are Your Plugins Awful?

Try “P3” Plugin Performance Profiler if something weird is happening to see if a new plugin is seriously messed up.

Deactivate plugins one-by-one for more precise changes.

SecurityJust. Keep. Updating.

BackUps Are Your Friend.

Don’t freak out if you’re not a giant e-commerce website. Limit Login Attempts, disable registration, move on.

Change “admin” to anything else. Passwords: auto generate and keep it in a sticky note OR use “pass phrases” with spaces n’ stuff.

Other TipsRemove social media buttons & comments from the blog index and individual pages. Posts only!

Permalinks Matter. Use /%postname%/ if you’re not sure what you want.

Move archives to their own page instead of the sidebar. Plugin: Clean Archives Reloaded

Things to Remember about WP

Use the “featured images” option for lead images!

Don’t link post images to their attachment files, or at all if you don’t have to.

Pages for static/unchanging content. Posts for fresh, updating content.

Puppy Break pt 3

SEO the Easy Way Make optimization a habit! Write content, go back and optimize.

Install and configure just ONE SEO plugin, eg. WordPress SEO by Yoast

Write titles people are searching for, eg. “how to change a tire”

Only spend money if you have a lot and find a provider you love.

[Detour] Scribe

Meh, I’m not a fan. I’d say use WordPress SEO unless you need a lot of hand-holding.

Read up on SEO tips from major blogs like searchenginejournal.com and copyblogger.com and problogger.net, etc.

About Title Tags

<h1> Should be your post/page title.

<h2> is important stuff

<h3> is for sections related to the important stuff

<h4 - h6> Basically whatever you want, but treat like titles.

About Categories & Tags

Limit the number of categories to main topics on your website.

Remove the /category/ part of your URLs if you’re a new site.

Create as many tags as you want, avoid duplicates.

Use the plugin “Relevanssi” to make search better and take advantage of these.

Comment Moderation

Moderate your comments to avoid spam content and crappy links.

Use plugins like “Conditional Captcha for WordPress” and “Akisment” together to prevent spam.

Turn OFF comments if you’re not blogging/interested in them.

Not Just SEOAdd share buttons to posts to make it easy for people to spread naturally.

Auto-update social networks and email lists on new posts to minimize work and maximize exposure.

Respond to comments and let people get to know you.

My Favorite Social Plugins

Digg-Digg (for floating)

Tweet Old Posts (for continuously promoting older content automatically)

Subscribe to Comments Reloaded for connecting with others.

WordPress Popular Posts (sidebar widget)

Q&AWhat Tips Do You Want to Hear?

How Much Does a Website Cost?

hosting - $5-$20

framework - $100

gravity - $100

back-up buddy - $80

stock photos - $50

Total Upstart: ~$350

Upkeep: ~$20/month

NEED MOAR?! Head over to

headway101.com/wordcamp/ for more

information!

twitter: @coreyfreeman @headway101

facebooK: fb.com/authenticcorey fb.com/headway101