Do you feel like learning WordPress is taking way too long? Or, are you so overwhelmed by having to learn WordPress at all, that you’d rather be reading “5 Ways to Learn to Watch Paint Dry?”
We really hope it’s not that bad, but if you are feeling bogged down by even the very thought of trying to understand WordPress, please do not fret. And definitely don’t read about watching paint dry.
We’re here to share some of our WordPress knowledge, pass along a few key WordPress learning hacks, and support you so you can build the website you’ve always wanted. All while learning from and contributing to the greater WordPress community.
5 Ways to Learn WordPress Faster
You signed up for WordPress because you understand its benefits and you’re on board to work at optimizing your website to get the most of what WordPress has to offer.
Our goal is to help you succeed by flattening out your WordPress learning curve so you can be as fast and efficient as possible. Our hope is to teach you to use the tools you need fast, so you can focus on growing your website to its full potential.
1. Ask Someone Who Knows WordPress
There are no dumb questions. Okay, maybe there are a few, but when it comes to WordPress, all bets are off, so ask away! Everyone picks it up at their own pace, in their own way.
Many of the challenges in learning WordPress revolve around interface basics. It can take a bit of time to find your bearings and begin to instinctively know what’s where. A shortcut to learning what you need up front is simple–ask someone who knows.
Fortunately, there is no shortage of resources when it comes to WordPress support. Here are a few options:
- Call 855-464-5345 to immediately speak with an on-demand WP Live expert. Cut the line, cut through the nonsense, and get a speedy answer right away.
- Check out a WordPress forum to search for the answer to your questions. We suggest going right to the source at WordPress.org.
Users who can’t find WordPress answers elsewhere will post their queries on forums where other users, often developers, will post answers. The best answers are typically voted up so you know which solutions are most valid.
- Contact your WordPress theme or plugin developer directly, especially if you’re having product-specific issues. Some developers include WordPress support as part of their theme package.
- Follow and read a top-rated blog like WPBeginner (great for WordPress newbies) or MOJO Marketplace (great for WordPress newbies and more advanced users).
- Or, a website designed to help you learn WordPress like FirstSiteGuide.com, which offers free resources and guides, as well as a cool website analyzer tool.
These WordPress support blogs each answer a variety of frequently-asked WordPress questions and offer advice with clear visuals for quick understanding. Discover quick tips, info about new releases, themes, plugins, tools, and much more.
Pro Tip: Use your web browser to bookmark the WPBeginner and MOJO Marketplace blogs!
2. Use a Step-by-step WordPress Guide
Step-by-step guides are your key to WordPress success. You can find a variety of guides for different purposes around the web.
But they’re especially useful when building your first site because they visually help clear up confusion as you go. Simply follow along through each step to seamlessly get the job done.
You’ll be able to breeze through common starting processes that tend to be more complex. With step-by-step guides, tasks like setting up a hosting provider will be easy, so you can focus more on using WordPress and building an awesome website.
3. Import a Demo and Start Customizing
This is a clever, almost sneaky way of teaching yourself WordPress, but the good news is that it’s entirely on the up-and-up!
Theme demos are fully-designed websites that come complete with filler content that’s entirely customizable. Simply import a theme demo, and you can start replacing the text and images with your own personal touches right away.
What’s cool with customizable theme demos is that you can essentially reverse engineer your way into understanding how WordPress works. And you don’t need to do everything at once. The demo will provide a nifty looking site. You can always go back and customize it later, or even change themes as you wish.
Whether you want to or not, with theme demos, you’ll learn a thing a two about good development and design.
Pro Tip: Open two browser windows so you can compare the demo site to your WordPress backend, or dashboard settings. This way you can see the how the code adjusts as you improve your site.
4. Use Paid Services and Learn Only What You Need to Know
We understand that paying for WordPress services may not be your first choice. But we’re including this option because we believe that paying for a great WordPress resource can save you time and enable you to focus more on your business or blog.
Maybe you only need to know how to publish blog posts, or update menu items on the homepage every now and then. But you don’t want to spend your valuable time learning to build all the nuanced parts of your site out yourself. There are some services we offer at MOJO Marketplace that are designed for this purpose. And the best part is they cost nowhere near what freelance developers charge, but you get the quality all the same.
Here are some of the great services we offer to get you a step ahead:
- Install your WordPress theme – $49.00
- Make your site look like the theme demo – $149.00
- SEO and Sitemap – $99 (What’s a sitemap?)
- Backup your site – $99
- WordPress Starter Kit – $99
The downside is that you may not learn as much as you would doing it yourself, but it’s about what you need to spend the majority of your time on. And that may not be building your website from the ground up. It might be more about creating your brand or publishing great content.
5. Join a WordPress meetup or WordCamp in your area!
Another option? Get out from behind that computer and join the incredibly interesting and intelligent folks out in the WordPress community.
Consider visiting a WordPress meetup in your area where you can learn so much just by listening-in. But of course ask questions, too! This is a great way to find out what others close-by are working on. Maybe you’ll even discover opportunities for business partnerships or website collaborations.
Another in-person community resource is WordCamp. Coming to a city near you, WordCamp is “a conference that focuses on everything WordPress.”
Attracting big name talent like Tim Ferris (author, The 4-Hour Workweek) and Matt Mullenweg (WordPress Founder), WordCamp is a productive place for bloggers, developers, entrepreneurs and anyone else entrenched in the world of WordPress to meet and learn from one another.
With its commitment to open source software development, the WordPress community was built on the mindset of collaboration. If meeting typically entrepreneurial-minded people with similar interests appeals to you, then we suggest getting out into the community stat.
If You Want to Learn WordPress, You Can Learn Fast
WordPress users have different goals, visions, and websites. The point is that no matter what your background or interest, there are numerous ways to learn WordPress fast. And while fast is great, we also like to think that these particular resources also add significant value.
Here’s a quick WordPress support resource recap:
- Forums
- Demos
- Blogs
- Paid Services
- Community
With so many available resources for people of various learning styles, there’s never any reason to feel stuck without WordPress support. And if you need to take a break from learning–go for it! This is your own personal WordPress journey and these support services aren’t going anywhere.
Have any of your own speedy ways to find your way around WordPress? Let us know in the comments section and share your secrets with the ever-evolving and growing WordPress community.
