The Importance of a Client Focused WordPress Setup
Whenever we’re building a WordPress site for a client, there are plenty of choices to make when giving a client tools to edit their site. Sure, it’s easy to make blog posts and pages editable, but what about that slideshow on the homepage or the button in the middle of a page? Will an admin need to edit their theme files in order to update a link?
A client focused WordPress setup steps back from the view of a developer and into the role of an admin user. How can we make it easy for them to efficiently update their site and get on with other work?
Why is it important?
There are a myriad of reasons to build a client focused WordPress site, from ease of use to releasing the developer from the burden of making every little change. Most importantly though, you are giving your client the tools to be successful and grow their business. The easier it is to update their site, the more updates they’ll make, bringing in more traffic.
What does a client focused setup look like?
On a site we developed recently, our client needed a way to enter workshops. Each workshop then has its own page showing details like the time, date, location, etc. This content is output in a nicely formatted layout using various headings and font sizes.
We could have set this up in WordPress as a ‘Page’ for them to enter the information, but that would be difficult to maintain. It would also be labor intensive for the client to update a page listing the workshops by date.
Workshop Admin Fields
Instead, we built a custom post type in WordPress for workshops and created custom fields for the client to fill in. Now, our client can login, click ‘Add New Workshop’ and fill in the details. Once they’re done, it’s added to their site and automatically formatted according to the templates we’ve built into their theme.
It’s all about putting yourself in your client’s shoes
That’s the key to a client focused WordPress setup. Approach content entry from your client’s point of view. Anticipate the issues they’re likely to have, then build tools that prevent these problems. When done properly, you’ll have a happy client who can easily edit their own website.