WordPress is much more than a blog hosting site. 
Whether you’re a content writer, a search engine firm or simply want to share your passion, WordPress is right for you.
The content management system (CMS) is a quick and easy way to build not only a blog, but an entire website.
With little or no development and design know-how, you can craft a working site for your business.
But when you first sign up to the site it might look pretty daunting.
With a complex-looking dashboard and whole host of options, how can blogging beginners find their way around WordPress?
Learning WordPress on Youtube
Believe it or not, it is possible to become a WordPress whizz in 48 hours. The internet is awash with guides on getting to grips with the CMS and all its features.
But why read about how it works, when someone can show you?
With over 3 billion hours of video watched each month
YouTube tutorials are one of the most effective ways to learn WordPress quickly and efficiently. Here we look at 10 videos that help you get to grips with all the key features:
1. Getting to Know the Dashboard
If you’re a WordPress beginner, this is a great video to get started with.
It talks about the benefits of using the CMS, and then discusses the key features in turn.
If you’ve never used WordPress before, this is a great video to help you get to grips with the basics.
2. Adding a Post
If you can get passed the cheesy guitar intro, this video is a comprehensive step-by-step guide to adding posts.
The tutor goes through the importance of each and every feature of your posts, and their importance in terms of search engine optimisation (SEO).
3. Adding Images
They say that a picture tells 1,000 words and this is certainly true when it comes to blogging. Images can really enhance your pages and posts, and adding them doesn’t have to be complicated.
This step-by-step guide helps you upload pictures and videos, and how to optimise them for search. Watch it here.
4. Categories and Tags
Categories and tags might seem complicated, but this comprehensive video explains their differences and importance.
The simple and easy video shows you how to add parent and child categories, and why these should be used.
5. Scheduling Posts
Sometimes you’re too busy to remember to blog regularly. Scheduling posts is a great way to make sure your posts always go out on time. Watch the video here.
While this is one of the easiest things to do in WordPress, it is always worth making sure you check out this video.
What the video doesn’t mention is that you can also backdate posts if you need to for any reason.
6. Adding Pages
We’ve looked at tutorials on adding your posts; this video looks at adding a page. This is content that always stays on your website, such as your services and about pages. A video explains how to add pages on WordPress blog. Watch here!
The tutor explains the ‘child’ and ‘parent’ pages, helping you make sure your pages always appear in the right place.
7. Using Plugins
On to the slightly more advanced tutorials now; plugins are a great way to customise your WordPress site. They can however, be pretty complicated. Watch the video here.
This video teaches you what plugins are, how to update, and how to use them. While this is a long video, there are a number of really interesting features for both experienced and beginner users.
8. Optimizing Your WordPress
Making sure your WordPress site appears in the search engines is pretty important. But if you’ve never done it before, all the terms and methods can seem a little complicated.
This video helps you navigate your way around the back end SEO, to make sure that Google finds and ranks your WordPress site. Watch the YouTube video here.
9. Adding a Contact Form
Adding a content form to your WordPress hosted site is an effective and efficient way to get feedback from site visitors.
And the best thing about using this CMS is that you need no coding knowledge at all. This video teaches you the best plugins to use, how to add the form, and much more. Watch the video here.
10. Adding a Theme
Once you’ve found your way around all the key features of WordPress, you’ll want to personalise your site. This video offers some great suggestions for finding free themes, and gives you instructions on how to upload them.
Of course, the beauty of WordPress is that you can make the site look however you want. But for the more complicated changes, you may need the help of a designer or developer.
Building a unique website that is easy to update and use has never been so simple. WordPress is one of the most popular CMS platforms on the internet, but not the only one.
Do your research, and find one that works for you. To watch the YouTube video, click here.
But whichever CMS you choose, video tutorials like these can help you get to grips with the site in less than 48 hours.
Photo Credit: BloggingExperiment.com