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Contributing to WordPress

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WordPress started out as a blogging tool but has grown to such an extent that it is now a full-blown content management system (CMS) which drives over 30% of all the websites on the internet.

It’s very good at what it does and much of what you want it do you can obtain for free. Users of WordPress are invited to cover their use of the software by contributing to the overall project by way of volunteering their services in different ways. Given that there is now a successful company at the top of the tree, there is plenty of debate about this process but that is not for discussion here. You can see some of the options open to contributors here but for the moment I want to describe the minor contribution I make to WordPress.

Local WordPress User Groups are coordinated via MeetUp.com and I now find myself ‘leading’ the WP Glasgow MeetUp in Glasgow, Scotland. I guess it helps to have the confidence to stand up in front of a group and talk. The revelation for me was when, having attended a few MeetUps as a visitor, I realised that I knew as much — if not more — than other people who were attending. That was unexpected.

My WordPress training took the form of installing the software and pressing all the buttons until I could work out what they did. I had two distinct advantages in doing this:

  • Time: I was fulfilling no one’s brief but my own at the time;
  • Background: I had worked in corporate IT for many years in both programming and management. At least, therefore, I had the basic IT understanding even if my technical skills were (more than) a little rusty!

Website Rescue

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Once you have built your website — or had it built for you — what else is there to do? Yes, you can sit back and contemplate a job well done but, increasingly, I am being asked to carry out website rescues which get a site back on track and earning its keep.

A lot of small business websites serve as an online brochure. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, of course. Having an online presence is a key part of your business strategy and there are plenty of organisations out there that are prepared to help you develop an online campaign built around Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or whichever other media tool can be pulled in to assist. The trouble is that an online brochure is just that — a brochure.

Phase II

Getting your company/organisation/self online is great but you are likely to learn a lot from that first experience… if only to recognise that there is so much more that you could do. So having a ‘Phase II’ project in mind is no bad thing and a website rescue is aimed at addressing a number of potential issues that are common on websites:

  • giving visitors something to do — a ‘call to action’;
  • making the site easier to find;
  • nailing down some of the security loopholes;
  • improving the site’s speed and efficiency;
  • making the site easier to maintain and update;
  • improving the user experience so that will visit again.

At jPAD Consulting we have experience in rescuing sites that have become a burden rather than an asset to your organisation. We can provide advice, encouragement and hands-on assistance in improving your website so that it becomes an integral part of your business.