5 Unique Ways to Use Wordpress (Not as a Blog)

Wordpress is easily the most intuitive, user-friendly blogging software available today, but did you know you can use it for other types of sites?

Here are five unique ways to use Wordpress besides as a blog.

A Content Management System

Like most Web sites that use a content management system, Wordpress allows you to create static pages outside of the reverse-chronology setup of blogs.

Whether you're creating a page of resources, links, or non-date specific information, pages are the best option for timeless content on your site.

But what about your site's home page? Wordpress allows you to set any page as your site's main page. In Wordpress 2.5 and above:

Log in to your dashboard
Click on "Settings" and "Reading"
Under "Front page displays," select "A static page" and choose the page you'd like to use

Using Wordpress as a CMS is increasingly popular, especially because it doesn't require tech-savvy users.

A Job Board

If you're looking to start a job board using Wordpress, it can be done.

Sorel Mihai, one of my favorite theme designers, has created JobPress, a Wordpress Job Board.

JobPress allows for both free and paid listings, depending on your preference. Charging for listings is easy (view the settings page) and integrated with PayPal.

Other features include:

Job categories
RSS feeds for listings
Categorization by part-time, full-time and freelance.

Check out more about JobPress here.

A Storefront

Yes, you can sell products using Wordpress.

Check out the Market Theme. It's a great-looking, minimalist theme that focuses on highlighting the products you have to sell and helps you sell them.

Features include:

Support for PayPal and Google Checkout
Affiliate support, if you have no products to sell
Compatibility with Wordpress MU

Check out more about the Market Theme here.

A Portfolio

If you need a place to show off your work, Wordpress makes a great portfolio.

Two great Portfolio themes are Sharpfolio, a free download from WEBRevolutionary, and Sorel Mihai's Portfolio theme.

These two themes work a bit differently — Sharpfolio works more like a "typical" Wordpress site, while Portfolio has a custom settings page.

A Classifieds Site

DailyWP's Sorel Mihai comes through again with Classipress, a complete package for managing a classified ads site.

While there are some third-party plugins that attempt to do what Classipress offers, none of them do it right. Classipress requires no additional plugins, so everything works perfectly together.

Check out more about Classipress here. (UPDATE: DailyWP's Classipress seems to have fallen off the face of the earth, but interestingly, there's another classifieds theme of the same name now available!)

Posted in: Featured, Wordpress by Jason Unger

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9 Comments

Comment by Banago — October 7, 2009 @ 1:03 pm

Nicely chosen themes – WordPress is great indeed!
Comment by Dee Gardner — October 7, 2009 @ 3:17 pm

More people need to know Wordpress can do these types of things. It's good for developers that are helping clients because using these themes will save tons of time.

Thanks Jason for pulling all this together.
Comment by Janine Gregor — October 8, 2009 @ 4:11 pm

I was also thinking about using wordpress as a squeeze page, using the static feature.

This is a great post. Thank you for the information.

Regards,

Janine Gregor
Virtual Assistant
http://www.YourVirtualWizard.com
Pingback by Article 5 Unique Ways to Use Wordpress (Not as a Blog) - Virtual Assistant Forums | Virtual Assistant Network — October 8, 2009 @ 4:30 pm

[...] Unique Ways to Use Wordpress (Not as a Blog) Hello, I found a blog post through LinkedIn, which I thought I'd share here. The post is entitled, "5 Unique Ways to [...]
Comment by Monica F — October 8, 2009 @ 10:39 pm

I recently started blogging and use Wordpress for just that, however, I also own a web store (www.easybuynetwork.com) and have been looking for the right plugin or theme that would allow me to display (not sell) my products on the blog. Meaning I would like to create a page where I could publish featured products that would direct people to my stire if clicked.
I'm not sure what's best, I don't want the ecommerce plugins since I don't want to sell from the blog… should I use a classifieds one, a photo gallery type?
Please let me know your thoughts; it would be greatly appreciated.
Monica F
Comment by Jason Unger — October 9, 2009 @ 8:14 am

@Monica – thanks for the comment.

The Market Theme (http://bit.ly/oMdM4) actually allows you to set up a shop, but you can change the settings to link individual items to your actual store – rather than facilitate the sale on your Wordpress site.

Otherwise, you're probably best off with a gallery-type theme to show off your items with links to the store.
Comment by sharin_sg — October 10, 2009 @ 1:12 am

great info. another solution to us.
Comment by rick — October 26, 2009 @ 10:30 pm

I'm a little confused , word press states on its sign up page that you cannot use it for commercial purpose such as affiliate links, ad sense , SEO etc , I also noticed that when you create a blog page it has to be approved before it's displayed , so I am assuming that any blogs with affiliate links , ad sense , and what have you on them , will not be approved if not deleted , what am I missing here?
Comment by Jason Unger — October 27, 2009 @ 8:38 am

@rick – It sounds like you're confusing Wordpress.com with the standalone version (sometimes called Wordpress.org).

When you use the standalone Wordpress software on your own host and domain, you're not limited like you are when using the hosted Wordpress.com service.