Tadpole’s Andy and Melissa at the 2013 Society of American Travel Writers Convention

This week, Tadpole’s Andy Christian and Melissa Cahill presented a WordPress Workshop to attendees of the 2013 convention of the Society of American Travel Writers.

Every year, SATW brings together its members in a different location throughout the world to network, recognize excellence in Travel Journalism with the Lowell Thomas Awards, and participate in Professional Development Workshops.

Tadpole was asked this year to present a WordPress workshop for Intermediate to Advanced users. The workshop, geared towards Travel Writers and Bloggers, focused on choosing plugins and themes, managing media, Search Engine Optimization for WordPress, Security & Best Practices, and tips for managing sites with multiple authors.

Here are the slides and resources from the Workshop:

Resources from the WordPress Workshop

Note: All resources listed are available free of charge unless otherwise notated.

Plugins & Widgets

• JetPack
• Forms
  • Contact Form 7
  • Fast Secure Contact Form
  • Contact Form by ContactMe
  • Custom Contact Forms
  • Visual Form Builder
  • Gravity Forms (Paid)
    
• Advertising on your Site
  • Video Advertising
  • Image Ads [link no longer available]
  • Ad Networks
    • Google’s AdSense
    • Chitika
    • BlogHer
  • Ad Management Tools
    • Ad Rotate
    • BuySell Ads
    • Simple Ads Management (SAM)
• Social Media Integration
  • Rotating Tweets
  • MP Tweet List
  • Facebook (official plugin)
  • Google+
  • Pinterest
  • Simply Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Social Sharing Toolkit
• Discussions/Commenting – Disqus
• Related Content
  • YARPP (Yet Another Related Posts Plugin)
  • Link Within
  • Outbrain
  • nRelate
• Widget Management – Display Widgets
• Mailing Lists – MailChimp Widget for WordPress
• Shortcodes
  • WordPress Shortcodes
  • Column Shortcodes
  • Shortcodes Ultimate

Custom CSS & Fonts

• My Custom CSS
• WP Google Fonts
• Typekit Fonts for WordPress
• AnyFont

Gallery & Media Plugins

• NextGen Gallery
• Grand Media Gallery
• Lightbox Gallery
• Media Categories

Security & Best Practices

• Comment Spam
  • Akismet (Free for non-commercial use only)
  • SI Anti Spam Captcha
• Website Backup Services
  • VaultPress (starts at $5/month)
  • Backup Buddy (licenses starting at $80/2 sites)
• Better WP Security

SEO (with WordPress)

• Google’s Matt Cutts on SEO
• Keyword Research
  • Google’s Keyword Planner (requires login)
  • Google Insights for Search
  • Google Trends Keyword Demand Prediction
  • Microsoft Advertising Intelligence
  • Wordtracker’s Free Basic Keyword Demand
• Yoast SEO for WordPress
• Website Update Services
• Google Analytics
  • Yoast
  • Ran.ge
  • Alin Marcu
• SEO Book – Link Building
• Periodic Table of SEO Success Factors

Plugins for Multiple Author Blogs

• User Role Editor
• Edit Flow
• Fancier Author Box

Questions or Comments? Feel free to add your thoughts below! And don’t forget: Tadpole is always here if you need WordPress Support, Hosting, or site development.