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WordPress is an open source tool used for creating websites. It was released in 2003 but has evolved to the point that it is a very good fit for all manner of websites. WordPress is available from WordPress.org. The company that supports WordPress also runs a free service where it is possible to use your own sub-domain at WordPress.com. They also offer a service of hosting a WordPress website at Automattic.com. The version available from the .Org site is meant to be hosted on your own server. It typically requires Apache, PHP, and MySQL to operate. However, WordPress has been made to operate on more that just that common platform.

• Getting Started: This video shows how to install WordPress on your own server. In this video, I use HostGator as a hosting service. HostGator uses Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. While they also use Fantastico to quickly install from cPanel, I use a more technical way showing how to do the same with as few wizards as possible. Also, in this video I use FileZilla to transfer the WordPress website to the server.
• WordPress Updates: It is important to keep your WordPress website up to date. Failing to do so will reduce its functionality, security, and performance.
• WordPress Themes: There are many pre-built templates available for WordPress. Many designers create great designs for it and give them away. WordPress has a built-in installer for all these themes. They are excellent for those that want a well designed site, but aren’t technical enough to design their own.
• Widgets and Plugins: Widgets and plugins are items used to add functionality to a WordPress website. Widgets are often the items that appear in the side bar of a website. Plugins often add functionality to a website. It saves the website designer from writing a lot of code. It’ll add the functionality by making it easier to embed video, insert a photo, or lots of other cool tricks.
• Static Pages: WordPress is designed to be a web logging (blog) platform. A web log is like an online diary. The individual pages appear in a “stream of consciousness” type of form. They are organized by date which is not the sort of setup that you would want on a corporate web site. A business web site wants to be static. That’s what static pages are for.
• Posts: Posts are the individual entries on a blog.
• Comments: WordPress allows users to register and comment on your website.
• Categories: These allow the grouping of posts. Readers can sort your posts by these groupings.
• Post Tags: These are descriptors that attached to posts and sometimes pages. They are much like categories but are usually listed at the end of a post.
• Images and Other Media: Pictures and video make a website exciting. Put some on your website today.
• Akismet (blocking Spam comments): Lots of people use your website to leave spam comments. The only reason that they leave a comment on your website is to promote their own product. Block them.
• Contact Form by Grunion: Your customers have information to give to you. It may be comments. It may be their e-mail address. It may be an order. Whatever it is, give them a way.
• SEO (Search Engine Optimization): These are the setting to make you website popular. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the hot term for these types of settings.
• Export Posts / Import Posts: This is a way to save your posts or pages from your WordPress blog. Then if you need to move them or restore them if your website crashes. This does not back-up everything.
• Backup WordPress / Restore WordPress: This is a way to back up your self-hosted, self-maintained WordPress Blog. If your server crashes, this backup method will restore your entire site. This is not a method for backing up your blog hosted on WordPress.com