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Watch and share this replay from my webinar on how to use WordPress for digital marketing. I focused on strategies for professional speaker websites, although the same basic techniques apply to any business or nonprofit website.

Additional notes are included below.

This presentation was originally given to an audience of Toastmasters leaders.

To recap key points (including some I may not have said out loud):

• I recommend WordPress because it is an Internet standard used by many businesses large and small for their online marketing. When I reviewed a list of top 10 list, I found 8 of 10 great pro speaker websites run on WordPress.
• WordPress is open source software, meaning it is created by a community of software developers and made freely available to install on any website.
• The software itself is free, as are many plugins, themes (designs), and services. For a pro speaker or small business website, you will typically find you need to pay some software and services. They include registering a domain, paying for hosting, and potentially purchasing commercial add-ons.
• You can get a free website at WordPress.com, but you will need to pay for upgrades if you want it to show up at your own domain or give you access to additional business features. I generally recommend setting up an independent website that uses the software.
• If you hire me to do your website, I prefer to make website hosting part of the package deal I offer so I can get you set up on the hosting from the same company I use for my own projects.
• You can want to hire a consultant like me to assist you with the design and setup. Or you can take the do-it-yourself approach and learn as you go. It depends partly on whether you’re in a hurry to get something online and how comfortable you are learning new software.
• Even when someone hires me, I always recommend they learn enough WordPress skills that they could fix a typo or an outdated price on their website without relying on me to do it for them. Certainly, if you want to take advantage of the blogging feature, you’ll want to learn your way around the editor.

Resources from Others

Top 10 Professional Speaker Websites to Inspire You

Creating a speaker website that’s so good, that meeting planners instantly hire you

WordPress Blocks: The Ultimate Guide to Gutenberg Blocks

Some of My Other Websites

My portfolio website davidfcarr.com

RSVPMaker plugin for event scheduling and registration

WordPress for Toastmasters open source software for use by Toastmasters clubs

Toastmost website hosting for Toastmasters

Check out lindamariemiller.com, the website I created in collaboration with Linda-Marie Miller. Linda-Marie was the runner-up in the 2020 World Championship of Public Speaking with her brave speech “Pretending Not to Know” about her personal reckoning with the issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement.

I got her started, and she picked the header image and some of the other design elements. I’ll continue working with her in the coming months as she rolls out a new series of workshops promoted through the website.

Linda-Marie Miller, who placed second in the 2020 World Championship of Public Speaking, has agreed to create her speaker website here as a test of the service.

Check out her powerful speech, “Pretending Not to Know.”