WordPress is one of the most popular blogging tools available, yet many people don’t know is that it is a powerful Content Management System (CMS) that can be used for more than just blogging. With WordPress you can build a blog, a website, or both. It will rank higher on Google than a non-WP site and you won’t be held hostage by your webmaster.

You are invited to attend a free demo of how to create an effective website using WordPress, at the January 3 meeting of the Computer Club of Austin. It’s at 6:30 pm-8:30 pm. at the North Village Library, 2505 Steck Ave, Austin TX 78757; (512) 974-9960  (map),

Net Ingenuity produces effective, findable websites and uses the Web and social media in ways that compel others to work with our clients. Content is clarified, organized and presented eloquently, with the right words, appropriate style and proper grammar. We design custom themes for WordPress and provide WordPress coaching.

Detailed Demonstration of a Custom WordPress Installation

We’ll show you how to:

• Install WordPress via SimpleScripts (and describe how to install WordPress manually)
• Create pages
• Create subpages
• Write posts
• Arrange your blog posts in categories
• Manage comments in WordPress
• Find or create a WordPress theme
• Change the theme of your WordPress site
• Install WordPress plugins
• Protect WordPress from spam
• Optimize WordPress for search engines – SEO

And how to make the content on your website compelling.

The November 8, 2011 meeting of CapMac will update the presentation you can still watch online from a meeting of the Austin Adobe User Group, where Karen Kreps, president and main muse of Net Ingenuity, presented: “Why and How To Build Your Website with WordPress: Learn to take control of your own website.”

These are the slides she used to introduce the topic, before performing an installation of WordPress and configuring the site.

Some fifty people came to the North Village Branch of the Austin Public Library on May 11, 2010 for the presentation, and others watched online via Adobe Connect.

Use this link to watch an abridged version of this presentation (~85 mins).
http://experts.na3.acrobat.com/p10811269/

If you find this recording useful, please post a comment about it here and share it with your friends.

This issue of the quarterly print publication has a special section

The Yoga of Business:

Featuring Aadil Palkhivala, yogi and financial consultant Brent Kessel, NAMASTA founder Bernard Slede, Yoga Yoga CEO Rich Goldstein and others. Plus, an exclusive interview with Ram Dass!

http://money.cnn.com/2010/10/06/technology/ internet_explorer_market_share/index.htm?hpt=T2

It is presented by Amber Case, a Cyborg Anthropologist and User Experience Designer from Portland, Oregon. She studies the interaction between humans and computers and how our relationship with information is changing the way cultures think, act, and understand their worlds.

I had the opportunity to show an advanced copy to a principal of Gowalla, an Austin start up mentioned in the article, and he proposed that we powwow to discuss how his company’s technology could be used to find a transportation solutions.

And recently, I found out that CapMetro is partnering with http://carshareaustin.org/. And in Paris, an electric vehicle-sharing system for 3000 cars will be in effect by September.

It’s happening.  Download The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Austin to learn more.

Just Tell Me What To Do – Easy Marketing Tips for Small Business

I recently attended a SEO/SEM Meetup where Tony Emerson of Apogee Results gave this informative presentation. He generously shared his slides:

1. SEO Optimization
First, sites that are built with WordPress are way more likely to come up higher on Search Engine results than are sites built in plain XHTML and CSS. WordPress is a well optimized system that does a good job at allowing every single page to be indexed. Among the ways this can be done in WordPress is to use plugins to embed keywords and tag into every post and page, to use permalinks (which makes the URLs, or page addresses, more search-engine friendly), and it makes it easy to generate a site Map is where your visitors go to navigate and find specific articles and posts on your blog. It is also a place for search engines to find links to all your pages on your blog.

2. Easy Updating
The second reason I prefer working with WordPress, is that when the site is built, my clients can easily access, edit and update their own content. In about one hour, I can teach almost anyone how to administer the back end of their WordPress site. I’ll do so long distance, using the phone and a cross-platform desktop sharing program.

3. Lots of Support
There is a huge community available for WordPress support. If I build a site in WordPress, my clients are free to learn to manage it themselves or to find other WordPress developers who can support them.

4. Design Flexibility
Wordpress sites need not look like blogs. They can have horizontal menus with multiple layers of pages. There are many fine templates available for free or low cost, but I like to design original themes for my clients. In addition to this site, here are some samples of original themes I’ve recently built:

savewatersavemoney.com
mexicanmasterpieces.net
bpheatandair.com