What's the best tutorial for someone looking to integrate a CMS into a website for a client for the first time?

Jacqui,

There are many, many CMS choices out there, choosing the best one for your project is the part that can sometimes be tricky. There are lots of things to consider: what does the website need to do, what does the client need to be able to edit/add/delete, does the client have a budget for the CMS, does the site have to be integrated into any eCommerce software etc etc.

Best idea is to plan out exactly what requirements that your client needs then look to see if the CMS can handle them. WordPress can definitely be customised to allow your client to update the site by themselves, it can also be customised even further to allow them to do very specific things, however if you have had no experience with WordPress before there will be a steep learning curve if you are looking to code your own theme.

I would suggest doing all of the WordPress courses on here (sorry), starting with the beginner courses, then the WordPress Theme Development course would be the one that you would get the most out of. You need to understand how WordPress works and functions before you can start using it (imo). That's if you want to code the theme yourself.

There are options out there where you can download a pre-designed WordPress theme - from the likes of ThemeForest but you would still need an understanding of how WordPress works to set this up and offer advise to your client on how to edit.

Unfortunately there is a learning curve for all software, but the courses on here for WordPress should stand you in good stead for future builds.

Another CMS to consider if the client has a budget is ExpressionEngine, it is the most flexible CMS I have used and is very, very user friendly, all my clients love using it, but as with WordPress there is a learning curve and one downside is that it can be expensive to setup.

Hope this helps you out some.

Thank you so much for the advice Stephen! I was planning on doing all the WordPress courses on here, but I'm glad to learn about ExpressEngine as another option... I'll definitely check it out! (The site I need to create is pretty basic... he just needs to be able to change the menu and hours to reflect his seasonal changes and wants to be able to do it himself, rather than rely on a third party.)