WP-Tonic | WordPress | SaaS | Bootstrap SaaS | Startups

Real-Time Find and Replace

Table of Contents for Episode 194

0:00 Podcast intros.

1:58 WordPress Story #1: What to Expect in WordPress 4.8

11:05 WordPress Story #2: WordPress.com Experiments With Allowing Business Plan Customers to Install Third-Party Plugins and Themes

25:54 Main Topic: Lesser-Known WordPress Plugins that are Insanely Useful

58:40 Podcast outros.

Links Mentioned During the Episode

HTML Widget Text (Easily add HTML to widget titles)

Image Widget (add images to widget areas)

Widget CSS Classes

WP Featherlight

WP Subtitle

SVG Support (Use SVGs in WordPress)

Kint PHP Debugger

Force Regenerate Thumbnails

Wa11y The Web Accessibility Toolbox

Super Side Me

WP Migrate DB Pro

Mergebot

Better Search and Replace

WP Advanced Database Cleaner

Simple Alert for Old Post

Image Regenerate & Select Crop

193 Oli Gardner of Unbounce on Landing Pages and Conversion Optimization

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Fri, 19 May 2017 20:37:09 +0000

Our guest this week is Unbounce co-founder, Oli Gardner. He’s obsessed with identifying and reversing bad marketing practices, and his disdain for marketers who send campaign traffic to their homepage is legendary, resulting in landing page rants that can peel paint off an unpainted wall. A prolific international speaker, Oli is on a mission to rid the world of marketing mediocrity by using data-informed copywriting, design, interaction, and psychology to create a more delightful experience for marketers and customers alike.

In our conversation, we talk with Oli about landing pages, and conversion rate optimization for pages.

There's a lot of psychology behind what landing pages are, and why they are superior to inner pages for pushing a specific offer. We look at all the things you should know about landing pages, and what makes people click. Guaranteed, you'll learn something new from this interview.

Unbounce

https://unbounce.com/

The Unbounce Conversion Benchmark Report – Average Conversion Rates by Industry and Expert Recommendations

https://unbounce.com/conversion-rate-optimization/unbounce-conversion-benchmark-report/

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 193

0:00 Podcast intros.

1:13 How Oli got into digital marketing.

2:09 What is the difference between a landing page and an ordinary page on your site? What specific purpose does a landing page serve?

3:21 What is attention ratio? How does it relate to where people click and what action s they take?

4:59 What are some common mistakes that people make with clarity of message?

8:51 What role does design play in optimizing a page for conversion?

11:20 We need data for A/B testing. What is a good sample size for A/B data? How long should those tests run? Defining your ideal customer.

17:47 The power of social proof. Who should you be using in testimonials to influence your target customers?

22:01 How much automation should you use in marketing? How machine learning is going to change everything in the next few years.

25:56 How can designers, marketers, and copywriters work together? What is the ideal workflow for page design, and page optimization?

28:57 Advice for writing headlines.

30:47 Thoughts on videos. Don't do things just because other people are doing it. How to use video in a powerful way.

33:45 Have an open mind when optimizing pages. Trusting the data. Using what you have to improve.

35:20 Some other influencers to follow and watch presentations by. The upcoming Call to Action Conference.

42:30 What would Oli tell his younger self to make his journey easier? What does a modern marketer need to succeed?

44:10 The strengths and weaknesses that Oli sees in the WordPRess ecosystem.

46:00 What are some tips that Oli has for speakers and presenters looking to up their game?

47:47 Podcast outros.

==================

Links mentioned during the show:

TinEye

Sample Size Calculator

Hotjar

Readable.io

Retirement of AlchemyAPI on BlueMix

Watson Developer Cloud (BlueMix)

Watsonfinds (WordPress plugin)

Qualaroo

Wistia

Call To Action Conference, June 2017

Mathew Sweezey (Salesforce)

Wil Reynolds

Tyler Farnsworth

How To Deliver a TED Talk (Jeremy Donovan)

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

192 The Beaver Builder Ecosystem

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 17 May 2017 14:42:00 +0000

An in-depth look at the Beaver Builder ecosystem, and the new Beaver Themer. After almost one year of development, Beaver Builder's announce its first official addon. Beaver Themer is a theme builder plugin for WordPress.

What makes Beaver Builder so special? What makes their community unique? Will Beaver Themer change how people develop WordPress websites?

Our WordPress panel this week:

Kim Shivler: https://whiteglovewebtraining.com/

Lee Jackson: https://angledcrown.com/

Mendel Kurland https://ifyouwillit.com/

Sallie Goetsch: https://wpfangirl.com/

Jackie D'Elia: https://jackiedelia.com/

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com/

PowerPack Beaver Builder Add On

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 192

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:07 WordPress News Story #1: New WordPress Plugin Blocks Spam User Registrations Using Stop Forum Spam Database

8:43 WordPress News Story #2: Weglot Multilingual Plugin Closes $450K in Seed Funding

19:11 Main Topic: The Beaver Builder Ecosystem

19:20 What makes the Beaver Builder community so special? Why do people like this plugin so much compared to other page builders?

25:26 What has Beaver Builder done right that other page builders have not?

27:25 What's a good way to handle licensing for clients with Beaver Builder? The importance of a cute mascot in a WordPress product.

29:17 Balancing being user-friendly and developer-friendly.

30:27 Lee describes how they integrate Beaver Builder and Beaver Themer into the workflow at Angled Crown.

33:51 How will Beaver Themer change the development landscape? Particularly in regards to frameworks like Genesis? What are the pros and cons of using Beaver Builder vs frameworks?

45:45 How does Beaver Builder output CSS? What happens when you deactivate the plugin?

47:40 Do Kim or Lee use any third-party add-ons for Beaver Builder? Will Beaver Themer change the WordPress themes landscape? The many ways in which people interact with WordPress.

58:05 A rant about people who complain about tools that cost money (that they then use to make money).

1:05:06 Podcast outros.

==================

Links mentioned during the show:

Stop Signup Spam

>Stop Spammers

Beaver Themer

Genesis Extender Plugin

Ultimate AddOns for Beaver Builder

==================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/beaver-builder-ecosystem/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast.

191 Tenko Nikolov, CEO of SiteGround

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Fri, 12 May 2017 14:00:00 +0000

We Interview Tenko Nikolov, CEO and Managing Partner at SiteGround.

SiteGround is a successful hosting company with hundreds of employees. Located in Europe, its CEO, Tenko Nikolov, has been fixated on growing his brand by focused on success across the team and for their customers. It's evident that SiteGround knows what they're doing -- and the photos tell a great story about a great company culture.

Tenko has shared his experiences with us in the interview below. We highly recommend you read it to learn how this young CEO has made his company so incredibly successful.

Tenko share with us about the future of hosting, Siteground's commitment to innovation, and what they look for in hiring for their team. We'll also hear the story of how Tenko rose from technical support to being the CEO. Lastly, what huge plans does Siteground have for the future. It's an episode that will give you great insight into one of the leading hosting companies out there.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 191

0:00 Podcast intros.

0:29 How did Tenko first come to work at Siteground? What was his start with technology?

3:19 Did Tenko plan on becoming on CEO?

4:10 The three core values of Siteground and the role each play in the company's success.

6:54 Some of the technological innovations that Siteground have as features, and ones that they are working on.

9:27 What are the qualities that Siteground looks for in hiring team members?

10:23 Why the term "the cloud" is redundant. What the future of hosting will look like. What company is actually pushing web hosting forward.

13:03 What features Siteground has to keep sites secure. Some things they are currently working on to make their hosting environments even more secure.

17:21 Who are Siteground's target customers? How does marketing differ between small business and enterprise customers?

22:03 How is marketing changing for hosting companies within the WordPress space? What word does Tenko want people to associate with Siteground?

25:43 What is Kyup? Who is it built for? What might it be in the future?

27:01 Does Tenko think Amazon or Google will enter the hosting market directly? Where does he see hosting in general going over the next decade?

28:39 What other projects is Tenko involved in besides Siteground?

29:25 Has the technical background in Bulgaria helped Siteground find some talent? What factors contribute to the talent pool in Bulgaria?

32:28 What is Siteground's top priority over the next twelve months?

34:29 Are clients asking more about renewable energy? What efforts are they making towards being eco-friendly?

36:20 Is WordPress more or less secure than other CMS? What contributes to its reputation?

37:20 What marketing efforts are they integrating with their technological innovation over the coming year?

38:46 What events is Siteground involved in throughout the year?

40:21 Podcast outros.

==================

Links mentioned during the show:

Let's Encrypt

Kyup

WordCamp Europe 2014

WordCamp Sofia (archive list from WordCamp Central)

Bulgaria PHP Conference

==================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/tenko-nikolov-ceo-siteground/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast.

190 Learning Management Systems in WordPress

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 10 May 2017 14:46:00 +0000

This week, we look at learning management systems and building an online course in WordPress.

Our WordPress panel this week:

Chris Badgett: https://lifterlms.com

Kim Shivler: https://howtobuildanonlinecourse.com

Sallie Goetsch: https://wpfangirl.com

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke: https://www.lockedowndesign.com/

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 190

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:21 WordPress News Story #1: 10up Releases WP Docker, an Open Source Docker Configuration for Local WordPress Development

5:30 WordPress News Story #2: Shopify Discontinues Its Official Plugin for WordPress

13:35 Main Topic: Learning Management Systems in WordPress

13:40 What is an LMS? How does it differ from an online course or a membership plugin?

18:36 How much goes into planning the material for an online course?

23:16 Technology is hard because planning the content for students is hard.

26:35 What part(s) of your course should you write first? The answer might surprise you!

32:02 Building in motivation to finish a course. Why gamification is not as important as creating meaning. The importance of community during a course. Mapping fluency to reality in a course.

37:56 Making sure that different learning styles are in the lessons. Following up with a sense of community - why this is the X Factor in the success of an online course.

39:27 How long should each course segment be? How do you determine what each student should be able to do at the end of a learning module? What is the sweet spot for learning modules?

42:50 Estimating what students will be able to do in a certain time frame.

45:11 IS it more difficult to move beginners or intermediate learners forward? Knowing who you are building the class for. Scaling engagement.

55:19 Podcast outros.

==================

Links mentioned during the show:

Docker

Safe Redirect Manager

Self-Determination Theory

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

The Dip (Seth Godin)

LMSCast

==================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/learning-management-systems-wordpress/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast.

189 Zack Rosen, CEO of Pantheon

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Fri, 05 May 2017 14:00:00 +0000

This week, our guest is Zack Rosen, CEO of Pantheon.

As CEO & Co-Founder, Zack leads the charge to define what developers need now, & what they and their clients will need 5 years from now—and beyond.

Zack pioneered the first large-scale Drupal website for the Howard Dean campaign in 2003, co-founded the world’s first Drupal development shop, CivicSpace, co-founded a successful Drupal development shop, Chapter Three, and also co-founded Mission Bicycle. What started as a professional website development epiphany—We’re doing it wrong!—evolved into an all-in-one platform after he and a few trusted colleagues got together and started solving problems.

What Salesforce did for sales & Gmail did for email communications, Zack envisions Pantheon will do for websites. How do you build a solution so important it can’t be ignored? Ask not, “How many gigs of storage can we get?” Ask, “How much more scalable can our website become? How much faster can we reach our people?”

Zack discusses the future of hosting, Pantheon's goals, Multidev, WordPress at scale. He also talks about the difference between Drupal and WordPress, education, outreach, and mentorship. During our talk, Zack defines the three different levels of websites, and the level where he thinks WordPress is still early in it's adoption. If you use the web to make a living at all, this is an episode you'll want to listen to.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 188

0:00 Podcast intros.

0:19 How Pantheon got started.

3:50 Where Zack sees hosting going in the next decade.

8:11 Pantheon's lofty goal for hosting, and how they came up with that goal.

13:08 What most clients don't know about performant WordPress hosting at scale.

20:59 The effect that education outreach with developers has on the awareness and growth of Pantheon. Discussions about workflow with larger sites with multiple people working on it at the same time.

26:03 What is Multidev? How this feature is unique in WordPress hosting, and the practical use cases for agency team workflow.

29:10 Differences in community and culture between Drupal and WordPress.

32:25 What Pantheon learned about communication from WordPress US.

36:26 Dividing lines between different classes of websites. The expectations for each level. The level where Zack thinks WordPress is still early in it's adoption curve.

43:34 What Zack has done to prepare Pantheon for growth as it moves from one level to the next. Why he believes that the majority of entrepreneurial growth and learning comes down to mentorship.

47:01 Podcast outros.

==================

Links mentioned during the show:

Chapter Three

Mission Bicycle

ScaleWP.io

==================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/189-zack-rosen-pantheon/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-a-wordpress-podcast-for-web-professionals/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of one of the top WordPress podcasts in the space.

188 Local Development Environments in WordPress

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 03 May 2017 14:46:00 +0000

In this episode, we look at local development, and how that can help your workflow. What options are there for local development, and what do you do with a local site when it's time to deploy.

We examine why you need a local environment in your workflow, and some choices for getting started.

Our WordPress panel this week:

Jackie D'Elia: https://jackiedelia.com

Morten Rand-Hendriksen: https://www.lynda.com/

Sallie Goetsch: https://wpfangirl.com

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke: https://www.lockedowndesign.com/

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 188

0:00 Podcast intros.

4:08 WordPress News Story #1: Scaling WordPress Image Serving with Tachyon

14:57 WordPress News Story #2: Is The Design Firm an Endangered Species?

28:20 Main Topic: Local Development Environments in WordPress

28:28 Why should you develop locally? What advantages are there by incorporating it into your workflow?

30:50 Use the simplest possible setup for local development when you're getting started.

35:02 The panel has lots of thoughts on different local development setups.

50:28 You should always backup your database when working locally.

57:25 Podcast outros.

==================

Links mentioned during the show:

Amazon Web Services by Delicious Brains

Design Thinking (IDEO)

Teehan+Lax Partners Join Facebook Design (2015)

Discussion: The Future of the Digital Design Agency (2015)

"Anyone who influences what the design becomes is the designer."

DesktopServer

Installing and Running WordPress: DesktopServer

Migrate DB Pro

Moving WordPress with WP Migrate DB and DB Pro

East Bay WordPress Meetups

==================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/188-local-development-environment-wordpress/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast.

187 Dusty Davidson, CEO of Flywheel

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Mon, 01 May 2017 05:29:32 +0000

We sit down to talk with Dusty Davidson, the CEO and co-founder of Flywheel. He tells us how the hosting company got started, early years and growing, what they look for in hiring, their acquisition of Local, and much more.

We also ask Dusty about early years and growing, what they look for in hiring, their acquisition of Local, and much more.

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 187

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:57 How did Flywheel get started? Why they decided to start a hosting company in the first place.

5:39 What gaps in the hosting market was Flywheel trying to fill?

9:06 Some common hosting problems that Flywheel sought to solve. Growing the company using pure hustle and guerrilla marketing.

16:47 What does Flywheel look for when hiring? What challenges have they faced when growing the company?

20:44 As Flywheel grew, who did Dusty look to for advice? How do organizations change as they grow?

23:21 Dusty's early involvement in Silicon Prairie News and the growing tech scene in the Midwest.

30:34 Bootstrapped vs. Venture Capital funded.

32:49 The trend of hosting companies consolidating services by buying other companies and tools. The decision process behind Flywheel purchasing Pressmatic (now Local by Flywheel). Thoughts on GoDaddy acquiring Sucuri.

39:21 Is the future bright for plugin developers? What's the future for themes and plugins? How does this affect the perception of other products in the WordPress space, like hosting?

46:44 What is the future for growth for WordPress the platform?

49:00 Podcast outros.

==================

Links mentioned during the show:

Silicon Prairie News

One Million Cups

Local by Flywheel

==================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress podcast.

185 Lee Jackson on Event Website Design

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 22 Apr 2017 14:00:00 +0000

Lee Jackson returns to talk his other company, Event Engine. This is a web agency devoted entirely to website design for conferences, events, and expos.

We look the unique challenges faced by conference website managers, and some great tips for digital marketing for events, expos, and conferences.

Links

Event Engine

The Event & Expo Podcast

Angled Crown

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 185

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:29 What made Lee choose events and expos as a vertical? What led to him developing the Event Engine CMS?

6:50 What research went into adding features and modules to the Event Engine CMS? (built on top of WordPress). How did this product evolve?

11:09 How do they get in front of these event companies? What marketing methods work?

13:13 The benefit of publishing content year round for conferences and expos that only happen once a year?

17:07 Why giving away free content year round doesn't hurt ticket sales, but rather helps it. Tools for building a social element on a conference website.

19:40 Using the Facebook Pixel for retargeting and follow-up marketing. You can also do this on Twitter and LinkedIn.

22:39 Tips for marketing in person.

27:09 How Lee decided what to keep and what to turn off by default in the modules of Event Engine. Thoughts on the possibility of modules in WordPress. Backwards compatibility in WordPress.

30:28 Thoughts about WordPress growing the market share, and what it is happening to the market as a result.

37:10 Overcoming design by committee, and how Lee's process has changed over time to smooth this out.

41:22 Working with WordPress with outside apps using the REST API.

43:51 Podcast outros.

===================

Additional Links mentioned during the show:

BuddyPress

165 WP-Tonic: Mojca Marš – All About Facebook Ads

WP Innovator Podcast

WP Innovator YouTube channel

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/185-event-website-design/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a WordPress maintenance company, and the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress business podcast.

184 Event Management Plugins For WordPress

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 14:51:00 +0000

We look at event management plugins, what they do, and when you will need specific ones. What if you run recurring events? Say you run a once a year event, and need to sell tickets? What if you're a musician or band posting gigs? We give our recommendations for these scenarios and more.

Our WordPress panel this week:

Sallie Goetsch: https://wpfangirl.com

Kim Shivler: https://howtobuildanonlinecourse.com/

Lee Jackson: https://angledcrown.com/

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com

WP-Tonic Episode 162: Jeremy Keith on Resilient Web Design

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 184

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:08 WordPress News Story #1: Advanced WordPress Facebook Group Moves to Curb Low Quality Content with Admin-Approved Posts

11:16 WordPress News Story #2: WordPress Editor Experience Survey Shows 75% of Respondents Don’t Use Distraction-Free Writing Mode

WordPress News Story #3: Recommended Reading: Resilient Web Design, a Free e-Book from Jeremy Keith

25:56 Main Topic: Event Management Plugins

26:12 The Events Calendar

31:05 Lee has a clever tip for creating event listings without a plugin.

35:20 Google Calendar Events

Event Organiser

Event List

Events Manager

39:10 Why you might need an events management plugin in the first place. Your blog is not the proper place for upcoming events!

41:09 Lee's thoughts on Event Espresso and Tickera

44:22 Plugins for bands and musicians: GigPress (recommended) and Gigs Calendar (Not actively maintained)

48:01 The competition isn't other plugins, but online services like Eventbrite.

50:18 Tips about buying tickets or registering with WooCommerce.

56:38 Podcast outros.

==================

Links mentioned during the show:

Grammarly

Resilient Web Design

The Web is responsive by default

Getting the Perfect Website (2008)

Event Engine

Event Engine: The Event & Expo Podcast

WooCommerce Simple Registration

Hallway Chats

100k Freelancing: EP 0107 Real World Marketing with John Locke

==================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/184-wordpress-event-management/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress business podcast.

186 Building Marketing Funnels in WordPress

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 14:49:00 +0000

We look at what a marketing funnel is, and how they can help grow your business. Then we analyze how to build funnels in WordPress, methodologies for building funnels, and moving people down the funnel to close a sale.

At the top of the funnel is awareness, further down the funnel is interest, evaluation, and finally commitment, and closing the sale.

Our WordPress panel this week:

Adam Fout of Blue Steele Solutions

Sallie Goetsch of WP Fangirl

Jonathan Denwood of WP-Tonic

John Locke of Lockedown SEO

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

br />

Table of Contents for Episode 186

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:50 WordPress News Story #1: This (WordPress) community is not for the taking

12:14 WordPress News Story #2: Automattic to Host a Free, Remote Conference on Design and Exclusion on April 21

17:31 WordPress News Story #3: Transparency Report #26 – The Future of ThemeIsle and How Often People Change Themes

24:40 Main Topic: Marketing Funnels

24:44 The top of the funnel: Identifying potential customers and creating an avatar. Finding your target customers. Building awareness for people that they even have a problem that needs solving in the first place.

32:41 Other means of lead generation. Doing off-site and on-site marketing to build awareness. Moving from a generalist position to a vertical over time.

40:07 Lead nurturing: email marketing, reaching out to engaged prospects, looking at data, measuring engagement. Picking up the phone is still effective.

43:21 Establishing your niche. Following up with referrals, and communicating with the people who send you send referrals and inquiries.

47:57 Lead nurturing by focusing your content, curating similar content, and having a consistent newsletter. Great content is table stakes.

51:11 Comparison and consideration. Strategies for overcoming objections. Your proposal shouldn't be a pitch, but things you have already agreed on.

57:25 Podcast outros.

==================

Links mentioned during the show:

)The Art of Paid Traffic Podcast (Rick Mulready

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHE0wmgljco8 Mile Final Battle

The Ultimate Customer Persona Template

East Bay Meetup

Five ways your auto body shop can bring in more work (Go Daddy Garage)

==================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast.

183 Tom McFarlin on Quality Code and Marketing your Business

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 15 Apr 2017 14:00:00 +0000

Tom is a self-employed WordPress developer and a top contributor to the WordPress development community. Tom also runs a small business called Pressware, that builds web applications, sites, themes, plugins, and more – using WordPress.

He also works as the Tuts+ Code editor where he is responsible for overseeing all of the Web Development and CMS content that’s published via Envato.

You can find a lot of Tom’s open source work both in the WordPress Plugin Repository as well as on GitHub (though some of it’s quite old and outdated so be mindful of the dates in the repository). Tom tries to keep as many repositories as updated as possible, but contracts and clients come first, so those projects take a backseat.

TomMcFarlin.com

https://tommcfarlin.com/

Pressware

https://pressware.co/

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb and Beaver Builder.

Our first sponsor this week is Beaver Builder. What sets Beaver Builder apart from their competition is their thriving community, top-notch-support, and third-party ecosystem. The Beaver Builder 2.0 UI and Beaver Themer are also right around the corner. If you've been on the fence about using a page builder, now might be the time to give Beaver Builder a try.

===================

Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 183

0:00 Podcast intros.

4:04 How did Tom first get into web development?

7:50 What initially attracted Tom to the WordPress ecosystem?

14:12 Where did the decision to blog daily come from, and what impact did that have on Tom's career?

21:21 Where does Tom's passion for code quality come from? Is the WordPress ecosystem getting better at quality development?

29:04 WordPress is not the new hotness, but it is reliable and stable.

34:40 Thoughts on telemetry in 2017.

40:36 How the WordPress UI may evolve in 2017.

44:01 Quick thoughts on e-commerce and WordPress.

46:51 Podcast outros.

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/183-tom-mcfarlin/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress podcast.

182 Collaborating with a Designer or a Developer

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 12 Apr 2017 14:50:00 +0000

In the world of web design and development, there is a divide between designers and developers. Many agencies have figured out how to bridge this communication gap, but many people out there don't know how to speak the language of the other side.

In this episode, we look at some of the communication issues that come up regularly, and how to solve them. We examine how our own processes for working with others has evolved over time. Lastly, we attempt to answer the question, "Should designers learn to code?" an ask a new question, "Should developers learn design?"

Every Friday at 9am PST we have a round-table discussion which combines the latest WordPress news with one main discussion topic. This week's main topic was “Collaborating with a Designer / Developer.” You can find a list of this months upcoming live recordings on the WP-Tonic's website.

https://www.wp-tonic.com/blab/

Our WordPress panel this week:

Nick Meagher: http://byprimer.co/

Morten Rand-Hendriksen: http://mor10.com/

Kim Shivler: https://howtobuildanonlinecourse.com/

John Locke: Lockedown SEO

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 182

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:25 WordPress News Story: The End of 80/20 and the Future of WordPress

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/end-8020-future-wordpress-morten-rand-hendriksen

22:21 Main Topic: Collaborating with a Designer or Developer

22:24 How did Nick find a process with his design partner, Hunter?

25:08 What sort of discussions are had about wireframes, and what each design component does?

26:21 Kim's experiences with corporate teams and cutting through the jargon, to find a common ground.

29:53 Morten's process at Pink and Yellow Media for designing and building a site.

35:50 John's experiences with working with designers, and how his process has changed over time.

37:57 Should designers learn to code? Should developers learns to design?

51:20 How do you find a good partner to complement your respective skills?

59:26 Podcast outros.

1:02:13 Bonus content.

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/182-working-web-designer/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast.

181 Jonathan Courtney: UX Design for Large Brands

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Fri, 07 Apr 2017 14:00:00 +0000

Jonathan Courtney is a UX designer and Product Strategist. He runs the cheeky design blog, UX Messiah. Originally from Ireland, Jonathan moved to Berlin and co-founded the UX Design agency AJ&Smart in 2011.

AJ&Smart has worked with some of the largest brands on the planet, including the UN, eBay, Lufthansa, and Zalando.

In this insightful interview, Jonathan talks about how he got into UX, what is broken in most agencies design process, and how AJ&Smart uses design sprints to get a high-fidelity prototype in the client's hands in less than a week.

Jonathan Courtney - UX Designer

http://jonathancourtneyux.com/

AJ&Smart on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/ajsmartdesign/

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 181

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:40 How user experience has evolved over the last ten years, and how Jonathan defines UX.

4:15 Design thinking and how it has influenced UX.

6:29 How AJ&Smart innovated their design process with design sprints.

10:20 Why personas and user research failed where design sprints succeeded with AJ&Smart.

12:50 "Planning is guessing".

13:41 Taking an idea to a nigh-fidelity prototype quickly.

18:47 The collaborative effort that goes into storyboarding an app or a site.

24:01 Why getting to market quickly is better for iteration.

26:52 Every company HAS to have great UX and UI, where 10 years ago, this wasn't the case.

29:07 It's all about the process.

31:29 Metaphors in UX, and how previous conventions, and platform-specific design patterns influence UX decisions.

34:38 Thoughts on major refreshes on apps that millions that people use.

38:40 Does the physicality of a device influence how people use it, and how the design takes shape?

42:59 Are we heading to a place where templated design puts us out of a job? What should you be focusing on if you are a UX designer?

45:20 "Solve problems, then decorate". The future is now when it comes to the ever-increasingly connected web.

48:28 Digital products are becoming formless.

49:36 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

United Nations: Increasing food donations with design sprints

The Lean Startup

Are We Hitting "Peak Design"?

Instagram’s big redesign goes live with a colorful new icon, black-and-white app and more (2016)

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/181-jonathan-courtney-ux-design/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance company, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress podcast.

180 Learning WordPress as a Beginner

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 14:52:00 +0000

WordPress development involves PHP, HTML, CSS, JS, MySQL – but what if you don’t know what any of this even means yet? Where do you go to learn WordPress if you’re still a beginner?

This week, we look at WordPress for beginners. We have covered tons of resources for learning WordPress as a complete beginner.

Our WordPress panel this week:

Bridget Willard: https://bridgetwillard.com/

Kim Shivler: https://whiteglovewebtraining.com/

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke: Lockedown SEO

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 180

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:32 WordPress News story #1: WordPress Plugin Directory Redesign: Why So Many People Feel Their Feedback Was Ignored

12:05 WordPress News story #2: What motivates WordPress spammers?

In-Depth Analysis of a Criminal Organization Targeting WordPress Websites

30:48 Main Topic: Learning WordPress as a Beginner

30:58 "If you want to be useful to WordPress, you have to know how to build websites without WordPress". - Quote by @mor10

36:09 Getting people comfortable with WordPress before throwing them in deeper water. How Bridget used immersion techniques to learn WordPress.

42:11 Why aren't there more apprenticeships in web development?

43:37 Resources for learning WordPress.

1:07:05 Podcast outros

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Give - A WordPress Donation Plugin

Treehouse

CSS-Tricks

WPShout - Up and Running

W3Schools

Digging Into WordPress

WordPress Training and Tutorials on Lynda.com

Designing with Web Standards

The #ASKGARYVEE Audiobook Ch. #17: Self Awareness

The WP Crowd

WPwatercooler

WordPress Essentials Course – (Online starting April 19th, 2017)

WordPress Training - OS Training

WordPress is not easy, and that's OK

WordPress: Harder Than You Think

Inspect Element in Firefox, Chrome, or IE

Easy WP Guide

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

WP-Tonic #180: WordPress For Beginners

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a twice weekly podcast for WordPress professionals.

179 WPShout on the Business of WordPress Tutorials

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 14:00:00 +0000

In this episode, we talk about the history of WPShout, and we also get deep in connected to WordPress development and discuss the best ways a newbie WordPress developer can increase their skill level.

The crew from WPShout (Fred Meyer, David Hayes, Alex Denning) joins us to talk running a WordPress tutorial site, the state of WordPress education, how WPShout supports their agency Press Up.

We also discuss the re-launch of their course, Up and Running: A Practical Guide to WordPress Development.

Be sure to check out their boutique WordPress agency, Press Up.

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 179

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:52 How did each of the WP Shout members get into web development?

5:51 What is the origin story for WPShout?

9:40 Is there value in having a voice in the WordPress ecosystem, even if it doesn't bring in work directly?

11:41 What was the initial business plan for WPShout? And how did that change over time?

14:34 Is there still a big need for WordPress education?

17:01 What effect has concentrated marketing had on the recent success of WPShout?

18:47 When it comes to marketing their agency Press Up, what has changed over the years?

22:24 What are the key ares that beginners struggle with to learn WordPress? Understanding scope and other programming concepts.

34:24 How is JavaScript changing WordPress? Will PHP remain relevant in WordPress? How do JS frameworks integrate in WordPress?

41:52 What are some things WPShout would like to see covered in WordPress education? Who do they recommend?

48:00 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

WP Hacks

How to Migrate your Site to a New Host with All-in-One WP Migration

Data From Theme Reviews Shows Authors Need More Education on Developing Secure WordPress Themes

Carl Alexander: The Man in the Arena

Josh Pollock on Torque.io

JavaScript for WP

Making Your First WordPress Plugin

Engine Hounds

WordPRess REST AI - Josh Pollock

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/179-monetize-website-wpshout/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast.

178 Best WooCommerce Plugins and Extensions

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 29 Mar 2017 14:54:00 +0000

I'll be honest, we intended to talk the most useful e-commerce plugins for WordPress, but ended up talking mostly about WooCommerce. That said, there's a ton of information in here about WooCommerce plugins and extensions, including what plugins you'll need for specific functionality in WooCommerce.

Our WordPress panel this week:

Sallie Goetsch: from WP Fangirl

Jackie D’Elia: from Jackie D’Elia Design

John Locke: from Lockedown SEO

Jonathan Denwood: from WP-Tonic.com

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://liquidweb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 178

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:17 WordPres News Story #1: GoDaddy Accquires Sucuri

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/godaddy-acquires-sucuri-to-advance-digital-security-for-customers-300427537.html

13:16 WordPress News Story #2: Pippin's Plugins: Reflection on a Price Increase

https://pippinsplugins.com/reflection-on-a-price-increase/

28:52 Main Topic: Best WooComerce plugins and other e-commerce plugins for WordPress)

29:55 The importance of discovery in an e-commerce project. Things you have to consider before writing requirements on an e-commerce project.

39:50 What if you need to create a WooCommerce store in multiple languages?

44:37 Payment gateways for WooCommerce.

46:07 Some shipping plugins for WooCommerce. Some misc plugins for various functionality.

52:00 Product modification. Cart rules. Discounts for buying certain amounts. Minimum and maximum purchase rules.

56:25 Integration with WooCommerce and QuickBooks. Is it possible? Yes. Is it elegant or easy? Hmmm...

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

WPML

WooCommerce Multilingual

Polylang

Say what?

Min/Max Quantities for WooCommerce

Stripe for WooCommerce

UPS Shipping Method for WooCommerce

Shipping Tracking for WooCommerce

WooCommerce PDF Invoices

WooCommerce USPS Shipping Plugin with Print Label

WooCommerce Products Designer

Registrations for WooCommerce

Gravity Forms Product Add-ons for WooCommerce

WooCommerce Product Options

WooCommerce Advanced Fees

WooCommerce Bulk Discount

WooCommerce Tab Manager

TaxJar for WooCommerce

Integrating QuickBooks with WooCommerce

https://zapier.com/zapbook/quickbooks/woocommerce/

https://woocommerce.com/products/quickbooks-pro-cloud-cart-connector/

https://appcenter.intuit.com/quickbooks-online-with-woocommerce

=======================

Some more we didn't have time to mention:

WooCommerce EU VAT Compliance

WooCommerce Menu Cart

YITH WooCommerce Compare

WooCommerce Lightbox

WooCommerce Product Gallery Slider

Booster for WooCommerce (formerly WooCommerce Jetpack)

Ultimate WooCommerce Brands Pro

WooCommerce Email Enquiry Ultimate

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/178-best-woocommerce-plugins/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast.

177 Jackie D’Elia: Evolution of a Professional Web Developer

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 25 Mar 2017 14:00:00 +0000

Jackie D'Elia has had a long career in web development and programming. For the past several years she has been an independent WordPress developer, primarily on the Genesis platform. During the last year, Jackie has been a regular member of our Saturday podcast panel. We talk to Jackie about her experiences in web development, and what it takes to become a top-quality front-end / WordPress developer.

Jackie D'Elia Design

https://jackiedelia.com/

Rethink.FM: The forward thinking podcast for WordPress and front end development

https://rethink.fm/

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 177

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:22 Jackie's origin story into web development.

6:40 How is the WordPress community stack up compared to other web communities?

9:00 Jackie discusses her journey through WordPress, and her current setup for developing sites.

13:32 How does Jackie block out time for continuing her web learning?

17:41 What are some of the things Jackie has changed in her processes since starting her podcast, Rethink.fm?

18:59 The desktop mindset, and why agencies don't follow a content-first or mobile-first process.

23:12 Has Jackie encountered any resistance to being a web developer as a woman, or as a person of a particular age? Why these are strengths and not weaknesses.

25:50 Pros and cons between a hosted e-commerce and hosted e-commerce site. Jackie's advice for e-commerce from 10 years of running a business.

30:27 How is Jackie handling the increasing use of JavaScript in WordPress? Her recommendations for integrating JS into a website.

37:09 Jackie's methodology for staying focused.

41:10 The difference between working with a team as opposed to working by yourself.

43:48 What advice does Jackie have for solo consultants trying to make it in freelancing?

45:54 What percentage split does Jackie network among, between prospects and colleagues?

48:48 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

dBase

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBase

Thesis

http://diythemes.com/

Genesis Framework

https://github.com/postcss/postcss

PostCSS

DesktopServer

https://serverpress.com/

Novell NetWare

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetWare

Team Treehouse

https://teamtreehouse.com/

Lynda from LinkedIn

https://www.lynda.com/

Know The Code

https://knowthecode.io/

Multiple Intelligences Self-Assessment

https://www.edutopia.org/multiple-intelligences-assessment

Multiple Intelligences

http://www.institute4learning.com/resources/articles/multiple-intelligences/

Rethink.fm #8: Designing User Experiences

https://rethink.fm/podcast/episode-8-designing-user-experiences/

Rethink #1: Content First Strategy

https://rethink.fm/podcast/episode-1/

Letting Go of the Desktop Design Mindset

https://jackiedelia.com/letting-go-desktop-design-mindset/

Let's Encrypt

https://letsencrypt.org/

How to Properly Add jQuery Scripts to WordPress

https://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/adding-jquery-scripts-wordpress/

Javascript for WP

https://javascriptforwp.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/177-jackie-delia/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a twice a week WordPress podcast.

176 Our Biggest Website Mistakes

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 22 Mar 2017 14:54:00 +0000

Our WordPress panel shares the biggest mistakes they have made on website projects. If you've done one website or a thousand, chances are you will identify with at least one thing on this list. We talk not only about our botch-ups, but how our processes changed afterwards as a result. There's something for everyone in this episode.

Our WordPress panel this week:

David Hayes: from WPShout

Sallie Goetsch: from WP Fangirl

Jackie D'Elia: from Jackie D'Elia Design

Lee Jackson: from Angled Crown

John Locke: from Lockedown SEO

Jonathan Denwood: from WP-Tonic.com

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 176

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:18 WordPress News Story #1: Jetpack Introduces Theme Installation from WordPress.com, Sparks Controversy with Alternative Marketplace for Free Themes

https://wptavern.com/jetpack-introduces-theme-installation-from-wordpress-com-sparks-controversy-with-alternative-marketplace-for-free-themes

17:38 WordPress News Story #2: WooCommerce 3.0.0 Scheduled for Release April 4th

https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-3-0-0-scheduled-for-release-april-4th

26:56 Main Topic: Our Biggest Website Mistakes

27:06 Lee's classic mistake: not backing up a Multisite before updating it. Also, making assumptions about a client's expectations.

32:12 David looks at the two classes of website mistakes. How he edited a plugin in production without having FTP access. Another story about not having a restorable backup. Also, have a clear-cut business plan before you invest thousands of hours of time.

36:49 Why Jackie is obsessed with backups, and the story behind it. Don't change DNS records without having a screenshot of the old records. FTP-ing files to the wrong site.

43:01 Sallie's horror story about MX records and email forwarding. Many mistakes are around communication or discovery.

46:16 Always check out prospects before you allow them to be a client. Some scams that get run on web designers. Not all hosting panels handle DNS records the same way. Migrations are tricky.

54:05 Jonathan has some great stories about some nightmare projects. How to do research on potential clients.

59:20 John learned some lessons early on about scope, stakeholders, communication, and doing too much for too little.

1:04:27 Everyone needs their stupidly low priced website to learn their lesson. Think about what value you are providing, and how much you actually need to stay in business.

1:06:57 Jonathan has an interesting client who tried to lowball him on price.Don't lowball yourself on price. Realize your value.

1:14:48 Podcast outros

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Semantic Versioning 2.0.0

http://semver.org/

9 WordPress Experts Share Their Biggest Website Mistakes

https://wpmastery.xyz/9-wordpress-experts-share-biggest-website-mistakes/

An Easier Way to Create a Website Spec

https://angledcrown.com/website-specification/

How to create an intro packet (and why you should!)

https://erinflynn.com/intro-packet/

Hearing Impaired Web Design Scam

https://teamtreehouse.com/community/web-design-scam-heads-up

https://siteber.com/website-design-for-hearing-impaired-scam/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/176-biggest-website-mistakes/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

Join us live on WP-Tonic live, each Saturday at 9 am. We discuss the week's WordPress news, then we go deep on one WordPress topic.

https://www.wp-tonic.com/blab/

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress business podcast.

175 James Laws of Ninja Forms on Growing a WP Product Company

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 14:00:00 +0000

We talk with James Laws, founder of WP Ninjas, and co-creator of Ninja Forms. In this episode James share his insights on building a WordPress product company, managing internal growth, and advice for podcasters in the WordPress space.

WP Ninjas

https://wpninjas.com/

Mastermind.FM

http://mastermind.fm/

Adventures in Businessing

http://aib.fm

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 175

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:53 James' origin story, and getting into web development.

3:59 Where the idea for WP Ninjas originally came from.

6:35 Did the market saturation of contact form plugins dissuade James from creating another plugin?

10:50 Why sharing information helps everyone's business grow. Advice for joining a mastermind, and what James looks for in a mastermind.

13:03 How a business changes as it grows. How choosing a business model can have a significant impact on your business.

19:53 How internal process must change and adapt as your web development company grows.

25:30 How important is service and support to growth for a WordPress product?

30:39 Thoughts on marketing in the WordPress ecosystem in 2017.

39:32 Some tips for people looking to market a plugin to the WordPress ecosystem.

44:26 The importance of UX design in a WordPress plugin.

54:00 Thoughts on e-commerce with Ninja Forms.

59:00 What advice does James have for people looking to start their own podcast?

1:04:21 Podcast outros

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

WP Candy:NinjaForms plugin chops its way into WordPress Dashboards (2011)

http://wpcandy.com/reports/ninjaforms-launches-competes-with-gravityforms/

Andon (manufacturing)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andon_(manufacturing)

The Value of Sponsoring a WordCamp from a Business’ Perspective

https://wptavern.com/the-value-of-sponsoring-a-wordcamp-from-a-business-perspective

Focus Lab

http://focuslabllc.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress podcast.

174 Planning Large-Scale Web Projects

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 15 Mar 2017 14:55:00 +0000

The WP-Tonic panel looks at how to tackle large scale web projects. What sort of preparation and research goes into more complex projects? We analyze project management, organization, communication, and delegation in this can't miss episode.

==================

This Weeks WordPress Panel

Sallie Goetsch: from WP Fangirl

Christopher Hawkins: from Cogeian Systems

Kim Shivler: from White Glove Web Training

John Locke: from Lockedown SEO

Jonathan Denwood: from WP-Tonic.com

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 174

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:11 WordPress Story #1: Clef is Shutting Down June 6th

https://wptavern.com/clef-is-shutting-down-june-6th

5:56 WordPress Story #2: WordPress Collaborative Editing

https://ma.tt/2017/03/wordpress-collaborative-editing/

13:47 WordPress Story #3: Getting The Most Out of a Freemium WordPress Business Model

https://torquemag.io/2017/03/getting-freemium-wordpress-business-model/

23:52 Main Topic: Planning Large Scale Web Projects

24:47 How do you know when you have a large project on your hands?

27: 28 What factors do you have to address in large website project? What happens in discovery?

33:45 The reason you will want to do a paid discovery session instead of a free consultation on large web projects. Also, how many stakeholders should be in the room on a discovery sessions for a large project?

41:19 Breaking large projects into phases - what gets prioritized?

42:58 Handling communication between clients and web team members on a large ongoing website project.

46:09 Project management software, assignments, and timelines - making sure things get done by the right people on time.

53:05 How many meetings are the right amount? Anticipating the amount of communication that the organization will need.

55:11 What are things you need to watch out for on a large membership site?

57:27 Managing timelines and budget when it looks like you are behind schedule or over budget.

1:05:38 Rapid fire: Best advice for managing large scale web development projects.

1:10:29 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Google Authenticator

https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-authenticator/installation/

Authy

https://www.authy.com/integrations/wordpress/

Two-Factor

https://wordpress.org/plugins/two-factor/

Gather Content: How to run a website discovery session

https://gathercontent.com/blog/run-website-discovery-session

Pareto Principle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

Basecamp

https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Think-Revisited-Usability/dp/0321965515/

Don't Make Me Think, Revisted: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 3rd Edition

100k Freelancing

http://www.100kfreelancing.com/

Updating Cloudflare DNS to Use SiteGround’s MX

https://www.wpfangirl.com/2017/updating-cloudflare-dns-to-use-sitegrounds-mx/

Title Tag SEO: Optimizing Titles for Better Ranking

https://www.lockedownseo.com/title-tag-seo/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/174-large-scale-web-projects/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress podcast.

Join us every Saturday for a Live WP-Tonic show at 9 am PST. For details on the Saturday live shows, go to https://www.wp-tonic.com/blab/.

173 Emily White on Partnerships in WordPress and Building a LIfestyle Agency

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 11 Mar 2017 15:00:00 +0000

Our guest this week is Emily White, of Emily White Designs. Emily has a successful business developing custom Genesis WordPress themes with her development partner, Greg Young. Emily clearly knows her customer base and is focused on giving her clients a fantastic customer experience. This interview shows you can still be successful running a small agency.

Emily White Designs

https://www.emilywhitedesigns.com/

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 173

0:00 Podcast Intros

3:05 How Emily first got started with web design and development.

5:09 Finding a target market can be difficult. How did Emily find her target market?

6:53 Emily's thoughts on content marketing, and why she has that stance.

8:47 How Emily evolved her pricing structure over time.

12:39 What sort of client screening does Emily do to determine who she takes on as a client?

17:10 What process did Emily go through to find a development partner?

21:13 What is the difference in perception between a freelancer and an agency, even if that agency is two or three people?

23:26 The major differences in projects when you have a partnership as opposed to trying to contract out different pieces of the project.

25:20 Emily talks about working with an university on her agency's largest project to date.

28:32 Does Emily design for mobile first or desktop first on most projects?

29:35 Gathering content for web projects is a bit easier with professional bloggers.

31:51 The benefit that professional bloggers get from having a custom made design.

36:08 How Emily came to use Genesis as a theme framework, and the advantages of that community.

39:22 What advice Emily would give to budding web designers.

40:49 Steps you should take to define your ideal client.

43:45 Who else should we have on the show?

44:58 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Genesis Framework

http://5by5.tv/bigwebshow/53

The Big Web Show 53: Raising Rates (Start at about 38:27)

Basecamp

https://www.emilywhitedesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/wcsatx.pdf

Clients From Heaven (WordCamp San Antonio 2016)

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/173-emily-white-partnerships-wordpress/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress business podcast.

172 Site Architecture And SEO

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 08 Mar 2017 15:59:00 +0000

This week, we look at site structure and SEO. How does site architecture affect your search rank? We look at keyword research, internal linking, URL structure, permalinks, categories and tags, 301 redirects, setting up call-to-actions throughout the site, user experience, and more.

One of the more valuable episodes we've done this year, especially if you're trying to get your site to rank higher.

==================

This Week's WordPress Panel

Jackie D'Elia: from Jackie D'Elia Design

Lee Jackson: from LeeJacksonDev.com

Brian Jackson: from Woorkup

John Locke: from Lockedown SEO

Jonathan Denwood: from WP-Tonic.com

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 171

0:00 Podcast Intros

2:57 WordPress News Story #1: Amazon S3 Outage Hits WordPress Businesses, Disrupting Services and Support

https://wptavern.com/amazon-s3-outage-hits-wordpress-businesses-disrupting-service-and-support

11:05 WordPress News Story #2: NextGEN Gallery Patches Critical SQL Injection Vulnerability

https://wptavern.com/nextgen-gallery-patches-critical-sql-injection-vulnerability

23:10 WordPress News Story #3: Behind the Scenes – Launching a Premium WordPress Coupon Plugin

https://kinsta.com/blog/wordpress-coupon-plugin/

32:39 Main Topic: Site Architecture and SEO.

33:08 When is site structure discussed in the design process with different agencies?

35:14 Organizing content, 301 redirects, and content audits.

39:30 The value of organizing menus, internal links, and user experience.

46:24 When you add internal linking and planning user personas with call to actions, then the magic happens.

49:03 The chicken and egg problem: when you don't work on your site, you don't get business from your site, so you don't do any work on your site.

51:42 Our advice on using categories and tags for internal linking and SEO. What to index and what to noindex.

57:37 More on tags and our thoughts on breadcrumbs as internal navigation.

1:00:34 Getting users to their destination in as few clicks as possible.

1:02:26 How effective are footer links for internal linking? Should you use these with optimized anchor text to increase your SEO for certain pages?

1:04:52 What is the correlation between social shares, traffic and ranking? What strategy can you use to boost pages?

1:08:48 Does engagement, like comments, have a difference on SEO?

1:12:00 What is an ideal URL structure for SEO? How short or long should your URLs be for ideal ranking?

1:16:50 Are there pages that you should noindex in Yoast?

1:18:54 What are some tools you can use for keyword research?

1:21:16 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Intercom: Customer Messaging Platform

https://www.intercom.com/

What the Dormouse Said

https://www.amazon.com/What-Dormouse-Said-Counterculture-Personal/dp/0143036769

SEMrush

https://www.semrush.com/

WordPress SEO Checklist: 45 Tips for 2017

https://kinsta.com/blog/wordpress-seo-checklist/

KW Finder

https://kwfinder.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/172-site-architecture-seo/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress development and maintenance service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast.

171 Mario Peshev: WordPress in the Enterprise

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 04 Mar 2017 15:00:00 +0000

WordPress architect Mario Peshev joins us to talk WordPress in the enterprise. Mario is the founder and CEO of DevriX, a 25 person WordPress agency. He also is a core contributor to WordPress and a frequent speaker on web development.

Mario Peshev at DevWP.eu

http://devwp.eu/

DevriX:

http://devrix.com/

Mario Peshev on Twitter

https://twitter.com/no_fear_inc

Digital Growth with Mario Peshev

http://www.digitalgrowth.co/

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 171

0:00 Podcast Intros

3:08 The origin story of Mario Peshev and DevriX

5:41 What is the perception of WordPress agencies at the enterprise level compared to other web development agencies?

8:55 How is the REST API affecting enterprise level WordPRess projects?

11:53 How does DevriX understand the needs of enterprise customers and attract them to their agency?

16:07 What role client education plays in charging premium rates. Showing the ROI of a project so clients make a wise investment.

20:01 Advice on specialization and differentiation. What to focus on and what to avoid.

24:48 Are people who call WordPress "spaghetti code" talking hot garbage?

27:43 Should WordPress core eventually become a more modular system?

29:39 Is there any fundamental difference between what can be produced with Drupal and WordPress?

34:15 Security for WordPress and the REST API.

38:46 In web development, you get what you pay for.

43:21 Thoughts on the past, present, and future of WordPress.

44:34 Mario's recommendations for levelling up as a web developer.

47:58 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

On WordPress Development Retainers

http://devwp.eu/on-wordpress-development-retainers/

The $15 WordPress Gig

http://devwp.eu/15-wordpress-gig/

BackPress

https://backpress.org/

Why WooMattic is big news for small businesses

http://buytaert.net/why-woonattic-is-big-news-for-small-businesses

Josh Pollock - Exceed Expectations with the REST API

https://joshpress.net/rest-api/

http://learnjosh.staging.wpengine.com/downloads/exceed-expectations-with-the-rest-api/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/171-mario-peshev-enterprise-wordpress/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress podcast where we talk to some of the most successful people in web development, online marketing, and business.

170 What's The Value of Participating in the WordPress Community?

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 01 Mar 2017 15:40:00 +0000

In this episode, we look at the value of participating in the WordPress community, both offline and online. Is there anything substantial to be gained from befriending people who do the same thing that you do?

Join us every Saturday at 9 am PST for our live show where you can ask WordPress tech questions and be part of the discussion.

To see a list upcoming Saturday shows go to the WP-Tonic website.

https://www.wp-tonic.com/blab/

==================

WordPress panel for Episode 170:

Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

================

Table of Contents for Episode 170:

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:25 WordPress News Story #1: Cloudflare Memory Leak Exposes Private Data

https://wptavern.com/cloudflare-memory-leak-exposes-private-data

Incident report on memory leak caused by Cloudflare parser bug

https://blog.cloudflare.com/incident-report-on-memory-leak-caused-by-cloudflare-parser-bug/

Cloudflare Data Leak: How to Secure Your Site

https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2017/02/cloudflare-data-leak/

7:31 WordPress Story #2: WordPress Core Editor Team Publishes UI Prototype for “Gutenberg,” an Experimental Block Based Editor

https://wptavern.com/wordpress-core-editor-team-publishes-ui-prototype-for-gutenberg-an-experimental-block-based-editor

13:31 WordPress News Story #3: Should I use the WordPress Jetpack plugin on my site?

http://chrislema.com/wordpress-jetpack-plugin/

19:47 Main Topic: What's the Value of participating in the WordPress Community?

20:16 What is the big value of being a part of the WordPress Meetups and WordCamps?

26:15 Do people refer work to you when they get to know you at the local WordPress Meetup? Does participating in the Meetup lead to more work?

29:47 Why is there resistance from general web agencies in each city to participating in the WordPress community?

34:56 A strong Meetup group is the prerequisite to hosting an annual WordCamp.

38:11 How do you prevent burnout when you are a Meetup organizer?

42:25 How do get involved in the WordPress community online? (For the introverts in the crowd).

46:55 Is there a competitive advantage to participating in the WordPress community if you use WordPress as a tool to build websites?

52:05 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Slimpack - Lightweight Jetpack

https://wordpress.org/plugins/slimpack/

Tech Liminal

https://techliminal.com/

Reno Collective

http://renocollective.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/170-wordpress-community/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and development service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress podcast where we talk to some of the brightest minds in web development, online marketing, and business.

169 AJ Morris & Chris Lema of LiquidWeb

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Fri, 24 Feb 2017 20:52:00 +0000

Chris Lema and AJ Morris of Liquid Web stop by to talk product innovation, hosting, and the WordPress community.

We're also joined by our WordPress panel for this special episode.

Cast for Episode 169:

AJ Morris: https://ajmorris.me/

Chris Lema: http://chrislema.com/

Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Lee Jackson https://trailblazer.fm

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 169:

0:00 Podcast intros.

4:03 Why did Chris choose LiquidWeb as his next company to join? What criteria did he evaluate?

7:48 How do you differentiate yourself in a market where you are not first to market?

10:45 Why LiquidWeb can still cover a lot of space in the WordPress hosting space, and areas that many managed WordPress hosts fail to cover.

17:35 Building a new product for customers that will be useful for updates.

19:45 Evaluating the competition in the WordPress hosting space and working with restraints.

24:38 Picking a strategic target for your hosting product so you can deliver maximum value.

28:28 Looking for the gaps in the existing market, and does that gap constitute a market?

31:04 Why GoDaddy may have bought WP Curve and how they are trying to consolidate their market segments.

35:37 Layers of security in the stack below the application, the network levels and infrastructure levels.

40:59 Timeline for continued support for Multisite on LiquidWeb.

42:32 Accepting the rules of the WordPress ecosystem, and working within those constraints. Predicting the decisions about the future of WordPress.

49:38 Insider baseball posts don't talk to customers - they talk to the 5000 people who are the super-inside WordPress Community.

54:03 In software development cycles, what's old is new again.

57:52 How important is it to be involved in the WordPress community to market to the WordPress community and their customers? The hidden benefit of community on your marketing message.

1:03:18 Podcast outros.

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/169-aj-morris-chris-lema-liquidweb/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and development service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk to some of the brightest minds in web development, online marketing, and business.

168 What is User Experience Design?

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 22 Feb 2017 15:57:00 +0000

We look at the role of user experience design in web design. How does UX differ from other disciplines in web design and development?

Our panel this week:

Krissie VandeNoord: http://krissievandenoord.com/

Sallie Goetsch: https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Jackie D'Elia: https://jackiedelia.com/

Kim Shivler: https://whiteglovewebtraining.com/

http://web.archive.org/web/20170214062414/https://medium.com/@CiPHPerCoder/stopmullware-on-the-security-of-27-of-the-websites-on-the-internet-298a7e5b6871

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com/

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 168

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:16 WordPress News Story #1: #StopMullware — On the Security of 27% of the Websites on the Internet

Matt Mullenweg Responds to Security Rant: Digital Signatures for WordPress Updates Are Important but Not a Priority

https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-responds-to-security-rant-digital-signatures-for-wordpress-updates-are-important-but-not-a-priority

14:32 WordPress News Story #2: WordPress REST API Vulnerability Exploits Continue

https://wptavern.com/wordpress-rest-api-vulnerability-exploits-continue

RCE Attempts Against the Latest WordPress REST API Vulnerability

https://blog.sucuri.net/2017/02/rce-attempts-against-the-latest-wordpress-rest-api-vulnerability.html

A Feeding Frenzy to Deface WordPress Sites

https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2017/02/rest-api-exploit-feeding-frenzy-deface-wordpress-sites/

25:38 WordPress News Story #3: How Many WordPress Plugins is Too Many? The Answer Might Surprise You

https://wplift.com/how-many-wordpress-plugins

Main Topic: What is UX Design?

32:22 What is UX? How does it differ from other web design disciplines?

36:01 What are the impacts of bad user experience or not considering UX?

39:40 What impact does UX have on something like an online course?

44:59 Why are UX and UI confused so often? What are the real differences between user experience design and user interface design?

46:25 Where does UX design fit into the larger design plan? When does user research get presented to visual designers and back-end engineers?

49:35 Balancing usability and functionality.

56:38 Some recommendations for UX resources to learn from.

1:07:55 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Rethink.fm Episode #8: Designing User Experiences

http://rethink.fm/podcast/episode-8-designing-user-experiences/

Lucky Orange

http://www.luckyorange.com/

Tragic Design

http://tragicdesign.com/

Foundations of UX: Content Strategy

https://www.lynda.com/Content-Strategy-tutorials/Foundations-UX-Content-Strategy/473877-2.html

Foundations of UX: Logic and Content

https://www.lynda.com/Web-Interaction-Design-tutorials/Foundations-UX-Logic-Content/141156-2.html

Human Factors Intl

http://www.humanfactors.com/

User Testing

https://www.usertesting.com/

Feedbackerr

http://feedbackerr.com/

DarkPatterns.org

https://darkpatterns.org/

Design of Everday things

https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Donald-Norman/dp/1452654123

Just Enough Research

https://abookapart.com/products/just-enough-research

Designing for Emotion

https://abookapart.com/products/designing-for-emotion

Don't Make Me Think

https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Make-Think-Revisited-Usability/dp/0321965515/

Crazy Egg

https://www.crazyegg.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/168-user-experience-design/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

167 Tim Brown on Freelancing, Web Design, and SEO

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 18 Feb 2017 15:00:00 +0000

Tim Brown is someone that if you haven't heard of him yet, you soon will. A web designer, marketer, and WordPress fanatic from Minneapolis, MN, Tim has been building his personal brand while working full time at a local agency. Seriously, Tim publishes quality content like a beast, and has earned every bit of his success.

In this episode, Tim will share his experiences in both freelancing, organizing projects, SEO, and marketing your brand.

You can learn more about Tim at https://timbdesign.com/

Follow Tim Brown on Twitter: https://twitter.com/timbdesignmpls

Read Tim's book, WordPress Development For Noobs:
https://timbdesign.com/wp

It's a Code World (Tim Brown's podcast - highly recommended)
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/its-a-code-world/id1002926993?mt=2

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 167

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:31 Tim's origin story. How did he get into web design and development?

6:20 How does Tim address the three pillars of web projects (content, design, development)?

11:40 How does working for an agency and being a freelance web designer differ?

17:52 Building your personal brand and getting through The Dip.

22:25 Why Tim is not afraid to put the spotlight on other web designers in Minneapolis.

25:41 Thoughts on conversion rate optimization and SEO.

32:31 How does Tim display his value to prospects on his website to blow away his competitors?

37:20 How Tim structures his Statement of Work and Functionality Documents to prevent scope creep during a project.

40:36 Clients don't always fear high price. Here's what Tim does to make clients feel less fearful about working with him.

48:48 Tim's advice when it comes to SEO.

55:04 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Snap Agency

https://www.snapagency.com/

SeanWes: The Overlap Technique

http://seanwes.com/podcast/052-the-overlap-technique/

http://seanwes.com/podcast/137-the-overlap-technique-a-crash-course/

The Dip (Seth Godin)

https://www.amazon.com/Dip-Little-Book-Teaches-Stick/dp/1591841666

Press Release Rocket

http://www.pressreleaserocket.net/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/167-tim-brown-freelancing-seo/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress development and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk to some of the brightest minds in web development, online marketing, and business.

166 Best Social Media Tools for 2017

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:03:00 +0000

In this week's WordPress panel, we looked at social media tools and services. What tools do we use to share, track, and accelerate social media engagement?

We also talk social media strategies, and what platforms are giving us the best returns.

We do a live show every Saturday at 9am PST. You can find details about each Saturday show here: https://www.wp-tonic.com/blab/

=======

Our panel this week:

Sallie Goetsch

https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Lee Jackson

https://trailblazer.fm/

Morten Rand-Hendriksen

https://mor10.com/

Jackie D'Elia

https://jackiedelia.com/ and http://rethink.fm/

Jonathan Denwood

https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke

Lockedown SEO

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 166

0:00 Podcast intros.

6:00 WordPress News Story #1: WPWeekly Episode 262 – Interview With Morten Rand-Hendriksen

https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-262-interview-with-morten-rand-hendriksen

The Case for WordPress Telemetry

https://mor10.com/the-case-for-wordpress-telemetry/

24:19 WordPress News Story #2: WordPress.org Releases Plans For Customization In 2017

https://torquemag.io/2017/01/wordpress-org-releases-plans-customization-2017/

34:19 Main Topic: Social Media Tools

34:21 What tools are you using for social media? What platforms are you focusing on?

48:45 Some tools that we have used, and social tools that we are experimenting with.

1:03:40 YouTube as a social network.

1:06:34 We mourn the loss of Blab, and what could have been for that network.

1:10:39 Podcast Outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Gutenberg

https://wordpress.github.io/gutenberg/

EA Share Count

http://www.billerickson.net/share-count-plugin/

Social Warfare

https://warfareplugins.com/

Buffer

https://buffer.com/app

165 WP-Tonic: Mojca Marš – All About Facebook Ads

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/165-mojca-mars-facebook-ads/

Edgar

https://meetedgar.com/

Social Networks Auto Poster {SNAP}

http://www.nextscripts.com/social-networks-auto-poster-for-wordpress/

WP Innovator on Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/wpinnovator/

Scriptless Social Sharing

https://wordpress.org/plugins/scriptless-social-sharing/

DrumUp - Content Marketing & Social Media Management Tool

https://drumup.io/

Hootsuite

https://hootsuite.com/

Feedly

https://feedly.com/

BuzzSumo

http://buzzsumo.com/

CoSchedule - Content Marketing Editorial Calendar Software

http://coschedule.com/

GaggleAmp

https://www.gaggleamp.com/

Social Rabbit

https://socialrabbitplugin.com/

Likealyzer

http://likealyzer.com/

Spokal

http://www.getspokal.com/

Social Media Colors reference

https://www.lockedownseo.com/social-media-colors/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/166-social-media-tools-2017/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk to some of the brightest minds in web development, online marketing, and business.

165 Mojca Marš: All About Facebook Ads

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 11 Feb 2017 15:00:00 +0000

Social media consultant Mojca Marš returns to tell us all about Facebook ads and why they are so effective.

http://superspicymedia.com/

=============

Table of Contents for Episode 165

0:00 Podcast Intros

2:53 What things is Mojca applying in her business that's allowing her to double her income from last year?

4:34 Why Mojca recommends Facebook ads above other social media lead generation channels.

6:20 The reason you would want to invest in Facebook advertising for content promotion.

8:26 What is the Facebook Pixel? And why should you have that on your website?

13:14 More on pay-per-actions in Facebook advertising.

14:39 What you need to know about boosting posts on Facebook.

19:11 Did you know that you can import your email list to Facebook and create a Custom Audience from that?

21:38 You can also create a lookalike audience from that uploaded email list.

22:54 Some useful information about Lead Ads on Facebook.

28:35 What are some of the resources that Mojca recommends for Facebook training (outside of Super Spicy Media)?

32:36 The value of testing different ad campaigns on Facebook, and predicting campaign success.

35:14 Should you use long form content in Facebook campaigns?

37:54 Whats a good guideline for the text on image ratio?

40:51 Podcast outros and where to find Mojca on the web.

Mojca's email course on Facebook advertising:

http://superspicymedia.com/fbads/

Mojca Marš on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/mojcamars

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

AdEspresso Academy

https://adespresso.com/academy/

039/040 WP-Tonic: Jon Loomer Interview Part 1 & 2

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/jon-loomer-long-game-part-1/

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/040-wp-tonic-jon-loomer-interview-part-2/

Leadpages Facebook Advertising Course

https://lps.leadpages.net/facebook-advertising-course/

===================

Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for 6 months on managed WordPress hosting for our viewers.

Head over to https://www.liquidweb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your 33% discount.

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/165-mojca-mars-facebook-ads/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress development and maintenance shop, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress podcast where we talk to some of the most successful people in web development, online marketing, and business.

164 Differences Between an eCommerce and Regular Web Project

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 08 Feb 2017 15:12:00 +0000

We have a great discussion here with Cody Landefeld, co-founder of Mode Effect, a WordPress ecommerce agency that has worked with Fortune 500 companies.

We talk with Cody about some of the difference between a regular web project and an eCommerce web project. What should you be preparing for with eCommerce that is different from regular web development?

You can learn more about Cody at https://modeeffect.com/

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 164

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:55 WordPress News Story #1: Logging Into WooCommerce.com Now Requires a WordPress.com Account

https://wptavern.com/logging-into-woocommerce-com-now-requires-a-wordpress-com-account

9:29 WordPress Story #2: Content Injection Vulnerability in WordPress 4.7 and 4.7.1

https://blog.sucuri.net/2017/02/content-injection-vulnerability-wordpress-rest-api.html

16:45 WordPress Story #3: WordPress Telemetry Proposal Addresses Long-Standing Privacy Concerns as GDPR Compliance Deadline Looms

https://wptavern.com/wordpress-telemetry-proposal-addresses-long-standing-privacy-concerns-as-gdpr-compliance-deadline-looms

23:02 What are things that clients do not realize about the preparation involved in an ecommerce project?

28:00 What components differ between a marketing website to an ecommerce site?

32:00 Jonathan's recommendation for an ecommerce store with zero track record (aka a brand new site with an inexperienced site owner).

34:58 Cody's opinion on first-time ecommerce businesses, and what he asks prospects to determine if WooCommerce is a good fit for them.

40:01 How content and product stories fit into driving traffic to an ecommerce site.

42:28 How email marketing can help build anticipation for a product launch.

46:21 What things take ecommerce site owners by surprise?

49:36 Which platforms and secondary channels should an ecommerce store have products on in addition to their website?

52:37 Advice for intertwining a bricks and mortar store and online store?

58:46 Thoughts on ecommerce and mobile.

1:01:44 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Your Website Isn't Field of Dreams

https://www.lockedownseo.com/your-website-isnt-field-of-dreams/

Jimmy Beans Wool

https://www.jimmybeanswool.com/class.asp

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/164-ecommerce-website-vs-regular-website/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress development service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress podcast where we talk to some of the brightest minds in web development, online marketing, and business.

163 Philip Morgan on Positioning Your Web Agency

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 21:15:15 +0000

Consultant Philip Morgan discusses positioning in a crowded market. He literally wrote the book on positioning for technical firms.

Philip helps technical consultants, like web development shops, find a specialized position in a generalized world. This specialization, in turn, helps those firms strengthen their expertise in a specific niche and command higher rates.

We really enjoyed this interview with Philip Morgan. Philip focuses on helping web agencies, freelancers, and small businesses position themselves online. Philip has some strong ideas connected to positioning and we highly advise you to listen to his ideas.

You can learn more about Philip at https://philipmorganconsulting.com/

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 161

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:32 Why is being a generalist so hard for lead generation?

7:35 How scarcity mindset keeps us from moving towards specialization.

15:03 What buyers really want is trust. What actions can agencies do to build up trust?

19:55 How do you build up to owning a word in people's minds?

26:23 Winning mindshare when you are competing against large entities requires different strategies than they use.

29:29 Risk is a consideration when planning a positioning change. A financial buffer is a good idea. Positioning is along term strategy.

34:15 What are buyers thinking, either consciously or unconsciously, when making a buying decision?

38:01 Does "award-winning" mean anything to clients? Under what circumstances does it mean something?

39:21 What are the two things that you can't fake when it comes to what you put on your website?

40:11 What types of clients look for a one-stop shop for web development and marketing? Is being a full-service agency exclusively bad or good?

43:47 When it comes to picking a specialization, what are the criteria an agency should look at?

47:48 What sorts of things should you be highlighting in case studies on your website?

50:50 Podcast outros

===================

Links mentioned during this episode:

The Positioning Manual for Technical Firms

https://philipmorganconsulting.com/the-positioning-manual-for-technical-firms/

Clutch: B2B Research

https://clutch.co/

Build a Better Agency Episode 20: Define Your Mission, Vision, and Values, with Drew McLellan.

http://buildabetteragency.com/drew-mclellan-solocast-episode-4/

David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

https://www.amazon.com/David-Goliath-Underdogs-Misfits-Battling/dp/0316204374

Positioning Crash Course

https://positioningcrashcourse.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/163-philip-morgan-positioning-your-business/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress development support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk to some of the brightest minds in web development, online marketing, and business.

162 Jeremy Keith on the Resiliency of the Web

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 04 Feb 2017 15:00:00 +0000

Web pioneer Jeremy Keith talks with us about the resiliency of the web, upcoming innovations in CSS and browser support, native vs. web, and what he's excited about in web development.

You can follow him on his site at https://adactio.com/.

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of hosting.

Head over to https://liquidweb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 161

0:00 Podcast intros.

2:16 Resilient Web Design, and how the past influences the future

4:42 Has the web gotten too complex? How has the evolution of the web influenced our job roles?

9:19 What brings about an obsession with tools rather than underlying principles?

11:54 What was it like during the Web Standards movement, and why is that important today?

17:29 What things that are going to be supported by browsers in the next year are making you excited? Both CSS and JS APIs?

23:18 If you're a developer, what is your advice for people wanting to experiment more with emerging browser technologies?

26:27 What's Jeremy's view of the WordPress ecosystem and community?

31:12 Native vs web is not a productive argument. Both will exist side-by-side forever.

36:50 Things you once you could only do in Flash, you can now do with CSS and SVG.

38:05 Thoughts on voice recognition, artificial intelligence, and touch screens.

46:27 Why Clearleft stays always from having a CMS of choice and stays dedicated to front end development.

49:27 What are the biggest misconceptions people have about progressive enhancement?

53:00 Podcast outros.

55:10 Bonus Content.

55:12 Why the biggest threat to the web isn't technical, but cultural.

58:40 Is internet surveillance a reason people might be fearful of using the web in the future?

Why the heart of the web has always been decentralization, and how monolithic platforms are a threat to the openness of the original web.

===================

Links mentioned during this episode:

Clearleft

http://clearleft.com/

HTML5 For Web Designers

https://abookapart.com/products/html5-for-web-designers

Designing with Web Standards (3rd Edition)

https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Web-Standards-Jeffrey-Zeldman/dp/0321616952

Resilient Web Design
https://resilientwebdesign.com/

Codepen

http://codepen.io/

JSBin

https://jsbin.com/

GitHub

https://github.com/

Scott Jenson: Mobile Apps Must Die (2011)

https://jenson.org/mobile-apps-must-die/

Once Upon a Forest (Flash site)

http://www.once-upon-a-forest.com/

Praystation (Flash site)

http://ps3.praystation.com/pound/v2/

Hype Cycle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle

http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/methodologies/hype-cycle.jsp

CraftCMS

https://craftcms.com/

Tragedy of the Commons

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tragedy-of-the-commons.asp

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/162-jeremy-keith/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress development and maintenance service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress podcast where we talk to some of the brightest minds in web development, online marketing, and business.

161 Pricing Models For Web Design & Development Client Services

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 15:13:00 +0000

Following up our previous episode with a discussion on different types of pricing for web design and development services.

How do we price our projects? Hourly? Fixed fee? Project rate? Blended rate? Value based?

We also talk about some of the mistakes we've made in pricing projects, and the #1 step we recommend to estimating web development projects more accurately.

Our WordPress panel this week:

Kim Shivler: http://howtobuildanonlinecourse.com/

Jackie D'Elia: https://jackiedelia.com/

Lee Jackson: http://leejacksondev.com/

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com/

Sallie Goetsch: https://www.wpfangirl.com/

John Locke: Lockedown SEO

Episode 161 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast intros

3:24 WordPress News Story #1: Wix Removes GPL-Licensed WordPress Code from Mobile App, Forks Original MIT Library

https://wptavern.com/wix-removes-gpl-licensed-wordpress-code-from-mobile-app-forks-original-mit-library

10:59 WordPress New Story #2: How News Corp Australia made WordPress scale

http://www.itnews.com.au/news/how-news-corp-australia-made-wordpress-scale-448150

18:29 WordPress New Story #3: What is the Discovery Phase and Why Do I Need It?

http://zao.is/blog/2017/01/25/what-is-the-discovery-phase-and-why-do-i-need-it/

30:20 Main Topic: Pricing Models for Web Design and Development Services

30:29 What is your current pricing model and how did you come to this pricing model?

48:19 What needs to be in place to be able to sell value pricing.

53:18 For the panel, were there any points where the light bulb went on for you regarding pricing?

1:00:50 Was there ever a time where you didn't get a job because your price was too low (or high)?

1:09:34 Podcast outros

======================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/161-pricing-models-web-design-development/

======================

Be sure to leave a detailed review for WP-Tonic on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is the publisher of a WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the most successful people in WordPress development, business, and online marketing.

160 Value Pricing With Jonathan Stark

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 28 Jan 2017 15:00:00 +0000

In episode 160, consultant Jonathan Stark tells us why hourly billing is nuts.

Jonathan Stark built a six figure solo consultancy by ditching hourly billing for value-based fees. He has a decade of real-world experience successfully applying value-based theories to software development projects. With his coaching program, he teaches freelancers, solo consultants, and boutique firm owners how to do the same.

You can join his daily email list at: https://expensiveproblem.com/daily

You can also sign up at: https://valuepricingbootcamp.com

==================

Our episode this week is sponsored by WP Security Audit Log

https://www.wpsecurityauditlog.com

Use Coupon Code WPTONIC25 for 25% off your checkout.

==================

Table of Contents for Episode 160

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:32 How does value based pricing differ from traditional hourly billing?

4:55 Hourly billing puts the client and service provider at cross-purposes.

6:10 What are the side effects of basing project work on hourly pricing as opposed to value based pricing?

9:05 Is value pricing evil? How does discovery differ between an hourly project and a value-based project?

16:10 Why value pricing is the only way to guarantee 100% customer satisfaction.

18:31 Why discovery doesn't work with hourly pricing.

19:38 The reason most agencies and freelancers default to hourly billing instead of value based pricing.

24:46 What's a good way to transition into value pricing?

30:56 Thoughts on paid discovery, productized consulting, and retainers.

46:50 Podcast outros.

48:26 Bonus content begins.

48:32 The thing you must keep in mind when selling a retainer offering.

51:58 Become a recognized expert by your buyers, not your peers.

56:56 How do you decide on an area of specialization?

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/160-value-pricing-jonathan-stark/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress support and development service, and the publisher of a twice-weekly WordPress business podcast, where we talk to the sharpest minds in web development, business, nad online marketing.

159 Round Table: Contact Forms for WordPress

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 15:39:00 +0000

We take a look at the growing ecosystem of contact forms for WordPress. Which ones should you check out? Which are best for your project? What types of functionality exist in contact forms in 2017?

===================

Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for 6 months on managed WordPress hosting for our viewers. Head over to https://www.liquidweb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your 33% discount.

===================

Our panel this week:

Kim Shivler https://howtobuildanonlinecourse.com/

Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

Table of Contents for Episode 159: WordPress Contact Forms

0:00 Podcast Intros

3:23 WordPress New Story #1: Jetpack 4.5 Expands Monetization with WordAds Integration

https://wptavern.com/jetpack-4-5-expands-monetization-with-wordads-integration

12:51 WordPress Story #2: Is business growth the best metric to focus on? CozmosLabs 2016 year in review.

https://www.cozmoslabs.com/76202-business-growth-best-metric-focus-2016-year-review/

23:46 WordPress Story #3: Postmatic Basic Rebrands as Replyable, Moves Two-Way Email Commenting to SaaS Product

https://wptavern.com/postmatic-basic-rebrands-as-replyable-moves-two-way-email-commenting-to-saas-product

32:24 Main Topic: Contact Forms for WordPress

32:26 How are people using contact forms in 2017?

36:29 Choice for contact form plugins has increased. And the types of sites that still have room for improvements with contact forms.

39:50 Pros and cons of Contact Form 7.

43:40 Thoughts on Ninja Forms. A few words on the Jetpack contact form.

46:39 Sallie breaks down how pricing models make a difference with choosing a contact form plugin.

50:06 John's thoughts on Caldera Forms.

53:11 A description of WPForms.

55:31 Lots of discussion on Gravity Forms.

1:03:05 Kim talks about her experience with Formidable Forms.

1:06:23 Not a plugin, but a service to check out, called Typeform.

1:10:09 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Gravity Forms

http://www.gravityforms.com/

Contact Form 7

https://wordpress.org/plugins/contact-form-7/

Ninja Forms

https://wordpress.org/plugins/ninja-forms/

https://ninjaforms.com/extensions/

Jetpack Contact Form

https://jetpack.com/support/contact-form/

Contact Forms for Marketo

https://developers.marketo.com/javascript-api/forms/

Caldera Forms

https://calderaforms.com/

WPForms

https://wpforms.com/

Zapier

https://zapier.com/

Formidable Forms

https://formidableforms.com/

Typeform

https://www.typeform.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/159-contact-forms-for-wordpress/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and development company, and publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of our favorite people in WordPress development, business, and online marketing.

158 Rachel Andrew Talks CSS Grid and Perch CMS

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 21 Jan 2017 15:00:00 +0000

This week, we are blessed to have Rachel Andrew as our guest. Rachel is an accomplished web developer, co-founder of Perch CMS, a Google Developer Expert, an invited expert to the CSS Working Group (which sets the direction for how CSS works in the future).

For the past four years, Rachel has also been the leading authority on CSS Grid, which is set to be supported in most major browsers in early 2017.

We're very glad Rachel spent some time with us, and talked about both the past and the bright future of the web.

You can find Rachel in various places. Here are just a few:

Website: https://rachelandrew.co.uk/

Perch CMS: https://grabaperch.com/

Edge of My Seat: http://www.edgeofmyseat.com/

Table of Contents for Episode 158

0:00 Podcast intros

2:50 Rachel's origin story: How she became a web developer

5:05 Are we entering the next Golden Age of the web? Especially when it comes to CSS and layout?

8:24 Have CSS frameworks killed the creativity of the web? Will CSS Grid end up being a replacement for Bootstrap? Or will industry-wide the creativity return?

11:12 What are some of the things that you will be able to do with CSS Grid as browser support becomes more widespread?

13:26 Why do CSS specifications take so long to get full implementation in browsers?

20:33 What are some ways that the Perch CMS differs from other CMS like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla?

23:45 What have some of the challenges been developing and supporting a CMS?

26:15 How has the growth been with the e-commerce add-on for Perch?

28:33 Have Rachel and Drew ever considered taking VC money to invest in Perch? Why or why not?

30:23 What are Rachel's thoughts on open-source, and how does open-source contribute to the development of the web? Is there a balance that needs to be struck between donated time and sustainability?

36:12 How the Perch business model is both sustainable and supporting the growth of the agencies that use it.

37:45 Why Perch is built to be streamlined, and why that is in the best interest of the businesses that build their sites on top of Perch?

41:30 Does Rachel feel that hosted solutions like Wix or Squarespace are the main competition to Perch? How has the market for websites changed in recent years?

45:00 Rachel says specialization is the way to stand out as a web service provider.

48:59 Podcast outros.

===================

Other Links mentioned during the show:

CSS Zen Garden

http://www.csszengarden.com/

Grid By Example

http://gridbyexample.com/

Using Flexible Boxes (MDN)

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_Flexible_Box_Layout/Using_CSS_flexible_boxes

W3C CSS Working Group

https://www.w3.org/Style/CSS/members.en.php3

CSS Working Group - Drafts on GitHub

https://github.com/w3c/csswg-drafts

Perch Runway 3 as a Headless CMS

https://grabaperch.com/blog/archive/perch-runway-3-as-a-headless-cms

The High Price of Free

http://alistapart.com/article/the-high-price-of-free

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/158-rachel-andrew-perch-css-grid/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress support and development service, and the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast. On our podcast, we talk to some of the brightest people in web development, online marketing,and business.

157 Coordinating Complex Site Migrations

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 15:43:00 +0000

Our WordPress panel discusses the planning, coordination, and execution of a complex site migration from one hosting environment to another. We'll also cover what type of content planning you'll need to put together when moving from one platform to another (like from an external CMS to WordPress.)

Our panel this week:

Sallie Goetsch: https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Jackie D'Elia: https://jackiedelia.com/

Robert Abela: https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/

Jonathan Denwood: https://www.wp-tonic.com/

https://wptavern.com/tom-mcfarlin-to-launch-marketplace-for-blogging-plugins-finds-new-maintainer-for-wordpress-org-plugins

Table of Contents for Episode 157

0:00 Podcast Intros

3:15 WordPress Story #1: Tom McFarlin to Launch Marketplace for Blogging Plugins, Finds New Maintainer for WordPress.org Plugins

10:42 WordPress Story #2: What makes a great editor?

https://make.wordpress.org/design/2017/01/11/what-makes-a-great-editor/

27:39 WordPress Story #3: WordPress Hosting Review 2017: The Results

https://wpshout.com/wordpress-hosting-review-2017-results/

39:32 Main Topic: Coordinating Complex Site Migrations

39:42 Why would someone want to migrate their site to a new host or platform?

41:41 Some things that should be on your migration checklist. Some things to look out for when setting up your website.

47:16 Separation of DNS concerns, and a debate on A Records vs CNAME Records for DNS.

49:20 Moving email from CPanel or Plesk requires some planning. How do you move email archives from your hosting server to another service?

53:50 A great definition of site migration.

55:00 Sallie describes a complex migration, and how to migrate comments, and moving categories into different custom posts types (starting from just Posts).

58:43 Why you should plan 301 redirects and site mapping far in advance of the site migration.< /p>

1:00:53 Making a strong case for doing a content audit before the site migration.

1:03:20 Be sure to change the TTL (Time to Live) in your DNS days before the migration.

1:07:38 Is migrating a website on a Friday a bad idea?

1:15:07 Our recommendations for tools to make tricky site migrations a bit easier.

1:24:13 Closing thoughts and podcast outros.

===================

LInks mentioned during the show:

CMS 2 CMS

https://cms2cms.com/

Zoho Email

https://www.zoho.com/mail/

GSuite

https://gsuite.google.com/

Migrate Email Between Servers Using IMAP

https://mediatemple.net/community/products/dv/204405444/how-do-i-migrate-email-between-servers-using-imap

Moving Email

http://www.how2lab.com/internet/email/moving-emails.php

Migratng Comments in WordPress with Disqus

http://rockt.tech/migrating-comments-wordpress-disqus/

Post Type Switcherhttps://wordpress.org/plugins/post-type-switcher/

HTML Import 2 Plugin

http://stephanieleary.com/code/wordpress/html-import/

Term Management Tools

https://wordpress.org/plugins/term-management-tools/

WP All Import

http://www.wpallimport.com/

BigDump

http://www.ozerov.de/bigdump/

WP Migrate DB Pro

https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/

Better Search Replace

https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-search-replace/

BackupBuddy

https://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy/

Duplicator

https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/

BlogVault

https://blogvault.net/

Updraft Plus Premium

https://updraftplus.com/shop/updraftplus-premium/

WP Engine Automated Migration

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-site-migrate/

===================

Thanks to our sponsor for this episode:, WP Security Audit Log

https://www.wpsecurityauditlog.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/157-complex-site-migrations/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a WordPress development and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast, where we talk to some of the most successful people in web development, online marketing, and business.

156 Carrie Dils Returns to Talk Teaching, Podcasting, and Genesis

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 14 Jan 2017 15:00:00 +0000

Carrie Dils returns to WP-Tonic for her third appearance. She is the queen of the Genesis Framework and also the host of the popular Office Hours FM podcast.

We ask her about the future of Genesis, multiple income streams, teaching courses, and podcasting.

You can find Carrie at https://carriedils.com/.

She also hosts one of the top WordPress podcasts at https://officehours.fm/.

Episode 156 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast intros

1:23 Carrie's origin story and how she got into web development.

2:48 How has the WordPress ecosystem changed over the past few years?

5:03 Has the bar gotten higher for making a living in the WordPress community?

6:29 What advice would you give to WordPress entrepreneurs?

8:45 The value of positioning and hiring for roles that you don't enjoy.

10:39 We all want diversification of revenue streams. How did Carrie build multiple streams of revenue?

12:31 Some practical advice on podcasting and teaching.

15:38 How important is it to teach others? How does this build your authority for the future?

18:17 The hidden value of hosting a WordPress podcast.

21:28 How does Carrie balance all the things she has going at any one time?

24:15 Carrie's insights on WordCamp US 2016.

27:11 Thoughts on the announcements about the release schedule of WordPress cycles in 2017.

30:40 Recent WordPress news that Carrie finds positive.

31:21 Thoughts on Genesis in combination with Beaver Builder.

33:10 How Genesis is different from vanilla WordPress, and how it is similar.

37:28 Carries thoughts on putting content behind a paywall and types of membership sites that work.

40:30 Thoughts on work-life balance, and what true freedom in entrepreneurship really means.

43:07 Podcast outros

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/156-carrie-dils/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress development and support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast. We talk to some of the most successful and helpful people in online marketing, web development, web consulting, and business.

155 Web Accessibility Is Part of the Job

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 11 Jan 2017 15:43:00 +0000

In this WP-Tonic round-table we discuss Web Accessibility. What tools does the panel use to test sites for accessibility? What are the key factors that you must know about web accessibility in 2017?

We discuss web accessibility standards and guidelines. How do you make sites more accessible? What needs to be included and tested? Why do web developers tend to put accessibility on the back burner? What are the benefits of building accessible sites?

Our panel this week:

Jackie D'Elia https://jackiedelia.com/

Lee Jackson http://angledcrown.com/

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

Podcast 155 Table of Contents:

0:00 Podcast Intros

1:38 WordPress News Story #1: Renewing Medium's Focus

https://blog.medium.com/renewing-mediums-focus-98f374a960be#.qxrop598x

14:33 WordPress News Story #2: W3Techs Ranks WordPress as the Fastest Growing CMS of 2016

https://wptavern.com/w3techs-ranks-wordpress-as-the-fastest-growing-cms-of-2016

23:44 WordPress Story #3: Matt Mullenweg Announces Tech and Design Leads for New Focus-Based Development Cycle

https://wptavern.com/matt-mullenweg-announces-tech-and-design-leads-for-new-focus-based-development-cycle

31:30 Why is accessibility important?

33:15 How many clients are actually aware of accessibility?

42:33 How many WordPress themes on the free repository are accessibility ready? (there's some, but not a ton).

45:07 Balancing visual design and accessibility.

47:10 The right way to do ALT tags for images.

48:01 WordPress plugins that help you check accessibility, and setting expectations for accessibility.

1:05:56 How web standards and browsers have changed in recent years.

1:07:48 What types of projects will require accessibility.

1:09:32 Accessibility and SEO.

1:13:58 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Rethink.fm Episode #7: Why Web Accessibiity Matters

http://rethink.fm/podcast/episode-7-why-web-accessibility-matters/

WP Accessibility plugin

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-accessibility/

AChecker

http://achecker.ca/checker/index.php

Browse Aloud

https://www.texthelp.com/en-gb/products/browsealoud

A11y Project

http://a11yproject.com/resources.html

Accessible Ready Themes on WordPress.org

https://en-gb.wordpress.org/themes/tags/accessibility-ready/

W3C Validator
https://validator.w3.org/

WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool

http://wave.webaim.org/

wA11y - The Web Accessibility Toolbox

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wa11y/

Colorblind Web Page Filter

http://www.color-blindness.com/2006/04/10/colorblind-web-page-filter/

ARIA Roles

https://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/roles

A11y Toolbar

https://github.com/downzer0/a11y-toolbar

Using JAWS to Evaluate Web Accessibility

http://webaim.org/articles/jaws/

Varvy

https://varvy.com

===================

Find additional content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress support service, and the publisher of one of the top weekly WordPress podcasts. In each episode, we talk to some of the smartest and most successful people in web development, consulting, online marketing, and business.

154 Nate Wright from Theme Of The Crop

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 15:00:00 +0000

Nate Wright provides WordPress themes and plugins to build better restaurant websites. After more than three years delivering products for restaurants, cafes and bars, he's built up a suite of free and commercial products to help you take reservations online, manage your restaurant menus and boost local SEO.

Nate Wright runs Theme of the Crop, a WordPress company that specializes in themes and plugins for restaurants. We'll talk to him about the specific challenges in digital marketing for restaurant owners and those in the food and beverage industry.

You can find Nate's website at https://themeofthecrop.com/ .

Episode 154 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros

1:13 The Theme of the Crop origin story

2:58 The web scene in Edinburgh

4:14 Are restaurants valuing marketing and their web presence more than before?

7:03 How does Nate educate the people who use his products? What are some examples of restaurants using content marketing successfully?

11:00 Nate's experience selling products to quickly build restaurant websites, as opposed to being in the SaaS (software as a service) space.

13:50 How difficult is it marketing WordPress products outside of a a site like Envato?

17:29 How does Nate decide what features to include in his products?

25:13 What common mistakes does Nate see on restaurant websites? What components are important on a restaurant website?

30:29 Nate's plans for Theme of the Crop in 2017.

33:57 How does Nate feel about allowing third-party developers to build on top of the Theme of the Crop core products?

40:15 Where does the feedback come from to improve Nate's products? From site builders, restaurant marketing specialists, or restaurant site builders?

43:12 Podcast outros

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/154-nate-wright-wordpress-restaurant-themes/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress support service, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in business, online marketing, and WordPress development.

153 WP-Tonic: End of Year 2016 Review Show

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Thu, 29 Dec 2016 18:46:43 +0000

Jonathan on 2016

We look back through 2016 at what were the most interesting WordPress stories. Also, what guest interviews we found personally the most insightful or surprising. For me personally, the best part of 2016 connected to the show is having John Locke join the team and agreeing to be my full-time co-host.

I’ve known John for slightly over two years and I got to say he one of the most hard-working and knowledgeable guys I know in the WordPress Community.

John on 2016

For me, 2016 was one of those years where I look back not at how fast it went, but how much we accomplished individually and collectively. WordPress itself has 27% of the market share. The Sacramento WordCamp team put on their second WordCamp. Jonathan was gracious enough to invite me to co-host WP-Tonic, and since then, we’ve continued to put out great shows week after week.

2016 has been a real turning point for so many people in the WordPress community. We’ve seen new companies launch, and others get acquired. Many solo consultants are putting out products, and others are putting on conferences of their own. It’s an exciting time.

The biggest thing I’ve taken away from this year is that it’s never too late to begin your bold journey into entrepreneurship. All things have small beginnings, but they can grow, if you hang in there, work hard, and believe in what you’re doing.

WP-Tonic published 78 podcast episodes this year, and we do our best to cover our favorite episodes in this 2016 year in review episode. We also look at the year in WordPress, and what major stories unfolded in 2016.

We hope you’ll continue to tune into the podcast in 2017. We’ll see you this time next year for another year in review episode.

===================

Leave WP-Tonic a review on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

Bonus content for this episode is on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/153-year-in-review-2016

152 Our Favorite Web Tools of 2016

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 24 Dec 2016 15:00:00 +0000

We look at a number of tools and services that we use on a daily basis. These are services that make a big difference in how we run our businesses. We move at speed and cover a lot of ground in this pre-Christmas show!

Summary:

We talk about our favorite web tools of 2016. Covered: tools for productivity, project management, accounting, invoicing, social media, content management, and content creation.

Episode 152 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast intros.

1:37 What we use for video conferencing.

4:50 Our choice for video hosting.

8:32 John's choice for invoicing software.

10:56 Jonathan's choice for invoicing software.

11:44 An alternative for external email addresses.

13:54 Jonathan's choice for a CRM.

16:44 A tool John uses for local SEO citations.

20:09 Jonathan has a pick for SEO keyword research.

21:04 Another pick for email outreach.

23:00 A tool we are using for project management internally.

24:54 John's tools for migrating websites.

27:20 Jonathan's choices for site backups.

29:28 Two cautionary tales of why you want to have a reliable plan for website backups.

34:54 John's advice for getting blog posts written.

36:53 Jonathan has some picks for spell-checking and editing.

37:55 Our mutual pick for capturing screenshots.

38:34 Some more picks we have for cloud storage and productivity.

39:40 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Zoom

https://zoom.us/

Go To Meeting

https://www.gotomeeting.com/

Wistia

https://wistia.com/

FreshBooks

https://www.freshbooks.com/

Zoho Invoice

https://www.zoho.com/us/invoice/

Harvest (Time Tracking)

https://www.getharvest.com/

Zoho Mail

https://www.zoho.com/mail/

G Suite (formerly Google Apps for Business)

https://gsuite.google.com/

Agile CRM

https://www.agilecrm.com/

Drip - Email Marketing Automation

https://www.drip.co/

Active Campaign

http://www.activecampaign.com/

Moz Local

https://moz.com/local

Yext (DON'T use this)

http://www.yext.com/

Get Found (Go Daddy)

https://www.godaddy.com/products/business-marketing.aspx

Moz Whiteboard Friday

https://moz.com/blog/category/whiteboard-friday

Rand Fishkin on Twitter

https://twitter.com/randfish

Distilled on Twitter

https://twitter.com/distilled

Wil Reynolds on Twitter

https://twitter.com/wilreynolds

SEMrush

https://www.semrush.com/

Majestic (SEO Tools)

https://majestic.com/

Raven Tools

https://raventools.com/

KWFinder

https://kwfinder.com/

Mailshake

https://mailshake.com/

Teamwork - Cloud Productivity Software

https://www.teamwork.com/

Basecamp

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-site-migrate/

WP Engine Automated Migration

WP Migrate DB Pro

https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/

BlogVault

https://blogvault.net/

UpDraftPlus

https://updraftplus.com/

BackupBuddy

https://ithemes.com/BackupBuddy/

WP Site Care

https://www.wpsitecare.com/

Maintainn

https://maintainn.com/

Slack

https://slack.com/

Grammarly

https://www.grammarly.com/

Awesome Screenshot

https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/

Dropbox

https://www.dropbox.com/home

Google Drive

https://www.google.com/drive/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/152-favorite-web-tools-2016/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a WordPress support service, and publisher of a weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development, web design, and online marketing.

151 Josh Pollock of Caldera Forms

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 17 Dec 2016 15:00:00 +0000

We have an insightful and enjoyable interview with Josh Pollock, the co-founder of Caldera Forms. We cover a lot of stuff in this conversation. Josh tells us how he got started in WordPress development, and his philosophy for running a commercial plugin shop in the WordPress ecosystem.

Josh also talks with us about Caldera Forms, product stories, and the future of WordPress.

Caldera Forms: https://calderaforms.com/

Josh Pollock on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Josh412

Josh's site: https://joshpress.net/

Episode 151 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast intros

1:32 Josh's web development origin story.

3:57 Do you need a computer science degree to be a successful WordPress entrepreneur?

4:53 What made Josh decide to strike out on his own as an entrepreneur?

7:17 Why did Josh decide to target contact forms as a product category?

11:06 How important is storytelling in product marketing?

15:13 Finding your target market and target customers.

19:32 How did Josh figure out what he wanted to be different about Caldera Forms from other forms plugins?

24:36 What will the future of the WordPress admin look like? As WordPress integrates more JavaScript, what JS libraries would Josh recommend? Does Josh have more philosophical advice for learning modern front-end development?

29:40 Will the REST API attract talent to WordPress from other corners of the web?

34:16 Josh has thoughts on frameworks and page building tools.

39:57 An intriguing idea for making WordPress leaner and more adaptable. Josh tells us what dependency clashes currently keep it from happening at the present moment.

42:54 Podcast outros.

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Exceed Expectations With the REST API

https://joshpress.net/rest-api/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/151-josh-pollock-caldera-forms/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a WordPress support company, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

150 Best Theme Frameworks and Starter Themes for WordPress Development

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 14 Dec 2016 15:45:00 +0000

For our 150th episode, we discuss a busy week in WordPress news and our main topic, the best starter themes and theme frameworks for WordPress development.

Our panel this week:

Carrie Forde https://carrieforde.com/

Kim Shivler https://whiteglovewebtraining.com/

Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

============

Episode 150 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros

2:06 WordPress News Story #1: State of the Word 2016: Mullenweg Pushes Calypso as Future of WordPress’ Interface, Proposes Major Changes to Release Cycle

https://wptavern.com/state-of-the-word-2016-mullenweg-pushes-calypso-as-future-of-wordpress-interface-proposes-major-changes-to-release-cycle

11:21 WordPress News Story #2: Pantheon’s $100K WordCamp US Sponsorship Revoked the Night Before the Event

https://wptavern.com/pantheons-100k-wordcamp-us-sponsorship-revoked-the-night-before-the-event

25:53 WordPress News Story #3: GoDaddy Acquires WP Curve: What This Means For Customers Of The WordPress Services Provider

http://www.techtimes.com/articles/187902/20161206/godaddy-acquires-wp-curve-what-this-means-for-customers-of-the-wordpress-services-provider.htm

38:45 What are the pros and cons of developing with a theme framework?

46:39 What are the learning curves of working with a theme framework?

52:32 Some of the other theme frameworks that aren't named Genesis.

1:03:58 Why do many agencies lean so heavily on ThemeForest themes instead of building custom themes using a theme framework? What are the considerations that go into this business model?

1:09:38 How long does it actually take to develop a basic theme framework?

1:11:39 More theme frameworks we've seen people using for building WordPress themes.

1:13:18 The trouble with "Swiss army knife" themes.

1:17:33 A quick discussion about ecommerce sites.

1:23:20 Thanks to the rest of the panel members not here today.

1:24:40 Podcast outros.

============

Links mentioned during the show:

Siteground: PHP 7 available on all servers

https://www.siteground.com/blog/php7-available-on-all-siteground-servers/

CNN: Google will soon call out websites for not being secure

http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/technology/google-chrome-flag-non-secure-sites/

The Value of Sponsoring a WordCamp from a Business’ Perspective

https://wptavern.com/the-value-of-sponsoring-a-wordcamp-from-a-business-perspective

WP Curve joins GoDaddy

https://wpcurve.com/wp-curve-joins-godaddy/

What is a WordPress theme anyway? — Draft podcast

https://poststatus.com/wordpress-theme-anyway-draft-podcast/

Underscores - A Starter theme for WordPress

http://underscores.me/

Alcatraz - A framework for creating awesome, flexible WordPress themes

https://github.com/carrieforde/Alcatraz

Genesis Framework by StudioPress

https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/

Divi by Elegant Themes

Hybrid Core: A WordPress Theme Framework

http://themehybrid.com/hybrid-core

DIYthemes - Thesis

http://diythemes.com/

Visual Composer

https://vc.wpbakery.com/

Cherry Framework

https://www.templatemonster.com/properties/features/cherry-framework/

Carrie Forde's talk on Atomic Design - WordCamp Sacramento 2016

https://2016.sacramento.wordcamp.org/speaker/carrie-forde/

Bootstrap

http://getbootstrap.com/

Foundation by Zurb

http://foundation.zurb.com/

Roots.io (Sage starter theme)

https://roots.io/sage/

============

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/150-frameworks-starter-themes-for-wordpress/

============

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

============

WP-Tonic is a WordPress support company, and also the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

149 Carrie Forde from WebDevStudios

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 15:00:00 +0000

We talk with front end architect/designer Carrie Forde about atomic design and front-end development for WordPress. Carrie's Forde day job is as a front-end developer at the highly-respected WebDevStudios.

Carrie Forde on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carrieforde

Carrie's site: https://carrieforde.com/

Table of Contents for Episode 149

0:00 Podcast intros.

1:22 Carrie's origin story.

3:44 What Carrie's work typical work day looks like right now.

4:56 How difficult is it to break into front-end development in today's environment?

7:20 Carrie tells us about her Alcatraz framework for WordPress that she developed.

9:05 What are style tiles? And what is Carrie's style tiles plugin for WordPress?

12:27 Carries teaches us about atomic design and the benefits of using it in UI design.

17:10 More resources for learning about Atomic Design.

19:38 What the WordPress community can do to make themes more accessible?

21:43 A habit to develop when creating WordPress themes to make them translatable.

22:48 What inspired Carrie to build the Alcatraz framework and what ideas in Genesis she wanted to improve on.

25:06 Carries philosophy on creating themes and making them developer friendly.

27:23 What goes into a CSS refactoring project.

28:56 Where does a CSS refactoring project make sense?

30:33 What is Carrie's preferred naming or organizational convention for writing CSS?

31:48 What are some great resources for learning JavaScript?

34:31 Are there any trends in CSS and front development that Carrie sees becoming prominent in 2017?

36:10 Any resources that Carries recommends for learning front-end development?

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

WebDev Studios

https://webdevstudios.com/

Mighty Minnow

https://www.mightyminnow.com/

Alcatraz - A framework for creating awesome, flexible WordPress themes

http://alcatraztheme.com/

https://github.com/carrieforde/Alcatraz

Style Tiles (Samantha Warren)

http://styletil.es/

Style Tiles and How They Work (A List Apart)

http://alistapart.com/article/style-tiles-and-how-they-work

Faster Design Decisions with Style Tiles (An Event Apart)

https://vimeo.com/115992327

WordPress Style Tiles (Carrie Forde plugin)

https://github.com/carrieforde/WordPress-Style-Tiles

Creating Themes with Atomic Design (WC Sac 2016)

https://speakerdeck.com/carrieforde/creating-themes-with-atomic-design

Atomic Design Methodology

http://atomicdesign.bradfrost.com/chapter-2/

Atomic Design: The Book

http://bradfrost.com/blog/post/atomic-design-book/

PatternLab.io

http://patternlab.io/

Strengths Finder 2.0

https://www.amazon.com/StrengthsFinder-2-0-Tom-Rath/dp/159562015X

BEM - Block Element Modifier

http://getbem.com/introduction/

ITCSS - Scalable, Maintainable CSS Architecture

https://www.xfive.co/blog/itcss-scalable-maintainable-css-architecture/

SMACSS - Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS

https://smacss.com/

JavaScript Is Sexy

http://javascriptissexy.com/how-to-learn-javascript-properly/

JavaScript for WP

https://javascriptforwp.com/

Treehouse

https://teamtreehouse.com/

CSS Grid (MDN)

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_Grid_Layout

ES6 for Everyone (Wes Bos course)

https://es6.io/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/149-carrie-forde-front-end-architect/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and also publishers of a twice weekly business-focused WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

148 Processes for Client Web Projects

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 07 Dec 2016 15:34:00 +0000

Our weekly Saturday round-table focuses on the processes we use to intake clients, design and develop websites, test and launch, and have ongoing relationships.

What are the tools they use? And what are the internal processes that the panel have developed to help them manage projects?

The panel this week:

Lee Jackson https://trailblazer.fm

Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

Episode 148 Table of Contents:

0:00 Podcast Intros

1:13 WordPress News Story #1: Flywheel Acquires WordPress Local Development Tool Pressmatic

https://wptavern.com/flywheel-acquires-wordpress-local-development-tool-pressmatic

9:42 WordPress Story #3: PDF Image Previews Among the Improvements to Media in WordPress 4.7

https://wptavern.com/pdf-image-previews-among-the-improvements-to-media-in-wordpress-4-7

19:55 WordCamp 2016 2 to 4th of December 2016

https://2016.us.wordcamp.org/

23:10 The processes for the various stages of web projects.

23:58 Our processes for getting clients to sign on the line that is dotted.

38:35 What does your client onboarding process look like?

51:49 What does the creative phase of the project look like? What comes first, middle, and last? Content first or design first?

1:10:02 Podcast outros

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Announcement: Leadpages Has Acquired Drip

https://www.leadpages.net/blog/drip-acquisition/

WP Media Folder - Media manager with folders

https://www.joomunited.com/wordpress-products/wp-media-folder

Mike Monteiro: F*ck You, Pay Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkLVRt6c1U

WPBuilds Episode 3: Clients from heaven (not)

https://wpbuilds.com/2016/12/02/episode-3-clients-from-heaven-not/

WP Innovator: Our WordPress Website Build Process

https://trailblazer.fm/building-process/

How to Write a Book: The Secret to a Super Fast First Draft

http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/tv/how-to-write-a-book-fast-first-draft/

Seanwes Episode 13: You Design the Content

http://seanwes.com/podcast/013-you-design-the-content/

Freedcamp

https://freedcamp.com

Pocketcasts

https://www.shiftyjelly.com/pocketcasts/

Browserstack

https://www.browserstack.com/

Heering - The Original Cherry Liqueur

http://www.heering.com/

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/148-web-design-processes-client-projects/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

147 Justin Busa and Robby McCullough of Beaver Builder

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 03 Dec 2016 15:00:00 +0000

Two of the founders of Beaver Builder: Justin Busa and Robby McCullough, share the history of the company and their future plans. There is a lot to learn about launching product in this great conversation.

Beaver Builder:

https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/

Episode 147 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros

1:43 The origin story of Beaver Builder and how the founders met.

3:32 What were the challenges moving from client services to a product company?

5:32 How do you know when you're at the tipping point with your product? How scary is it to pull the trigger and go all in?

8:20 Was Beaver Builder being targeted at agencies from the start? How did you market Beaver Builder in the early days?

10:21 What did you do to get the product in front of people at first?

13:35 Were you surprised when you saw third-party developers building products for Beaver Builder?

15:18 Are you in close communication with third-party developers? How do you plan your roadmap for the product?

17:01 What are the challenges of building a consistent community around a product?

20:16 When it comes to the moderators in your Facebook group, do you have certain people that you rely on to help you out with the community?

22:17 Were there any web technologies that came out that allowed you to build Beaver Builder? What conditions created the perfect storm that allowed you to create Beaver Builder at the time you did?

25:49 When did you realize your target audience wasn't who you thought it was at first?

29:15 How does product support look as compared to client support? How did you grow your support structure as time went on?

33:31 When planning a new release of Beaver Builder, how much testing do you do against popular plugins? What does your testing process look like?

37:21 As WordPress expands its market share, will more people use page builders? Will the purist developer push back against page builders remain or diffuse over time?

43:51 Podcast outros

======================

Links mentioned during the show:

Beaver Builder Facebook Group

https://www.facebook.com/wpbeaverbuilder/

Upwork

https://www.upwork.com/

======================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/147-wp-tonic-justin-busa-and-robby-mccullough-of-beaver-builder/

======================

Be sure to leave a detailed review for WP-Tonic on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the most successful people in WordPress development, business, and online marketing.

146 Our Favorite Web Agency Tools

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 30 Nov 2016 15:50:00 +0000

We have a great round table show with special guest Lee Jackson of the WP Innovator podcast. We talk all about the tools that we use daily to help us run our businesses. We look at a number of different categories from invoicing to project management tools.

The panel this week:

Lee Jackson https://trailblazer.fm

Jackie D'Elia https://jackiedelia.com/

Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/

Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/

John Locke Lockedown SEO

======================

Episode 146 Table of contents:

0:00 Podcast intros

1:43 WordPress News Story #1: Elementor Pro – Things Have Changed

http://snifflevalve.com/elementor-pro-things-have-changed/

15:11 Our picks for accounting and invoicing.

24:51 What do we use for writing proposals?

34:49 What are our choices for CRMs?

40:42 What are we using for project management software?

59:00 What do we use for time tracking? What tasks do we actually track time for?

======================

Links Mentioned in WP-Tonic: Episode 146

Visual Builders

Elementor

https://elementor.com/

Beaver Builder

https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/

Invoicing and Accounting

Free Agent

https://www.freeagent.com/

ClearBooks

https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/

Harvest

https://www.getharvest.com/

WP-Invoice

https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-invoice/

FreshBooks

https://www.freshbooks.com/

Zoho

https://www.zoho.com/invoice/

QuickBooks Online

https://quickbooks.intuit.com/online/

https://www.quicken.com/personal-finance/quicken-home-business-2017

Wave Accounting

https://www.waveapps.com/

Sprout Invoices

https://sproutapps.co/sprout-invoices/

Contracts and Proposals

Contract Killer

https://gist.github.com/malarkey/4031110

WP Elevation

http://www.wpelevation.com/

UK contracts

http://simply-docs.co.uk/Home

Forming a LLC

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/form-llc-how-to-organize-llc-30287.html

CRMs

Active Campaign

http://www.activecampaign.com/

Agile CRM

https://www.agilecrm.com/

Contactually

http://www.contactually.com/

Project Management and team communication

iTask 3

https://www.itaskx.com/en/index.aspx

Freedcamp

https://freedcamp.com/

Teamwork

https://www.teamwork.com/

https://www.teamworkdesk.com/

Asana

https://asana.com/

Google Apps for Work (G Suite)

https://gsuite.google.com/index.html

Basecamp

https://www.wunderlist.com/

Slack

https://slack.com/

Trello

https://trello.com/

Wunderlist

Zoom

https://zoom.us/

Time Tracking

Toggl

https://toggl.com/

Social Media Management

Edgar

https://meetedgar.com

SociPress

http://socipress.com/

Client Research

Charlie App

https://charlieapp.com/

Mailshake

https://mailshake.com/

Hunter.io

https://hunter.io/search

SEO / Keyword research

app.KWfinder.com

https://app.kwfinder.com/

SERPs keyword rank checker

https://serps.com/tools/rank-checker/

Ahrefs

https://ahrefs.com/

Content Creation/Proofreading

Grammarly

https://www.grammarly.com/

Bear APP

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bear-beautiful-writing-app/id1091189122?mt=12

http://www.bear-writer.com/

Client website management

CMS Commander

https://cmscommander.com/wp

Manage WP

https://managewp.com/

Main WP

https://mainwp.com/

Website backups

BlogVault

https://blogvault.net/

Duplicator

https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/

WordPress theme development

ACF

http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/

Migrate DB Pro

https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/

===============

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/146-web-agency-tools/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-wp-tonic-jonathan/id893083124

===================

WP-Tonic is the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the most successful people in WordPress development, business, and online marketing.

145 Lee Jackson, The WP Innovator

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 26 Nov 2016 15:00:00 +0000

This Week We fun and insightful Interview with Lee Jackson host of the WP Innovator podcast & the owner of a highly successful WordPress development agency that exclusively only works with other digital agencies.

You can find Lee at his website: http://leejacksondev.com/ .

Be sure to check out his podcast at: http://leejacksondev.com/podcast/ .

Table of Contents for Episode 145

0:00 Podcast intros

1:15 Lee Jackson Dev is an agency for print and design agencies. How does Lee find those perfect clients?

3:50 What is the big advantage for design-focused agencies to bringing in Lee's agency as a trusted partner?

6:20 What is one of the most surprising things that Lee has found partner agencies want him to do?

7:45 What are the big differences between a freelancer and a bona fide agency when it comes handling a client brief?

9:55 How did Lee earn the trust to be in client meetings with partner agencies (who own the client relationships)?

12:04 Is there ever a reluctance with agencies to have a subcontracting or partner agency come into the client meetings?

13:23 Bobbins and biscuits.

13:58 Why are many web agencies not that great at writing briefs?

17:46 What to do when the client doesn't want to invest in a brief. How Lee writes user stories into his briefs, and making it part of the technical specs.

21:53 The origin story of Lee Jackson Dev.

24:54 How does the role of an agency founder /owner change as the agency grows?

27:21 What does Lee's agency hiring process look like?

29:30 What are the most common mistakes when it comes to project management in web agencies?

31:42 The biggest financial mistake that agencies make in web design projects.

32:21 One huge mistake (opportunity?) for web agencies when they hand off the design to the developers.

34:03 Why underbidding hurts web design projects so much. How a Statement of Work helps prevent scope creep.

38:15 How does Lee feel about paid discovery? What about the tender process? (Similar to RFP).

40:57 The tendering process leads to chronic underbidding.

41:42 Podcast outros

===================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/145-lee-jackson-wp-innovator/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and also publishers of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

144 Qualities of High End WordPress Hosting

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 23 Nov 2016 15:00:00 +0000

AJ Morris of Liquid Web joins our Saturday panel as we discuss the qualities of high-end WordPress hosting.

We find out what differentiates a high end managed WordPress host from the average hosting companies that cost a few bucks a month. Why is it important to have a quality web host? What are you looking for in web hosting for your WordPress website? We'll answer these questions and many more.

Our panel this week:

AJ Morris of Liquid Web (@ajmorris on Twitter)

Jackie D'Elia of Jackie D'Elia Design (@jdelia)

Jonathan Denwood of WP-Tonic (@jonathandenwood)

John Locke of Lockedown Design (@Lockedown_)

Episode 144 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros

1:50 WordPress News Story #1: Nashville to Host WordCamp US 2017-2018

https://wptavern.com/nashville-to-host-wordcamp-us-2017-2018

10:03 The .blog Bait & Switch

http://chrisschidle.com/the-dot-blog-bait-and-switch/

18:23 Upvato Backup Service Confirms Files Are Lost, Plans to Relaunch on New Provider

https://wptavern.com/upvato-backup-service-confirms-files-are-lost-plans-to-relaunch-on-new-provider

25:31 Main Topic: Qualities of High End WordPress Hosting

25:44 What is the advantage of having a managed WordPress host vs having just regular web hosting?

27:30 What are the differences between an inexpensive web host and a quality web hosting company?

29:55 How do you try to convince people to improve their web hosting?

32:58 Some interesting user stats that Liquid Web found when they did due diligence, and some great features that Liquid Web offers.

36:07 Why WP Engine has been the market leader in WordPress hosting so far, and what Liquid Web is doing to compete with them.

37:47 A few words about SSL and WordPress hosting.

41:00 Some hosting companies that let you manage several client sites from one panel, and some common problems web developers face when it comes to getting clients to the right hosting package.

48:01 How will HTTP/2 affect server configurations in the next year or two?

50:26 Page speed is important. How do customers evaluate hosting speed stats and different benchmark studies?

57:01 What security practices make you feel better when you are choosing a web host? What does the hosting landscape look like right now?

1:01:12 What are the unique challenges that come with providing hosting to web agencies?

1:05:05 The importance of technical support in web hosting.

1:08:20 Podcast outros

========================

Recommended WordPress hosting companies mentioned during the show:

Liquid Web

https://www.liquidweb.com/wordpress/

WP Engine

https://wpengine.com/

Flywheel

https://getflywheel.com/

Kinsta

https://kinsta.com/

Siteground

https://www.siteground.com/

Pagely

https://pagely.com/

Other Links Mentioned During the Show:

Let's Encrypt

https://letsencrypt.org/

Comodo SSL

https://ssl.comodo.com/

GT Metrix

https://gtmetrix.com/

Brief History of HTTP/2

https://hpbn.co/http2/

InMotion Hosting

http://www.inmotionhosting.com/

Liquid Web Intelisys Case Study

https://www.liquidweb.com/about/featured-clients/case-studies/intelisys.html

======================

Be sure to leave us a review and subscribe to the WP-Tonic WordPress podcast on iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

143 Gordan Orlic on Running a Successful WordPress Plugin Business

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 19 Nov 2016 15:00:00 +0000

In this powerful interview, Gordan Orlic of Web Factory Ltd discusses becoming an elite plugin author on CodeCanyon and why he's leaving the platform, and moving everything to his own website.

Gordan pulls no punches as he talks about making the transition from getting traffic on a marketplace like CodeCanyon to setting up shop on your own.

Find Gordan at http://www.webfactoryltd.com/

Follow Gordan on Twitter on https://twitter.com/webfactoryltd

Episode 143 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros

2:30 How did Gordan get into web development and get into building WordPress plugins?

4:00 How did Gordan make the transition from client work to selling products?

7:46 Niching down helps you make more money in the long run.

10:19 Positioning and white-label plugins: ideas are garbage, having a working prototype is more valuable.

13:36 What are the pros and cons of being on Envato vs starting a plugin shop on your own?

22:22 Why is Envato still recovering and changing course from decisions they made five years ago?

31:24 The one thing on Envato that confuses nearly every customer.

35:02 CodeCanyon is a great place to start, but you can't build a brand there.

36:30 The reason Gordan is leaving Envato and is in the process of moving his plugins to his own website.

40:09 The thing you must accept if you piggyback on another successful platform or plugin.

42:01 Podcast outros

46:07 YouTube bonus content begins.

46:08 Gordan talks about his plugin Security Ninja, what it does and who it is for.

Security Ninja

https://wordpress.org/plugins/security-ninja/

56:40 What is making it tougher for plugin authors to make money on Envato right now?

1:02:45 The one thing that sucks about marketplaces. There are many upsides, but this one thing can hurt you long-term.

===================

Find additional content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/143-gordan-orlic-wordpress-plugins/

===================

Follow WP-Tonic on iTunes and be sure to leave us a review!

itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

142 How to Successfully Work With Non-Profits

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 15:00:00 +0000

On this week's WP-Tonic round table, we give some insight on how to work with non-profit organizations. How is working with non-profits different than working with clients in the private sector?

Our round table of WordPress experts also discusses the best marketing practices for non-profits.

Our panel this week:

Morten Rand-Hendriksen of Lynda.com
Sallie Goetsch of WP Fangirl
Jonathan Denwood of WP-Tonic
John Lockeof Lockedown Design

Show Table of Contents:
0:00 Show Intros
2:02 WordPress Story #1: Does Jetpack slow down a WordPress website?
https://mattreport.com/jetpack-speed/

20:04 WordPress Story #2: How I Built It, Episode 12: Chris Lema and Beyond Good
https://howibuilt.it/episode-12-chris-lema-and-beyond-good/

31:54 Main Topic: Working With Non-Profits
32:02 What is different about working with non-profits vs working with regular businesses?
34:14 How does the non-profit managerial structure affect timelines and the decision making process?
36:44 Jonathan shares a link: How Nonprofits Get really Big from the Stanford Social Innovation Review
https://ssir.org/articles/entry/how_nonprofits_get_really_big

40:29 What unique challenges do non-profits have in establishing and achieving their marketing goals?
44:50 How do non-profits find their target segments? How do you define personas and develop a content strategy to reach those target personas?
48:38 What are some examples of non-profits that are doing a great job with marketing?
51:55 What are some things that non-profits need to focus on when it comes to their website and digital marketing?
56:20 Podcast outros
58:49 YouTube bonus content
58:55 More thoughts on marketing for non-profits
1:05:00 John's experience with non-profits
1:09:20 Quick advice on discounting and pro bono
1:09:50 Some non-profits may be in a better position to pay you than regular businesses.
1:11:27 Building up good will in the community by working with non-profits in your community.

==========================

LInks mentioned during the show:

If You Want Results, Think About How You Post and Share Content
http://tacticalsocialmedia.org/post-share-content-matters/

Ladies Learning To Code
http://ladieslearningcode.com/

Black Girls Code
http://www.blackgirlscode.com/

WEAVE, Inc.
http://www.weaveinc.org/

==========================

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:
https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/142-working-with-non-profits-wordpress/

==========================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes and leave us a review!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

141 Heather Steele of Blue Steele Solutions

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 12 Nov 2016 15:00:00 +0000

We talk with Heather about the life-cycle of web agencies, marketing, social media, and client relationships. How do Heather and her team find the right type of clients to work with? Why is it important to develop strong ongoing relationships in your local business community?

I really enjoyed our chat with Heather. I could see why she has been so successful in driving her agency forward. The WordPress community has also been a key in building her business to its present level.

Episode 141 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros

1:33 Who does Blue Steele Solutions serve and how did they find their niche?

3:37 How does Blue Steele Solutions determine what clients are going to be a good fit?

5:40 What is the value in nurturing long-term relationships with clients?

8:55 Launching the website is not the end of the project, it's the beginning.

9:34 How did Blue Steele Solutions grow? What is Heather's origin story?

12:31 How does being active in the local community benefit Heather's business?

15:57 What are some of the mistakes that people make when outsourcing their marketing?

19:40 SEO is more than a one-time check-it-off-the-list thing. How do you select a reputable marketing or SEO company?

23:20 What goes into building a brand?

26:40 What can you do to attract great clients?

29:05 The realities of digital outreach, and benefits of having a realistic traffic plan.

34:52 How did Heather decide on WordPress as a platform? What are the benefits of WordPress over other web platforms?

38:24 How do you build up community? In person or digitally?

39:47 Podcast outros

===============

Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website:

https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/141-heather-steele-blue-steele-solutions/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the most successful people in WordPress development, business, and online marketing.

140 What Are the Best Practices For WordPress Security?

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 09 Nov 2016 15:53:00 +0000

In this WP-Tonic round-table we look at WordPress and security with an excellent panel of WordPress community experts.

Our panel this week:
Brian Jackson from https://woorkup.com/ and https://kinsta.com/
Sallie Goetsch from https://wpfangirl.com/
Jackie D'Elia from https://jackiedelia.com/
Jonathan Denwood from https://www.wp-tonic.com/
John Locke from Lockedown SEO

Episode 140 Table of Contents
0:00 Podcast intros
1:50 WordPress Security – 18+ Steps to Lock Down Your Site
https://kinsta.com/blog/wordpress-security

3:12 Learning From Buggy WordPress Wp-login Malware
https://blog.sucuri.net/2016/10/learning-buggy-wordpress-wp-login-malware.html

6:49 Updating your WordPress plugins is one of the most important things you can do
10:22 Test all plugin and theme updates on a staging server

12:25 Surviving Electmageddon: Protecting against a wave of DNS outages
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2016/11/surviving-electmageddon-protecting-wave-dns-outages/
(DDoS attacks and advantages of having a secondary DNS server)

17:34 Securing WordPress from the Start
https://ithemes.com/2016/11/02/securing-wordpress/

21:29 It's a good idea to have redundant backups for your website. You can't have enough of these.

24:35 What is one WordPress security tip that you should use right from the start?

25:48 Brian has a story about what sort of long-lasting damage to your SEO a single hack can produce.

27:20 Cleaning Up a Massive Negative SEO Attack with Web CEO
https://woorkup.com/cleaning-negative-seo-attack-web-ceo/

29:52 Changing the default login URL can prevent automated attacks. Also, always use strong passwords.

31:11 Always check your code for hidden backlinks to spam sites.

32: 35 We discuss Negative SEO.

33:12 Linkpocalypse Now – The Horror of Negative SEO
http://www.jacobking.com/negative-seo-truth

35:05 Limit the login attempts people can make to prevent a brute force attack. Consider two-factor authentication for logins.

36:16 Deactivate and delete any themes and plugins you're not using. Don't use the automatic WordPress install scripts that your hosting company provides.

38:24 Many people use weak passwords, and that's why they get hacked.

40:37 Install an audit log so you can see what activity is happening on your site. Clients will often be freaked out by how often the site is scanned.

42:25 Don't use themes where plugins are bundled into the theme (like on ThemeForest)
https://www.lockedownseo.com/why-we-shouldnt-bundle-wordpress-plugins-in-themes/

43:37 Do not allow everyone on your site to have Administrator access

46:15 XML-RPC: What is it? Why should you limit it's use? HOw do hackers use it?

49:03 Be careful about using public Wi-Fi to FTP or login to your site. Always use HTTPS on your site to encrypt your password when logging in publicly.

52:01 Use a virus scan on your own computer. Your computer can be an attack vector. Keep your version of PHP and MySQL versions up to date on your hosting account.

53:48 Shared hosting is not the most secure option for hosting. Large companies with internal IT departments are also prime for attack.

57:43 How much resistance is there with getting clients on board with WordPress security best practices?

1:02:44 If possible, use a service like LastPass to use strong passwords.
https://www.lastpass.com/

1:03:40 Podcast outros

===============

Other lInks mentioned during the show:

Maximum Overdrive (imdb)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091499/

rmoov - The Backlink Removal Tool That Helps You Clean Up Bad Links
https://www.rmoov.com/index.php

Unmasked: What 10 million passwords reveal about the people who choose them
https://wpengine.com/unmasked/

WP White Security
https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/

WP Security Audit Log
https://www.wpsecurityauditlog.com/

Co-Authors Plus
https://wordpress.org/plugins/co-authors-plus/

iThemes Security
https://ithemes.com/security/

Google Authenticator
https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-authenticator/

WP Clef
https://wordpress.org/plugins/wpclef/

KeyCDN
https://www.keycdn.com/

===============

For bonus content on this episode, go to the WP-Tonic website:
https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/140-best-practices-for-wordpress-security/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the most successful people in WordPress development, business, and online marketing.

139 Robert Abela from WP White Security

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Sat, 05 Nov 2016 14:00:00 +0000

In episode 139, we interview Robert Abela, founder of WP Security Audit Log, a leading WordPress auditing plugin. Robert's blog at WP White Security is a great resource for learning more about WordPress security best practices. Robert focuses on explaining website security in a way that non-technical people can understand.

Resources:

WP White Security
https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/

WP Security Audit (WordPress plugin)
https://www.wpsecurityauditlog.com/

WP Security Bloggers (Aggregate feed)
http://www.wpsecuritybloggers.com/

Episode 139 Table of Contents

0:00 Intros /What Robert does.

3:24 Why does WordPress have a reputation for being insecure.

5:55 Many attacks are bots looking for weak credentials or plugins that have not been updated.

8:16 Many people make a living just configuring Wordfence, Sucuri, and iThemes Security.

9:12 Security plugins are a tool, not a 100% guarantee you won;t be hacked.

14:35 Why are audit logs important? And are website owners ever surprised how much activity there is on their site?

18:58 What advice would Robert give business owners when they go to build a website?

23:51 You must pay attention to everything that touches your website, not just WordPress components

29:21 Podcast Outros

===================

Links mentioned during the show:

Get Your Website on Google’s First Page – An Email Exchange with a SEO Specialist, or Not?

https://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/wordpress-security/your-website-google-first-page-email-exchange-seo-specialist/

===================

Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

===================

WP-Tonic is a both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the most successful people in WordPress web development, business, and digital marketing.

138 All About CSS with our WordPress Round Table

Jonathan Denwood & Kurt von Ahnen — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 14:30:00 +0000

We talk about CSS, Flexbox, CS Grids, CSS frameworks like Bootstrap and Foundation, Sass and other CSS pre-processors.

Our panel this week:

Alex Denning from https://alexdenning.com/ and https://masterwp.co/

Jackie D'Elia from https://jackiedelia.com/

Sallie Goetsch from https://wpfangirl.com/

Jonathan Denwood from https://www.wp-tonic.com/

John Locke from Lockedown SEO

Episode 138 Table of Contents

0:00 Podcast Intros.

1:49 WordPress New Story #1: The Wix Mobile App, A WordPress Joint

https://ma.tt/2016/10/wix-and-the-gpl/

8:07 WordPress Story #2: Lessons from failing to sell WordPress themes at the start of the gold rush

https://alexdenning.com/lessons-sell-wordpress-themes/

25:08 Main Topic: All About CSS

25:26 What things do you find frustrating about CSS?

27:18 How has CSS changed over the years?

30:16 Flexbox, and the CSS problems it has solved

34:44 The browsers that tend to have browser quirks in 2016/2017

37:02 Do CSS Frameworks make front-end development easier or harder?

42:31 Jackie's workflow with Sass and PostCSS.

50:47 John is still old-school with CSS.

51:48 Sallie's workflow and where she wants to go.

53:40 Email is the final frontier for relatively easy CSS support.

58:47 When will CSS Grid be supported in the majority of browsers?

1:02:39 What are some innovative uses of CSS you have seen this year?

1:07:40 Podcast outros

===================

Links Mentioned During Episode 138:

A Complete Guide to Flexbox

https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/a-guide-to-flexbox/

Using CSS Flexible Boxes

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_Flexible_Box_Layout/Using_CSS_flexible_boxes

Flexibility: A JavaScript polyfill for Flexbox

https://github.com/jonathantneal/flexibility

Sass: Syntactically Awesome Style Sheets

http://sass-lang.com/

Grunt: The JavaScript Task Runner

http://gruntjs.com/

Gulp: The streaming build system

http://gulpjs.com/

Animate.css

https://daneden.github.io/animate.css/

A Complete Guide to (CSS) Grid

https://css-tricks.com/snippets/css/complete-guide-grid/

CSS Grid Layout Module Level 1

https://www.w3.org/TR/2016/CR-css-grid-1-20160929/

Target Safari 7.1 and 8.0 CSS Styles (OSX Yosemite)

https://www.lockedownseo.com/target-safari-7-1-and-8-0-css-styles-osx-yosemite/

Bootstrap

http://getbootstrap.com/

Foundation by Zurb

http://foundation.zurb.com/

High Performance Responsive Design by Tom Barker (O'Reilly Media)

http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920033103.do

Genesis Framework