There are very few good blogs that are single-writer based. Almost
all such blogs have multiple writers and bloggers working on different
segments or niches of the blog. Such blogs are not only more likely to
have quality content, but are more likely to generate traffic and
develop a brand. The main problem arises in the effective management of
these multiple authors, often a chaotic and hectic process. Effective
team management helps the team to efficiently produce much higher
volumes of content to feed the Web’s 24/7 news cycle.
Gone are the days of using spreadsheets and e-mails to manage the
multiple authors, to keep the co-authors in check, line up and
distribute assignments and maintain records of payments to freelancers.
All of this can now be handled by the many WordPress plugins available.
These plugins not only help publishers to manage freelancers across
different locations easily and efficiently, they also help facilitate
the management of administrative tasks and enable the publisher to focus
on producing top-notch content.
Below is a list of five WordPress Plugins for multi-author blogs that
will digitize your newsroom. Check them out and pick the ones that suit
your needs the best.
1. ContentCloud
The BetaOut ContentCloud
is a hosted plug and play newsroom platform for all publishers running
their content portals on WordPress. By making use of ContentCloud,
publishers can manage a large number of contributors for content
production.
ContentCloud offers a highly-intuitive, well-structured and
user-friendly interface. It offers two interfaces for editors and other
team members. One is the newsroom app and second is the workbench app.
ContentCloud looks very minimalistic at first glance, especially the
workbench app, but it is quite powerful and can be customized once you
gain access to your settings panel in ContentCloud.
ContentCloud empowers you to create multiple workflows for a single
publication and can share a desk across these workflows. The assignments
are routed through these workflows and you can either define the
contributors for every stage of the assignment or make it available to
any user on that desk. Editors can keep an eye on the progress of the
assignment through their newsroom app. ContentCloud is an amazing
solution for WordPress publishers looking for an efficient newsroom.
2. Edit Flow
The Edit Flow
plugin is a highly rated WordPress plugin that improves collaboration
between the editorial and publishing teams. The plugin is a highly
useful tool for teams with editors working on different timings because
its calendar feature helps synchronize the mutual content in an
effective manner. The plugin also allows automatic notifications for
each post submission, making sure the communication channel between
different members is not subjected to any delays.
The Edit Flow plugin helps redefine the editorial workflow by
allowing mutual collaboration of the editorial team within the WordPress
platform. The editorial comments feature of the edit flow plugin allows
for in-house discussions between various writers and editors through
threaded comments in the administration section. The users group feature
improves workflow by allowing organization between various users
according to their functioning or handling of various departments like
editing and publishing.
Edit Flow, with all its features, is a completely customized plugin
allowing administrators the power to pick and choose and enable the
desired functionality options available within the plugin according to
the needs of the website and the editorial team.
3. Editorial Guidelines
The Editorial Guidelines
plugin, as the name suggests, is one of the most useful plugins for
multiple authored websites based on the WordPress platform. It allows
writers to understand the exact guidelines required for the content
acceptable to the admin team. No other plugin acts in such a simple and
serene manner helping editors, managers and administrators have a
one-on-one briefing of sorts with those adding content to the website.
Editorial Guidelines may look like a simple plugin but it is one of
the most important plugins, enabling smooth workflow between users and
editorial teams, especially for large websites with a listing of
multiple users. Editorial Guidelines allows the option of a small box in
the edit screen containing a list of the various editorial guidelines
of the respective content as desired by editors and publishers. The
biggest advantage of the plugin, apart from being able to send
individual guidelines to different writers, is the guideline section is
editable and can be used for a broader author base in the future.
Editorial Guidelines allows for a smoother workflow within the system
as it allows clear communication between users and the administration
team, cutting out time discrepancies in editing the content or sending
it back for approval.
4. Approval Workflow
The’Approval Workflow
plugin highlights the ease of the workflow mechanism process in
WordPress-enabled websites with a multiple user base and editors.
Approval Workflow eases the structuring of the workflow process by
automatically verifying users for administrative and publishing rights
for their articles or posts.
Approval Workflow is not a standalone plugin – it can also remove
time discrepancies by sending out ‘mailers’ to authors with publishing
rights after each successful submission. This mailer feature is a boon
for websites with different users working in different time zones. While
one user with publishing rights may not be available, another active
user gets the update of the successful submission and can proceed to
publish the content, increasing overall productivity. The plugin, that
works just as well on multiple websites over a network, uses a small
notification box at the post edit screen if the user has no publishing
rights for the respective submission. If the user does not have
publication rights, the plugin switches on its intelligence mode and
looks for active users with publishing roles while sending mailers to
all users with publishing roles.
5. Simple History
Simple History
is another WordPress plugin that gives ample freedom for keeping the
history of users on a WordPress blog or website. Users can also clear
the history database after the update and take the advantage of the log
item deletion from the database as well. Moreover, the working interface
of this plugin is more flexible, so you can work with it ceaselessly.
Through this plugin, you can get the benefits of pagination in your
WordPress website, allowing for more information about the history
items. This plugin is useful when several people are involved in editing
the contents. The latest version of this plugin has an updated POT-file
for the translators.
