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Wordpress guru's - what plugins does about.com use

by gareth
9 replies
I'm embarking on a makover of my blogging tactics.

I wonder what plugins they use on the about.com site ???

any hints - suggestions - ideas ?

I guess they may use inhouse stuff but what are they doing exactly ?
#aboutcom #guru #plugins #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author KarlWarren
    I'm not entirely sure it is wordpress that they're using...

    Couldn't find anything to prove or disprove this theory
    though.

    I have a feeling the whole CMS is in house.
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    eCoverNinja - Sales Page Graphics & Layout Specialist
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    • Profile picture of the author gareth
      I'm sure they do use wordpress - I've read about it before.

      Even if not WP seems ideal to build something very similar.

      I will do some more research as they have many millions of pages indexed by using subdomains.

      I want to suss out the overall directory style structure first then look at how they feed content.

      Helpfull links:

      Welcome to About.com

      You can see the subdomains here:

      site:about.com

      There is also an internal crosslinking strategy:

      About.com Business & Finance

      This is a directory page linking to the wordpress sub domains and with feeds from internal blog posts on the same site.

      I will spend some time examining about.com - I dont like the navigation on the front URL much though.
      Signature

      Gareth M Thomas
      Serial Entrepreneur
      Auckland, New Zealand

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  • Profile picture of the author violationz
    Yeah man, that's not Wordpress - they payed someone to develop a custom content management system... most big sites will/do.

    If you're interested in getting your own CMS created, check these guys out: Royal Atlantis Group - I've heard great things about them.

    Best of luck.
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    • Profile picture of the author gareth
      Man I'm going to do an experiment with wordpress.

      I will set up 100-200 subdomains and install wordpress into each of them. All niches under an umbrella market.

      I have wpmassinstaller to do that.

      At the top will be a directory 2-3 tier. Then i will use plugins to auto populate the blogs.

      I will use adsense and optins.

      I will use plugins for auto social bookmarking, rss submission etc.

      I will use carp for internal crosslinking using the blog feeds.

      I will use google alerts and other sources for keyword relevant feeds.

      I will test my feeds first in google reader.

      So long as i dont blow up hostgator it should get bulk traffic real quick.
      Signature

      Gareth M Thomas
      Serial Entrepreneur
      Auckland, New Zealand

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      • Profile picture of the author kevinw1
        Originally Posted by gareth View Post

        Man I'm going to do an experiment with wordpress.

        I will set up 100-200 subdomains and install wordpress into each of them. All niches under an umbrella market.

        I have wpmassinstaller to do that.
        Would Wordpress MU make more sense for something like this?
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        • Profile picture of the author Eric Lorence
          Yes, look into Wordpress MU for what your looking for.

          Best!
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          • Profile picture of the author gareth
            Thanks for telling me about MU guys - i will check it out.

            It will be important to do this experiment in a non-spammy looking way of course.

            So I'll need a good layout and will need to carefully aggregate the content. It will be quite a bit of work initially.
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            Gareth M Thomas
            Serial Entrepreneur
            Auckland, New Zealand

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  • Profile picture of the author Quentin
    I think they use typepad for the main site and all sub domains but then use wordpress for their extra bits.

    Quentin
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  • Profile picture of the author SuzanneH
    I was a guest user blogger for about.com a couple of years ago; they were using wordpress at the time. I can't say for sure what they're using now, but my guess would be it's still wordpress (but I could be wrong). If so, my humble opinion would be that it's heavily modified in-house...

    For what it's worth! :-)

    Suzanne
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