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jonesre



Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 11
Location: Alpharetta, GA
PostPosted: Mon May 29, 2006 5:59 am    Post subject: Any suitable Content Management Systems out there? Reply with quote
Hi all, I've been noodling the content structure and layout of my site. It seems that as a site grows, this will become more and more complex.

As a solution, I would like to try using a CMS for my sites. To date, I have only worked with Mambo/Joomla, which are both very good. However, there are some minor details about them which discount their usefulness as affiliate marketing tools.

Wordpress is used as a CMS by some folks, however, the backend work required to tweak it into Affiliat Marketing usability is a bit much.

Has anyone worked with one of the other CMS systems out there (Drupal, Typo3, and so on)? and have they worked well for you?

Important features:
>Content and menu structure - how many clicks from the front page to any given article?
>Template development - must be simple (ex. Typo3 is a bear!)
>SEO-friendly- while PPC is going to be my primary marketing focus, It never hurts to design your site with good SEO in mind

thanks,
Ron Jones
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PipSqueak



Joined: 27 Dec 2005
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2006 5:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I like drupal. I find it easier to use than most (joomla, wordpress, mambo, typo3, etc)
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Will



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 148
Location: UK
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2006 7:55 pm    Post subject: Re: Any suitable Content Management Systems out there? Reply with quote
jonesre wrote:
Wordpress is used as a CMS by some folks, however, the backend work required to tweak it into Affiliat Marketing usability is a bit much.


I'd be interested to know why you've said that about WordPress because I've been using it both as a blog and a CMS for affiliate marketing, selling info products and for AdSense.

I've found it much easier to use than the likes of Drupal and Mambo and much more robust than the likes of e107.
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jonesre



Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 11
Location: Alpharetta, GA
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2006 9:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hi Will,

My reason for being reluctant to use Wordpress on an affiliate site is because upon install, I've got to go in and rip out a whole lot of coding (blogroll, categories etc) that I feel would be a distraction to the reader.

Don't get me wrong, I don't mean to disparage WP in any way. I love some of the things it does, particularly its ability to ping the blog directories with new content (I've got a nice clean list of 40-50 directories that I like to use).

If I were more adept at php and html, I could write myself a template that I could use across man affiliate sites (changing only the colors).

I suppose what I'm really looking for is a CMS that is "tailor made" for affiliate marketing, complete with straightforward template design & management, RSS feed, and SEO friendly URL's.

Ron Jones
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Will



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 148
Location: UK
PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2006 10:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Well, you don't have to use categories and the blogroll is easily removed - just do it once from the sidebar template and then recycle that for each new site.

I've just used WordPress to replace a bunch of static webpages I had on a website selling an infoproduct. I started off with a theme I'd used before and then tweaked it. It didn't take very long to do and it looks just like a static site with search engine friendly URLs.

See if this helps at all.

Of all the CMSs I've used, WordPress is one of the easiest! I've not even used paid CMSs that were easier to customise.
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Rosalind Gardner
Site Admin


Joined: 02 Nov 2005
Posts: 826
Location: Beautiful BC, Canada
PostPosted: Sat Jun 03, 2006 2:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Hello Ron et al,

I've played a bit with Dupral but stick with Wordpress 'cause it is so darned easy to set up.

As Will mentioned, it's super simple to strip those extraneous bits out... OR hire someone at Elance to do a template up for you that you can use across your various affiliate sites.

Some technie who knows the program thoroughly might be able to show you (us) how much more WP has 'under the hood' than what we use or give it credit for. Smile

Cheers,
Ros
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jonesre



Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 11
Location: Alpharetta, GA
PostPosted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
I've played a bit with Dupral but stick with Wordpress 'cause it is so darned easy to set up.


Rosalind, Will, PipSqueak,

I have spent (some might say wasted) the last week or so installing and futzing around with several different content management systems, with the intent of coming up with something that works the way I want.

My final result desired is a CMS that will make it easy to categorize, cross link, has the capability to show "related articles," and can be configured to announce to Pingomatic and etc with each new addition of content.

Joomla (fork of Mambo) comes close, but the code is bloated, and it it doesn't ping the blog directories with new content. you can add a wordpress component to Joomla, but you would then have to post each content item two times to get it sent to pingomatic.

Wordpress is incredibly simple, easy to use, and easy to template. I've picked up a copy of Optiniche and made some simple tweaks to the template code in order to increase the SEO of a basic wordpress install.

*my concern with Wordpress as a CMS is that it still "looks bloggy."

I want to build a site that has a good, clean easy-to-navigate feel like sage-hearts.com, but won't force me to open Dreamweaver and make tedious manual changes everytime I add content.

I even looked at a paid solution called Killer SEO Site Builder, but dismissed it as "aesthetically unpleasing." (I've read studies that indicate as many as 48% of people determine a site's credibility on looks alone)

So far, the most promising solution I've seen is Drupal. However, I've never worked with it before, so It is going to take some time to get up to speed.

*Drupal has a great backend, with a small, fast codebase, but there seems to be a lack of basic instruction at the "dummies" level for building a site template.

By way of comparison, mambo/joomla templates let you simply insert a tage like the one below, telling the CMS to insert any content designated for (in this case) the Left Module:
Code:
<?php mosLoadModules ( 'left' ); ?>


I'd love to hear your thoughts or suggestions.

Thanks,
Ron Jones
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Will



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 148
Location: UK
PostPosted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
jonesre wrote:
my concern with Wordpress as a CMS is that it still "looks bloggy."


I don't see that limitation in my own implementation of WordPress as a CMS. From the administration backend, it still looks like WordPress, but to the rest of the world it's a static website with SEO-friendly URLs.

In what way are you still seeing the blogginess? If you can state specifics then you might be able to save some time with the help of forum members Smile
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jonesre



Joined: 29 May 2006
Posts: 11
Location: Alpharetta, GA
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 1:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
In what way are you still seeing the blogginess?


Hi Will,

Yes, in the implementation of Wordpress that I've put on my test server at (http://wordpress.rej.us) the "bloggy" look comes from all of the postings showing up on the front page.

I found a reference at http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/onlamp/2006/04/20/from-weblog-to-cms.html explaining how someone turned wordpress into a CMS. However, there are a couple of gaps in the explanation.

Specifically, how do I change the menu, and re-label the old "home" to "blog," then move the new 'home' to be the first item on the left (where most people expect home to be)?

Per the example, I did
Quote:
cp index.php home.php
and then edited home.php to add this bit after the first line
Quote:
<?php query_posts('pagename=home') ?>


Then, I tried a sample post, which shows up under the new home page as It should. So, I'm nearly there.

Thanks,

Ron Jones
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Will



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 148
Location: UK
PostPosted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Quote:
Specifically, how do I change the menu, and re-label the old "home" to "blog," then move the new 'home' to be the first item on the left (where most people expect home to be)?


Okay, you've made your home.php and you've got the relevant line of code as the second line of code inside it. You can leave home.php file alone now, but ensure it sits within your chosen theme directory.


  • Create your home page contents by creating a WordPress 'page' and give that page a post slug of 'home'. Leave the title of the page blank.
  • In your navigation menu, manually (edit the theme file) create a link to the root of your domain i.e. http://wordpress.rej.us/


When you visit http://wordpress.rej.us/, you ought to see the contents of the 'home' page you created.
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cgehlhausen



Joined: 24 Jun 2006
Posts: 6
PostPosted: Sun Jul 09, 2006 10:42 am    Post subject: Any exemplary WordPress or Drupal site links? Reply with quote
Does anyone know if this site (netprofitstoday.com) is done in WordPress? The source code doesn't say, but given Rosalind's preferences mentioned above...

Would anyone be willing to share a link for an exemplary site that is known to have been done in either WordPress or Drupal?

I found this discussion before wasting time comparing them all myself, so I've started comparing WordPress and Drupal. I've been looking at various sample sites for the two to see the basic "look & feel" as well as their specific uses for affiliate marketing.

Any more insights would be greatly appreciated!
Chris G.
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Will



Joined: 26 Feb 2006
Posts: 148
Location: UK
PostPosted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
cgehlhausen wrote:
Does anyone know if this site (netprofitstoday.com) is done in WordPress?


http://netprofitstoday.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=2930#2930
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