How can we get the younger generations into WordPress? This is a perfectly valid question, and I’ve heard or read from several people in the community that they are concerned with this. However, there’s some good solutions for this, but it all boils down to one umbrella topic: Education.
There’s a lot of ways already in place that offer learning WordPress:
- Learn WordPress at WordPress.org
- WP101
- YouTube
- WPBeginner
Learn WordPress at WordPress.org
Learn WordPress at WordPress.org is an educational platform offering free resources to help users of all skill levels master WordPress. It provides courses, tutorials, and workshops covering various aspects of WordPress development, design, and content management. Topics include website building, theme and plugin development, SEO optimization, and accessibility practices. The platform also fosters community learning through forums and interactive lessons.
WP101
WP101 is an premium educational platform that provides easy-to-understand video tutorials for learning how to use WordPress. It’s designed for beginners and offers clear, step-by-step guides to help users build and manage WordPress websites without needing advanced technical skills.
Topics covered at WP101.com include:
- WordPress Basics (posts, pages, settings)
- Themes and customization
- Plugins and their functionalities
- Security and backup tips
- SEO basics for WordPress
This platform does cost, but provides a more organized and focused way to access even beginner tutorials for WordPress users.
YouTube
YouTube is chock full of videos dedicated to learning WordPress, especially for beginners. It’s easy to search, but not as easy to sort through. You will find all sorts of free WordPress beginners tutorials, but a few of some of the channels that have some great videos are at:
- @createwpsite">Create WP Site
- @freecodecamp">freeCodeCamp.org
- @Skilllot">Skillot
- @TylerMoore">Tyler Moore
WPBeginner
WPBeginner is a comprehensive resource for beginners looking to learn WordPress. It offers tutorials, tips, and step-by-step guides to help users build, manage, and optimize WordPress websites without needing advanced technical skills. WPBeginner covers a wide range of topics, including themes, plugins, SEO, security, and performance optimization.
Topics people can learn at WPBeginner include:
- Installing and customizing WordPress themes
- Using plugins to extend website functionality
- Improving SEO for better search rankings
- Securing and speeding up WordPress sites
@wpbeginner">WPBeginner even has a YouTube channel chock full of WordPress beginner focused tutorials too!
As a side note, you can also find great WordPress courses on Udemy and Skillshare that you can pay for that are a bit organized like WP101 is.
So, beyond these existing options and others not listed in this article to learn WordPress for beginners…
How can we get the younger generations into WordPress?
However outside of these online resources, we can do more as a community. I’ve sorted the main areas into general target audience that could reach most ages, especially the younger crowd. Some of these are being done, but there are so many great WordPress community members who give back by teaching, there’s room t expand and cover these areas better.
This being said, having a TikTok, Facebook, SnapChat, or Instagram channel won’t cut it. Those could go away anytime, for any reason. As much as some of social media networks appeal to the younger crowd, it won’t cut it in creating a long-lasting brand that could potentially bring jobs or even passive income.
Unfortunately, a lot of kids don’t have the money to pay for online courses in learning WordPress, which is why I’ve put this list together on areas they can be reached.
- Elementary Schools
- Local Libraries
- Colleges/ Universities
- WordPress Meetups
- WordCamps
- Virtual Web Seminars (webinars)
Elementary Schools
Most elementary and junior high schools have a computer room or computers available to their students. Often, these are used to teach basics like learning to type on the keyboard, spreadsheets, and more. This is a good opportunity for people in the WordPress community who love to teach, to offer some type of WordPress beginner workshop at the school.
These workshops could be sponsored by web hosts like Bluehost and GoDaddy, or a free WordPress.com account, willing to give some free workspace for the instructor to allow students to set up WordPress and or have a play area to setting up and learning how to use the platform. While many of these students may not be ready to have a domain and website of their own, this will give them a taste of being able to create and make their own little nook on the internet.
Additionally, this is a great time to also emphasize on topics like being cautious online as a minor and simple security for email, social media, and websites.
Local Libraries
Local libraries often have a number of computers available to the public and even a way to book a meeting room for free. WordPress community members can use this to book the free rooms for 2 hour spots and hold mini workshops to teach the general community consisting of all ages. This is fantastic to reach people who are interested in DIYing as a blogger or starting a small business on a dime.
Colleges/ Universities
A lot of colleges and universities offer teaching WordPress as curriculum or part of a bigger curriculum, like Computer Sciences, Multimedia, Web Design, Broadcasting, and Communications. However, outside of that, there are a lot of students using social media already and creating a brand or startup or needing to set up an online resume.
Some of these colleges and universities may be open to donating a room for holding free WordPress workshops for their students to take advantage of. Additionally, some professors do like to bring in guest speakers to teach WordPress or talk about how you can use WordPress to blog or for creating a resume. Reach out to professors in related curriculums to see if they’d be open to bringing in a guest speaker to their classes.
WordPress Meetups
Since 2020 and COVID-19, a lot of local WordPress meetup groups have either closed, or have had a hard time getting started. This is a great time to create mini workshops each month focused toward beginners. One of the difficult parts of getting a meetup going is logistics, mainly where to meetup. If cost is a problem, sometimes WordPress Foundation can help with that, as well as some web hosts. However, libraries offer a free area you can book.
As a note, often libraries are booked solid, so if you go this route, you should check out their availability as soon as possible.
Additionally, to boost interest WordPress meetup groups could benefit from collaborating with other local area meetups that could find learning WordPress quite useful, like Blogging meetups, Coding meetups, Podcasting meetups, and Small Business meetups. You can also invite some of the speakers of those groups to monthly WordPress meetups too!
WordCamps
WordCamps are yearly local conferences and can be a great place to host a basic WordPress workshop alongside Contributor day or during the conference when more advance topics are also being presented. This will allow new users to feel welcomed and have a place to learn how to use WordPress and even start their first website off on the right foot.
This being said, larger regional WordCamps like WordCamp US, WordCamp Europe, and WordCamp Asia should set aside an area during Contributor day for a Beginners Workshop. While these type of WordCamps are dedicated more to showcasing some of the more advanced topics in the community, there’s still room on Contributor day to provide a room or a couple rooms for beginner type workshops. If the rooms at that venue are already paid for, why not use them, right?
See also: Dear WordCamp Organizers: Remember Our Roots and Remember our Beginners
Virtual Web Seminars (webinars)
While some people do offer some web seminars, also known as webinars, for WordPress users, the WordPress community can take advantage of offering to do this as a way to give back to the community. This is a fantastic way to reach people who can’t really find affordable or convenient transportation to a local meetup or in-person workshop.
In Summary
Again, some WordPress community members are professors and some offer workshops, both paid and for free, but in general for the Five for the Future, hopefully more people will be inspired to try these routes. In educating the younger generations about WordPress, the community can thrive. WordPress offers a lot of freedom for all walks of people, from blogging, to educational institutes, and even businesses (both small and large).
What do you think about this?
If you do any of these already, let everyone know in the comments on what you’re doing to educate people about learning WordPress.
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