Guidelines to follow when using WordPress at an enterprise level based on personal experiences working @northps for large-scale websites.

1. Enterprise WordPressDos and Don'ts Arwin Holmes Technical Project Manager NorthPoint Solutions, LLC WE LEAD WITH EXPERIENCE.

2. Talk Overview What “enterprise” means to you? How WordPress has evolved Guidelines for managers, developers, users and owners of WordPress-powered sites covering the following areas: Hosting Infrastructure Migration Development Launch Training Maintenance

3. So what does “enterprise” mean? A starship in some popular science fiction series? A company or business? In the context of this WordPress presentation, it means: Supporting large scale sites with regards to: Site traffic Site content Site availability Maximizing uptime Providing professional services

4. The WordPress Evolution:from Blogging Platform to CMS WP version 2.3 - Custom Taxonomies No longer limited to just categories and tags A feature rarely used until 2010 with added support in 2.9 and 3.0 WP version 2.9 - Custom Post Types No longer limited to just pages and posts A feature rarely used until 2010 with added support in 3.0 WordPress matures to a CMS WP version 3.1 – Network Admin and Expanded Queries Streamlined admin and writing interfaces WP version 3.2 – Performance and Modernization Faster and more lightweight Support for incremental updates

5. Personal View of WordPress Adoption as a CMS 2008-2009: Migrated multiple sites from Movable Type for various Conde Nast Digital properties 8/2010: Migrated fashion.elle.com from TypePad 9/2010: Migrated ellegirl.com from TypePad and EZ Publish 5/2011: Migrated dailywd.womansday.com from TypePad Current projects include full multi-site installs and proof of concepts for full intranet and extranet offerings

6. Guidelines Dos and Don’ts to consider when working with WordPress

7. Hosting Infrastructure Do Carefully evaluate service offerings before deciding on a host Give yourself at least 2 weeks for new WordPress VIP setups Give yourself additional time for VIP code and plug-in reviews Leverage AMI’s for sites hosted on Amazon Web Services Use multiple regions for failover on Amazon Web Services Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) Don’t Host multiple high-trafficked sites on the same hardware

8. Migration Do Transfer your SEO juice using 301 redirects Minimize the need for a double-publishing scenario Don’t Forget about your image assets

9. Development Do Use a source control system (e.g. SVN, GIT) for your code Install WordPress with it hidden from search engines Have a search engine blocking robots.txt file User-agent: * Disallow: / Leverage WordPress’s API Library Use WPQuery Use transients Use wp_enqueue_style and wp_enqueue_script

10. Development (cont’d) Don’t Modify WordPress core files Write your own SQL queries unless absolutely necessary Go plug-in crazy (be minimal about what you activate and if it makes sense, see if it can be packaged with the theme instead) TIP: Evaluating Plug-ins Past and recent activity Usage / adoption Compatibility (current and future) Forget about your admin users – use contextual help and train them

11. Launch Do Lower DNS TTL settings before launch (if updating DNS address) Apply appropriate CDN exceptions for wp-admin pages Update WordPress settings to make it visible to search engines Replace the search engine blocking robots.txt file with a valid one Verify server permissions on files and directories Set up an automated deployment process Don’t Deploy unnecessary files (source control files, .DS_Store, ._, etc) and settings (testing environments) to production servers Keep .htaccess writeable

12. Training Do Train your users for their various WordPress admin roles Don’t Assume everyone knows how to use WordPress (presumably why you’re here!)

13. Maintenance Do Keep your core and plug-in versions up to date WordPress generally releases major versions every 6 months Read about the plug-in version updates Plan major code releases during off-peak hours Don’t Let your site’s code get outdated

14. Three Final Points Perform Relax Promote

15. Perform.Cache whenever possible. PHP op-code cache (e.g. APC) Object Cache (e.g. Memcached) Web Proxy (e.g. Squid, Varnish) Content Delivery Network (e.g. Akamai, LimeLight, S3) Plug-ins (e.g. WP Super Cache, Batcache, etc) TIP: Beware of plug-ins using external web services

16. Relax.Secure your site. Passwords. Everything tastes better with a little SALT. Table Prefixes. Don’t stick with the default “wp_” Permissions. Reserve write privileges for only the most deserving files, directories, and plug-ins. Data. Back up files and database regularly. Tracking. Log and monitor your site. Great resources: http://codex.wordpress.org/Hardening_WordPress

17. Promote.Optimize and network. Use tracking software (e.g. Google Analytics) to help refine your search keywords and descriptions. Leverage social network (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) integration for viral traffic.

18. Continuing Education Where do we go from here?

19. Dive deeper.Related WordCamp Sessions. 7/23 330pm - Enterprise Publishing on WordPress.com VIP 7/23 330pm – WordPress & InBound Marketing 7/23 415pm – How to Market Your Blog 7/24 415pm – Advanced Theme Performance Techniques 7/24 345pm – jQuery Performance and New Features 7/24 515pm – Don’t Be a Tool: Content (Management) Strategy

20. A few WordPress sites developed by NorthPoint Solutions, LLC tvrecaps.ew.com fashion.elle.com ellegirl.com dailywd.womansday.com blog.caranddriver.com

21. Shameless plug.Need consulting services or a job? Grab my business card. Talk to me. I’m hungry for your feedback. Connect online. @arwinholmes aholmes@northps.com WE LEAD WITH EXPERIENCE.