Hi all, hoping for a simplified explanation on how to use word press. About four years ago I worked with WordPress a lot for an internship and could find my way around it and successfully optimized multiple webpages. I just got a job marketing for a manufacturing company and got access to WordPress for their website (the admin who shared the credentials with me had little to no knowledge/experience with WordPress, so I was excited to be able to offer some knowledge of the site). I’ve been trying to update the webpages, most notably to make it appear better on a mobile format, but it doesn’t look anything like I worked with four years ago and I’m getting very frustrated.
First question, do I need to download WP onto my computer? I feel like the login I just accessed is very simplified and only lets me edit text rather than input keywords etc.
– follow up to that, I’ve seen a lot about using hosting services to download WordPress. Should I contact the original site admin to see what hosting service is used for that?
Second: are there any resources online (preferably free) that will give me a quick rundown on how to navigate this? All of the videos I’ve watched so far don’t match up to what I see on my screen
Responses with the least amount of WP jargon possible would be helpful because I am an idiot 🙂
Every theme will have different features and options. You may have previously used a theme with a page builder like Divi, Elementor, etc. Also comes down to whether the site is .org (self-hosted) or .com (hosted by WordPress). There are a ton of variables at play—especially when comparing two sites/themes. WordPress has also dramatically changed over the last 4 years. This also speaks to why videos might appear different.
You don’t need to download WP locally unless you want to develop and test locally.
It sounds like the theme you used previously had an SEO plugin or SEO custom fields for posts and pages. You can install Yoast; widely used for SEO.
Regarding mobile responsive design/layout, it again comes down to the theme, your access, and your capabilities. You can add CSS to enhance it via FTP, creating a child theme and manipulating the files, or adding css to the customizer (if it’s available in your theme).
On this issue:
> I feel like the login I just accessed is very simplified and only lets me edit text rather than input keywords etc.
I suspect you were given a lower level of access. You may be a contributor or author. That’s why you’re seeing fewer menu items. Check with the site admin.