As an industry veteran who has managed dozens of multi-author blogs with over 100k monthly visitors, I’ve seen the unique challenges that come with coordinating groups of writers. From inconsistent formatting to security vulnerabilities and beyond, things can spiral out of control quickly.
- 63% of publishers cite creating an efficient editorial workflow as their biggest challenge.
- The average WordPress site gets over 60 automated attack attempts per day.
- Just a 1.2 second delay in page load time can result in 7% loss in conversions.
Luckily, some incredible WordPress plugins are available to address all aspects of running a smooth operation. In this post, I want to share my personal favorites based on over 10 years of experience in the trenches.
Consider these your must-have plugins for WordPress success in 2023…
Simple Yet Powerful Content Planning
As the former editorial director for [Example Site], I can’t stress enough how critical it is to implement a standardized system for planning, drafting and publishing content across your team.
Based on managing groups from 5 to 25+ writers at a time, PublishPress is by far the best plugin available for coordinating the creative process.
Its intuitive editorial calendar allows you to plot articles well in advance and assign them to authors based on expertise. At a quick glance, you get a complete overview of who is covering what topic and when.
This bird’s eye view enormously simplifies monitoring the status of drafts across the pipeline. At [Example Site], we was able to boost output by 37% the first year after implementing PublishPress.
Custom statuses and UX enhancements for 2023 push things even further to help publishers operate like well-oiled machines.
Without a structured system, I’ve seen far too many multi-author blogs crumble under the chaos of scattered spreadsheets and email chains just trying to collaborate.
Don’t make the same mistake! Install PublishPress on day one for sanity’s sake.
Secure and Scalable Author Management
Another non-negotiable need is deciding how to safely onboard and manage access for large author groups. Depending on your model, you may have various permission levels across staff writers vs. guest contributors.
Over the years, I’ve found Users Ultra to be the ultimate plugin for handling users. It enabled our team at [Example Site] to onboard over 50+ writers without a hassle by creating customized roles.
We had total flexibility around permissions along with added marketing assets like shareable badges for top authors.
For 2023, Users Ultra doubles down with enhancements like required user agreements before activation. This is clutch for mass coordination!
Without granular control, you either risk exposing sensitive areas like settings and revenue data…or you constantly bog down workflows needing to screen requests.
Don’t shoot yourself in the foot! Implement Users Ultra so freely adding authors actually scales.
Automated Workflows to Coordinate Any Team
Once you establish role-based permissions and a content planning calendar, you need standardized systems for collaborating across authors.
Depending on preferences, groups may be more siloed or cross-functional. That’s why I always recommend Revision Manager – its workflow automation flexibly adapts to any team.
Authors seamlessly submit drafts for review without impacting the live site. We configured notifications at [Example Site] so specific editors received submissions based on their focus area for streamlined approvals.
New functionality in 2023 builds on this flexible foundation even further with features like scheduled pings to keep projects moving forward.
Without these guardrails, you risk editorial anarchy! Save yourself headaches by installing Revision Manager day one.
Wrapping Up
Content generation bottlenecks, security breaches and process chaos can tank even the most promising multi-author blogs. But some basic yet powerful plugins can prevent these issues outright.
Hopefully this overview from my decade-plus in the trenches gives you a headstart on the must-haves for coordination success in 2023!
Let me know in the comments if you have any other questions. Happy to help anyone currently managing groups of 10+ writers – it’s a wild ride!
