This is going to be some basic info, but I thought it might be helpful. I have learned a lot from Wickedfire and want to give something back. So I am going to do a series on WordPress, because that is my current area of expertise.
Using Word Press as a Content Management System
By now, it seems like just about everybody is using WordPress. It works good. It's easy to set up. It's very flexible. And it's free. The end result is a lot of sites that not only look similar, but work in the same way.
This article is going to focus on tweaking out WordPress using some simple plugins, so that your site will literally be a "site" rather than a "blog." I know there's a very thin line between the two these days, but bear with me.
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MOD #1 >> Give your site a homepage
The default thing for WP is a blog-style homepage with the most recent post displaying first. This works good for a lot of things. But what if you want to have an actual homepage to direct people to different areas of your site. A "homepage" can serve multiple purposes: you can use it to more effectively "sell" if you are doing affiliate marketing or something like that. Also, you can more effectively SEO your site.
The good news, it's not hard. You can do it the hardway and make a home.php page or... just download a plug in. There are two plugins I have used.
Static Front Page Plugin - This one has been out for awhile. You set up a "page" in wp and give it the slug "home".
Filosofo Home-Page Control - This is a newer one (I think) and very cool. I've just started using it. It lets you throw all your blog stuff into a folder and keeps your pages out on the root. Very easy to install and use.
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MOD #2 - Use "Pages" instead of posts.
This is simple enough. Use Pages. The pages feature is really brilliant and something that gives WP an edge, making it perfect for CMS use. If it's not a blog entry, use a page. You could really set up a WP site and not have a blog at all, just a collection of interlinked pages.
This brings up one issue. The search is only going to search your blog entries. What if you want it to search the text on "pages" as well?
Search Everything Plugin - Bingo! Now your search is going to get your page content as well.
- - - - - - - - - -
MOD #3 - Make a Sitemap.
I'm not talking about a Google Sitemap thing, but you should probably do that, too. I'm talking about an old-school sitemap that lists all the pages and posts on your site. Spiders love this shit. But it is a big pain in the ass to do it by hand. Luckily...
Dagon Sitemap Generator - You got it. Another plug in. Install this, throw a little code on a "page" and you will be good to go.
- - - - - - - - - -
MOD #4 - Nest your Navigation.
Okay, lets say you are making a site with lots of pages and subpages. Really, you want to try to stick to 5 main sections with subsections after that. (If you are going for good userfriendly nav - if you're doing affiliate stuff it's a whole new ballgame). But say you've got 5 sections with a bunch of subpages under each. Your navigation is going to get unwieldy. Here is an option to Nest your pages.
Fold Pages plugin - Install it and modify your CSS to make things pretty.
- - - - - - - - - -
Okay, I hope that was somewhat helpful. I realize it is pretty basic stuff, but I run into people all the time who don't know these little tricks. Some of this crosses over into the SEO stuff that I will write about next.
Using Word Press as a Content Management System
By now, it seems like just about everybody is using WordPress. It works good. It's easy to set up. It's very flexible. And it's free. The end result is a lot of sites that not only look similar, but work in the same way.
This article is going to focus on tweaking out WordPress using some simple plugins, so that your site will literally be a "site" rather than a "blog." I know there's a very thin line between the two these days, but bear with me.
- - - - - - - - - -
MOD #1 >> Give your site a homepage
The default thing for WP is a blog-style homepage with the most recent post displaying first. This works good for a lot of things. But what if you want to have an actual homepage to direct people to different areas of your site. A "homepage" can serve multiple purposes: you can use it to more effectively "sell" if you are doing affiliate marketing or something like that. Also, you can more effectively SEO your site.
The good news, it's not hard. You can do it the hardway and make a home.php page or... just download a plug in. There are two plugins I have used.
Static Front Page Plugin - This one has been out for awhile. You set up a "page" in wp and give it the slug "home".
Filosofo Home-Page Control - This is a newer one (I think) and very cool. I've just started using it. It lets you throw all your blog stuff into a folder and keeps your pages out on the root. Very easy to install and use.
- - - - - - - - - -
MOD #2 - Use "Pages" instead of posts.
This is simple enough. Use Pages. The pages feature is really brilliant and something that gives WP an edge, making it perfect for CMS use. If it's not a blog entry, use a page. You could really set up a WP site and not have a blog at all, just a collection of interlinked pages.
This brings up one issue. The search is only going to search your blog entries. What if you want it to search the text on "pages" as well?
Search Everything Plugin - Bingo! Now your search is going to get your page content as well.
- - - - - - - - - -
MOD #3 - Make a Sitemap.
I'm not talking about a Google Sitemap thing, but you should probably do that, too. I'm talking about an old-school sitemap that lists all the pages and posts on your site. Spiders love this shit. But it is a big pain in the ass to do it by hand. Luckily...
Dagon Sitemap Generator - You got it. Another plug in. Install this, throw a little code on a "page" and you will be good to go.
- - - - - - - - - -
MOD #4 - Nest your Navigation.
Okay, lets say you are making a site with lots of pages and subpages. Really, you want to try to stick to 5 main sections with subsections after that. (If you are going for good userfriendly nav - if you're doing affiliate stuff it's a whole new ballgame). But say you've got 5 sections with a bunch of subpages under each. Your navigation is going to get unwieldy. Here is an option to Nest your pages.
Fold Pages plugin - Install it and modify your CSS to make things pretty.
- - - - - - - - - -
Okay, I hope that was somewhat helpful. I realize it is pretty basic stuff, but I run into people all the time who don't know these little tricks. Some of this crosses over into the SEO stuff that I will write about next.
