Life after design - Part 1: Content Management

You've got a WordPress site... now what?

What is a “Content Management System”?
An overview of the basic WordPress sections:
- Posts
- Pages
- Products
- Plugins

Helpful Terminology:

Front-End: The part of the website that your audience will see. This will be the content that has been edited and displayed as you see fit.
Back-End: The “User Interface”, that you use to update your site. I have included a screenshot of this post’s back-end just below this.

So you had a WordPress site made for you by 11eleven Studio (or someone else, that’s fine, we don’t mind, you can still read this), and you’re wondering what’s next. The great thing about your new platform is that almost 1/4 of the sites (according to WordPress) on the internet are controlled by this powerful content management system (CMS). I’m assuming that (since you’ve gotten this far) you already have a basic understanding of the benefits that come with a WordPress based site; but if not, I’ll summarize.

Wordpress Blog post screen — A look at the Wordpress interface for Blog posts

Content Management Systems

Let’s start with what you do know: Social Media. A Pew Research Study done in 2014 found that 74% of adults online use Social Media. If you are the other 26% just stick with me, I’ll walk you through it, don’t worry.

The high usage of Social Media in online adults shows us one thing, people are already familiar with Content Management Systems in some form or another. With Facebook, you have areas to update your status, location, pictures, and profile information; our WordPress interface allows you to do nearly the exact same things – without having to learn HTML, CSS, or any other confusing nerdy language! Settle down fellow nerds, I still love coding.

WP Login Screen — The Wordpress Login Screen

Logging In:

Just as with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, gmail, AOL, etc… you will first need to access a login screen. If you are an 11eleven Studio client, I have (or will) send you an e-mail directing you to a login page, along with your username and password.

You will have the ability to have the computer “remember” you, and if you’re on a secure computer (home or work on a private network) you can even have your browser remember your password so that all you have to do is click “log-in”.

Content Management Sections

To further breakdown what a CMS is, we’ll have to look a bit deeper into the WordPress system. This is just a brief overview, with individual blog posts on each matter to follow (which I will link to in this post as I create and update them).

Posts:

Aloha Hammocks Post — A sample of what post will look like to your audience

In general, this will be the most important section for you and your business. Posts are most often seen on the front-end (what your audience sees) as blog posts, image galleries, and/or general site updates; this would be the equivalent of updating your status on facebook. This is a great way to boost your Search Engine ranking (via Search Engine Optimization) and keep your audience up to date.

Pages:

sample page — A sample of what a page will look like

There is a good chance that you will not want to mess with this yourself, as we are now getting into the layout of the site. A page will act as a location for your audience to visit, some examples would be: Store, About, Portfolio, Contact, etc… – Most often these are loaded with fairly static content (content that will remain the same for a while). At 11eleven, we will give you a site that is ready to use, and updating/changing content on your pages will be completely optional.

Products:

Sample product page — An example of a product page.

This will most likely only come into play if you are running an e-commerce site, and if this is the case, you have chosen the right system! Many companies will either have to pay a web developer, or product specialist to update their website every time they want to update a product, follow this blog and I will teach you how to do this all by yourself, essentially saving you large amounts of money!

Plugins:

Plugins on your website are like apps for your smartphone; you know the saying “there’s an app for that”? Well there’s a good chance that if you need something done: There’s a plugin for that. Plugins are incredibly diverse and powerful entities, ranging from free to subscription, to paid, they can be used to keep your site updated with new information, with little input from you.

Coming up next: Part 2: WordPress Log in help

About the author

Robb

Robb is a Web-developer, Blogger, Writer, Marketer, and Social Media Analyst. If you're working with 11eleven Content, there's a good chance that it's with Robb.