Spend a day with Bob and review the basics of WordPress, learn how to even get more out of your website or blog, and build the site of your dreams using Genesis from Studio Press and one of its child themes. 

Discover why Mashable calls Genesis the 'best of the best' among premium themes and why 65,000 online publishers (and counting) are using it to highlight their content. Genesis is recognized for its:

• flexibility- using their custom plugins and widgets, you can easily customize your sidebars—and you have full control over what content goes where. 

• short learning curve- you'll quickly master your first theme and if you ever want to switch to another Genesis them down the road, you'll find it easy to do.

• clean, search engine optimized-code- with smart architecture and up-to-date, fully optimized code, your content will be quickly and easily found by the search engines

We will start the day by:

• Looking at some basic tips to make sure you are getting the most out of WordPress
• Reviewing the best practices for creating pages, posts and inserting media
• Understanding the power behind categories—even if you are using your site as a blog
• Learning how to use the menu features to their fullest extent

Next we will:

• Look at some of the must-have plugins and widgets for your site
• Explore the basic rules of SEO and how to use them effectively
• Look at the best ways to use social media effectively on your site or blog
• Wrap our brains around Google Analytics and learn how to use it to improve site content
• Compare RSS and email signups

The day will end with:

• Walking through the basics of the parent theme Genesis
• Previewing 5 different child themes to use with Genesis
• Learning how to create a more powerful site with Genesis's  custom widgets 
• Exploring the plugins for Genesis that allow you much more customization than you can imagine
• Touching on a bit of CSS (cascade styling sheets) for further customization 

The child themes we will be looking at are:

• Generate
• Prose
• Agency
• Nitrous
• News

But once you have learned the basics, moving to another child theme will be that much easier for you!

You will also get:

• The PDF "Genesis for Beginners User Manual"
• My WPStarter Video series - the basics of WordPress ($57 value)
• The Genesis theme of your choice*
• And a free catered lunch!
• A 15-minute review from Bob once you've completed your site.**

* Theme is free under my developer's license, but you may want to purchase your own license down the road

** Suggestions and recommendations sent by email.  

Requirements: This class will be held at Studio C in Bellevue, which has free wifi. You will need to bring your own wifi-enabled laptop. Also, this workshop requires that you are using WordPress on a self-hosted site. This does not mean WordPress.com. You will need to be set up and have WordPress installed on a hosting service in one of two ways:

1. If you currently have a website, ask your hosting service about installing WordPress on a subdomain.
2. If you do not have hosting, you will need to purchase it and install it on your host. I recommend Bluehost.com. I will send you instructions on how to do this.

Once you have installed WordPress, I will send you the the theme of your choice to install with directions. Please note that I can give you the theme free of charge under my developers license, but you may want to purchase your own license down the road. 

Note: We will not be exploring theme customizations that require coding.

REFUNDS: There are no refunds available. If you need to cancel, you will get credit for two-hours on on-line training with Bob.