34 Useful Links and Tutorials for WordPress Beginners

Friday Finds: WordPress for Beginners

Today’s Friday Find is all about WordPress for beginners! I’ve gathered together some resources from various bloggers that you’ll find useful as a new blogger or someone who is making the move to self-hosted WordPress. This is a pretty big one so I’ve broken these links down into 5 different categories to help you find what you need.

Beginner WordPress Resources

• Comparisons with Other Blogging Platforms
• Useful Tutorials and Information
• Plugins
• Themes
• Customization Tips

WordPress Comparisons

Not sure if WordPress is right for you? Thinking of making the switch but not sure if you should? That’s okay!

These posts compare WordPress with other blogging platforms. Look over these to see if WordPress sounds like it will be a good fit for you, or maybe find another platform that better suits your needs.

• WordPress vs Squarespace: Which is the Best Choice For You? by Allyssa Barnes
• WordPress.com vs WordPress.org by Bluchic
• How To Pick The Best Website Platform: WordPress vs Squarespace vs Weebly vs Wix by Marshall Web Studio
• The Epic Guide to Start a (Lovely) Blog on the Cheap // 01: Choose a Blogging Platform by Design Your (Lovely) Blog - Awesome comparison of both WordPress.com and WordPress.org, Tumblr, Blogger, Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace
• Blogging Platform Showdown by Blog Me Lovely - A comparison of WordPress.com, WordPress.org, and Blogger

And a special bonus post: Stop Comparing Website Platforms And Start Creating Sh#T! by Rekita Nicole Design

Don’t get too caught up in comparing. Just START! I recommend WordPress because it’s the most customizable and unrestrictive platform, but if that’s not for you, feel free to try something else.

Beginner Information

So you’ve decided to use self-hosted WordPress but you’re not sure exactly where to start.maybe you have a specific issue that needs sorting out, but you aren’t sure where to find out how. Maybe you just want to soak up as much information as you can. This section is for you!

These posts feature tutorials and information for beginner WordPress users. There are even some great tips that a long time user like myself can benefit from. Shortcuts and hotkeys are always useful.

• How-To: 301 Redirect In WordPress by Twelveskip - Check out another 32 WordPress tutorials by Twelveskip.
• The WordPress Dictionary by Amanda Schoedel - More WordPress tutorials from Amanda Schoedel are available.
• 7 Stunning WordPress Features That Most Of You Don’t Know by Mad Lemmings - And here’s their WordPress category.
• How to Complete A WordPress Post by White Oak Creative - More tutorials in their WordPress category.
• Why Keeping WordPress Updated is a Must by Designer Blogs - Check out a whole bunch of other tutorials for WordPress and Blogger.

WordPress Plugins

There are a LOT of plugins out there for just about anything you’d want to do in WordPress. If you need it done, there’s probably a solution. You do want to make sure not to use too many plugins so you don’t show down your site or open it up to vulnerabilities.

These posts list some popular plugins recommended by bloggers and what they’re used for. Expect to see a post with Blogging Butterfly’s recommended plugin list soon!

• Everything you need to know about WordPress widget areas by Blog Ambitions
• WordPress Plugins for Lifestyle Bloggers by A Joyfully Mad Kitchen - There’s a second post, More WordPress Plugins for Lifestyle Bloggers also available.
• Best WordPress Plugins: 15 Essentials Every Blog Needs by The Blog Maven
• 7 Little-Known WordPress Plugins That Will Make Your Blog Awesome by Online Income Mom
• 11 WordPress Plugins That Will Rock Your Blog by Raelyn Tan - check out her other blogging articles and tutorials while you’re at it.

Themes for WordPress

(Note: Affiliate links are marked with an asterisk (*). I’ll earn a commission if you purchase at no extra cost to you.)

Creative Market* and ThemeForest* are great sources for new WordPress themes, but sometimes you want to see a rundown of certain types of themes. Blog posts are the perfect place for this. You may find something in a part that you would have missed in your own search.

There are also bloggers who sell themes direct on their own blogs or design websites, so you don’t want to miss out on those too.

Let’s first look at some posts that can help you learn a bit more about themes.

• 9 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Choosing A WordPress Theme by Bluchic
• The Benefits of Purchasing a Pre-Made WordPress Theme also by Bluchic
• Why the Genesis Framework is Perfect for Bloggers by Free Borboleta
• How to Install a WordPress Theme Like a Pro also by Free Borboleta
• Finding Your Best Blog Theme by White Oak Creative

Here are some round up posts from other blogs that showcase various themes or create themes themselves.

Round Ups:

• The Best Blog Themes for WordPress and Blogger by Blog Pixie (I’m kind of obsessed with this blog’s branding, btw! Black and pink forever.)
• 16 Chic and Easy to Use Feminine WordPress Themes by Poor Little Blogger
• 11 Free Feminine WordPress Themes by A Prettier Web

Theme Designers:

• Kotryna Bass Design - WordPress themes by Kotryna Bass. She also has themes for Blogger! There are also tons of tutorials.
• Station Seven - Station Seven has WordPress and Squarespace themes as well as awesome branding kits. Check out their resources page for all kinds of tutorials.
• Pretty Darn Cute Design - Themes for WordPress built on the Genesis Framework only.
• Beautiful Dawn Designs* - WordPress themes and great tutorials on the blog, too.
• Restored 316 - Feminine WordPress themes. They even have a guide to help you pick the right theme.

Customization

These posts are all about creating a unique, customized blog. While there may be a tiny bit of CSS or HTML involved, there’s no heavy coding involved, just the basics. The tutorials will lead you right through it anyway.

• How to Add a Custom Coloured WordPress Sidebar Menu by White Corner Creative - There are also a few other tutorials available under their DIY WordPress Design tag so be sure to check those out too.
• How to Edit CSS in Your Blog by Design Your Own (Lovely) Blog
• How to Add Images to your WordPress Sidebar Without Using Any Code by Beautiful Dawn
• Learn to Code – Ultimate Guide to HTML and CSS by Painted Plum
• Blog Design: How to Use ‘Inspect Element’ to edit your Blog Theme’s CSS by Laura Williams - Okay so technically this is a YouTube video but this little trick is an ESSENTIAL! Knowing how to do this can help you change that one annoying deal breaker thing in a theme. Here’s the video:

Get to Work!

Phew! Now that you’ve got all these great sources of information, it’s time to get to work on your blog! Let me know what your favorite or most useful links were in the comments.

Don’t forget that I’m offering some free WordPress training to help you get started on the right foot with a new self-hosted blog. If you need some extra guidance to get started. Feel free to sign up.