WordPress-Mentor

By default, a blog is a series of posts in reverse chronological sequence—that is, with the most recent posts first. Blog posts are timestamped when you push the Publish button.

From time to time, however, you may wish to override the timestamp of publication. WordPress makes this quite easy to do. Simply click on the Edit link next to “Publish immediately” and you can specify a different date and time for publication.

But why would anyone ever want to do this?

As it turns out, I just did this on my personal blog. There was a humorous YouTube video which was appropriate for Trinity Sunday, but I had let the date pass without posting it. To complicate matters, it had been over a year since my previous post (gasp!), and I wanted to address that lapse first.

So I set out to write two posts, predated, as follows:

• How to Resume Blogging after an Extended Absense (Friday, May 24)
• Trinity Sunday (Sunday, May 26)

To change the publication date and time, all I had to do was override the default of immediately with the desired dates (and times that made sense). The image to the right shows the chosen date and time of the first of these two posts.

Another use of this feature is to produce a series of blog posts spread out over a number of days. You could write them all at once and simply postdate the ones you wanted to be published at a later date. I do this sometimes before heading off on vacation where I know Internet access will be sketchy.

In general, the current date and time is what you want for your posts, but you are not locked into this. I hope I’ve given you some realistic examples of when to override the publication date and time of your posts.

Lately I have had several students in my WordPress workshops purchase my WordPress Installation and Configuration package, which I’ve been selling for $199—despite the fact that they learn how to do all of this in the WordPress workshop.

Initially this baffled me. The more commonly it occurs, however, the more sense it makes, at least for those who are less technically inclined that others. Reading and following The Famous 5-Minute Installation instructions—or following the prompts in the one-click installation common on most hosting accounts—is a snap if you’re a technogeek like me. But what I find intuitive and even fun, some may find daunting.

So for them, adding on the cost of the WordPress Installation and Configuration package to the cost of the WordPress workshop makes sense. The following is included in the package:

• One year of domain registration/renewal ($11 value)
• One year of Web hosting (up to $60 value)
• Hosting account set up
• WordPress installed
• WordPress updated to the latest version, along with all plugins and themes
• WordPress configured with common recommended settings
• Database backup plugin installed and configured
• POP email accounts set up, as desired
• Common email forwarders set up

Really, the only thing that isn’t included is the actual Web content—in other words, what you want your website to say. And the WordPress workshop will teach you all sorts of strategies to follow in coming up with Web content that ranks high in search engines as well as achieving the desired results of your human readers.

So it’s actually a match made in heaven for a growing number of relatively nontechnical users who want to author their own website but don’t particularly want to be concerned with the nitty-gritty of initial setup and configuration. At current prices, $349 is a great deal for a growing number of my clients. This combines the $199 WordPress Installation and Configuration package with the $150 WordPress workshop. (Naturally, all prices are subject to change.)

I still attract a lot of technical users, too, for whom the WordPress workshop is enough. Whatever your comfort level with technology, there is a package appropriate for you. Contact me with your questions and concerns. As I am fond of saying, I want everyone to have a website.

Welcome to WordPress-Mentor.com. My goal for this website is to be your one-stop destination for all your WordPress training needs. To that end, I solicit your input on what you would like to learn about most. Add your comments below and let me know.

WordPress started out as a great platform for blogs. Over time it has grown to become a full-featured content management system (CMS) for all sorts of websites, not just blogs. In my own website design business I have been using WordPress almost exclusively in recent years, as it allows me to turn over the reins of the websites I’ve developed to my clients. They can then maintain their own websites with WordPress’s very intuitive Dashboard, saving them hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of dollars in ongoing website maintenance fees.

Needless to say, I am a big fan of WordPress, as are my clients.

So do let me know what you would like to learn more about. I’d like this website to be as interactive as possible, with lots of give-and-take among its subscribers.

For my readers who are within reasonable driving distance* of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, you’ll be happy to know there is an intensive one-day WordPress workshop coming up on Saturday, January 26. Register by January 12 and save $25. Just click on the image below.

*And just what is “reasonable driving distance from Portsmouth, New Hampshire”? Previous workshops have attracted people from as far away as western Massachusetts!

Again, in the interest of making this website as interactive as possible, do add your comments below. Let me know what your WordPress training needs are. I plan to develop an entire suite of webinars and video tutorials … but your input will let me know what to focus on first.

Happy WordPressing!