Best of Best WordPress Tutorials of 2010

2010 was a great year for the WordPress community. We got tons of cool features in WordPress 3.0. We had awesome WordCamps all around the world. Through out this year, we wrote tons of cool tutorials, and we want to point out some of the best ones in this list to you. We will also bring in articles from other blogs that you might find useful.

Beginner Level Articles

These articles are for Beginner Level WordPress users pulled mostly from our WordPress Beginners Guide Category.

Which Blogging Platform Should You Use? (Infographic) – This Infographic is a visual display of the poll results taken from Darren Rowse’s chart. See which blogging platform other users prefer.

Self-Hosted WordPress.org vs. Free WordPress.com [Infographic] – This infographic does a side by side comparison of the pros/cons of each. This should allow you to make the right decision for yourself.

Step by Step Guide to Installing a WordPress plugin – WordPress is awesome because there are tons of plugins available for users that makes everything easy for us. This article shows you how you can install a WordPress plugin in your site.

How to Install Google Analytics in WordPress for Beginners – This tutorial goes in great details of setting up Google Analytics and Installing it in WordPress. Everyone should be using this to track their website stats.

Step by Step Guide to Setup FeedBurner for WordPress – This article shows you how you can setup Feedburner to get analytics about your subscribers.

How to Make Sticky Posts in WordPress – WordPress has a feature of creating Sticky Posts, but many beginners do not know how to use it. This simple How to tutorial shows you how to create sticky posts in WordPress.

WordPress Tutorials and Tricks on WPBeginner

The list of articles below are the ones featured on WPBeginner in 2010 that we think are a MUST SEE.

Most Wanted Twitter Hacks and Plugins for WordPress – Features the most wanted Twitter hacks and plugins for WordPress.

How to Add Twitter @anywhere in WordPress – Very detailed writeup covering how to utilize the Twitter Anywhere Platform within WordPress.

Mega Collection of Social Media Icons for WordPress Bloggers – This showcase features some of the best FREE social media icons that designers and WordPress bloggers can use.

How to Add Custom Dashboard Widgets in WordPress – Adding Dashboard widgets is a common trend that we see with WordPress designers. It is something that people should do to add developer contact information and such. This tutorial shows you how you can do just that.

How to Insert Ads within your WordPress Post Content – Have you ever wondered, how people show ads after the first or second paragraph of their post? Well this trick will show you how you can do the same within your WordPress site.

How to Rewrite Guest Author Names in WordPress with Custom Fields – This extremely useful trick is very helpful for blogs that feature one-time guest posters.

An Automated Way of taking Web Screenshots in WordPress – As a developer or even as a blogger, you might want to display external site images within your site. This article shows you how you can utilize a WordPress plugin to get live website screenshots that are unbranded.

How to Manage your Ads with OIO Publisher – This is a plugin overview of a commercial plugin known as OIO Publisher that we use on our site. This is one of the better ad management plugins for WordPress so far.

How to Show Conditional Tags for Page/Post Navigation in WordPress – Have you ever visited a site where they have the styling for post navigation links, but there are no links there? It looks quite ugly and it is distracting for the user. This article share how you can add a conditional tag for post/page navigation links to ensure the best styling for your blog design.

How to Add Facebook Like Button in WordPress – Ever since we added the Facebook Like button, it has made Facebook the second highest source of traffic to our site. This tutorial shows how you can add the FB like button as well.

How to use Custom Post Types in WordPress 3.0 – This article contains a video and a transcript tutorial that shows you how to add and use Custom Post (Content) Types in WordPress.

25+ Extremely Useful Tricks for the WordPress Functions File – In your WordPress theme folder, there lays the most powerful theme file known as functions.php. As the name suggests, this file adds unique functions to your WordPress installation. This article shows some of the most useful tricks for the functions file.

How to Create a Separate Page Template for WordPress Blog Posts – Are you using WordPress as a CMS with a custom homepage, and you want to have a separate Blog page? Well this article is just for you because it shows how you can utilize page templates to create a separate page for blog posts.

Useful WordPress Configuration Tricks that You May Not Know – If functions.php is the most powerful file of WordPress themes, then wp-config.php is the most powerful file of the entire WordPress installation. This article shows some of the useful tricks for this file.

How WordPress Plugin Affect Your Site’s Load Time – While plugins are great, some add additional stuff to your site causing it to load slow. This editorial goes in detail on how to use all the plugins you want while still keep the load time to minimum.

How to Install and Setup W3 Total Cache for Beginners – This is by far the most powerful caching plugin for WordPress and every WordPress site should be using it. This article is a step by step guide on showing how to setup and install this powerhouse plugin that is being used on top sites like Mashable and others.

How to Style Each WordPress Posts Differently – Do you want to style each of your posts differently perhaps based on category, or based on authors, or comment count? Well this article goes into showing variety of ways you can style your posts in WordPress.

Creating a Custom Landing Page in WordPress with Impact Plugin – Are you using WordPress as a platform to run your affiliate marketing campaigns? Well Impact Page Builder lets you create custom landing pages within WordPress. Check out this tutorial on how to use this commercial plugin.

Making your WordPress Mobile Friendly with WPTouch Pro – In this new tech era where the mobile traffic is increasing, everyone should consider creating a mobile version of their website. WP Touch PRO, a WordPress plugin, makes this easy for everyone. See this article for the options that the plugin has to offer.

What, Whys, and How To’s of WordPress Post Formats in WordPress 3.1 – WordPress is coming with a new version 3.1 very soon. This new feature adds an additional layer of styling WordPress posts. Our article shows you exactly how you will be able to use this new feature.

How to Embed Actual Tweets in your WordPress Blog Posts – We are seeing an increase in bloggers quoting tweets, but most are going out of their way and spending way too much time in doing so. This article shows an easiest and the BEST way to quote tweets.

How to Expire Posts or Partial Post Content in WordPress – There are always times when you are running a time sensitive deal on your site that you want to expire. Often those posts live in a category like News or Contests, but there are times when you don’t want that. What if there was a way to get rid of the post entirely? What about just getting rid of part of the post content? Well this article will share two plugins that can let you expire posts or partial post content in WordPress.

How to Install and Setup WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast – WordPress SEO Plugin is by far the most complete and most powerful SEO plugin made for WordPress to this date. This article will show you how to install and setup WordPress SEO Plugin by Yoast and utilize all the awesome features that comes built-in.

How to Create Full WordPress Backups with BackupBuddy – A detailed overview of how to use Backup Buddy WordPress plugin to create backups of your WordPress site.

How to Add Custom Content and Completely Manipulate your RSS Feeds – A very cool article that shows how to add custom content to your RSS feeds.

WordPress Tricks and Tutorials on Other Cool Sites

Extend WordPress with Custom Fields – A great editorial that shows how you can expand the power of WordPress by utilizing Custom Fields in numerous different ways.

How to Display WordPress Sidebar on other (Non-WP) Sites – A very cool trick that lets you take your WordPress sidebar on other non-WP sites.

Beginning WordPress Development – A Look at Common Features – This article shows some of the common features that everyone should know about if they are looking to develop for WordPress.

How to Customize the WordPress Admin Area – Very cool article that shows how you can customize the backend of WordPress for your clients.

Showcase of Blogs with Unique Post Designs – Brilliant showcase of blogs with unique blog post designs.

How to Setup URLs as Sentences in WordPress – Ryan Imel shows here a very cool way of creating WordPress urls as sentences.

Affiliate Links and SEO in WordPress – Very good editorial that covers how affiliate links in WordPress can affect your SEO, and how you should deal with it.

7 Reasons for Malfunctioning Plugins (and their fixes) – Often you may have plugins that do not work. Well this article by Yoast covers some of the basic fixes.

An Introduction to Split Testing in WordPress – A very cool guide that shows the basics of Split Testing Designs in WordPress.

WordPress Template Hierarchy Conditional Statements – An awesome guide that shows the template hierarchy of each WordPress template file.

Working with WordPress Shortcodes – Interesting read for any new designer or developer who is looking to learn a little more about WordPress shortcodes.

Custom Login / Register / Password Code – Very cool article that shows how to create a separate page with login, register, and forgot a password tabbed area.

Using YOURLs with WordPress – Otto has worked on this cool script called YOURLs that lets you create your own URL Shortner. Here is an article where he shows how you can use it with WordPress.

Presentations by Syed

Syed Balkhi, founder of WPBeginner has given a few presentations this year at WordCamps. Below are some of the ones that you may find helpful.

http://www.slideshare.net/wpbeginner/how-to-protect-wordpress

http://www.slideshare.net/wpbeginner/ive-got-a-blog-now-what-do-i-do

http://www.slideshare.net/wpbeginner/speedupwordpresspdf

http://www.slideshare.net/wpbeginner/how-to-utilize-facebook-and-wordpress

We hoped that you liked our “Best of Best WordPress Tutorials of 2010” compilation. We will be putting out more compilation for Best free themes of 2010, and best commercial themes of 2010. Stay updated, and enjoy the read.