As defined by Wikipedia: A content management system (CMS) is a system providing a collection of procedures used to manage work flow in a collaborative environment. These procedures can be manual or computer-based.
WordPress is the perfect platform for multiple users to contribute towards the content (both for blog posts and pages).
To take advantage of your manual labor create roles:
- Administrator " has complete control over the site; can change themes, add new users, write and publish blog posts or pages.
- Editor " can write and publish their own posts or those of other users.
- Author " can only write and publish their own posts.
- Contributor " can write their own posts but not publish.
- Subscriber " can manage their own profile but can only read posts.
Plugins: Always beware of too many plugins or using a theme that doesnt have enough built in options; however, why not enjoy the labors of some very smart people and enhance the functionality of your WordPress blog|site with plugins? A few of my favorites are SexyBookmarks, WP Database Backup and NextGen-Gallery.
Set the permalink structure " dont leave it at default, you want to customize your URL's. This takes 10 seconds and is great for SEO. (Dashboard -> Settings -> Permalinks -> Custom Structure, type in %postname%)
Take advantage of the SEO capabilities: easy sitemap generators (plugin), add meta titles & descriptions, H1 tags. Many well built themes (SmallBiz) have SEO options built right into the theme, if you have chosen a theme that doesn't have this, download All in One SEO. If you have chosen a WordPress theme that doesn't allow any plugins, you need a new theme.
Custom Menu " drag and drop your pages into a hierarchy of parent and child pages. If you have ever tried writing the code for a drop down menu you will bow down and pay homage to whoever implemented this function. A really cool use of the custom menus is to create secondary menus for categories or child pages which you may use in widgets and footers.
What are your secrets to using WordPress as a CMS? You can tell me, there are only a few thousand people reading this blog, and they won't tell.
About the Author: Eileen Lonergan
