Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)

Learn about the key benefits and features of a Web Content Management System (WCMS) and popular WCMS platforms.

Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)

Learn about the key benefits and features of a Web Content Management System (WCMS) and popular WCMS platforms.

Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)Learn what a Web Content Management System (WCMS) is, the benefits and key features of a WCMS, and the best WCMS platforms for your needs.

This lesson is part of our series on understanding Content Management Systems (CMS).

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What Is A Web Content Management System?

A Web Content Management System (WCMS) is a software platform that allows organizations to manage, publish, and deliver digital content to their website. The purpose of a WCMS is to make it easy for non-technical users to create, edit, and publish content, without the need for technical expertise.

Web Content Management Systems are ideal for organizations that want to create and manage their own websites. They offer a range of features, including easy-to-use content creation tools, customizable templates, and advanced SEO optimization tools.

WCMS Features

Key Features of a WCMS include

  • Easy-to-use interface and tools for creating, editing, and publishing web content.
  • Templates and themes for creating and customizing the look and feel of a website.
  • Built-in SEO tools for optimizing web content for search engines.
  • Integrated search and retrieval and history tracking capabilities.
  • Support for multiple languages and devices.
  • Integration with other tools and systems, such as marketing automation and e-commerce platforms.
  • Workflow and collaboration tools for managing and publishing web content.

WCMS Benefits

Web Content Management Systems provide many benefits. For example, a WCMS:

  • Makes it easy for non-technical users to manage and update their website.
  • Helps to ensure a consistent and professional look and feel across your website.
  • Provides tools for optimizing web content for search engines, which can improve search engine rankings and drive more traffic to your website.
  • Helps to improve productivity and efficiency by streamlining processes and reducing the time and effort required to create, manage, and publish content.
  • Improves collaboration by allowing multiple users to work on the same content simultaneously.
  • Enhances the user experience by providing a seamless and consistent experience across all devices.

WCMS Pros

Pros of using a WCMS include:

  • WCMS are user-friendly and easy to use, even for non-technical users.
  • WCMS provide tools for optimizing web content for search engines.
  • WCMS offer a range of customization options, allowing organizations to create a unique and professional look and feel for their website.

WCMS Cons

Cons of using a WCMS include:

  • WCMS can be expensive and require a significant investment.
  • WCMS may require technical skills to set up and customize.
  • WCMS may not be suitable for managing large amounts of complex content.

Popular WCMS Platforms

There are many popular content management systems to choose from, each with its own set of features and capabilities.

Here are some of the most popular content management systems available:

WordPress

WordPress - home page
WordPress is the world’s most popular CMS platform.

WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world, used by over 40% of websites.

WordPress is an open-source WCMS platform that allows users to easily create and manage websites and is well known for its user-friendly interface, versatility, and a large community of users and developers. It is widely used for building and managing websites of all sizes, from personal blogs to complex e-commerce sites.

WordPress is also free to use and being open-source, it can be modified by developers to meet the specific needs of your business. WordPress is written in PHP and uses a MySQL or MariaDB database to store data.

Some key features of WordPress include:

  • User management: WordPress allows multiple users to access and edit a website, each with their own set of permissions and roles.
  • Themes and plugins: WordPress has a large library of themes and plugins that can be used to customize the look and functionality of a website.
  • Multilingual support: WordPress allows for the creation of multilingual sites, making it easy to create content in multiple languages.
  • SEO friendly: WordPress has built-in SEO features, such as the ability to create custom URLs and meta tags, which can help improve a website’s visibility in search engines.
  • Customizable: WordPress is highly customizable, allowing developers to create custom templates, widgets, and plugins to extend the functionality of the website.

Benefits of using WordPress include:

  • Low cost: WordPress is an open-source platform, meaning that it is free to use and can be modified by developers to meet specific needs.
  • Flexibility: WordPress has a large library of themes and plugins that can be used to customize the look and functionality of a website.
  • Large community: WordPress has a large and active community of developers and users, which can provide support and resources.
  • Easy to use: WordPress has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for non-technical users to create and manage a website.
  • High scalability: WordPress can handle large amounts of traffic and data, making it suitable for large websites and high-traffic sites.

Cons of WordPress include:

  • Security issues: WordPress can be prone to security issues if not properly maintained, so it’s important to keep the software up to date and to be aware of potential vulnerabilities.
  • Resources: WordPress may require additional resources to handle high traffic.

For more details about using WordPress as a CMS, go here: Content Management System (CMS).

Drupal

Drupal
Drupal

Drupal is another open-source CMS that is popular among developers, government agencies, universities, and large enterprises for building complex websites and web applications. It is known for its robustness, scalability, flexibility, and security.

Drupal allows users to easily create and manage websites. It is free to use and can be modified by developers to meet specific needs. Drupal is written in PHP and uses a MySQL, PostgreSQL, or SQLite database to store data.

Some key features of Drupal include:

  • User management: Drupal allows multiple users to access and edit a website, each with their own set of permissions and roles.
  • Modules and themes: Drupal has a large library of modules and themes that can be used to customize the look and functionality of a website.
  • Multilingual support: Drupal allows for the creation of multilingual sites, making it easy to create content in multiple languages.
  • SEO friendly: Drupal has built-in SEO features, such as the ability to create custom URLs and meta tags, which can help improve a website’s visibility in search engines.
  • Flexible Content modeling: Drupal allows you to create custom content types and fields, which can be used to model any kind of content, making it suitable for a wide range of use cases.

Benefits of using Drupal include:

  • Low cost: Drupal is an open-source platform, meaning that it is free to use and can be modified by developers to meet specific needs.
  • Flexibility: Drupal has a large library of modules and themes that can be used to customize the look and functionality of a website.
  • Large community: Drupal has a large and active community of developers and users, which can provide support and resources.
  • High scalability: Drupal can handle large amounts of traffic and data, making it suitable for large websites and high-traffic sites.
  • Security: Drupal has a great track record in terms of security and it’s a platform that is frequently audited for vulnerabilities.

Cons of Drupal include:

  • Steep learning curve: Drupal can have a steep learning curve for new users, as it requires a good understanding of web development concepts and the underlying technologies.
  • Limited commercial support: Drupal is an open-source platform, so commercial support may be limited compared to proprietary solutions.
  • Limited customization options: While Drupal allows for some level of customization, it may not be enough for businesses with highly specific requirements.
  • Higher maintenance costs: Drupal requires more maintenance and technical support than other CMS, as it is built on top of a complex architecture.
  • It’s not as user-friendly as other CMS: Drupal’s interface can be a bit more complex than other CMS like WordPress or Joomla, which can make it harder for non-technical users to navigate.

More info: Drupal

Joomla!

Joomla
Joomla

Joomla! is another open-source CMS that is popular among small and medium-sized businesses. It is similar to WordPress in terms of ease of use and has a large library of extensions and templates.

Joomla! is a content management system (CMS) that allows users to easily create and manage websites. It is free to use and can be modified by developers to meet specific needs. Joomla is written in PHP and uses a MySQL database to store data.

Some key features of Joomla! include:

  • User management: Joomla! allows multiple users to access and edit a website, each with their own set of permissions and roles.
  • Templates and extensions: Joomla! has a large library of templates and extensions that can be used to customize the look and functionality of a website.
  • Multilingual support: Joomla! allows for the creation of multilingual sites, making it easy to create content in multiple languages.
  • SEO friendly: Joomla! has built-in SEO features, such as the ability to create custom URLs and meta tags, which can help improve a website’s visibility in search engines.

Benefits of using Joomla! include:

  • Low cost: Joomla! is an open-source platform, meaning that it is free to use and can be modified by developers to meet specific needs.
  • Flexibility: Joomla! has a large library of templates and extensions that can be used to customize the look and functionality of a website.
  • Large community: Joomla! has a large and active community of developers and users, which can provide support and resources.
  • Easy to use: Joomla! has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for non-technical users to create and manage a website.

Cons of Joomla! include:

  • Steep learning curve: Joomla! can have a steep learning curve for new users, as it requires a good understanding of web development concepts and the underlying technologies.
  • Limited scalability: Joomla! can have limited scalability, as it may not be able to handle large amounts of traffic or data.
  • Security issues: Joomla! has been known to have security issues in the past, so it’s important to keep the software up to date and to be aware of potential vulnerabilities.
  • Limited customization options: While Joomla! allows for some level of customization, it may not be enough for businesses with highly specific requirements.
  • Limited commercial support: Joomla! is an open-source platform, so commercial support may be limited compared to proprietary solutions.

More info: Joomla

Shopify

Shopify
Shopify

Shopify is a popular e-commerce CMS designed for small and medium-sized businesses. It allows users to create and manage an online store, and it includes features such as inventory management, payment processing, and order tracking.

Shopify is a content management system (CMS) and e-commerce platform that allows businesses to create and manage an online store. It provides a wide range of tools and features to help businesses create an attractive, functional e-commerce website, and manage their inventory, orders, and customer data. Shopify is a hosted solution, which means that all data is stored on Shopify’s servers and it takes care of security, backups and software updates.

Some key features of Shopify include:

  • E-commerce focused: Shopify is an e-commerce platform, it offers built-in features such as inventory management, payment and order processing, customer management, and shipping management.
  • Mobile-responsive design: Shopify templates are mobile-responsive, which means that they will automatically adjust to fit the screen size of the device being used.
  • App store: Shopify has an app store that offers a wide range of third-party apps that can be used to add new features and functionality to a store.
  • Payment gateway integration: Shopify allows integration with multiple payment gateways, including popular options such as PayPal and Stripe.
  • SEO friendly: Shopify has built-in SEO features, such as the ability to create custom URLs and meta tags, which can help improve a website’s visibility in search engines.

Benefits of using Shopify include:

  • User-friendly: Shopify has a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for non-technical users to create and manage an online store.
  • Cost-effective: Shopify is a cost-effective solution, as it requires a monthly subscription fee and no additional costs for hosting or maintenance.
  • Scalable: Shopify can handle a large amount of traffic, making it suitable for small and large businesses alike.
  • Good customer support: Shopify offers good customer support, which can help businesses with any issues or questions they may have.
  • Variety of themes and apps: Shopify offers a wide range of templates and apps that can be used to customize the look and functionality of an online store.

Cons of Shopify include:

  • Limited customization options: While Shopify allows for some level of customization, it may not be enough for businesses with highly specific requirements.
  • Limited control over data: As Shopify is a hosted solution, businesses do not have full control over their data, and they are limited to Shopify’s terms of service.
  • Transaction fees: Shopify charges a transaction fee on some plans, which can add up if a business has a high volume of sales.
  • Limited third-party integration: Shopify’s third-party integration options are limited compared to other platforms like WordPress or Adobe Commerce.
  • Dependence on Shopify: Businesses that use Shopify are dependent on the platform, so if Shopify goes down, their store goes down as well.

More info: Shopify

Adobe Commerce

Adobe Commerce
Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento)

Adobe Commerce (formerly Magento) is a content management system (CMS) built on top of the Adobe Experience Platform and integrated with Adobe Experience Cloud. It allows businesses to create, manage, and deliver personalized digital commerce experiences across web and mobile channels.

Some key features of Adobe Commerce include:

  • Support for headless commerce, allowing businesses to use a microservices architecture to create highly customizable, decoupled front-end and back-end systems.
  • Integration with Adobe Experience Cloud, including Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) for content management and Adobe Target for personalization and A/B testing.
  • Support for multiple languages and currencies, making it easy to create global e-commerce sites.
  • Built-in analytics and reporting, allowing businesses to track customer behavior and optimize their online store.
  • Catalog management, order management, payment processing with support for a wide range of payment methods and integrations with popular third-party systems.

Benefits of using Adobe Commerce include:

  • Improved customer experience, through personalized and highly-targeted digital commerce experiences.
  • Increased flexibility and scalability, as businesses can easily add new features or integrations as needed.
  • Enhanced security and compliance, as Adobe Commerce is built on top of the Adobe Experience Platform, which is compliant with industry standards such as SOC2 and PCI DSS.
  • Improved data insights and analytics, allowing businesses to make better-informed decisions and optimize their online store.

Pros of Adobe Commerce include:

  • Integration with Adobe Experience Cloud: Adobe Commerce is built on top of the Adobe Experience Platform and integrated with other Adobe Experience Cloud solutions, such as Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) for content management and Adobe Target for personalization and A/B testing. This allows businesses to easily create personalized, highly-targeted digital commerce experiences.
  • Support for headless commerce: Adobe Commerce supports a headless commerce architecture, which allows businesses to use a microservices architecture to create highly customizable, decoupled front-end and back-end systems. This allows for greater flexibility and scalability.
  • Built-in analytics and reporting: Adobe Commerce includes built-in analytics and reporting, allowing businesses to track customer behavior and optimize their online store.
  • Support for multiple languages and currencies: Adobe Commerce supports multiple languages and currencies, making it easy to create global e-commerce sites.
  • Support for a wide range of payment methods and integrations: Adobe Commerce supports a wide range of payment methods and can be integrated with popular third-party systems.

Cons of Adobe Commerce include:

  • High cost: Adobe Commerce can be a costly solution, as it requires a subscription to the Adobe Experience Cloud in addition to the cost of implementation and customization.
  • Steep learning curve: Adobe Commerce can have a steep learning curve, as it requires a good understanding of the Adobe Experience Cloud platform and the underlying technologies.
  • Limited customization options: While Adobe Commerce allows for some level of customization, it may not be enough for businesses with highly specific requirements.
  • Higher maintenance cost: Adobe Commerce can require more maintenance and technical support than other e-commerce solutions, as it is built on top of the Adobe Experience Platform.
  • Limited scalability: Adobe Commerce can have limited scalability, as it is built on top of the Adobe Experience Platform which has its own scalability limits.

More info: Adobe Commerce

Sitecore Experience Platform

Sitecore Experience Platform
Sitecore Experience Platform

Sitecore is a feature-rich and flexible WCMS, designed for large enterprises and those with high-end needs. It offers a range of features, including personalization, analytics, marketing automation, and a content marketing solution that enables your business to create, manage campaigns, and conduct experience analytics.

The platform empowers content curation and offers in-context editing, preview capabilities, and multi-site and multi-lingual capabilities. It also features a WYSIWYG experience editor and drag-and-drop interface, personalization at scale, machine learning-based analytics, testing and optimization, intuitive campaign creation and marketing automation, and omnichannel delivery.

Umbraco

Umbraco CMS
Umbraco CMS

Umbraco is a cloud-based content management system that lets you create, modify, update, and publish content.

Umbraco CMS is an open-source ASP.NET CMS platform with over 500,000 active installs worldwide and more than 200,000 active community members. It is highly flexible, scalable, and customizable, allowing developers to create customized solutions that are easy for content editors to manage.

It also offers customizable web forms, integration with third-party applications, and collaborative editing capabilities. The platform is available for free and on monthly subscriptions with support extended via phone, email, and other online measures.

The platform’s main goal is to give users the freedom to manage their projects their way, without overwhelming them with irrelevant options and buttons.

Squarespace

Squarespace
Squarespace

Squarespace is an all-in-one platform for building a customized online presence, offering a selection of website templates, designer fonts, and color palettes for websites, online stores, and portfolios.

Squarespace is used by a wide range of individuals and businesses, including entrepreneurs, photographers, restaurants, musicians, and fashion designers.

The platform offers easy e-commerce integration, allowing businesses to set up an online store, integrate booking services, and add third-party extensions, as well as powerful SEO tools to increase visibility, in-depth analytics to track website traffic, visitor behavior, and more, plus email and social tools.

Wix

Wix
Wix

Wix is an all-in-one web creation platform used by self-creators and small and medium-sized websites. It is easy to use, even for those with no technical knowledge.

Wix provides blogging capabilities, design features, full web dev tools, SEO optimization, eCommerce solutions, built-in marketing tools, and online scheduling software.

Square Online

Square Online
Square Online

Square Online (formerly known as Weebly) is part of Square’s product suite. It allows businesses to set up an online store quickly using a site builder with SEO features, inventory management, and an online shopping cart, manage payments, offer curbside pickup and local delivery, and sell online and on social media.

Choosing The Right WCMS For Your Organization

A Web Content Management System (WCMS) is an essential tool for effectively creating, editing, managing, publishing, and delivering digital content to your website. A WCMS can help to improve productivity, enhance the user experience, and increase the accessibility of content.

There are many different types of content management systems available, each with its own set of features and capabilities. The right CMS for your business will depend on your specific needs and requirements.

When choosing a WCMS, it is important to consider factors such as the size and complexity of the content, the need for collaboration and workflow tools, and the need for integration with other tools. Additionally, you should consider costs, including both the initial investment and ongoing maintenance and support.

For more lessons related to Content Management Systems (CMS), click on one of the links below:

Content Management System (CMS)
Content Management System (CMS)
Learn how a content management system (CMS) can help you manage your content more effectively.
Content Management System FAQ
Content Management System FAQ
Find answers to frequently asked questions about content management systems (CMS).
Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)
Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)
Learn about the key benefits and features of a Web Content Management System (WCMS) and popular WCMS platforms.
Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS)
Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS)
Learn about the key benefits and features of an Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS) and popular ECMS platforms.
Component Content Management Systems (CCMS)
Component Content Management Systems (CCMS)
Learn about the key benefits and features of a Component Content Management System (CCMS) and popular CCMS platforms.
Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMS)
Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMS)
Learn about the key benefits and features of a Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) and popular DAMS platforms.

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Image: AI-Generated using DALL-E

Content Management System FAQ

Find answers to frequently asked questions about content management systems (CMS).

Content Management System FAQ

Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about content management systems.

Content Management System FAQsContent management is a critical aspect of modern businesses and organizations.

It encompasses everything from creating and storing content to distributing it to the right people at the right time.

As such, it’s no surprise that there are many questions and misconceptions about what content management is and what it entails.

As this entire website is devoted to helping you better understand why and how to manage your content more effectively, in this blog post, we’ll focus on answering some of the most frequently asked questions about content management systems (CMS), including what a CMS is, the different types of content management systems, the benefits of using a content management system, and how to choose the right one for your business.

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What is a content management system (CMS)?

A content management system is a software tool that provides a centralized platform for managing digital content, making it easier for organizations to keep their digital content up-to-date, consistent, and secure.

For a more comprehensive explanation, see this lesson: Content Management System (CMS)

What is the difference between a content management system (CMS) and content management?

CMS and content management are related but distinct concepts.

A CMS, or Content Management System, refers to a specific type of software application that provides the tools and technologies needed to manage your digital content.

A CMS includes features such as authoring and editing tools, version control, workflows, and publishing capabilities.

A CMS also provides a centralized platform for organizing, storing, and managing digital content such as text, images, videos, and documents, through a centralized platform, making it easier for organizations to keep their digital content up-to-date and consistent.

Content management, on the other hand, is the process of managing digital content throughout its lifecycle. This includes tasks such as creating, editing, organizing, storing, and publishing content, as well as managing versions, workflows, and access controls.

Content management is a broader concept that includes the use of various tools and technologies, including using a CMS, but also encompasses other types of software, such as digital asset management systems (DAMS), component content management systems (CCMS), and enterprise content management systems (ECMS), which we will touch on shortly in this article.

In summary, a CMS is a specific type of software tool used for managing digital content, while content management refers to the overall process of managing digital content throughout its lifecycle.

For practical lessons and tutorials on content management and its components, go here: Content Management

For a detailed lesson on using a CMS, go here: Content Management System (CMS)

What are the benefits of using a content management system (CMS)?

A CMS offers several benefits, including:

  • Ease of use: Non-technical users can easily create, publish, and manage content without the need for HTML or coding skills.
  • Improved efficiency: A CMS streamlines the content creation and publishing process, making it faster and more efficient.
  • Better organization: A CMS allows for the centralized storage of all digital content, making it easier to find and manage.
  • Consistency: A CMS helps maintain a consistent look and feel for all digital content, improving brand consistency.
  • Accessibility: A CMS allows for multiple users to access and contribute to the content, improving collaboration.

What are the different types of content management systems?

Different types of CMS include:

What are the key features of a content management system?

The key features of a CMS include:

  • Content creation tools: A CMS should have tools for creating and editing content, such as a WYSIWYG editor or HTML editor.
  • Content management: A CMS should provide a centralized location for storing and managing content, as well as tools for organizing and categorizing content.
  • User management: A CMS should allow for multiple users to access and contribute to the content, with features for controlling access and managing user roles.
  • Publishing and distribution: A CMS should provide tools for publishing and distributing content, as well as the ability to schedule content for future publishing.
  • Analytics and reporting: A CMS should provide metrics and analytics to track the performance of published content and inform content strategy.

What are the different deployment models for a CMS?

There are two main deployment models for a CMS: on-premise and cloud-based.

  • On-premise CMS: This type of CMS is installed and hosted on the organization’s own servers. It provides greater control and customization, but also requires IT resources for setup and maintenance.
  • Cloud-based CMS: This type of CMS is hosted by a third-party provider and is accessed through the internet. It offers lower upfront costs and less maintenance but may have limitations on customization and control.

How do I choose the right CMS for my organization?

Choosing the right CMS for your organization requires evaluating your specific needs and requirements. Consider factors such as:

  • Size and complexity of your organization: Choose a CMS that can scale and grow with your organization.
  • Technical expertise: Consider the technical skills of your team and choose a CMS that is easy to use and requires minimal technical expertise.
  • Budget: Consider the cost of the CMS, including upfront costs, recurring costs, and potential hidden costs.
  • Integration requirements: Consider any existing systems and tools your organization uses, and choose a CMS that can integrate with them.
  • Content management needs: Consider the type of content you need to manage and choose a CMS that provides the necessary features and capabilities.
  • Deployment model: Decide whether you want an on-premise or cloud-based CMS, and choose the model that best fits your needs.

How does a CMS improve website accessibility?

A CMS can improve website accessibility by:

  • Providing a centralized location for managing and organizing content, making it easier to ensure that all content meets accessibility standards.
  • Offering WYSIWYG editors and other content creation tools that allow users to create accessible content without needing specialized knowledge.
  • Providing features for managing and updating content, reducing the risk of outdated or broken accessibility features.
  • Allowing multiple users to access and contribute to the content, improving collaboration, and reducing the risk of inaccessible content.

How does a CMS improve the user experience?

A CMS can improve the user experience by:

  • Streamlining the content creation and publishing process, making it faster and more efficient.
  • Providing a centralized location for managing and organizing content, making it easier for users to find what they’re looking for.
  • Allowing for consistent branding and design across all digital content, improving the overall look and feel of the website.
  • Providing analytics and reporting to track the performance of published content, allowing for continual improvement of the user experience.

How does a CMS improve search engine optimization (SEO)?

A CMS can improve SEO by:

  • Allowing for the creation and management of meta tags, which are used by search engines to understand the content on a website.
  • Providing tools for creating and managing internal links, which help search engines understand the structure and hierarchy of the website.
  • Allowing for the creation and management of sitemaps, which provide a roadmap for search engines to crawl and index the website.
  • Providing analytics and reporting to track the performance of published content, allowing for continual improvement of SEO efforts.

How does a CMS support collaboration and teamwork?

A CMS supports collaboration and teamwork by:

  • Allowing multiple users to access and contribute to the content, improving collaboration.
  • Providing features for controlling access and managing user roles, allowing for secure collaboration.
  • Allowing for centralized storage and management of all digital content, improving organization, and reducing the risk of version control issues.
  • Providing tools for tracking changes and managing revisions, improving accountability, and reducing the risk of conflicts.

A CMS is a powerful tool for managing digital content, but it can also be complex and confusing. We hope that by answering the most frequently asked questions about CMSs, you have a better understanding of this technology and how it can benefit your organization.

For more lessons related to Content Management Systems (CMS), click on one of the links below:

Content Management System (CMS)
Content Management System (CMS)
Learn how a content management system (CMS) can help you manage your content more effectively.
Content Management System FAQ
Content Management System FAQ
Find answers to frequently asked questions about content management systems (CMS).
Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)
Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)
Learn about the key benefits and features of a Web Content Management System (WCMS) and popular WCMS platforms.
Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS)
Enterprise Content Management Systems (ECMS)
Learn about the key benefits and features of an Enterprise Content Management System (ECMS) and popular ECMS platforms.
Component Content Management Systems (CCMS)
Component Content Management Systems (CCMS)
Learn about the key benefits and features of a Component Content Management System (CCMS) and popular CCMS platforms.
Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMS)
Digital Asset Management Systems (DAMS)
Learn about the key benefits and features of a Digital Asset Management System (DAMS) and popular DAMS platforms.

***

Image: AI-Generated

Content Management System (CMS)

Learn how a content management system (CMS) can help you manage your content more effectively.

Content Management System (CMS)

Learn how a content management system (CMS) can help you manage your content more effectively.

WordPress add new post screenA Content Management System (CMS) is a software application that allows users to easily create, manage, and publish digital content, typically for websites.

It provides an interface for users to add and edit text, images, videos, and other types of digital media, and to manage the organization and presentation of that content.

A CMS typically includes a database to store the content and a set of tools for managing users, permissions, and workflow.

Note: While there are different types of content management systems available, this course focuses mostly on using WordPress, a popular and free CMS platform that allows businesses to easily manage their content and most aspects of their website without requiring technical skills or relying on technical experts.

In this lesson, you will learn why a CMS is a powerful content management tool, discover the benefits of using a content management system, explore different CMS platforms, and discover what you can do using the WordPress CMS platform.

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What Is A Content Management System (CMS)?

A content management system (CMS) is a software application that provides a centralized platform for organizing, storing, and managing digital content.

A CMS typically includes a variety of tools for creating, editing, and publishing content, as well as for managing the content lifecycle, which includes tasks such as version control, workflow, and publishing.

The main goal of a CMS is to simplify the process of managing content, making it easier for organizations to keep their digital content up-to-date and consistent.

A CMS typically includes a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for non-technical users to manage content, as well as features such as templates, workflows, and access controls that allow organizations to maintain a consistent look and feel across their digital properties.

CMSs can be used to manage a variety of content types, including web pages, blog posts, images, videos, and more. Some CMSs are designed for specific types of content, such as e-commerce products, while others are more general-purpose and can be used for any type of digital content.

Why Use A Content Management System (CMS)?

A Content Management System (CMS) allows your business to easily manage and publish website content without the need for technical skills.

Some of the key benefits and features of using a CMS to manage your website content include:

  • Ease of use: A CMS typically has a user-friendly interface that allows non-technical users to easily create, edit, and publish content on the website.
  • Centralized control: A CMS allows multiple users to access and manage your website’s content, which is particularly useful if your business has multiple departments or team members responsible for different aspects of the website.
  • Versatility: A CMS can be used to manage different types of content, such as text, images, videos, and audio files.
  • Collaboration: A CMS allows multiple users to work on the same website content, making it easy for teams to collaborate and review changes before they are published.
  • Scalability: As your business grows, a CMS can easily be scaled to accommodate more content, users, and features. A CMS can also be used to manage small websites or large, complex sites with thousands of pages.
  • Search engine optimization (SEO): Many content management systems include built-in SEO features, such as the ability to create custom URLs and meta tags, which can help improve your website’s visibility in search engine results.
  • Security: A CMS can provide security features such as user access controls and backups, which can help prevent unauthorized access to your website and protect against data loss.

Popular CMS Platforms

There are many popular content management systems to choose from, each with its own set of features and capabilities.

Platforms like WordPress, Joomla!, and Drupal are open-source and have a wide range of functionalities, templates, and plugins that can be used to customize your website to suit the needs of your business.

For a comprehensive list and information on popular content management systems, go here: Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)

A Very Brief History Of Websites

Pre-CMS / Static Websites

Before Content Management Systems came along, websites were traditionally built by gathering together a collection of separately linked static pages where every element of a page (e.g. navigation menus, page layout, content, etc.) was created using web code (e.g. HTML) and assembled by a web designer or website developer using a web editor application tool (e.g. Dreamweaver).

A composite image showing different aspects of a static website.
Websites used to be static collections of web pages that only coders could understand and use…until CMS-driven websites came along!

These separate pages were then uploaded to a web server and accessed online by typing in the page URL associated with the page file into a web browser.

Then, something called a Content Management System, or CMS came along.

A Content Management System is an application that lets you organize and store all your documents, images, videos, and any other type of digital content on a database, and quickly and easily add, retrieve, edit, delete and publish content on your website with no coding skills required.

A CMS also allows multiple editors and authors to access, manage and work collaboratively on a website’s content and publish it under different authors and in different areas of the website.

A CMS also takes care of a number of “behind the scenes” content management tasks such as:

  • Generating website navigation elements automatically (e.g. menus, links, etc.)
  • Storing content in an organized way, making it searchable, findable, and indexable.
  • Keeping track of registered users, including managing user permissions, logins, and security settings.
  • Allowing multiple users to collaborate, edit and publish content on the site.
  • And much more.
CMS functions
A content management system lets you manage every aspect of your content.

In short, a Content Management System gives businesses complete control over their content and its management and lets anyone easily perform content-related tasks, like:

  • Content creation, editing, and deletion
  • Content publishing / content delivery
  • Content organization (e.g. archiving)
  • Content formatting
  • Content revision
  • Content indexing, searching, and retrieval
  • Content export and import

Now that you understand a little more about the benefits of using a content management system, let’s talk about the CMS platform we recommend using to build and manage a website.

It’s called WordPress.

Laptop displaying WordPress home page on screen.
Download WordPress for free on WordPress.org

Why Use WordPress?

WordPress is the world’s leading CMS platform. WordPress is 100% FREE and is used to power millions of websites around the world (over 40% of all websites).

WordPress is the world's leading CMS
WordPress is the world’s leading content management system for websites. Source: https://trends.builtwith.com/cms 

WordPress logoWordPress is:

  • Free
  • Easy to use
  • Easy to manage
  • SEO friendly
  • Mobile friendly
  • Powerful
  • Flexible
  • Interactive
  • Secure
  • Cost-effective
  • Well supported

WordPress is much more than a CMS. It’s a complete website-building and web-publishing platform. You can build any type of website you like with WordPress and easily change anything and everything on the site anytime you want.

Using WordPress is easy and requires no technical expertise or coding skills.

There are many ways that WordPress puts your business in complete control of your digital presence.

For example, WordPress gives your business a “speed to market” advantage…

Slide - Speed To Market
Publish content quickly with WordPress – just think, write … and publish!

WordPress also lets you publish time-sensitive content quickly and make it available online immediately. This is great for getting information out fast, such as:

  • Limited-time offers, special offers, discounts, etc.
  • New product releases, new product reviews, promotional videos
  • Company announcements
  • Industry or company events
  • Pricing updates
  • Customer/Reseller training tips, etc.

After your WordPress site has been set up and configured, you can easily create rich content anytime you think of something you would like to inform, promote, or communicate to others.

Then, simply hit the “publish” button and the information will be made live immediately and instantly available to online users.

Management & Marketing Automation

Another reason WordPress puts your business in control of your digital presence is that your website can be expertly configured so that all you need to do is publish new content and WordPress will then automatically and instantly:

  • Notify search engines like Google, Bing, etc. (you can specify exactly how you want Google to display your listings in its search results),
  • Post excerpts of the content to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. with links pointing back to the website (you can specify exactly how excerpts should display on social media sites),
  • Notify and syndicate dozens and even hundreds of other online properties like blogs, search directories, social bookmarking sites, RSS feed aggregators, etc.

Instead of a ‘static’ web presence that involves time-consuming activities like publishing content on a website and posting new content on social media accounts and other online properties to drive traffic and generate leads, your WordPress site can be configured to instantly syndicate (i.e. distribute) and get your newly-published content indexed faster, automatically driving more web traffic and generating new leads for your business…

Chart - publishing content on WordPress instantly posts the content on social media.
Posting content to different sites can be very time-consuming! You can publish content on WordPress and instantly posts this content on social media.

WordPress lets you set up a content distribution and a lead and traffic generation system automatically…

Diagram: Publish content...automate the rest!
Automate content distribution with WordPress to drive more traffic, leads & sales!

WordPress can also automate management and maintenance tasks on a website like scheduling files and data backups, updating software, adding and managing new users, and more.

An expertly configured WordPress site lets you do all this by configuring internal (i.e. built-in) settings, adding different add-ons, and integrating many essential (and mostly free) external services…

Diagram of epertly-configured WordPress site components
An expertly-configured WordPress site can automate many digital processes in your business!

As your business grows and evolves, you can easily add more functionality and automation to your WordPress site at minimal cost, like:

  • Adding eCommerce to sell products and services and process payments online
  • Capturing leads with opt-in forms and automatically adding new subscribers to newsletters and autoresponders
  • Adding a membership site that allows visitors to register on the site as private members with different membership levels, unique logins, etc.
  • Adding directories, forums, social networking features, social sharing, and engagement features, etc.
  • And so much more!

All this can be done inexpensively (or even for free) in WordPress using ‘app-like’ add-ons called plugins.

Once plugins are installed and configured, you can direct your site visitors to different areas of your website such as your online store, subscription forms, membership area, directories, etc. using calls to action placed in your content, graphic banners, navigation menus, etc. and let the automated processes configured on your site and your plugins do the rest.

Additionally, WordPress comes with a powerful built-in Content Management System (CMS) that works right out of the box, allowing you to easily create and manage your digital content, website administration (including updating and backing up site files and data), and automate various aspects of your digital marketing.

One of the many benefits of using the WordPress CMS is that it is 100% free to use and modify for any commercial purpose. This helps to prevent you from becoming locked into a ‘proprietary’ CMS platform that could make it harder to leave or switch to another provider.

So…

You can configure your WordPress site to automate management and marketing processes like backups, content distribution, and syndication, search engine indexing, web traffic generation, lead, and sales automation, and more, without involving website developers or web designers or requiring technical expertise or coding skills.

You can also easily look after ongoing management processes like keeping your site’s software and plugins updated, adding and configuring new site functionality, making changes to site design, layout, and content to improve sales conversions, and training other team members to do the same without hiring website developers or web designers.

Building a website with WordPress, then, puts you in complete control of your digital business processes, saving you considerable money and allowing you to generate better online results.

WordPress
Want to be in complete control of your digital presence? Then choose WordPress!

A CMS platform like WordPress can put your business in complete control of your digital presence, automate key digital management, content scheduling, and marketing processes, and help you improve your online business online results.

A WordPress website can also be expanded easily and inexpensively at any time and allows businesses to integrate additional features, functionality, and services like:

  • Social media, social media content sharing, and social engagement tools
  • External services and accounts (e.g., Google webmasters, SaaS, and cloud services)
  • eCommerce, membership sites, directories, event bookings, and registrations, etc.
  • Support services (helpdesks, online chat, forums, affiliate management, etc.)
  • Subscriber options (newsletters, autoresponders, opt-in forms, etc.)
  • Reporting tools (e.g., server monitoring, web analytics, etc.)
  • And many additional functions.

Unique WordPress Features

WordPress includes many unique features that make managing websites easy, including:

Plugins

Like most apps and add-ons, plugins install with a few clicks and allow users to easily add and configure almost every kind of functionality imaginable to their website (e.g. forms, banner ad management, membership sites, directories, e-commerce, notifications, live chat, pricing tables, etc.).

Learn more about plugins here: Using WordPress Plugins

Themes

Themes are web design templates that let users change the entire look and feel of their site and/or customize the site’s web design with just a few clicks without affecting its content.

Learn more about plugins here: Using WordPress Themes

Widgets

Widgets let users reorganize and rearrange the site’s web layout and add new functionality without touching code using features like drag and drop and pulldown menus.

Learn more about plugins here: Using WordPress Widgets

And More…

Additional unique features of WordPress that make managing a website easier include a customizable dashboard, a visual content editor and block editor, custom navigation menus, custom post types, live previews, updates, setting different user roles, permissions, and logins, comment moderation, site cleanup, optimization, and security tools, and a whole lot more!

WordPress can also be configured to fully automate or reduce many complex website management tasks to processes using a few clicks.

This includes:

  • Managing and scheduling content for publishing
  • Performing data and file backups
  • Updating core software, plugins, and themes
  • Registering and managing users and subscribers
  • Moderating comments from visitors, preventing comment SPAM, etc.
  • Preventing brute force attacks and threats from malware and hackers
  • Fixing broken links in the content
  • Redirecting visitors to other pages
  • Generating user, statistical, performance, and sales reports
  • Notifying management and administrators if there are any problems with the site
  • And more.

Depending on what your business wants to achieve online, WordPress can also easily add and automate the management of features and functionality like:

  • Setting up an e-commerce store (and automating areas like featured product information, online payment processing, emailing customers download links, product delivery information, emails to prevent cart abandonment, etc.)
  • Providing customer service tools, services, and information sections like a knowledgebase, support helpdesks, live chat, FAQs, etc.
  • Setting up business directories and advertising zones (and automating processes that allow users to buy, manage, and renew their listings and advertisements)
  • Running event and booking sites (and automating the management of event bookings and registrations, setting up appointments, scheduling deliveries of online course content or webinars, ticket printing, confirmations, etc.)
  • Setting up an affiliate program (and automating affiliate management tasks, commission reports, payments, etc.)
  • Setting up and automating many other tasks like scheduling and posting content to social media, adding subscribers to newsletters and customer lists, processing contact information, engaging users with customer surveys and user polls, and so much more.

Most Websites Are Powered By WordPress

Not only are millions of websites around the world built using WordPress, but if one in every three websites is powered by WordPress, the chances are that if your business has a website, it is probably also powered by WordPress!

To check if your website or blog is built using WordPress, go here: How To Tell If Your Website Is Powered By WordPress

Summary

A content management system (CMS) is a software application that allows users to create, manage, and publish digital content.

A CMS is an essential tool for businesses that want to easily manage and publish content on their website. It allows non-technical users to easily create, edit, and publish content, while also providing tools for collaboration, scalability, SEO, and security.

It’s important to research different CMS options and choose one that fits the specific needs of your business.

Some of the most popular CMS platforms include WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

Joomla is a popular open-source CMS, it is more complex than WordPress, but it is good for managing large and complex websites.

Drupal is also an open-source CMS, it is more powerful, and it is best used for creating complex, large-scale websites.

WordPress is the world’s most widely used content management system. It is free and open-source, and it has a wide variety of themes and plugins to choose from. It is also the platform used to power millions of professional websites and blogs around the world.

WordPress is:

  • 100% free open-source software
  • Highly flexible, scalable, and customizable (can be adapted for any use)
  • Supported by a community of tens of thousands of web developers (continually updated to improve security, add new features, and fix bugs & issues).

Resources

If you need help using WordPress, see the resources below:

WordPress User Tutorials

Here are the best resources for learning how to use your WordPress website and CMS effectively:

WPTrainingManual.com

WPTrainingManual.com - WordPress User Training
WPTrainingManual.com – WordPress User Training

WPTrainingManual.com provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date WordPress step-by-step tutorials for non-technical users and non-coders available.

These tutorials are 100% free to access (and download as a PDF, print, or share via email), and will help you learn how to use your WordPress site and CMS effectively.

WPTrainingManual.com - Free WordPress Tutorials
WPTrainingManual.com – Free WordPress Tutorials

Additionally, you can download The Complete WordPress Step-By-Step WordPress User Manual – a comprehensive, fully illustrated, and regularly updated 2,100+ page downloadable WordPress user manual for non-techies.

The Complete WordPress Step-By-Step User Manual
The Complete WordPress Step-By-Step User Manual

For more information and to access all the free WordPress tutorials, go here: WPTrainingManual.com

WPMasterclasses.com

WPMasterclasses.com - WordPress & Digital Business Skills Video Courses
WPMasterclasses.com – WordPress & Digital Business Skills Video Courses

WPMasterclasses.com is a WordPress and digital business video training site with dozens of video courses and 2,000+ video tutorials on using WordPress and covering essential digital business areas.

Here are some of the WordPress video courses available on WPMasterclasses.com (note: you can access all of the video courses below with a single all-access pass):

WordPress Video Courses
Why Your Business Needs WordPress - WPMasterclasses.comWhy Your Business Needs WordPress

Learn about the unique features, benefits, and advantages of using WordPress to start or grow your business online.

More info: Why Your Business Needs WordPress

WordPress 101: How To Use WordPress - WPMasterclasses.comWordPress 101: How To Use WordPress

Learn how to unlock the power of the WordPress content management system (CMS) using the many powerful features inside your WordPress administration area.

More info: WordPress 101: How To Use WordPress

WordPress Gutenberg - WPMasterclasses.comWordPress Gutenberg

Learn how to use the WordPress Gutenberg editor with this video course.

More info: WordPress Gutenberg

WordPress Traffic & User Engagement - WPMasterclasses.comWordPress Traffic & User Engagement

Learn how to drive more targeted traffic to your website and discover ways to improve user engagement with your business online.

More info: WordPress Traffic & User Engagement

WordPress SEOWordPress SEO - WPMasterclasses.com

Learn how to optimize your WordPress site and how to craft website pages and blog posts that will help you get better search engine rankings and improve your traffic results.

More info: WordPress SEO

WordPress Maintenance - WPMasterclasses.comWordPress Maintenance

This video course takes you step-by-step through the WordPress Maintenance Process and shows you how to keep your WordPress site updated, protected, and error-free!

More info: WordPress Maintenance

How To Backup & Restore WordPress Sites - WPMasterclasses.comHow To Back Up & Restore WordPress Sites

Learn how to safely and automatically back up your WordPress files and database and how to easily restore your WordPress site if something unexpected or disastrous were to happen.

More info: How To Back Up & Restore WordPress Sites

How To Optimize WordPress - WPMasterclasses.comHow To Optimize WordPress

Learn how to optimize your WordPress site and improve your page loading speed.

More info: How To Optimize WordPress

WordPress Security - WPMasterclasses.comWordPress Security

Learn how to keep your WordPress site or blog secure and protected from malware, hackers, and brute-force attacks.

More info: WordPress Security

WordPress Plugins - WPMasterclasses.comWordPress Plugins

Learn how WordPress plugins work, how to find, install, and update plugins on your site, and how to expand your WordPress site’s functionality in almost unlimited ways.

More info: WordPress Plugins

Digital Planning: How To Build A Profitable Website Or Blog - WPMasterclasses.comDigital Planning: How To Build A Profitable Website Or Blog

Learn how to plan and build a profitable website or blog using a proven and easy-to-follow strategy.

More info: Digital Planning: How To Build A Profitable Website Or Blog

Build A WordPress Site Fast - WPMasterclasses.comBuild A WordPress Site Fast

Need a new website or blog in a hurry? This video course shows you how to quickly install and configure a WordPress website or blog on your own domain name.

More info: Build A WordPress Site Fast

WordPress eCommerce - Learn How To Build An eCommerce Store With WordPressLearn How To Build An eCommerce Store With WordPress

Learn how to set up an e-commerce store on your WordPress site using e-commerce platforms like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.

More info: Learn How To Build An eCommerce Store With WordPress

How To Set Up A Forum On WordPress - WPMasterclasses.comHow To Set Up A Forum On WordPress

Learn how to set up a forum for your visitors, prospects, customers, members, or affiliates using WordPress.

More info: How To Set Up A Forum On WordPress

How To Build A Membership Site With WordPress - WPMasterclasses.comHow To Build A Membership Site With WordPress

Learn how to plan, build, grow, and maintain a viable membership site using WordPress that can be easily scaled and automated to become a sustainable, cost-effective, and profitable asset for many years to come.

More info: How To Build A Membership Site With WordPress

All Access Pass: Unlimited Courses - WPMasterclasses.comYou can purchase access to individual courses for a one-time fee or purchase an ALL ACCESS PASS video training site membership for a low annual subscription.

The All Access Pass membership gives you 24/7 ongoing access to 60+ digital business skills and WordPress CMS video courses (over 2,100+ self-paced video lessons and 225+ hours of videos).

For more details of all available video courses, go here: WPMasterclasses.com

WordPress Site Management

The choice of managing and maintaining your WordPress site is completely up to you. You can outsource your site management to professionals or learn how to do it yourself.

Here are the best resources available if you choose to do it yourself:

WPCompendium.org

WPCompendium.org provides hundreds of FREE detailed step-by-step tutorials that will teach you everything you need to know to build and manage a WordPress site with no coding knowledge or technical skills required.

WPCompendium.org – Free WordPress Step-By-Step Tutorials For Non-Techies
WPCompendium.org – Free WordPress Step-By-Step Tutorials For Non-Techies

The tutorials on WPCompendium.org are fully interlinked for ease of navigation, allowing you to learn WordPress at your own pace, and organized into comprehensive training modules covering all areas of WordPress:

WPMU DEV

WPMU DEV
WPMU DEV – All-In-One WordPress Platform

WPMU DEV provides a complete WordPress site management and dedicated hosting platform with professional plugins covering everything from SEO, optimization, and security, to marketing, forms, analytics, and more, plus 24/7 expert support on all things related to WordPress.

While the site is aimed mostly at WordPress web developers, if you are an advanced WordPress user or DIY site manager, we recommend visiting the WPMU DEV Blog containing thousands of advanced and useful WordPress tutorials, and subscribing to their email newsletter for regular WordPress tips and information.

WPMU DEV Blog
WPMU DEV’s Blog is jampacked with useful WordPress tutorials.

Additionally, we recommend becoming a WPMU DEV member. A  WPMU DEV membership includes everything you need to manage unlimited WordPress sites effectively.

You can sign up for a free membership (no credit card required) and try out for yourself all the service offers.

To register for a free account, visit WPMU DEV.

Additional Resources

We recommend the following resources to help build your content management skills:

Also, visit our tools and resources section for additional courses, guides, and helpful tools and resources for managing your content effectively.

Digital Business – Module Lessons

Below are all the lessons included in this module. Click on a link to go directly to the lesson:

The Role Of The Digital/Web Content Manager

The Role Of The Content Manager

Learn about the role of a content manager and what you need to know to manage content effectively in a digital business presence.
Digital Business Structure

Digital Business Structure

Learn what an effective digital business structure looks like and why this makes managing content challenging.
Content Management Mindset

Content Management Mindset

Develop the mindset needed to manage content effectively for any type of organization. 
Content Management Skills

Content Management Skills

Learn about the skills you will need to develop to manage content effectively in your business. 
Digital Business Setups

Digital Business Setups

Learn about different kinds of digital business setups and the challenges of managing content effectively in these. 
Digital Business Basics

Digital Business Basics

This lesson looks at some of the basic steps your business should complete before it can grow using content.
Digital Content Team

Digital Content Team

An overview of different digital team roles, responsibilities, and job descriptions.
Content Management Tools

Content Management Tools

Learn about many useful and time-saving tools and resources that will help you manage your content effectively.

***

Images: WordPress logo, WordPress screen, Blackboard

WordPress CMS Plugins

Use these WordPress CMS plugins to help make your Content Management System easier to use and your website easier to manage.

WordPress CMS Plugins

Use these WordPress CMS plugins to help make your Content Management System easier to use and your website easier to manage.

WordPress CMS PluginsWordPress offers many powerful built-in features for managing and organizing your website and its content.

The CMS plugins listed in this section will help to extend and enhance the functionality of these features and make using and managing your CMS easier, more efficient, and more productive, speeding up your content publishing and allowing you to manage different business setups and production workflow requirements.

Refer to the WordPress User Manual if you need help installing, activating, updating, or deleting plugins in WordPress, and ALWAYS make a full backup of your website’s files and database before making any changes to your site.

***

Editorial Calendar

WordPress CMS Plugins - Editorial Calendar
Editorial Calendar

Editorial Calendar makes it easier to see the status of all posts in your blog and when they’ll be published.

From the calendar, you can edit your post titles, post content, and scheduled times, use drag and drop to move posts around and change your post dates, manage post drafts and posts from multiple authors, and a whole lot more.

Check out the video below for an overview of what you can do with this plugin:

More info: Editorial Calendar

EditFlow

WordPress CMS Plugins - EditFlow
EditFlow

EditFlow is a plugin that lets you collaborate with your editorial team inside WordPress. The plugin includes a number of useful content management workflow features, such as

  • Calendar – Provides a convenient month-by-month look at your content.
  • Custom Statuses – Lets you define the key stages of your workflow.
  • Editorial Comments – Provides threaded commenting in the admin section for private discussion between writers and editors.
  • Editorial Metadata – Helps you keep track of important details.
  • Notifications – Receive timely updates on content that you’re following.
  • Story Budget – View your upcoming content budget.
  • User Groups – Keep users organized by department or function.

More info: EditFlow

Better Search Replace

WordPress CMS Plugins - Better Search Replace
Better Search Replace

Imagine having loads of published pages on your website and then having to change something in your content that appears throughout your website.

You would either have to go through every page of your website and find every instance of the content you want to change…or you can use a plugin like Better Search Replace.

Better Search Replace is a great time-saving plugin for WordPress that lets you search for text strings (e.g. words, values, dates, sentences, URLs, etc.) throughout your website and replace these quickly and automatically on your site’s database, saving you the hassle of having to manually find and replace every instance.

Better Search Replace - Replacing http with https
An example of using Better Search Replace to quickly update thousands of http links to https.

The plugin is very easy to use and requires no technical skills. After installing the plugin, go to your WordPress admin menu and select Tools > Better Search Replace.

Tools - Better Search Replace
Select Tools > Better Search Replace from your WordPress admin menu.

On the main screen, do the following:

  1. Enter the string or URL to search into the “Search for” field,
  2. Enter the string or URL to be replaced into the “Replace with” field,
  3. Select one, multiple, or all database tables you want the tool to search through using Ctrl-Click (Windows) or Cmd-Click (Mac).
  4. Make sure the “Run as dry run” checkbox is ticked In the Additional Settings section. This enables the tool to make a “dry run” search and replace query without replacing anything in your site’s database (which helps to prevent errors).
  5. Double-check what you have entered into the Search and Replace fields, and click the Run Search/Replace button to begin the process.

In the example below, we decided to change the URL text (called the post slug) in one of our lessons, after creating our course content and adding the old URL link to many pages.

So, instead of manually going through all the course content to find every page on our website pointing to the old URL and changing it to the new URL, we simply used Better Search Replace.

After installing the plugin, we entered the old URL in the “Search for” field, and the new URL in the “Replace with” field, and selected all tables on our database to seach.

Better Search Replace - Main screen.
Enter the text or URL that you want to search and replace.

We then ran a “search and replace” in dry run mode. The tool found 17 instances in our site’s database that needed updating.

Better Search Replace - Dry Run results.
Dry Run results.

We then unticked the “Run as dry run” checkbox to make permanent changes and clicked the button to run the search and replace function again.

Better Search Replace - Run Search/Replace
Run Search/Replace again without the dry run to make your changes.

The tool went through all of the site’s database tables and made the replacements. In our example, 47 database tables were searched and all instances of the old page URL were replaced with the new page URL.

Better Search Replace - Results.
Search and replace completed.

You can view which tables were changed by clicking on the “Click here for more details” link in the results notification.

Better Search Replace - View search/replace details.
View search/replace details.

To view full details about any changes made to your site’s database and access a whole range of advanced features, upgrade to the premium version of the plugin.

Tips:

  • After performing a search/replace, test and check your content to make sure that the replacement has been done correctly. This is especially important if replacing links and URLs in your content.
  • Use Better Search and Replace with a plugin like Broken Link Checker (described below) to avoid broken links when making changes to URLs.

More info: Better Search Replace (Free) | Better Search Replace (Premium)

Broken Link Checker

WordPress CMS Plugins - Broken Link Checker
Broken Link Checker WordPress plugin.

Broken links can affect your site’s SEO and lead to poor user experience. Checking for broken links in your content, therefore, is part of good content management.

Manually checking for broken links, however, can be extremely tedious and completely unnecessary when you can use a plugin instead.

Broken Link Checker is a free WordPress plugin that automatically monitors and tests all of your site’s internal and external links to help you find and fix broken links.

The plugin continually scans and reports broken links, giving you the choice of editing the URL, removing the link, marking “broken” links as working, leaving the link as is, and various other options.

Broken Link Checker - Plugin Screen
Broken Link Checker lets you find and fix broken links on your site.

For a complete step-by-step tutorial on how to use this plugin, go here: How To Detect And Fix Broken Links In WordPress

More info: Broken Link Checker

Redirection

WordPress CMS Plugins - Redirection
Redirection

Redirection is a really popular link redirection management plugin for WordPress.

Use this plugin to point old, removed, deleted, or trashed posts to new posts on your site or URLs on external sites, easily manage 301 redirections, and keep track of 404 errors.

Upon installation and activation, the plugin presents you with a wizard that includes a brief overview of how to use the tool and then guides you through the setup process.

Redirection wizard
Use the Redirection wizard to set up the plugin for optimal performance.

Once the plugin is set up, you can use it to manage unlimited redirections on your site.

Redirection Plugin For WordPress - Main Screen
Manage unlimited redirections with this plugin.

Redirecting outdated links not only helps to improve user experience but also your site ranking, so this is also an essential WordPress SEO plugin.

Adding a redirection is simple:

  1. Click on the Add New button to create a new redirection.
  2. In Source URL enter the URL you want to redirect from.
  3. In Target URL enter the URL you want to redirect to.
  4. Click the Add Redirect button.
Redirextions screen - Add New
Add new redirections in a few clicks.

After adding a new redirection URL, there are various additional functions you can perform, including editing your redirection.

For complete usage instructions, see the plugin’s documentation section.

More info: Redirection

Easy Table of Contents

WordPress CMS Plugins - Easy Table of Contents
Easy Table of Contents

Easy Table of Contents lets you insert an automatically generated table of contents (ToC) into your posts, pages, and custom post types.

You can disable the ToC for specific posts and pages, choose which heading styles will display in the ToC, choose different customization options and settings, and a whole lot more.

Screenshot of a ToC generated by the Easy Table of Contents Generator plugin.
An example of a Table of Contents automatically generated by the plugin.

You can see the plugin at work by clicking on any of the lesson pages of this course.

Example of a Table of Contents generated using the Easy Table of Contents plugin
Visit any lesson page on this site to see a Table of Contents generated automatically using the Easy Table of Contents plugin.

More info: Easy Table of Contents

User Role Editor

WordPress CMS Plugins - User Role Editor
Set up custom roles and capabilities using User Role Editor.

User Role Editor is a powerful free plugin that provides advanced user role management tools for WordPress.

With the plugin installed, you can easily create and edit new roles and manage permissions for all users with just a few clicks and set specific capabilities for each role separately simply by ticking or unticking checkboxes.

User Role Editor plugin screen.
The User Role Editor plugin lets you easily change role capabilities by enabling or disabling checkboxes.

There are many useful things you can do with the User Role Editor plugin, such as allowing or disallowing registered users to upload files to your site or disallowing certain types of users to delete posts they have already published.

You can also customize roles and set permissions and capabilities like removing the ability of authors to publish posts on your site, forcing posts to be submitted for review by an administrator before being approved for publishing, etc.

For a more in-depth tutorial on how to use this plugin, go here: How To Manage WordPress Users

More info: User Role Editor

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)

WordPress CMS Plugins - Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)
Add related post your your posts automatically with YARPP.

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) lets you automatically display pages, posts, and custom post types related to the post your site visitors are currently reading.

Once installed and activated, the plugin’s algorithm analyzes your site’s post titles, content, tags, categories, and custom taxonomies to find related content on your site and lets you display these on your posts using a range of different placement options, templates, and styles.

Screenshot of Related Posts example.
The plugin automatically generates related posts for your site visitors. Source: YARPP

Showing visitors relevant content from your site can help boost visitor engagement by keeping them longer on your site.

Increasing sessions and pageviews on your site can also help to improve SEO. The plugin also gives you options like displaying related content to visitors who are leaving your site.

An example of YARPP-generated posts displaying to exiting site visitors.
Display related posts to visitors exiting your website. Source: YARPP

More info: Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)

Posts Table with Search & Sort

WordPress CMS Plugins - Posts Table with Search & Sort
List your posts in a table with instant search, sort, and filter with the Posts Table with Search & Sort plugin.

Posts Table with Search & Sort lets you organize posts into sortable and filterable tables, making it easier for users to find the content they want.

Posts Table with Search and Sort animated screenshot.
List your posts in a searchable and sortable filter. Source: Posts Table with Search and Sort

Your site visitors can filter content by date, category, tag, or author.

Tables display with pagination and responsive layouts for smaller screens.

Screenshot of a table generated with the Posts Table with Search and Sort plugin.
Create tables like this automatically using the plugin. Source: Posts Table with Search and Sort

The Pro version of the plugin includes over 50 advanced features, giving you complete control over all aspects of your tables.

These features include the ability to include any post type in tables, such as blog posts, pages, documents, and more, rename table headings, display or exclude items from showing in tables using a wider range of options, choose column widths and image sizes, embed audios and videos, and a whole lot more.

More info: Posts Table with Search & Sort (Free) | Posts Tables Pro (Premium)

Content Views

WordPress CMS Plugins - Content Views
Content Views – Post Grid & Filter for WordPress.

Content Views is a really useful and versatile plugin for displaying your content in attractive grid and list views.

The plugin makes it easy to display and sort posts, pages, and other content types without using code using filters like recent posts, categories, tags, authors, etc.

You can also add only selected posts to a view, and arrange the list by alphabetical order, published date, random order, or by dragging them into the order you’d like to see the content displayed.

Post grids are responsive and will automatically resize to look great on all devices.

The premium version of the plugin includes many additional useful grid and filter features, including displaying custom post type, filtering by custom taxonomy and custom field, frontend filter, displaying the grid on your Blog and Category pages, displaying ads in the grid, and much more.

We have created a tutorial that shows you how we use this plugin to keep the content on this website organized here: Web Content Organization

More info: Content Views (Free) or Content Views Pro (Premium)

TranslatePress

WordPress CMS Plugins - TranslatePress
Create a multilingual site using TranslatePress.

TranslatePress is a WordPress translation plugin that lets you create a bilingual or multilingual site for targeting users in other countries with content translated into different languages.

TranslatePress front-end visual translator editor
TranslatePress front-end visual translator editor. Source TranslatePress.

The interface allows you to easily translate the entire page at once, including output from shortcodes, forms, and page builders. It also works out of the box with WooCommerce.

This is a self-hosted translation plugin, so you’ll own all your translations.

Translate images and image sliders with TranslatePress.
You can also translate images and image sliders with TranslatePress. Source TranslatePress.

TranslatePress Multilingual Sites Premium includes a range of add-ons that let you extend the functionality of this WordPress translation plugin.

For example, you can:

  • Add an unlimited number of translation languages
  • Redirect first-time visitors to their preferred language based on their browser settings or IP address
  • Translate meta information for improved SEO (e.g. page title, description, URL slug, image alt tag, etc.)
  • Allow existing users to help translate the site without admin rights
  • Make translated content visible only to certain user roles
  • Configure and display different menu items for different languages
  • And more.

Watch the video below for an overview of what the plugin can do:

TranslatePress Multilingual Plugin

More info: TranslatePress (free) | TranslatePress (Premium)

Export All URLs

WordPress CMS Plugins - Export All URLs
Check how many post and pages are published,drafted, or scheduled and export All URLs.

Export All URLs lets you export the URLs of all your site’s pages, posts, and custom post types to a CSV file, which you can then easily import into a spreadsheet.

This plugin is useful for performing a content audit or site migration.

More info: Export All URLs

Duplicate Posts & Pages

WordPress CMS Plugins - Duplicate Posts & Pages
Duplicate your posts and pages with one-click.

Duplicate Posts & Pages is a handy plugin that lets you quickly and easily duplicate (clone) posts, pages, and custom posts.

You can set up default preferences for your newly duplicated posts and pages in the plugin’s settings section.

For example, depending on your site’s configuration, you can specify which editor new posts and pages should be saved as (classic or block editor).

Additionally, you can save duplicated items as a draft, private, public, or pending post or page, select where to redirect posts/pages after creating this, and add a suffix to your duplicated post or page.

After setting your preferences, simply hover over the post or page you want to duplicate and click on “Duplicate This” in the item’s menu.

If you need to give different user roles access to the post/page duplication function or use additional features like allowing which post types can be duplicated, then consider upgrading to the Pro version of the plugin.

The video below provides an overview of the plugin’s capabilities.

More info: Duplicate Posts & Pages

For additional plugins that you can use to duplicate posts and pages, see this tutorial:  How To Clone Posts and Pages In WordPress

Disable Comments

Disable Comments - Remove Comments And Stop Spam
Disable Comments – Remove Comments And Stop Spam

Don’t want others commenting on your posts? Use the Disable Comments plugin to prevent site-wide comments in WordPress.

If you plan to selectively disable comments on individual posts then you can do this directly through WordPress. If you want to disable comments on certain post types or on your entire site, then use this plugin.

With this plugin installed, you can globally control comments on your website and disable comments according to post type, on pages, attachments, etc.

The video below provides an overview of what this plugin can do:

More Details: Disable Comments

Optimize Database After Deleting Revisions

Optimize Database After Deleting Revisions
Optimize Database After Deleting Revisions keeps your WordPress database optimized.

WordPress (and the WordPress Autosave and Post Revisions Feature) stores all of your deleted posts, pages, comments, post revisions, spam comments, unused tags, etc. in the WordPress database.

All of this unnecessary data can significantly increase, bloat, and slow down your website.

Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions is a free ‘one-click’ WordPress database optimization plugin you can use to delete all the extra table data you don’t need from your site’s database.

You can choose what to remove to avoid accidentally deleting data.

This includes:

  • Old post, page, or custom post revisions (you can choose to keep a certain number of your most recent revisions and delete older revisions)
  • Trashed posts, pages, and comments (optional)
  • Spam comments (optional)
  • Unused tags (optional)

And a whole lot more!

Optimize database After Deleting Revisions - Main Screen
Optimize database After Deleting Revisions – Main Screen

You can also schedule optimization to run automatically hourly, daily, or weekly at a specific time (optional) and enable one-click database optimization links in your site’s admin bar and admin menu (optional).

After the plugin cleans up your database, it then optimizes its tables for better performance (optionally you can exclude certain tables, or even specific posts/pages, from optimization), and creates a log of the optimizations (optional).

More Info: Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions

For more plugins that can help you optimize your WordPress site’s database and delete unnecessary post revisions, go here: WordPress Plugins For Managing Post Revisions

Advanced Custom Fields

Advanced Custom Fields
Advanced Custom Fields

Advanced Custom Fields is a very popular WordPress plugin that expands your Content Management System’s capabilities significantly by allowing you to add extra content fields (called custom fields) to your WordPress edit screens.

The plugin lets you create new custom fields with just a few clicks using a user-friendly field builder.

You can create as many fields as you like, each with its own name, type, and settings. Each field you create is then added to a group that allows you to organize your fields and specify the edit screens where these will appear.

In addition to posts, you can add and display custom fields on pages, custom post types, user profiles, comments, media, and more.

Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)

For more help using ACF, refer to the plugin’s documentation, see this tutorial, or watch the videos below:

Explanation of ACF – Part 1

Explanation of ACF – Part 2

More info: Advanced Custom Fields

WPCode

WordPress CMS Plugins - WPCode
WPCode is a WordPress code manager that lets you insert code into headers and footers and custom code snippets.

WPCode is a code snippets plugin that makes it easy to add code snippets in WordPress without having to edit your theme’s files (note: Editing theme files like functions.php is not recommended, as you will lose all custom code functions if you update your theme or switch to another theme).

WPCode All Snippets screen.
The WPCode plugin includes a built-in WordPress code snippets library.

The plugin’s Global Header and Footer interface makes it easy to add code for applications like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixels, and custom CSS to your WordPress site’s header and footer and other areas of your website.

WPCode's Global Header and Footer screen.
Easily add code like Google Analytics to your site using WPCode’s Global Header and Footer screen.

You can also use WPCode to insert custom code for running different applications on your site (e.g. email newsletter forms) and then insert these into your posts and pages using a shortcode.

WPCode lets you add PHP code snippets (with smart code validation to prevent PHP errors), JavaScript code snippets, CSS code snippets, HTML code snippets, and text snippets with full conditional logic.

WPCode Edit Snippet screen.
Add custom code snippets to WPCode and insert these into your posts and pages using a shortcode.

Use this plugin to save time inserting scripts that need to go into either the Headers or Footers section of your website and manage all your header and footer scripts and other custom code snippets from a single screen.

Some examples of codes you may want to add using this plugin include inserting:

  • Google Analytics tracking code.
  • PHP Code Snippets or JavaScript code snippets without modifying your theme’s functions.php file.
  • Facebook Pixels code, Google Conversion Pixels code, and other Advertising Conversion Pixel Scripts with conditional logic.
  • Google AdSense Ads code, Amazon Native Contextual Ads code, and other Media Ads code.
  • Site Verification Meta tags for Social Media, Google Search Console, and other Domain verification scripts.
  • Add Rich Text Ads and Content Snippets automatically on posts & pages.

This plugin is quick and easy to set up, offers a ready-made Code Snippet Library and Custom WordPress Code Snippet Generator, and lets you add unlimited code snippets. You can also export/import code snippets,

More Info: Code Snippets

CoBlocks

WordPress CMS Plugins - CoBlocks
Enhance WordPress Gutenberg with CoBlocks.

The WordPress Block Editor is part of WordPress’ Gutenberg project, which aims to redefine what is possible with the WordPress CMS.

Many new blocks are being developed to extend the power of the WordPress CMS and CoBlocks is an example of this.

CoBlocks is an innovative collection of page-building WordPress blocks for the new Gutenberg WordPress block editor.

CoBlocks
CoBlocks turns Gutenberg into a true page builder.

It provides many additional blocks and true row and column building for a true page builder experience for Gutenberg.

CoBlocks plugin for WordPress
CoBlocks adds true row and column-building capabilities to the WordPress block editor.

CoBlocks’ additional blocks include:

  • Accordion Block
  • Alert Block
  • Author Profile Block
  • Carousel Gallery Block
  • Click to Tweet Block
  • Collage Gallery Block
  • Counter Block (New!)
  • Dynamic Separator Block
  • Events Block
  • FAQ Block
  • Features Block
  • Food & Drinks Block
  • Form Block
  • Gif Block
  • GitHub Gist Block
  • Hero Block
  • Highlight Block
  • Icon Block
  • Logos & Badges Block
  • Map Block
  • Masonry Gallery Block
  • Media Card Block
  • Offset Gallery Block
  • OpenTable Reservations Block
  • Post Carousel Block
  • Posts Block
  • Pricing Table Block
  • Resizable Row/Columns Blocks
  • Services Block
  • Shape Divider Block
  • Social Profiles Block
  • Social Sharing Block
  • Stacked Gallery Block
CoBlocks - sample of additional blocks.
CoBlocks provides many additional blocks to the WordPress Block Editor.

As well as providing many additional blocks, CoBlocks also gives you custom typography controls that let you design web pages and control typographic elements including fonts, sizes, weights, transformations, and more.

More Info: CoBlocks

Additionally, here are some other useful WordPress plugins that will help you manage your site and its content more effectively:

Smush – Image Optimization

Smush - WordPress image optimization plugin.
Smush – WordPress image optimization plugin.

Smush is an easy-to-use plugin with an intuitive dashboard and advanced settings that speeds up your website’s loading time, improves its performance, and prevents your website from becoming slow and sluggish.

It does this by optimizing your website’s images, making them smaller in size without sacrificing quality. This results in faster loading times and improved website performance.

With Smush Pro, you can optimize unlimited images in bulk at once with just a few clicks and use features like lazy loading and automatic compression to further improve your website’s speed. Plus, with Super Smush multi-pass lossy compression, you can save up to 2x the space without sacrificing image quality.

Smush Pro also offers a CDN for faster optimization results and can preserve image EXIF data.

By using Smush Pro, you can experience faster load times, reduced server space usage, and better web accessibility for all of your site’s users.

More info: Smush (Free) | Smush Pro

Hummingbird – Site Optimization

Hummingbird - WordPress Optimization Plugin
Hummingbird – WordPress site optimization plugin.

Hummingbird is a powerful performance and optimization plugin for WordPress that will help improve your website’s speed and performance.

Hummingbird Pro offers advanced features such as minification, GZIP compression, browser caching, and image optimization, which can help to significantly improve website speed and performance.

It also includes a performance report that examines the same vital components of your website as Google PageSpeed Insights and gives you an overall score out of 100, as well as scores for aspects of your site that you may want to consider fixing, including render-blocking resources, server response time, image optimization, and minification.

Other benefits of using Hummingbird Pro include uptime monitoring, which keeps an eye on your site around the clock and notifies you if anything goes wrong, including slow response times, server errors, and pages disappearing.

More info: Hummingbird (Free) | Hummingbird Pro

Defender – WordPress Security

Defender - WordPress Security Plugin
Defender – WordPress security plugin.

Defender is a plugin that provides complete security for WordPress sites.

Defender offers a range of features such as scheduled security scans, vulnerability reports, safety recommendations, blacklist monitoring, and customized hardening for your site.

Defender Pro also includes secure cloud-based audit logs so you can see every change made to your site, plugin and theme code file change detection, and automated scans and reports with va checklist of all issues that need fixing.

Defender Pro deters hackers with IP banning, login lockout, updating security keys, two-factor authorization, and more. It prevents brute force attacks, SQL injections, cross-site scripting XSS, and prevents hackers from exploiting WordPress vulnerabilities.

Defender Pro also offers a range of benefits such as easy installation, one-click security tweaks, disabling trackbacks and pingbacks, hiding error reporting, preventing information disclosure, preventing PHP execution, changing the location of WordPress’s default login area with login masking, enabling round-the-clock firewall protection, setting up login lockout, automating blocking of bot IPS with 404 detention, blocking users based on location with geolocation IP lockout, blocking or allowing IPs with IP Banning, and enabling two-factor authentication.

More info: Defender (Free) | Defender Pro

SmartCrawl – WordPress SEO

SmartCrawl - WordPress SEO plugin
SmartCrawl – WordPress SEO plugin.

SmartCrawl is a powerful plugin that helps optimize the on-page SEO of your website for search engines, improve your online presence, increase website traffic, and create better user engagement.

SmartCrawl offers a range of features that help optimize your website for search engines, including automated SEO scanning, real-time keyword and content analysis, detailed audits and reports, and one-click recommendations.

With SmartCrawl Pro, you can create targeted content that ranks at the top of your favorite search engine. It also allows you to fine-tune your title and description on each post and page, create comprehensive sitemaps for your site, verify your site with Google and Bing, connect to a free Moz account for SEO reporting, and enable automatic internal link building.

SmartCrawl Pro is easy to use and comes with a setup wizard that walks you through the most important settings. It also offers multiple keyword analysis, additional SEO recommendations, the ability to disable SEO and readability analysis in the post list, and more.

More info: SmartCrawl (Free) | SmartCrawl Pro

Forminator – Form Builder

Forminator - Form builder plugin
Forminator is a versatile form builder plugin for WordPress.

Forminator is an easy-to-use and feature-rich form builder plugin that lets you create a wide range of forms, from simple contact forms to complex order forms with payment collection, polls, quizzes, and more.

Forminator Pro includes extra features such as forms that let you collect eSignatures.

More info: Forminator (Free) | Forminator Pro

Hustle – Lead Generation

Hustle - Lead Generation plugin
Hustle is a lead generation plugin that lets you create effective pop-ups, slide-ins, and embeds for your site.

Hustle is a plugin that provides unlimited pop-ups, slide-ins, email opt-ins, and social sharing modules for marketing campaigns.

With Hustle Pro, you can create and customize modules to grow your email list and increase subscribers, leads, and customers by displaying targeted ads with unblockable popups, slide-ins, opt-ins, and embeds.

Hustle Pro seamlessly integrates with over 1000 third-party applications and provides conversion reports with configurable metrics.

More info: Hustle (Free) | Hustle Pro

Snapshot – WordPress Backups

Snapshot - WordPress Backups plugin
Use Snapshot for safe, convenient, and space-efficient WordPress backups.

Snapshot is a backup plugin for WordPress that allows you to create and manage backups of your website’s data and store these on-site and off-site with FTP and SFTP, Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, and WPMU DEV cloud.

Snapshot Pro lets you restore a website easily from the admin dashboard, even when the site is down or locked up.

With Snapshot Pro, you can create unlimited snapshots, schedule backups, and customize what’s backed up. You can also store unlimited snapshots, auto-remove old backups, set backup intervals, and download log files.

The plugin is also flexible when it comes to backing up WordPress, allowing you to back up a single install of WordPress or, back up the main site and sub-sites of a Multisite network separately.

You can also manage snapshots directly in the WordPress dashboard or use the plugin in conjunction with WPMU DEV’s managed backups to save backups to multiple locations, creating redundant backups and ensuring no loss of content in the event of a hack or error.

More info: Snapshot

Branda – White Label WordPress

Branda is a white-labeling and admin-customizing plugin for WordPress that allows you to customize every aspect of WordPress, from the front end to the back end of your website.

Branda Pro offers a wide range of features, including the ability to reorganize the admin menu and bar, create custom login, maintenance mode, and coming soon pages, personalize widgets, add new help content, create a custom color scheme, add custom CSS, choose a new email template, edit the author box, create a personalized cookie notice, personalize the database error page, add header and footer content, control comments, select a new favicon, and set text replacement rules.

With Branda Pro, you can completely white-label WordPress with over 30 modules for customizing the dashboard. This is useful for WordPress developers and design agencies, or if you plan to provide WordPress sites to other users fully branded as your own (or just want to customize your own site).

More info: Branda (Free) | Branda Pro

Shipper – WordPress Site Migrations

Shipper is a WordPress plugin that helps you migrate WordPress sites from one host to another, simplifying the migration process, and saving you time and money.

The plugin offers two forms of migration: API Migration and Package Migration. API Migration transfers everything directly to the new site using a secure API, while Package Migration creates a package of the site’s files and databases that can be manually uploaded to the new host.

Shipper also offers pre-flight checks and helpful hints to speed up the migration process, as well as accurate ETA’s and calculated website sizes. Additionally, Shipper Pro handles moving local to production, development to live, and offers password confirmation to protect connected sites from hackers.

More info: Shipper

Summary

There are a number of WordPress CMS plugins you can use to automate tasks in your Content Management System and make running your WordPress site easier and more securely.

We recommend installing some of the plugins listed above and learning how to use these to manage your WordPress CMS more effectively.

info

The above is just a small sample of plugins you can use to enhance your WordPress CMS.

For more plugin tutorials, go here: WordPress Management Plugins

If you need help using WordPress, see the resources below:

  • WordPress Training Manual – A detailed and comprehensive step-by-step WordPress user manual for non-technical website users (non-coders).
  • WPMU DEV Blog – Hundreds of WordPress tutorials for advanced WordPress users.

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Make sure to subscribe to our updates to receive our free email course on managing your content effectively, which includes useful information and practical tips on using WordPress as a CMS.

Return to the main WordPress Plugins section.

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