Ready to get started with your own custom CRM built on WordPress?
Step One:
Get yourself a good Web Host that supports WordPress.
If you need a suggestion you could try someone like HostGator, they’re pretty inexpensive and installing WordPress with them is a cake walk.
Step Two
Install WordPress. Installing WordPress goes beyond the scope of this here tutorial.
If you don’t know anything about installing WordPress then you might want to contact your web host or search around online. It’s not super hard to do but each situation can be unique and we can’t cover the whole topic here.
If you’re already confused you can always hire us to do your setup and manage your hosting. You could also use someone like SlipFire, they co-developed RoloPress and specialize in WordPress solutions, they might be able to help. WordPress is widely supported and finding someone to help you along the way shouldn’t be too hard.
Step Three
Download the RoloPress Core Theme from RoloPress and then download the Genesis Child Theme and any Genesis or Third-Party PlugIn you want to use. Upload the RoloPress CORE Theme and the Genesis Child Theme. Activate the Genesis Child Theme. Do NOT activate the RoloPress CORE Theme, it was not designed to be activated directly.
Step Four
In the admin area under appearance you’ll find a sub-menu for ‘menus’, on that screen you can setup and adjust your tabbed menu and the menu at the top. The Genesis Toolbar has several shortcodes you can use to create a weekly schedule page, a recent notes page and a basic dashboard screen.
Step Five
As soon as you get a chance go to Settings, then click Permalinks in the Settings Menu. Once the Permalink page is open you’ll need to click save. You don’t need to make any changes, you just need to click save. This will insure your WordPress installation maps all of your links correctly.
Step Six
Upload the Genesis Toolbar, activate it and setup any of the features you wish to use. You may wish to view the Genesis Toolbar Page for details.
Step Seven
Upload and activate any of the other Genesis PlugIns you wish to use.
From here out it’s really just a matter of personal need and desires. Many of the PlugIns may not apply to you so there’s no reason to install them.
The best part of this whole project is it’s ability to be customized. The only real limit is your imagination. Using WordPress as a core allows the Genesis Project to become just about anything you want. With just a little WordPress knowledge and some imagination you can quickly and easily create a customized CRM.
Here’s a couple closing tips. There are a couple third party PlugIns that we think every Genesis install needs.
The first is the ‘Members’ PlugIn. It allows you to refine the different user roles AND it helps prevent unwanted visitors from viewing your contacts.
The second PlugIn is ‘Force-SSL’. This PlugIn forces the user to the https version of your site, helping insure your data is encrypted while being transmitted. You’ll need to have an SSL certificate on your domain for this to work, but if you’re at all concerned with security then it’s worth having.
Make sure you visit RoloPress.com and tell them what a great Project it is!
