How to begin here. Ok first off WordPress is more than a website builder or blogging software as it originally was designed. Here is a little history. WordPress got its start back in the days before MySpace. May 27, 2003, actually. Just a few months before MySpace Aug 1, 2003. MySpace being famous for being the first true social media platform. But back then WP was plugging along providing the same highly customizable that MySpace. But its path was overshadowed by MySpace and WP diverged more into a website content management system.

Many of your probably right now are think. This guy’s crazy WP wasn’t a social network like MySpace or FB. Yes, it was. WP did social media in a more P2P (Peer 2 Peer) manner. Back then when the web was new and shiny unmarred by various insects. It used features like RSS, E-mail notifications, and yes search engines. All very important features to have back then and now. (NOTE: Most modern social media doesn’t do independent search engines, or RSS feed.) Modern social media has chosen to limit the use of those features. forcing you into their eco-system. Basically, your followers have to be on the same platform to see your content. This causes you to have to rely on your followers to promote you.

Continuing with the history MySpace is well it’s still here. It doesn’t seem to want to die. WordPress on the other hand is has grown to probably one of the most used website development platforms. Also, probably one of the more active open-source applications.

So, what does this have to do with amateur radio?

First off, many Clubs and Ops are turning to WP because of its availability and stability. It’s quick to setup and get going. It usually fits your budget. You can go with the base plan on wordpress.com. Which will give you a free site/profile page (you may not want more than a single page. If you’re just using it to interact and follow other sites.) Other plans range from $4 personal, $8 Premium month and so on. To get involved in the social aspects of WP you only need a free account to access the reader. and you never have to publish your site.

Note: I recommend you sign-up and use your call sign to create a base site. You will get a domain like mine (kc2zqo.wordpress.com) You can use this link to sign up. Yes, I get referral credit

So, what WP provides for amateurs is a great way to share articles, events, newsletters. Many clubs have large archives of newsletters going back to pre-web times. It also easily allows multiple users to post and modify content. Which can make the task of managing a club site much easier. One person can write the content in to post and then and editor or web designer can make it fancy.

As for the social media aspect of WordPress.

WordPress added a reader back in (Not sure). The reader is where the modern social aspects come from. You can do things like subscribe/follow, share and like. This is also where your social feed is. Just like In FB but without the distractions. You can see all the new posts from your favorite personalities or sites. Also, you will find it refreshing. In that the feed is just the people/sites your follow. Not some curated feed that someone else wants you to see. What you see is between you and who or what your follow. Like in the old days of FB and Twitter.

The cool thing is about subscribing using the reader. Is it is a way to show the clubs using WP you are reading and using their site. Even if they have don’t show the social functions on the web facing side of their site. (This is a big mistake to do, and many sites do it because they don’t understand it.) What you do if the site doesn’t have a subscribe button showing. Is copy the site name or domain name. Then in your WP reader paste it into the search box and is should popup if they are using WP. Then just hit subscribe. Any new post they make should show up in your feed. When they do you can hit like on them or re-share them. to help them get exposure to others.

It’s really just like FB. In fact, the interface looks very similar to what FB and twitter looked like back in the day.

What else does WordPress provide that amateur radio ops and clubs need?

To answer that question, Many things. WordPress had some monetization features that clubs may find useful. WP can help with collecting donations, and membership fees. You can also earn ad revenue if you are on a premium plan and have a good amount of traffic. this can help pay for the premium plan and maybe more.

Newsletter Settings

The most important feature for clubs is the newsletter subscription. This is how your stay in touch with your members and followers. Unfortunately, most clubs turn it off. Probably thinking it is more like an old school newsletter and needs managing. No, the newsletter feature allows visitors to directly subscribe and follow your site. When you post you get the option to send an e-mail to those follows who are subscribed to your site. They then get either an e-mail with just an excerpt of your article or the full article or post. Your choice. I recommend only giving them part of the article to get them click into the site. Where they might become further engaged with your content. You can find these setting is the WordPress dashboard ->Settings -> Newsletter. I’m not going to go into detail here. But feel free to reach out and contact me on this or anything WP or ham related.

Discussion Settings

The other feature you should utilize is the discussion features under dashboard -> settings ->discussion. The settings here controls who can comment and on what. You should leave these setting as default first. though make sure cementers are required to be registered in order to comment. This allows users to engage with you the same way they would on any social media site. The cool thing here is you have ultimate control over what get posted and can remove anything. Sadly, many site owners disable these features probably out of not fully understanding them. leave them and adjust them as needed.

I’m going to wrap this article here.

In closing. WordPress is not without its issues. Like MySpace did and maybe still does it requires more skill development that other platforms. (oh, you can post directly to many other platforms right from inside WP)

Somethings to note.

On sign up they will try to guide you into a paid tier. Just get (yourcallsign).wordpress.com domain to start. If you are only interested in following others. After registering your callsign or whatever you want. you can go directly to the reader and start searching for who you want to follow. Do this by clicking the reading glasses icon in the top right of the dashboard. then put in the name, domain name or call sign of who you are interested in.

Examples of ham related sites you can subscribe to. You will need to go thru the reader interface to find and subscribe to them. Do this by searching for them using their domain name.

Another thing to know is avoid plugins. Just stick with the default ones installed. They can quickly complicated things for you. When starting out you want to keep things simple till you understand how WP works. Themes can also confuse things quite a bit. NOT ALL themes are created equal. many third-party themes seem to intentionally leave out features to get you to buy them. Do not do this in the beginning. Start by using the default theme. till you get more familiar. WP makes a new full featured theme each year name for the year. this year is twenty-twenty-five. Last years was twenty-twenty-Four. If you do change it stick to ones make by the WordPress team at first.

I though I was wrapping up. Anyway, please like and subscribe to my site. It helps me know my content is making a difference. Also, if you do decide to open a WordPress account can I ask you to use this link. By using that link to register for WP I get credit. You get $25 in credits for your site.

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