I promised a follow up on my tutorial on using WordPress as CMS, where I would put together some conclusions. While these tips are not rocket surgery by any means, I just thought it would be nice to have some closure on that three part tutorial. So here goes:

  1. Always use nice permalinks (/%postname%/ is probably the best for websites). Not only is this a must do for SEO, but it’s also common sense. An URL like http://mysite.com/about makes more sense than http://mysite.com/?page_id=142.
  2. Before starting to work on the WordPress theme implementation, think about what you’re trying to achieve and pick plugins accordingly. Just use what you need, don’t over do it!
  3. Add a main navigation (browse pages) to your header and if necessary add a secondary navigation (browse subpages) to your sidebar. You can even go crazy and create a dropdown menu as main navigation. I’ll show you how later. ;)
  4. Use breadcrumbs! Breadcrumbs are great for so many reasons: usability, SEO, etc. In terms of plugins, there are many options, but I recommend Yoast Breadcrumbs, because it’s easy to use and I really trust Joost’s expertise.
  5. When it comes to WordPress themes, start from something simple (maybe a 2 column or 3 column theme) and add just what you need. You want something light, easy to update.
  6. Like I said, I’m no SEO expert, but I know how to use SEO common sense: clean, valid code, SEO friendly titles, moderate use of keywords, a couple of links from good PR websites and most imporatnly: good quality content.
  7. Page Templates are just a way for you to create custom layouts for your WordPress Pages (on my website for example, the About page and Portfolio page are different). So when using WordPress as CMS, you should use Pages for all content pages and Posts for news / blog section.