You can reduce cost and easily start managing your websites on your own by using Managed WordPress as a complete online solution for your websites.
WordPress is no more a blogging platform, it is now fully fleshed website management system that lets you start most types of websites on your own without the need of hiring any expert.
The default WordPress dashboard is even easier to manage than you think – you simply start by affixing /wp-admin on your domain where the WordPress is installed then login to start customizing your website.
By spending a few minutes in dashboard will make you understand all its core functionalities.
The Dashboard
Once you are logged in – you will see the left sidebar showing links for the important admin functionalities whereas the right side will open up the section selected from the left sidebar menu.
To Start Blogging
WordPress is installed – you are ready to go for blogging. Simply navigate to POSTS -> ALL POSTS page, it shows you a list of all posts on your website including drafts, published and trashed i.e. deleted ones.
If this is your first time in dashboard, you will see a pre-published post HELLO WORLD. Hover the post and you will notice the EDIT button.
Click it to edit the post or simply trash it and click ADD NEW post button on the top or on the right sidebar to start composing new posts.
All post edit screens provides you a few metaboxes where you would be able to set a featured image that shows up on blog, category, tag and other multipost pages with title. This featured image is also fetched on social sites when someone shares your content.
Other metaboxes are Category & Tag. These allows you to categorize your posts so that your users can easily filter out the content on your website as per their interest. These can be used on your website menu for providing separate links to pages of different categories.
The core difference between a category and tag is a category provides you a tree like structure which means a category can have multiple child categories whereas a tag is a simple filter with no such option – you simply type it and press ENTER to add.
Above your content writing text area you will see some formatting buttons including a ADD MEDIA button to upload and insert images in your article. Just place the cursor where you like to show an image then click that button and follow on screen instructions.
Or make a business website
Don’t want a blog on home page? No worries – you can easily change this setting.
Navigate to PAGES – ALL PAGES section. Just like posts this section lets you create pages which unlike to posts have no comment form, no archive pages showing newer pages on the top etc. Instead they are linked on the menu to show standalone content such as ABOUT, SERVICES, CONTACT, OFFER, PORTFOLIO etc.
Just like posts content editing on pages is no different, you can insert images to pages the same way you do for posts. The only difference is a page has no category or tag option by default.
Your first step is to create a home page, create it by adding content you like to show up on your website’s home then add more pages as per your need. You can also create a page for BLOG showing all your posts after you set a custom home page.
To remove blog from home and set a custom page there – navigate to SETTINGS -> READING page, and the top most option enables you to set a static home page. Additionally you can also select a page for blog to continue blogging on the side. Some people do it for publishing updates, news and upcoming event on the blog section of their business websites.
To select a new website layout
Navigate to APPEARANCE -> THEMES and click ADD NEW button. The page allows you ton search, filter and install new theme on your website.
The installed theme can be easily customized from APPEARANCE -> CUSTOMIZE page. Some provides you more theme options which can be accessed from the APPEARANCE menu itself.
Website Menus
WordPress menu functionality allows you to add navigation on your website such as header navigation, footer navigation etc.
By default WordPress menu shows the pages you have on your website but you can change that to manually add category, pages and other custom links providing easy navigation to your website visitors.
To add a new menu visit APPEARANCE -> MENUS page, create a new menu, add links to it from the left section then select a menu location where you would like that menu to appear on your website.
Need something more
Want to extend the default functionality of your website to something new such as adding social sharing buttons, a pop-up for email subscribers or a function to easily insert advertisements on your website.
Simply navigate to PLUGINS -> ADD NEW section to search and install new plugins.
A plugin is a piece of software having a group of functions that can be added to your WordPress website. They are generally used for extending functionality or adding new features to your WordPress websites.
WordPress has a huge plugin repository so you can easily find a good plugin for most of the things you need on your website. For instance – You want to transform your present website into an online store then install some ecommerce plugin or you want to increase the performance of your website then install a cache plugin.
Other dashboard sections
Till now we have discussed about the important dashboard functions. Apart from these there is a page to add new users on your website and assign different roles to them such as AUTHOR, EDITOR or CONTRIBUTER etc.
COMMENTS section shows you all comments i.e. responses from visitors posted on your articles. SETTINGS menu has all settings of your website for Media, Date, Timezone and Comment settings etc.
When you install a new plugin, more menus are added on your admin sidebar and sometimes within SETTINGS menu to admin functionalities of the installed plugins.
Get a virtual website consultant
When you start your WordPress site at SANGKRIT.net – you get a virtual helper to assist you in your admin area dashboard with a package of 101 video tutorials to help learn the management of your website and become an expert.
If you have any questions or if you want to add something useful to this article, feel free to use the following comment form.