Self-paced training · WordPress 101
WordPress 101: Take control of your site
Take control of the WordPress site you already own. In four self-paced modules you will learn the dashboard, the Block Editor, image and plugin hygiene, and the monthly maintenance routine. Includes a 20-minute 1:1 follow-up call with Christopher.
- Self-paced video lessons, ~6 hours total
- One 20-minute follow-up call with Christopher
- Completion certificate when you finish the final quiz
- 12 months of access from your enrollment date
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Credentials
- WordPress training since 2007
- MA candidate, Learning and Technology, Royal Roads University
- WordPress.org plugin author
- 19 years on WordPress
What you will be able to do by the end
Six skills that show up in your actual week, not a list of features you saw demonstrated once.
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Publish without panicking
Write, edit, and ship a page or post without second-guessing the editor or worrying that the wrong click will break the site.
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Use the eight blocks that carry the work
Paragraph, heading, list, image, button, quote, columns, spacer — the small vocabulary that builds almost every page you will ever publish.
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Own the media library
Upload, resize, write proper alt text, and stop accidentally re-uploading the same headshot four times.
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Run a monthly maintenance pass
A safe-order routine for updates, backups, and the three lines you do not cross — the one habit that prevents 80% of "the site is broken" calls.
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Speak the same language as your developer
Plugin, theme, block, permalink, taxonomy — the words mean something specific now, and asking for help gets faster answers.
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Know when to call for help
Recognise the dashboard red flags that mean act now versus the ones that mean wait. Send the right information when you do reach out.
What is inside
34 lessons, 14 knowledge checks across five modules. The first two lessons are free — you can take them before you enroll.
Get started — free preview 2 lessons
Two lessons you can take before you enroll, so the value of the rest of the course is obvious.
Module 1 — Foundations 6 lessons
Where everything lives, what the dashboard tabs do, and the difference between pages and posts.
- 1.1 — Log into your dashboard and get oriented
- 1.2 — The platform check: WordPress.org, .com, and your host
- Knowledge check
- 1.3 — Pages vs posts: what goes where
- 1.4 — The admin bar and what each menu does
- 1.5 — Your user profile and why it matters
- 1.6 — Activity: make your first post
- Evidence upload
Module 2 — The block editor 8 lessons
The eight blocks you use most, how to combine them, and the moves that hold up across themes.
- 2.1 — What is a block, really
- 2.2 — The eight blocks you use 90% of the time
- 2.3 — Headings, lists, and why structure matters
- 2.4 — Images inside the editor: insert, replace, caption
- 2.5 — Links, buttons, and the difference between them
- 2.6 — Patterns, reusable blocks, and templates
- 2.7 — Activity: build a real page from a brief
- Evidence upload
- 2.8 — Activity: rebuild your homepage with patterns
- Quick check-in — how is Module 2 landing?
- Knowledge check
Module 3 — Media, themes, plugins 7 lessons
The media library, image sizes, alt text, and the rules for picking themes and plugins that will not bite you.
- 3.1 — The media library: how it works and how to find things
- 3.2 — Image sizes WordPress generates and why
- 3.3 — Alt text: the single most important image setting
- Knowledge check
- 3.4 — Activity: shrink and upload an image
- Evidence upload
- 3.5 — Themes: what they do and what they do not
- 3.6 — Plugins: how to pick one without breaking the site
- 3.7 — Activity: the plugin audit worksheet
- Evidence upload
Module 4 — Maintenance and independence 9 lessons
The three lines you do not cross, the monthly routine, the backup truth, and the SEO basics that move the needle.
- 4.1 — Three lines you do not cross
- Knowledge check
- 4.2 — Reading vs writing settings: what each one means
- 4.3 — Permalinks: how URLs get built, and how not to break them
- 4.4 — The monthly maintenance routine: a checklist you will use
- 4.5 — Backups: what to trust, what not to
- 4.6 — Basic on-page SEO from the dashboard
- Knowledge check
- 4.7 — Menus: putting pages in your navigation
- Knowledge check
- 4.8 — Activity: run your first maintenance pass
- Evidence upload
- 4.9 — What is next: where to go from here
- Course feedback
Your instructor
Christopher Ross
I have been teaching people how to run WordPress sites since the platform was still called b2/cafelog. Nineteen years on WordPress; thirty in web. I have rescued sites for school boards and small bakeries with the same patient walkthrough, because the questions are usually the same: where does this live, why does WordPress do that, and which button is safe to click. The course is written the way I run those calls — short answers, real examples, and a routine you can run on your own site by the end of the week.
I am also an MA candidate in Learning and Technology at Royal Roads University — the framework underneath the course is the same one I use when school boards ask me to redesign their internal training programs.
Access and refund
Twelve months of access from your enrollment date. Fourteen-day, no-questions refund — if the first module does not earn its place, you get your money back. Your enrollment includes one 20-minute follow-up call with Christopher to talk through what came up on your own site.
Current through WordPress 6.7 · WordPress 7 update ships 2026-07-19
Common questions
- How long do I have to finish the course?
- Twelve months from your enrollment date. The course is self-paced, so you can work through it in a single weekend or stretch it across a quarter — both routes work.
- What if it is not the right course for me?
- Fourteen-day, no-questions refund. Take the first module — if it does not earn its place on your week, email me inside two weeks and I send the money back.
- Do I need to know how to code?
- No. The course is written for the person who got handed the keys to the site. Nothing in the four modules asks you to read or write PHP, HTML, or CSS.
- What does the follow-up call cover?
- Twenty minutes on whatever came up while you were taking the course on your own site. Same shape as the discovery call I run with new clients — your questions, my answers, no upsell.
- Will I get a certificate?
- Yes. The certificate appears on your profile when you pass the final quiz, and it is yours to download or print.
- Can my team enroll together?
- For three or more seats, the right shape is the live ILT version of the course at $495 per seat — same curriculum, taught in a room, with the questions answered as they come up. Email me and I will scope it.