How to create “Awesome” WordPress Websites For Niche Organizations
Neha Gupta Goyal@nehagupt
Hello, World!• Web Developer at American Enterprise Institute• Have been working for “niche” organizations for the
past decade• Key to an awesome website: “TELL YOUR STORY”
• Small Businesses• Selling a product• Providing a seervice
• Nonprofits• Charities• Think tanks
Niche organizations
Make your “niche” website AWESOME
• Unique challenges of a niche organization• Needs of a niche organization’s websites• Using WordPress to create a website• Intro to WP-CLI
AGENDA
CHALLENGES• Smaller Budget• Limited Manpower• Employees wear
“Multiple Hats”• Revenue/ Raise Funds• Mission-driven
NONPROFITS
• Not for Profit• Advocacy• Drive
Donations
BUSINESSES
• For Profit• Service/
Product• Drive Sales up
Unique Challenges of “niche” organizations
• Understanding the goals of your organization• Understanding your audience• Develop a cohesive website strategy aligned with
business goals and mission
Overcoming the Challenges
Understanding the goals• What are your organization’s most important
goals?• What does success looks like?• Who is your audience?
Understanding your audience• What is important to your audience?• How does your audience access your website?• How does your audience interact with your
website?
• Clear and Consistent Branding• Front-end: Easy to find information and use functionality• Back-end: Easy to use and maintain• Mobile-friendly aka Responsive website• TELL YOUR “AWESOME” STORY
Cohesive Website Strategy
• Trusted by many organizations• Fastest growing CMS (~60% of the CMS market share*)• User-Friendly• Easy to install and maintain• Customizable
* Source: https://w3techs.com/technologies/history_overview/content_management
Meet “Awesome” WordPress
Components of WordPress
• Dashboard• Plugins• Media Library• Appearance • Theme
WordPress Theming
Custom WordPress Theme
• Categories• Broad grouping of content• Makes it easy for the user to find content• Hierarchical
• Tags• Index words• Not hierarchical
Taxonomy
Taxonomy
• Post Typeso Pageso Postso Custom Post Types
o Requires developer skills
Post Types
Advanced Custom Fields• Custom data/fields in the CMS• Multiple input types :
o WYSIWYGo Date Pickero Color Pickero Object Relationships
• Update plugins, configure multisite installs, and much more• Custom commands for Data migration • Syntax:
wp [command] [sub-command] Example - wp plugin update
Intro to WP-CLI
Keep In Mind• Website Security • Website Performance• Use categories and tags judiciously• Only Install Plugins that you actually need
YES, you can…build an AWESOME website
• Understanding your goals• Understanding your audience• Cohesive Website strategy• Tell your “AWESOME” story
Thank You• [email protected]• @nehagupt• Slides: nehagoyal.co/events
Resources1. WordPress Taxonomies: codex.wordpress.org/taxonomies2. Custom Post Types: codex.wordpress.org/post_types3. ACF: wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-custom-fields4. WP CLI: developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands5. WordPress Starter Theme: github.com/levinteractive/wp-rye