15 Handpicked Beginner’s Handbooks to Kickstart WordPress

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

Last updated - August 5, 2022

wordPress is ever growing and now powers 30% of the Internet Content Management. As a result, we witness constant changes and optimizations in WordPress. These changes are ignited by the Technical Advancements and Ease of Use. Being one of the ‘easiest to use’ content management platforms, it attracts a lot of new users. The article list 15 Beginner’s Handbooks to Kickstart WordPress. The list is going to be helpful for beginner’s who are looking forward to starting their WordPress website.

“So many books, so little time.”
― Frank Zappa

Although there are 15 books listed here. You’ll find books on building a normal website, small business websites and blogging websites. I have included the Table of Contents of all the books so that you quickly find the right book. So, Let’s start with the list.

1-Hour WordPress 2018 by Dr. Andy Williams

This a visual step-by-step guide to building WordPress websites. The author tries and enables you to get ready with your first WordPress site within an hour. The books contain a streamlined description from getting your domain name to adding your social handle to the website. The book concludes with Common mistakes people make while building with WordPress. Few recommended plugins and ways to make money with your WordPress site is an added advantage of the book. Here is the:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • WordPress.com v WordPress.org
  • Domains Registrars & Hosting
  • Installing WordPress
  • Getting the House in Order
  • Pages vs Posts
  • Using WYSIWYG Editor
  • Creating Categories & Homepage
  • Adding Social Handles
  • Themes and Customizations
  • Common Mistakes
  • Plugins for all Occasions
  • Making Money with your Website

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

WordPress For Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson

The book is the Kindle edition of the paperback edition. It is focused on people who are new to WordPress Environment. The book helps the readers to distinguish WordPress.org and WordPress.com. Apart from building a website, it highlights the need for proper use of plugins and making most out of them. It contains detail expands of parent and child themes, hosting and adding multiple websites. This book is going to be very useful if you are about to start a blogging website on WordPress.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Introduction to WordPress
    • What WordPress can do
    • WordPress Basics
  • Setting up WordPress
    • Setting up Blogging Base Camp
    • Understanding WordPress.org Dashboard
    • Establishing Your Publishing Routine
  • Flexing and Extending WordPress
    • Media Management
    • Making Most of WordPress Plugins
    • Finding and Installing WordPress Themes
  • Customizing WordPress
    • Understanding Themes and Templates
    • Tweaking WordPress Themes
    • Understanding Parent and Child Themes
    • WordPress As a Content Management System
    • Hosting Multiple Sites With WordPress
    • Upgrading Backing Up and Migrating
  • Popular Plugins and ThemesThere is a list of popular WordPress Plugins, you can use.

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

WordPress All-in-One For Dummies by Lisa Sabin-Wilson 

This book is also authored by Lisa Sabin-Wilson and is useful for users having previous exposure to Computer Science and Technology. Although managing your content is dealt with, the focus is more towards smooth Customization and using Development plugins. So this book can be considered as the next step to the previous book. You’ll learn a lot of  tricks to make your website beautiful and professionally sound.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • WordPress Basic
  • Setting Up WordPress Software
  • Exploring WordPress Dashboard
  • Publishing Your Site With WordPress
  • Examing SEO and Social Media
  • Customizing the Look of Your Site
  • Using Development Plugins
  • Running Multiple Sites on WordPress

Beginner's Handbooks to Kickstart WordPress

WordPress For Beginners by Nathan George

The book is a visual Guide To Building Your WordPress Site. If you wish to build a device responsive website, this is the book for you. You can find tutorials from making a professional website to restoring the website in case of failure of any plugin or even the complete website. The book proves to be a fast learning tool for beginners. Additionally, it covers The book also lists 22 top plugins that can help you boost all section of your websites. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Using WordPress.com
  • Getting Started with WordPress.org
  • Creating Content
  • Design and Layout
  • WordPress Plugins
  • Widgets and Sidebars
  • Securing your Website
  • Next steps

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

Step-By-Step WordPress for Beginners by Mike Taylor

The book is the Kindle edition and helps you to build a Beautiful Website on WordPress. You get a complementary Video Course included with the purchase. The book talks about how you can start from scratch and why WordPress is the platform for you?

The book is divided into two parts, First is Beginner and the other is Intermediate. So if you have all basic bag on, directly move to the intermediate section. You’ll get details on Customizations, Marketing, Transferring WordPress websites and Starting a Podcast.

The book comes with 29 WordPress tutorials covering all chapters simultaneously, A theme by the Author, An access to member only forum for the reader, and access to future videos. Not at all a bad deal.

TABLE OF CONTENT

  • What is WordPress
  • Purchase Domain and Hosting
  • Install WordPress
  • Understanding the Dashboard
  • WordPress plugins and widgets
  • Using categories and tags
  • WordPress themes
  • Plugin recommendations
  • Website security
  • Setting up Analytics
  • Optimize site for SEO
  • Adding Social Media
  • Migrating a website
  • Podcast
  • FAQ

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

Build your own WordPress website by the WordPress Genie

This book is arguably the best book to start learning website building for small business owners. The book focuses on decreasing the implementation time with effective learning. You will be able to make a website, host it, add necessary integrations like email, and optimize your website according to most popular search engines. A gem by WordPress Genie.

TABLE OF CONTENT

  • Introduction
  • Setting up your WordPress Website
  • Managing Content
  • Design and Layout
  • WordPress Plugins
  • WooCommerce
  • Keeping your Website Up-to-date
  • Learn More

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

WordPress for Small Business by Tycho Press 

The book contains one of the easiest strategies for building a WordPress website for small businesses. If you already know your business, half the hard work is done. The book helps you with the rest. With the book, you’ll quickly learn to build a dynamic website and reach to larger audiences with your small businesses. This is again the Kindle edition of the book.

TABLE OF CONTENT

  • What Can WordPress Do for You?
    • Small business in a Big Online World
    • A range of possibilities
    • Setting your goals
  • Your WordPress Site
    • Build your home
    • Lay it out
    • Add Features
    • Get Organised
    • Be easy to find
    • Create Content
    • Get Paid
  • Going Public
    • Interact
    • Make Friends
    • Measure Your Sucess
    • Stay Safe

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

WordPress Websites Step-by-Step by Caimin Jones

The book provides you a complete guide to creating a WordPress website. Easy to follow sections are created assuming the reader is a level zero in WordPress. Explanations are quite clear and pave your path for easier understanding of all steps involved in the website content management.

This also discussed 10 WordPress secrets you are unaware of. The tips to extend your website is explained in a great manner. Troubleshooting and FAQ help you to get your confusions cleared.

One the reviewers of the book say that he learned more than any other book on the topic in a 30-min read.

TABLE OF CONTENT

  • Installing and Setting Up WordPress
  • Publishing Content with WordPress
  • Changing the Design
  • Extending WordPress with Plugins & Widgets
  • How to Keep WordPress Secure
  • FAQ and Troubleshooting
  • 10 WordPress Secrets You’ll Love
  • More WordPress Resources
  • Search Engine Optimisation Made Easy

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

WordPress To Go by Sarah McHarry

One more in the small business section. The book is one of the oldest published books on the list. But it covers all the basics you need to know to build a WordPress site from scratch. Although the book is a bit advanced by can be used by beginners too.  Designing your website saves a lot of bucks. And this book has been saving it since 2013. Although interface has changed since then, the basic idea of themes and plugins still remains the same. Tricks on Marketing, driving traffic, and gaining exposure are priceless in the book.

TABLE OF CONTENT

  • Quick Start Guide in 10 Lessons
    • Domain & Hosting
    • Installing WordPress on Your Domain
    • Adding Designs and Pages
    • Your First Post
    • Adding Media
    • All About Widgets
    • WordPress Themes
    • Setting up Homepage
  • In-Depth Guide- Drill down to the Wonder of WordPress
    • Custom Menus and Why You Should Use Them
    • The Power of Plugin
    • Comment: Start A Dialogue With Your Visitors
    • Users and Their Capabilities
    • Secure Your WordPress Site
    • Promote Your Website
    • SEO
    • Featured Content
    • Behind the Scene with HTML
    • WordPress Website Housekeeping

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

WordPress for Beginners 2018 by Dr. Andy Williams

The book makes the beginning very streamlined for someone who is new to WordPress. This is a step-by-step guide to making a WordPress site. It can also be used as mastering tool once you learn the basics. You will surely make a beautiful, professional looking WordPress site using this book. It covers details of making your site fitting all resolutions and devices. The security and analytics section is one of the most helpful section of the book. The book is not screenshot shy and contains as many as 250 of them.

TABLE OF CONTENT

  • What is WordPress?
  • The Cost of Owning Your Own Website
  • Installing WordPress
  • WordPress Themes
  • Overview of the Dashboard
  • Cleaning out the Preinstalled Stuff
  • Dashboard Updates
  • WordPress Settings
  • RSS Feeds
  • User Profile
  • Tools
  • Plugins and Security
  • Comments
  • Media Library
  • Pages vs Post
  • Categories and Tags
  • Writing Post
  • Making it easy for Visitors to Socially Share Your Content
  • Difference with Pages
  • Internal Linking of Posts
  • The homepage of Your Site: blog or static?
  • Widgets
  • Navigation Menu
  • Security
  • Analytics
  • Many more…

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

WordPress For Beginners by Lee Sebastian

This is one of the best books on the list to learn more than just starting a WordPress website. The book discusses a quick method of Setting up your self-hosted WordPress website and domain. The book is going to save a lot of your time and money. It discusses few topics like PHP and cPanel making the difficulty level to intermediate. The book focuses on themes, hosting and analyzing raw data from cPanel of your hosting account. Apart from that importance of security and backup is also discussed in detail.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • WordPress 101: The Wonders of WordPress
  • What is PHP?
  • WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
  • Domain Registration
  • Selecting a Web Hosting Provider
  • CPanel Basics
  • Quick CPanel Tutorials
  • Making Database in CPanel
  • How to Add-on More Domain You Register to your Account
  • Installing WordPress Using Softaculous
  • Installing WordPress Manually via Free FTP Utility
  • Plugins
  • Post & Pages
  • Social Media and Comments
  • Analytics with Jetpack
  • Set up Domain Email
  • Bonus Section

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

Creating Your Own Website with WordPress by Shaun Cricchiola

The books make it easy to start a WordPress website for Beginner’s. It requires no coding or any experience. The book focuses more on building a blogging site and making it good enough to make visible to your target audience and make money in an easier manner. One good thing about the book is that you will get to observe building a website hosted on two different hostings. The book also provides a checklist for efforts required in the domain, niche, traffic, branding, marketing, etc. for your website. And all of these, in a really less amount of time, the book says in under one hour. Good Luck.
TABLE OF CONTENT
  • Pick A Niche
  • Choose Your Domain
  • SEO and Keyword Research Tools
  • Branding
  • WordPress Web Hosting
  • Online Training
  • Creating a Website with a Wealthy Affiliate
  • Create a Website Using HostGator
  • Content Creation
  • Plugins
  • Mailing List
  • Promotions
  • 7 Ways to Increase Traffic
  • Website Cost
  • Checklist

beginner's handbooks to Kickstart WordPress

WordPress Masterbook 2018 by Dorcas Reamonn 

Want to master WordPress? Here is a book that can help you. A regular Kindle edition, that helps you make any type of WordPress site. This is also based on building and maintaining a successful blogging website. Tricks related to SEO, speed, e-commerce, security, and customizations make it one of the best in the blogging category. These tricks can also be applied to regular websites too. Free online learning course and Social Media contacts of the Author is a plus.

TABLE OF CONTENT

  • What is WordPress?
  • Setting Up
  • Introduction to Dashboard
  • Setting Up for The First Time
  • Pages
  • Themes
  • Blogging
  • Menus
  • Creating A Gallery
  • Enabling Stuff like Google Maps, Social Media
  • Site in Different Themes
  • Plugins
  • Google Analytics
  • SEO
  • Users
  • E-Commerce
  • Speed
  • Security
  • HTML/CSS

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

Blogging Manifesto (2018) by Troy Sanchez 

Our next pick, that helps you greater insights on building and taking your blogging website in the right direction. The book covers tips for choosing your niche or expertise if you are freelancing or looking to start your own website. It lists recommendations for new comers, that you can take and start building content and reach to a larger audience. It also comes with examples of blogs to learn from and tips write blogs that win. Further, the book explains how careful you can be while and after monetizing your website. Spending $2.99 on this is going to save you from a lot of hit and trial and losing extra money. Highly Recommended.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • Choosing Your Niche
  • Creating WordPress Site
  • How to write a Blog post
  • Getting Traffic through SEO
  • Making Money From Your Website

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

WordPress Website Owner’s Manual 2018 by Marsha Perry 

There is a reason the book is listed and listed as the 15th book. If you already have a website or blog and need help updating it, this is the book for you. Be it updating text, themes or getting your site more secure, you will find all kinds of stuff to update your site. It fulfill’s the need of an Owner’s Manual. It is also highly illustrated at the same, which makes it easy to understand. You can expect most of the latest features of WordPress 4.9.4 included in the book. This new edition is updated for plugin recommendations and a quick start section. 

TABLE OF CONTENT

  • Components Explained with What is What?
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Working With Pages
  • Working With Posts
  • Toolbar Control and Custom Menus
  • All About Plugins
  • Widgets
  • Website Security
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • Troubleshooting
  • Latest Version of WordPress explained

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

WordPress Plugins by Chad Tennant

You must be aware of the 15k+ WordPress Themes and 57K+ WordPress Plugins. Now that is a huge number. And to pick one that suits your business is going to be hard enough. This is a complementary book of plugins. It lists and explains 690 Free Plugins for Developing Amazing and Profitable Websites. The book divides plugins into 40 categories, only after deep research of quality, reviews etc. and features only the best of them all.

In the book you’ll find:

  • The best content and website optimization, WooCommerce/e-commerce, social media, security and many more plugins etc
  • SEO and Performance Tutorials
  • List of Premium Plugins
  • Helpful resources for newcomers like freelancing website and job portals
  • Industry Standard of Blogging and more

beginner's handbooks to kickstart wordpress

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”
― Toni Morrison

Winding Up

The above quote can be taken as “Not all books are complete and there is always something you can add to it”. But this list is kept vast enough to cover all topics, that you need to know before launching your WordPress website. Beginner’s Handbooks to Kickstart WordPress is a part of series where we’ll handpick the best books on WordPress. We expect your thoughts on this list so that we can keep on coming with similar lists in future.

Further Reading

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