How do I use my website CMS?

If you’re new to editing websites then it might seem like it’s all greek – HTML, code, fonts, colours, uploading images or H1 headings – it may as well be in a foreign language for all the sense it makes. For a lot of companies they have a dedicated webmaster that manages and maintains their website – they just tell them what they want changed and it happens – like magic.

But for a lot of small businesses in NZ they don’t have the budget or the staff to have someone dedicated to looking after their website, they have to do it all themselves. And if you’ve just got a new website for your business, then you may be worried that it will all be over your head and far too complicated. Fear not – PogoStick websites all come standard with WordPress, a world-famous CMS (or Content Management System – an admin tool designed to make it easier to change your website).

WordPress – A Powerful Yet Easy-to-use CMS

There are a lot of different CMS solutions out there, and to borrow a well-worn cliche, they’re not all created equally. Before you go out and buy a new website, ask to try out the CMS and see for yourself if it’s as user-friendly as they promise. WordPress is the most widely-used CMS in the world, powering around 150 million websites and with a user-friendly interface that has been shaped by the world’s top UI designers. In fact, we invite you to take our WordPress CMS for a test drive using this sample website (username and password are both: demo) – don’t worry you can’t break anything!

But like anything new if you’ve never edited a web page before it might take a little while to get the hang of it, even if it is the world’s most popular CMS. There are plenty of tutorials available online to guide you through the finer points of WordPress, as well as forums dedicated to helping WordPress users. While I’m yet to find a good, up-to-date resource for beginners, the official WordPress site does have some helpful lessons, which provide a good reference point.

The key is to take one step at a time, don’t attempt to eat the whole thing in one go, just tackle one aspect of the CMS at a time, and wherever possible use a real-life example to teach yourself. It won’t be long before you’ll get comfortable editing or adding pages to your website.

Editing a Page using your WordPress CMS

To illustrate how you can tackle one thing at a time with your PogoStick website CMS, we’ll take you through editing a page. Let’s say for example you need to add an image and change some text. Follow the instructional video we put together below and follow along in your own website (the link will be: www.yourwebsite.co.nz/wp-admin – check your email for the login details or use the Lost Password option).

Feel free to pause as you go, making sure you understand what’s happening and where you are in the CMS.

If you have any questions about the video or would like to see other features of the WordPress CMS editor explained just let us know!

WordPress – A perfect CMS for an Affordable Website

One of the reasons we chose WordPress as our CMS is that it allows for rapid website development and easy add-ons, which keeps costs down for our clients. Unlike some CMS solutions, such as Joomla, which incur separate charges for add-ons, WordPress keeps costs down because many of its extensions are open-source. With such a large developer community working on ways to make the WordPress CMS safer, faster, easier-to-use and full of extra features, it’s the perfect foundation for your business website.