My site is getting too big: I need a CMS which will do the following ... any advice?

Hi there,

This is what I have:

• 200 html (static) pages based on about 5 templates
• 500 blog post using wordpress

This is what I foresee in the next few years:

• 800+ static pages
• 1000 blog posts
• Forum
• Guest blogs
• Membership/e-commerce

These are my concerns:

At the moment the static pages work well, but are painful to update and are starting to look dated. I'd also like to add some element of "live" into them, comment system, forum, JS hearders etc. I can handle that now, but it's a lot of work based on a laptop - without a laptop I cannot edit the files easily. Which in turn restricts me if I travel etc. However I do enjoy having 5 templates that makes the site look unique

The WordPress side of the site works well however it is peaking out cpu usage on servers. If I switch to full on WordPress as a CMS I fear that if I start creating 800+ pages + 1000 plus blog posts integrate a forum and even add guest blogs I'll simply end up spending too much on dedicated servers to turn a profit. We are just getting by as it is. Aside from that, at the moment if the WordPress side of things goes down, the plain html keeps running so essentially the site is rarely down.

CMS I've looked at: (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

I've looked at Joomla and Drupal. Both will be learning curves rather than jump straight in like WordPress. I'm prepared to take this on of course. I do have some concerns over Joomla in regards to SEO and templates. Most Joomla sites look pretty similar. While for Drupal it just seems more intensive in regards to learning.

I've also looked at other CMS' out there, but fear that unless it's well established, it might vanish in a few years and I'll be left with a vulnerable unsupported site.


What I'd like to know?

What CMS would you suggest for a site that needs to grow but keep resources low?

Just how intensive do these CMS's but on servers compared to say WordPress?

Has anyone experienced SEO issues with changing CMS?

Any other suggestions or clarifications are welcome!

 

1) SEO depends on the programmer, not the CMS. But it's a crap shoot at best. Even SEO "experts" will admit (but not to clients) that it's mostly guesswork.

2) If you write the site without using a framework or CMS, you'll never be left with an unsupported site. (Even if you hire someone to write a custom site, if he dies you're left with no support.) The only way to guarantee that your site is supported for the rest of your life is to write it yourself. Granted, it's a lot more work, but you get exactly what you want, it's more CPU-efficient than a CMS that runs a lot of code that you don't need (like Wordpress) and you won't have any problem keeping it current.

BTW, I'm currently doing all my work on a laptop (with an external keyboard) because I'm preparing to move and all my desktops are packed away. There's no difference. (And, since I can't stand laptop keyboards or touchpads, I carry a keyboard and mouse in my laptop bag.)

 

Cheers.

I've no issue with SEO. Other than a list of 301's.

It would seem the learning curve is going to be steep in creating ones own CMS. Any idea how hosts react when you want to install your own cms?

That said I want to continue using Wordpress for the blog portion of the site. It's the html / forum / membership / eCommerce side of things I'm looking to tie up into something doable/manageable/scalable/

 

If you're not already a programmer, yes.

Any host I'm on wouldn't even bother to yawn. A CMS is just web code. If they want to monitor my content (other than for illegal content), I move to a real host.

Wordpress can do eCommerce. MyBB an link to Wordpress, so you have a single login for both. (I don't know whether anyone's written a plugin for that yet, but it would be so trivial that, since I wasn't thinking of linking my blog to my forum, I didn't bother to look for.) Both - Wordpress and MyBB - are "doable, manageable and scalable". (As far as membership, that's available for both just logins and for paid subscriptions, if that's what you meant.)

Of course there are other forums that would work just as well, but at the current time I'm most familiar with MyBB.

That still doesn't solve your problem of not using Wordpress as your blog. But I wouldn't contemplate building a single blog/eCommerce/forum/everything site, unless it was totally modularized - each part standing alone, but linked. A huge site like that in one monolithic piece would define unmanageable.

 

Well thank you for bringing this to my attention! It's certainly steering me in a new and better direction.

I am happy using WordPress as a main blog. My worry latter on is having 5-10 other people with individual WP blogs on the same site. Basic blogs I can handle, it's when there's a mass of plugins to get them working as a CMS or whatever that server issues might come about. Still, working as basic "blogs" rather than a giant CMS with simple themes is probably the cure.

Meanwhile a Forum like MyBB as you suggested linking up to the main WP DB where people can register or log in is quite good.

At the same time if one could link up email / newsletter subscriptions it would be ideal. WP can then handle the eCommerce while the forum software manages the forum and or comments on HTML pages. ie

Not sure if there's anything to link up newsletter emails via registered users. I know WP has plugins for newsletters but I've read about server issues when you get to 1000's of subscriber which I have.

BTW the idea being that a visitor would see something for sale with a 20% discount for registered members or subscribers, sign up, get a registered member page for the sale, and also be listed as newsletter subscriber, forum user and at niche best a premium commentator on blogs etc.

 

Use Joomla,Which may fulfill your requirements.

 

That's a problem even if all you have is a program to send out newsletters and you send thousands of them. It's sending thousands of newsletters, not Wordpress sending them.

As far as linking the newsletters to registered users, I know it could be done in MyBB. It can probably be done in Wordpress, although I've never written Wordpress plugins.