Dive in within 24 hours of the training
Yes, there’s urgency here. Log in and enter a few pages right after CMS training so you can retain the information you learned by putting it into practice.
How Can We Help? Let’s Talk!
What to expect
We’ll guide you through the core areas of the CMS — Where you’re likely to spend the most time managing content. We’ll show you how to:
- Edit and create new pages
- Add, remove, or organize page blocks on a page
- Add and remove forms + form settings configuration
- Add, remove, or update items in the menus and navigation
- How to manage custom post-types such as team, blog, resources, etc.
NOTE: Depending on the size of your website, we may schedule your training in two parts so you won’t have to sit through a 2+ hour training. We got you!
You’ll have the “keys” after CMS training
Your login credentials and links to all the helpful CMS resources are provided during the CMS training in the training document.
Content entry and verifying the accuracy of the content entered is now a high-priority item for your team to get the website ready for launch.
Let’s roll!
Logging in
Accessing your development website and the CMS
This is important. You must enter two layers of credentials when accessing the development environment.
- Browser authentication – Extra protection to ensure the development version of the website is not found by search engines or robots.
- Your CMS login credentials – The standard login layer that grants you access to WordPress.
Your CMS training agenda document provides all of the credentials, but watch the quick video to learn how to gain access.
NOTE: After the website goes live, browser authentication is removed so your new website can be found and indexed by search engines, and the login URL is changed to yourdomain.com/getpwlogin.
Example browser authentication and WordPress login process
Getting rolling
Content tips from the pros
The process and scope of the remaining content entry might feel daunting at this point. There’s a lot to do, and sometimes there isn’t a large team supporting you.
Since content is often the #1 delay of a launch, here’s some advice.
Use the content workbook
The content workbook is the roadmap for ensuring all content is fully entered into your development website. Use it, refer to it, and update it as you make progress. It’s the best way to keep your project manager updated and to know the status of all pages on your website.
Prioritize pages
Focus on the top-level pages. The most important pages. The high-traffic pages. The deep, low-traffic pages of the website can be edited and improved upon after the site is live.
Enhancement or a launch blocker?
At this point, we expect your key stakeholders will be aware of the project’s progress. If a key stakeholder has feedback which is a launch blocker please bring it to the attention of your PM. If the feedback does not impact the launch of the site it can be scoped and handled as an enhancement post-launch.
Have a legal review requirement?
Prioritize wrapping up the legal review pages first so it doesn’t delay the launch. If it’s every page, let your PM know ASAP so we can discuss timing expectations.
Remember the big picture
It’s easy to get caught up in swapping and testing blocks, copy, and images on a page. Our rule of thumb is to ask yourself:
- “Is it better than the current page?” – Yes, move on.
- “Does the page answer the visitor’s questions?” – Yes, move on.
- “Is what I’m doing going to greatly impact results?” – No, move on.
Move on and save the tinkering for post-launch.
A dev site has many moving parts
As we’re nearing the end of the website development process, there may be many elements of the site that are still a “work in progress.” And… if we’ve trained you early for any reason, there might be many loose ends that we’re still tying up.
Here are some things you might notice on the development website as you’re working on content entry.
Browser things
We work mostly in Chrome as we’re building the website, so if you’re working in another browser, you may see something that feels off. That’s okay because we’re scheduled for browser and functionality testing soon and those wonky things will be addressed then.
Ps. We recommend you use Chrome, too!
Unfinished pages or features
We may have yet to build some custom features on the website, so if you try accessing a page that we haven’t built yet, it will appear broken or may not even exist, yet. Try not to worry, we’re on it!
Someone else is working on your page
Our developers, designers, and coordinators may be working on any page at any given time. If you see a pop up that says someone else is editing the page, we recommend you wait until they are done and come back to it. The same goes for your internal content management team.
Now that you have access to your new website…
Let’s put the content workbook to work!
It’s time to begin entering and revising content on your development website. The “T2: Sitemap” tab is the way to understand page progress and status.
- Content Entry Assignment: See who is responsible for entering each page. We can customize it or add your whole team to the drop-down if you’d like.
- Content Entry Status: The status of content entry for each page. Once you have entered a page, make sure to update the content entry status.
- Notes: Where all other special information, disclaimers, and reminders can be noted for the whole team to see.
Need other columns to track status. Let’s chat!
A few quick notes
- If you encounter any issues with your CMS that are blocking you from entering content, we recommend using the Request Tracker tab in the Content Workbook or reaching out to your PM.
- Every new CMS has a learning curve. You will have the recording from your CMS training to reference and we’ve provided custom how-to documentation to help you problem-solve.
- Content is often the #1 delay on a website redesign project. Get rolling, and ask for help to keep the project on schedule. We have a team dedicated to content entry, and we’re good at it. So, if you want us to enter more content, talk to your PM.