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Archive for the ‘Tips’ Category

7 Ways to Make WordPress an Even Better CMS

March 8, 2010

WordPress is blowing up, as the kids say, these days. It’s no wonder; the open-source authoring platform is super-powerful, flexible and – most importantly – customizable. We use WordPress here at Paper Leaf to power our client sites, and we use it on our own blog of course. The more we use the platform, the more we learn about it. Just like anything, you pick up little tips and tricks to make the experience get better each time.

With that in mind, I’ve compiled 7 tools/plugins/tips we use on the regular when it comes to implementing WordPress as a content management system (CMS). If you have experience using WordPress and are looking for a few little tweaks to maximize your clients’ experience with it, look no further!

Custom Admin Branding

Let’s start at the beginning of your client’s user experience: the WordPress log-in screen. You can stick with the tried-and-tested WordPress-branded log-in and admin screens – but if your client is a small business or service, why not custom brand it for them? It looks slick, your clients will love it, it lets them know they’re in the right place, and it’s super easy to do with the Custom Admin Branding plugin.

This (stable) plugin has a very simple user interface to adjust colors and such; but the best part is that it comes with a PSD template so you can make sure your client’s logo won’t be cut off, etc. Follow the simple steps provided by the plugin author after you activate Custom Admin Branding, and you’ll have custom log-in and admin screens for your client in no time.

Adminimize

So your clients have logged in to through their custom-branded log-in page. Now they’re at their custom-branded Dashboard. While WordPress is well-known for its ease-of-use, it can still be a little intimidating for your not-so-tech-savvy clients. Plus, there are areas that are much better left untouched by the non-tech-savvy – areas like Appearance, Settings, Plugins, even Posts if there’s no Post functionality being used in the website. A very simple way to remove some/any/all of these features is by using the Adminimize plugin.

This (stable) plugin is really quite robust; a basic row/column system allows the administrator (you, preferably) to show/hide elements of the WordPress admin side. The best part: it’s role-specific. What I mean by this is that you can allow “Editors” to see one set of elements, “Authors” to see another, and so forth. This is great for small businesses who might have multiple people handling content on their website – they can be given a login and a role that only allows them to see – and thus edit – elements of the website that the administrator deems fit. Pretty slick for a plugin, I’d say.

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5 Cheap Ways to Find Local Design Clients

September 14, 2009

Thanks to this whole “internet” thing, you can have clients all over the world if you’re a designer. Blogs, directories, and software like Skype, iChat and more have completely reshaped long-distance working relationships. However, there is still a lot to be said for local clients.

Depending on your city (or town, or hamlet, or whathaveyou), chances are there are a lot of locally-owned small businesses in dire need of design work. Luckily, you’re a local designer chomping at the bit to provide it to them. But how can you find these clients (without breaking the bank), and how can these clients find you? Read on for the answers to these questions: 5 cheap ways to find local design clients.

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6 Characteristics of the Successful Designer

September 5, 2009

New graphic designers often worry about their tangible skills. Am I a master of the pen tool? Am I adept enough at HTML & CSS to offer my services? Can I design a print piece to print specifications? Rightfully so, these are areas that all designers should be concerned about (amongst others). However, being a Creative Suite whiz does not guarantee a successful design career. Much can, and should, be made of efficiency, business sense and more; however, in this article I’d like to focus on specific characteristics that a designer must have (or develop) to truly be successful.

Read on for 6 Characteristics of the Successful Designer!

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5 Ways to Be a More Efficient Designer

August 17, 2009

It’s an ugly fact of life, but time is money. To be a successful designer, you need to practice good time management – an area that often gets overshadowed by the newest web design trends, photo editing tricks, and so forth. The long and short of it is: if you’re not maximizing your time, you’re missing out on more project opportunities. To be efficient isn’t to be quick or sloppy; it is to be smart with your time. When you’re smart with your time, you can earn more money and your clients can save some of theirs. So, with that in mind, here are five ways to be a more efficient designer.

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The Importance of a Quality Website

If you own a business, you need a website – a great website.

Blunt? Yes. True? Yes. Great topic sentence? Maybe not.

But it is the truth. Sure, some businesses can survive without having a website. They’re out there. But if you’re a small business owner sans website, you are missing out on a huge opportunity. More and more people shop online every day; more and more people hop on Google to find a local business as opposed to the ol’ Yellow Pages. It’s how the up-and-coming generations operate, and it will only tilt more and more in that direction as time goes on.

Alright, so I’ve convinced you that a website is important (thanks to my majestic abilities as a wordsmith… no?). But here is where we enter the debate regarding “Any Old Website” vs. a “Quality Website”. Tough to define terms, but I’ll try my best.

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