BuddyPress.org

My WordPress origin story: I was introduced to the world of web development in 2004 by a friend.

I had the MS FrontPage software on my computer.

That friend taught me how to make webpages with the visual builder and how to create hyperlinks.

Yea!!

I was the happiest person in the world! I can make hyperlinks that would take me from one page to another.

I was (and still I am) a fast learner. I quickly learned how to make basic web pages. I didn’t have any teacher or the internet where I could learn more.

I self-taught myself how to make simple websites and also learned some flash animations.

In 2007 I finally got connected to the internet, and from day one I was looking for ways to publish to the web.

I found some free services and published my first website on the internet.

I was happy again!

But not for long because I was not getting any visitors to my website. I did not know any kind of online marketing.

That site took 2 months just to appear on Google search.

Nowadays I can get a website show up in Google within a day or two!

(Hint: Tweet, Facebook share, & link to your new site from an old website.)

By the end of 2007, I found about blogging.

The idea of publishing a blog was fascinating.

I tell you, it took me more than a week just to figure out who creates the content of a blog 😀

I set up a blog, again on a free blogging platform and started to write articles.

That time, I was writing about 4-5 posts a day, about self-help and motivation.

Yet again my site was not getting any traction.

You know that a blog needs some love, some comments.

I had no comments.

Then I learned that you need to make some blogging friends who blog about similar stuff and you have to comment on their blogs.

So I joined this site called Facebook. I added tons of people into my network.

Back then it was OK to send a lot of friend requests.

I made a lot of friends who blog about self-help and started to gain some traction.

Those were the days I learned how to optimize & customize my blog site.

As I was getting better with my blog, I learned there is a thing called a self-hosted WordPress site.

It is not the free wordpress.com site but a different animal.

I went to WordPress.org, downloaded the free distribution but I was confused to what should I be doing with all these files?

I put that aside and continued blogging.

In mid-2008, it was time for me to finally bite the bullet and install WP.

I installed a fresh copy of WordPress version 2.5 I think (the old way) and I can tell you, the process was painstaking for a newbie like me back in the old days.

But I was happy because I am now finally in the big leagues because all the “A-List” bloggers like Darren Rowse & John Chow use WordPress.

I learned a lot about this platform as I blogged my way.

This was my intro to WordPress in a nutshell.

Later I got inquired by my blog readers about designing websites for them.

I went into building websites in the Thesis theme.

Later I ventured into WordPress theme development and Genesis Framework.

Fast forward to the present day, I am a full stack web developer.