Word Press is so frustrating

Well I can tell you that you don't sound stupid, we have all been there in the beginning when we are learning where we are doing something that has use frustrated.

I would look for a theme that has no side bars. That might make it easier to get up in the beginning. The thing I love Wordpress is that it makes it easy to go in and change things later.

And I am not saying anything about what your site should or will look like, but many beginners were able to create an income with some of the ugliest sites. So if you get frustrated don't get caught up in the details and take a break.

I do not know of anything out that would make the process of writing the php any easier. But I wanted to let you know you that we have all be there.

Just out of curiosity if you don't understand WordPress why are you using it to make a squeeze page? Why not just use a simple HTML page?

But if you insist on using WordPress there are literally thousands of tutorials available, not to mention excellent documentation on wordpress.org.

As for the sidebars the default "Twenty Eleven" theme can be configured easily to have no sidebars, just look under Appearance-Theme Options and choose "One Column - No sidebar".

Bill

I have a free wordpress course at Free Wordpress Training Videos | Wordpress Training Hope that helps

I agree with everything Bill says above, just Google your question and you'll probably find in-depth answers.

That being said, here's some quick tips to help get this done:
1. Put your sales copy on a "Page", not a "Post".
2. By using a "Page" you gain the option on the right side of the edit screen to change your Page Template. Most themes come with several, including ones without sidebars. Should be clearly named but you may have to experiment.
3. In the "Settings" menu section (on the left side of the screen) click on "Reading" and the top radio button can set your "Front page displays" to a static page, and choose your sales page from the dropdown. That way anyone coming to your url will see your sales page right up front.

If you are completely unfamiliar with PHP and MySQL, I would highly recommend doing something other than attempting to create your own theme. WordPress is relatively easy to develop in, for developers. I wouldn't even know where to start teaching someone all the ins and outs of theme coding if they don't have any programming experience. I myself learned everything I know by Googling and hands-on trial-and-error, but it took years to get to the point where I could quickly turn out an error-free Wordpress theme from scratch. If you're really interested in learning programming, awesome! But get yourself a copy of Notepad++ and start small. I recommend W3 Schools for free newbie guides to coding.
Or you could just hire somebody

There's no reason to mess with the code and get frustrated over it as there is an easy solution called Optimize Press. It's a blog theme that can do everything you're looking for.

It will cost you $97 bucks but you can be up and running far faster than it's taken you so far. Optimize Press also has solid training videos to show you how to use the theme. A wise investment and will save you a considerable amount of time.

If you need advices and expert tips, just go to Wordpress.org forum

lol I'm a web designer and i HATE wordpress. But yeh just go on youtube, find some tutorials you'll get there. It's always tough at the start.

Guess I'll just post more so I can pm u... heres a little update, I Just ruined my whole blog when I decided to delete the about page... not sure how that happened but woohoooo one step closer to sales page

Seems like everyone is suggesting I shell out the $97 dollars and buy OptimizePress... soo tempting...but at the same time I wont learn the basics... I'll try the whole day to learn it if I dont get anywhere I'll buy it.

I agree with Matt above. Optimize Press just makes your sales pages look better, you don't necessarily need it if you are just starting out. Don't get me wrong, I use it all the time, but it might not be what you are looking to get into just yet if you are just starting out.

Your sales page merely has to have the sidebars removed to get full-width, and the easiest thing for you to do would be to find a Wordpress theme that easily does this. What you would do is create a Page (not a post) and on the right side you would see templates you can choose from. Lots of themes will have a template that includes the removal of the sidebars so you have a full-width. It's as simple as that.

I know the Canvas theme by WooThemes for example allow you to easily do this. It's not free, but there tons of free ones out there that have this feature.

I finally caved in and bought OP haha, damn html was making me crazy

There are specific themes which can help you. Or you can use plain HTML pages if only for squeeze pages or sales pages.

Outsource it.

In the time you've wasted, you could've had someone do it in 10 minutes for $30.

Do what a lot of former WP users have done once they got tired of it, switch to another platform that is easier to use. You will read a lot of cheer-leading on WF for that product but that does not mean it is for everyone or that it is the best. You are not alone, so don't feel like an idiot. Also, there are a lot of people here who will build sites for you, just don't overpay for the service as rates vary.

Too late to tell you now, but you could have done one of two things:
a) gone to add themes and searched for a one column theme
b) used Atahualpa, which is free, and has an option for specify how many, if any, sidebars to use.

If it makes you feel any better, i'm a theme designer, and I still find WordPress quite intimidating.

The best way is to get someone to setup XAMPP for you on your local machine, so you can start making little test tweaks locally. Thats how I learned.

Wordpress is frustrating at times. Not sure why with all the brains behind it. But the WYSISYG editor can be a real pain. Sometimes it works good to lay out your page in Kompozer (free software) and then copy/paste the html into your WP page (on the html view, of course).

I don't know if your theme has this. Many do. Create a page.
Choose the full width template

Hello Y...

Don't get discouraged. Things that seems so big right now will really seem small as you get more advanced. We've all been there...

When I was brand new I purchased a theme called "Socrates" you can find it doing a google search...

It has tons of videos and is VERY newbie friendly...It will do everything you need to do...

Not free...but some of the more advanced themes will have you pulling your hair out. Although they are really good to...they have a huge learning curve even for us not so new folks...

Good luck to you...
Deb

Optimize Press changed the way we designed squeeze/sales pages. Get it, it will be the easy button you've been looking for.

Hey - what I did when starting wordpress is buy a really nice $50 theme that you know has a great starting point for your website and from there learn how to create posts/pages/sidebars and whatever you need to create your wordpress site.

Learning these things about wordpress is enough to frustrate me to get things perfect without even considering coding anything. (Though I admit, it's sometimes neccessary to modify what code is there to help tweak a few things.)

I reccomend ThemeForest for nice themes that can fit your page.

Hope this can help you a bit. Remember $20-50 can save you a lot of time and effort at times - but you might not learn as much too in some cases.

I know everyone loves WP - I still struggle with it! Although I still use WP, I also use another system - drag and drop which is 100x easier for me (FusionHQ) Different things for different people!

There's no reason to mess with the code and get frustrated over it as there is an easy solution called Optimize Press. It's a blog theme that can do everything you're looking for.

I have no idea of how to use Wordpress. My web hosting provider offers it for blog creation, but i stick to Blogger cause it's super easy, easily customizable... and is just easy to manage.

Just like learning anything new Word Press can be frustrating.

Once you get the hang of it you'll find it user friendly. To figure it out yourself could be handy for future sites.

Or, as John pointed out, you could outsource it and they'd have it done quickly.



Bill


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Thanks guys, but as I said I already bought OP. A big relief off my shoulders, it has alot of tutorial videos too, perfect for a noob like me!

WP is by far the best and easiest to configure of all CMS platforms out there. The plugins made it all possible. So, if you are having issues with your current WP plugin, try other plugins as you'll surely find tons of free plugins to create salespages online.

As a tip, check the reviews and screenshots to give you an idea how the plugin works and if indeed it truly works. Hope that helps!

I wish I had seen this thread earlier....