Here is a video I made showing you how to add a nice image slider to the front page of your website.

Here is a video showing you how easy it is in WordPress 3.1 to add new menu items.

If you are embarking on a project to create your own content management system my advice would be to stop. Here’s a great video from Japheth Thomson where he dismantles the rationale for starting a bespoke cms project.

Below are the survey results from our March 8th WordPress training course. We had a really great day and everyone in the room had a real passion for WordPress.  I’m really pleased with the positive and constructive feedback and following requests from the 10 attendees I’m busy preparing an Intermediate WordPress course. To book a…

Our latest WordPress project has just gone live.  We worked with Cheltenham Connect and Cheltenham Borough Council to produce www.connectmystreet.org. “Connect Streets is all about local people taking ownership of the places that really matter to them and having a say in how they should be developed. It’s also about how our own behaviors (such…

Learning Disability Today is a well established print magazine that serves professionals in both the public and private sectors. Our brief was to create an online version of the print magazine but also add in jobs, community functionality, a newsletter and integrate social media. Features: WordPress and Buddypress, Mailchimp integration , Groups, Activity streams, Member…

Due to demand we have decided to run an extra WordPress training course in March. Details for the WordPress training course are now live on our website and we have 5 places remaining.

Hi, Here’s a screen capture I made this morning showing the installation of the latest version of WordPress. There is no sound – but for some that might be an improvement 🙂

We have added Live Help to the Pootlepress website. To use Live Help just click in the bottom right of your screen where it says “Click here for live help!” . We hope you find this useful.  

Our WordPress training course in Cheltenham on the 4th April, 2011 has only 6 places left. To book a place visit our WordPress training page.  For details and directions for our Cheltenham courses please visit this page. If you would like further information please email me at jamiemarsland@pootlepress.co.uk.

Guest post by Tony Winston – Senior Programme and Risk Management consultant at Inovatieum Plc. “The invidious creep of social media into the workplace brings a frightening minefield of trouble as well as a huge waste of time and money. “ Here are 5 tactics you can use to keep social media projects out of…

WordPress 3.1 has been released today. As I blogged yesterday this includes a new admin bar, internal linking and a streamlined writing interface. There are also improvements ‘under the hood’ such as better post format support. WordPress becomes a more powerful Content Management System with every release. For more information visit the WordPress website.

In this video I show 2 improvements coming in WordPress 3.1. Front end Admin bar –  that  provides 1-click access to edit pages, create new posts, reply to comments etc. Internal linking – that allows users to search through existing blog posts and add links in the content.

The chart and table below show the comparative usage of the top content management systems.  They are taken from the website BuiltWith.com.  It makes interesting reading!    

WordPress – For publishing all kinds of websites, from simple blogs and complex content management systems, to e-commerce websites. Has a huge development community and thousands of plugins that extend functionality. Firebug – Firebug lets you inspect and edit CSS and HTML in your web pages. Adobe Photoshop – Still the best image manipulation software…

We have now confirmed our first London WordPress training course will run on the 9th May.  Spaces are limited and our courses sell out quickly.  You can find more information and booking details here.

Our 8th March WordPress training course has now sold out 🙂 The next WordPress training course takes place in Cheltenham on the 4th April. More details can be found here. We are also close to finalising a date in May for a London training course.  This will be announced next week.

Last year we launched www.leckhamptononline.co.uk. Leckhampton is a small area of Cheltenham that is home to 5000 residents. 7 months since launching, leckhamptonOnline now reaches a quarter of all Leckhampton residents and is growing 15% every month. Here are 7 lessons that we have learnt so far. As ever it would be great to hear…

Poor internal communication is a common complaint in most organisations. In my previous company I was determined that communication should be two way. I am a strong believer that teams work best when everyone is engaged and all team members feel they can contribute. It was a small team comprising of 25 people but staff…

For those of you interested in having a ‘hands on’ play with WordPress and Buddypress I have set up a sandbox site at www.projectpress.co.uk. Buddypress is a social networking layer built on top of WordPress. You can either login as admin or as an end user. Please feel free to install plugins, change settings, write…

Our 1 day WordPress course will give you the knowledge and tools to manage and run a great WordPress website. To book call 07909 449 617, email jamiemarsland@pootlepress.co.uk or use the booking form at the bottom of this page. Cost is £85 per person Next course 8th March 10am – 4pm Location Cheltenham, Gloucestershire WordPress…

[box type=”tick” border=”full”]These are the 5 things I make sure I do every time I set up a new WordPress website.[/box] 1) Make sure you are running the latest version of WordPress Often when you use web hosting companies to install WordPress they don’t run the latest version. It’s important to make sure you are…

This year I launched the fundraising site www.dareboy.co.uk and the analytics show that social media outperformed the local press in driving visitor numbers. The site has been a big success and has helped me raise £3,783.46 so far. The graphic below shows a comparison between the day my social media marketing campaign kicked off, versus…

So it looks like Google will buy Groupon for approx $6 billion. Groupon is a really clever business and I’ve pulled out 4 things they did well that can be applied to communication and engagement projects. As ever feedback, questions, debate and disagreement most welcome. jamie @pootlepress Update 05/12/2010 : Since writing this post Groupon…

1) WordPress is free WordPress is free and open source. You can download it from  www.wordpress.org and install it on a server of your choice (or even on your own PC). Having 100% control of the ‘terms and conditions’ of your communications platform is incredibly important but is often overlooked.  As users of hosted providers…

Over the next 3 months I will be blogging about how I use WordPress and Buddypress to create online communities. I will share tips and lessons that I have learnt whilst using  WordPress in the wild. I will be covering the following topics but please let me know if there are any other areas you…