It started as part of a casual conversation with a non-profit organization’s content manager
about a website I had set up on WordPress.com several years ago. I was thrilled to see that the
organization has been adding event information and other content regularly.

While reviewing the website dashboard I noticed a unusual number of categories. After closer
inspection, many of the categories were the same or very similar to post titles. Additionally, the
categories were set up in the primary navigation area as submenu items.

One of the editors had found a creative way to get a single post to show as a menu item. Website visitors were not complaining about usability either. I started to wonder:

• Was this really an issue that needed to be fixed today?
• Would it create a future problem as more posts (and categories) were added and new editors got involved?
• Is a follow-up training session for new editors needed to control this unconventional procedure?

Around the same time, as I was finalizing the transfer a client’s articles from another platform to the posts in their new (self-hosted) WordPress powered website I noticed hundreds of categories had been in use. The categories were keywords and phrases from within the content of each article. Most categories were connected to only one or two posts.

To handle things more effectively in the new WordPress powered website, I discussed with my client about reducing the total number of categories from several hundred to only seven. Using only a handful of categories would properly compile the similar items and create a strong focus to demonstrate the essence of the business. The business owner will have an easier time sharing full collections of posts with prospective customers.

According to my family members, I prefer to artfully manage how things are turn out. If you ask my young adult children, they might explain how I still attempt to exert my “mom influence” to steer their menu choices when we dine out. Sometimes my dining out deeds are the real-life “you might also like” suggestions often found at the bottom of a WordPress post.

When I put these incidents together I began to realize why I feel good about activating Conductor plugin* to control the display posts, pages, events, products and other custom post types on my client websites. Conductor plugin ultimately gives administrators the control they seem to crave to fine tune the display and collections of content to attract their prospects and customers. I know Conductor can not help my clients using WordPress.com , but it can positively impact clients using WordPress self-hosted version. Clients can use Conductor to control and feature just one post or page, a small group of properly categorized posts or a large collection of products.

Image Credit: Jeremy Snyder
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