Integrity WordCamp 2011

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Explore St. Louis Case StudyUsing WordPress as CMS

Ed MorrisseyPartner & Chief Creative Officer

[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]://www.integritystl.com/http://www.integritystl.com/mailto:[email protected]


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Agenda

Introduction/OverviewAbout Explore St. Louis

Goals of Site

Decision to use WordPress

Features and Plug-Ins

Lessons Learned

Questions & Answers

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Nice to Meet You

Partner/CCO with IntegrityBeen here since the beginningRode the dot com crazeEarly adopter of open source

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Ed Morrissey

[email protected]
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


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About the St. Louis CVC

Founded in 1909Mission = Sell St. LouisOperates the Americas Center

502K sq feet, 80 meeting roomsEdward Jones DomeFerrara TheatreBallroom

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ExploreStLouis.com

Increase visitor demand& spending of visitors,meeting planners, travelprofessionals, media & local citizens5M annual visits 3M uniques200+ pages plus dynamicOnline bookings

Multiple databasesLegacy systems

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Goals of Redesign

Develop a site that appeals to visitors,meeting planners, travel professionals,media and local citizensBuild on the brand

Overhaul user flowsEnhance/improve SEOModern conventionsIntegrate social mediaAbility to self publishInexpensive

Secure, scalable, code-friendly, extendable

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What to Do?

Build?

Buy?

Borrow?

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Open source

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A religion

Thats ridiculous.

We geeks just want

to write good code

& we all know open

source is nothingmore than

There arediscussionswhether

open sourceis political.


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Quick ComparisonFeature

Ease of Hosting and Installation

Ease of Setup: Simple Site

Ease of Setup: Complex Site

Ease of Use: Content Editors

Ease of Use: Site Administrator

Graphical Flexibility

Accessibility and Search Engine Optimization

Structural Flexibility

User Roles and Workflow

Community/Web 2.0 FunctionalityExtending and Integrating

Security

Support/Community Strength

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Quick ComparisonFeature

Ease of Hosting and Installation

Ease of Setup: Simple Site

Ease of Setup: Complex Site

Ease of Use: Content Editors

Ease of Use: Site Administrator

Graphical Flexibility

Accessibility and Search Engine Optimization

Structural Flexibility

User Roles and Workflow

Community/Web 2.0 FunctionalityExtending and Integrating

Security

Support/Community Strength

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Why WordPress?

Cost savingsNo forced upgradesOwnershipAbility to define/expedite features

Access to skilled community

Elegant/easy to administer

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WordPress Sites in the World - as of 8/2/2011 - http://en.wordpress.com/stats/
http://en.wordpress.com/stats/http://en.wordpress.com/stats/http://en.wordpress.com/stats/http://en.wordpress.com/stats/http://en.wordpress.com/stats/


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Plug-Ins

Olark - Chat

Akismet (not active)

Ambrosite Next/PreviousPost Link Plus

Avatars Capability Manager

Contact Form 7 Custom Video Dagon Design Sitemap

Generator Disable Canonical URL

Redirection

Events Manager

FV Simpler SEO

Google Analyticator HITS-IE6 PNGFix Image Crop NextGen Gallery

Search & Replace ShareThis ThreeWP Activity Monitor WordPress Database Backup WordPress Importer WP-PageNavi

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Dashboard

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Largesite

Lots ofcontent

groups


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Custom Fields

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Finecontrolof layout


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Custom Post

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Finecontrolof layout


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Widgets

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Grouping -modularity

of widgets


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Results

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Lessons Learned

WordPress/PHP does not run well on Windows

Server 2003 edition with IIS 6 Be open to using 3rd party host

Theres no need to reinvent the wheel Most plug-ins require customization

Self-publishing is a cultural shift Whoever inputs content must have

understanding of how the system works Evolution not a revolution

The right team can execute within WordPresswhatever functionality we dream up

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Thank You

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Extra Slides

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Mobile Pages

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d d


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WordPress and SEO

For beginners, it works out-of-the-box

Advanced plug-ins allow fine-tuning of everything

Automatically optimizes your titles for searchengines

Generates META tags automatically

Override title and set META description

Support for Custom Post Types Advanced Canonical URLs

the process of picking the best URL when there are several choices

Fine tune Page Navigational Links

Built-in API so plugins/themes can access andextend functionality

SEO Integration for WP e-Commerce sites Avoid duplicate content found on blogs

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Documents

Integrity WordCamp 2011