WordPress as a Content Management System
Over the last few months I have begun using WordPress as a content management system (CMS) on a number of sites for my publishing venture, Energion Publications. The reason for this is simple. It’s a good idea from the marketing perspective to have a site to promote each book, but these book sites are small and relatively simple. I use Joomla! in some cases, such as the Preserving Democracy site, but Joomla! is more power than I need in many cases, and generally requires more work than WordPress, though I still love it where I need it.
WordPress can be used for CMS by simply altering the settings to make a static page your default landing page. You then need to choose a theme that is flexible enough for navigation and build the main site using the page system. WordPress 2.8.x supports unlimited nesting of pages, so you can get quite complex.
To alter the settings for your default landing page, go to Settings -> Reading, and the first section deals with a static front page. If you want a page on which to display blog posts (which I normally do), then you need to create a page with an appropriate title, such as Announcements or Discussion, before to do these settings, and then enter that page as the blog page. Note that this page should be blank.
In general, I want some sort of announcement option with a book site where I can list book signings, links to relevant articles on the internet on the same topic, book quotes, and so forth. On the same page that is used to set a static page for your default landing page, you can create a blank page and designate it as your blog.
Examples of sites using this method are:
- speakforgod.info, supporting When People Speak for God
- evidenceforthebible.com, supporting Evidence for the Bible
- christianityandsecularism.com, supporting Christianity and Secularism
- lukestudy.com, supporting The Gospel According to Saint Luke: A Participatory Study Guide
- grieftolight.com, supporting Grief: Finding the Candle of Light
There is a good article available, though it does reference some plugins that will not be needed under WordPress 2.8, titled WordPress as a CMS – Content Management System.
I found the whole process remarkably simple, and though there are minor tweaks I’d like to make, WordPress provides an economical way to create a number of small sites as needed without breaking either the bank or the schedule.
