wordpress as a cms - the plugin approach
DESCRIPTION
This is the original presentation I'm giving at the WordPress Houston Meetup on 6/27/2011 about using WordPress as a CMS with help from select plugins. We've been using WordPress at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston since 2009 for various projects and will begin to migrate the main UT Medical School website over to WordPress Multisite in late summer 2011.TRANSCRIPT
WORDPRESS AS A CMS: THE PLUGIN APPROACH
ABOUT ERIC RASCHMy LifestreamEricRasch.com
Office of Communicationsbit.ly/utooc
This presentation@ SlideSharebit.ly/m9VQZG
EricRaschsince 2003
PLUGINS... BY THE NUMBERS14,949 total plugins in the repository @ WordPress.org
top 5 most popular... probably:
All in One SEO Pack8,081,370 downloads; seo
Google XML Sitemaps5,338,513 downloads; seo
Akismet6,974,351 downloads; security
Contact Form 74,131,953 downloads; form
NextGEN Gallery3,415,754 times; media
SPEAKING OF NUMBERS...
WORDPRESS SITES IN THE WORLD.
STARTING WITH A PLUGIN CORE SET(most of these make it into each site I develop)
AkismetAnalytics360Broken Link CheckerBulletProof SecurityDBC BackupDuplicate PostEnable Media ReplaceGoogle Analytics (Yoast)Google XML SitemapsGravity Forms
+ MailChimp Add-On+ User Registration
Jetpack
More FieldsMore TaxonomiesMore TypesScissors ContinuedSearch EverythingSearch MeterSecure WordPressSEO UltimateW3 Total CacheWordPress SEO (Yoast)WordPress Ultimate SecurityWP-OptimizeWP Smush.it
for MultisiteGoogle XML Sitemaps with Multisite supportRemove /blog slug plugin for WPMU
for Theme DevelopmentAskApache What Is ThisConvert Post TypesSimply Show IDsTheme-Check
SO WHAT MAKES THESE WEBSITES TICK?
98.6 DEGREES BLOG
A blog? You lied! I know but it’s a great site. The killer thing about this site is it only took 30 minutes to train Dr. King (2 years ago) on how to keep it updated.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
Broken Link Checker
Google Analytics (Yoast)
SEO Ultimate14plugins
19Posts
8Pages
DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING
This site redesign needed a good scrubbing. Import HTML did the heavy lifting, WP handled the pretty permalinks (and a whole lot more), and AZIndex made the faculty list easy-peasy.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
AZIndex
Duplicate Post
Import HTML16plugins
68Posts
31Pages
DII ONLINE CONSULT
Gravity Forms really made this site pull together. With the User Registration and FreshBooks add-ons, GF provided a round-trip ordering experience for the user.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
Gravity Forms
+ User Registration Add-On
+ FreshBooks Add-On16plugins
2Posts
26Pages
IBP RESERVATION SYSTEM
The Department of Integrative Biology needed a way to register users, verify credentials, and reserve equipment rentals.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
Booking Calendar
BuddyPress
Gravity Forms30plugins
1Posts
9Pages
ORL / ENT NEWSLETTERS
Dr. Citardi publishes 2 email newsletters. He wanted an easy way to maintain the content types and signup users. MailChimp’s Analytics360 helped keep a close watch on the action.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
Gravity Forms MailChimp Add-On
Analytics360
More Types38
plugins202Posts
4Pages
ARC COURSE
A simple site for giving potential attendees a way to get information, signup for newsletter updates, and register for upcoming courses. Gravity Forms to the rescue.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
Gravity Forms PayPal Add-On
Gravity Forms User Registration Add-On
WordPress HTTPS24
plugins0
Posts11Pages
ORL FRONTIERS COURSE
Dr. Citardi wanted to keep his course registrations websites separate, but still have the capabilities with a slightly different look. Child Themes made it a quick & easy turnaround.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
CMS Tree Page View
MapPress Easy Google Maps
W3 Total Cache24
plugins0
Posts8
Pages
UT PHYSICIANS
Long before Custom Post Types, Magic Fields gave us a way customize profiles for our physicians. WP Custom Search gave us a way for them to be found.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
Magic Fields
WP Custom Search
Redirection41plugins
930Posts
35Pages
UT MIST
Another static site needing a cleanup with a strong way to maintain and enhance their current SEO efforts. WordPress provided a built-in way for multiple parties to keep the site rolling.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
Import HTML
WordPress SEO (Yoast)
Viper's Video Quicktags27plugins
12Posts
36Pages
PagesPostsplugins
JOHN RITTER RESEARCH
Quick build, rapid turnaround, lasting results. Within 9 days we had this site launched and ready to spread-the-word.
top 3 plugins that made a difference:
Search Meter
Gravity Forms MailChimp Add-On
WP No Category Base26 21 15
WHAT’S TO COME?
REBUILDING A MEDICAL SCHOOL2011 will reveal big changes with the UT Med School’s websites, as we convert from static sites to Multisite.
Types of sites...
Departments/Offices/CentersCampaignsNewslettersFaculty profilesLabs
Plugins to help...
DuplicatorNetworks for WordPress
Add Clone Sites for WPMU (batch)
Site Creation WizardSocial MetricsContent Scheduler Post Revision Workflow
THANK YOU!This presentation@ SlideSharebit.ly/m9VQZG