I've gotten 3 new clients who wanted me to put together web sites for them. I pitched all of them sites based on WordPress software. It was originally a blogging software, but it's expanded to become a true Content Management Service (CMS). All of them agreed, so I'm putting together a sort of recipe book for all the sites I'm managing that are based on WordPress. And I'm not managing all my clients' sites! There are at least two others I can think of off the top of my head that run on WordPress where they have someone else managing it.
So we are managing twelve – that's 12 – sites running on WordPress right now. I may have a couple more who will ask to be switched over in the future. About half of those are for the same client, and they're running a similar setup on each site. They're looking to collect names & email address so that they can cultivate those visitors, so they're putting most of the content behind membership walls. The first level is free – meant to give the visitors access to a taste of what my client offers at a higher price. Most of them (based on statistical probability) won't go for it. But the ones who do should realize significant benefit from their paid memberships.
In no particular order, here are some of the plug-ins used on almost all sites. A plug-in is a small change or addition to the main software that adds more or different functionality.
- CKEditor – different text editor for writing blog posts and pages
- Contact Form 7 – form visitors fill out to leave feedback to the site admin (usually someone at Agile')
- Really Simple CAPTCHA – small add-on for Contact Form 7 that makes a person put in random letters & numbers to "prove" they're human
- GASP – anti-spam device that adds a check-box to Post Comments box, that also cuts down on automated spam bots
- All In One SEO Pro – Search Engine Optimization program that lets you add all sorts of text for Google and other engines to trip over (in a good way) while indexing your site
- Ultimate Landing Page – lets admin build pages that attempt to sell products, service or site access to visitors
By adding the SEO plugin, we should bring in a lot more visitors to the front door of each site. With the anti-spam measures, we should be limiting the number of bot interactions admins have to put up with. And the editors make it easier to stylize the text and pictures the site owners want to put in front of visitors.
How are you building sites? What are the aims of your site? Who is your target market? What are you doing to get your message in front of them? Please leave a comment and let us know!