The PSM Sandbox website is a training site for the Poetry Society of Michigan. It is not public. Only people who have requested an invitation will see the contents of the training website. You are invited to learn the ins and outs of maintaining a website on the WordPress platform so that we can build a small pool of members capable of maintaining our PSM site.

But that’s not all. You don’t need to be a developer to build a website. You just need the right starting point.

This site will give you the practical skills needed to build and maintain a WordPress website — one of the most widely used platforms on the web. Whether you’re starting from scratch or trying to make sense of a site you’ve already got, you’ll find clear, step-by-step guidance here.

What you’ll learn

You’ll start with the basics — setting up WordPress, choosing a theme, and organizing your pages — then move into everyday tasks like adding content, uploading images, and keeping your site current. By the time you’re done, you’ll know how to build something real and keep it running.

What could you do with these skills?

Plenty. People use WordPress to share what they know and love: a photography portfolio, a travel journal, a food blog with family recipes passed down for generations, a site dedicated to genealogy, gardening, a journal of paintings or studio work. Writers use it as a home base — a place to list their books, post essays, and stay in touch with readers. Local clubs and organizations use it to share news and connect with members. The only limits are your imagination.

Whatever your purpose, having your own website means you control how you show up online. No algorithm decides who sees your work. No platform can take it away.

You can do this. These skills are more accessible than you think — and more useful than you might expect.