The Wilder Source

It was a daunting task to be sure. I still haven’t quite figured out all of html and css.  How could I, a mere 22-year-old media relations intern learn how to install a blog? Well, I just had to jump right in!

I had used WordPress before in my Style and Design of Public Relations Messages class at Auburn University. There I had learned to use html and css that helped me build Web sites like jacobwilder.com, porchgames.com and providencealive.com.  I learned how to manage social networks like PROpenMic and WarEagle.Me.  There was Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and so many other social media, I learned about.

All of this education was under the direction of perhaps one of the most talented and smartest professors I have ever met. Professor Robert French at AU showed me all the tools of my future profession.  He then encouraged me to continue learning all I could about the Web 2.0.

When I was cut loose from the class in the Spring of 2009, I had a wealth of knowledge to put to use.  French had mentioned that we used WordPress for our blogs, but  I didn’t  that I could actually install one on a Web site myself.

Nearly three months after leaving the class, I plucked up the courage and purchased a database from my host, downloaded the WordPress software and today I installed it to write this first post.

Everyone had said that it was easy.  I didn’t believe them.  It took slightly longer than the described 5-minute install but it went off without a hitch.  I only pay one dollar more a month for my hosting, and I have my own blog!

For my fellow classmates and practitioners, I highly encourage you to implement WordPress as something you can add to your portfolio and do a little blogging in the process.

Thank you Robert French for teaching me the skills I know, and for telling me to “go figure it out on your own.” I am always learning and always grateful.