In today’s digital environment, effective management of your website is necessary for delivering consistent user experiences and an agile online presence. If your system is based on ASP.NET, one of the most powerful and flexible content management systems is DNN (DotNetNuke).

In this post, we are going to focus on how to effectively manage content in DNN, including its major features, content workflow tools, and enterprise-level best practices.

What Is DNN?

DNN (formerly DotNetNuke) is an open-source web content management system (CMS) with a focus on the Microsoft ASP.NET framework. Its highly functional and widely used by businesses, government agencies, and large organizations to create and manage dynamic websites, portals, and intranets.

DNN offers two versions:

• DNN Platform: Free and open-source software for content-driven websites.
• DNN Evoq (Commercial): Software which includes advanced features such as analytics, personalization, and enterprise-level support.

Central Capabilities to Manage Content

DNN has many features that are built-in and helpful for every organizational level managing content:

1. Easy-to-Use Content Editor

DNN has a WYSIWYG editor that lets all users – even those with little technical know-how – add or update content without modeling code. They can use the editor to format text, add media, create links, and preview what it looks like before publishing.

2. Role-Based Permissions

DNN provides fine permissions settings allowing different users (admin, editor, author) to have assigned permissions. This creates a safe, assured, and collaborative publishing process.

3. Content Version History and Approval Workflows

DNN allows you to review version history and stage content. You can revert back to previous versions, review change history, and enforce workflows for editorial processes to create a formal approval process before content is published.

4. Structural Content on a Page

DNN allows you to apply a modular system for structuring content. Content is modeled as blocks or modules that let you use all different types of content (text, forms, video, widgets) on the same page, and repeat re-used components over and over.

5. Multi-language and Localization

DNN serves organizations with global reach in that a multi-language content can be created, creating localized content to manage content in multiple areas.

DNN Evoq: Advanced Content Management Capabilities

If you are using a DNN Evoq, the commercial version, you have access to improved content management capabilities, which include:

• Page and content analytics
• Prepackaged personalization experience based on user behavior
• Drag and drop page layout abilities
• Content search and tagging, improving navigation

These features are especially useful for enterprise sites that require more advanced user targeting and performance statistics.

Tips for Managing Content in DNN

To take full advantage of DNN as a content management system (CMS), consider these tips:

Plan your Page Hierarchy
Organize your pages to have a good structure; this can be done through parent and child pages, which will enhance navigation and SEO efforts.

Properly use Modules
Make use of reusable modules (such as text, forms, image galleries) to ensure consistency throughout your site and reduce content duplication.

Train your Content Editors
Be sure your editors and contributors are trained in how to use DNN’s editor, modules, and workflow.

Use Workflow
DNN has a built-in workflow system use it to apply some publishing rules for content approval and consistency, therefore to reduce errors while maintaining quality content.

Review & Archive Content Regularly
You should review your content on each page based on time or as regularly as possible, and track the updates you make to keep your content up to date, and archive any old versions of that content.

Reasons to Use DNN for Content Management

DNN is trusted by thousands of organizations, and for good reason. DNN has an extensive list of features, including:

• Flexible and modular architecture
• Strong community and third-party support
• Integration with Microsoft technologies
• Scalability to enterprise websites and applications
• Custom development through DNN extensions and APIs

Whether you are building a marketing website, an internal portal, or a complex digital destination, DNN is there to help you manage and control your content.

Need assistance with managing or building DNN?

Empirical Edge specializes in creating and maintaining DNN powered websites and applications. We can help your organization in scope of an entire website or application build, to module development, through to content workflow design and support.

Interested in streamlining your content management using DNN?