Jason Unger

5 Unique Ways to Use Wordpress (Not as a Blog)

Posted by junger - 08/28/08 at 10:08:36 pm

Wordpress is easily the most intuitive, user-friendly blogging software available today.

But did you know you can use it for other types of sites?

Here are five unique ways to use Wordpress besides as a blog.

A Content Management System

Like most Web sites that use a content management system, Wordpress allows you to create static pages outside of the reverse-chronology setup of blogs.

Whether you're creating a page of resources, links, or non-date specific information, pages are the best option for timeless content on your site.

But what about your site's home page? Wordpress allows you to set any page as your site's main page. In Wordpress 2.5 and above:

• Log in to your dashboard
• Click on "Settings" and "Reading"
• Under "Front page displays," select "A static page" and choose the page you'd like to use

Using Wordpress as a CMS is increasingly popular, especially because it doesn't require tech-savvy users.

A Job Board

If you're looking to start a job board using Wordpress, it can be done.

Sorel Mihai, one of my favorite theme designers, has created JobPress, a Wordpress Job Board.

JobPress allows for both free and paid listings, depending on your preference. Charging for listings is easy (view the settings page) and integrated with PayPal.

Other features include:

• Job categories
• RSS feeds for listings
• Categorization by part-time, full-time and freelance.

Check out more about JobPress here.

A Storefront

Yes, you can sell products using Wordpress.

Check out the Market Theme. It's a great-looking, minimalist theme that focuses on highlighting the products you have to sell and helps you sell them.

Features include:

• Support for PayPal and Google Checkout
• Affiliate support, if you have no products to sell
• Compatibility with Wordpress MU

Check out more about the Market Theme here.

A Portfolio

If you need a place to show off your work, Wordpress makes a great portfolio.

Two great Portfolio themes are Sharpfolio, a free download from WEBRevolutionary, and Sorel Mihai's Portfolio theme.

These two themes work a bit differently — Sharpfolio works more like a "typical" Wordpress site, while Portfolio has a custom settings page.

A Classifieds Site

DailyWP's Sorel Mihai comes through again with Classipress, a complete package for managing a classified ads site.

While there are some third-party plugins that attempt to do what Classipress offers, none of them do it right. Classipress requires no additional plugins, so everything works perfectly together.

Check out more about Classipress here.

Surprise: Your Users Don't Have Time For You

Posted by junger - 08/27/08 at 09:08:13 pm

Your readers have better things to do than read what you have to say.

Don't believe me? Try these facts on for size:

• 79% of your readers scan text; they don't read it
• Reading on a screen takes 25% more time than on paper
• Intro texts are skipped by 2/3 of users

That's all according to Jakob Nielsen's research, as conveyed during Usability Week 2008 in New York.

Why don't they have time for you? They don't think you're useless, but they care more about themselves. Who can blame them?

Your readers come to you to get a specific piece of information, and then they move on.

So to keep them around, you should bury what they're looking for, right? Wrong.

Give them what they want — right away.

3 Tips for Fast and Easy Comprehension

To make you content easier to digest, use these three methods:

• Lead with the conclusion.
• Shorten your sentences. Use one thought per sentence.
• Visually separate key points with lists or bold.

Old media writers are horrible at this. They bury the lead somewhere in the third or fourth paragraph. Each paragraph is more than 3 sentences long. And the conclusion is at the end.

Don't worry about "giving away" the ending before the reader has done any work. That's not how they see it. Remember: you are not your users.

If you consistently deliver the information that your readers want and how they want it, they'll be back.

Make them happy. Give them what they want as quickly as possible. Or they'll choose someone else to give their time to.

Do You Know Your Site's Goal?

Posted by junger - 08/26/08 at 09:08:32 pm

What's the purpose of your Web site?

No, really.

In 10 words or less, can you explain

• why you have a Web site?
• where you'd like to be in one year?
• what's your plan for getting there?

If you can't, you're in trouble. You're not destined for failure — yet — but you're certainly on the wrong track.

Too often, Web sites get started and run for the wrong reasons.

"I want to have a blog."
"We needed to put something up."
"They're doing it, so we have to."

We're all guilty of this, to some degree. I've started a ton of Web sites on a whim with no real long-term goal — and they've all landed in the graveyard.

So take ten minutes, right now, and determine your site's goal. Some options include:

• to sell a product or service
• to deliver an information product, like news
• to build a brand

Be honest with yourself. It's OK to admit that your blog (while well-intentioned to empower your readers) is really about selling a product. There's nothing wrong with that.

Ask yourself this:

If you had to shut down your Web site today, what would you want in return?

That's your goal. Go out and reach it.

3 Web Publishing Tools I Can't Live Without

Posted by junger - 08/25/08 at 09:08:40 pm

There are thousands of tools you can use to successfully run your Web site, but believe it or not, you only need three.

They don't cost a lot of money, and you don't need a deep technical understanding to use them.

Here are three Web publishing tools I can't live without.

A Simple Text Editor

If you're a blogger, writer or any kind of content creator, a basic text editor like Notepad should be your best friend.

It's the simplest, cleanest and most intuitive word-processing program available — and it's free.

When you're using programs like Microsoft Word to write, you often get loads of junk content that comes along: fonts, sizes, and sometimes even HTML.

You don't need that. You're focusing simply on the words. Don't get overloaded with extra features and settings. You don't need them.

A Good Content Management System

It used to be that Web publishing involved creating pages in Dreamweaver or FrontPage; perhaps you used server-side includes or some kind of template for a consistent design.

Today, it's all about using the right content management system (CMS). A good CMS organizes your content and keeps it completely separate from your design and code.

For jasonunger.com and my other sites, I use Wordpress — easily the best blogging software available (and totally free). Over at cepro.com, we use Expression Engine, a more fully-featured content management system designed for bigger sites.

I've also worked with Movable Type and Blogger in the past. They're not really my cup of tea, but they may work great for you.

Image Editing Software

When you want to add some photos to your site, you'll need to do some image editing. If you're not a designer, your needs will mostly be cropping, re-sizing, and small image creation.

Adobe Photoshop is the standard for image editing and manipulation, but it's also pretty expensive. Photoshop does a lot more than the simple tasks you'll need, but it's the best way to do them.

If you don't want to drop the coin for a copy of Photoshop, check out GIMP — a free alternative that does everything you need.

What Web publishing tools can YOU not live without?