https://simplecast.com Post Status Podcasts Post Status Draft, Excerpt, Comments, and Live provide the interviews, news digests, community discussions, and live shows that matter — for WordPress professionals. Copyright - Post Status, LLC en-us Thu, 27 Oct 2022 23:07:35 +0000 Fri, 28 Oct 2022 04:24:24 +0000 https://poststatus.com/podcasts Post Status Podcasts https://image.simplecastcdn.com/images/62cc4889-9982-438a-9f7c-c3fe4b56fb08/6164832e-a264-49a0-8b42-cd5f086e4aa7/3000x3000/vertical-post-status-logo.jpg?aid=rss_feed https://poststatus.com/podcasts episodic Post Status Draft, Excerpt, Comments, and Live provide the interviews, news digests, community discussions, and live shows that matter — for WordPress professionals. Cory Miller, David Bisset no https://feeds.simplecast.com/2JE9sc8P WordPress, web development, web design, Post Status, agencies, post status, wordpress business, wordpress professionals, developers, wordpress news, freelancers, wordpress community Cory Miller cory@poststatus.com 4aba9fbe-6011-470a-9225-438bbd116a4e Post Status Excerpt (No. 72) — Can We Get to "Yes" on Better UX? Can We Get to “Yes” on Better UX?

What does WordPress need to do to appeal more to do-it-yourself website builders and creators who are trying to take a business, hobby, or side project online? This week in an article he shared in Post Status Slack, Eric Karkovack suggested some ways to improve the WordPress user experience, especially for DIY users setting up a website for the first time.

We also have lists of plugins we disrecommend — to the point that it's a dealbreaker if a client insists on using them. And of course, these lists change a lot over time. 

We all know these things — but it's a kind of “open secret” within professional WordPress circles. That's understandable! Comparison is the thief of joy — and possibly revenue.

Some of the things Eric wants to see happen, like a standard interface for plugins and a curated view of the plugin ecosystem, are similar to views commonly expressed by designers, developers, and people in other professional roles at WordPress agencies serving enterprise clients. And why not? In the WordPress enterprise space, are the end users really that much different than mass-market WordPress users in what they don't need to know or see — and what they do need to perform routine content creation and management tasks as easily as possible? 

That's where my thinking has been lately, so I had a conversation with Eric to see if we might identify areas where nearly everyone thinks WordPress offers a poor experience and how they might align themselves toward solutions. Can we get everyone to “yes” on a better UX?

Don't Play Favorites — Recognize Excellence

Standardizing admin interfaces and notifications might be easier than figuring out how to curate best-of-breed themes and plugins. But imagine, as Eric and I do in this conversation, some kind of “plugin quality score” at wordpress.org based on neutral, objective data. It might be “gamed” — in a positive way. It would encourage developers to do better, deeper, ever-maturing work.

Personally, I'd like to see the maximum and the average number of queries a plugin adds to a page. That, along with PHP and WordPress versions that have been tested for compatibility (existing features of the plugin repository) would be key code quality indicators. Frequency of updates, reviews, and support responses would indicate a capacity for long-term sustainability. Raising standards for testing aimed mainly at security would be great too. All of this could be done or encouraged by key players in the WordPress ecosystem coming together to set standards for their industry. It would impact how all users of the plugin directory understand quality.

Don't Hide it from the Noobs: Too Many Open Secrets About Quality are Bad for Everyone

As of today, there are 60,153 un-curated free plugins at wordpress.org that can only be explored via external search and a limited (arguably broken) site search tool. WordPress professionals with high-end client services would never expose their customers to this chaos — so why does the WordPress community expose its newcomers to it? Anyone who has developed WordPress sites for very long has a list of plugins they prefer, particularly in combination with each other, for common feature sets and use cases. We also have lists of plugins we dis-recommend — to the point that it's a deal breaker if a client insists on using them. And of course, these lists change a lot over time. 

We all know these things — but it's a kind of “open secret” from professional WordPress circles. That's understandable! Comparison is the thief of joy — and possibly revenue. But we need to be more open and better at communicating these things in a problem-solving, always-learning way within appropriate channels. Open source security is a different issue, but performance and code quality standards — and the products/people who follow them in exemplary ways — should be much more visible and celebrated.

(What if someone did a tutorial series walking through current WordPress code standards and the history of their evolution?)

Information that maturing developers and product owners can learn from to improve their work doesn't trickle down as openly or as easily as it should. It's inside baseball, and it shouldn't be quite so insider-y. It's not out there alongside independent plugin performance reviews or clear standards and guidance for anyone who wants them.

Why not?

What are the barriers?

Who can lift them?

Industry peers and WordPress community members working together on common interests?

As we end up saying in our conversation, we hope so.

GoDaddy Pro

✨ Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

Learn More:

The WordPress Coding Standards can be found evolving on GitHub.  

🙏 Credits

Transcript

Dan Knauss: I'm here with Eric Car Kovac, and this morning on PostIt Slack, he shared his latest article published on Specy Boy. What can WordPress do to appeal to the do it yourself market? , what brought that topic up for you this week, Eric?

Eric Karcovack: I think it's a combination of things. For one, you know, we have full site editing that's been around for a little bit now, and, you know, we're not seeing like huge adoption rates with it.

We're getting people to, um, you know, kind of learn what's involved with that and block themes and, um, [00:02:00] and also at the same time we're, you know, the, the changes that we've seen, The block editor over time and you know, even the, kind of, the genesis of that project I think was to kind of compete with, um, more.

Content management systems, kind of like, you know, WS or Squarespace and what have you. Um, and it seems like WordPress is just going toward that market more and more as they, as they build on. And so I thought those were really nice steps in that direction, right? So we have tools that. Make it a little bit easier for someone who maybe isn't, uh, familiar with code to go in and and build a, a site.

But that led me to think about, well, what else should we be doing in that area? What else could WordPress do to make it. Uh, as foolproof as possible, um, to build a basic site, not something necessarily like, um, you know, a complex, you know, high end enterprise site, [00:03:00] but just something basic that someone can do within a couple of hours.

So that really kind of where that, the post came from.

Dan Knauss: Yeah. Yeah. Have you seen the, uh, videos where Jamie Marsland and, uh, who else did this had, had their daughters or, Um, I think of very different ages too, but it tried to do exactly that. And, um, he had, he had his kids do, um, um, Elementor versus Gutenberg, I think it was.

Yeah. Yeah. And that was, that was interesting. I mean, you really have to. That totally someone totally different from you, um, using it for the first time and Yeah, I think, I think a lot of, um, thought has gone into that user experience is, is huge. Uh, now, of course, always, always should have been, but um, Gutenberg is, is very squarely focused on the, on the user experience, building out your, your site and, and [00:04:00] pages.

And, um, my, my thought though was everyone wants that. Um, it's not just the mass market, the lower and middle end, um, of that, but, um, agencies to up. The, uh, those that are serving enterprise, enterprise clients, uh, WordPress, v i p partners, um, I hear, I hear the same things from them, like, you know, even very recent conversations, um, about.

How having standard interface that doesn't throw you different, totally different screens when you use, uh, a plugin in the back end. Um, that's a, a con basic design principle of there's much less cognitive load on you when the navigation is standard. Even if you've never used WordPress before, um, [00:05:00] you.

You're f it seems familiar because things are intuitively laid out. Cause it's, it's like a lot of other things. WordPress is, is old enough and in so influential that it's, it's, uh, backend interface has been copied in a lot of ways. It's very, very familiar. Um, interestingly, even if people haven't used it.

Um, so when you hit a plugin with, you know, crazy level of setting screens or its own interface design, um, that's not, that doesn't. Look good with, uh, with anyone really, but with a enterprise client. I, I think that's an issue. That's one of the things you talk about in here. Um, Yeah, we have you thought about that at all?

Um, how, Yeah. Pretty much every market, every WordPress market, uh, could benefit from.

Eric Karcovack: It's, it's funny you mentioned that cuz I really wasn't thinking of like the enterprise clients. And I [00:06:00] think the reason for that is because usually if I have a client who's a little more higher end on the, on the price scale, I'm usually building things to kind of account for all of that right?

Where I can, I mean, obviously I can't change a in ui, but I can certainly do things with custom fields or blocks or what have you to try and make the, the content creation and editing process. Simple as possible for them. So by, by doing some of these things at core level, you would take away the need to build all that extra stuff on top to, you know, to make it easier for the corporate client to use.

So I think it, it, it goes together pretty well. Um, The one example in terms of UI that I have in the article is, uh, you know, just looking at the standard WordPress settings page. We have the reading settings, and then next to it I have, uh, the opening screen of slider Revolution, which is, uh, plugin bundled with [00:07:00] a bunch of different schemes and, uh, like a theme forest, what have you.

Um, it's like a completely different thing. And to, to that end, even Elementor is as well, I mean the, a lot of. Popular page builder plugins basically take over, uh, the UI and it's like you're in a completely different planet. And think about if you're a brand new user and you've got just Elementor or Slider Revolution on your site, you bought this theme and it comes with these things, you're kind of thinking you're dropped into a middle of Mars or something.

You're not sure what, you know how to get back to where you were and what the difference is between. You know, that UI based versus, you know, the, the core WordPress ui. Uh, in a lot of ways that doesn't make sense. So I think that's something we have to try and unify. Um, I don't know how we go about doing that at the core level.

Um, but I, I think if we make core as clean as possible, maybe that's at [00:08:00] least a good start.

Dan Knauss: Yeah, there were, there would have to be, um, some, some standards in reusable. Patterns and, and tools. Um, I, I think that in the long run, the, uh, Gutenberg is, is supposed to eat the entire, you know, it's, it's a true ship of Tesus project where the entire thing gets rebuilt while moving.

Um, And in, in some way it will be a, the goal is, is to have a unified experience at the end of that, just how quickly that happens depends on, on core contribution. Um, on the velocity of that, um, Yeah, that's for lack of that. I, I think it's, um, it's a bad experience for everyone and Sure. Uh, uh, an enterprise client is really just at bottom end users, uh, employees who have as much experience maybe as the average DIY site builder, a [00:09:00] creator, someone who wants to start a podcast or, or sell a product, um, as a side project or something like that.

There's, there's really no difference there. Everyone, um, has the same, uh, usability needs in general, and more or less, there's, there's big differences when you, you started talking about compliance needs with accessibility and, and so on and, and things like that. But, um, yeah, it seems like to me that there, there's a lot of opportunity for aligning, um, different parts of, of the word.

Community and business community where. Plug in. Developers and owners should really want this. The same thing that, uh, agency people, um, do. And that's, they, they support each other. Um, they feed each other business. So I, I'm curious why. That hasn't [00:10:00] happened, and it seems to me like there's some information flows or I don't know.

There there are probably other, other sticky barriers. Have you, did you, did that question come up for you at all? Why? Um, why?

Eric Karcovack: Well, I know it's like, it's something we've talked about a little bit, right? I mean, yeah, just on, on a few different levels and with the, uh, you know, Active install data going away from wordpress.org, and maybe these folks need to band together a little more and, and share amongst each other.

I, I think the reason it hasn't happened yet is because it really hasn't had to, um, you know, maybe they haven't seen necessarily the benefit of it, but when you see kind of the, the yeah. Jumble of the, the UI right now and how it, how different it can be depending on what you have installed. You know, maybe there is something that, you know, some of these larger plugin developers could work together on.

Sure. Uh, it makes sense. You know, it makes sense for all of them. I mean, [00:11:00] I, I, I somehow see us heading towards some sort of consortium of, of, uh, folks who, who can't necessarily write strict standards, but maybe they have certain. You know, broad outlines of, of what they, they want to, to abide by. And, you know, the more people that do that, the better I think it is for WordPress users and for just really everyone involved, because the software's going to be easier to use and more uniform.

Right.

Dan Knauss: Yeah. There's, there's a lot that the, um, that, that part of the community could do for itself. I've, uh, Tried to be more vocal about, but I, I think there, there have been a few, few voices behind those ideas of you, Hey, you, there's a lot you can do, um, to shape your own industry. Um, Yeah, if you do have a shared, a shared interface framework and, um, formal or informal standards for [00:12:00] Yeah, we were talking about.

Admin notifications previously. Um, that's part of it. Um, it, it'd save you a lot of time if there was a base to build on. Um, more than, more than I think exists now. Um, so that, uh, anyone starting, starting out creating a, a new plugin, um, would have some kind of, uh, head start. Really a standard interface or, or guidance at least.

I don't know that there's that much, um, public information. And, uh, it's curious to me as, as, uh, as things like the W Commerce, um, partnership program kind of is a bit, looks like, a bit like a, getting into, uh, a relationship with WordPress, v i p. Um, there's criteria to go through, uh, that you have, well you have to meet, um, to become, um, a preferred agency working.

Um, with w commerce.com side with [00:13:00] automatic, um, what those criteria are and what the standards are, should I think, have some kind of trickle down effect, like know what they are and, um, and have them as at least aspirational for everyone. Um, there's been some talk in, in, uh, core of, um, bringing. Some changes on, uh, on standards and testing for, uh, coding, um, coding standards for security.

Uh, I think primarily performance and security. Um, and I hope those continue to get prioritized that that's what all seems, seems to need to happen to, um, to move this forward. But the one point you mentioned, um, where you're talking about modernizing the onboarding experience, Where you direct people to, where to find themes, where to find plugins that, uh, [00:14:00] that becomes challenging and touches, touches.

This other recent issue we've talked about, um, it is hard to search in the, in the plugin repository is not in an ideal state and people who are trying to sell. Their plugins there, um, have a number of frustrations with, with trying to surface their, their products as relevant to what people are searching for.

Um, do you think this could be part of a solution to that if, or a potential conflict point when you're curating, you're, you're curating and recommending, um, certain ones?

Eric Karcovack: Well, I think as far as, as core goes, um, my idea is more. Just pointing people to the repositories. Mm-hmm. , uh, for themes and plugins, not necessarily being a, uh, a [00:15:00] curator, but, um, I, I, I see the, you know, I see there, there, there should be more impetus to improve the, the repositories and make them easier for folks to search and figure out what it is they're getting and what, you know, um, allow new entries to be a little more, uh, visible.

But I think they're kind of separate things, you know, just to be able to, I mean, if, if you're installing WordPress now from the, you know, from, from your host, or if you're, you know, FTPing it up to your site, old school style, um, you know, you're, you're gonna get this little. Widget did on the, on the front screen of the dashboard that welcomes you to WordPress and gives you a few handy links, but it doesn't really tell you about how to actually use what you're, you've got.

And I think that was where I, I thought improvement could be made right now. I mean the person that doesn't understand where themes reside or where plug-ins reside, they're not [00:16:00] gonna know necessarily to go under the appearance menu and look to add a theme or you know, the plug-ins menu. You know, they may find that eventually, but why not put it right out there in front of 'em so that they can easily click and say, Okay, I know what I need.

I need to get a plugin that does this. And you know, cuz we have a nice interface to actually go in and. Poor plugins and themes, but Right. It's not necessarily, um, in front of, front of your mind when you, when you first install WordPress. So I thought that was, um, something that was important to, uh, you know, to, to emphasize in this.

Dan Knauss: Sure. Yeah. And that, that seems like it, it's potentially in a good way, open for change with, uh, potential changes to the.org repository. And, and I imagine that as, um, as the.com marketplace. Um, and, you know, potentially other, other things like that. Um, If, if other hosts hosting W Commerce or, or [00:17:00] WordPress were to do something similar, um, that, that, that requires some kind of curation at some point or some, some way of featuring particular things like, this is what you need to do.

Uh, for, for example, you know, one of my pet things is can you build a, uh, sub stack like, uh, site out of WordPress very quickly. Yes, if you know how. But, um, the, there's act, those documentations kind of emerged relatively recently for doing that with a, a couple of plugins. Um, if you dig around on wordpress.com, um, and I, like Kim Coleman is, uh, for, uh, uh, paid memberships.

Pro is giving a talk right about now, I think on. On how to do that with, uh, Mail poet and their product, the Coleman's product, uh, paid membership pro. Um, that's, that's something that, um, yeah, [00:18:00] I, I agree. It's, it's tri on the, on the mass market level. It's, it's sort of the level of suggestion of here's if you want to do this, here are some ways you can do that.

And. What gets recommended there, I, I guess, is, is maybe a, a thorny issue, but as you kind of move up the up the market, um, you don't want give that much. You don't want to have an onboarding screen that says install this and this and this to, uh, you know, an agency's client. Uh, you know, you don't, they don't wanna see that either.

So, um, you want to actually be making those choices. For them. So it occurs to me that the thing that's not talked about OP openly but is talked about everywhere is that the upmarket WordPress and building even, you know, freelancers, small agencies to v i P agencies generally, um, you know, have their own ways of doing things.

[00:19:00] That do a lot of curation and like you said, building, building custom materials. But the less you do that, the less you have to support yourself. Um, that they're essentially doing, making these choices and saying, these are the things that work well for these purposes under these conditions. And I've always thought, why should that be a proprietary trade secret, especially when it's out there, but.

We're hesitant to, uh, convey that or some version of that to the, um, to the mass market. Um, what, what do you, what do you think about that? Do you think there could be some synergies there? Cause there's learning potential too, if you, if you kind of disclose, this is how we're doing it up here. Um, people who are just starting out building with WordPress are learning from leaders then.

Eric Karcovack: Yeah. Um, well, one of the things I. I, I talked about with curation was, you know, maybe managed hosts are in the best [00:20:00] position to do kind of something like that, because I think some of them already do to, to a degree. I mean, many of them are buying up, you know, plugin and themes anyway. And so, you know, maybe they're in the best position to add something like this, The WordPress, um, for someone that has the fresh install, You know, in the community it's, it's interesting because there's just so many, there's so many plugins and so many opinions that you know mm-hmm.

I may ask, well how do you build a membership site? And somebody may tell me, paid memberships, pros the way to go. Somebody may say, Member press, or, you know, there there could be five or six other, you know, really big players in that market. Um, same thing for forms and, you know, e-commerce may be a little bit less, but, um, you know, cuz we have one dominant, uh, you.

Entity there in W Commerce. But, um, you know, if you ask about w commerce extensions, you'll probably get a couple hundred different answers on that, so. Right. You know, the curation is a, a [00:21:00] bit of a tough, a tough call. Like, I, I don't, I certainly don't think, you know, the WordPress project should be, um, doing anything other than generically taking you to the, you know, Repositories and saying, this is where you can find plugins.

Now, maybe in the future they write, you know, they, they share articles or something about, well, you know, if you're going to build an e-commerce site, maybe you should consider X, Y, and Z. Not necessarily talking about. Specific plugins, but things you need to consider on your end and find to help you find the, the tool that works best for your needs and, you know, design for what your workflow is going to be.

Um, so maybe if we can add some guidance in that way without necessarily favoring one product over another. Um, but I, I, I think they're, you know, for the new user, the person who wants to just build their own basic site, Having some sort of guidance in [00:22:00] not only what plugins to use, but just how to use WordPress, I think could be, you know, extremely helpful.

Dan Knauss: Yes. Uh, yeah, I, I agree with you. Um, you know, the way you, you put it here was, um, Uh, yeah, the, who would be responsible for curating is the, is the really tough issue. You'd need a, a third party of some, some kind to take that on. Um, and yeah, in the mass market where everyone's competing, um, with, with their product or service, um, that's a difficult one to do.

Who, who would be a third party? Who could, who could potentially navigate those, those waters? And are, are there things that the plugin repo could do that are sufficiently neutral with the kind of data that, that could be reported out that would, um, help that? Um, do we need something like Kevin Ohashi doing, um, you know, [00:23:00] plugin performance?

WP plugin performance reviews, like his hosting, uh, reviews.

Eric Karcovack: Yeah, that, that's interesting. You could, you, you could certainly see the repo. I mean, you know, again, you don't wanna play favorites. That's definitely, you know, gonna cause a lot of problems. Um, maybe there could be, you know, stats for, you know, different types of sites.

Um, if you are into publishing, these are the most popular plugins in that category. Because we don't, It may even be listed that way now, but we don't necessarily say that. Um, so you could look at, you know, membership sites, you could look at e-commerce, um, you know, selling digital goods, all those types of things.

Maybe we break it down by category a little more and just show what the trends are in that area. It doesn't necessarily have to favor anyone, but obviously it's going to show, you know, who's in the lead and who's not. Maybe that's [00:24:00] something to help people again and again, I, I put these out there as ideas.

They may be extremely flawed and, uh, you know, you can certainly tell me on Twitter if, if, if you don't agree. Uh, but just I think we need to find more ways to empower people to make good decisions with WordPress. Um, that's going to keep people on the platform. Throughout and they're going to hopefully have less frustration in trying to get started because I think that's, from my experience, that's the area where people are, you know, hit that wall after installing, They're like, Okay, well what do I do next?

Right.

Dan Knauss: Yeah. Yeah. I wonder, I wonder if something like a, uh, plugin quality score could be developed. Which, which to some extent is being done with, with, uh, review, like combining, uh, correlating, um, support tickets and response to those and, [00:25:00] um, installs and, and things like that. But I wonder if you could, you could do a quality, um, rating that would be sufficiently neutral that people would accept.

The curation that developed from that. Say, I, I keep thinking of this one. I don't, I don't know if it's realistic, but, um, I would love to know on every plugin if I install this, what's the, what's the maximum number of queries it will add to a page load? What's the average number? And, um, that right there creates an incentive to plug in developers to get that right.

Learn, you know, if you're just starting out, uh, coding something, um, learn what that means, why it matters. Um, because that's, that seems to be one of the real, real slow downs. Um, and, and that's a pretty objective measure. Fewer queries, quicker response, um, from the server, [00:26:00] something like that. I don't know.

Do you, do you think that that sort of thing could potentially be done, um, as. Sufficiently neutral thing coming from the, From

Eric Karcovack: I think so. I think so. I mean, one idea that just kind of popped in my head was, how about we do something activity based? Hmm. Like, just for example, um, we take into account how often a plugin updates, uh, how responsive, uh, Right.

You know, support requests are in the forms. That doesn't necessarily tell you the quality. Now I. You might be updating your plugin three or four times a week because it's broken, and you may be re responding to, you know, support requests without necessarily resolving problems. But that might be a way to, to, to help steer people away from plugins that.

Haven't been updated in years. I mean, we have that little warning on there now that, you know, when it's been, I think, what three versions. It'll tell [00:27:00] you that, hey, this hasn't been, you know, updated in, in a while, huh? But if you had maybe some sort of activity based scoring that, you know, I mean, you know, that, that puts everybody, I think on a.

Closer playing field. I don't know if it's completely level, but you know, I mean, the plugins with the most resources might, you know, be able to, to, uh, to win on some of that. But then again, if you have a, a solo entrepreneur who's got a plugin that you know, they really are passionate about and they're constantly trying to improve and they're, you know, we know there are a lot of those out there, you know, they might be able to, to compete on that.

Dan Knauss: Sure. Yeah. I, I feel, I feel like that could work if the repository made some distinction between completely free plugins and freemium model plugins, or those that have, uh, a recognized business entity behind it with. Staff and [00:28:00] like this, We exist here to support this in theory, in in perpetuity. Um, because actually there, there are some plugin if you base this on activity like TenUp.

Um, there's some, Jake Goldman still has under, under his account on, uh, on the repo that are really nice, simple, single purpose plugins and I completely trust. The support for them, for them, for the, for the most part. But, um, they're not, they're not gonna be high volume, um, uh, support activity there or updates, and they're pretty simple, yet reliable.

Um, it might be tricky to do that, but I, I think it would be fair to recognize. Leaders and high performers and recognized experts at, at some point. And, um, and the business, um, you know, the number of people who, you know, who actually exist to support [00:29:00] a particular plugin. That was when I was, when I'm doing things for clients and when I was doing that a lot more, um, you're looking at, I, I try to look at what's gonna be around for a long, long term.

You know, the, the fewer, uh, We don't wanna make changes to themes, to major plugin changes. Um, over time we want this to be really stable. So, so to me a concern would be, Hey, this is a really nice plugin, seems really well supported, but there's no business model behind it. Or it's not one that, yeah, I think will be here in five, even just five years.

Um, and the long term view. Yeah. Is another, is another criteria that's hard to, hard to suss out. Um, but those are, those are all potentially valid ways to curate, um, and indicate different, different categories of, of product that may really help people figure out what they need. Um, yeah, it's a [00:30:00] good, good question, uh, to open.

Eric Karcovack: Yeah, I think there's, there's potential for it. Um, you know, any, I think anything we can do to make it, give people more confidence that what they're installing is going to work and be, you know, stable and, you know, allow them to do. What they want to do easy in a more easy fashion. I think that would, you know, definitely be a benefit.

And just going back to the activity thing for just a second, I mean, how many plugins that are still, you know, somewhat maintained, Still say that their, their latest compatibility is like WordPress 5.8 or 5.9. Right. You know, just the simple fact of going in and, and testing with WordPress six or 6.1, maybe that gets you, you know, some brownie points in that as well.

Just that you version checked and you know, you're keeping up with that. Because I see that as another issue [00:31:00] in the repository where, There may be plugins that work perfectly well, but you're still a little hesitant because it, Yeah. You know, the compatibility hasn't been updated in two years or three years.

So that could also be, you know, a

Dan Knauss: factor. And it's not just compatibility to WordPress, it's, uh, you know, word WordPress, GUIs and, and compatibility for php. So plug in, plug in compatibility with, uh, which, what up to what version of PHP will it. Will it operate

Eric Karcovack: and Yeah. Just checking. Yeah, I know. Uh, like I'm looking at a, a plugin now it says PHP version 5.4 or higher.

So there you go. Ah, right, right, right. You're in good shape, even out in a really, really old install.

Dan Knauss: Yes. Right. So that raises some, some ideas. Well, that's, and that's something a DIY person isn't gonna know. They aren't, they aren't going to know. Um, you know, what version of PHP is my. Running and what does that mean and, and all that.

[00:32:00] Yeah. Support activity and development activity are, are good indicators, but then you, you can game that as well. Um, well, it creates, it creates a good incentive to do that work. But then, you know, are we adding features or minor updates just to, uh, to rank higher at that point. I don't know if it would have that, that kind of effect.

Eric Karcovack: I mean, we've seen it with reviews, right? Yeah. People put in the phony reviews and or higher out firms to, to do that for them. So yeah, any, anything that they put in probably could be gained. I don't know if we're gonna fully prevent that, but you hope that, you know, most developers take it as a, uh, a serious matter and, you know, try to actually put in the hard work to, to rank highly and, and.

Hopefully that that's a way for them to kind of go up the charts a little bit in, in terms of how many installs they have and how many paying customers they get because of it. Right. [00:33:00]

Dan Knauss: Yeah. And there's, there's such a categorical difference between people who are running their business that way. And well, it's a good, it's a good way to game things towards more support, more development, and, uh, taking an active interest in, in what's going on with your, your product.

And in the way it's, uh, presented to people who are going to install it. Um, and it's. Good idea. I, I do feel that those things go together. Any, anything that improves or changes in, in core to change the onboarding experience to, um, make it easier with respect to what you install, has gotta be corresponding somehow to, um, what you see on the on.org, um, what it's putting out publicly as a, as a signal for, um, for quality.

The last thing. Well close to where you, you closed was, was talking about outreach, um, that we should just show what, what WordPress can do. [00:34:00] Um, and do you think we just don't do that enough or it's not unified enough? Or just in the Gutenberg era, we're just beginning to see tutorials and guides, um, show up, especially for non-technical users.

And, um, that's, that's something. on.org, Learn, Learn. Um, wordpress.org is, uh, busy trying to do, there's a ton of meetups coming out that are really geared towards this sort of thing. Um, and, and also people who are building at sites at a more advanced level. Um, do you see that as something that's just starting to happen or something altogether different that you had in mind?

Eric Karcovack: I, I sort of see this as kind of like a, a. Coming of WordPress, right? Because when a lot of us, you know, who have been in this a while started, you know, if you went to a Word camp, you probably learned an awful lot about the basics of WordPress. Whether you were just [00:35:00] using it as, you know, a content creator, or you were a developer.

And I think we've kind of lost that along the way a little bit. We've kind of focused so much on the more advanced topics. And then of course, the pandemic, you know, took away a, a lot of the in person events. So I, I think, you know, the word camps are one way to really start showing, you know, new users what's possible and you know, how to, to do the basics.

Um, you know, I, I would, I honestly, I would love to see that at Word Camp us or one of the really. International events, you know, have a track just for new people, uh, you know, where they can ask experts questions, you know, that people that, you know, we, we see in the post status slack or we see on online all the time.

You know, if, if a new user's able to ask them questions that, you know, that can go a long way towards selling them on the platform and keeping them there. Um, and you mentioned the learn [00:36:00] tool. Well, I, I think that's fantastic. That's actually something I brought up on the, uh, on the slack the other day. You know, Has there been any effort to kind of integrate that with the core software so that you can easily find tutorials?

Uh, maybe through a plugin or, or something like that? Because we have various WordPress support, uh, tools that are third party, you know, that'll show videos on how to do different things. We have this wonderful resource and if somebody doesn't visit wordpress.org, they're really not gonna know it's. And I think, you know, it's such an opportunity to reach people and, and teach them how to do anything from the basics to, you know, once they level up to, you know, some more advanced things, it's all right there waiting and, you know, all we have to do in some way, some respects is, you know, put it in front of them, You know, give them the opportunity to see it.

Um, so those are things, you know. The WordPress community has so much great content, so many smart people. I think we [00:37:00] ought to be able to put our heads together and, and find ways to, you know, encourage new users and embrace them and, and, and, you know, kind of help them, you know, with any stumbling blocks.

And because, you know, if once we kind of. Hate to say the phrase die out. You know, what, what, what is the next generation of WordPress user going to look like? How, how are they going to use the software? You know, if we want to keep it as a market leader, we want to keep it, uh, viable, you know, the new users are, you know, just critical

Dan Knauss: to that, right?

Yeah. I, I think that Learn is, uh, learn. WordPress is. Logical, the content that's being developed there and also the meetups that are going on, the, um, kind of webinars that are, that are happening are, um, are logical to move into the dashboard for certain, um, certain use [00:38:00] cases, um, in the, in mass market, DIY users.

All right, well, It's been good talking to you again. I, I think this, this is a good, a good topic with a lot of questions in it that touch a couple of the main, main conversations and, and issues today that we've, we've been all, all thinking about, um, what to do with, uh, potential changes to the plugin repository and, and the kind of data that that comes out of there.

Dot org content and information can somehow fit into the, um, into the WordPress dashboard and, um, interface there to help people and connect them with the community. Um, how we could maybe standardize, uh, the experience and some interface design, how things are, are done on the back end that, um, makes [00:39:00] it a more palatable and, uh, Less busy interruptive, um, or confused experience on, on sites with a lot of things installed, whether it's, um, someone just setting up their own, their own site, or, uh, an agency doing it for a, a high end client.

Um, I think the more, the more we see those all as, uh, common problems everyone has. The better chance at br at bringing everyone towards a, an aligned solution where everyone wins. Um, ideally one, one would hope .

Eric Karcovack: There's potential there. Absolutely. Hope so. Um, you know, The, the, you know, if you start the conversation, hopefully, um, you know, you bring in some good ideas and if we see a few of them implemented, uh, that's like you said, that's gonna benefit everybody.

Dan Knauss: You have been listening to post status excerpt, a podcast from post Status, the [00:40:00] community for WordPress professionals. Check us out  at poststatus.com. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, or become a member and join us in post status. We have membership plans for freelancers, agency owners, product founders, and business partners who share and support our mission of investing in the open web by growing the WordPress ecosystem and coming together for fun and networking as we give and grow together.

]]> Thu, 27 Oct 2022 23:07:35 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Eric Karkovack, Dan Knauss) https://poststatus.com/wordpress-user-experiences/ Can We Get to “Yes” on Better UX?

What does WordPress need to do to appeal more to do-it-yourself website builders and creators who are trying to take a business, hobby, or side project online? This week in an article he shared in Post Status Slack, Eric Karkovack suggested some ways to improve the WordPress user experience, especially for DIY users setting up a website for the first time.

We also have lists of plugins we disrecommend — to the point that it's a dealbreaker if a client insists on using them. And of course, these lists change a lot over time. 

We all know these things — but it's a kind of “open secret” within professional WordPress circles. That's understandable! Comparison is the thief of joy — and possibly revenue.

Some of the things Eric wants to see happen, like a standard interface for plugins and a curated view of the plugin ecosystem, are similar to views commonly expressed by designers, developers, and people in other professional roles at WordPress agencies serving enterprise clients. And why not? In the WordPress enterprise space, are the end users really that much different than mass-market WordPress users in what they don't need to know or see — and what they do need to perform routine content creation and management tasks as easily as possible? 

That's where my thinking has been lately, so I had a conversation with Eric to see if we might identify areas where nearly everyone thinks WordPress offers a poor experience and how they might align themselves toward solutions. Can we get everyone to “yes” on a better UX?

Don't Play Favorites — Recognize Excellence

Standardizing admin interfaces and notifications might be easier than figuring out how to curate best-of-breed themes and plugins. But imagine, as Eric and I do in this conversation, some kind of “plugin quality score” at wordpress.org based on neutral, objective data. It might be “gamed” — in a positive way. It would encourage developers to do better, deeper, ever-maturing work.

Personally, I'd like to see the maximum and the average number of queries a plugin adds to a page. That, along with PHP and WordPress versions that have been tested for compatibility (existing features of the plugin repository) would be key code quality indicators. Frequency of updates, reviews, and support responses would indicate a capacity for long-term sustainability. Raising standards for testing aimed mainly at security would be great too. All of this could be done or encouraged by key players in the WordPress ecosystem coming together to set standards for their industry. It would impact how all users of the plugin directory understand quality.

Don't Hide it from the Noobs: Too Many Open Secrets About Quality are Bad for Everyone

As of today, there are 60,153 un-curated free plugins at wordpress.org that can only be explored via external search and a limited (arguably broken) site search tool. WordPress professionals with high-end client services would never expose their customers to this chaos — so why does the WordPress community expose its newcomers to it? Anyone who has developed WordPress sites for very long has a list of plugins they prefer, particularly in combination with each other, for common feature sets and use cases. We also have lists of plugins we dis-recommend — to the point that it's a deal breaker if a client insists on using them. And of course, these lists change a lot over time. 

We all know these things — but it's a kind of “open secret” from professional WordPress circles. That's understandable! Comparison is the thief of joy — and possibly revenue. But we need to be more open and better at communicating these things in a problem-solving, always-learning way within appropriate channels. Open source security is a different issue, but performance and code quality standards — and the products/people who follow them in exemplary ways — should be much more visible and celebrated.

(What if someone did a tutorial series walking through current WordPress code standards and the history of their evolution?)

Information that maturing developers and product owners can learn from to improve their work doesn't trickle down as openly or as easily as it should. It's inside baseball, and it shouldn't be quite so insider-y. It's not out there alongside independent plugin performance reviews or clear standards and guidance for anyone who wants them.

Why not?

What are the barriers?

Who can lift them?

Industry peers and WordPress community members working together on common interests?

As we end up saying in our conversation, we hope so.

GoDaddy Pro

✨ Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

Learn More:

The WordPress Coding Standards can be found evolving on GitHub.  

🙏 Credits

Transcript

Dan Knauss: I'm here with Eric Car Kovac, and this morning on PostIt Slack, he shared his latest article published on Specy Boy. What can WordPress do to appeal to the do it yourself market? , what brought that topic up for you this week, Eric?

Eric Karcovack: I think it's a combination of things. For one, you know, we have full site editing that's been around for a little bit now, and, you know, we're not seeing like huge adoption rates with it.

We're getting people to, um, you know, kind of learn what's involved with that and block themes and, um, [00:02:00] and also at the same time we're, you know, the, the changes that we've seen, The block editor over time and you know, even the, kind of, the genesis of that project I think was to kind of compete with, um, more.

Content management systems, kind of like, you know, WS or Squarespace and what have you. Um, and it seems like WordPress is just going toward that market more and more as they, as they build on. And so I thought those were really nice steps in that direction, right? So we have tools that. Make it a little bit easier for someone who maybe isn't, uh, familiar with code to go in and and build a, a site.

But that led me to think about, well, what else should we be doing in that area? What else could WordPress do to make it. Uh, as foolproof as possible, um, to build a basic site, not something necessarily like, um, you know, a complex, you know, high end enterprise site, [00:03:00] but just something basic that someone can do within a couple of hours.

So that really kind of where that, the post came from.

Dan Knauss: Yeah. Yeah. Have you seen the, uh, videos where Jamie Marsland and, uh, who else did this had, had their daughters or, Um, I think of very different ages too, but it tried to do exactly that. And, um, he had, he had his kids do, um, um, Elementor versus Gutenberg, I think it was.

Yeah. Yeah. And that was, that was interesting. I mean, you really have to. That totally someone totally different from you, um, using it for the first time and Yeah, I think, I think a lot of, um, thought has gone into that user experience is, is huge. Uh, now, of course, always, always should have been, but um, Gutenberg is, is very squarely focused on the, on the user experience, building out your, your site and, and [00:04:00] pages.

And, um, my, my thought though was everyone wants that. Um, it's not just the mass market, the lower and middle end, um, of that, but, um, agencies to up. The, uh, those that are serving enterprise, enterprise clients, uh, WordPress, v i p partners, um, I hear, I hear the same things from them, like, you know, even very recent conversations, um, about.

How having standard interface that doesn't throw you different, totally different screens when you use, uh, a plugin in the back end. Um, that's a, a con basic design principle of there's much less cognitive load on you when the navigation is standard. Even if you've never used WordPress before, um, [00:05:00] you.

You're f it seems familiar because things are intuitively laid out. Cause it's, it's like a lot of other things. WordPress is, is old enough and in so influential that it's, it's, uh, backend interface has been copied in a lot of ways. It's very, very familiar. Um, interestingly, even if people haven't used it.

Um, so when you hit a plugin with, you know, crazy level of setting screens or its own interface design, um, that's not, that doesn't. Look good with, uh, with anyone really, but with a enterprise client. I, I think that's an issue. That's one of the things you talk about in here. Um, Yeah, we have you thought about that at all?

Um, how, Yeah. Pretty much every market, every WordPress market, uh, could benefit from.

Eric Karcovack: It's, it's funny you mentioned that cuz I really wasn't thinking of like the enterprise clients. And I [00:06:00] think the reason for that is because usually if I have a client who's a little more higher end on the, on the price scale, I'm usually building things to kind of account for all of that right?

Where I can, I mean, obviously I can't change a in ui, but I can certainly do things with custom fields or blocks or what have you to try and make the, the content creation and editing process. Simple as possible for them. So by, by doing some of these things at core level, you would take away the need to build all that extra stuff on top to, you know, to make it easier for the corporate client to use.

So I think it, it, it goes together pretty well. Um, The one example in terms of UI that I have in the article is, uh, you know, just looking at the standard WordPress settings page. We have the reading settings, and then next to it I have, uh, the opening screen of slider Revolution, which is, uh, plugin bundled with [00:07:00] a bunch of different schemes and, uh, like a theme forest, what have you.

Um, it's like a completely different thing. And to, to that end, even Elementor is as well, I mean the, a lot of. Popular page builder plugins basically take over, uh, the UI and it's like you're in a completely different planet. And think about if you're a brand new user and you've got just Elementor or Slider Revolution on your site, you bought this theme and it comes with these things, you're kind of thinking you're dropped into a middle of Mars or something.

You're not sure what, you know how to get back to where you were and what the difference is between. You know, that UI based versus, you know, the, the core WordPress ui. Uh, in a lot of ways that doesn't make sense. So I think that's something we have to try and unify. Um, I don't know how we go about doing that at the core level.

Um, but I, I think if we make core as clean as possible, maybe that's at [00:08:00] least a good start.

Dan Knauss: Yeah, there were, there would have to be, um, some, some standards in reusable. Patterns and, and tools. Um, I, I think that in the long run, the, uh, Gutenberg is, is supposed to eat the entire, you know, it's, it's a true ship of Tesus project where the entire thing gets rebuilt while moving.

Um, And in, in some way it will be a, the goal is, is to have a unified experience at the end of that, just how quickly that happens depends on, on core contribution. Um, on the velocity of that, um, Yeah, that's for lack of that. I, I think it's, um, it's a bad experience for everyone and Sure. Uh, uh, an enterprise client is really just at bottom end users, uh, employees who have as much experience maybe as the average DIY site builder, a [00:09:00] creator, someone who wants to start a podcast or, or sell a product, um, as a side project or something like that.

There's, there's really no difference there. Everyone, um, has the same, uh, usability needs in general, and more or less, there's, there's big differences when you, you started talking about compliance needs with accessibility and, and so on and, and things like that. But, um, yeah, it seems like to me that there, there's a lot of opportunity for aligning, um, different parts of, of the word.

Community and business community where. Plug in. Developers and owners should really want this. The same thing that, uh, agency people, um, do. And that's, they, they support each other. Um, they feed each other business. So I, I'm curious why. That hasn't [00:10:00] happened, and it seems to me like there's some information flows or I don't know.

There there are probably other, other sticky barriers. Have you, did you, did that question come up for you at all? Why? Um, why?

Eric Karcovack: Well, I know it's like, it's something we've talked about a little bit, right? I mean, yeah, just on, on a few different levels and with the, uh, you know, Active install data going away from wordpress.org, and maybe these folks need to band together a little more and, and share amongst each other.

I, I think the reason it hasn't happened yet is because it really hasn't had to, um, you know, maybe they haven't seen necessarily the benefit of it, but when you see kind of the, the yeah. Jumble of the, the UI right now and how it, how different it can be depending on what you have installed. You know, maybe there is something that, you know, some of these larger plugin developers could work together on.

Sure. Uh, it makes sense. You know, it makes sense for all of them. I mean, [00:11:00] I, I, I somehow see us heading towards some sort of consortium of, of, uh, folks who, who can't necessarily write strict standards, but maybe they have certain. You know, broad outlines of, of what they, they want to, to abide by. And, you know, the more people that do that, the better I think it is for WordPress users and for just really everyone involved, because the software's going to be easier to use and more uniform.

Right.

Dan Knauss: Yeah. There's, there's a lot that the, um, that, that part of the community could do for itself. I've, uh, Tried to be more vocal about, but I, I think there, there have been a few, few voices behind those ideas of you, Hey, you, there's a lot you can do, um, to shape your own industry. Um, Yeah, if you do have a shared, a shared interface framework and, um, formal or informal standards for [00:12:00] Yeah, we were talking about.

Admin notifications previously. Um, that's part of it. Um, it, it'd save you a lot of time if there was a base to build on. Um, more than, more than I think exists now. Um, so that, uh, anyone starting, starting out creating a, a new plugin, um, would have some kind of, uh, head start. Really a standard interface or, or guidance at least.

I don't know that there's that much, um, public information. And, uh, it's curious to me as, as, uh, as things like the W Commerce, um, partnership program kind of is a bit, looks like, a bit like a, getting into, uh, a relationship with WordPress, v i p. Um, there's criteria to go through, uh, that you have, well you have to meet, um, to become, um, a preferred agency working.

Um, with w commerce.com side with [00:13:00] automatic, um, what those criteria are and what the standards are, should I think, have some kind of trickle down effect, like know what they are and, um, and have them as at least aspirational for everyone. Um, there's been some talk in, in, uh, core of, um, bringing. Some changes on, uh, on standards and testing for, uh, coding, um, coding standards for security.

Uh, I think primarily performance and security. Um, and I hope those continue to get prioritized that that's what all seems, seems to need to happen to, um, to move this forward. But the one point you mentioned, um, where you're talking about modernizing the onboarding experience, Where you direct people to, where to find themes, where to find plugins that, uh, [00:14:00] that becomes challenging and touches, touches.

This other recent issue we've talked about, um, it is hard to search in the, in the plugin repository is not in an ideal state and people who are trying to sell. Their plugins there, um, have a number of frustrations with, with trying to surface their, their products as relevant to what people are searching for.

Um, do you think this could be part of a solution to that if, or a potential conflict point when you're curating, you're, you're curating and recommending, um, certain ones?

Eric Karcovack: Well, I think as far as, as core goes, um, my idea is more. Just pointing people to the repositories. Mm-hmm. , uh, for themes and plugins, not necessarily being a, uh, a [00:15:00] curator, but, um, I, I, I see the, you know, I see there, there, there should be more impetus to improve the, the repositories and make them easier for folks to search and figure out what it is they're getting and what, you know, um, allow new entries to be a little more, uh, visible.

But I think they're kind of separate things, you know, just to be able to, I mean, if, if you're installing WordPress now from the, you know, from, from your host, or if you're, you know, FTPing it up to your site, old school style, um, you know, you're, you're gonna get this little. Widget did on the, on the front screen of the dashboard that welcomes you to WordPress and gives you a few handy links, but it doesn't really tell you about how to actually use what you're, you've got.

And I think that was where I, I thought improvement could be made right now. I mean the person that doesn't understand where themes reside or where plug-ins reside, they're not [00:16:00] gonna know necessarily to go under the appearance menu and look to add a theme or you know, the plug-ins menu. You know, they may find that eventually, but why not put it right out there in front of 'em so that they can easily click and say, Okay, I know what I need.

I need to get a plugin that does this. And you know, cuz we have a nice interface to actually go in and. Poor plugins and themes, but Right. It's not necessarily, um, in front of, front of your mind when you, when you first install WordPress. So I thought that was, um, something that was important to, uh, you know, to, to emphasize in this.

Dan Knauss: Sure. Yeah. And that, that seems like it, it's potentially in a good way, open for change with, uh, potential changes to the.org repository. And, and I imagine that as, um, as the.com marketplace. Um, and, you know, potentially other, other things like that. Um, If, if other hosts hosting W Commerce or, or [00:17:00] WordPress were to do something similar, um, that, that, that requires some kind of curation at some point or some, some way of featuring particular things like, this is what you need to do.

Uh, for, for example, you know, one of my pet things is can you build a, uh, sub stack like, uh, site out of WordPress very quickly. Yes, if you know how. But, um, the, there's act, those documentations kind of emerged relatively recently for doing that with a, a couple of plugins. Um, if you dig around on wordpress.com, um, and I, like Kim Coleman is, uh, for, uh, uh, paid memberships.

Pro is giving a talk right about now, I think on. On how to do that with, uh, Mail poet and their product, the Coleman's product, uh, paid membership pro. Um, that's, that's something that, um, yeah, [00:18:00] I, I agree. It's, it's tri on the, on the mass market level. It's, it's sort of the level of suggestion of here's if you want to do this, here are some ways you can do that.

And. What gets recommended there, I, I guess, is, is maybe a, a thorny issue, but as you kind of move up the up the market, um, you don't want give that much. You don't want to have an onboarding screen that says install this and this and this to, uh, you know, an agency's client. Uh, you know, you don't, they don't wanna see that either.

So, um, you want to actually be making those choices. For them. So it occurs to me that the thing that's not talked about OP openly but is talked about everywhere is that the upmarket WordPress and building even, you know, freelancers, small agencies to v i P agencies generally, um, you know, have their own ways of doing things.

[00:19:00] That do a lot of curation and like you said, building, building custom materials. But the less you do that, the less you have to support yourself. Um, that they're essentially doing, making these choices and saying, these are the things that work well for these purposes under these conditions. And I've always thought, why should that be a proprietary trade secret, especially when it's out there, but.

We're hesitant to, uh, convey that or some version of that to the, um, to the mass market. Um, what, what do you, what do you think about that? Do you think there could be some synergies there? Cause there's learning potential too, if you, if you kind of disclose, this is how we're doing it up here. Um, people who are just starting out building with WordPress are learning from leaders then.

Eric Karcovack: Yeah. Um, well, one of the things I. I, I talked about with curation was, you know, maybe managed hosts are in the best [00:20:00] position to do kind of something like that, because I think some of them already do to, to a degree. I mean, many of them are buying up, you know, plugin and themes anyway. And so, you know, maybe they're in the best position to add something like this, The WordPress, um, for someone that has the fresh install, You know, in the community it's, it's interesting because there's just so many, there's so many plugins and so many opinions that you know mm-hmm.

I may ask, well how do you build a membership site? And somebody may tell me, paid memberships, pros the way to go. Somebody may say, Member press, or, you know, there there could be five or six other, you know, really big players in that market. Um, same thing for forms and, you know, e-commerce may be a little bit less, but, um, you know, cuz we have one dominant, uh, you.

Entity there in W Commerce. But, um, you know, if you ask about w commerce extensions, you'll probably get a couple hundred different answers on that, so. Right. You know, the curation is a, a [00:21:00] bit of a tough, a tough call. Like, I, I don't, I certainly don't think, you know, the WordPress project should be, um, doing anything other than generically taking you to the, you know, Repositories and saying, this is where you can find plugins.

Now, maybe in the future they write, you know, they, they share articles or something about, well, you know, if you're going to build an e-commerce site, maybe you should consider X, Y, and Z. Not necessarily talking about. Specific plugins, but things you need to consider on your end and find to help you find the, the tool that works best for your needs and, you know, design for what your workflow is going to be.

Um, so maybe if we can add some guidance in that way without necessarily favoring one product over another. Um, but I, I, I think they're, you know, for the new user, the person who wants to just build their own basic site, Having some sort of guidance in [00:22:00] not only what plugins to use, but just how to use WordPress, I think could be, you know, extremely helpful.

Dan Knauss: Yes. Uh, yeah, I, I agree with you. Um, you know, the way you, you put it here was, um, Uh, yeah, the, who would be responsible for curating is the, is the really tough issue. You'd need a, a third party of some, some kind to take that on. Um, and yeah, in the mass market where everyone's competing, um, with, with their product or service, um, that's a difficult one to do.

Who, who would be a third party? Who could, who could potentially navigate those, those waters? And are, are there things that the plugin repo could do that are sufficiently neutral with the kind of data that, that could be reported out that would, um, help that? Um, do we need something like Kevin Ohashi doing, um, you know, [00:23:00] plugin performance?

WP plugin performance reviews, like his hosting, uh, reviews.

Eric Karcovack: Yeah, that, that's interesting. You could, you, you could certainly see the repo. I mean, you know, again, you don't wanna play favorites. That's definitely, you know, gonna cause a lot of problems. Um, maybe there could be, you know, stats for, you know, different types of sites.

Um, if you are into publishing, these are the most popular plugins in that category. Because we don't, It may even be listed that way now, but we don't necessarily say that. Um, so you could look at, you know, membership sites, you could look at e-commerce, um, you know, selling digital goods, all those types of things.

Maybe we break it down by category a little more and just show what the trends are in that area. It doesn't necessarily have to favor anyone, but obviously it's going to show, you know, who's in the lead and who's not. Maybe that's [00:24:00] something to help people again and again, I, I put these out there as ideas.

They may be extremely flawed and, uh, you know, you can certainly tell me on Twitter if, if, if you don't agree. Uh, but just I think we need to find more ways to empower people to make good decisions with WordPress. Um, that's going to keep people on the platform. Throughout and they're going to hopefully have less frustration in trying to get started because I think that's, from my experience, that's the area where people are, you know, hit that wall after installing, They're like, Okay, well what do I do next?

Right.

Dan Knauss: Yeah. Yeah. I wonder, I wonder if something like a, uh, plugin quality score could be developed. Which, which to some extent is being done with, with, uh, review, like combining, uh, correlating, um, support tickets and response to those and, [00:25:00] um, installs and, and things like that. But I wonder if you could, you could do a quality, um, rating that would be sufficiently neutral that people would accept.

The curation that developed from that. Say, I, I keep thinking of this one. I don't, I don't know if it's realistic, but, um, I would love to know on every plugin if I install this, what's the, what's the maximum number of queries it will add to a page load? What's the average number? And, um, that right there creates an incentive to plug in developers to get that right.

Learn, you know, if you're just starting out, uh, coding something, um, learn what that means, why it matters. Um, because that's, that seems to be one of the real, real slow downs. Um, and, and that's a pretty objective measure. Fewer queries, quicker response, um, from the server, [00:26:00] something like that. I don't know.

Do you, do you think that that sort of thing could potentially be done, um, as. Sufficiently neutral thing coming from the, From

Eric Karcovack: I think so. I think so. I mean, one idea that just kind of popped in my head was, how about we do something activity based? Hmm. Like, just for example, um, we take into account how often a plugin updates, uh, how responsive, uh, Right.

You know, support requests are in the forms. That doesn't necessarily tell you the quality. Now I. You might be updating your plugin three or four times a week because it's broken, and you may be re responding to, you know, support requests without necessarily resolving problems. But that might be a way to, to, to help steer people away from plugins that.

Haven't been updated in years. I mean, we have that little warning on there now that, you know, when it's been, I think, what three versions. It'll tell [00:27:00] you that, hey, this hasn't been, you know, updated in, in a while, huh? But if you had maybe some sort of activity based scoring that, you know, I mean, you know, that, that puts everybody, I think on a.

Closer playing field. I don't know if it's completely level, but you know, I mean, the plugins with the most resources might, you know, be able to, to, uh, to win on some of that. But then again, if you have a, a solo entrepreneur who's got a plugin that you know, they really are passionate about and they're constantly trying to improve and they're, you know, we know there are a lot of those out there, you know, they might be able to, to compete on that.

Dan Knauss: Sure. Yeah. I, I feel, I feel like that could work if the repository made some distinction between completely free plugins and freemium model plugins, or those that have, uh, a recognized business entity behind it with. Staff and [00:28:00] like this, We exist here to support this in theory, in in perpetuity. Um, because actually there, there are some plugin if you base this on activity like TenUp.

Um, there's some, Jake Goldman still has under, under his account on, uh, on the repo that are really nice, simple, single purpose plugins and I completely trust. The support for them, for them, for the, for the most part. But, um, they're not, they're not gonna be high volume, um, uh, support activity there or updates, and they're pretty simple, yet reliable.

Um, it might be tricky to do that, but I, I think it would be fair to recognize. Leaders and high performers and recognized experts at, at some point. And, um, and the business, um, you know, the number of people who, you know, who actually exist to support [00:29:00] a particular plugin. That was when I was, when I'm doing things for clients and when I was doing that a lot more, um, you're looking at, I, I try to look at what's gonna be around for a long, long term.

You know, the, the fewer, uh, We don't wanna make changes to themes, to major plugin changes. Um, over time we want this to be really stable. So, so to me a concern would be, Hey, this is a really nice plugin, seems really well supported, but there's no business model behind it. Or it's not one that, yeah, I think will be here in five, even just five years.

Um, and the long term view. Yeah. Is another, is another criteria that's hard to, hard to suss out. Um, but those are, those are all potentially valid ways to curate, um, and indicate different, different categories of, of product that may really help people figure out what they need. Um, yeah, it's a [00:30:00] good, good question, uh, to open.

Eric Karcovack: Yeah, I think there's, there's potential for it. Um, you know, any, I think anything we can do to make it, give people more confidence that what they're installing is going to work and be, you know, stable and, you know, allow them to do. What they want to do easy in a more easy fashion. I think that would, you know, definitely be a benefit.

And just going back to the activity thing for just a second, I mean, how many plugins that are still, you know, somewhat maintained, Still say that their, their latest compatibility is like WordPress 5.8 or 5.9. Right. You know, just the simple fact of going in and, and testing with WordPress six or 6.1, maybe that gets you, you know, some brownie points in that as well.

Just that you version checked and you know, you're keeping up with that. Because I see that as another issue [00:31:00] in the repository where, There may be plugins that work perfectly well, but you're still a little hesitant because it, Yeah. You know, the compatibility hasn't been updated in two years or three years.

So that could also be, you know, a

Dan Knauss: factor. And it's not just compatibility to WordPress, it's, uh, you know, word WordPress, GUIs and, and compatibility for php. So plug in, plug in compatibility with, uh, which, what up to what version of PHP will it. Will it operate

Eric Karcovack: and Yeah. Just checking. Yeah, I know. Uh, like I'm looking at a, a plugin now it says PHP version 5.4 or higher.

So there you go. Ah, right, right, right. You're in good shape, even out in a really, really old install.

Dan Knauss: Yes. Right. So that raises some, some ideas. Well, that's, and that's something a DIY person isn't gonna know. They aren't, they aren't going to know. Um, you know, what version of PHP is my. Running and what does that mean and, and all that.

[00:32:00] Yeah. Support activity and development activity are, are good indicators, but then you, you can game that as well. Um, well, it creates, it creates a good incentive to do that work. But then, you know, are we adding features or minor updates just to, uh, to rank higher at that point. I don't know if it would have that, that kind of effect.

Eric Karcovack: I mean, we've seen it with reviews, right? Yeah. People put in the phony reviews and or higher out firms to, to do that for them. So yeah, any, anything that they put in probably could be gained. I don't know if we're gonna fully prevent that, but you hope that, you know, most developers take it as a, uh, a serious matter and, you know, try to actually put in the hard work to, to rank highly and, and.

Hopefully that that's a way for them to kind of go up the charts a little bit in, in terms of how many installs they have and how many paying customers they get because of it. Right. [00:33:00]

Dan Knauss: Yeah. And there's, there's such a categorical difference between people who are running their business that way. And well, it's a good, it's a good way to game things towards more support, more development, and, uh, taking an active interest in, in what's going on with your, your product.

And in the way it's, uh, presented to people who are going to install it. Um, and it's. Good idea. I, I do feel that those things go together. Any, anything that improves or changes in, in core to change the onboarding experience to, um, make it easier with respect to what you install, has gotta be corresponding somehow to, um, what you see on the on.org, um, what it's putting out publicly as a, as a signal for, um, for quality.

The last thing. Well close to where you, you closed was, was talking about outreach, um, that we should just show what, what WordPress can do. [00:34:00] Um, and do you think we just don't do that enough or it's not unified enough? Or just in the Gutenberg era, we're just beginning to see tutorials and guides, um, show up, especially for non-technical users.

And, um, that's, that's something. on.org, Learn, Learn. Um, wordpress.org is, uh, busy trying to do, there's a ton of meetups coming out that are really geared towards this sort of thing. Um, and, and also people who are building at sites at a more advanced level. Um, do you see that as something that's just starting to happen or something altogether different that you had in mind?

Eric Karcovack: I, I sort of see this as kind of like a, a. Coming of WordPress, right? Because when a lot of us, you know, who have been in this a while started, you know, if you went to a Word camp, you probably learned an awful lot about the basics of WordPress. Whether you were just [00:35:00] using it as, you know, a content creator, or you were a developer.

And I think we've kind of lost that along the way a little bit. We've kind of focused so much on the more advanced topics. And then of course, the pandemic, you know, took away a, a lot of the in person events. So I, I think, you know, the word camps are one way to really start showing, you know, new users what's possible and you know, how to, to do the basics.

Um, you know, I, I would, I honestly, I would love to see that at Word Camp us or one of the really. International events, you know, have a track just for new people, uh, you know, where they can ask experts questions, you know, that people that, you know, we, we see in the post status slack or we see on online all the time.

You know, if, if a new user's able to ask them questions that, you know, that can go a long way towards selling them on the platform and keeping them there. Um, and you mentioned the learn [00:36:00] tool. Well, I, I think that's fantastic. That's actually something I brought up on the, uh, on the slack the other day. You know, Has there been any effort to kind of integrate that with the core software so that you can easily find tutorials?

Uh, maybe through a plugin or, or something like that? Because we have various WordPress support, uh, tools that are third party, you know, that'll show videos on how to do different things. We have this wonderful resource and if somebody doesn't visit wordpress.org, they're really not gonna know it's. And I think, you know, it's such an opportunity to reach people and, and teach them how to do anything from the basics to, you know, once they level up to, you know, some more advanced things, it's all right there waiting and, you know, all we have to do in some way, some respects is, you know, put it in front of them, You know, give them the opportunity to see it.

Um, so those are things, you know. The WordPress community has so much great content, so many smart people. I think we [00:37:00] ought to be able to put our heads together and, and find ways to, you know, encourage new users and embrace them and, and, and, you know, kind of help them, you know, with any stumbling blocks.

And because, you know, if once we kind of. Hate to say the phrase die out. You know, what, what, what is the next generation of WordPress user going to look like? How, how are they going to use the software? You know, if we want to keep it as a market leader, we want to keep it, uh, viable, you know, the new users are, you know, just critical

Dan Knauss: to that, right?

Yeah. I, I think that Learn is, uh, learn. WordPress is. Logical, the content that's being developed there and also the meetups that are going on, the, um, kind of webinars that are, that are happening are, um, are logical to move into the dashboard for certain, um, certain use [00:38:00] cases, um, in the, in mass market, DIY users.

All right, well, It's been good talking to you again. I, I think this, this is a good, a good topic with a lot of questions in it that touch a couple of the main, main conversations and, and issues today that we've, we've been all, all thinking about, um, what to do with, uh, potential changes to the plugin repository and, and the kind of data that that comes out of there.

Dot org content and information can somehow fit into the, um, into the WordPress dashboard and, um, interface there to help people and connect them with the community. Um, how we could maybe standardize, uh, the experience and some interface design, how things are, are done on the back end that, um, makes [00:39:00] it a more palatable and, uh, Less busy interruptive, um, or confused experience on, on sites with a lot of things installed, whether it's, um, someone just setting up their own, their own site, or, uh, an agency doing it for a, a high end client.

Um, I think the more, the more we see those all as, uh, common problems everyone has. The better chance at br at bringing everyone towards a, an aligned solution where everyone wins. Um, ideally one, one would hope .

Eric Karcovack: There's potential there. Absolutely. Hope so. Um, you know, The, the, you know, if you start the conversation, hopefully, um, you know, you bring in some good ideas and if we see a few of them implemented, uh, that's like you said, that's gonna benefit everybody.

Dan Knauss: You have been listening to post status excerpt, a podcast from post Status, the [00:40:00] community for WordPress professionals. Check us out  at poststatus.com. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter, or become a member and join us in post status. We have membership plans for freelancers, agency owners, product founders, and business partners who share and support our mission of investing in the open web by growing the WordPress ecosystem and coming together for fun and networking as we give and grow together.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 72) — Can We Get to "Yes" on Better UX? Eric Karkovack, Dan Knauss 00:40:19 This week in an article he shared in Post Status Slack, Eric Karkovack suggested some ways to improve the WordPress user experience, especially for DIY users setting up a website for the first time. Some of the things Eric wants to see happen, like a standard interface for plugins and a curated view of the plugin ecosystem, are also commonly expressed by designers, developers, and people in other roles at WordPress agencies serving enterprise clients. Can we get everyone to "yes" on a better UX? This week in an article he shared in Post Status Slack, Eric Karkovack suggested some ways to improve the WordPress user experience, especially for DIY users setting up a website for the first time. Some of the things Eric wants to see happen, like a standard interface for plugins and a curated view of the plugin ecosystem, are also commonly expressed by designers, developers, and people in other roles at WordPress agencies serving enterprise clients. Can we get everyone to "yes" on a better UX? wordpress, plugins, user experience, agencies, design, ux, usability, interface no bonus 25463ee4-72b7-4a3e-81a6-aee2e3eb21ae Post Status Excerpt (No. 71) — Building, Supporting, and Selling a Winning Product — With or Without WordPress.org This week I sat down again with Eric Karkovack to talk about the three top WordPress stories on the top of our minds. Independently, we made nearly the same selections! It seems the temporary loss of active install stats at WP.org has created an opportunity to rethink long-held assumptions and find new ways forward. Our news picks are all related to this in one way or another. So there's a single throughline in this episode — what works, what doesn't, and what will take WordPress businesses forward in the product, agency, and hosting spaces.

Are Active Install Counts Irrelevant to Your Plugin Business's Success? (Even if they were accurate?)

There are always going to be developers who push the envelope when it comes to littering the dashboard and just making it a difficult user experience. Maybe data is part of the way we solve that.

Eric Karkovac

First up is Alex Denning's article at Ellipsis, "WordPress.org is ineffective for plugin distribution in 2022." Alex argues the likely temporary loss of Active Install Growth data for plugin owners is not a bottom-line, business-relevant concern. Apart from the revelation that that data itself was not just obfuscated and inexact but "basically garbage," Alex draws on Ellipsis' marketing experience and extensive data (as well as Iain Poulson's insights at WP Trends) to show 1-2% conversion rates are the norm for plugins in the WP.org repository. Only a couple of big players can crack the 100k+ install tiers today.

The Plugin Repo's Glass Ceiling

Alex notes this "glass ceiling" has a lot to do with how the repo's search algorithm works. It's biased to favor plugins that have many active installs already, so if you're not there yet, it's not going to help you get there. As a result of these observations, Alex disrecommends the plugin repo for anyone thinking about launching a business there on the freemium model. He considers WP.org a poor distribution channel and assumes the freemium product model's fate is tied to it. On that point, we're doubtful and optimistic about exceptions and opportunities for plugin developers to make their own way, with or without the repo.

While Eric and I don't fully agree with Alex, his data-based analysis does establish that the plugin repository is "broken" if it's intended to be a place where a small entrepreneur with a good product can break in and take off.

Let's Fix What's Broken (The Plugin Repo) Not What Isn't (The Freemium Model)

Matt Cromwell politely disagrees with Alex in a long, thoughtful post of his own: The Case for the WordPress Plugin Freemium Model. (There's a great Post Status Slack thread on it too.) In it, Matt describes ways plugin owners can make the wp.org plugin search engine work better for them, but he also notes a few of its deficiencies as well. His best point is that an average conversion rate is just that — an average. He's seen much better results due to marketing efforts he feels are accessible to many plugin vendors. Matt also points to examples of successful freemium plugin shops, like Paid Memberships Pro which recently did an A/B test with their pricing page, and the version with a freemium option converted better.

Where Alex and Matt agree is how much the plugin repo has changed due to market saturation. It isn't an easy place to win in anymore. And I'm pretty sure Alex would agree with Matt this is true across the web as a whole — you can expect to have to work hard with stiff competition and give high attention to Google as well — not to mention all the other things that go into making and supporting a good product.

Ideas for Improving the WordPress.org Plugin Repository

Eric and I also discussed the excellent suggestions for useful, actionable data that product owners — and even agencies — would like from a new, improved plugin directory. Vito Peleg's ideas are especially exciting and seemed to draw a nod from Matt Mullenweg on Twitter. We also note how better data for plugin owners might satisfy some needs that historically have led them to try all kinds of (often unpleasant) gimicks in the WordPress backend to connect with users and upsell or cross-market their products. In a comment at Post Status this week, Justin Labadie imagines how this could work as part of the plugin install process, along with other suggestions. Eric connected this line of thinking with Mark Zahra's question in a recent post at WP Mayor, Is Deceptive Marketing Ruining WordPress’ Reputation?

Plugin Developers Must Make Their Own Way

Eric asked (and answered) a big question at the WP Minute: What should plugin developers expect from WordPress? You've got to make your own way is a message I agree with, and I brought up my conversation with Till Krüss about Performance and the Plugin Business as an example of all the possibilities that open up if you think about meeting big needs nobody else is meeting or solving big problems others are creating!

Follow the Leaders, Adopt Standards

Where we end up is 10up's newly released resource site for Gutenberg Best Practices. It's got tutorials, resources, references, example code — and they're encouraging use of their GitHub discussion board for the site. It's intended to go beyond the official WordPress documentation, according Fabian Kaegy's launch announcement. It's a “more client-services-centric approach tailored to engineering enterprise-level editorial experiences.”

To me, that's a signal WordPress has turned a corner with Gutenberg. Top agency adoption of Gutenberg is huge, and as we see a growing body of accumulated knowledge, standards, and best practices emerging, it signals and amplifies a wave of change.

Building Products to Scale Opens Doors and Creates Opportunities for Growth

Toward the end of the show I suggest that plugin developers (as well as agencies) targeting middle and low-end markets have tended to neglect standards around performance testing and security because their customers don't need to scale and because they can treat performance and security as a hosting problem. That's a barrier to accessing high-value enterprise clients, hosts, and agencies connected to both. It represents lost opportunities and money left on the table.

🔗 Also mentioned in the show:

Along with 10up's Gutenberg resource hub, several other future-facing WordPress sites sharing tools and knowledge catering to different audiences emerged in the last week or so:

And, last but not least —WordPress 6.0.3 was released. Update as soon as you can! WordPress 6.1 is just around the corner, and it's a doozy. Dave Smith has the highlights on new features in this fun video.

👋 Credits

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 21 Oct 2022 15:57:46 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Eric Karkovack) https://poststatus.com/building-supporting-and-selling-a-winning-product-with-or-without-wordpress-org/ This week I sat down again with Eric Karkovack to talk about the three top WordPress stories on the top of our minds. Independently, we made nearly the same selections! It seems the temporary loss of active install stats at WP.org has created an opportunity to rethink long-held assumptions and find new ways forward. Our news picks are all related to this in one way or another. So there's a single throughline in this episode — what works, what doesn't, and what will take WordPress businesses forward in the product, agency, and hosting spaces.

Are Active Install Counts Irrelevant to Your Plugin Business's Success? (Even if they were accurate?)

There are always going to be developers who push the envelope when it comes to littering the dashboard and just making it a difficult user experience. Maybe data is part of the way we solve that.

Eric Karkovac

First up is Alex Denning's article at Ellipsis, "WordPress.org is ineffective for plugin distribution in 2022." Alex argues the likely temporary loss of Active Install Growth data for plugin owners is not a bottom-line, business-relevant concern. Apart from the revelation that that data itself was not just obfuscated and inexact but "basically garbage," Alex draws on Ellipsis' marketing experience and extensive data (as well as Iain Poulson's insights at WP Trends) to show 1-2% conversion rates are the norm for plugins in the WP.org repository. Only a couple of big players can crack the 100k+ install tiers today.

The Plugin Repo's Glass Ceiling

Alex notes this "glass ceiling" has a lot to do with how the repo's search algorithm works. It's biased to favor plugins that have many active installs already, so if you're not there yet, it's not going to help you get there. As a result of these observations, Alex disrecommends the plugin repo for anyone thinking about launching a business there on the freemium model. He considers WP.org a poor distribution channel and assumes the freemium product model's fate is tied to it. On that point, we're doubtful and optimistic about exceptions and opportunities for plugin developers to make their own way, with or without the repo.

While Eric and I don't fully agree with Alex, his data-based analysis does establish that the plugin repository is "broken" if it's intended to be a place where a small entrepreneur with a good product can break in and take off.

Let's Fix What's Broken (The Plugin Repo) Not What Isn't (The Freemium Model)

Matt Cromwell politely disagrees with Alex in a long, thoughtful post of his own: The Case for the WordPress Plugin Freemium Model. (There's a great Post Status Slack thread on it too.) In it, Matt describes ways plugin owners can make the wp.org plugin search engine work better for them, but he also notes a few of its deficiencies as well. His best point is that an average conversion rate is just that — an average. He's seen much better results due to marketing efforts he feels are accessible to many plugin vendors. Matt also points to examples of successful freemium plugin shops, like Paid Memberships Pro which recently did an A/B test with their pricing page, and the version with a freemium option converted better.

Where Alex and Matt agree is how much the plugin repo has changed due to market saturation. It isn't an easy place to win in anymore. And I'm pretty sure Alex would agree with Matt this is true across the web as a whole — you can expect to have to work hard with stiff competition and give high attention to Google as well — not to mention all the other things that go into making and supporting a good product.

Ideas for Improving the WordPress.org Plugin Repository

Eric and I also discussed the excellent suggestions for useful, actionable data that product owners — and even agencies — would like from a new, improved plugin directory. Vito Peleg's ideas are especially exciting and seemed to draw a nod from Matt Mullenweg on Twitter. We also note how better data for plugin owners might satisfy some needs that historically have led them to try all kinds of (often unpleasant) gimicks in the WordPress backend to connect with users and upsell or cross-market their products. In a comment at Post Status this week, Justin Labadie imagines how this could work as part of the plugin install process, along with other suggestions. Eric connected this line of thinking with Mark Zahra's question in a recent post at WP Mayor, Is Deceptive Marketing Ruining WordPress’ Reputation?

Plugin Developers Must Make Their Own Way

Eric asked (and answered) a big question at the WP Minute: What should plugin developers expect from WordPress? You've got to make your own way is a message I agree with, and I brought up my conversation with Till Krüss about Performance and the Plugin Business as an example of all the possibilities that open up if you think about meeting big needs nobody else is meeting or solving big problems others are creating!

Follow the Leaders, Adopt Standards

Where we end up is 10up's newly released resource site for Gutenberg Best Practices. It's got tutorials, resources, references, example code — and they're encouraging use of their GitHub discussion board for the site. It's intended to go beyond the official WordPress documentation, according Fabian Kaegy's launch announcement. It's a “more client-services-centric approach tailored to engineering enterprise-level editorial experiences.”

To me, that's a signal WordPress has turned a corner with Gutenberg. Top agency adoption of Gutenberg is huge, and as we see a growing body of accumulated knowledge, standards, and best practices emerging, it signals and amplifies a wave of change.

Building Products to Scale Opens Doors and Creates Opportunities for Growth

Toward the end of the show I suggest that plugin developers (as well as agencies) targeting middle and low-end markets have tended to neglect standards around performance testing and security because their customers don't need to scale and because they can treat performance and security as a hosting problem. That's a barrier to accessing high-value enterprise clients, hosts, and agencies connected to both. It represents lost opportunities and money left on the table.

🔗 Also mentioned in the show:

Along with 10up's Gutenberg resource hub, several other future-facing WordPress sites sharing tools and knowledge catering to different audiences emerged in the last week or so:

And, last but not least —WordPress 6.0.3 was released. Update as soon as you can! WordPress 6.1 is just around the corner, and it's a doozy. Dave Smith has the highlights on new features in this fun video.

👋 Credits

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 71) — Building, Supporting, and Selling a Winning Product — With or Without WordPress.org Dan Knauss, Eric Karkovack 00:44:27 This week I sat down again with Eric Karkovack to talk about the WordPress stories and topics that are on the top of our minds. Independently, we made nearly the same selections. There's a single throughline in this episode — what works, what doesn't, and what will take WordPress businesses forward in the product, agency, and hosting spaces. This week I sat down again with Eric Karkovack to talk about the WordPress stories and topics that are on the top of our minds. Independently, we made nearly the same selections. There's a single throughline in this episode — what works, what doesn't, and what will take WordPress businesses forward in the product, agency, and hosting spaces. paid memberships pro, ellipsis marketing, wordpress, matt mullenweg, active installs, plugins, vito peleg, till krüss, iain poulson, jason coleman, the wp minute, wordpress.org, 10up, plugin repository, wptrends, alex denning, givewp, matt cromwell no bonus e0f12541-3c7d-417d-a153-f32cb9bf3d37 Till Krüss on Object Cache Pro, WordPress, plugins, testing, and performance — Post Status Draft 126 Back in August, I had a long conversation with Till Krüss (edited down to <60 minutes here) about his path into WordPress, Laravel, and performance. Till is the developer and owner of Object Cache Pro, "a business class Redis object cache backend for WordPress." OCP offers a unique and highly successful model for partnerships between a WordPress plugin product business and a valuable niche market: hosting companies and anyone running WordPress sites at scale. Nexcess is the latest host to adopt OCP, which they announced earlier this week.

Till’s particular niche is not for everyone, but some of his ideas and achievements are very portable. For one thing, what plugin owner has not felt the pain of an extraordinarily busy support forum? Till is up to (wait for it..) 5-10 minutes a day on support — which he aims to decrease. How? End-to-end unit testing to ensure the highest code quality. It’s an idea that needs to become a reality and a habit in the third-party WordPress product ecosystem, Till believes — and I think he’s right about that.

What plugin owner has not felt the pain of an extraordinarily busy support forum? Till is up to (wait for it..) 5-10 minutes a day on support — which he aims to decrease. How? End-to-end unit testing to ensure the highest code quality.

Performance optimization in general — and caching in particular — are possibly the oldest and most persistent hard problems for people running WordPress and similar applications at scale. Historically, performance has been a problem passed to the hosting industry by WordPress developers and users of too many plugins — or too many plugins that use too many server resources, especially as measured in database queries.

A large part of the challenges people have with WordPress in the wild have to do with plugins that have not been built and tested to perform at scale. There’s likely a lot of opportunity in aligning people on performance as a key, common interest. What people are these? Product, agency, and hosting companies in the WordPress space. And, as Till’s example shows, a small WordPress company, or company of one that wants to stay that way, still can thrive today.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

  • Till Krüss's Object Cache Pro is a (closed-source) commercial product that grew out of and exists alongside Redis Object Cache (100k+ installs on WordPress.org). ROC is a fork of an unmaintained precursor Erick Hitter and Eric Mann launched in 2014. Relay looks like it will be a successor to OCP capable of speeds up to 100 times faster than Redis. It's "a PHP extension that is both a Redis client and a shared in-memory cache."
  • Felipe Elia recently wrote a great explainer on WordPress, Objecet Cache, and Redis.
  • Do the_Woo recently recorded this amazing open discussion between
  • Scaling WordPress (Post Status Draft #51) remains one of our all-time most listened to podcast episodes, from 2016. Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle take a pretty comprehensive look at WordPress performance and caching, including Redis.
  • Jon Christopher is trying a unique business strategy with his OrganizeWP plugin that suggests cooperative ways to win outside centralized markets.
  • Kevin Ohashi's WP Performance Tester plugin will test your server's raw capacity and show you how it compares to the current industry average established by Kevin's testing at WP Hosting Benchmarks.
  • Mark Jacquith's Cache Buddy (2015) "[m]inimizes the situations in which logged-in users appear logged-in to WordPress, which increases the cacheability of your site."
  • Shaun Kester's Latency Tracker (2008) was a helpful diagnostic when pre-"Managed WordPress" hosts were struggling to keep up with the booming use (and abuse) of self-hosted WordPress and other PHP/MySQL-based publishing platforms.
  • Paul Jarvis talks about his book, Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business, with Brian Clark at Unemployable.
  • The WordPress Core Performance Team is dedicated to monitoring, enhancing, and promoting performance in WordPress core and its surrounding ecosystem. We build and manage the Performance Lab plugin, a collection of performance-related “feature projects” for WordPress core.

 

🐦 You can follow Post Status and our guests on Twitter:

 

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

Transcript

 

]]> Fri, 14 Oct 2022 08:01:03 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Till Krüss) https://poststatus.com/till-kruss-on-object-cache-pro-wordpress-plugins-testing-and-performance/ Back in August, I had a long conversation with Till Krüss (edited down to <60 minutes here) about his path into WordPress, Laravel, and performance. Till is the developer and owner of Object Cache Pro, "a business class Redis object cache backend for WordPress." OCP offers a unique and highly successful model for partnerships between a WordPress plugin product business and a valuable niche market: hosting companies and anyone running WordPress sites at scale. Nexcess is the latest host to adopt OCP, which they announced earlier this week.

Till’s particular niche is not for everyone, but some of his ideas and achievements are very portable. For one thing, what plugin owner has not felt the pain of an extraordinarily busy support forum? Till is up to (wait for it..) 5-10 minutes a day on support — which he aims to decrease. How? End-to-end unit testing to ensure the highest code quality. It’s an idea that needs to become a reality and a habit in the third-party WordPress product ecosystem, Till believes — and I think he’s right about that.

What plugin owner has not felt the pain of an extraordinarily busy support forum? Till is up to (wait for it..) 5-10 minutes a day on support — which he aims to decrease. How? End-to-end unit testing to ensure the highest code quality.

Performance optimization in general — and caching in particular — are possibly the oldest and most persistent hard problems for people running WordPress and similar applications at scale. Historically, performance has been a problem passed to the hosting industry by WordPress developers and users of too many plugins — or too many plugins that use too many server resources, especially as measured in database queries.

A large part of the challenges people have with WordPress in the wild have to do with plugins that have not been built and tested to perform at scale. There’s likely a lot of opportunity in aligning people on performance as a key, common interest. What people are these? Product, agency, and hosting companies in the WordPress space. And, as Till’s example shows, a small WordPress company, or company of one that wants to stay that way, still can thrive today.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

  • Till Krüss's Object Cache Pro is a (closed-source) commercial product that grew out of and exists alongside Redis Object Cache (100k+ installs on WordPress.org). ROC is a fork of an unmaintained precursor Erick Hitter and Eric Mann launched in 2014. Relay looks like it will be a successor to OCP capable of speeds up to 100 times faster than Redis. It's "a PHP extension that is both a Redis client and a shared in-memory cache."
  • Felipe Elia recently wrote a great explainer on WordPress, Objecet Cache, and Redis.
  • Do the_Woo recently recorded this amazing open discussion between
  • Scaling WordPress (Post Status Draft #51) remains one of our all-time most listened to podcast episodes, from 2016. Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle take a pretty comprehensive look at WordPress performance and caching, including Redis.
  • Jon Christopher is trying a unique business strategy with his OrganizeWP plugin that suggests cooperative ways to win outside centralized markets.
  • Kevin Ohashi's WP Performance Tester plugin will test your server's raw capacity and show you how it compares to the current industry average established by Kevin's testing at WP Hosting Benchmarks.
  • Mark Jacquith's Cache Buddy (2015) "[m]inimizes the situations in which logged-in users appear logged-in to WordPress, which increases the cacheability of your site."
  • Shaun Kester's Latency Tracker (2008) was a helpful diagnostic when pre-"Managed WordPress" hosts were struggling to keep up with the booming use (and abuse) of self-hosted WordPress and other PHP/MySQL-based publishing platforms.
  • Paul Jarvis talks about his book, Company of One: Why Staying Small Is the Next Big Thing for Business, with Brian Clark at Unemployable.
  • The WordPress Core Performance Team is dedicated to monitoring, enhancing, and promoting performance in WordPress core and its surrounding ecosystem. We build and manage the Performance Lab plugin, a collection of performance-related “feature projects” for WordPress core.

 

🐦 You can follow Post Status and our guests on Twitter:

 

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

Transcript

 

]]> Till Krüss on Object Cache Pro, WordPress, plugins, testing, and performance — Post Status Draft 126 Dan Knauss, Till Krüss 00:55:50 Till Krüss explains how he found his way into WordPress and a successful business that's solving the hard problems of caching and performance optimization. His work and business model suggest several areas of opportunity for plugin owners. Till Krüss explains how he found his way into WordPress and a successful business that's solving the hard problems of caching and performance optimization. His work and business model suggest several areas of opportunity for plugin owners. unit tests, extensions, performance, wordpress, nexcess, jon christopher, plugins, seo, redis, eric mann, till krüss, testing, dan knauss, wordpress.org, object cache, perfopt, agency, erick hitter, php, woocommerce no full 126 2373dc17-a6a3-434f-8099-30f7ec46d92e Post Status Excerpt (No. 70) — Trust and Distrust: Microagressions, Active Install Growth Data for Plugins, and Open Source Security

Trust can be betrayed in so many ways or failed even with the best of intentions.

Dan Knauss

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Dan and Ny take on three issues in the WordPress community that can threaten or impair trust while also revealing how foundational trust is, especially in open source.

First, they talk about Ny's article at MasterWP, "Enough with this woke stuff: and other racist speech you can unlearn," which explains microaggressions and received a significant number of macroaggressions in reply — but also far more positive support from the community.

Next, "How do we rebuild trust when it's harmed?" is a question that leads into the biggest WordPress story of the week — Matt Mullenweg's apparent decision to shut down access to active install data at the WordPress.org plugin repo due to an unspecified security breach and/or privacy concern. The way communication has happened — or hasn't happened — about this decision is clearly damaging trust in the WordPress community, particularly among business owners with a product in the plugin repository. Ny points out how this all looks to a newcomer to the WordPress community — again, trust takes a beating. But while we lack clarity about the possible return of install data in some form, Dan suggests asking why this data is trusted and valued by many plugin owners. What business decisions can it helpfully inform? Are there alternative and possibly better sources of data about a plugin's users?

Finally, Dan briefly talks about the emergence of draft legislation in the US Senate: the Securing Open Source Software Act. It seems likely that in the near future, US security agencies will be getting people, dollars, and new organizations involved in assessing risk in open-source software. Are WordPress auto-updates critical supply chain infrastructure? When should individual freedoms be exchanged for collective security? When do we need to know what our machines and software are doing? When don't we? Zero-trust architecture might work well for networked machines, but human relationships and communities need trust.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

👋 Credits

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 7 Oct 2022 14:05:27 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Nyasha Green, Dan Knauss) https://poststatus.com/trust-and-distrust-in-wordpress/

Trust can be betrayed in so many ways or failed even with the best of intentions.

Dan Knauss

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Dan and Ny take on three issues in the WordPress community that can threaten or impair trust while also revealing how foundational trust is, especially in open source.

First, they talk about Ny's article at MasterWP, "Enough with this woke stuff: and other racist speech you can unlearn," which explains microaggressions and received a significant number of macroaggressions in reply — but also far more positive support from the community.

Next, "How do we rebuild trust when it's harmed?" is a question that leads into the biggest WordPress story of the week — Matt Mullenweg's apparent decision to shut down access to active install data at the WordPress.org plugin repo due to an unspecified security breach and/or privacy concern. The way communication has happened — or hasn't happened — about this decision is clearly damaging trust in the WordPress community, particularly among business owners with a product in the plugin repository. Ny points out how this all looks to a newcomer to the WordPress community — again, trust takes a beating. But while we lack clarity about the possible return of install data in some form, Dan suggests asking why this data is trusted and valued by many plugin owners. What business decisions can it helpfully inform? Are there alternative and possibly better sources of data about a plugin's users?

Finally, Dan briefly talks about the emergence of draft legislation in the US Senate: the Securing Open Source Software Act. It seems likely that in the near future, US security agencies will be getting people, dollars, and new organizations involved in assessing risk in open-source software. Are WordPress auto-updates critical supply chain infrastructure? When should individual freedoms be exchanged for collective security? When do we need to know what our machines and software are doing? When don't we? Zero-trust architecture might work well for networked machines, but human relationships and communities need trust.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

👋 Credits

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 70) — Trust and Distrust: Microagressions, Active Install Growth Data for Plugins, and Open Source Security Nyasha Green, Dan Knauss 00:56:47 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Dan and Ny take on three issues in the WordPress community that can threaten or impair trust while also revealing how foundational trust is: 1) racism, 2) the removal of the active install growth chart from the WordPress.org plugin repository, and 3) emerging US federal policy that aims to secure open source software. Zero-trust architecture might work well for networked machines, but human relationships and communities need trust. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Dan and Ny take on three issues in the WordPress community that can threaten or impair trust while also revealing how foundational trust is: 1) racism, 2) the removal of the active install growth chart from the WordPress.org plugin repository, and 3) emerging US federal policy that aims to secure open source software. Zero-trust architecture might work well for networked machines, but human relationships and communities need trust. us senate, microaggressions, security, wordpress, matt mullenweg, privacy, masterwp, plugins, wpdrama, breach, log4shell, racism, log4j, demon-haunted world, cheating, developers, volkswagen, wordpress.org, distrust, cory doctorow, bmw, securing open source software act, trust no full 126 e2339982-f76a-4f5b-a440-214f181a6963 Going from Agency to Products: The Story of Barn2 — Post Status Draft 125 Katie and Andy Keith started out as a WordPress agency almost a decade ago and then tried to break into WordPress products, first with themes and then plugins. Challenges arose with reliable project management on the agency side while they tried to establish a foothold in the WordPress plugin market. The WooCommerce Extensions Store is where their business took off. With niche extensions that had no competition, they ranked very quickly.

🙏 Sponsor: Elementor

Elementor enables web creators to build professional, pixel-perfect websites with an intuitive visual builder. Quickly create amazing websites for your clients or your business with complete control over every piece, without writing a single line of code. Join a vast community of web creators from all around the world who deliver exceptional websites using Elementor.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🐦 You can follow them on Twitter:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Mon, 3 Oct 2022 23:13:10 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Katie Keith) https://poststatus.com/going-from-agency-to-products-the-story-of-barn2/ Katie and Andy Keith started out as a WordPress agency almost a decade ago and then tried to break into WordPress products, first with themes and then plugins. Challenges arose with reliable project management on the agency side while they tried to establish a foothold in the WordPress plugin market. The WooCommerce Extensions Store is where their business took off. With niche extensions that had no competition, they ranked very quickly.

🙏 Sponsor: Elementor

Elementor enables web creators to build professional, pixel-perfect websites with an intuitive visual builder. Quickly create amazing websites for your clients or your business with complete control over every piece, without writing a single line of code. Join a vast community of web creators from all around the world who deliver exceptional websites using Elementor.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🐦 You can follow them on Twitter:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Going from Agency to Products: The Story of Barn2 — Post Status Draft 125 Cory Miller, Katie Keith 00:42:39 From client services and agency work to a successful product business — Katie Keith tells Cory the Barn2 Plugins story in this episode of Post Status Draft. From client services and agency work to a successful product business — Katie Keith tells Cory the Barn2 Plugins story in this episode of Post Status Draft. wordpress, barn2 plugins, agency, woocommerce no full 125 7f059a84-b319-4c94-a997-66d5d7d23f02 Post Status Excerpt (No. 69) — WCUS Afterthoughts, Accessibility, And Pay Transparency

If [an employer] can't afford not to operate without suspicion and distrust, what does that tell you?

Dan Knauss

Dan and Ny talk about their WordCamp US experiences both good and bad. Their conversation focuses on accessibility and disability. Ny had an experience with Uber at WCUS that made her agree with Dan's preference for traditional and preferably unionized taxi companies or public transit. They both reflect on the accessibility challenges and failures Michelle Frechette shared in Five Days Without a Shower before turning to an important article by Piccia Neri that was published at Post Status this week.

Piccia's article considers the value of salary transparency in hiring and job listings after asking WordPress employers why they don't advertise a salary range in listings. Ny is optimistic pay transparency will soon be the norm in US law. Dan is optimistic the WordPress community can make the changes it needs out of empathy and regard for others plus the motivation to build a high-quality, professional workforce. They both close out this episode by expressing gratitude for the WordCamp organizers and volunteers who made WCUS possible this year.

 

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

👋 Credits

 

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 23 Sep 2022 04:23:27 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green) https://poststatus.com/wcus-afterthoughts-accessibility-and-pay-transparency/

If [an employer] can't afford not to operate without suspicion and distrust, what does that tell you?

Dan Knauss

Dan and Ny talk about their WordCamp US experiences both good and bad. Their conversation focuses on accessibility and disability. Ny had an experience with Uber at WCUS that made her agree with Dan's preference for traditional and preferably unionized taxi companies or public transit. They both reflect on the accessibility challenges and failures Michelle Frechette shared in Five Days Without a Shower before turning to an important article by Piccia Neri that was published at Post Status this week.

Piccia's article considers the value of salary transparency in hiring and job listings after asking WordPress employers why they don't advertise a salary range in listings. Ny is optimistic pay transparency will soon be the norm in US law. Dan is optimistic the WordPress community can make the changes it needs out of empathy and regard for others plus the motivation to build a high-quality, professional workforce. They both close out this episode by expressing gratitude for the WordCamp organizers and volunteers who made WCUS possible this year.

 

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

👋 Credits

 

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 69) — WCUS Afterthoughts, Accessibility, And Pay Transparency Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green 00:46:08 Dan and Ny talk about their WordCamp US experiences both good and bad. Their conversation focuses on accessibility and disability. Ny had an experience with Uber at WCUS that made her agree with Dan's preference for traditional and preferably unionized taxi companies or public transit. Dan and Ny talk about their WordCamp US experiences both good and bad. Their conversation focuses on accessibility and disability. Ny had an experience with Uber at WCUS that made her agree with Dan's preference for traditional and preferably unionized taxi companies or public transit. michelle frechette, a11y, disability, wordpress, hiring, wordcamp, salary transparency, accessibility, wcus, jobs, uber, piccia neri no bonus 92a23396-8b1e-42e4-85c3-e507e35dfcbc WordCamp US San Diego 2022 Experiences — Post Status Draft 124

There's always new people coming in, being embraced and accepted, [and being] shown the way

Cory Miller

In this episode, Cory and Michelle talk about their takeaways from WordCamp US. The Post Status Huddle ahead of the conference was a great experience for them and many Post Status members. Michelle explains her experience with some accessibility challenges. Cory stresses the need for empathy and awareness about these issues. What everyone agrees on: we love getting together as a community! WordPress is an industry, and it is people. The people come first. Cory also talks about his and Post Status' interest in serving its agency-based and European members.

🙏 Sponsor: Pressable

Founded in 2010, Pressable is a world-class managed WordPress hosting provider built on the same data network as WordPress.com and WordPress VIP. With industry-leading performance, 24/7 expert support, a 100% uptime guarantee, and seamless integrations with WooCommerce and Jetpack, Pressable provides the tools you need to manage your WordPress websites and grow your business all in one place.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🐦 You can follow them on Twitter:

 

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 16 Sep 2022 18:36:48 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Michelle Frechette) https://poststatus.com/wcus-2022-in-review/

There's always new people coming in, being embraced and accepted, [and being] shown the way

Cory Miller

In this episode, Cory and Michelle talk about their takeaways from WordCamp US. The Post Status Huddle ahead of the conference was a great experience for them and many Post Status members. Michelle explains her experience with some accessibility challenges. Cory stresses the need for empathy and awareness about these issues. What everyone agrees on: we love getting together as a community! WordPress is an industry, and it is people. The people come first. Cory also talks about his and Post Status' interest in serving its agency-based and European members.

🙏 Sponsor: Pressable

Founded in 2010, Pressable is a world-class managed WordPress hosting provider built on the same data network as WordPress.com and WordPress VIP. With industry-leading performance, 24/7 expert support, a 100% uptime guarantee, and seamless integrations with WooCommerce and Jetpack, Pressable provides the tools you need to manage your WordPress websites and grow your business all in one place.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🐦 You can follow them on Twitter:

 

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> WordCamp US San Diego 2022 Experiences — Post Status Draft 124 Cory Miller, Michelle Frechette 00:40:42 Cory and Michelle talk about their takeaways from WordCamp US. Highlights: The Post Status Huddle ahead of the conference. Areas to improve: Michelle explains her experience with some accessibility challenges. What everyone agrees on: we love getting together as a community! Cory and Michelle talk about their takeaways from WordCamp US. Highlights: The Post Status Huddle ahead of the conference. Areas to improve: Michelle explains her experience with some accessibility challenges. What everyone agrees on: we love getting together as a community! wordpress, huddle, wordcamp 2022, wcus22, dei, diversity, agencies, wordcamp, accessibility, wcus, emea, inclusion, equity no full 124 07d76f00-9d72-4ee7-a903-91bfaa38e3bf Post Status Excerpt (No. 68) — WordCamp US 2022

"So it's hard for people in the community to kind of branch out and communicate online. So imagine how hard it is for people who are new" —Nyasha Green

Dan and Ny are looking forward to attending WordCamp US this week, which is a first for them both. In a slightly more casual conversation touching their usual topics — the business of WordPress, careers, and community — they share the things they're looking forward to seeing and doing at WCUS and in San Diego.

Some of the WCUS sessions they're interested in have to do with WordPress security and bug bounty programs, cross-cultural communication, WordPress and performance, and getting young people into WordPress. Other tech and open source conferences also come up, as Ny is planning to attend All Things Open 2022 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Finally, Ny and Dan discover they both have non-tech backgrounds and started reading J.R.R. Tolkien at an early age. Ny talks about learning several languages and reading The Hobbit in Latin.

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

Top-Tier Managed WordPress hosting solutions for Enterprise, the Public Sector, and Media companies. We invented Managed WordPress and we never stopped raising the bar. Expect Extraordinary

👋 Credits

]]> Fri, 9 Sep 2022 23:53:21 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green) https://poststatus.com/on-the-road-to-wordcamp-us

"So it's hard for people in the community to kind of branch out and communicate online. So imagine how hard it is for people who are new" —Nyasha Green

Dan and Ny are looking forward to attending WordCamp US this week, which is a first for them both. In a slightly more casual conversation touching their usual topics — the business of WordPress, careers, and community — they share the things they're looking forward to seeing and doing at WCUS and in San Diego.

Some of the WCUS sessions they're interested in have to do with WordPress security and bug bounty programs, cross-cultural communication, WordPress and performance, and getting young people into WordPress. Other tech and open source conferences also come up, as Ny is planning to attend All Things Open 2022 in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Finally, Ny and Dan discover they both have non-tech backgrounds and started reading J.R.R. Tolkien at an early age. Ny talks about learning several languages and reading The Hobbit in Latin.

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

Top-Tier Managed WordPress hosting solutions for Enterprise, the Public Sector, and Media companies. We invented Managed WordPress and we never stopped raising the bar. Expect Extraordinary

👋 Credits

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 68) — WordCamp US 2022 Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green 00:35:50 In this episode Dan and Ny are tired! — but excited about heading to their first WordCamp of any kind. They talk about the things they're looking forward to seeing and doing at WCUS and in San Diego. Lots of interesting speakers and talks! Contributor day! Karaoke. Food comes up — a lot. In this episode Dan and Ny are tired! — but excited about heading to their first WordCamp of any kind. They talk about the things they're looking forward to seeing and doing at WCUS and in San Diego. Lots of interesting speakers and talks! Contributor day! Karaoke. Food comes up — a lot. wordpress, wordcamp 2022, wordcamp, wcus no bonus 7c323757-1a28-44be-8321-db05e4f75b60 Post Status Excerpt (No. 67) — What Does Professionalism Mean in WordPress?

"We're not afraid to let our human side show." —Eric Karkovack

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Eric Karkovack joins Dan Knauss to discuss their top picks for important topics and news stories in WordPress this week. Then they take up the topic of "professionalism." What is it — what does it mean for us in the WordPress community, and how does it relate to a healthy open source project and business ecosystem?

Eric's Top News Picks:

  1. WP-Optimize "Cheating" Scandal (WP Tavern)
  2. WebP in WordPress 6.1 On Hold/Being Reconsidered
  3. WordPress.com Now Offering $499 Websites

Dan's Top News Picks:

  1. Unethical "GPL clubs" and "piracy" — and what we can do about it. (An emerging discussion in Post Status Slack and on Twitter.)
  2. Gravity acquires Gravity — Gravity Forms acquires Gravity Flow and Gravity Experts, product/service businesses in the Gravity Forms ecosystem owned by Steven Henty, Director of Product Development for Rocketgenius – the creators of Gravity Forms.
  3. Our spotlight on Jonathan Bossenger — and what he says (and personally represents) that touches our unique ideas about professionalism in the WordPress ecosystem here at Post Status.

🙏 Sponsor: A2 Hosting

A2Hosting offers solutions for WordPress and WooCommerce that are both blazing fast and ultra-reliable. WordPress can be easily deployed on ANY web hosting plan from A2: Shared, VPS, or Dedicated. A2 also offers Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting. Take a look at a2hosting.com today!

🔗 Mentioned in the Show

👋 Credits

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 2 Sep 2022 17:59:53 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Erik Karkovack) https://poststatus.com/what-does-professionalism-mean-in-wordpress/

"We're not afraid to let our human side show." —Eric Karkovack

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Eric Karkovack joins Dan Knauss to discuss their top picks for important topics and news stories in WordPress this week. Then they take up the topic of "professionalism." What is it — what does it mean for us in the WordPress community, and how does it relate to a healthy open source project and business ecosystem?

Eric's Top News Picks:

  1. WP-Optimize "Cheating" Scandal (WP Tavern)
  2. WebP in WordPress 6.1 On Hold/Being Reconsidered
  3. WordPress.com Now Offering $499 Websites

Dan's Top News Picks:

  1. Unethical "GPL clubs" and "piracy" — and what we can do about it. (An emerging discussion in Post Status Slack and on Twitter.)
  2. Gravity acquires Gravity — Gravity Forms acquires Gravity Flow and Gravity Experts, product/service businesses in the Gravity Forms ecosystem owned by Steven Henty, Director of Product Development for Rocketgenius – the creators of Gravity Forms.
  3. Our spotlight on Jonathan Bossenger — and what he says (and personally represents) that touches our unique ideas about professionalism in the WordPress ecosystem here at Post Status.

🙏 Sponsor: A2 Hosting

A2Hosting offers solutions for WordPress and WooCommerce that are both blazing fast and ultra-reliable. WordPress can be easily deployed on ANY web hosting plan from A2: Shared, VPS, or Dedicated. A2 also offers Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting. Take a look at a2hosting.com today!

🔗 Mentioned in the Show

👋 Credits

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 67) — What Does Professionalism Mean in WordPress? Dan Knauss, Erik Karkovack 00:53:31 Dan and Eric discuss their top picks for WordPress news stories of the week and the topic of professionalism. What is it — what does it mean for us in the WordPress community, and how does it relate to a healthy open source project and business ecosystem? Dan and Eric discuss their top picks for WordPress news stories of the week and the topic of professionalism. What is it — what does it mean for us in the WordPress community, and how does it relate to a healthy open source project and business ecosystem? wordpress no bonus 1345f7ce-a063-4fb8-b022-afc8b3fdb2d4 Post Status Excerpt (No. 66) — What Does It Mean To Contribute To WordPress?

And I would say you're contributing by learning. Like if you're, if you're learning in community, that's a step

- Dan Knauss

 

How do we give back? We all want a community of creativity, cooperation, and contribution — how do we get there?

In this episode Dan and Ny talk about WordPress and giving back. Giving, making, creating... Looking at the search results for "Make WordPress" and "the firehose" of Make WordPress Slack where the #docs channel was having their weekly meeting, Dan and Ny look at the wide range of options there are for new contributors.,

Mentoring and organizing Meetups is a topic that comes up again. That's where Ny feels she has been given the most and most enjoys giving back. However, there are barriers to getting people engaged with the WordPress project — and to work for free.

Dan asks what needs to be done to reach younger people. Ny talks about the barriers from a BIPOC perspective, where sensitivity to history and personal stories matters. Dan relates that to an inner city gardening project he volunteered with that had an all-white leadership team. If contributing is a privilege, how can we help elevate more people to that level of privilege?

Also covered:

  • How does the older open source culture of contribution (not) translate to the contemporary culture of the "creator economy?"
  • Dan's initial experience with trying to onboard himself in #docs.

 

🙏 Sponsor: Cloudways

Cloudways is proud to sponsor Post Status. Our managed hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce takes away the cloud server-related learning curve with a seamless and scalable web hosting experience. Trusted by over 250,000 WordPress users, Cloudways gives you the freedom to choose from any of the top IaaS (infrastructure as a service) providers for ultimate performance.

 

🔗 Mentioned in the Show

 

👋 Credits

 

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 26 Aug 2022 05:54:02 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green) https://poststatus.com/what-does-it-mean-to-contribute-to-wordpress/

And I would say you're contributing by learning. Like if you're, if you're learning in community, that's a step

- Dan Knauss

 

How do we give back? We all want a community of creativity, cooperation, and contribution — how do we get there?

In this episode Dan and Ny talk about WordPress and giving back. Giving, making, creating... Looking at the search results for "Make WordPress" and "the firehose" of Make WordPress Slack where the #docs channel was having their weekly meeting, Dan and Ny look at the wide range of options there are for new contributors.,

Mentoring and organizing Meetups is a topic that comes up again. That's where Ny feels she has been given the most and most enjoys giving back. However, there are barriers to getting people engaged with the WordPress project — and to work for free.

Dan asks what needs to be done to reach younger people. Ny talks about the barriers from a BIPOC perspective, where sensitivity to history and personal stories matters. Dan relates that to an inner city gardening project he volunteered with that had an all-white leadership team. If contributing is a privilege, how can we help elevate more people to that level of privilege?

Also covered:

  • How does the older open source culture of contribution (not) translate to the contemporary culture of the "creator economy?"
  • Dan's initial experience with trying to onboard himself in #docs.

 

🙏 Sponsor: Cloudways

Cloudways is proud to sponsor Post Status. Our managed hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce takes away the cloud server-related learning curve with a seamless and scalable web hosting experience. Trusted by over 250,000 WordPress users, Cloudways gives you the freedom to choose from any of the top IaaS (infrastructure as a service) providers for ultimate performance.

 

🔗 Mentioned in the Show

 

👋 Credits

 

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 66) — What Does It Mean To Contribute To WordPress? Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green 00:57:15 In this episode Dan and Ny talk about WordPress and giving back. Giving, making, creating... Looking at the search results for "Make WordPress" and "the firehose" of Make WordPress Slack where the #docs channel was having their weekly meeting, Dan and Ny look at the wide range of options there are for new contributors. In this episode Dan and Ny talk about WordPress and giving back. Giving, making, creating... Looking at the search results for "Make WordPress" and "the firehose" of Make WordPress Slack where the #docs channel was having their weekly meeting, Dan and Ny look at the wide range of options there are for new contributors. kevin ohashi, wordpress, giving back, software, wordpress hosting benchmarks, contribution, diversity, make wordpress, inclusion, open source, creator economy no bonus e925f57c-18bc-4fd8-8730-08e384e99651 Post Status Excerpt (No. 65) — How We Talk When We Talk About WordPress What's it like to enter this WordPress community media space, especially as the editor of a publication with many voices, personalities, and perspectives?

My friend and dialogue partner, Nyasha Green, is six months into her role as Editorial Director at MasterWP, so today we're talking about what that's been like for Ny, what she's learned, and how we look at the WordPress media space we both work in.

Unsurprisingly we talk about conflict, communication, personality, and the importance of in-person events. That brings up WCUS — a first for both of us — where we'll meet each other and a lot of people we've only known remotely. It also sounds like I might get roped into a karaoke duet. (Not if I can help it!)

👋 Your Hosts

🙏 Sponsor: Elementor

Elementor enables web creators to build professional, pixel-perfect websites with an intuitive visual builder. Quickly create amazing websites for your clients or your business with complete control over every piece, without writing a single line of code. Join a vast community of web creators from all around the world who deliver exceptional websites using Elementor.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 19 Aug 2022 14:49:36 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green) https://poststatus.com/how-we-talk-when-we-talk-about-wordpress/ What's it like to enter this WordPress community media space, especially as the editor of a publication with many voices, personalities, and perspectives?

My friend and dialogue partner, Nyasha Green, is six months into her role as Editorial Director at MasterWP, so today we're talking about what that's been like for Ny, what she's learned, and how we look at the WordPress media space we both work in.

Unsurprisingly we talk about conflict, communication, personality, and the importance of in-person events. That brings up WCUS — a first for both of us — where we'll meet each other and a lot of people we've only known remotely. It also sounds like I might get roped into a karaoke duet. (Not if I can help it!)

👋 Your Hosts

🙏 Sponsor: Elementor

Elementor enables web creators to build professional, pixel-perfect websites with an intuitive visual builder. Quickly create amazing websites for your clients or your business with complete control over every piece, without writing a single line of code. Join a vast community of web creators from all around the world who deliver exceptional websites using Elementor.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 65) — How We Talk When We Talk About WordPress Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green 00:49:05 My friend and dialogue partner, Nyasha Green, is six months into her role as Editorial Director at MasterWP, so today we're talking about what that's been like for Ny, what she's learned, and how we look at the WordPress media space we both work in. My friend and dialogue partner, Nyasha Green, is six months into her role as Editorial Director at MasterWP, so today we're talking about what that's been like for Ny, what she's learned, and how we look at the WordPress media space we both work in. post status, wordpress, wordpress drama, masterwp, wpdrama, wordcamp, wcus, community, wordpress news, conflict, communication no bonus 90eccdae-b73e-401c-b8b7-8421be768557 Post Status Excerpt (64) — LearnDash's Adoption of Gutenberg, Full Site Editing, and How to Protect Your Course Content from Theft Jack Kitterhing joins David to talk about adopting (and adapting) Gutenberg — and Full Site Editing — at LearnDash for their LMS product. The conversation touches on the problem of people in the WordPress community having their course content stolen and resold. What can you do to protect and brand your learning product to deter theft?

Why This Matters: You'll gain insight into Learndash as a WordPress company and learn why it's crucial for product creators to onboard and help their customers do great work with their tools. Support the tool you build, the person using it, and the work they do with it if you want to keep them as long-term customers.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

 Gravity Forms is a powerful form builder for WordPress and the #1 choice for businesses and web professionals across the globe. Its vast array of features, intuitive drag-and-drop form editor, and extensive ecosystem of add-ons, ensure customers can design beautiful, intelligent, and accessible forms for any project requirement.

]]> Fri, 12 Aug 2022 06:11:06 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Jack Kitterhing) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Jack Kitterhing joins David to talk about adopting (and adapting) Gutenberg — and Full Site Editing — at LearnDash for their LMS product. The conversation touches on the problem of people in the WordPress community having their course content stolen and resold. What can you do to protect and brand your learning product to deter theft?

Why This Matters: You'll gain insight into Learndash as a WordPress company and learn why it's crucial for product creators to onboard and help their customers do great work with their tools. Support the tool you build, the person using it, and the work they do with it if you want to keep them as long-term customers.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

 Gravity Forms is a powerful form builder for WordPress and the #1 choice for businesses and web professionals across the globe. Its vast array of features, intuitive drag-and-drop form editor, and extensive ecosystem of add-ons, ensure customers can design beautiful, intelligent, and accessible forms for any project requirement.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (64) — LearnDash's Adoption of Gutenberg, Full Site Editing, and How to Protect Your Course Content from Theft David Bisset, Jack Kitterhing 00:28:35 Jack Kitterhing joins David to talk about adopting (and adapting) Gutenberg — and Full Site Editing — at LearnDash for their LMS product. The conversation touches on the problem of people in the WordPress community having their course content stolen and resold. What can you do to protect and brand your learning product to deter theft? Jack Kitterhing joins David to talk about adopting (and adapting) Gutenberg — and Full Site Editing — at LearnDash for their LMS product. The conversation touches on the problem of people in the WordPress community having their course content stolen and resold. What can you do to protect and brand your learning product to deter theft? wordpress, learndash no bonus b227663e-d544-4b0c-89e1-09cc527c027e Post Status Excerpt (63) — Pay Transparency, Mutual Respect, and the Community We Need

People don't realize how long ago "long ago" wasn't. We're not talking about two, three, four hundred years ago. My family always stressed working somewhere your employer respects you, because it wasn't that long ago they didn't have a choice.

Nyasha Green

We're rebooting Post Status Excerpt as a weekly chat between Nyasha Green and Dan Knauss (and guests—please join us!) about a few of the active topics and discussions in the WordPress community that we feel are most important. Big thanks to David Bisset in his former role as host and curator here, and also to our intern and post-production engineer, Olivia Bisset.

This week we're talking about pay transparency. Ny relates some personal experiences where an employer did not disclose pay or how employees were selected for raises. This leads us into a discussion of pay transparency in the hiring process — how it matters to everyone but especially job seekers who are black, indigenous, and other people of color. (Ny has written about this before, and Piccia Neri has been investigating the topic lately.) We also talk about how a lack of transparency can seem to emphasize an employer's distrust and an employee's disadvantaged position — and the effect that can have on a workplace culture.

Next, we talk about our own family histories which are touched — in living memory in Ny's case — by slavery and colonialism where work and dignity were extracted from some people by others with the power take their labor without compensation. Ny's great grandfather was born a slave in South Carolina in 1858 and lived until 1963. Dan's ancestors include German settlers in North Carolina who abandoned their earlier beliefs against slavery and began to practice it in the late 1700s. In the Americas and beyond, the past is much closer than we often assume, especially for BIPOC people. History only “bends toward justice” if people choose to bend it that way. It can also go the other way.

Finally, we close with how Allie Nimmons experienced a surprising level of hostility to a survey she presented to the WordPress community about the ways we contribute to the project and how we feel about it. There's the community we have now — and the community we need to become. How do we get there? What are the barriers? How can you help?

🔗 Mentioned in the Show:

👋 Your Hosts

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 12 Aug 2022 06:00:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green) https://poststatus.com/podcast/the-excerpt/pay-transparency-mutual-respect-and-the-community-we-need/

People don't realize how long ago "long ago" wasn't. We're not talking about two, three, four hundred years ago. My family always stressed working somewhere your employer respects you, because it wasn't that long ago they didn't have a choice.

Nyasha Green

We're rebooting Post Status Excerpt as a weekly chat between Nyasha Green and Dan Knauss (and guests—please join us!) about a few of the active topics and discussions in the WordPress community that we feel are most important. Big thanks to David Bisset in his former role as host and curator here, and also to our intern and post-production engineer, Olivia Bisset.

This week we're talking about pay transparency. Ny relates some personal experiences where an employer did not disclose pay or how employees were selected for raises. This leads us into a discussion of pay transparency in the hiring process — how it matters to everyone but especially job seekers who are black, indigenous, and other people of color. (Ny has written about this before, and Piccia Neri has been investigating the topic lately.) We also talk about how a lack of transparency can seem to emphasize an employer's distrust and an employee's disadvantaged position — and the effect that can have on a workplace culture.

Next, we talk about our own family histories which are touched — in living memory in Ny's case — by slavery and colonialism where work and dignity were extracted from some people by others with the power take their labor without compensation. Ny's great grandfather was born a slave in South Carolina in 1858 and lived until 1963. Dan's ancestors include German settlers in North Carolina who abandoned their earlier beliefs against slavery and began to practice it in the late 1700s. In the Americas and beyond, the past is much closer than we often assume, especially for BIPOC people. History only “bends toward justice” if people choose to bend it that way. It can also go the other way.

Finally, we close with how Allie Nimmons experienced a surprising level of hostility to a survey she presented to the WordPress community about the ways we contribute to the project and how we feel about it. There's the community we have now — and the community we need to become. How do we get there? What are the barriers? How can you help?

🔗 Mentioned in the Show:

👋 Your Hosts

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you a conversation about important news and issues in the WordPress community and business ecosystem. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Post Status Excerpt (63) — Pay Transparency, Mutual Respect, and the Community We Need Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green 00:42:01 Ny relates some personal experiences where pay transparency was lacking and the impact it can have on workplace cultures. This leads into a discussion of pay transparency in the hiring process — how it matters to everyone but especially people who are black, indigenous, or other people of color. Ny relates some personal experiences where pay transparency was lacking and the impact it can have on workplace cultures. This leads into a discussion of pay transparency in the hiring process — how it matters to everyone but especially people who are black, indigenous, or other people of color. post status, wordpress, pay transparency, historical trauma, allie nimmons, history of slavery, employment, piccia neri, bipoc no bonus 15edee0b-091e-452f-bc73-ba8884dc6e5f Building and Sustaining the WordPress Community Through Mentorship — Post Status Draft 123

Mentor someone. Today! Don't wait. Start today! Talk to people. Connect with them. Go on Twitter. Just 15 minutes a day. Tell them why this community is great. Make them want to join!

Nyasha Green

For Nyasha Green, a healthy tech community prioritizes mentoring. She credits her mentors with helping her find her place in WordPress. How well does your part of the WordPress ecosystem support mentorship? Can we make mentoring a key way people contribute to WordPress's future?

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Nyasha Green joins Dan Knauss to tell her story about joining the WordPress community relatively recently. Ny is a Software Developer at Howard Development and Consulting as well as the Editorial Director for MasterWP. Ny credits Ken Elliot and Shambi Broome as mentors who got her into WordPress. Together they're getting two new WordPress Meetups up and running in Columbia, SC and Charlotte, NC.

Picking up on one of Kim Lipari‘s comments last week (“We're not a small village anymore.” A Conversation with Kim Lipari — Post Status Draft 121), Nyasha shares her thoughts on the ways the WordPress community can better embrace growth and change by enlarging its circles of leadership, innovation, and talent. For Ny, a culture that prioritizes mentoring relationships is essential. She sees value in paid internships at WordPress companies, intentional programming at Meetups and WordCamps, and the continued use of travel scholarships to welcome new people to an increasingly inclusive WordPress community.

Finally, we also talk about dealing with grief, loss, and emotional health in tech, how social media hurts and helps, and resources like Big Orange Heart that are there for you when you're all out of spoons.

🙏 Sponsor: A2 Hosting

A2Hosting offers solutions for WordPress and WooCommerce that are both blazing fast and ultra-reliable. WordPress can be easily deployed on ANY web hosting plan from A2: Shared, VPS, or Dedicated. A2 also offers Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting. Take a look at a2hosting.com today!

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🐦 You can follow Nyasha and Dan on Twitter:

]]> Thu, 4 Aug 2022 22:17:09 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green) https://poststatus.com/building-and-sustaining-the-wordpress-community-through-mentorship/

Mentor someone. Today! Don't wait. Start today! Talk to people. Connect with them. Go on Twitter. Just 15 minutes a day. Tell them why this community is great. Make them want to join!

Nyasha Green

For Nyasha Green, a healthy tech community prioritizes mentoring. She credits her mentors with helping her find her place in WordPress. How well does your part of the WordPress ecosystem support mentorship? Can we make mentoring a key way people contribute to WordPress's future?

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Nyasha Green joins Dan Knauss to tell her story about joining the WordPress community relatively recently. Ny is a Software Developer at Howard Development and Consulting as well as the Editorial Director for MasterWP. Ny credits Ken Elliot and Shambi Broome as mentors who got her into WordPress. Together they're getting two new WordPress Meetups up and running in Columbia, SC and Charlotte, NC.

Picking up on one of Kim Lipari‘s comments last week (“We're not a small village anymore.” A Conversation with Kim Lipari — Post Status Draft 121), Nyasha shares her thoughts on the ways the WordPress community can better embrace growth and change by enlarging its circles of leadership, innovation, and talent. For Ny, a culture that prioritizes mentoring relationships is essential. She sees value in paid internships at WordPress companies, intentional programming at Meetups and WordCamps, and the continued use of travel scholarships to welcome new people to an increasingly inclusive WordPress community.

Finally, we also talk about dealing with grief, loss, and emotional health in tech, how social media hurts and helps, and resources like Big Orange Heart that are there for you when you're all out of spoons.

🙏 Sponsor: A2 Hosting

A2Hosting offers solutions for WordPress and WooCommerce that are both blazing fast and ultra-reliable. WordPress can be easily deployed on ANY web hosting plan from A2: Shared, VPS, or Dedicated. A2 also offers Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting. Take a look at a2hosting.com today!

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🐦 You can follow Nyasha and Dan on Twitter:

]]> Building and Sustaining the WordPress Community Through Mentorship — Post Status Draft 123 Dan Knauss, Nyasha Green 00:44:39 In this episode of Post Status Draft, Nyasha Green joins Dan Knauss to talk about her entry into the WordPress community and business ecosystem. Ny is relatively new to WordPress, but she's already working on two new WordPress meetups. As Editorial Director at MasterWP, you've probably enjoyed Ny's writing and voice as a thoughtful commentator and advocate for things like diversity scholarships and travel funds for WordCamps to become more inclusive events. Ny has a lot to say about the importance of other people — her mentors — in bringing her to where she is today. How well does your part of the WordPress ecosystem support mentorship? How can we make mentoring a key way people contribute to WordPress's future? In this episode of Post Status Draft, Nyasha Green joins Dan Knauss to talk about her entry into the WordPress community and business ecosystem. Ny is relatively new to WordPress, but she's already working on two new WordPress meetups. As Editorial Director at MasterWP, you've probably enjoyed Ny's writing and voice as a thoughtful commentator and advocate for things like diversity scholarships and travel funds for WordCamps to become more inclusive events. Ny has a lot to say about the importance of other people — her mentors — in bringing her to where she is today. How well does your part of the WordPress ecosystem support mentorship? How can we make mentoring a key way people contribute to WordPress's future? grief, michelle frechette, brian coords, wordpress, mentors, diversity, mental health, howard development and consulting, mentoring, inclusion, kim lipari, rob howard, allie nimmons, wordpress community, big orange heart, ken elliot, underrepresented in tech, shambi broome no full 123 43cbdb04-752e-47ea-972d-35aa1df157be Laura Nelson on Email Marketing and WordPress Laura is the Marketing Manager at MailPoet — a popular email marketing plugin for WordPress. She’s been working in the WordPress space for the past eight years, with experience in both agency and in-house marketing teams.

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is a powerful form builder for WordPress and the #1 choice for businesses and web professionals across the globe. Its vast array of features, intuitive drag-and-drop form editor, and extensive ecosystem of add-ons, ensure customers can design beautiful, intelligent, and accessible forms for any project requirement.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Tue, 2 Aug 2022 21:05:27 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Laura Nelson, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/laura-nelson-on-wordpress-and-email-marketing/ Laura is the Marketing Manager at MailPoet — a popular email marketing plugin for WordPress. She’s been working in the WordPress space for the past eight years, with experience in both agency and in-house marketing teams.

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is a powerful form builder for WordPress and the #1 choice for businesses and web professionals across the globe. Its vast array of features, intuitive drag-and-drop form editor, and extensive ecosystem of add-ons, ensure customers can design beautiful, intelligent, and accessible forms for any project requirement.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Laura Nelson on Email Marketing and WordPress Laura Nelson, Cory Miller 00:20:17 Laura is the Content Marketer at WooCommerce — a popular email marketing plugin for WordPress. She’s been working in the WordPress space for the past eight years, with experience in both agency and in-house marketing teams. Laura is the Content Marketer at WooCommerce — a popular email marketing plugin for WordPress. She’s been working in the WordPress space for the past eight years, with experience in both agency and in-house marketing teams. wordpress no full 122 a828aa23-2d29-43c5-98f3-360923700b26 “We're not a small village anymore." A Conversation with Kim Lipari Kim Lipari is my guest today on Post Status Draft. Kim started building a career in WordPress over ten years ago, and her agency, Valet, is almost that old. WordPress isn't a small village community anymore, says Kim, but we still talk about it as if it is. That tightly knit community is still there because — not in spite of — incredible growth. But what does the fact of growth mean for a small village culture? Can it turn into an enclave or cult? Is the language of a small village still an appropriate language for leadership? Do we need to act more like we're a busy city — and make an effort to get to know our newer neighbors' stories? Can we keep (let alone scale) the values, culture, and kindness of a healthy small community as we grow?

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2022 03:20:19 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Kim Lipari) https://poststatus.com/not-a-small-village-anymore-kim-lipari/ Kim Lipari is my guest today on Post Status Draft. Kim started building a career in WordPress over ten years ago, and her agency, Valet, is almost that old. WordPress isn't a small village community anymore, says Kim, but we still talk about it as if it is. That tightly knit community is still there because — not in spite of — incredible growth. But what does the fact of growth mean for a small village culture? Can it turn into an enclave or cult? Is the language of a small village still an appropriate language for leadership? Do we need to act more like we're a busy city — and make an effort to get to know our newer neighbors' stories? Can we keep (let alone scale) the values, culture, and kindness of a healthy small community as we grow?

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> “We're not a small village anymore." A Conversation with Kim Lipari Dan Knauss, Kim Lipari 00:31:15 Kim Lipari is my guest today on Post Status Draft. Kim started building a career in WordPress over ten years ago, and her agency, Valet, is almost that old. WordPress isn't a small village community anymore, says Kim, but we still talk about it as if it is. That tightly knit community is still there because — not in spite of — incredible growth. But what does the fact of growth mean for a small village culture? Can it turn into an enclave or cult? Is the language of a small village still an appropriate language for leadership? Do we need to act more like we're a busy city — and make an effort to get to know our newer neighbors' stories? Can we keep (let alone scale) the values, culture, and kindness of a healthy small community as we grow? Kim Lipari is my guest today on Post Status Draft. Kim started building a career in WordPress over ten years ago, and her agency, Valet, is almost that old. WordPress isn't a small village community anymore, says Kim, but we still talk about it as if it is. That tightly knit community is still there because — not in spite of — incredible growth. But what does the fact of growth mean for a small village culture? Can it turn into an enclave or cult? Is the language of a small village still an appropriate language for leadership? Do we need to act more like we're a busy city — and make an effort to get to know our newer neighbors' stories? Can we keep (let alone scale) the values, culture, and kindness of a healthy small community as we grow? scenius, wordpress, wordpress ecosystem, heart and soul of wordpress, global village, brian eno, gentrification, change, wordpress economy, open source, growth, kindness, wordpress community no full 121 38f9d060-f4d5-46b2-bb26-761efe4e6e35 Strattic, WordCamps, and Growing through Relationships Miriam Schwab is CEO and co-founder of Strattic, the first WordPress hosting company to allow customers to quickly spin up fast static and headless WordPress sites. Strattic was recently acquired by Elementor. In this episode of Post Status Draft, Miriam talks with Post Status Editor Dan Knauss about her WordPress journey as a WordCamp organizer, agency owner, and web host founder.

In this conversation you’ll also learn about:

  • WordPress and performance optimization
  • Why everyone should embrace regular people building “terrible” websites
  • Why WordCamps are special

 

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is a powerful form builder for WordPress and the #1 choice for businesses and web professionals across the globe. Its vast array of features, intuitive drag-and-drop form editor, and extensive ecosystem of add-ons, ensure customers can design beautiful, intelligent, and accessible forms for any project requirement.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Thu, 21 Jul 2022 18:41:01 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dan Knauss, Miriam Schwab) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Miriam Schwab is CEO and co-founder of Strattic, the first WordPress hosting company to allow customers to quickly spin up fast static and headless WordPress sites. Strattic was recently acquired by Elementor. In this episode of Post Status Draft, Miriam talks with Post Status Editor Dan Knauss about her WordPress journey as a WordCamp organizer, agency owner, and web host founder.

In this conversation you’ll also learn about:

  • WordPress and performance optimization
  • Why everyone should embrace regular people building “terrible” websites
  • Why WordCamps are special

 

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is a powerful form builder for WordPress and the #1 choice for businesses and web professionals across the globe. Its vast array of features, intuitive drag-and-drop form editor, and extensive ecosystem of add-ons, ensure customers can design beautiful, intelligent, and accessible forms for any project requirement.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Strattic, WordCamps, and Growing through Relationships Dan Knauss, Miriam Schwab 00:47:34 Miriam Schwab is CEO and co-founder of Strattic, the first WordPress hosting company to allow customers to quickly spin up fast static and headless WordPress sites. Strattic was recently acquired by Elementor. In this episode of Post Status Draft, Miriam talks with Post Status Editor Dan Knauss about her WordPress journey as a WordCamp organizer, agency owner, and web host founder. Miriam Schwab is CEO and co-founder of Strattic, the first WordPress hosting company to allow customers to quickly spin up fast static and headless WordPress sites. Strattic was recently acquired by Elementor. In this episode of Post Status Draft, Miriam talks with Post Status Editor Dan Knauss about her WordPress journey as a WordCamp organizer, agency owner, and web host founder. wordpress, wordcamp, elementor, performance optimization, strattic no full 120 e0a81d0a-a13c-44a3-ab01-75371dedaa82 Maddy Osman on Writing for Humans and Robots In this episode of Post Draft, Post Status Editor Dan Knauss is joined by Maddy Osman. Maddy is the founder of The Blogsmith, a well-known brand in the WordPress space for quality writing that appeals to your target audience and search engines. Maddy has a new book out that can teach you some of her finely-honed skills. It's called Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style.

Writing for Humans and Robots grew out of a style guide Maddy created — first as a freelancer and then, as her team grew, a sizeable agency. In this episode you'll learn about:

  • Maddy's business journey: how she first got into web design and WordPress — and then how freelancing led to forming an agency and writing a book.
  • What it means to write for people and algorithms: developing a consistent voice for your brand in writing that's optimized for search engines — while being empathetic and appealing to humans.
  • Accessibility and AI — writing not just for machines but with them, and how that developing technology can be used best.

🙏 Sponsor: A2 Hosting

A2Hosting offers solutions for WordPress and WooCommerce that are both blazing fast and ultra-reliable. WordPress can be easily deployed on ANY web hosting plan from A2: Shared, VPS, or Dedicated. A2 also offers Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting. Take a look at a2hosting.com today!

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Mon, 18 Jul 2022 03:36:26 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Laura Nelson, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/maddy-osman-on-writing-for-humans-and-robots/ In this episode of Post Draft, Post Status Editor Dan Knauss is joined by Maddy Osman. Maddy is the founder of The Blogsmith, a well-known brand in the WordPress space for quality writing that appeals to your target audience and search engines. Maddy has a new book out that can teach you some of her finely-honed skills. It's called Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style.

Writing for Humans and Robots grew out of a style guide Maddy created — first as a freelancer and then, as her team grew, a sizeable agency. In this episode you'll learn about:

  • Maddy's business journey: how she first got into web design and WordPress — and then how freelancing led to forming an agency and writing a book.
  • What it means to write for people and algorithms: developing a consistent voice for your brand in writing that's optimized for search engines — while being empathetic and appealing to humans.
  • Accessibility and AI — writing not just for machines but with them, and how that developing technology can be used best.

🙏 Sponsor: A2 Hosting

A2Hosting offers solutions for WordPress and WooCommerce that are both blazing fast and ultra-reliable. WordPress can be easily deployed on ANY web hosting plan from A2: Shared, VPS, or Dedicated. A2 also offers Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting. Take a look at a2hosting.com today!

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Maddy Osman on Writing for Humans and Robots Laura Nelson, Cory Miller 00:40:29 In this episode of Post Draft, Post Status Editor Dan Knauss is joined by Maddy Osman. Maddy is the founder of The Blogsmith, a well-known brand in the WordPress space for quality writing that appeals to your target audience and search engines. Maddy has a new book out that can teach you some of her finely-honed skills. It's called Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style. In this episode of Post Draft, Post Status Editor Dan Knauss is joined by Maddy Osman. Maddy is the founder of The Blogsmith, a well-known brand in the WordPress space for quality writing that appeals to your target audience and search engines. Maddy has a new book out that can teach you some of her finely-honed skills. It's called Writing for Humans and Robots: The New Rules of Content Style. wordpress no full 119 69448e8d-6ee5-4fc5-93c2-f0a97961c381 The Open Web Universe David and Olivia Bisset sat down for a chat with Matt Mullenweg about open source, Tumblr, and how Matt deals with negativity. Matt has three roles today: CEO of Tumblr, CEO of Automattic, and project lead for the next release of WordPress. He shares what went wrong with post formats and what he would love to acquire next if he could. The answer may (or may not) surprise you! 

This interview was recorded shortly before WordCamp Europe 2022.

🙏 Sponsor: A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting offers solutions for WordPress and WooCommerce that are both blazing fast and ultra-reliable. WordPress can be used on ANY Web Hosting plan from A2. You can deploy WordPress easily on Shared, VPS, or Dedicated Hosting plans. A2 also offers Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting. Take a look at a2hosting.com today!

If you work in the WordPress space or would like to, check out the A2 hosting careers page. With data centers around the globe, A2 is a growing, founder-led company that relies on over 200 team members to bring their customers' digital visions to life every day. Check out a2hosting.com/about/careers to learn about current openings or the Post Status Job Board at poststatus.com/jobs

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> Sun, 17 Jul 2022 19:31:30 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Olivia Bisset, Matt Mullenweg) https://poststatus.com/the-open-web-universe/ David and Olivia Bisset sat down for a chat with Matt Mullenweg about open source, Tumblr, and how Matt deals with negativity. Matt has three roles today: CEO of Tumblr, CEO of Automattic, and project lead for the next release of WordPress. He shares what went wrong with post formats and what he would love to acquire next if he could. The answer may (or may not) surprise you! 

This interview was recorded shortly before WordCamp Europe 2022.

🙏 Sponsor: A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting offers solutions for WordPress and WooCommerce that are both blazing fast and ultra-reliable. WordPress can be used on ANY Web Hosting plan from A2. You can deploy WordPress easily on Shared, VPS, or Dedicated Hosting plans. A2 also offers Managed WordPress and WooCommerce Hosting. Take a look at a2hosting.com today!

If you work in the WordPress space or would like to, check out the A2 hosting careers page. With data centers around the globe, A2 is a growing, founder-led company that relies on over 200 team members to bring their customers' digital visions to life every day. Check out a2hosting.com/about/careers to learn about current openings or the Post Status Job Board at poststatus.com/jobs

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

]]> The Open Web Universe David Bisset, Olivia Bisset, Matt Mullenweg 00:32:54 David and Olivia Bisset sat down for a chat with Matt Mullenweg about open source, Tumblr, and how Matt deals with negativity. Matt has three roles today: CEO of Tumblr, CEO of Automattic, and project lead for the next release of WordPress. He shares what went wrong with post formats and what he would love to acquire next if he could. The answer may (or may not) surprise you! (Recorded shortly before WordCamp Europe 2022.) David and Olivia Bisset sat down for a chat with Matt Mullenweg about open source, Tumblr, and how Matt deals with negativity. Matt has three roles today: CEO of Tumblr, CEO of Automattic, and project lead for the next release of WordPress. He shares what went wrong with post formats and what he would love to acquire next if he could. The answer may (or may not) surprise you! (Recorded shortly before WordCamp Europe 2022.) post formats, wordpress, acquisitions, wceu, tumblr, automattic no bonus 9c89d51e-f8d1-49f5-959a-66ac3dcee58c Post Status Comments (No. 12) — WordPress Lite? What if there was a "lite" version of WordPress that was still WordPress — still customizable under the hood but tuned up for a great user experience for particular use cases? For example — could a lite version be used to allow an admin to literally build an online store in minutes from a mobile device? How about just a note-taking app with cool open web features? What if, what if, what if...!!!

David Bisset, Bob Dunn, Jess Frick, and Eric Karkovack shared on Twitter Spaces what their own versions of WordPress Lite would do — what market or niche it would fit — and whether it's practical for something like this to run on WordPress at all.

Why it matters: WordPress has had more and more competition in recent years for very simple applications and tasks like simple blogs, simple storefronts, and simple ways of selling access to subscribers for digital content. Conversations during this episode were occurring while the WordPress space was discussing competition and declining market share.

🙏 Sponsor: Cloudways

Cloudways is proud to sponsor Post Status. Our managed hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce takes away the cloud server-related learning curve with a seamless and scalable web hosting experience. Trusted by over 250,000 WordPress users, Cloudways gives you the freedom to choose from any of the top IaaS (infrastructure as a service) providers for ultimate performance. TRY CLOUDWAYS ›

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Thu, 7 Jul 2022 23:28:19 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Bob Dunn, Jess Flick, Eric Karkovack) https://poststatus.com/wordpress-lite/ What if there was a "lite" version of WordPress that was still WordPress — still customizable under the hood but tuned up for a great user experience for particular use cases? For example — could a lite version be used to allow an admin to literally build an online store in minutes from a mobile device? How about just a note-taking app with cool open web features? What if, what if, what if...!!!

David Bisset, Bob Dunn, Jess Frick, and Eric Karkovack shared on Twitter Spaces what their own versions of WordPress Lite would do — what market or niche it would fit — and whether it's practical for something like this to run on WordPress at all.

Why it matters: WordPress has had more and more competition in recent years for very simple applications and tasks like simple blogs, simple storefronts, and simple ways of selling access to subscribers for digital content. Conversations during this episode were occurring while the WordPress space was discussing competition and declining market share.

🙏 Sponsor: Cloudways

Cloudways is proud to sponsor Post Status. Our managed hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce takes away the cloud server-related learning curve with a seamless and scalable web hosting experience. Trusted by over 250,000 WordPress users, Cloudways gives you the freedom to choose from any of the top IaaS (infrastructure as a service) providers for ultimate performance. TRY CLOUDWAYS ›

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Post Status Comments (No. 12) — WordPress Lite? David Bisset, Bob Dunn, Jess Flick, Eric Karkovack 01:02:32 What if there was a "lite" version of WordPress that was still WordPress — still customizable under the hood but tuned up for a great user experience for particular use cases? For example — could a lite version be used to allow an admin to literally build an online store in minutes from a mobile device? How about just a note-taking app with cool open web features? What if, what if, what if...!!! What if there was a "lite" version of WordPress that was still WordPress — still customizable under the hood but tuned up for a great user experience for particular use cases? For example — could a lite version be used to allow an admin to literally build an online store in minutes from a mobile device? How about just a note-taking app with cool open web features? What if, what if, what if...!!! wordpress no bonus 423ea49c-b4a9-4d1d-b047-df51a6e60ffa Post Status Excerpt: BlackPress Leaders on Empathy, Understanding, and Being an Ally

“Coming with the way you can help versus asking someone how you can help them can be very helpful.”

— Neisha Sweet

In this conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David is joined by Destiny Fox, Niesha Sweet, and Allie Nimmons. Previously they spoke about BlackPress, and now they explain why it's sometimes difficult to help people in an underrepresented group.

Why This Matters: It’s important to the WordPress community's growth and health that we ensure all kinds of people feel welcome and can contribute. For many, it's not easy, and some people are even stuck wondering what to do and how to do it. Destiny, Niesha, and Allie explain how understanding and empathy should enter our interactions to develop a more inclusive community

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

]]> Fri, 1 Jul 2022 06:59:22 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Allie Nimmons, Niesha Sweet, Destiny Fox) https://poststatus.com/empathy-understanding-and-being-an-ally/

“Coming with the way you can help versus asking someone how you can help them can be very helpful.”

— Neisha Sweet

In this conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David is joined by Destiny Fox, Niesha Sweet, and Allie Nimmons. Previously they spoke about BlackPress, and now they explain why it's sometimes difficult to help people in an underrepresented group.

Why This Matters: It’s important to the WordPress community's growth and health that we ensure all kinds of people feel welcome and can contribute. For many, it's not easy, and some people are even stuck wondering what to do and how to do it. Destiny, Niesha, and Allie explain how understanding and empathy should enter our interactions to develop a more inclusive community

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

]]> Post Status Excerpt: BlackPress Leaders on Empathy, Understanding, and Being an Ally David Bisset, Allie Nimmons, Niesha Sweet, Destiny Fox 00:24:14 In this conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David is joined by Destiny Fox, Niesha Sweet, and Allie Nimmons. Previously they spoke about BlackPress, and now they explain why it's sometimes difficult to help people in an underrepresented group. In this conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David is joined by Destiny Fox, Niesha Sweet, and Allie Nimmons. Previously they spoke about BlackPress, and now they explain why it's sometimes difficult to help people in an underrepresented group. wordpress no bonus b20dd0ee-c66a-46cf-945c-4785c4a49756 Post Status Comments (No. 11) — WordPress 19th Anniversary Meetup Celebration On May 25th, 2022 we celebrated WordPress's 19th anniversary. With the help of wp19.day — and partners Envira Gallery, Post Status, and GoDaddy Pro — two live events were held that day. Each had a group of guests that have been deeply involved in the WordPress community for some time.

This episode of Comments records the second event. It happened later in the day as a celebration. Several different WordPress meetups also joined us on Zoom along with our guests.

As in our previous episode, we started off sharing a few favorite memories but then quickly got into a deeper conversation about the state of WordPress now — and what we hope to see in its future.

Guests: Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Carrie Dils, David Yarde, Joe Simpson Jr., Pat Ramsey, John Jacoby, Yvette Sonneveld, and Taco Verdo.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Wed, 22 Jun 2022 18:43:46 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Carrie Dils, David Yarde, Simpson Jr., Pat Ramsey, John Jacoby, Yvette Sonneveld, Taco Verdo, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/podcasts On May 25th, 2022 we celebrated WordPress's 19th anniversary. With the help of wp19.day — and partners Envira Gallery, Post Status, and GoDaddy Pro — two live events were held that day. Each had a group of guests that have been deeply involved in the WordPress community for some time.

This episode of Comments records the second event. It happened later in the day as a celebration. Several different WordPress meetups also joined us on Zoom along with our guests.

As in our previous episode, we started off sharing a few favorite memories but then quickly got into a deeper conversation about the state of WordPress now — and what we hope to see in its future.

Guests: Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Carrie Dils, David Yarde, Joe Simpson Jr., Pat Ramsey, John Jacoby, Yvette Sonneveld, and Taco Verdo.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Post Status Comments (No. 11) — WordPress 19th Anniversary Meetup Celebration Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Carrie Dils, David Yarde, Simpson Jr., Pat Ramsey, John Jacoby, Yvette Sonneveld, Taco Verdo, David Bisset 01:29:21 This episode of Comments records the conversations at a celebratory meetup for WordPress's 19th anniversary on May 25th, 2022. Several different WordPress meetups also joined us on Zoom along with our guests Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Carrie Dils, David Yarde, Joe Simpson Jr., Pat Ramsey, John Jacoby, Yvette Sonneveld, and Taco Verdo. This episode of Comments records the conversations at a celebratory meetup for WordPress's 19th anniversary on May 25th, 2022. Several different WordPress meetups also joined us on Zoom along with our guests Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Carrie Dils, David Yarde, Joe Simpson Jr., Pat Ramsey, John Jacoby, Yvette Sonneveld, and Taco Verdo. wordpress no bonus 0eb89a19-9261-4ae5-acce-ed455ca9ac4c Richard Midson on Podcasting and WordPress Richard Midson is a podcaster, techie, public relations officer, as well as a journalism and communications veteran now working at Automattic. Richard sat down with Post Status Publisher Cory Miller during WordCamp Europe 2022 to talk about the future of podcasting and the opportunities for WordPress as a podcasting platform.

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

Top-Tier Managed WordPress hosting solutions for Enterprise, the Public Sector, and Media companies. We invented Managed WordPress and we never stopped raising the bar. Expect Extraordinary!

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Fri, 17 Jun 2022 14:25:11 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Richard Midson) https://poststatus.com/richard-midson-wordpress-future-of-podcasting/ Richard Midson is a podcaster, techie, public relations officer, as well as a journalism and communications veteran now working at Automattic. Richard sat down with Post Status Publisher Cory Miller during WordCamp Europe 2022 to talk about the future of podcasting and the opportunities for WordPress as a podcasting platform.

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

Top-Tier Managed WordPress hosting solutions for Enterprise, the Public Sector, and Media companies. We invented Managed WordPress and we never stopped raising the bar. Expect Extraordinary!

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Richard Midson on Podcasting and WordPress Cory Miller, Richard Midson 00:18:13 Richard Midson is a podcaster, techie, public relations officer, as well as a journalism and communications veteran now working at Automattic. Richard sat down with Post Status Publisher Cory Miller during WordCamp Europe 2022 to talk about the future of podcasting and the opportunities for WordPress as a podcasting platform. Richard Midson is a podcaster, techie, public relations officer, as well as a journalism and communications veteran now working at Automattic. Richard sat down with Post Status Publisher Cory Miller during WordCamp Europe 2022 to talk about the future of podcasting and the opportunities for WordPress as a podcasting platform. wordpress no full 118 c1a8c47e-5e60-4283-9866-2ebe161725fd Post Status Comments (No. 10) — Nineteen Years of WordPress: A Look Back and a Look Ahead On May 25th, 2022 we celebrated WordPress's 19th anniversary. With the help of wp19.day (which partnered with Envira Gallery, Post Status, and GoDaddy Pro) two live events were held that day — each with a group of guests that have been and currently are deeply involved in the WordPress community: Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Olivia Bisset, Yvette Sonneveld, Taco Verdo, and Nyasha Green.

This episode truly represents the global and diverse culture that the WordPress community represents. As we got people sharing a few of their favorite WordPress memories, we quickly got into a deeper conversation about the state of WordPress today and what we hope to see for it in the future.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Wed, 8 Jun 2022 16:04:15 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Olivia Bisset, Yvette Sonneveld, Taco Verdo, Nyasha Green) https://poststatus.com/post-status-comments-no-10--nineteen-years-of-wordpress-a-look-back-and-a-look-ahead/ On May 25th, 2022 we celebrated WordPress's 19th anniversary. With the help of wp19.day (which partnered with Envira Gallery, Post Status, and GoDaddy Pro) two live events were held that day — each with a group of guests that have been and currently are deeply involved in the WordPress community: Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Olivia Bisset, Yvette Sonneveld, Taco Verdo, and Nyasha Green.

This episode truly represents the global and diverse culture that the WordPress community represents. As we got people sharing a few of their favorite WordPress memories, we quickly got into a deeper conversation about the state of WordPress today and what we hope to see for it in the future.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Post Status Comments (No. 10) — Nineteen Years of WordPress: A Look Back and a Look Ahead Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Olivia Bisset, Yvette Sonneveld, Taco Verdo, Nyasha Green 01:12:38 On May 25th, 2022 we celebrated WordPress's 19th anniversary. With the help of wp19.day (which partnered with Envira Gallery, Post Status, and GoDaddy Pro) two live events were held that day — each with a group of guests that have been and currently are deeply involved in the WordPress community: Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Olivia Bisset, Yvette Sonneveld, Taco Verdo, and Nyasha Green. On May 25th, 2022 we celebrated WordPress's 19th anniversary. With the help of wp19.day (which partnered with Envira Gallery, Post Status, and GoDaddy Pro) two live events were held that day — each with a group of guests that have been and currently are deeply involved in the WordPress community: Mary Job, Nathan Wrigley, Naoko Takano, Olivia Bisset, Yvette Sonneveld, Taco Verdo, and Nyasha Green. wordpress no bonus 1d6df33d-4b59-460a-bacf-56181224b14b Post Status Excerpt — Preview of WCEU 2022

“We are going to have two panels - one on acquisitions and another one about the community."

— Sabrina Zeidan

David sits down with Sabrina Zeidan (WCEU Content Team) and Evangelia Pappa (WCEU Public Relations Team) for a preview of the upcoming WordCamp Europe 2022 in Porto, Portugal. Sabrina and Evangelia briefly talk about the conference's COVID safety measures and the overall schedule and theme of WCEU. They offer some tips for things to do while you're attending, and if you're tuning in remotely, there's a surprise waiting for you too. This is the perfect travel episode for anyone en route to WCEU.

Why This Matters: WordCamp Europe is one of the first big in-person WordCamp and WordPress events to resume, post-pandemic.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Mon, 30 May 2022 22:28:45 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Sabrina Zeidan, Evangelia Pappa) https://poststatus.com/a-preview-of-wceu-2022/

“We are going to have two panels - one on acquisitions and another one about the community."

— Sabrina Zeidan

David sits down with Sabrina Zeidan (WCEU Content Team) and Evangelia Pappa (WCEU Public Relations Team) for a preview of the upcoming WordCamp Europe 2022 in Porto, Portugal. Sabrina and Evangelia briefly talk about the conference's COVID safety measures and the overall schedule and theme of WCEU. They offer some tips for things to do while you're attending, and if you're tuning in remotely, there's a surprise waiting for you too. This is the perfect travel episode for anyone en route to WCEU.

Why This Matters: WordCamp Europe is one of the first big in-person WordCamp and WordPress events to resume, post-pandemic.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Preview of WCEU 2022 David Bisset, Sabrina Zeidan, Evangelia Pappa 00:23:31 David sits down with Sabrina Zeidan (WCEU Content Team) and Evangelia Pappa (WCEU Public Relations Team) for a preview of the upcoming WordCamp Europe 2022 in Porto, Portugal. Sabrina and Evangelia briefly talk about the conference's COVID safety measures, and the overall schedule and theme of WCEU. They offer some tips for things to do while you're attending, and if you're tuning in remotely, there's a surprise waiting for you too. This is the perfect travel episode for anyone en route to WCEU. David sits down with Sabrina Zeidan (WCEU Content Team) and Evangelia Pappa (WCEU Public Relations Team) for a preview of the upcoming WordCamp Europe 2022 in Porto, Portugal. Sabrina and Evangelia briefly talk about the conference's COVID safety measures, and the overall schedule and theme of WCEU. They offer some tips for things to do while you're attending, and if you're tuning in remotely, there's a surprise waiting for you too. This is the perfect travel episode for anyone en route to WCEU. wordpress no bonus b24d5e45-c741-44fb-910b-b220238c773e Post Status Excerpt — Managing Product Teams at StellarWP

“It's so nice to have a peer who's doing similar kinds of work in their own brands and just being able to collaborate and work at that level... that is kind of rare.”

— Zach Tirrell

David sits down with Zach Tirrell to talk about his new role as product manager (replacing Chris Lema) at StellarWP. Zach manages The Events Calendar and LearnDash plugins but also several other products that are under the StellarWP umbrella.

Why This Matters: You'll learn how StellarWP manages a number of popular WordPress products. Zach shares his thoughts about about Gutenberg, software licenses, and recent news about the WordPress market share.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

]]> Sat, 21 May 2022 19:05:37 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Zach Tirrell) https://poststatus.com/managing-product-teams-at-stellarwp/

“It's so nice to have a peer who's doing similar kinds of work in their own brands and just being able to collaborate and work at that level... that is kind of rare.”

— Zach Tirrell

David sits down with Zach Tirrell to talk about his new role as product manager (replacing Chris Lema) at StellarWP. Zach manages The Events Calendar and LearnDash plugins but also several other products that are under the StellarWP umbrella.

Why This Matters: You'll learn how StellarWP manages a number of popular WordPress products. Zach shares his thoughts about about Gutenberg, software licenses, and recent news about the WordPress market share.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster. It does the heavy lifting so you can focus on your core business and win online.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Managing Product Teams at StellarWP David Bisset, Zach Tirrell 00:27:13 David sits down with Zach Tirrell to talk about his new role as product manager (replacing Chris Lema) at StellarWP. Zach manages The Events Calendar and LearnDash plugins but also several other products that are under the StellarWP umbrella. David sits down with Zach Tirrell to talk about his new role as product manager (replacing Chris Lema) at StellarWP. Zach manages The Events Calendar and LearnDash plugins but also several other products that are under the StellarWP umbrella. wordpress no bonus 52cdf495-8e04-484a-85ca-f49a352a2052 Post Status Comments (No. 9) — State of WordPress Market Share “In order for WordPress to win, the rest of the competition doesn’t have to lose.” — David Bisset

How should the WordPress community react to the first recorded dip in market share? Is a small decline something to be concerned about or more of an opportunity to examine what defines WordPress as a successful platform? Are the Gutenberg project, Full Site Editing, other core features, or competitor innovations important factors? Should some organizations in the WordPress space be playing a bigger role as contributors?

Special guests Joost de Valk, Alex Denning, and Jessica Frick discuss these subjects with host David Bisset — and near the end Ben Gabler join.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

The WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. Simply put, we make WordPress easier and faster, and we do the heavy lifting for our customers, so they can focus on their core business and win online.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Fri, 13 May 2022 18:28:45 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Alex Denning, Jessica Frick, Joost de Valk, Ben Gabler) https://poststatus.com/the-state-of-wordpress-market-share/ “In order for WordPress to win, the rest of the competition doesn’t have to lose.” — David Bisset

How should the WordPress community react to the first recorded dip in market share? Is a small decline something to be concerned about or more of an opportunity to examine what defines WordPress as a successful platform? Are the Gutenberg project, Full Site Editing, other core features, or competitor innovations important factors? Should some organizations in the WordPress space be playing a bigger role as contributors?

Special guests Joost de Valk, Alex Denning, and Jessica Frick discuss these subjects with host David Bisset — and near the end Ben Gabler join.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

The WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. Simply put, we make WordPress easier and faster, and we do the heavy lifting for our customers, so they can focus on their core business and win online.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Post Status Comments (No. 9) — State of WordPress Market Share David Bisset, Alex Denning, Jessica Frick, Joost de Valk, Ben Gabler 01:11:22 How should the WordPress community react with the first recorded dip in WordPress market share? Is a small dip something to be concerned about or more of an opportunity to examine what defines WordPress as a successful platform? Is the speed of the Gutenberg project, other core features, or the level of innovation seen in other competitors a factor? Should certain entities in the WordPress space be playing a bigger role in contributing to WordPress? Special guests Joost de Valk, Alex Denning, and Jessica Frick discuss these subjects with host David Bisset (and near the end Ben Gabler joins in). How should the WordPress community react with the first recorded dip in WordPress market share? Is a small dip something to be concerned about or more of an opportunity to examine what defines WordPress as a successful platform? Is the speed of the Gutenberg project, other core features, or the level of innovation seen in other competitors a factor? Should certain entities in the WordPress space be playing a bigger role in contributing to WordPress? Special guests Joost de Valk, Alex Denning, and Jessica Frick discuss these subjects with host David Bisset (and near the end Ben Gabler joins in). wordpress no bonus d93530bd-1338-48b1-8d4e-14eebb3372e7 Post Status Excerpt — Understanding Your Outsourcing Needs

“Matching is key. That the individuals has the right skills, the right availability, and the right temperament to join an agency's team to help them meet their goals.”

— Morayo Orija

Have you ever considered outsourcing some aspect of your business? Have you hired a virtual assistant — for yourself or for your agency? David chats with Michael Short and Morayo Orija from GoWP about the value of outsourcing certain business operations. Learn what to look for, and why you might need to "let it go" and trust other people as you outsource parts of your business you can't handle.

Why This Matters: Most businesses and freelancers can't do it all — or they shouldn't. Whether it's accounting, content creation, or development — we sometimes have to acknowledge our limitations and weaknesses. Why not turn to trusted sources in the industry and WordPress community for help? If you've thought about outsourcing as a possible solution for your business, you'll benefit from listening to Michael and Morayo.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. Simply put, WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster, and they do the heavy lifting for our customers, so they can focus on their core business and win online.

]]> Thu, 12 May 2022 20:05:43 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Michael Short, Morayo Orija) https://poststatus.com/understanding-your-outsourcing-needs

“Matching is key. That the individuals has the right skills, the right availability, and the right temperament to join an agency's team to help them meet their goals.”

— Morayo Orija

Have you ever considered outsourcing some aspect of your business? Have you hired a virtual assistant — for yourself or for your agency? David chats with Michael Short and Morayo Orija from GoWP about the value of outsourcing certain business operations. Learn what to look for, and why you might need to "let it go" and trust other people as you outsource parts of your business you can't handle.

Why This Matters: Most businesses and freelancers can't do it all — or they shouldn't. Whether it's accounting, content creation, or development — we sometimes have to acknowledge our limitations and weaknesses. Why not turn to trusted sources in the industry and WordPress community for help? If you've thought about outsourcing as a possible solution for your business, you'll benefit from listening to Michael and Morayo.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. Simply put, WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster, and they do the heavy lifting for our customers, so they can focus on their core business and win online.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Understanding Your Outsourcing Needs David Bisset, Michael Short, Morayo Orija 00:26:42 Have you ever considered outsourcing some aspect of your business? Have you hired a virtual assistant — for yourself or for your agency? David chats with Michael Short and Morayo Orija from GoWP about the value of outsourcing certain business operations. Learn what to look for, and why you might need to "let it go" and trust other people as you outsource parts of your business you can't handle. Have you ever considered outsourcing some aspect of your business? Have you hired a virtual assistant — for yourself or for your agency? David chats with Michael Short and Morayo Orija from GoWP about the value of outsourcing certain business operations. Learn what to look for, and why you might need to "let it go" and trust other people as you outsource parts of your business you can't handle. wordpress no bonus 82cd5807-6ced-46f8-9d61-78ae50d72023 Post Status Excerpt — WordPress Development with Docker and Lando “Back in the early days of WordPress development... I could only have one system on my local computer.” — Cal Evans

In this developer-oriented conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David talks about WordPress development with Cal Evans. Cal explains the basics of Docker and Lando — as well as the advantages of using them. Docker is an open platform for developing, shipping, and running applications. It can work with Lando to automate your development workflow.

Why This Matters: Developers — both individually and in teams — are building more complex applications with (and for) WordPress, so the software stack is getting more complex. How you setup your environment (local, cloud, or both) is becoming more important, and developers should educate themselves on the available options — especially with popular choices being explored by PHP developers.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. Simply put, WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster, and they do the heavy lifting for our customers, so they can focus on their core business and win online.

]]> Wed, 4 May 2022 17:02:02 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cal Evans) https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-56--wordpress-development-with-docker-and-lando/ “Back in the early days of WordPress development... I could only have one system on my local computer.” — Cal Evans

In this developer-oriented conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David talks about WordPress development with Cal Evans. Cal explains the basics of Docker and Lando — as well as the advantages of using them. Docker is an open platform for developing, shipping, and running applications. It can work with Lando to automate your development workflow.

Why This Matters: Developers — both individually and in teams — are building more complex applications with (and for) WordPress, so the software stack is getting more complex. How you setup your environment (local, cloud, or both) is becoming more important, and developers should educate themselves on the available options — especially with popular choices being explored by PHP developers.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is the WordPress Digital Experience Platform that drives your business forward faster. Simply put, WP Engine makes WordPress easier and faster, and they do the heavy lifting for our customers, so they can focus on their core business and win online.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — WordPress Development with Docker and Lando David Bisset, Cal Evans 00:29:36 In this developer-oriented conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David talks about WordPress development with Cal Evans. Cal explains the basics of Docker and Lando — as well as the advantages of using them. Docker is an open platform for developing, shipping, and running applications. It can work with Lando to automate your development workflow. In this developer-oriented conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David talks about WordPress development with Cal Evans. Cal explains the basics of Docker and Lando — as well as the advantages of using them. Docker is an open platform for developing, shipping, and running applications. It can work with Lando to automate your development workflow. wordpress no bonus c954f32f-70f0-41c2-8b5c-f33b80a474df Post Status Excerpt — BlackPress: Bringing More Creators into the WordPress Community

“Organizers running meetups wherever they may be — your first thought should be how I can make this inclusive for everyone?”

— Niesha Sweet

In this conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David is joined by Destiny Fox, Niesha Sweet, and Allie Nimmons to talk about BlackPress. BlackPress exists "to bring more creators of Black African descent into the WordPress Community" and to provide this part of the community with a network for support and learning. Find out how BlackPress got started and how the WordPress community (from meetup organizers to businesses) can help their cause.

Why This Matters: It’s important in the WordPress community that we make sure all kinds of people feel welcome and can contribute. By supporting and learning how BlackPress strengthens the community, we can apply that knowledge in our own way and do the same.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

]]> Thu, 28 Apr 2022 19:26:52 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Allie Nimmons, Niesha Sweet, Destiny Fox) https://poststatus.com/blackpress-bringing-more-creators-into-the-wordpress-community/

“Organizers running meetups wherever they may be — your first thought should be how I can make this inclusive for everyone?”

— Niesha Sweet

In this conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David is joined by Destiny Fox, Niesha Sweet, and Allie Nimmons to talk about BlackPress. BlackPress exists "to bring more creators of Black African descent into the WordPress Community" and to provide this part of the community with a network for support and learning. Find out how BlackPress got started and how the WordPress community (from meetup organizers to businesses) can help their cause.

Why This Matters: It’s important in the WordPress community that we make sure all kinds of people feel welcome and can contribute. By supporting and learning how BlackPress strengthens the community, we can apply that knowledge in our own way and do the same.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

]]> Post Status Excerpt — BlackPress: Bringing More Creators into the WordPress Community David Bisset, Allie Nimmons, Niesha Sweet, Destiny Fox 00:25:23 In this conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David is joined by Destiny Fox, Niesha Sweet, and Allie Nimmons to talk about BlackPress. BlackPress exists "to bring more creators of Black African descent into the WordPress Community" and to provide this part of the community with a network for support and learning. Find out how BlackPress got started and how the WordPress community (from meetup organizers to businesses) can help their cause. In this conversation for Post Status Excerpt, David is joined by Destiny Fox, Niesha Sweet, and Allie Nimmons to talk about BlackPress. BlackPress exists "to bring more creators of Black African descent into the WordPress Community" and to provide this part of the community with a network for support and learning. Find out how BlackPress got started and how the WordPress community (from meetup organizers to businesses) can help their cause. wordpress no bonus c5206ab4-c85a-4a47-9586-236f83f0c868 Post Status Excerpt — A New Era of WordPress Themes “A style is the design language for a theme.” —Rich Tabor

In this episode, David Bisset talks with someone who has moved the WordPress theme needle a long way: Rich Tabor. Rich believes the arrival of the Full Site Editing experience in WordPress 5.9 is the biggest innovation since themes emerged. Speaking from the experience of creating blocks and block themes, Rich explains how Full Site Editing will change WordPress's identity.

Why This Matters: WordPress professionals need to be familiar with more than just just “blocks.” There are block themes, styles, and more features that have already arrived in the WordPress editor. This episode helps put these new enhancements in context for builders, agencies, and creatives.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: WordPress VIP

Founded in 2006, WordPress VIP is the agile content platform that empowers marketers to build content both faster and smarter so they can drive more growth. We empower content and development teams with the flexibility and ubiquity of WordPress—the agile CMS that powers more than 40% of the web—while ensuring the security and reliability organizations need to operate at scale.

]]> Wed, 20 Apr 2022 22:48:26 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Richard Tabor) https://poststatus.com/podcasts “A style is the design language for a theme.” —Rich Tabor

In this episode, David Bisset talks with someone who has moved the WordPress theme needle a long way: Rich Tabor. Rich believes the arrival of the Full Site Editing experience in WordPress 5.9 is the biggest innovation since themes emerged. Speaking from the experience of creating blocks and block themes, Rich explains how Full Site Editing will change WordPress's identity.

Why This Matters: WordPress professionals need to be familiar with more than just just “blocks.” There are block themes, styles, and more features that have already arrived in the WordPress editor. This episode helps put these new enhancements in context for builders, agencies, and creatives.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: WordPress VIP

Founded in 2006, WordPress VIP is the agile content platform that empowers marketers to build content both faster and smarter so they can drive more growth. We empower content and development teams with the flexibility and ubiquity of WordPress—the agile CMS that powers more than 40% of the web—while ensuring the security and reliability organizations need to operate at scale.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — A New Era of WordPress Themes David Bisset, Richard Tabor 00:31:11 In this episode, David Bisset talks with someone who has moved the WordPress theme needle a long way: Rich Tabor. Rich believes the arrival of the Full Site Editing experience in WordPress 5.9 is the biggest innovation since themes emerged. Speaking from the experience of creating blocks and block themes, Rich explains how Full Site Editing will change WordPress's identity. In this episode, David Bisset talks with someone who has moved the WordPress theme needle a long way: Rich Tabor. Rich believes the arrival of the Full Site Editing experience in WordPress 5.9 is the biggest innovation since themes emerged. Speaking from the experience of creating blocks and block themes, Rich explains how Full Site Editing will change WordPress's identity. wordpress no bonus ecb85a04-f217-48ea-8234-44104473179a Post Status Excerpt —What WordPress Can Learn from Joomla

David: “What do you think the WordPress community takes for granted?” 
Robert: “The support of Automattic.”

Excerpt #54 — "What WordPress Can Learn from Joomla"

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Dan team up to talk with Robert Jacobi. Robert is the Director of WordPress at Cloudways. He has also served as president of the Joomla open source project. With his experience and knowledge of Joomla's approach to governance, contributors, and the many challenges facing open source projects, the three dive into what the WordPress community can learn from a peer open source CMS of the same generation as WordPress.

Don't miss our previous episode about Drupal and what WordPress can learn from that project — with guest Amy June Hineline.

Why This Matters: WordPress might be big, but it’s not the only open source fish in the CMS ocean. Drupal and Joomla are the other two big names that have matured but taken their own unique paths with different governance models, cultures, and ways of getting things done. There's a lot to learn outside the WordPress bubble from other projects like Joomla as they experience unique challenges and navigate familiar ones.

]]> Wed, 13 Apr 2022 20:48:25 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Robert Jacobi, Dan Knauss) https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-54-what-wordpress-can-learn-from-joomla/

David: “What do you think the WordPress community takes for granted?” 
Robert: “The support of Automattic.”

Excerpt #54 — "What WordPress Can Learn from Joomla"

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Dan team up to talk with Robert Jacobi. Robert is the Director of WordPress at Cloudways. He has also served as president of the Joomla open source project. With his experience and knowledge of Joomla's approach to governance, contributors, and the many challenges facing open source projects, the three dive into what the WordPress community can learn from a peer open source CMS of the same generation as WordPress.

Don't miss our previous episode about Drupal and what WordPress can learn from that project — with guest Amy June Hineline.

Why This Matters: WordPress might be big, but it’s not the only open source fish in the CMS ocean. Drupal and Joomla are the other two big names that have matured but taken their own unique paths with different governance models, cultures, and ways of getting things done. There's a lot to learn outside the WordPress bubble from other projects like Joomla as they experience unique challenges and navigate familiar ones.

]]> Post Status Excerpt —What WordPress Can Learn from Joomla David Bisset, Robert Jacobi, Dan Knauss 00:31:19 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Dan team up to talk with Robert Jacobi. Robert is the Director of WordPress at Cloudways. He has also served as president of the Joomla open source project. With his experience and knowledge of Joomla's approach to governance, contributors, and the many challenges facing open source projects, the three dive into what the WordPress community can learn from a peer open source CMS of the same generation as WordPress. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Dan team up to talk with Robert Jacobi. Robert is the Director of WordPress at Cloudways. He has also served as president of the Joomla open source project. With his experience and knowledge of Joomla's approach to governance, contributors, and the many challenges facing open source projects, the three dive into what the WordPress community can learn from a peer open source CMS of the same generation as WordPress. wordpress no bonus fab425e8-4d44-485b-9b52-3e177c7e4286 Post Status Excerpt — Support Tips For Plugin Developers "Settings expectations, communicating well, and being responsive are the top 3 things you can do to improve your customer support." —Dave Rodenbaugh

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David sits down again with Dave Rodenbaugh, founder of Recapture.io. Dave has been involved with the business of WordPress plugins since 2009 with products like Business Directory Plugin and Another Classified WordPress Plugin.

Why This Matters: Dave explains how to set expectations for the support you offer, especially in the WordPress repository where users can download plugins for free and request — or demand — free support too. How you deal with problem customers and discover who has the skills to work effectively in support is important for WordPress product owners. If you have plugins or themes for sale inside and outside the WordPress.org repo, you'll find value in Dave's insights.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Thu, 7 Apr 2022 06:58:46 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Dave Rodenbaugh) https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-53--support-tips-for-plugin-developers/ "Settings expectations, communicating well, and being responsive are the top 3 things you can do to improve your customer support." —Dave Rodenbaugh

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David sits down again with Dave Rodenbaugh, founder of Recapture.io. Dave has been involved with the business of WordPress plugins since 2009 with products like Business Directory Plugin and Another Classified WordPress Plugin.

Why This Matters: Dave explains how to set expectations for the support you offer, especially in the WordPress repository where users can download plugins for free and request — or demand — free support too. How you deal with problem customers and discover who has the skills to work effectively in support is important for WordPress product owners. If you have plugins or themes for sale inside and outside the WordPress.org repo, you'll find value in Dave's insights.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will bring you important news and insights from guests working in the WordPress space. 🎙️

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Support Tips For Plugin Developers David Bisset, Dave Rodenbaugh 00:26:12 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David sits down again with Dave Rodenbaugh, founder of Recapture.io. Dave explains how to set expectations for the support you offer, especially in the WordPress repository where users can download plugins for free and request — or demand — free support too. How you deal with problem customers and discover who has the skills to work effectively in support is important for WordPress product owners. If you have plugins or themes for sale inside and outside the WordPress.org repo, you'll find value in Dave's insights. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David sits down again with Dave Rodenbaugh, founder of Recapture.io. Dave explains how to set expectations for the support you offer, especially in the WordPress repository where users can download plugins for free and request — or demand — free support too. How you deal with problem customers and discover who has the skills to work effectively in support is important for WordPress product owners. If you have plugins or themes for sale inside and outside the WordPress.org repo, you'll find value in Dave's insights. no bonus f57a302e-cb3a-44ee-a28a-4ebe3b0b3e7b Post Status Excerpt — Improving Your Live Video Self “Embrace Progress Over Perfection” —Roshanda Pratt

n this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David meets Roshanda Pratt and welcomes her to the WordPress community. Soon, Roshanda will be speaking at the upcoming WP Career Summit on “Secrets to Being on Camera in Live Video.” Roshanda has been a television producer for a number of years and shares some tips to improve your image and confidence in video calls or at conferences and job interviews.

If you want to stand out and express yourself professionally, you'll want to hear Roshanda's advice and attend her WP Career Summit talk.

Every week Post Status Excerpt brings you insightful guests and timely conversations about WordPress, the WordPress community, and the WordPress business ecosystem. 🌐

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

]]> Fri, 1 Apr 2022 20:12:48 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Roshanda Pratt) https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-52--improving-your-live-video-self/ “Embrace Progress Over Perfection” —Roshanda Pratt

n this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David meets Roshanda Pratt and welcomes her to the WordPress community. Soon, Roshanda will be speaking at the upcoming WP Career Summit on “Secrets to Being on Camera in Live Video.” Roshanda has been a television producer for a number of years and shares some tips to improve your image and confidence in video calls or at conferences and job interviews.

If you want to stand out and express yourself professionally, you'll want to hear Roshanda's advice and attend her WP Career Summit talk.

Every week Post Status Excerpt brings you insightful guests and timely conversations about WordPress, the WordPress community, and the WordPress business ecosystem. 🌐

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Improving Your Live Video Self David Bisset, Roshanda Pratt 00:26:13 Television producer Roshanda Pratt shares some tips to improve your image and confidence in video calls or at conferences and job interviews. Television producer Roshanda Pratt shares some tips to improve your image and confidence in video calls or at conferences and job interviews. wordpress no bonus e2ca0f6e-cea5-41e7-b67f-5af1d9bf777d Post Status Comments —Getting Up To Speed on PHP News "These [PHP] depreciation notices are warnings to project managers and developers... do we have enough time for core but especially the community to fix the codebases?” — Tonya Mork

Anyone seriously invested in WordPress, from developers to agency owners, has a big stake in the primary language WordPress is built with: PHP. WordPress professionals have a lot to keep track of, so it's not surprising they often overlook important news from the PHP community and development team. To bring you up to speed, David Bisset speaks with Carl Alexander and Tonya Mork in this episode of The Excerpt. Tonya and Carl have been deep into WordPress and PHP for many years. Here they offer a "Cliffs Notes" take on the PHP news the WordPress community should be paying attention to now. This includes big changes to code for developers and the need for a PHP Foundation.

Why This Is Important: WordPress depends on PHP, so developers and professionals should be aware of what is coming down the road as features are added, modified, and deprecated. There are also challenges of governance and sustainability that PHP is facing now that impact WordPress and relate to similar issues in the WordPress project.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Thu, 24 Mar 2022 15:40:29 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Tonya Mork, Carl Alexander) https://poststatus.com/post-status-comments-no-6--getting-up-to-speed-on-php-news/ "These [PHP] depreciation notices are warnings to project managers and developers... do we have enough time for core but especially the community to fix the codebases?” — Tonya Mork

Anyone seriously invested in WordPress, from developers to agency owners, has a big stake in the primary language WordPress is built with: PHP. WordPress professionals have a lot to keep track of, so it's not surprising they often overlook important news from the PHP community and development team. To bring you up to speed, David Bisset speaks with Carl Alexander and Tonya Mork in this episode of The Excerpt. Tonya and Carl have been deep into WordPress and PHP for many years. Here they offer a "Cliffs Notes" take on the PHP news the WordPress community should be paying attention to now. This includes big changes to code for developers and the need for a PHP Foundation.

Why This Is Important: WordPress depends on PHP, so developers and professionals should be aware of what is coming down the road as features are added, modified, and deprecated. There are also challenges of governance and sustainability that PHP is facing now that impact WordPress and relate to similar issues in the WordPress project.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Post Status Comments —Getting Up To Speed on PHP News David Bisset, Tonya Mork, Carl Alexander 01:01:10 Anyone seriously invested in WordPress, from developers to agency owners, has a big stake in the primary language WordPress is built with: PHP. WordPress professionals have a lot to keep track of, so it's not surprising they often overlook important news from the PHP community and development team. To bring you up to speed, David Bisset speaks with Carl Alexander and Tonya Mork in this episode of The Excerpt. Tonya and Carl have been deep into WordPress and PHP for many years. Here they offer a "Cliffs Notes" take on the PHP news the WordPress community should be paying attention to now. This includes big changes to code for developers and the need for a PHP Foundation. Anyone seriously invested in WordPress, from developers to agency owners, has a big stake in the primary language WordPress is built with: PHP. WordPress professionals have a lot to keep track of, so it's not surprising they often overlook important news from the PHP community and development team. To bring you up to speed, David Bisset speaks with Carl Alexander and Tonya Mork in this episode of The Excerpt. Tonya and Carl have been deep into WordPress and PHP for many years. Here they offer a "Cliffs Notes" take on the PHP news the WordPress community should be paying attention to now. This includes big changes to code for developers and the need for a PHP Foundation. wordpress, php no bonus 4ac42425-fccb-4d2c-83b5-b97627499f55 Post Status Excerpt — Comparing the Drupal and WordPress Communities "When it comes to contributing…. time is a true privilege" - Amy June

There are a lot of people in the WordPress community who also work (or previously worked) with Drupal, Joomla, and other open-source software projects. Amy June Hineline is Community Manager at Opensource.com. She is also a member of both the WordPress and Drupal communities. As DrupalCon 2022 approaches, Amy June shares the lessons she thinks WordPress can learn from Drupal’s relationship with its contributors and open source.

Why This Is Important: Drupal and WordPress are both mature open source PHP/MySQL CMS platforms that emerged in the early 2000s. They share a common goal and have similar communities, but there are notable differences between them. There are opportunities for each community to learn from the other.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers Top-Tier Managed WordPress hosting solutions for Enterprise, the Public Sector, and Media companies. We invented Managed WordPress and we never stopped raising the bar. Expect Extraordinary.

]]> Tue, 22 Mar 2022 05:31:19 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-51--comparing-the-drupal-and-wordpress-communities-with-amy-june-hineline/ "When it comes to contributing…. time is a true privilege" - Amy June

There are a lot of people in the WordPress community who also work (or previously worked) with Drupal, Joomla, and other open-source software projects. Amy June Hineline is Community Manager at Opensource.com. She is also a member of both the WordPress and Drupal communities. As DrupalCon 2022 approaches, Amy June shares the lessons she thinks WordPress can learn from Drupal’s relationship with its contributors and open source.

Why This Is Important: Drupal and WordPress are both mature open source PHP/MySQL CMS platforms that emerged in the early 2000s. They share a common goal and have similar communities, but there are notable differences between them. There are opportunities for each community to learn from the other.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers Top-Tier Managed WordPress hosting solutions for Enterprise, the Public Sector, and Media companies. We invented Managed WordPress and we never stopped raising the bar. Expect Extraordinary.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Comparing the Drupal and WordPress Communities David Bisset 00:26:28 There are a lot of people in the WordPress community who also work (or previously worked) with Drupal, Joomla, and other open-source software projects. Amy June Hineline is Community Manager at Opensource.com. She is also a member of both the WordPress and Drupal communities. As DrupalCon 2022 approaches, Amy June shares the lessons she thinks WordPress can learn from Drupal’s relationship with its contributors and open source. There are a lot of people in the WordPress community who also work (or previously worked) with Drupal, Joomla, and other open-source software projects. Amy June Hineline is Community Manager at Opensource.com. She is also a member of both the WordPress and Drupal communities. As DrupalCon 2022 approaches, Amy June shares the lessons she thinks WordPress can learn from Drupal’s relationship with its contributors and open source. wordpress, amy june hineline, drupalcon, drupal, kanopi studios no bonus ecd06de7-5c18-42ba-9fae-087ce6ac81e8 Post Status Excerpt — The Future of Hiring is Marketing "Culture is King. Content is the town crier." - Lance Robbins

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Lance Robbins (Global Recruitment Lead at XWP) talks to David Bisset about WordPress companies struggling to find talent in the current job market. Lance believes employers need to think about how they market themselves to prospective employees. Traditional approaches to hiring won't work with the next generation of job seekers. What if open source values and ways of thinking point to solutions WordPress businesses can uniquely embrace?

Lance will be speaking at the upcoming WP Career Summit on April 8th, 2022. You can register to attend for free as a job seeker.

Why This Is Important: Finding the right talent (and being found by the right employer) is challenging in the tech space. If you are looking for the right employee (or boss) then this is worth a listen.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: CloudWays

Just like you, we live and breathe WordPress! Cloudways is proud to sponsor Post Status. Our managed hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce takes away the cloud server-related learning curve with a seamless and scalable web hosting experience. Trusted by over 250,000 WordPress users, Cloudways gives you the freedom to choose from any of the top IaaS (infrastructure as a service) providers for ultimate performance.

]]> Tue, 15 Mar 2022 21:20:56 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Lance Robbins) https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-50-the-future-of-hiring-is-marketing/ "Culture is King. Content is the town crier." - Lance Robbins

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Lance Robbins (Global Recruitment Lead at XWP) talks to David Bisset about WordPress companies struggling to find talent in the current job market. Lance believes employers need to think about how they market themselves to prospective employees. Traditional approaches to hiring won't work with the next generation of job seekers. What if open source values and ways of thinking point to solutions WordPress businesses can uniquely embrace?

Lance will be speaking at the upcoming WP Career Summit on April 8th, 2022. You can register to attend for free as a job seeker.

Why This Is Important: Finding the right talent (and being found by the right employer) is challenging in the tech space. If you are looking for the right employee (or boss) then this is worth a listen.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: CloudWays

Just like you, we live and breathe WordPress! Cloudways is proud to sponsor Post Status. Our managed hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce takes away the cloud server-related learning curve with a seamless and scalable web hosting experience. Trusted by over 250,000 WordPress users, Cloudways gives you the freedom to choose from any of the top IaaS (infrastructure as a service) providers for ultimate performance.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — The Future of Hiring is Marketing David Bisset, Lance Robbins 00:23:12 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Lance Robbins (Global Recruitment Lead at XWP) talks to David Bisset about WordPress companies struggling to find talent in the current job market. Lance believes employers need to think about how they market themselves to prospective employees. Traditional approaches to hiring won't work with the next generation of job seekers. What if open source values and ways of thinking point to solutions WordPress businesses can uniquely embrace? In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Lance Robbins (Global Recruitment Lead at XWP) talks to David Bisset about WordPress companies struggling to find talent in the current job market. Lance believes employers need to think about how they market themselves to prospective employees. Traditional approaches to hiring won't work with the next generation of job seekers. What if open source values and ways of thinking point to solutions WordPress businesses can uniquely embrace? wordpress no bonus c16e965e-2ec3-426a-bfbf-a65d5e61c994 Post Status Excerpt — Performance Team Check-in "Site owners shouldn't be doing performance for the sake of performance but for their own success on the web." —Thierry Muller

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David decides it's a good time to check in on the newly formed WordPress Performance Team with Felix Arntz and Thierry Muller. They talk about the things the Performance Team targeted first (and why), backward compatibility, and what other CMSs (beyond WordPress) do a good job with performance. Find out how all of us in the WordPress community can support the performance team.

Why This is Important: Performance is an often-discussed topic when it comes to WordPress. The diversity of the plugin ecosystem brings unique performance challenges with it. WordPress core itself needs to remain competitive, if not lead, in performance. 

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 25 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

Top-Tier Managed WordPress hosting solutions for Enterprise, the Public Sector, and Media companies. We invented Managed WordPress and we never stopped raising the bar. Expect Extraordinary.

 

]]> Mon, 7 Mar 2022 21:19:20 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Thierry Muller, Felix Arntz) https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-49-performance-team-checkin/ "Site owners shouldn't be doing performance for the sake of performance but for their own success on the web." —Thierry Muller

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David decides it's a good time to check in on the newly formed WordPress Performance Team with Felix Arntz and Thierry Muller. They talk about the things the Performance Team targeted first (and why), backward compatibility, and what other CMSs (beyond WordPress) do a good job with performance. Find out how all of us in the WordPress community can support the performance team.

Why This is Important: Performance is an often-discussed topic when it comes to WordPress. The diversity of the plugin ecosystem brings unique performance challenges with it. WordPress core itself needs to remain competitive, if not lead, in performance. 

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 25 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

Top-Tier Managed WordPress hosting solutions for Enterprise, the Public Sector, and Media companies. We invented Managed WordPress and we never stopped raising the bar. Expect Extraordinary.

 

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Performance Team Check-in David Bisset, Thierry Muller, Felix Arntz 00:25:27 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David decides it's a good time to check in on the newly formed WordPress Performance Team with Felix Arntz and Thierry Muller. They talk about the things the Performance Team targeted first (and why), backward compatibility, and what other CMSs (beyond WordPress) do a good job with performance. Find out how all of us in the WordPress community can support the performance team. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David decides it's a good time to check in on the newly formed WordPress Performance Team with Felix Arntz and Thierry Muller. They talk about the things the Performance Team targeted first (and why), backward compatibility, and what other CMSs (beyond WordPress) do a good job with performance. Find out how all of us in the WordPress community can support the performance team. no bonus 244ab50f-f989-4af6-9cbb-39e29f28b1ae Post Status Excerpt — Running A WordPress Business “There is always some space [in the WordPress ecosystem] left for developers.” – Dave Rodenbaugh

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has a conversation with Dave Rodenbaugh, founder of Recapture.io. Dave has been involved with the business of WordPress plugins since 2009 with products like Business Directory Plugin and Another Classified WordPress Plugin.

Why This Matters: Dave shares what he's learned while running a business in the WordPress space. Others in this space or looking to enter it will learn when (and what) they should outsource to SaaS and open source.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

 

]]> Tue, 1 Mar 2022 21:53:36 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Dave Rodenbaugh, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/post-status-excerpt-no-48-running-a-wordpress-business/ “There is always some space [in the WordPress ecosystem] left for developers.” – Dave Rodenbaugh

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has a conversation with Dave Rodenbaugh, founder of Recapture.io. Dave has been involved with the business of WordPress plugins since 2009 with products like Business Directory Plugin and Another Classified WordPress Plugin.

Why This Matters: Dave shares what he's learned while running a business in the WordPress space. Others in this space or looking to enter it will learn when (and what) they should outsource to SaaS and open source.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

 

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Running A WordPress Business Dave Rodenbaugh, David Bisset 00:25:50 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has a conversation with Dave Rodenbaugh, founder of Recapture.io. Dave has been involved with the business of WordPress plugins since 2009 with products like Business Directory Plugin and Another Classified WordPress Plugin. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has a conversation with Dave Rodenbaugh, founder of Recapture.io. Dave has been involved with the business of WordPress plugins since 2009 with products like Business Directory Plugin and Another Classified WordPress Plugin. wordpress no bonus a9429021-55fd-4c4d-9f18-fc49bd052631 Post Status Comments — State of WordPress Admin Notifications “The only folks able to do a free plugin are ones that are supported by a big corporation...” — Matt Cromwell

"They suck" might be one way to describe the state of WordPress admin notices as a whole, but that doesn't help us very much, does it? David Bisset is joined by Matt Cromwell, Jon Bossenger, Aurooba Ahmed, and several guests to discuss the current pain points and possible technical solutions. Why do developers overdo admin notices in the first place? Learn about WP Notify, how it approaches the problem, and how the WordPress community can help make this the core solution.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

🙏 Sponsor: StellarWP

We are a collective of WordPress innovators, empowering business owners and creators with plugins and tools to help them thrive. We build great plugins, but we don’t stop there; we continually challenge ourselves to keep innovating and improving.

Our solutions include the most trusted names in WordPress, with more than 2.5 Million installs. Since 2021, we’ve grown to encompass seven brands and dozens of plugins.

StellarWP is part of the Liquid Web family of brands.

]]> Tue, 1 Mar 2022 21:33:11 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Jon Bossenger, Aurooba Ahmed, Matt Cromwell) https://poststatus.com/comments-7/ “The only folks able to do a free plugin are ones that are supported by a big corporation...” — Matt Cromwell

"They suck" might be one way to describe the state of WordPress admin notices as a whole, but that doesn't help us very much, does it? David Bisset is joined by Matt Cromwell, Jon Bossenger, Aurooba Ahmed, and several guests to discuss the current pain points and possible technical solutions. Why do developers overdo admin notices in the first place? Learn about WP Notify, how it approaches the problem, and how the WordPress community can help make this the core solution.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

🙏 Sponsor: StellarWP

We are a collective of WordPress innovators, empowering business owners and creators with plugins and tools to help them thrive. We build great plugins, but we don’t stop there; we continually challenge ourselves to keep innovating and improving.

Our solutions include the most trusted names in WordPress, with more than 2.5 Million installs. Since 2021, we’ve grown to encompass seven brands and dozens of plugins.

StellarWP is part of the Liquid Web family of brands.

]]> Post Status Comments — State of WordPress Admin Notifications David Bisset, Jon Bossenger, Aurooba Ahmed, Matt Cromwell 01:06:43 "They suck" might be one way to describe the state of WordPress admin notices as a whole, but that doesn't help us very much, does it? David Bisset is joined by Matt Cromwell, Jon Bossenger, Aurooba Ahmed, and several guests to discuss the current pain points and possible technical solutions. Why do developers overdo admin notices in the first place? Learn about WP Notify, how it approaches the problem, and how the WordPress community can help make this the core solution. "They suck" might be one way to describe the state of WordPress admin notices as a whole, but that doesn't help us very much, does it? David Bisset is joined by Matt Cromwell, Jon Bossenger, Aurooba Ahmed, and several guests to discuss the current pain points and possible technical solutions. Why do developers overdo admin notices in the first place? Learn about WP Notify, how it approaches the problem, and how the WordPress community can help make this the core solution. wordpress no bonus 1670f487-6d3a-467f-be89-b01efdd88b2a Post Status Excerpt — Should WordPress Adopt The Block Protocol? "It is now time for the community to weigh in and decide whether WordPress should stop and refuel in this new port." —Leonardo Losoviz

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with Leonardo Losoviz about The Block Protocol and why it might benefit WordPress to adopt it and allow more of the web to share and reuse blocks. Matt Mullenweg has expressed interest in taking this path.

Why This Is Important: Gutenberg, according to Matt, is "bigger than WordPress,", especially in the context of the Open Web. The Block Protocol is a way to create and share content across WordPress, half-WordPress, and non-WordPress sites, which supports the project's mission to democratize publishing.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Rocketgenius

Gravity Forms is a powerful form builder for WordPress and the #1 choice for businesses and web professionals across the globe. Its vast array of features, intuitive drag-and-drop form editor, and extensive ecosystem of add-ons, ensure customers can design beautiful, intelligent, and accessible forms for any project requirement.

]]> Tue, 22 Feb 2022 22:51:42 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Leonardo Losoviz) https://poststatus.com/podcasts "It is now time for the community to weigh in and decide whether WordPress should stop and refuel in this new port." —Leonardo Losoviz

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with Leonardo Losoviz about The Block Protocol and why it might benefit WordPress to adopt it and allow more of the web to share and reuse blocks. Matt Mullenweg has expressed interest in taking this path.

Why This Is Important: Gutenberg, according to Matt, is "bigger than WordPress,", especially in the context of the Open Web. The Block Protocol is a way to create and share content across WordPress, half-WordPress, and non-WordPress sites, which supports the project's mission to democratize publishing.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Rocketgenius

Gravity Forms is a powerful form builder for WordPress and the #1 choice for businesses and web professionals across the globe. Its vast array of features, intuitive drag-and-drop form editor, and extensive ecosystem of add-ons, ensure customers can design beautiful, intelligent, and accessible forms for any project requirement.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Should WordPress Adopt The Block Protocol? David Bisset, Leonardo Losoviz 00:31:43 Should WordPress adopt the Block Protocol? What would this mean? Leonardo Losoviz explains why the Block Protocol and why it might benefit WordPress to adopt it and allow more of the web to share and reuse blocks. Matt Mullenweg has expressed interest in taking this path. Should WordPress adopt the Block Protocol? What would this mean? Leonardo Losoviz explains why the Block Protocol and why it might benefit WordPress to adopt it and allow more of the web to share and reuse blocks. Matt Mullenweg has expressed interest in taking this path. wordpress, gutenberg, block protocol no bonus cbc75a1f-cbec-460b-a241-774e52d3825d Post Status Excerpt — Contributor Recognition and Certification: Lesley Sim In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David continues a conversation with Lesley Sim to pick her brain about some ideas she has for rewarding core contributors to WordPress. Last month on Twitter and Post Status Slack Lesley floated the idea of special contributor badges on WordPress.org. These badges would give developers who earned them a boost to their plugin and theme rankings. The goal would be to encourage new contributors to enter the WordPress ecosystem and recognize those in the community who are doing typically unpaid work that carries the project forward.

Why This Is Important: Improving the contributor onboarding experience will help WordPress gain more core contributors. Some ideas going around the WordPress community involve additional sponsorships, new sources of funding, and public recognition. Some ideas will never make it off the ground but might lead to better ideas that do take off. We should never stop thinking about how to make the human factor in contribution to the project better for everyone. Maintaining a commons, like WordPress as an open source project, is a constant challenge for the WordPress community, as Lesley recently wrote for Post Status.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Wed, 16 Feb 2022 19:54:10 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Lesley Sim) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/46 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David continues a conversation with Lesley Sim to pick her brain about some ideas she has for rewarding core contributors to WordPress. Last month on Twitter and Post Status Slack Lesley floated the idea of special contributor badges on WordPress.org. These badges would give developers who earned them a boost to their plugin and theme rankings. The goal would be to encourage new contributors to enter the WordPress ecosystem and recognize those in the community who are doing typically unpaid work that carries the project forward.

Why This Is Important: Improving the contributor onboarding experience will help WordPress gain more core contributors. Some ideas going around the WordPress community involve additional sponsorships, new sources of funding, and public recognition. Some ideas will never make it off the ground but might lead to better ideas that do take off. We should never stop thinking about how to make the human factor in contribution to the project better for everyone. Maintaining a commons, like WordPress as an open source project, is a constant challenge for the WordPress community, as Lesley recently wrote for Post Status.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Contributor Recognition and Certification: Lesley Sim David Bisset, Lesley Sim 00:23:01 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David continues a conversation with Lesley Sim to pick her brain about some ideas she has for rewarding core contributors to WordPress. Last month on Twitter and Post Status Slack Lesley floated the idea of special contributor badges on WordPress.org. These badges would give developers who earned them a boost to their plugin and theme rankings. The goal would be to encourage new contributors to enter the WordPress ecosystem and recognize those in the community who are doing typically unpaid work that carries the project forward. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David continues a conversation with Lesley Sim to pick her brain about some ideas she has for rewarding core contributors to WordPress. Last month on Twitter and Post Status Slack Lesley floated the idea of special contributor badges on WordPress.org. These badges would give developers who earned them a boost to their plugin and theme rankings. The goal would be to encourage new contributors to enter the WordPress ecosystem and recognize those in the community who are doing typically unpaid work that carries the project forward. incentives, wordpress, open source, contributors no bonus 1d220587-d0ca-441d-898d-393e472ea7e4 Post Status Excerpt — The Block Protocol, Tumblr, and Complexity: Lesley Sim In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with Lesley Sim about Joel Spolsky on the Block Protocol, Matt Mullenweg for taking over for the exiting CEO of Tumblr, and a blog post by Dan Devine entitled "The Complicated Futility of WordPress."

Why This Is Important: It's good to examine the views of influencers inside and outside the WordPress community about managing content (especially with blocks) and how complex content management systems (like WordPress) have become. Tumblr is a potential wildcard — social network, gateway to more advanced publishing, both, or neither?

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Thu, 10 Feb 2022 13:15:28 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Lesley Sim) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/45 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with Lesley Sim about Joel Spolsky on the Block Protocol, Matt Mullenweg for taking over for the exiting CEO of Tumblr, and a blog post by Dan Devine entitled "The Complicated Futility of WordPress."

Why This Is Important: It's good to examine the views of influencers inside and outside the WordPress community about managing content (especially with blocks) and how complex content management systems (like WordPress) have become. Tumblr is a potential wildcard — social network, gateway to more advanced publishing, both, or neither?

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Post Status Excerpt — The Block Protocol, Tumblr, and Complexity: Lesley Sim David Bisset, Lesley Sim 00:28:14 What is the Block Protocol and why does it matter? What's the significance of Matt taking over at Tumblr? And is WordPress way too complicated? What is the Block Protocol and why does it matter? What's the significance of Matt taking over at Tumblr? And is WordPress way too complicated? wordpress no bonus 7b410d93-ef4f-4168-b74c-50d87b2e5082 Post Status Excerpt — Small Wins With Small Plugins In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with Collins Agbonghama, the Founder of ProfilePress and the author of a few other WordPress plugins. Collins shares what he called a “small” win in Post Status Slack early in January 2022: he acquired a plugin (now LoginWP) for “5 figures” and was able to break even on a revamped, commercial “Pro” version after only four months. David and Collins talk about this accomplishment and consider how similar opportunities may exist for other WordPress entrepreneurs.

Why This Is Important: Often you hear about large product acquisitions between relatively large companies in the WordPress space, but not so much the smaller ones — even though they can be just as impactful on people's livelihoods, especially for independent developers and freelancers.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Thu, 3 Feb 2022 18:22:33 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Collins Agbonghama, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/44 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with Collins Agbonghama, the Founder of ProfilePress and the author of a few other WordPress plugins. Collins shares what he called a “small” win in Post Status Slack early in January 2022: he acquired a plugin (now LoginWP) for “5 figures” and was able to break even on a revamped, commercial “Pro” version after only four months. David and Collins talk about this accomplishment and consider how similar opportunities may exist for other WordPress entrepreneurs.

Why This Is Important: Often you hear about large product acquisitions between relatively large companies in the WordPress space, but not so much the smaller ones — even though they can be just as impactful on people's livelihoods, especially for independent developers and freelancers.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Small Wins With Small Plugins Collins Agbonghama, David Bisset 00:45:24 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with Collins Agbonghama, the Founder of ProfilePress and the author of a few other WordPress plugins. Collins shares what he called a "small" win in Post Status Slack early in January 2022: he acquired a plugin (now LoginWP) for "5 figures" and was able to break even on a revamped Pro version after only four months. David and Collins talk about this accomplishment and consider how similar opportunities may exist for other WordPress entrepreneurs. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with Collins Agbonghama, the Founder of ProfilePress and the author of a few other WordPress plugins. Collins shares what he called a "small" win in Post Status Slack early in January 2022: he acquired a plugin (now LoginWP) for "5 figures" and was able to break even on a revamped Pro version after only four months. David and Collins talk about this accomplishment and consider how similar opportunities may exist for other WordPress entrepreneurs. wordpress no bonus 0df81d40-e2d2-4840-8cad-c4e22c8a6c1f Post Status Excerpt — Accessibility Roundup with Amber Hinds "When it comes to accessibility lawsuits, we as developers should be proactive to ensure a site is as accessible as possible." — Amber Hinds

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with Amber Hinds about the things WordPress professionals should be paying attention to. Their conversation covers recent trends and news in the accessibility space: meetups, lawsuits, overlays, and design trends.

Why This Is Important: Accessibility is important to everyone, so it is critical for WordPress developers and designers to keep accessibility in mind. David and Amber only scratch the surface of this topic. Amber encourages developers to read this call from the Accessibility team to share their ideas, take part in the discussion, and suggest what to prioritize for WordPress in the near future.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡ You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Fri, 28 Jan 2022 02:06:05 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Amber Hinds) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/43 "When it comes to accessibility lawsuits, we as developers should be proactive to ensure a site is as accessible as possible." — Amber Hinds

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with Amber Hinds about the things WordPress professionals should be paying attention to. Their conversation covers recent trends and news in the accessibility space: meetups, lawsuits, overlays, and design trends.

Why This Is Important: Accessibility is important to everyone, so it is critical for WordPress developers and designers to keep accessibility in mind. David and Amber only scratch the surface of this topic. Amber encourages developers to read this call from the Accessibility team to share their ideas, take part in the discussion, and suggest what to prioritize for WordPress in the near future.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡ You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Accessibility Roundup with Amber Hinds David Bisset, Amber Hinds 00:27:59 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with Amber Hinds about the things WordPress professionals should be paying attention to. Their conversation covers recent trends and news in the accessibility space: meetups, lawsuits, overlays, and design trends. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with Amber Hinds about the things WordPress professionals should be paying attention to. Their conversation covers recent trends and news in the accessibility space: meetups, lawsuits, overlays, and design trends. wordpress no bonus 76a98d0a-2892-4081-9afa-ee76c3fe79ad Post Status Excerpt — What’s Coming Up in 2022 For Post Status "They don't talk about being at the summit until you're at the top, so [getting ahead] is a process." — Michelle Frechette

In this episode of Post Status Draft, David sits down with Michelle Frechette to talk about what Post Status is planning for its community and the WordPress crowd as a whole in the first half of 2022. They cover three new events: the Weekly WordPress Job Chat on Twitter Spaces, WP Career Summit, and the first-ever Post Status Twitter Conference. (The conference theme is “Give. Grow. Together.”)

Why This Is Important: Post Status is listening to members and watching what discussions are happening in the WordPress community. Michelle points out why each of these events is important to certain sections of the community — each event will touch the lives of many WordPress professionals in some way.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Wed, 19 Jan 2022 04:02:33 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Michelle Frechette) poststatus.com/excerpt/42 "They don't talk about being at the summit until you're at the top, so [getting ahead] is a process." — Michelle Frechette

In this episode of Post Status Draft, David sits down with Michelle Frechette to talk about what Post Status is planning for its community and the WordPress crowd as a whole in the first half of 2022. They cover three new events: the Weekly WordPress Job Chat on Twitter Spaces, WP Career Summit, and the first-ever Post Status Twitter Conference. (The conference theme is “Give. Grow. Together.”)

Why This Is Important: Post Status is listening to members and watching what discussions are happening in the WordPress community. Michelle points out why each of these events is important to certain sections of the community — each event will touch the lives of many WordPress professionals in some way.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — What’s Coming Up in 2022 For Post Status David Bisset, Michelle Frechette 00:24:12 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David sits down with Michelle Frechette to talk about what Post Status is planning for its community and the WordPress crowd as a whole in the first half of 2022. They cover three new events: the Weekly WordPress Job Chat on Twitter Spaces, WP Career Summit, and the first-ever Post Status Twitter Conference. (The conference theme is “Give. Grow. Together.”) In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David sits down with Michelle Frechette to talk about what Post Status is planning for its community and the WordPress crowd as a whole in the first half of 2022. They cover three new events: the Weekly WordPress Job Chat on Twitter Spaces, WP Career Summit, and the first-ever Post Status Twitter Conference. (The conference theme is “Give. Grow. Together.”) wordpress no bonus 2482bb03-aa7c-48ce-ade7-2d8445031c5b Post Status Comments — The First Annual WordPress News Draft European Edition “I totally rely on [the community] now… it’s like an extended family… it means a lot to me and I’m glad that everybody’s hanging on in there with me.” —Nathan Wrigley

After the first Post Status WordPress News Draft went so well, we decided to do a more European timezone-friendly version. The group of news “avengers” that assembled in this episode are Winstina Hughes, Tammie Lister, Nathan Wrigley, Amber Hinds, Yvette Sonneveld, and Malcom Peralty — with David Bisset hosting. In three rounds of draft picks, this group assembled new and interesting picks of the most noteworthy or influential WordPress news stories of 2021.

Also: Video recordings of some of our members' single biggest news picks were included in this episode.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

Amber Hinds

  1. WP Tavern: ACF Solicits Lifetime License Holders for Contributions, Urging Them to Purchase Annual Subscriptions.
  2. Sheri Byrne-Haber's Blog: The ADA Lawsuit Settlement Involving an Accessibility Overlay. (Murphy v. Eyebobs)
  3. WP Tavern: WordPress Classic Editor Support Extended for at Least Another Year.
  4. WP Tavern: Wix Takes a Jab at WordPress with Bewildering New marketing Campaign and Wix’s Negative Advertising Campaign Falls Flat with WordPress Developers and Professionals.

Yvette Sonneveld

  1. WP Tavern: WordPress Community Team Proposes Using a Decision Checklist to Restart Local Events.
  2. Joost.blog: WordPress Market Share Growth Slows Down.
  3. Rian Rietveld: Accessibility Overlays: Common Sense and Nonsense.
  4. WIRED: An Open Source License that Requires Users to Do No Harm.
  5. The Guardian: Online Forums Provide Safe Haven for People Who Suffer from Mental Health Challenges During COVID.

Tammie Lister

  1. Make.WordPress.org: Pattern directory update.
  2. Matias Ventura: Theme.json horizon.
  3. Kjellr.com: Experimenting .
  4. Aino: Theme Update Guide.

Winstina Hughes

Nathan Wrigley

Malcolm Peralty

Additional Contributions via ZipMesssage:

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Wed, 19 Jan 2022 03:46:08 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Tammie Lister, Amber Hinds, Malcolm Peralty, Nathan Wrigley, Winstina Hughes, Yvette Sonneveld) https://poststatus.com/comments/6 “I totally rely on [the community] now… it’s like an extended family… it means a lot to me and I’m glad that everybody’s hanging on in there with me.” —Nathan Wrigley

After the first Post Status WordPress News Draft went so well, we decided to do a more European timezone-friendly version. The group of news “avengers” that assembled in this episode are Winstina Hughes, Tammie Lister, Nathan Wrigley, Amber Hinds, Yvette Sonneveld, and Malcom Peralty — with David Bisset hosting. In three rounds of draft picks, this group assembled new and interesting picks of the most noteworthy or influential WordPress news stories of 2021.

Also: Video recordings of some of our members' single biggest news picks were included in this episode.

Post Status Comments 💬 is a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

Amber Hinds

  1. WP Tavern: ACF Solicits Lifetime License Holders for Contributions, Urging Them to Purchase Annual Subscriptions.
  2. Sheri Byrne-Haber's Blog: The ADA Lawsuit Settlement Involving an Accessibility Overlay. (Murphy v. Eyebobs)
  3. WP Tavern: WordPress Classic Editor Support Extended for at Least Another Year.
  4. WP Tavern: Wix Takes a Jab at WordPress with Bewildering New marketing Campaign and Wix’s Negative Advertising Campaign Falls Flat with WordPress Developers and Professionals.

Yvette Sonneveld

  1. WP Tavern: WordPress Community Team Proposes Using a Decision Checklist to Restart Local Events.
  2. Joost.blog: WordPress Market Share Growth Slows Down.
  3. Rian Rietveld: Accessibility Overlays: Common Sense and Nonsense.
  4. WIRED: An Open Source License that Requires Users to Do No Harm.
  5. The Guardian: Online Forums Provide Safe Haven for People Who Suffer from Mental Health Challenges During COVID.

Tammie Lister

  1. Make.WordPress.org: Pattern directory update.
  2. Matias Ventura: Theme.json horizon.
  3. Kjellr.com: Experimenting .
  4. Aino: Theme Update Guide.

Winstina Hughes

Nathan Wrigley

Malcolm Peralty

Additional Contributions via ZipMesssage:

Follow Our Panelists (and Post Status) on Twitter:

]]> Post Status Comments — The First Annual WordPress News Draft European Edition David Bisset, Tammie Lister, Amber Hinds, Malcolm Peralty, Nathan Wrigley, Winstina Hughes, Yvette Sonneveld 01:07:37 After the first Post Status WordPress News Draft went so well, we decided to do a more “European” timezone friendly version. The group of news “avengers” that assembled in this episode are Winstina Hughes, Tammie Lister, Nathan Wrigley, Amber Hinds, Yvette Sonneveld, and Malcom Peralty — with David Bisset hosting. In three rounds of draft picks, this group assembled new and interesting picks of the most noteworthy or influential WordPress news stories of 2021. After the first Post Status WordPress News Draft went so well, we decided to do a more “European” timezone friendly version. The group of news “avengers” that assembled in this episode are Winstina Hughes, Tammie Lister, Nathan Wrigley, Amber Hinds, Yvette Sonneveld, and Malcom Peralty — with David Bisset hosting. In three rounds of draft picks, this group assembled new and interesting picks of the most noteworthy or influential WordPress news stories of 2021. wordpress no bonus e41c907a-3aa4-4221-a696-117759aef26b Post Status Excerpt — WordPress Community Versions: Past, Present, Future "The Hippy Times are going to end at some point." —Bob Dunn

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has an honest and deep dive with Bob Dunn into the "versions" of the WordPress community — something Bob covered in a recent blog post that has gotten some attention recently. They discuss what each "version" was like, how money can make a community act differently, and how people position themselves, for better or worse, in reaction to changes in the community.

Also: David asks Bob if certain changes are unavoidable once a community gets to a certain size and asks what is missing from the WordPress community today that existed in the early days.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better

]]> Tue, 11 Jan 2022 04:53:49 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Bob Dunn) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/41 "The Hippy Times are going to end at some point." —Bob Dunn

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has an honest and deep dive with Bob Dunn into the "versions" of the WordPress community — something Bob covered in a recent blog post that has gotten some attention recently. They discuss what each "version" was like, how money can make a community act differently, and how people position themselves, for better or worse, in reaction to changes in the community.

Also: David asks Bob if certain changes are unavoidable once a community gets to a certain size and asks what is missing from the WordPress community today that existed in the early days.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better

]]> Post Status Excerpt — WordPress Community Versions: Past, Present, Future David Bisset, Bob Dunn 01:01:32 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has an honest and deep dive with Bob Dunn into the "versions" of the WordPress community — something Bob covered in a recent blog post that has gotten some attention recently. They discuss what each "version" was like, how money can make a community act differently, and how people position themselves, for better or worse, in reaction to changes in the community. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has an honest and deep dive with Bob Dunn into the "versions" of the WordPress community — something Bob covered in a recent blog post that has gotten some attention recently. They discuss what each "version" was like, how money can make a community act differently, and how people position themselves, for better or worse, in reaction to changes in the community. wordpress no bonus 695bd606-ae55-476a-a096-5e076a4466a4 Post Status Excerpt — Post Status from 2021 to 2022 "In 2022 at Post Status... we will be together and make the most of our online experiences." —Cory Miller

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory chat about the key events for Post Status in 2021, including Cory's acquisition of Post Status from Brian in May, StellarWP's sponsorship of Post Status Slack to go pro, and the acquisition tracker. Cory also explains how his understanding of Post Status has changed since acquiring it.

Also: David and Cory also discuss what they hope Post Status can become in early 2022.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Go Daddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Fri, 7 Jan 2022 05:00:22 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) poststatus.com/excerpt/40 "In 2022 at Post Status... we will be together and make the most of our online experiences." —Cory Miller

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory chat about the key events for Post Status in 2021, including Cory's acquisition of Post Status from Brian in May, StellarWP's sponsorship of Post Status Slack to go pro, and the acquisition tracker. Cory also explains how his understanding of Post Status has changed since acquiring it.

Also: David and Cory also discuss what they hope Post Status can become in early 2022.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Go Daddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Post Status from 2021 to 2022 David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:23:08 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory chat about the key events for Post Status in 2021, including Cory's acquisition of Post Status from Brian in May, StellarWP's sponsorship of Post Status Slack to go pro, and the acquisition tracker. Cory also explains how his understanding of Post Status has changed since acquiring it. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory chat about the key events for Post Status in 2021, including Cory's acquisition of Post Status from Brian in May, StellarWP's sponsorship of Post Status Slack to go pro, and the acquisition tracker. Cory also explains how his understanding of Post Status has changed since acquiring it. wordpress no bonus 2504b27c-3d4a-4b41-9e5c-995bca13103d Post Status Comments - The First Annual WordPress News Draft "This story reminded me that big company big money doesn't mean just more profit but can also mean big contributions." - Aurooba Ahmed

It's the first-ever Post Status WordPress News Draft! The initial group of news "avengers" in this episode are Aurooba Ahmed, Jason Cosper, Daniel Schutzsmith, Robert Jacobi, and Lesley Sim — with David Bisset hosting. In three rounds of draft picks, this group assembled the most noteworthy or influential WordPress news stories of 2021.

Also: There was also a final "quick link" round with some interesting choices the guests brought to the table.

Post Status Comments 💬 provides a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Thu, 30 Dec 2021 17:35:33 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Aurooba Ahmed, Daniel Schutzsmith, Jason Cosper, Robert Jacobi, Lesley Sim) https://poststatus.com/comments/5 "This story reminded me that big company big money doesn't mean just more profit but can also mean big contributions." - Aurooba Ahmed

It's the first-ever Post Status WordPress News Draft! The initial group of news "avengers" in this episode are Aurooba Ahmed, Jason Cosper, Daniel Schutzsmith, Robert Jacobi, and Lesley Sim — with David Bisset hosting. In three rounds of draft picks, this group assembled the most noteworthy or influential WordPress news stories of 2021.

Also: There was also a final "quick link" round with some interesting choices the guests brought to the table.

Post Status Comments 💬 provides a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends.

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Post Status Comments - The First Annual WordPress News Draft David Bisset, Aurooba Ahmed, Daniel Schutzsmith, Jason Cosper, Robert Jacobi, Lesley Sim 01:08:03 It's the first-ever Post Status WordPress News Draft! The initial group of news "avengers" in this episode are Aurooba Ahmed, Jason Cosper, Daniel Schutzsmith, Robert Jacobi, and Lesley Sim — with David Bisset hosting. In three rounds of draft picks, this group assembled the most noteworthy or influential WordPress news stories of 2021. It's the first-ever Post Status WordPress News Draft! The initial group of news "avengers" in this episode are Aurooba Ahmed, Jason Cosper, Daniel Schutzsmith, Robert Jacobi, and Lesley Sim — with David Bisset hosting. In three rounds of draft picks, this group assembled the most noteworthy or influential WordPress news stories of 2021. wordpress no bonus 575dc39f-8167-49c4-bb6f-903deb93b892 Post Status Excerpt — WordPress 5.9 - Delays, Customizer’s Future, Contributing "Too many things were interrelated and we didn’t have enough people who were looking across…" —Anne McCarthy

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has an informative chat with Anne McCarthy. Anne is a Developer Relations Wrangler for Automattic and (among other things) has been responsible for many of the recent videos showcasing the features of Full Site Editing and WordPress 5.9. David and Anne talk about what decisions led to the delay of WordPress 5.9, her start with Automattic, COVID's effect on core contributions, and how polished Full Site Editing might be by the end of January 2022.

Also: David asks Anne what the future of the WordPress Customizer will be in a world of Full Site Editing.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Wed, 29 Dec 2021 23:20:12 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Anne McCarthy) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/39 "Too many things were interrelated and we didn’t have enough people who were looking across…" —Anne McCarthy

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has an informative chat with Anne McCarthy. Anne is a Developer Relations Wrangler for Automattic and (among other things) has been responsible for many of the recent videos showcasing the features of Full Site Editing and WordPress 5.9. David and Anne talk about what decisions led to the delay of WordPress 5.9, her start with Automattic, COVID's effect on core contributions, and how polished Full Site Editing might be by the end of January 2022.

Also: David asks Anne what the future of the WordPress Customizer will be in a world of Full Site Editing.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

You can listen to past episodes of The Excerpt, browse all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or by RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — WordPress 5.9 - Delays, Customizer’s Future, Contributing David Bisset, Anne McCarthy 00:46:18 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has a nice chat with Anne McCarthy. Anne is a Developer Relations Wrangler for Automattic and (among other things) has been responsible for many of the recent videos showcasing the features of Full Site Editing and WordPress 5.9. David and Anne talk about what decisions led into the delay of WordPress 5.9, her start of Automattic, COVID and it’s effect on contributions, and how polished Full Site Editing might be by the end of January. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David has a nice chat with Anne McCarthy. Anne is a Developer Relations Wrangler for Automattic and (among other things) has been responsible for many of the recent videos showcasing the features of Full Site Editing and WordPress 5.9. David and Anne talk about what decisions led into the delay of WordPress 5.9, her start of Automattic, COVID and it’s effect on contributions, and how polished Full Site Editing might be by the end of January. wordpress no bonus 6804892d-d8d1-45e3-92e3-d8d12158c0d6 2021 End of Year Member Huddle — Cory Miller on Post Status Live Cory leads the first Post Status Year-End Member Huddle — on Zoom. It’s a mix of news about the year ahead for Post Status members, discussion, a year-end exercise for you, and some laughs over the best ugly sweater contest.

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Thu, 23 Dec 2021 09:46:26 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Cory leads the first Post Status Year-End Member Huddle — on Zoom. It’s a mix of news about the year ahead for Post Status members, discussion, a year-end exercise for you, and some laughs over the best ugly sweater contest.

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> 2021 End of Year Member Huddle — Cory Miller on Post Status Live Cory Miller 00:31:30 Cory leads the first Post Status Year-End Member Huddle — on Zoom. It’s a mix of news about the year ahead for Post Status members, discussion, a year-end exercise for you, and some laughs over the best ugly sweater contest. Cory leads the first Post Status Year-End Member Huddle — on Zoom. It’s a mix of news about the year ahead for Post Status members, discussion, a year-end exercise for you, and some laughs over the best ugly sweater contest. post status, wordpress no bonus e8b24f58-3824-4fb9-970e-3cd07077b3a5 Post Status Excerpt — In Person For State of the Word "I believe our community can make significant contributions to Gutenberg and the Block Editor." —Cory Miller

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory shares his experience among the 30+ individuals who attended the State of the Word in New York in person. David and Cory talk about how Matt presented himself, his views on the necessary ratio of community contributions to open source projects, Five for the Future, the next generation of leaders, and what it means to give back to the community and WordPress core.

Also: Cory hints at what Post Status will be doing in 2022 when it comes to giving back — along with how Post Status will encourage and assist people in contributing to the WordPress community.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast SEO

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Thu, 23 Dec 2021 05:51:33 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/38/ "I believe our community can make significant contributions to Gutenberg and the Block Editor." —Cory Miller

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory shares his experience among the 30+ individuals who attended the State of the Word in New York in person. David and Cory talk about how Matt presented himself, his views on the necessary ratio of community contributions to open source projects, Five for the Future, the next generation of leaders, and what it means to give back to the community and WordPress core.

Also: Cory hints at what Post Status will be doing in 2022 when it comes to giving back — along with how Post Status will encourage and assist people in contributing to the WordPress community.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast SEO

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — In Person For State of the Word David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:34:22 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory shares his experience among the 30+ individuals who attended the State of the Word in New York in person. David and Cory talk about how Matt presented himself, his views on the necessary ratio of community contributions to open source projects, Five for the Future, the next generation of leaders, and what it means to give back to the community and WordPress core. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory shares his experience among the 30+ individuals who attended the State of the Word in New York in person. David and Cory talk about how Matt presented himself, his views on the necessary ratio of community contributions to open source projects, Five for the Future, the next generation of leaders, and what it means to give back to the community and WordPress core. wordpress, matt mullenweg, gutenberg, state of the word no bonus 5ed80daa-2d17-4487-8386-84d6939afad5 Post Status Excerpt — WordPress Community In Africa "You shouldn't be the one to always take, you want to be the one to always give." —Mary Job

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with special guest Mary Job. Mary is a remote, "nomad" worker in Africa who travels from city to city. She is an engineer with Paid Memberships Pro but also spends a large amount of time growing and stimulating the African WordPress community. Mary has helped start WP Africa, a site devoted to the community of WordPress users on the continent. She talks about challenges they face, compares the WordPress presence with Google in Africa, and looks forward to the day when there can be a WordCamp Africa.

Also: Mary shares how she got involved in WordPress, and how appreciative she is of the giving nature of the WordPress community. David will have to figure out how to get Mary's invite to Matt.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Fri, 17 Dec 2021 11:00:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Mary Job, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/37/ "You shouldn't be the one to always take, you want to be the one to always give." —Mary Job

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with special guest Mary Job. Mary is a remote, "nomad" worker in Africa who travels from city to city. She is an engineer with Paid Memberships Pro but also spends a large amount of time growing and stimulating the African WordPress community. Mary has helped start WP Africa, a site devoted to the community of WordPress users on the continent. She talks about challenges they face, compares the WordPress presence with Google in Africa, and looks forward to the day when there can be a WordCamp Africa.

Also: Mary shares how she got involved in WordPress, and how appreciative she is of the giving nature of the WordPress community. David will have to figure out how to get Mary's invite to Matt.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Post Status Excerpt — WordPress Community In Africa Mary Job, David Bisset 00:33:12 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with special guest Mary Job. Mary is a remote, "nomad" worker in Africa who travels from city to city. She is an engineer with Paid Memberships Pro but also spends a large amount of time growing and stimulating the African WordPress community. Mary has helped start WP Africa, a site devoted to the community of WordPress users on the continent. She talks about challenges they face, compares the WordPress presence with Google in Africa, and looks forward to the day where there can be a WordCamp Africa. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with special guest Mary Job. Mary is a remote, "nomad" worker in Africa who travels from city to city. She is an engineer with Paid Memberships Pro but also spends a large amount of time growing and stimulating the African WordPress community. Mary has helped start WP Africa, a site devoted to the community of WordPress users on the continent. She talks about challenges they face, compares the WordPress presence with Google in Africa, and looks forward to the day where there can be a WordCamp Africa. no bonus cf8da48e-f78f-4224-8ee4-02f90d736216 Interview with Matt Mullenweg — State of the Word 2021 Matt on Acquisitions and Work in WordPress — An interview with Michelle Frechette

Following the 2021 State of the Word, Michelle Frechette spoke with Matt Mullenweg about the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the WordPress space this year and their implications for employment and the product ecosystem.

You can read Michelle's and the rest of the Post Status team's takes on this year's SOTW. We've also got a community discussion hosted by David Bisset following Matt's address for you to listen to, and we rounded up reactions to the event from the whole Post Status team.

]]> Thu, 16 Dec 2021 18:49:11 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Michelle Frechette, Matt Mullenweg) https://poststatus.com/matt-on-mergers-and-acquisitions/ Matt on Acquisitions and Work in WordPress — An interview with Michelle Frechette

Following the 2021 State of the Word, Michelle Frechette spoke with Matt Mullenweg about the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the WordPress space this year and their implications for employment and the product ecosystem.

You can read Michelle's and the rest of the Post Status team's takes on this year's SOTW. We've also got a community discussion hosted by David Bisset following Matt's address for you to listen to, and we rounded up reactions to the event from the whole Post Status team.

]]> Interview with Matt Mullenweg — State of the Word 2021 Michelle Frechette, Matt Mullenweg 00:07:18 Following the 2021 State of the Word, Michelle Frechette spoke with Matt Mullenweg about the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the WordPress space this year and their implications for employment and the product ecosystem. Following the 2021 State of the Word, Michelle Frechette spoke with Matt Mullenweg about the wave of mergers and acquisitions in the WordPress space this year and their implications for employment and the product ecosystem. wordpress, state of the word, acquisitions, mergers, sotw no bonus 93b3ba25-6d65-45d3-9c3c-ec4f74edd7cb Post Status Comments — State of The Word 2021 Analysis Members of the WordPress Community on Their Takeaways from SOTW

This episode of Post Status Comments features a live conversation in Twitter Spaces that was recorded right after Matt Mullenweg's State of the Word 2021 broadcast on December 14th. Bet Hannon, Eric Karkovack, Maciek Palmowski, and Rae Morey joined David to share their reactions. Others from the audience join in, including Jeff Chandler, Ryan Marks, Hazel Quimpo, Scott Kingsley Clark, Jason Taylor, and Amber Hinds.

Among the questions discussed: What stood out in the State of the Word for each of our guests? What did they think of Matt Mullenweg's take on web3, NFTs, and ownership? Was there agreement about Matt's points on WordPress market share, acquisitions, and contributions to WordPress core teams?

This engaging conversation went on for a little over an hour.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. 

Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Thu, 16 Dec 2021 14:00:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Bet Hannon, Eric Karkovack, Maciek Palmowski, Rae Morey, Jeff Chandler, Hazel Quimpo, Scott Kingsley Clark, Jason Taylor, Amber Hinds, Ryan Marks) https://poststatus.com/comments/4 Members of the WordPress Community on Their Takeaways from SOTW

This episode of Post Status Comments features a live conversation in Twitter Spaces that was recorded right after Matt Mullenweg's State of the Word 2021 broadcast on December 14th. Bet Hannon, Eric Karkovack, Maciek Palmowski, and Rae Morey joined David to share their reactions. Others from the audience join in, including Jeff Chandler, Ryan Marks, Hazel Quimpo, Scott Kingsley Clark, Jason Taylor, and Amber Hinds.

Among the questions discussed: What stood out in the State of the Word for each of our guests? What did they think of Matt Mullenweg's take on web3, NFTs, and ownership? Was there agreement about Matt's points on WordPress market share, acquisitions, and contributions to WordPress core teams?

This engaging conversation went on for a little over an hour.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. 

Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Post Status Comments — State of The Word 2021 Analysis David Bisset, Bet Hannon, Eric Karkovack, Maciek Palmowski, Rae Morey, Jeff Chandler, Hazel Quimpo, Scott Kingsley Clark, Jason Taylor, Amber Hinds, Ryan Marks 01:03:30 In this episode of Post Status Comments, David hosts a live event right after the State of the Word 2021 broadcast on December 14th at 7:15 PM EST. The first guests on stage were Bet Hannon, Eric Karkovack, Maciek Palmowski, and Rae Morey. Others from the audience joined in, including Jeff Chandler, Ryan Marks, Hazel Quimpo, Scott Kingsley Clark, Jason Taylor, and Amber Hinds. In this episode of Post Status Comments, David hosts a live event right after the State of the Word 2021 broadcast on December 14th at 7:15 PM EST. The first guests on stage were Bet Hannon, Eric Karkovack, Maciek Palmowski, and Rae Morey. Others from the audience joined in, including Jeff Chandler, Ryan Marks, Hazel Quimpo, Scott Kingsley Clark, Jason Taylor, and Amber Hinds. wordpress, matt mullenweg, state of the word no bonus e344d691-c7d7-4f0e-9170-c72c2dfadadc Post Status Excerpt — Help Needed: WordPress Docs Team "The best documentation is written by people who are using it." —Milana Cap

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Milana Cap tells David about the stark reality of the near-overwhelming workload facing the WordPress Documentation Team. Currently, about four sponsored volunteers and fewer than 10 volunteers in total make up the Docs team — a team that is assigned to manage documentation for software that powers over 43% of the web. If you have ever complained about outdated documentation or a lack of documentation for WordPress, listen to this episode.

Also: Milana shared some encouraging projects and efforts — much of which is recent and associated with the upcoming WordPress 5.9 release. Writers "shadowing" developers could be one of the keys to improving the quantity and quality of documentation in the future.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Fri, 10 Dec 2021 06:54:37 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Milana Cap) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/37 "The best documentation is written by people who are using it." —Milana Cap

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Milana Cap tells David about the stark reality of the near-overwhelming workload facing the WordPress Documentation Team. Currently, about four sponsored volunteers and fewer than 10 volunteers in total make up the Docs team — a team that is assigned to manage documentation for software that powers over 43% of the web. If you have ever complained about outdated documentation or a lack of documentation for WordPress, listen to this episode.

Also: Milana shared some encouraging projects and efforts — much of which is recent and associated with the upcoming WordPress 5.9 release. Writers "shadowing" developers could be one of the keys to improving the quantity and quality of documentation in the future.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Help Needed: WordPress Docs Team David Bisset, Milana Cap 00:43:55 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Milana Cap tells David about the stark reality of the near-overwhelming workload facing the WordPress Documentation Team. Currently, about four sponsored volunteers and fewer than 10 volunteers in total make up the Docs team — a team that is assigned to manage documentation for software that powers over 43% of the web. If you have ever complained about outdated documentation or a lack of documentation for WordPress, listen to this episode. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Milana Cap tells David about the stark reality of the near-overwhelming workload facing the WordPress Documentation Team. Currently, about four sponsored volunteers and fewer than 10 volunteers in total make up the Docs team — a team that is assigned to manage documentation for software that powers over 43% of the web. If you have ever complained about outdated documentation or a lack of documentation for WordPress, listen to this episode. wordpress, gutenberg, wordpress dcoumentation team no bonus 7eb3d381-5db4-4c96-ba97-dd0ebc529522 Post Status Excerpt — Challenges and Wins for WordCamp Taiwan "We are trying to bring our community to the world." —Eric Chuang

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with two organizers of the upcoming WordCamp Taiwan 2021 — Eric Chuang 莊桓亦 and Hend Chen 陳瀚宇. Learn what the WordPress community is like in Taiwan and how they've dealt with the pandemic and restrictions on in-person events. Crafting a smart “hybrid” approach, they share how they are tackling their upcoming WordCamp and how it will bring together their community. They hope having English sessions will bring more talent and influence to Taiwan's WordPress community.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Fri, 3 Dec 2021 02:22:15 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Hend Chen, Eric Chuang) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/35/ "We are trying to bring our community to the world." —Eric Chuang

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with two organizers of the upcoming WordCamp Taiwan 2021 — Eric Chuang 莊桓亦 and Hend Chen 陳瀚宇. Learn what the WordPress community is like in Taiwan and how they've dealt with the pandemic and restrictions on in-person events. Crafting a smart “hybrid” approach, they share how they are tackling their upcoming WordCamp and how it will bring together their community. They hope having English sessions will bring more talent and influence to Taiwan's WordPress community.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Post Status Excerpt — Challenges and Wins for WordCamp Taiwan David Bisset, Hend Chen, Eric Chuang 00:33:44 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with two organizers of the upcoming WordCamp Taiwan 2021 — Eric Chuang 莊桓亦 and Hend Chen 陳瀚宇. Learn what the WordPress community is like in Taiwan and how they've dealt with the pandemic and restrictions on in-person events. Crafting a smart “hybrid” approach, they share how they are tackling their upcoming WordCamp and how it will bring together their community. They hope having English sessions will bring more talent and influence to Taiwan's WordPress community. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with two organizers of the upcoming WordCamp Taiwan 2021 — Eric Chuang 莊桓亦 and Hend Chen 陳瀚宇. Learn what the WordPress community is like in Taiwan and how they've dealt with the pandemic and restrictions on in-person events. Crafting a smart “hybrid” approach, they share how they are tackling their upcoming WordCamp and how it will bring together their community. They hope having English sessions will bring more talent and influence to Taiwan's WordPress community. wordpress, wordcamp, wordcamp taiwan, taiwan no bonus b4825181-68f0-4509-8955-eabb0c37062b Post Status Comments — State of WordPress News (Part 2) WordPress news commentators on the nature of their work, their views on the community, and the future of the project.

In this episode of Post Status Comments, David and Dan host a conversation with several members of the WordPress news community: Matt Medeiros (Matt Report Media), Joe Howard (WPMRR), Birgit Pauli-Haack (Gutenberg Times), and Sarah Gooding (WP Tavern). Find out how these WordPress journalists and news commentators understand their roles, how they view the WordPress community, and what they see for the future of the project.

Among the questions asked: What challenges exist for those of us who are following and reporting WordPress news? How can the WordPress project and and WordPress companies help improve communication? Where do we see WordPress heading — the software and it's community — in the short and long term? What are the biggest and most impactful stories of 2021, so far? What are the most significant but less noticed stories?

This engaging conversation was almost 90 minutes long! So we split it up into two audio parts. This is Part 2.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Lookout

WP LOOKOUT tracks the plugins and themes you depend on. Get timely info on new WordPress plugin and theme versions, security updates, author changes, mentions in the news and more. Set customizable notifications by email, Slack, webhook and RSS.

]]> Thu, 2 Dec 2021 06:50:15 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Matt Medeiros, Joe Howard, Birgit Pauli-Haack, Sarah Gooding, Dan Knauss, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/comments/3/ WordPress news commentators on the nature of their work, their views on the community, and the future of the project.

In this episode of Post Status Comments, David and Dan host a conversation with several members of the WordPress news community: Matt Medeiros (Matt Report Media), Joe Howard (WPMRR), Birgit Pauli-Haack (Gutenberg Times), and Sarah Gooding (WP Tavern). Find out how these WordPress journalists and news commentators understand their roles, how they view the WordPress community, and what they see for the future of the project.

Among the questions asked: What challenges exist for those of us who are following and reporting WordPress news? How can the WordPress project and and WordPress companies help improve communication? Where do we see WordPress heading — the software and it's community — in the short and long term? What are the biggest and most impactful stories of 2021, so far? What are the most significant but less noticed stories?

This engaging conversation was almost 90 minutes long! So we split it up into two audio parts. This is Part 2.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Lookout

WP LOOKOUT tracks the plugins and themes you depend on. Get timely info on new WordPress plugin and theme versions, security updates, author changes, mentions in the news and more. Set customizable notifications by email, Slack, webhook and RSS.

]]> Post Status Comments — State of WordPress News (Part 2) Matt Medeiros, Joe Howard, Birgit Pauli-Haack, Sarah Gooding, Dan Knauss, David Bisset 00:42:19 In this episode of Post Status Comments, David hosts part two of a conversation between several members of the WordPress news community: Matt Medeiros (Matt Report Media), Joe Howard (WPMRR), Birgit Pauli-Haack (Gutenberg Times), Sarah Gooding (WP Tavern), and Dan Knauss (Post Status). In this episode of Post Status Comments, David hosts part two of a conversation between several members of the WordPress news community: Matt Medeiros (Matt Report Media), Joe Howard (WPMRR), Birgit Pauli-Haack (Gutenberg Times), Sarah Gooding (WP Tavern), and Dan Knauss (Post Status). wordpress, news no bonus b22ebf79-3405-420f-8fb5-2b382ebb38fc Post Status Comments — State of WordPress News (Part 1)  WordPress news commentators on the nature of their work, their views on the community, and the future of the project.

In this episode of Post Status Comments, David and Dan host a conversation with several members of the WordPress news community: Matt Medeiros (Matt Report Media), Joe Howard (WPMRR), Birgit Pauli-Haack (Gutenberg Times), and Sarah Gooding (WP Tavern). Find out how these WordPress journalists and news commentators understand their roles, how they view the WordPress community, and what they see for the future of the project.

Among the questions asked: What challenges exist for those of us who are following and reporting WordPress news? How can the WordPress project and and WordPress companies help improve communication? Where do we see WordPress heading — the software and it's community — in the short and long term? What are the biggest and most impactful stories of 2021, so far? What are the most significant but less noticed stories?

This engaging conversation was almost 90 minutes long! So we split it up into two audio parts. This is Part 1.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Lookout

WP LOOKOUT tracks the plugins and themes you depend on. Get timely info on new WordPress plugin and theme versions, security updates, author changes, mentions in the news and more. Set customizable notifications by email, Slack, webhook and RSS.

]]> Thu, 2 Dec 2021 06:50:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Matt Medeiros, Joe Howard, Birgit Pauli-Haack, Sarah Gooding, Dan Knauss, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/comments/3/  WordPress news commentators on the nature of their work, their views on the community, and the future of the project.

In this episode of Post Status Comments, David and Dan host a conversation with several members of the WordPress news community: Matt Medeiros (Matt Report Media), Joe Howard (WPMRR), Birgit Pauli-Haack (Gutenberg Times), and Sarah Gooding (WP Tavern). Find out how these WordPress journalists and news commentators understand their roles, how they view the WordPress community, and what they see for the future of the project.

Among the questions asked: What challenges exist for those of us who are following and reporting WordPress news? How can the WordPress project and and WordPress companies help improve communication? Where do we see WordPress heading — the software and it's community — in the short and long term? What are the biggest and most impactful stories of 2021, so far? What are the most significant but less noticed stories?

This engaging conversation was almost 90 minutes long! So we split it up into two audio parts. This is Part 1.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: WP Lookout

WP LOOKOUT tracks the plugins and themes you depend on. Get timely info on new WordPress plugin and theme versions, security updates, author changes, mentions in the news and more. Set customizable notifications by email, Slack, webhook and RSS.

]]> Post Status Comments — State of WordPress News (Part 1) Matt Medeiros, Joe Howard, Birgit Pauli-Haack, Sarah Gooding, Dan Knauss, David Bisset 00:43:56 In this episode of Post Status Comments, David hosts a conversation between several members of the WordPress news community: Matt Medeiros (Matt Report Media), Joe Howard (WPMRR), Birgit Pauli-Haack (Gutenberg Times), Sarah Gooding (WP Tavern), and Dan Knauss (Post Status). In this episode of Post Status Comments, David hosts a conversation between several members of the WordPress news community: Matt Medeiros (Matt Report Media), Joe Howard (WPMRR), Birgit Pauli-Haack (Gutenberg Times), Sarah Gooding (WP Tavern), and Dan Knauss (Post Status). wordpress, news no bonus 0b5774b0-0d1a-441b-8de3-aead725eb2d2 Post Status Excerpt (No. 34) — Developer Overload: Physical and Mental Health "I prioritized my mental health over my physical health until I realized it was all the same thing."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with Cory about taking care of your physical and mental health and how these factor into "Developer Overload." Far too often (especially younger) professionals do not prioritize their health so they can work or do more in a day — until it comes back to bite them.

Also: David shares that getting up early in the morning works for him and encourages people who have a hard time managing things in the morning to give it a shot — early mornings are usually quiet for many people, both in the place they live and the clients and employees they communicate with during the day.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Thu, 25 Nov 2021 03:57:59 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/34 "I prioritized my mental health over my physical health until I realized it was all the same thing."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with Cory about taking care of your physical and mental health and how these factor into "Developer Overload." Far too often (especially younger) professionals do not prioritize their health so they can work or do more in a day — until it comes back to bite them.

Also: David shares that getting up early in the morning works for him and encourages people who have a hard time managing things in the morning to give it a shot — early mornings are usually quiet for many people, both in the place they live and the clients and employees they communicate with during the day.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 34) — Developer Overload: Physical and Mental Health Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:15:12 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with Cory about taking care of your physical and mental health and how these factor into "Developer Overload." Far too often (especially younger) professionals do not prioritize their health so they can work or do more in a day — until it comes back to bite them. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David chats with Cory about taking care of your physical and mental health and how these factor into "Developer Overload." Far too often (especially younger) professionals do not prioritize their health so they can work or do more in a day — until it comes back to bite them. mental, wordpress, health, developer overload, physical, emotional no bonus eb26166c-81aa-4359-ac6c-e476aef36c9f Post Status Excerpt (No. 33) — The Next Chapter For In-Person WordCamps "I expect the hallway track to be pretty busy during this event." - Nathan Ingram

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guests Nathan Ingram and Ryan Marks about WordCamp Birmingham 2022 — one of the first in-person WordCamps after almost two years of no live events anywhere in the world. With 200+ people expected to attend, Nathan and Ryan talk about the safeguards that will be in place, how they are managing expectations, how their sponsorships are being handled, the role of hybrid events, and how WordCamp Birmingham's reboot is being received in the WordPress community.

Also don't forget: We're encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" — get the feed here — and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status for us to share.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

]]> Thu, 18 Nov 2021 12:00:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Nathan Ingram, Ryan Marks, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/33 "I expect the hallway track to be pretty busy during this event." - Nathan Ingram

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guests Nathan Ingram and Ryan Marks about WordCamp Birmingham 2022 — one of the first in-person WordCamps after almost two years of no live events anywhere in the world. With 200+ people expected to attend, Nathan and Ryan talk about the safeguards that will be in place, how they are managing expectations, how their sponsorships are being handled, the role of hybrid events, and how WordCamp Birmingham's reboot is being received in the WordPress community.

Also don't forget: We're encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" — get the feed here — and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status for us to share.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 33) — The Next Chapter For In-Person WordCamps Nathan Ingram, Ryan Marks, David Bisset 00:27:57 David talks with Nathan Ingram and Ryan Marks about WordCamp Birmingham's 2022 reboot after nearly two years of no live WP events anywhere. David talks with Nathan Ingram and Ryan Marks about WordCamp Birmingham's 2022 reboot after nearly two years of no live WP events anywhere. wordcamp birmingham, covid, wordcamp miami no bonus 274b6b7d-bc8a-4750-8b13-535318f367ac Post Status Excerpt (No. 32) — Diversity in Speaking, Organizing, and Events "Focus on the skills people bring, what projects they've done that have been really great." — Jill Binder

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guest Jill Binder about diversity and inclusion — how can people in underrepresented groups leverage resources in the WordPress community to increase their confidence, exposure, and potential hiring value? Learn how organizers can make their events feel more open and how they can encourage those in under-represented groups to participate. If we see a speaker who doesn't look like us at a conference and simply appreciate their contribution as a speaker as a normal feature of our conferences, that is an achievable win.

Also don't forget: We're encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" — get the feed here — and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status for us to share.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Thu, 11 Nov 2021 04:55:39 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Jill Binder) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/32 "Focus on the skills people bring, what projects they've done that have been really great." — Jill Binder

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guest Jill Binder about diversity and inclusion — how can people in underrepresented groups leverage resources in the WordPress community to increase their confidence, exposure, and potential hiring value? Learn how organizers can make their events feel more open and how they can encourage those in under-represented groups to participate. If we see a speaker who doesn't look like us at a conference and simply appreciate their contribution as a speaker as a normal feature of our conferences, that is an achievable win.

Also don't forget: We're encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" — get the feed here — and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status for us to share.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 32) — Diversity in Speaking, Organizing, and Events David Bisset, Jill Binder 00:39:30 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guest Jill Binder about diversity and inclusion — how can people in underrepresented groups leverage resources in the WordPress community to increase their confidence, exposure, and potential hiring value? Learn how organizers can make their events feel more open and how they can encourage those in under-represented groups to participate. If we see a speaker who doesn't look like us at a conference and simply appreciate their contribution as a speaker as a normal feature of our conferences, that is an achievable win. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guest Jill Binder about diversity and inclusion — how can people in underrepresented groups leverage resources in the WordPress community to increase their confidence, exposure, and potential hiring value? Learn how organizers can make their events feel more open and how they can encourage those in under-represented groups to participate. If we see a speaker who doesn't look like us at a conference and simply appreciate their contribution as a speaker as a normal feature of our conferences, that is an achievable win. wordpress, diversity no bonus 51785074-a556-472a-9061-7f79e56840cf Business Names, DBAs, and Trademarks with Nellie Akalp Nellie Akalp joined Cory Miller to discuss trademarks and DBAs for small businesses. Nellie has dedicated her career to helping other entrepreneurs and business professionals succeed at business ownership. Nellie previously discussed expanding your business to another state. Business owners and freelancers will benefit from these live presentations and discussions where audience participation is encouraged.

Nellie is a business expert, professional speaker, published author, and mother to four amazing kids. As CEO and Co-Founder of CorpNet.com, she has helped more than half a million small businesses and licensed professionals get their businesses and clients off the ground.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Fri, 5 Nov 2021 04:34:32 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Nellie Akalp) https://poststatus.com/business-names-dbas-and-trademarks-with-nellie-akalp/ Nellie Akalp joined Cory Miller to discuss trademarks and DBAs for small businesses. Nellie has dedicated her career to helping other entrepreneurs and business professionals succeed at business ownership. Nellie previously discussed expanding your business to another state. Business owners and freelancers will benefit from these live presentations and discussions where audience participation is encouraged.

Nellie is a business expert, professional speaker, published author, and mother to four amazing kids. As CEO and Co-Founder of CorpNet.com, she has helped more than half a million small businesses and licensed professionals get their businesses and clients off the ground.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Business Names, DBAs, and Trademarks with Nellie Akalp Cory Miller, Nellie Akalp 01:00:37 Nellie Akalp joins Cory Miller to discuss trademarks and DBAs for small businesses. Nellie has dedicated her career to helping other entrepreneurs and business professionals succeed at business ownership. She is a business expert, professional speaker, published author, and mother to four amazing kids. As CEO and Co-Founder of CorpNet.com, she has helped more than half a million small businesses and licensed professionals get their businesses and clients off the ground. Nellie Akalp joins Cory Miller to discuss trademarks and DBAs for small businesses. Nellie has dedicated her career to helping other entrepreneurs and business professionals succeed at business ownership. She is a business expert, professional speaker, published author, and mother to four amazing kids. As CEO and Co-Founder of CorpNet.com, she has helped more than half a million small businesses and licensed professionals get their businesses and clients off the ground. wordpress, membership no bonus 2bfd1f09-0ab1-4dda-acbb-98a67256077f Post Status Excerpt (No. 31) — State of the WordPress Job Market "My best advice is to get to know as many people as you can — network."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guest Michelle Frechette about the current landscape of the WordPress job market. What trends should a WordPress professional pay attention to right now? What should newcomers to the WordPress ecosystem do to stand out and be trusted by companies, especially for remote work? Michelle also shares a few tips for anyone trying to navigate their way to the right role and employer.

Also don't forget: We're encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" — get the feed here — and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status for us to share.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Fri, 5 Nov 2021 04:01:28 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Michelle Frechette) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/31 "My best advice is to get to know as many people as you can — network."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guest Michelle Frechette about the current landscape of the WordPress job market. What trends should a WordPress professional pay attention to right now? What should newcomers to the WordPress ecosystem do to stand out and be trusted by companies, especially for remote work? Michelle also shares a few tips for anyone trying to navigate their way to the right role and employer.

Also don't forget: We're encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" — get the feed here — and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status for us to share.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 31) — State of the WordPress Job Market David Bisset, Michelle Frechette 00:32:28 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guest Michelle Frechette about the current landscape of the WordPress job market. What trends should a WordPress professional pay attention to right now? What should newcomers to the WordPress ecosystem do to stand out and be trusted by companies, especially for remote work? Michelle also shares a few tips for anyone trying to navigate their way to the right role and employer. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David talks with special guest Michelle Frechette about the current landscape of the WordPress job market. What trends should a WordPress professional pay attention to right now? What should newcomers to the WordPress ecosystem do to stand out and be trusted by companies, especially for remote work? Michelle also shares a few tips for anyone trying to navigate their way to the right role and employer. wordpress, gutenberg no bonus 517d4983-f158-4a0c-ae12-cf329189eb78 The Legend Of The Headless Website with the WebDevStudios Team It's a haunting but educational tale with Brad Williams, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Greg Rickaby, and Amor Kumar.

Topics:

  • What is a Headless WordPress Website?
  • Considerations when deciding if Headless is a good approach for you.
  • Learn how a Headless approach can be faster, more secure, and more scalable.
  • Supporting advanced functionality like contact forms and user input.
  • Recommended tools, hosting providers, and partners.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Transcript Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is a leader in Managed WordPress hosting. They're also a new breed of technology company at the intersection of innovation and service. WP Engine provides the solutions you need to create great WordPress sites and apps to drive your business forward — and faster. WP Engine's new Atlas platform is fully headless WordPress with support for multiple server-side environments, auto-deployments from GitHub branches, both static and dynamic headless architectures, your choice of JavaScript frameworks — React, Angular, Vue.js, or any other — and command-line that is 100% scriptable.

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

]]> Fri, 29 Oct 2021 17:07:39 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Brad Williams, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Greg Rickaby) https://poststatus.com/the-legend-of-the-headless-website-with-the-webdevstudios-team/ It's a haunting but educational tale with Brad Williams, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Greg Rickaby, and Amor Kumar.

Topics:

  • What is a Headless WordPress Website?
  • Considerations when deciding if Headless is a good approach for you.
  • Learn how a Headless approach can be faster, more secure, and more scalable.
  • Supporting advanced functionality like contact forms and user input.
  • Recommended tools, hosting providers, and partners.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Transcript Sponsor: WP Engine

WP Engine is a leader in Managed WordPress hosting. They're also a new breed of technology company at the intersection of innovation and service. WP Engine provides the solutions you need to create great WordPress sites and apps to drive your business forward — and faster. WP Engine's new Atlas platform is fully headless WordPress with support for multiple server-side environments, auto-deployments from GitHub branches, both static and dynamic headless architectures, your choice of JavaScript frameworks — React, Angular, Vue.js, or any other — and command-line that is 100% scriptable.

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

]]> The Legend Of The Headless Website with the WebDevStudios Team Cory Miller, Brad Williams, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Greg Rickaby 00:54:55 It's a haunting but educational tale with Brad Williams, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Greg Rickaby, and Amor Kumar as they join host Cory Miller to talk about headless WordPress. It's a haunting but educational tale with Brad Williams, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, Greg Rickaby, and Amor Kumar as they join host Cory Miller to talk about headless WordPress. wordpress, membership no bonus be07f029-b333-4f07-8dde-1ef389d2bb66 Post Status Excerpt (No. 30) — Does WordPress Need To Have A Superior Writing Experience? "The tragedy of life is what dies inside a person while they live." — Albert Schweitzer

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David discuss some recent conversations in the WordPress community: Is the WordPress writing experience bad for "serious writers?" Does WordPress have to excel in this area, or is it fine to have third-party writing tools that feed into WordPress? Automattic acquired Day One for a reason. Tumblr might end up getting a WordPress.com writing-and-admin experience makeover.

Also don't forget: Posting content on a regular basis is a good skill to practice. Cory shares how he managed to publish a post every day in October. David points out that whether it's photography, music, or creative writing — regular publishing is important (and can be vital) to you now and in the future. For one thing, it keeps your mind limber, and by "thinking out loud," you invite unexpected, chance encounters and collaborations with other people.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Fri, 29 Oct 2021 16:26:08 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/30 "The tragedy of life is what dies inside a person while they live." — Albert Schweitzer

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David discuss some recent conversations in the WordPress community: Is the WordPress writing experience bad for "serious writers?" Does WordPress have to excel in this area, or is it fine to have third-party writing tools that feed into WordPress? Automattic acquired Day One for a reason. Tumblr might end up getting a WordPress.com writing-and-admin experience makeover.

Also don't forget: Posting content on a regular basis is a good skill to practice. Cory shares how he managed to publish a post every day in October. David points out that whether it's photography, music, or creative writing — regular publishing is important (and can be vital) to you now and in the future. For one thing, it keeps your mind limber, and by "thinking out loud," you invite unexpected, chance encounters and collaborations with other people.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 30) — Does WordPress Need To Have A Superior Writing Experience? Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:23:49 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David discuss some recent conversations in the WordPress community: Is the WordPress writing experience bad for "serious writers?" Does WordPress have to excel in this area, or is it fine to have third-party writing tools that feed into WordPress? Automattic acquired Day One for a reason. Tumblr might end up getting a WordPress.com writing-and-admin experience makeover. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David discuss some recent conversations in the WordPress community: Is the WordPress writing experience bad for "serious writers?" Does WordPress have to excel in this area, or is it fine to have third-party writing tools that feed into WordPress? Automattic acquired Day One for a reason. Tumblr might end up getting a WordPress.com writing-and-admin experience makeover. wordpress, gutenberg no bonus e148578c-292b-4ce7-9d9a-cd0d8e3ea632 Post Status Excerpt (No. 29) — Better Way To Support Customers "If you're a founder of a company go through your own customer experience yourself — with your own eyes."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David talk about their best and worst support experiences as customers. If you are a freelancer or small agency and your ability to deal with support issues from customers isn't working, then that's a sign of something broken in your workflow. Companies should try to be more proactive and helpful to customers even if they can't help them immediately or solve all their problems.

Also don't forget: We're also encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" (get the feed here), and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Fri, 22 Oct 2021 03:41:34 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/29 "If you're a founder of a company go through your own customer experience yourself — with your own eyes."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David talk about their best and worst support experiences as customers. If you are a freelancer or small agency and your ability to deal with support issues from customers isn't working, then that's a sign of something broken in your workflow. Companies should try to be more proactive and helpful to customers even if they can't help them immediately or solve all their problems.

Also don't forget: We're also encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" (get the feed here), and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 29) — Better Way To Support Customers Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:30:20 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David talk about their best and worst support experiences as customers. If you are a freelancer or small agency and your ability to deal with support issues from customers isn't working, then that's a sign of something broken in your workflow. Companies should try to be more proactive and helpful to customers even if they can't help them immediately or solve all their problems. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David talk about their best and worst support experiences as customers. If you are a freelancer or small agency and your ability to deal with support issues from customers isn't working, then that's a sign of something broken in your workflow. Companies should try to be more proactive and helpful to customers even if they can't help them immediately or solve all their problems. wordpress no bonus 66c83f8f-348f-48a1-863a-181de92e961a Membership and Courses With Sean McCabe Cory Miller talks with Sean McCabe, CEO of Seanwes Media. While it’s likely never been easier to sell courses for an audience (especially if you are using a system like WordPress), what hasn’t changed — according to Sean — is the marketing and the validation of what you are marketing, how you are marketing it, and how you are pricing it. Sean shares his perspectives on these permanent problems, outlining what has and hasn’t worked for him. Sean also shares his thoughts on what comes first — the community, the courses, or both. This is a must-listen for anyone with a membership course or learning site, or anyone who is thinking of starting one.
 

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

]]> Thu, 21 Oct 2021 17:03:39 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Sean McCabe) https://poststatus.com/post-status-live-membership-and-courses-with-sean-mccabe/ Cory Miller talks with Sean McCabe, CEO of Seanwes Media. While it’s likely never been easier to sell courses for an audience (especially if you are using a system like WordPress), what hasn’t changed — according to Sean — is the marketing and the validation of what you are marketing, how you are marketing it, and how you are pricing it. Sean shares his perspectives on these permanent problems, outlining what has and hasn’t worked for him. Sean also shares his thoughts on what comes first — the community, the courses, or both. This is a must-listen for anyone with a membership course or learning site, or anyone who is thinking of starting one.
 

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

]]> Membership and Courses With Sean McCabe Cory Miller, Sean McCabe 00:59:11 Cory Miller talks with Sean McCabe, CEO of Seanwes Media. While it’s likely never been easier to sell courses for an audience (especially if you are using a system like WordPress), what hasn’t changed — according to Sean — is the marketing and the validation of what you are marketing, how you are marketing it, and how you are pricing it. Sean shares his perspectives on these permanent problems, outlining what has and hasn’t worked for him. Sean also shares his thoughts on what comes first — the community, the courses, or both. This is a must-listen for anyone with a membership course or learning site, or anyone who is thinking of starting one. Cory Miller talks with Sean McCabe, CEO of Seanwes Media. While it’s likely never been easier to sell courses for an audience (especially if you are using a system like WordPress), what hasn’t changed — according to Sean — is the marketing and the validation of what you are marketing, how you are marketing it, and how you are pricing it. Sean shares his perspectives on these permanent problems, outlining what has and hasn’t worked for him. Sean also shares his thoughts on what comes first — the community, the courses, or both. This is a must-listen for anyone with a membership course or learning site, or anyone who is thinking of starting one. wordpress, membership no bonus 9582dd8b-d2b6-4964-8c19-a424d253c6d2 Post Status Excerpt (No. 28) — A WordPress Core Performance Team? "If plugin authors were better educated maybe they would make some different choices."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David talk about WordPress's reputation relative to its performance. This discussion unfolds in light of a new proposal for a Performance Team for WordPress core. What should happen to improve the WordPress experience (for both the user and for search engines) on the front-end and the admin experience as well? Education? Notifications to the user?

Also covered in this episode: We are formally announcing the existence of the new Post Status homepage, which is still a work in progress. We're also encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" (get the feed here), and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today.

]]> Fri, 15 Oct 2021 15:51:52 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/28/ "If plugin authors were better educated maybe they would make some different choices."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David talk about WordPress's reputation relative to its performance. This discussion unfolds in light of a new proposal for a Performance Team for WordPress core. What should happen to improve the WordPress experience (for both the user and for search engines) on the front-end and the admin experience as well? Education? Notifications to the user?

Also covered in this episode: We are formally announcing the existence of the new Post Status homepage, which is still a work in progress. We're also encouraging listeners to check out the "Week at WordPress.org" (get the feed here), and submit your Black Friday / Cyber Monday deals to us at Post Status.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 28) — A WordPress Core Performance Team? Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:28:18 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David talk about WordPress's reputation relative to its performance. This discussion unfolds in light of a new proposal for a Performance Team for WordPress core. What should happen to improve the WordPress experience (for both the user and for search engines) on the front-end and the admin experience as well? Education? Notifications to the user? In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory and David talk about WordPress's reputation relative to its performance. This discussion unfolds in light of a new proposal for a Performance Team for WordPress core. What should happen to improve the WordPress experience (for both the user and for search engines) on the front-end and the admin experience as well? Education? Notifications to the user? headless, post status, performance, wordpress no bonus 49986f11-17f0-4794-aa63-5a396502c16e Post Status Excerpt (No. 27) — CaboPress and Owning Your Own Content (For Some) "While WordPress does democratize publishing there are people today that can't take advantage of that."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory comes back freshly tanned from CaboPress to share his experiences and one big takeaway point that everyone can appreciate. David brings up how Facebook's outage this week made him start to give pause before quipping on Twitter about "owning your own content." He asks if or how WordPress and the open web can help the people for whom Facebook is the internet.

Also covered in this episode: A shout out to WordCamp US 2021 which was held virtually for the first time on October 1st — a fine virtual event after only eight weeks of planning!

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Fri, 8 Oct 2021 03:59:04 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/27 "While WordPress does democratize publishing there are people today that can't take advantage of that."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory comes back freshly tanned from CaboPress to share his experiences and one big takeaway point that everyone can appreciate. David brings up how Facebook's outage this week made him start to give pause before quipping on Twitter about "owning your own content." He asks if or how WordPress and the open web can help the people for whom Facebook is the internet.

Also covered in this episode: A shout out to WordCamp US 2021 which was held virtually for the first time on October 1st — a fine virtual event after only eight weeks of planning!

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 27) — CaboPress and Owning Your Own Content (For Some) Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:20:36 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory comes back freshly tanned from CaboPress to share his experiences and one big takeaway point that everyone can appreciate. David brings up how Facebook's outage this week made him start to give pause before quipping on Twitter about "owning your own content." He asks if or how WordPress and the open web can help the people for whom Facebook is the internet. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory comes back freshly tanned from CaboPress to share his experiences and one big takeaway point that everyone can appreciate. David brings up how Facebook's outage this week made him start to give pause before quipping on Twitter about "owning your own content." He asks if or how WordPress and the open web can help the people for whom Facebook is the internet. wordpress, wordcamp, wordcamp us, facebook, cabopress no bonus 2b6f5ca5-1650-4670-a573-cbf5020bb9ee Post Status Excerpt (No. 26) — WordPress Acquisition Overload Syndrome (W.A.O.S) "Remember to put people before software and community before code."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory recover from an overwhelming week of acquisition news in the WordPress space. Four well-known WordPress companies announced acquisitions almost back-to-back. Next, Cory notes Michelle Frechette's article on Post Status about the challenging and difficult choices some employees of newly acquired companies may have to make.

Also covered in this episode: David shares what has (and hasn't) changed in the WordPress space in terms of business and opportunities. Then he considers the possible ways developers can look at acquisitions as a whole.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Fri, 24 Sep 2021 00:02:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/26/ "Remember to put people before software and community before code."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory recover from an overwhelming week of acquisition news in the WordPress space. Four well-known WordPress companies announced acquisitions almost back-to-back. Next, Cory notes Michelle Frechette's article on Post Status about the challenging and difficult choices some employees of newly acquired companies may have to make.

Also covered in this episode: David shares what has (and hasn't) changed in the WordPress space in terms of business and opportunities. Then he considers the possible ways developers can look at acquisitions as a whole.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 26) — WordPress Acquisition Overload Syndrome (W.A.O.S) Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:27:42 There were at least four acquisitions announced almost back-to-back this week in the WordPress space. David and Cory review them all. There were at least four acquisitions announced almost back-to-back this week in the WordPress space. David and Cory review them all. liquid web, awesome motive, chris lema, branch, wppusher, pippin williamson, themeisle no bonus dea6827e-cbc9-4a5c-b981-f8a47baa809d Pippin Williamson on Awesome Motive Acquiring Sandhills Development Awesome Motive Acquires Sandhills Development

Post Status CEO Cory Miller chats with Pippin Williamson, the Founder and Managing Director of Sandhills Development, about Awesome Motive's acquisition of his company. 

Pippin announced today that Awesome Motive has acquired his company — their whole team and plugin portfolio: Easy Digital Downloads, AffiliateWP, Sugar Calendar, WP Simple Pay, and the Payouts Service. Syed Balkhi, Founder and CEO of Awesome Motive, outlines the commercial plugins and notes the deal includes several free plugins as well. From Sandhills, Chris Klosowski, Andrew Munro, and Phil Derksen will be joining Awesome Motive as partners, and Chris will continue to lead Easy Digital Downloads. 

Pippin, however, intends to take a very long break from WordPress and software development.

Sitting down with Cory Miller for some reflection on the past and thoughts about the future in the WordPress space, Pippin offered advice to developers and product owners today. He also identified what he sees as the biggest threat emerging for WordPress today.

Key Takeaway: "The Biggest Threat We Have Today" 🦈

As both an opportunity and "a major threat" to "WordPress the platform" that comes from its openness, Pippin warns:

"We are getting to a point where WordPress is so big and there is so much money involved in the WordPress ecosystem that it is now very much in large companies' interests to create their own version of WordPress."

Pippin Williamson

Because "the WordPress experience is not consistent" between major hosting platforms — due to their attempts to improve their customer experience — Pippin is concerned end users won't be able to tell what is WordPress and what is the host.

Might that kind of platform balkanization carry over into the WordPress community, dividing developers, product businesses, and end users?

Pippin also referenced Kinsta COO Jon Penland's conversation with Anchor Hosting founder Austin Ginder back in June on Kinsta's Reverse Engineered podcast:

"...something that I’ve been thinking about a lot over the last year, which is a move I see in the WordPress space in general, at the host level, and I’m not going to name any names because I don’t want to throw stones, but to pull in more and more tooling that’s not part of the Core. And, I just worry that we’re going to end up in a situation, a few years from now, where we have a whole lot of walled gardens, right? Where WordPress at host A is not the same thing as WordPress at host B and is not the same at WordPress at host C, because as you described, a WordPress provider might try to solve this problem as an on-ramp for their own customers."

Jon Penland

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Sandhills Development

No matter what you're working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development has a tool that can help you. Sell digital products with Easy Digital Downloads. Use AffiliateWP as your affiliate marketing solution. Sugar Calendar is event management made easy. And WP Simple Pay is a lightweight Stripe payments plugin. Craft superior experiences with the ingenuity of Sandhills’ plugins.

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

]]> Wed, 22 Sep 2021 23:21:49 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Pippin Williamson) https://poststatus.com/draft/117/ Awesome Motive Acquires Sandhills Development

Post Status CEO Cory Miller chats with Pippin Williamson, the Founder and Managing Director of Sandhills Development, about Awesome Motive's acquisition of his company. 

Pippin announced today that Awesome Motive has acquired his company — their whole team and plugin portfolio: Easy Digital Downloads, AffiliateWP, Sugar Calendar, WP Simple Pay, and the Payouts Service. Syed Balkhi, Founder and CEO of Awesome Motive, outlines the commercial plugins and notes the deal includes several free plugins as well. From Sandhills, Chris Klosowski, Andrew Munro, and Phil Derksen will be joining Awesome Motive as partners, and Chris will continue to lead Easy Digital Downloads. 

Pippin, however, intends to take a very long break from WordPress and software development.

Sitting down with Cory Miller for some reflection on the past and thoughts about the future in the WordPress space, Pippin offered advice to developers and product owners today. He also identified what he sees as the biggest threat emerging for WordPress today.

Key Takeaway: "The Biggest Threat We Have Today" 🦈

As both an opportunity and "a major threat" to "WordPress the platform" that comes from its openness, Pippin warns:

"We are getting to a point where WordPress is so big and there is so much money involved in the WordPress ecosystem that it is now very much in large companies' interests to create their own version of WordPress."

Pippin Williamson

Because "the WordPress experience is not consistent" between major hosting platforms — due to their attempts to improve their customer experience — Pippin is concerned end users won't be able to tell what is WordPress and what is the host.

Might that kind of platform balkanization carry over into the WordPress community, dividing developers, product businesses, and end users?

Pippin also referenced Kinsta COO Jon Penland's conversation with Anchor Hosting founder Austin Ginder back in June on Kinsta's Reverse Engineered podcast:

"...something that I’ve been thinking about a lot over the last year, which is a move I see in the WordPress space in general, at the host level, and I’m not going to name any names because I don’t want to throw stones, but to pull in more and more tooling that’s not part of the Core. And, I just worry that we’re going to end up in a situation, a few years from now, where we have a whole lot of walled gardens, right? Where WordPress at host A is not the same thing as WordPress at host B and is not the same at WordPress at host C, because as you described, a WordPress provider might try to solve this problem as an on-ramp for their own customers."

Jon Penland

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Sandhills Development

No matter what you're working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development has a tool that can help you. Sell digital products with Easy Digital Downloads. Use AffiliateWP as your affiliate marketing solution. Sugar Calendar is event management made easy. And WP Simple Pay is a lightweight Stripe payments plugin. Craft superior experiences with the ingenuity of Sandhills’ plugins.

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

]]> Pippin Williamson on Awesome Motive Acquiring Sandhills Development Cory Miller, Pippin Williamson 00:41:20 In the latest WordPress acquisition, Sandhills is joining Awesome Motive. Pippin Williamson talks with Cory about WordPress: past and future. In the latest WordPress acquisition, Sandhills is joining Awesome Motive. Pippin Williamson talks with Cory about WordPress: past and future. post status, wordpress, awesome motive, plugins, cory miller, sandhills development, pippin williamson, syed balkhi no full 117 95fec920-b889-4c8f-b165-b88f4585912c Chris Lema on Liquid Web Acquiring LearnDash Chris Lema talks about the latest WordPress acquisition: LearnDash is joining Liquid Web. Will it become the leading LMS turnkey solution?

Post Status CEO Cory Miller chats with Chris Lema, Vice President of Products at Liquid Web, about Liquid Web's acquisition of LearnDash. LearnDash will join Liquid Web's StellarWP brand, and Chris will step in as the General Manager of LearnDash.

It's been a boom time in recent years for edutech companies. As the online learning leader in the WordPress space with their Learning Management System (LMS) plugin for WordPress — which comes with a whole ecosystem of addons and integrations — it's no surprise LearnDash would be attractive as a platform for a hosting company to acquire. Get an inside look at the latest big deal in WordPress acquisitions with Chris Lema.

"Everyone knows LearnDash as the leader of online learning in the WordPress ecosystem. We are excited to welcome them to the Liquid Web family as we continue to build our strength in the digital commerce ecosystem. LearnDash takes us deeper into the digital commerce space by offering online educators the best tools to create online courses, quizzes, and dynamic content with built-in marketing and ecommerce features. We believe in their brand, and we know that with our backing, they will continue to deliver the online solutions educators need."  — Chris Lema

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

]]> Tue, 21 Sep 2021 20:39:15 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Chris Lema) https://poststatus.com/draft/116/ Chris Lema talks about the latest WordPress acquisition: LearnDash is joining Liquid Web. Will it become the leading LMS turnkey solution?

Post Status CEO Cory Miller chats with Chris Lema, Vice President of Products at Liquid Web, about Liquid Web's acquisition of LearnDash. LearnDash will join Liquid Web's StellarWP brand, and Chris will step in as the General Manager of LearnDash.

It's been a boom time in recent years for edutech companies. As the online learning leader in the WordPress space with their Learning Management System (LMS) plugin for WordPress — which comes with a whole ecosystem of addons and integrations — it's no surprise LearnDash would be attractive as a platform for a hosting company to acquire. Get an inside look at the latest big deal in WordPress acquisitions with Chris Lema.

"Everyone knows LearnDash as the leader of online learning in the WordPress ecosystem. We are excited to welcome them to the Liquid Web family as we continue to build our strength in the digital commerce ecosystem. LearnDash takes us deeper into the digital commerce space by offering online educators the best tools to create online courses, quizzes, and dynamic content with built-in marketing and ecommerce features. We believe in their brand, and we know that with our backing, they will continue to deliver the online solutions educators need."  — Chris Lema

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse past episodes and subscribe to our podcasts on  Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, Simplecast, or get them by RSS. 🎙️

]]> Chris Lema on Liquid Web Acquiring LearnDash Cory Miller, Chris Lema 00:34:58 Chris Lema talks about the latest WordPress acquisition: LearnDash is joining Liquid Web. Will it become the leading LMS turnkey solution? Chris Lema talks about the latest WordPress acquisition: LearnDash is joining Liquid Web. Will it become the leading LMS turnkey solution? post status, wordpress, liquid web, chris lema, cory miller, integrations no full 116 6cee6a09-b6c4-455f-9dd7-633614d4e1b6 Post Status Excerpt (No. 25) — Doing "The Right Thing" & MailChimp Acquisition Thoughts “When it comes to the entrepreneurial journey - the highest highs and the lowest lows are always people.”

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory first discuss how hard it is to do "the right thing" and potentially dealing with tough and negative feedback as a result. How does an entrepreneur prepare for "roller coaster" times — especially if the ride is heading down? What should you keep in mind? Cory shares an iThemes experience in response.

Also covered in this episode: Cory and David talk about the $12 billion acquisition of MailChimp by Intuit, and how that could potentially reshape the business landscape for WordPress users and entrepreneurs.

Note: David misspoke and said "Stripe" instead of "Square." Forgive him.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Thu, 16 Sep 2021 21:43:24 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/25/ “When it comes to the entrepreneurial journey - the highest highs and the lowest lows are always people.”

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory first discuss how hard it is to do "the right thing" and potentially dealing with tough and negative feedback as a result. How does an entrepreneur prepare for "roller coaster" times — especially if the ride is heading down? What should you keep in mind? Cory shares an iThemes experience in response.

Also covered in this episode: Cory and David talk about the $12 billion acquisition of MailChimp by Intuit, and how that could potentially reshape the business landscape for WordPress users and entrepreneurs.

Note: David misspoke and said "Stripe" instead of "Square." Forgive him.

Browse past episodes from all our podcasts, and don’t forget to subscribe to them on your favorite players. Post Status' Draft, Comments, and Excerpt podcasts are on Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, iTunes, Castro, YouTube, Stitcher, Player.fm, Pocket Casts, and Simplecast. (RSS) 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 25) — Doing "The Right Thing" & MailChimp Acquisition Thoughts Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:28:19 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory first discuss how hard it is to do "the right thing" and potentially dealing with tough and negative feedback as a result. How does an entrepreneur prepare for "roller coaster" times — especially if the ride is heading down? What should you keep in mind? Cory shares an iThemes experience in response. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory first discuss how hard it is to do "the right thing" and potentially dealing with tough and negative feedback as a result. How does an entrepreneur prepare for "roller coaster" times — especially if the ride is heading down? What should you keep in mind? Cory shares an iThemes experience in response. intuit, mailchimp, wordpress, ithemes no bonus bf46e1b4-af6c-4911-98be-edbac4bb8d2c Post Status Excerpt (No. 24) — Entrepreneurial Resilience: Relying On Others "A crisis can either build you or break you."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory reflect on a tough question: What can help WordPress professionals weather the storm of being an entrepreneur in challenging times? Cory shares four types of people who can offer support in their own unique ways: spouses, counselors, coaches, and colleagues. It's important that you find the right combination of people and connections that works best for you.

Also covered in this episode: Cory and David thank their spouses and will later share the timestamps of the podcast with them as evidence.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

]]> Fri, 10 Sep 2021 02:39:39 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/podcasts "A crisis can either build you or break you."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory reflect on a tough question: What can help WordPress professionals weather the storm of being an entrepreneur in challenging times? Cory shares four types of people who can offer support in their own unique ways: spouses, counselors, coaches, and colleagues. It's important that you find the right combination of people and connections that works best for you.

Also covered in this episode: Cory and David thank their spouses and will later share the timestamps of the podcast with them as evidence.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 24) — Entrepreneurial Resilience: Relying On Others Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:16:22 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory reflect on a tough question: What can help WordPress professionals weather the storm of being an entrepreneur in challenging times? Cory shares four types of people who can offer support in their own unique ways: spouses, counselors, coaches, and colleagues. It's important that you find the right combination of people and connections that works best for you. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David and Cory reflect on a tough question: What can help WordPress professionals weather the storm of being an entrepreneur in challenging times? Cory shares four types of people who can offer support in their own unique ways: spouses, counselors, coaches, and colleagues. It's important that you find the right combination of people and connections that works best for you. wordpress, entrepreneurial, mental health, entrepreneurs, support networks, support, wordpress professionals, hard times no bonus 926c4159-5745-4800-94e2-17bbe50dab6c Post Status Excerpt (No. 23) — Farewell To Andrea, But Not The Classic Editor New hires to Post Status and an acqui-hire for Automattic.

In this episode, David and Cory talk about recent news from all corners of the WordPress community. First, they share how they will miss Andrea Middleton — who is taking a great new opportunity at Reddit after 10 years of full-time work on the WordPress open source project. Next, they talk about why keeping the Classic Editor plugin officially supported makes sense, and how the Frontity acquisition by Automattic can be viewed as an acquihire to advance Gutenberg's development.

Also covered in this episode: Cory and David welcome Jonathan Wold to the Post Status team.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Fri, 3 Sep 2021 17:44:39 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/23 New hires to Post Status and an acqui-hire for Automattic.

In this episode, David and Cory talk about recent news from all corners of the WordPress community. First, they share how they will miss Andrea Middleton — who is taking a great new opportunity at Reddit after 10 years of full-time work on the WordPress open source project. Next, they talk about why keeping the Classic Editor plugin officially supported makes sense, and how the Frontity acquisition by Automattic can be viewed as an acquihire to advance Gutenberg's development.

Also covered in this episode: Cory and David welcome Jonathan Wold to the Post Status team.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 23) — Farewell To Andrea, But Not The Classic Editor David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:18:16 In this episode, David and Cory talk about recent news from all corners of the WordPress community. First, they share how they will miss Andrea Middleton — who is taking a great new opportunity at Reddit after 10 years of full-time work on the WordPress open source project. Next, they talk about why keeping the Classic Editor plugin officially supported makes sense, and how the Frontity acquisition by Automattic can be viewed as an acquihire to advance Gutenberg's development. In this episode, David and Cory talk about recent news from all corners of the WordPress community. First, they share how they will miss Andrea Middleton — who is taking a great new opportunity at Reddit after 10 years of full-time work on the WordPress open source project. Next, they talk about why keeping the Classic Editor plugin officially supported makes sense, and how the Frontity acquisition by Automattic can be viewed as an acquihire to advance Gutenberg's development. wordpress, gutenberg, frontity, classic editor plugin, reddit, andrea middleton, jonathan wold, automattic no bonus 421449e2-7057-4833-85fc-f6829d822e26 Post Status Excerpt (No. 22) — Dealing With Developer Overload: Organzation We Can Be Organized In How We Multitask.

In this episode, David and Cory have a conversation about another way to prevent Developer Overload: organization. Cory shares how he benefited from a mentor, while David feels that documentation, commenting code, and following some best practices can help reduce anxiety overall — if you can convince yourself to adopt new habits. This show is worth a listen just for Cory's "going on a hike" metaphor.

Also covered in this episode: Cory encourages David to take the Kolbe A Index test.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Sandhills Development

No matter what you're working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development has a tool that can help you. Sell digital products with Easy Digital Downloads. Use AffiliateWP as your affiliate marketing solution. Sugar Calendar is event management made easy. And WP Simple Pay is a lightweight Stripe payments plugin. Craft superior experiences with the ingenuity of Sandhills’ plugins.

]]> Fri, 27 Aug 2021 22:11:22 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/22 We Can Be Organized In How We Multitask.

In this episode, David and Cory have a conversation about another way to prevent Developer Overload: organization. Cory shares how he benefited from a mentor, while David feels that documentation, commenting code, and following some best practices can help reduce anxiety overall — if you can convince yourself to adopt new habits. This show is worth a listen just for Cory's "going on a hike" metaphor.

Also covered in this episode: Cory encourages David to take the Kolbe A Index test.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Sandhills Development

No matter what you're working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development has a tool that can help you. Sell digital products with Easy Digital Downloads. Use AffiliateWP as your affiliate marketing solution. Sugar Calendar is event management made easy. And WP Simple Pay is a lightweight Stripe payments plugin. Craft superior experiences with the ingenuity of Sandhills’ plugins.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 22) — Dealing With Developer Overload: Organzation David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:30:15 In this episode, David and Cory have a conversation about another way to prevent Developer Overload: organization. Cory shares how he benefited from a mentor, while David feels that documentation, commenting code, and following some best practices can help reduce anxiety overall — if you can convince yourself to adopt new habits. This show is worth a listen just for Cory's "going on a hike" metaphor. In this episode, David and Cory have a conversation about another way to prevent Developer Overload: organization. Cory shares how he benefited from a mentor, while David feels that documentation, commenting code, and following some best practices can help reduce anxiety overall — if you can convince yourself to adopt new habits. This show is worth a listen just for Cory's "going on a hike" metaphor. wordpress no bonus 82870b10-3ec1-4a6a-a706-e3c135586b4a Post Status Excerpt (No. 21) — Dealing With Developer Overload: Focus Avoiding ego, reinventing the wheel, and shiny objects.

In this episode, David and Cory discuss Developer Overload, which David defines as what happens when "when you receive too much information and are unable to process it, resulting in negative responses and unhealthy effects." David shares tips on how developers can focus on what to pay serious attention to, how to avoid creating more work for themselves, how to increase focus, and what project managers can do to help.

Also covered in this episode: "As developers we often bite off more than we can chew... we also tend to take that bite from the wrong side of the sandwich."

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Thu, 19 Aug 2021 18:42:22 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/21 Avoiding ego, reinventing the wheel, and shiny objects.

In this episode, David and Cory discuss Developer Overload, which David defines as what happens when "when you receive too much information and are unable to process it, resulting in negative responses and unhealthy effects." David shares tips on how developers can focus on what to pay serious attention to, how to avoid creating more work for themselves, how to increase focus, and what project managers can do to help.

Also covered in this episode: "As developers we often bite off more than we can chew... we also tend to take that bite from the wrong side of the sandwich."

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 21) — Dealing With Developer Overload: Focus Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:24:25 In this episode, David and Cory discuss Developer Overload, which David defines as what happens when "when you receive too much information and are unable to process it, resulting in negative responses and unhealthy effects." David shares tips on how developers can focus on what to pay serious attention to, how to avoid creating more work for themselves, how to increase focus, and what project managers can do to help. In this episode, David and Cory discuss Developer Overload, which David defines as what happens when "when you receive too much information and are unable to process it, resulting in negative responses and unhealthy effects." David shares tips on how developers can focus on what to pay serious attention to, how to avoid creating more work for themselves, how to increase focus, and what project managers can do to help. post status excerpt, developer overload, wordpress developers no bonus 14611f46-ebca-4e67-87b3-9ea951d07c4a Post Status Excerpt (No. 20) — Yoast Acquired, Businesses Need To Allow More Play Allowing time to goof off or pursuing a passion improves team connections.

Professor Jane Dutton from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business suggests "four ways to build high-quality workplace connections" — respectful engagement, support, trust — and play. Play is what Cory and David focus on in this episode — why should companies set aside time to explore, goof off, or entertain each other with no particular outcome in mind?

Also covered in this episode: Only an hour before recording this, Yoast announced it is being acquired by Newfold Digital — formerly known at least in part as Endurance International Group (EIG). David and Cory share their initial thoughts with more analysis still to come.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Fri, 13 Aug 2021 00:23:21 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Allowing time to goof off or pursuing a passion improves team connections.

Professor Jane Dutton from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business suggests "four ways to build high-quality workplace connections" — respectful engagement, support, trust — and play. Play is what Cory and David focus on in this episode — why should companies set aside time to explore, goof off, or entertain each other with no particular outcome in mind?

Also covered in this episode: Only an hour before recording this, Yoast announced it is being acquired by Newfold Digital — formerly known at least in part as Endurance International Group (EIG). David and Cory share their initial thoughts with more analysis still to come.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 20) — Yoast Acquired, Businesses Need To Allow More Play David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:21:31 Professor Jane Dutton from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business suggests "four ways to build high-quality workplace connections" — respectful engagement, support, trust — and play. Play is what Cory and David focus on in this episode — why should companies set aside time to explore, goof off, or entertain each other with no particular outcome in mind? Professor Jane Dutton from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business suggests "four ways to build high-quality workplace connections" — respectful engagement, support, trust — and play. Play is what Cory and David focus on in this episode — why should companies set aside time to explore, goof off, or entertain each other with no particular outcome in mind? wordpress, teams, play, recreation, newfold digital, yoast, teambuilding, workplace no bonus 86ad7f8e-8c94-488e-a845-40f624015c2d Post Status Excerpt (No. 19) — How Can New Developers Get Started In WordPress? The first step to getting started might not be technical.

As new people come into Post Status looking for some guidance, there is a tendency among old hands to say things used to be much easier. Although it was a simpler time ten years ago, getting started in WordPress development presented challenges to new developers much as web development generally does today for seasoned developers. With a mature WordPress ecosystem now, new and experienced developers should set their expectations about business success carefully.

Also covered in this episode: David remembers that a decade ago, even though the web and WordPress were less complex, development in many ways wasn't any less challenging. Remember WordPress MU (Multisite)?

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Fri, 6 Aug 2021 11:40:42 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/19 The first step to getting started might not be technical.

As new people come into Post Status looking for some guidance, there is a tendency among old hands to say things used to be much easier. Although it was a simpler time ten years ago, getting started in WordPress development presented challenges to new developers much as web development generally does today for seasoned developers. With a mature WordPress ecosystem now, new and experienced developers should set their expectations about business success carefully.

Also covered in this episode: David remembers that a decade ago, even though the web and WordPress were less complex, development in many ways wasn't any less challenging. Remember WordPress MU (Multisite)?

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 19) — How Can New Developers Get Started In WordPress? Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:24:54 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about how new developers might be able to get a footing with a career in WordPress. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about how new developers might be able to get a footing with a career in WordPress. wordpress, multisite, gutenberg no bonus 03aa4650-039a-4296-ba04-d631af77dc8a Post Status Excerpt (No. 18) — Is Growth Of Active Plugin Installs On The Decline? 📉 Many plugins in the WordPress.org repository have shown a significant drop in active install growth this year.

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller focus on a blog post David published on July 23rd on Post Status entitled "Is The Growth Of Active Installs of WordPress Plugins Declining in 2021?" Since about May or early June, the overall trends for some of the most popular and well-known plugins’ “active install growth” (as reported by WordPress.org) are pointing generally downward — their growth is in decline.

Also covered in this episode: Cory shares what he observed at iThemes regarding sales trends and how it might be related to the trends reported by Post Status. David thanks Iain Poulson for backing his observations with some solid numbers.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Fri, 30 Jul 2021 17:30:41 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/18/ Many plugins in the WordPress.org repository have shown a significant drop in active install growth this year.

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller focus on a blog post David published on July 23rd on Post Status entitled "Is The Growth Of Active Installs of WordPress Plugins Declining in 2021?" Since about May or early June, the overall trends for some of the most popular and well-known plugins’ “active install growth” (as reported by WordPress.org) are pointing generally downward — their growth is in decline.

Also covered in this episode: Cory shares what he observed at iThemes regarding sales trends and how it might be related to the trends reported by Post Status. David thanks Iain Poulson for backing his observations with some solid numbers.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 18) — Is Growth Of Active Plugin Installs On The Decline? 📉 Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:20:43 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller focus on a blog post David published on July 23rd at Post Status entitled "Is The Growth Of Active Installs of WordPress Plugins Declining in 2021?" Since about May or early June, the overall trends for some of the most popular and well-known plugins’ “active install growth” (as reported by WordPress.org) are pointing generally downward — their growth is in decline. 📉 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller focus on a blog post David published on July 23rd at Post Status entitled "Is The Growth Of Active Installs of WordPress Plugins Declining in 2021?" Since about May or early June, the overall trends for some of the most popular and well-known plugins’ “active install growth” (as reported by WordPress.org) are pointing generally downward — their growth is in decline. 📉 wordpress, plugins no bonus bc33a417-7649-442e-8a33-5a3bc56618a0 Post Status Excerpt (No. 17) — Acquisition Tracker, WordPress 5.8, #ClickPublish Acquisitions in the WordPress space, WordPress 5.8, WordFest Live, Elementor is 5, and #ClickPublish

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller chat about how the new Post Status Acquisition Tracker is a window into significant moments and trends in WordPress history. With WordPress 5.8 released this week, it will be interesting to see how theme developers react and adapt to it in the coming months and years. It seems some people aren't happy about a certain change to the Media Library.

Also covered in this episode: On the eve of WordFest 2021, David notes Elementor's fifth anniversary and how they might be installed on about 12% of all WordPress sites. Cory shares the #ClickPublish movement he's started on Post Status Slack.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Fri, 23 Jul 2021 01:22:47 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/17/ Acquisitions in the WordPress space, WordPress 5.8, WordFest Live, Elementor is 5, and #ClickPublish

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller chat about how the new Post Status Acquisition Tracker is a window into significant moments and trends in WordPress history. With WordPress 5.8 released this week, it will be interesting to see how theme developers react and adapt to it in the coming months and years. It seems some people aren't happy about a certain change to the Media Library.

Also covered in this episode: On the eve of WordFest 2021, David notes Elementor's fifth anniversary and how they might be installed on about 12% of all WordPress sites. Cory shares the #ClickPublish movement he's started on Post Status Slack.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 17) — Acquisition Tracker, WordPress 5.8, #ClickPublish David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:23:45 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller chat about how the new Post Status Acquisition Tracker is looking at a piece of WordPress history. With WordPress 5.8 released this week, how may theme developers react and adapt in the coming months and years? It seems some people aren't happy about a certain change in the Media Library. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller chat about how the new Post Status Acquisition Tracker is looking at a piece of WordPress history. With WordPress 5.8 released this week, how may theme developers react and adapt in the coming months and years? It seems some people aren't happy about a certain change in the Media Library. wordpress, wordfest, elementor no bonus 82646de9-6048-4439-8ebf-cfd45761fba7 Post Status Excerpt (No. 16) — Syed Balkhi on Acquiring SearchWP "Understanding who you are and who you are not goes a long way."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset talks with Syed Balkhi about the acquisition of SearchWP by Awesome Motive. We get a little behind-the-scenes information about how this deal came to be. Syed shares his thoughts on how SearchWP fits in with Awesome Motive's brand and vision of providing support to small businesses.

Also covered in this episode: Syed talks about "plugin developers and entrepreneurs being true" to their mission when it comes to growing and monetizing their products and plugins.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

]]> Fri, 9 Jul 2021 18:37:30 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Syed Balkhi, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/16/ "Understanding who you are and who you are not goes a long way."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset talks with Syed Balkhi about the acquisition of SearchWP by Awesome Motive. We get a little behind-the-scenes information about how this deal came to be. Syed shares his thoughts on how SearchWP fits in with Awesome Motive's brand and vision of providing support to small businesses.

Also covered in this episode: Syed talks about "plugin developers and entrepreneurs being true" to their mission when it comes to growing and monetizing their products and plugins.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 16) — Syed Balkhi on Acquiring SearchWP Syed Balkhi, David Bisset 00:21:41 Syed Balkhi talks with David about his acquisition of SearchWP, his vision for the plugin, and he calls for developers to stay mission-focused. Syed Balkhi talks with David about his acquisition of SearchWP, his vision for the plugin, and he calls for developers to stay mission-focused. wordpress, awesome motive, searchwp no bonus 3c95ea9b-bc03-497f-b78f-d2bdda77c55e Post Status Excerpt (No. 15) — Jon Christopher on Finding A New Home For SearchWP "I realized that I wanted [SearchWP] to be long term and stable...it deserved a team behind it."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset talks with Jon Christopher about his sale of SearchWP to Awesome Motive. The two talk about what motivated Jon — the sole developer (and marketer) of SearchWP — to part with his plugin. David also asks Jon about his view of search as it exists today in WordPress Core, what he might like to see in search going forward, and what his future plans are.

Also covered in this episode: Jon shares some advice for plugin developers who want to monetize their products and plugins, even if those plugins aren't well-known.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

 

]]> Fri, 9 Jul 2021 18:27:35 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Jon Christopher) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/15 "I realized that I wanted [SearchWP] to be long term and stable...it deserved a team behind it."

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset talks with Jon Christopher about his sale of SearchWP to Awesome Motive. The two talk about what motivated Jon — the sole developer (and marketer) of SearchWP — to part with his plugin. David also asks Jon about his view of search as it exists today in WordPress Core, what he might like to see in search going forward, and what his future plans are.

Also covered in this episode: Jon shares some advice for plugin developers who want to monetize their products and plugins, even if those plugins aren't well-known.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

 

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 15) — Jon Christopher on Finding A New Home For SearchWP David Bisset, Jon Christopher 00:25:36 Jon Christopher recently sold SearchWP to Awesome Motive. Learn what motivated Jon to make the sale, and get his view of search in WordPress core. Jon Christopher recently sold SearchWP to Awesome Motive. Learn what motivated Jon to make the sale, and get his view of search in WordPress core. wordpress, searchwp no bonus 05b6b00b-fddb-4614-a848-fefd243986ff Craig Hewitt on Castos' Latest Fundraising and Expansion of Private Podcasting Castos is a WordPress-powered podcast hosting provider with roots in the open-source community through their Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin for WordPress. They recently announced a $756K pre-seed funding round from a number of companies, including Automattic and Yoast SEO.

Cory Miller sat down with Castos CEO Craig Hewitt to talk about this move and how Castos is eager to expand its services in the private podcasting market.

⚠️  CORRECTION:

In the audio recording, a $756 Million figure was mistakenly given. Castos has raised $756 thousand in investor funding.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Wed, 7 Jul 2021 21:53:12 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Craig Hewitt) https://poststatus.com/draft/115/ Castos is a WordPress-powered podcast hosting provider with roots in the open-source community through their Seriously Simple Podcasting plugin for WordPress. They recently announced a $756K pre-seed funding round from a number of companies, including Automattic and Yoast SEO.

Cory Miller sat down with Castos CEO Craig Hewitt to talk about this move and how Castos is eager to expand its services in the private podcasting market.

⚠️  CORRECTION:

In the audio recording, a $756 Million figure was mistakenly given. Castos has raised $756 thousand in investor funding.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Craig Hewitt on Castos' Latest Fundraising and Expansion of Private Podcasting Cory Miller, Craig Hewitt 00:42:20 Castos is a WordPress-powered podcast hosting provider that recently announced a $756K pre-seed funding round from a number of companies, including Automattic and Yoast SEO. Post Status publisher Cory Miller sat down with Castos CEO Craig Hewitt to talk about this move and how Castos is eager to expand services in the private podcasting market. Castos is a WordPress-powered podcast hosting provider that recently announced a $756K pre-seed funding round from a number of companies, including Automattic and Yoast SEO. Post Status publisher Cory Miller sat down with Castos CEO Craig Hewitt to talk about this move and how Castos is eager to expand services in the private podcasting market. castos no full 115 55a20083-4ad4-4871-89ac-acbec784dee9 Post Status Excerpt (No. 14) — Starting Your "Next Chapter" Project Take 10% of your time, energy, and even money and start investing it systematically in a “Next Chapter” project.

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about how to build a "career raft" for yourself — something Cory wishes he did when he sold iThemes and went looking for new ventures. Cory explains how to identify what might be a good fit for your "next chapter" project and how to maintain your motivation, whether you are a developer, marketer, or entrepreneur.

Also covered in this episode: Cory and David congratulate James Laws and the entire team at Ninja Forms who are celebrating their 10th anniversary this week. They proved that there was room (and then some) for another form plugin in the WordPress space.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

 

]]> Thu, 1 Jul 2021 22:25:25 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/14/ Take 10% of your time, energy, and even money and start investing it systematically in a “Next Chapter” project.

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about how to build a "career raft" for yourself — something Cory wishes he did when he sold iThemes and went looking for new ventures. Cory explains how to identify what might be a good fit for your "next chapter" project and how to maintain your motivation, whether you are a developer, marketer, or entrepreneur.

Also covered in this episode: Cory and David congratulate James Laws and the entire team at Ninja Forms who are celebrating their 10th anniversary this week. They proved that there was room (and then some) for another form plugin in the WordPress space.

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

 

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 14) — Starting Your "Next Chapter" Project David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:25:12 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about how to build a "career raft" for yourself — something Cory wishes he did when he sold iThemes and went looking for new ventures. Cory explains how to identify what might be a good fit for your "next chapter" project and how to maintain your motivation, whether you are a developer, marketer, or entrepreneur. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about how to build a "career raft" for yourself — something Cory wishes he did when he sold iThemes and went looking for new ventures. Cory explains how to identify what might be a good fit for your "next chapter" project and how to maintain your motivation, whether you are a developer, marketer, or entrepreneur. wordpress, entrepreneur, buddypress, career advice, ninja forms no bonus 00feb66f-e096-4bb6-95cb-a28fb7b29829 Post Status Excerpt (No. 13) — WordPress Economy Study, Trying Gutenberg Again $635.5 billion by the end of 2021?

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset briefly touch on two more acquisitions this week — one involving Extendify and another by Automattic. Cory and David review some highlights from WP Engine's recent report on the WordPress economy. WP Engine estimates the WordPress market generated more than half a trillion dollars (USD) in 2020. They expect the market to grow to $635.5 billion by the end of 2021.

Also covered in this episode: A discussion of people who gave up on Gutenberg in its early phases release and how they might be convinced to give it another shot now. This topic came up thanks to an article written by Chris Lema and the conversation it provoked in Post Status Slack.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast SEO

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Thu, 17 Jun 2021 23:39:53 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/13 $635.5 billion by the end of 2021?

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset briefly touch on two more acquisitions this week — one involving Extendify and another by Automattic. Cory and David review some highlights from WP Engine's recent report on the WordPress economy. WP Engine estimates the WordPress market generated more than half a trillion dollars (USD) in 2020. They expect the market to grow to $635.5 billion by the end of 2021.

Also covered in this episode: A discussion of people who gave up on Gutenberg in its early phases release and how they might be convinced to give it another shot now. This topic came up thanks to an article written by Chris Lema and the conversation it provoked in Post Status Slack.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast SEO

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 13) — WordPress Economy Study, Trying Gutenberg Again David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:28:10 More acquisitions! Is the WordPress market worth $500-600 BILLION? Cory and David discuss these topics and Gutenberg's barriers to winning back users. More acquisitions! Is the WordPress market worth $500-600 BILLION? Cory and David discuss these topics and Gutenberg's barriers to winning back users. extendify, wordpress, chris lema, gutenberg, block editor, wordpress economy, full site editing, automattic no bonus 52860c3c-45e4-4489-87c2-d5b4360ca26a Brad Touesnard on the Acquisition of Advanced Custom Fields Raising eyebrows in the WordPress community — especially among developers — Delicious Brains announced they have acquired Advanced Custom Fields (ACF). Elliot Condon is the creator and has been the sole developer for ACF for about a decade. While Elliot will be involved in the transition, he will not stay with the Delicious Brains team in the long term, according to his blog post.

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Cory Miller talks with Brad Touesnard of Delicious Brains following the announcement that his company has acquired the Advanced Custom Fields plugin from Elliot Condon.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Wed, 9 Jun 2021 05:07:51 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brad Touesnard, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/draft/114/ Raising eyebrows in the WordPress community — especially among developers — Delicious Brains announced they have acquired Advanced Custom Fields (ACF). Elliot Condon is the creator and has been the sole developer for ACF for about a decade. While Elliot will be involved in the transition, he will not stay with the Delicious Brains team in the long term, according to his blog post.

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Cory Miller talks with Brad Touesnard of Delicious Brains following the announcement that his company has acquired the Advanced Custom Fields plugin from Elliot Condon.

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

🎙️ Post Status Draft

The Post Status Draft podcast is geared toward WordPress professionals, with interviews, news, and deep analysis. 📝

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

]]> Brad Touesnard on the Acquisition of Advanced Custom Fields Brad Touesnard, Cory Miller 00:22:41 Cory Miller talks with Brad Touesnard of Delicious Brains following the announcement that his company has acquired the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin from Elliot Condon. Cory Miller talks with Brad Touesnard of Delicious Brains following the announcement that his company has acquired the Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) plugin from Elliot Condon. no full 114 924645f6-9681-427c-87ed-200179e821b9 Post Status Excerpt (No. 12) — Takeaways From The ACF Acquisition A Focus On Mental Health And Long-Term Stability

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the recently announced acquisition of Advanced Custom Fields plugin by Delicious Brains Inc. After having time to absorb community feedback and listen to a pre-recorded interview with those involved, David and Cory share why this move is a win for the WordPress community in the long run.

Also covered in this episode: For freelancers and solopreneurs with projects and products that grow close to an unmanageable size: where do you draw the line between owning your product and handing the reins of your creation to someone else? (Controlling your destiny is great, on the one hand, but having full responsibility and the stress that comes with it is tough to sustain, on the other hand.)

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Wed, 2 Jun 2021 21:57:25 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/12 A Focus On Mental Health And Long-Term Stability

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the recently announced acquisition of Advanced Custom Fields plugin by Delicious Brains Inc. After having time to absorb community feedback and listen to a pre-recorded interview with those involved, David and Cory share why this move is a win for the WordPress community in the long run.

Also covered in this episode: For freelancers and solopreneurs with projects and products that grow close to an unmanageable size: where do you draw the line between owning your product and handing the reins of your creation to someone else? (Controlling your destiny is great, on the one hand, but having full responsibility and the stress that comes with it is tough to sustain, on the other hand.)

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Wordfence

Who can afford downtime, a black mark on their brand’s reputation, or the SEO impact of getting hacked? That’s why so many WordPress sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium. Now, Wordfence Central offers Premium subscribers a powerful and efficient dashboard to manage security for all their sites from one central location. Try Wordfence today!

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 12) — Takeaways From The ACF Acquisition Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:25:57 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the recently announced acquisition of Advanced Custom Fields plugin by Delicious Brains Inc. After having time to absorb community feedback and listen to a pre-recorded interview with those involved, David and Cory share why this move is a win for the WordPress community in the long run. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the recently announced acquisition of Advanced Custom Fields plugin by Delicious Brains Inc. After having time to absorb community feedback and listen to a pre-recorded interview with those involved, David and Cory share why this move is a win for the WordPress community in the long run. liquid web, acf, delicious brains, mental health, david bisset, cory miller no bonus 0f92fddf-f06b-4814-b1d3-e88a71d3fbc2 Post Status Comments (No. 1) — Monetization of WordPress Plugins Monetization of WordPress Plugins

This episode features a conversation in Twitter Spaces that took place on May 28, 2021. Our topic is monetization of WordPress plugins. Speakers: Cory Miller, Joe Casabona, Joost de Valk, David Bisset (host) along with many others commenting live in Post Status Slack.

Post Status Comments  provides a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends. 

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Fri, 28 May 2021 20:46:29 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, Joost de Valk, David Bisset, Joe Casabona) https://poststatus.com/comments/1 Monetization of WordPress Plugins

This episode features a conversation in Twitter Spaces that took place on May 28, 2021. Our topic is monetization of WordPress plugins. Speakers: Cory Miller, Joe Casabona, Joost de Valk, David Bisset (host) along with many others commenting live in Post Status Slack.

Post Status Comments  provides a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends. 

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Post Status Comments (No. 1) — Monetization of WordPress Plugins Cory Miller, Joost de Valk, David Bisset, Joe Casabona 01:01:42 The aim of Post Status Comments is to provide a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends. Members are able to share experiences, analyses, and feelings that matter to the Post Status community and beyond. This episode features a conversation in Twitter Spaces on May 28, 2021. Our topic is the monetization of WordPress plugins. Speakers: Cory Miller, Joe Casabona, Joost de Valk, David Bisset (host) along with many others commenting live in Post Status Slack. The aim of Post Status Comments is to provide a stage for WordPress professionals to exchange ideas and talk about recent topics and trends. Members are able to share experiences, analyses, and feelings that matter to the Post Status community and beyond. This episode features a conversation in Twitter Spaces on May 28, 2021. Our topic is the monetization of WordPress plugins. Speakers: Cory Miller, Joe Casabona, Joost de Valk, David Bisset (host) along with many others commenting live in Post Status Slack. wordpress, plugins, yoast no bonus 905d2ab2-1344-46a2-9de8-9456cef11850 Post Status Excerpt (No. 11) — A New Era For Post Status Change and a vision for the future at Post Status

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the future of Post Status and Cory's full acquisition of it from its founder, Brian Krogsgard. Brian launched Post Status eight years ago. Today, Brian shared his announcement publicly, and Cory also outlined his plans for the future of Post Status.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Fri, 21 May 2021 14:46:54 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/11 Change and a vision for the future at Post Status

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the future of Post Status and Cory's full acquisition of it from its founder, Brian Krogsgard. Brian launched Post Status eight years ago. Today, Brian shared his announcement publicly, and Cory also outlined his plans for the future of Post Status.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 11) — A New Era For Post Status Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:34:33 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the future of Post Status and Cory's full acquisition of it from its founder, Brian Krogsgard. Brian launched Post Status eight years ago. Today, Brian shared his announcement publicly, and Cory also outlined his thoughts on the future of Post Status. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the future of Post Status and Cory's full acquisition of it from its founder, Brian Krogsgard. Brian launched Post Status eight years ago. Today, Brian shared his announcement publicly, and Cory also outlined his thoughts on the future of Post Status. post status, wordpress, brian krogsgard, cory miller no bonus f84b494e-703c-45ce-abd2-33b1a6a9a88d Devin Walker and Matt Cromwell on GiveWP's Acquisition by Liquid Web In a move many people have admitted they didn't see coming, Liquid Web announced this week their acquisition of GiveWP. WP Business Reviews is also part of the deal. (Both belong to the Impress.org brand.) GiveWP and WP Business Reviews will join under a new brand, StellarWP. Stellar will house all of Liquid Web’s software assets. 🤝

This acquisition follows Liquid Web acquiring iThemes in 2018 and The Events Calendar in December 2020.

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian Krogsgard talks with GiveWP's (former) CEO and COO, co-founders Devin Walker and Matt Cromwell following the announcement that their company, Impress.org, has been acquired by Liquid Web.

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

 

]]> Fri, 14 May 2021 21:52:20 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Matt Cromwell, Devin Walker, Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts In a move many people have admitted they didn't see coming, Liquid Web announced this week their acquisition of GiveWP. WP Business Reviews is also part of the deal. (Both belong to the Impress.org brand.) GiveWP and WP Business Reviews will join under a new brand, StellarWP. Stellar will house all of Liquid Web’s software assets. 🤝

This acquisition follows Liquid Web acquiring iThemes in 2018 and The Events Calendar in December 2020.

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian Krogsgard talks with GiveWP's (former) CEO and COO, co-founders Devin Walker and Matt Cromwell following the announcement that their company, Impress.org, has been acquired by Liquid Web.

🙏 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

 

]]> Devin Walker and Matt Cromwell on GiveWP's Acquisition by Liquid Web Matt Cromwell, Devin Walker, Brian Krogsgard 00:43:20 Brian Krogsgard talks with GiveWP's (former) CEO and COO, co-founders Devin Walker and Matt Cromwell following the announcement that their company, Impress.org, has been acquired by Liquid Web. Brian Krogsgard talks with GiveWP's (former) CEO and COO, co-founders Devin Walker and Matt Cromwell following the announcement that their company, Impress.org, has been acquired by Liquid Web. wordpress, liquid web, non-profit, impress.org, givewp no full 113 75990ed5-cb5b-4510-be45-bd78fde01296 Post Status Excerpt (No. 10) — GiveWP + LiquidWeb, Acquisitions Good For WordPress? Announcement of LiquidWeb acquiring GiveWP sparks discussion: are all acquisitions good for WordPress?

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the recent announcement of GiveWP and WP Business Reviews joining the Liquid Web Family of Brands. StellarWP will house all of Liquid Web’s software assets, including iThemes, The Events Calendar, Restrict Content Pro, and Kadence WP.

Also covered in this episode: David gets Cory's take on acquisitions in general for the WordPress space — what's the potential (good or bad), and how should the WordPress professional view the consolidation of their ecosystem under fewer, bigger companies?

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Fri, 14 May 2021 04:38:51 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/10/ Announcement of LiquidWeb acquiring GiveWP sparks discussion: are all acquisitions good for WordPress?

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the recent announcement of GiveWP and WP Business Reviews joining the Liquid Web Family of Brands. StellarWP will house all of Liquid Web’s software assets, including iThemes, The Events Calendar, Restrict Content Pro, and Kadence WP.

Also covered in this episode: David gets Cory's take on acquisitions in general for the WordPress space — what's the potential (good or bad), and how should the WordPress professional view the consolidation of their ecosystem under fewer, bigger companies?

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, Google Podcasts, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

 

🙏 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics, and then send reports to your clients. GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 10) — GiveWP + LiquidWeb, Acquisitions Good For WordPress? Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:26:31 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the recent announcement of GiveWP and WP Business Reviews joining the Liquid Web Family of Brands. David gets Cory's take on acquisitions in general for the WordPress space. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller and David Bisset discuss the recent announcement of GiveWP and WP Business Reviews joining the Liquid Web Family of Brands. David gets Cory's take on acquisitions in general for the WordPress space. post status, wordpress, liquid web, freelancers, acquisitions, david bisset, market consolidation, cory miller, wordpress professionals, givewp no bonus b508575a-d823-4efd-bf79-81950a4a4e4c Post Status Excerpt (No. 9) — Recommended Reads, How We Update In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller recommends three books with great value to the WordPress community and people who make their living as professionals in it. From the business value of community itself to marketing fundamentals and how to avoid being a perfectionist, Cory explains why he thinks these books stand out. Cory also tells us how he reads "like a vampire." 🧛‍♂️ (No he does not sleep in a coffin.)

Also covered in this episode: David talks about a recent post on the Make WordPress site by Francesca Marano, "Updates on updating the updaters." David asks Cory how he handles WordPress core and plugin updates. Cory's answer may (or may not) surprise you! (Learning how to be an "Imperfectionist" might be useful when it comes to WordPress updates.)

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

]]> Thu, 6 May 2021 21:50:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/9/ In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller recommends three books with great value to the WordPress community and people who make their living as professionals in it. From the business value of community itself to marketing fundamentals and how to avoid being a perfectionist, Cory explains why he thinks these books stand out. Cory also tells us how he reads "like a vampire." 🧛‍♂️ (No he does not sleep in a coffin.)

Also covered in this episode: David talks about a recent post on the Make WordPress site by Francesca Marano, "Updates on updating the updaters." David asks Cory how he handles WordPress core and plugin updates. Cory's answer may (or may not) surprise you! (Learning how to be an "Imperfectionist" might be useful when it comes to WordPress updates.)

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: SpinupWP

Spin up your own extremely fast WordPress server in minutes with SpinupWP. Use any cloud hosting provider you want, and manage your servers remotely with a simple but powerful control panel. Get the security and performance of managed hosting without losing the independence of hosting your projects and your clients yourself.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 9) — Recommended Reads, How We Update Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:24:47 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller recommends three books with great value to the WordPress community and people who make their living as professionals in it. From the business value of community itself to marketing fundamentals and how to avoid being a perfectionist, Cory explains why he thinks these books stand out. Cory also tells us how he reads "like a vampire." 🧛‍♂️ (No he does not sleep in a coffin.) In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, Cory Miller recommends three books with great value to the WordPress community and people who make their living as professionals in it. From the business value of community itself to marketing fundamentals and how to avoid being a perfectionist, Cory explains why he thinks these books stand out. Cory also tells us how he reads "like a vampire." 🧛‍♂️ (No he does not sleep in a coffin.) updates, perfectionism, wordpress, wpcampus, wordsesh, community, books, reading, marketing no bonus c94f1af7-81fb-4a91-a447-9bb34a553493 Post Status Excerpt (No. 8) — Gravity Forms 2.5, CC Coming to WP One of the oldest commercial WordPress Plugins gets a facelift.

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about the most recent update to Gravity Forms (version 2.5). Cory reflects on the early days of the WordPress ecosystem. David recounts how Gravity Forms was his first major plugin purchase as a freelancer. Find out what's in the new Gravity Forms and why it matters for WordPress professionals.

Also covered: David brings up this week's announcement from Matt Mullenweg about CC Search, a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) image search engine: they are joining the WordPress project. Does this mean the WordPress Media Library might get some overdue attention?

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Thu, 29 Apr 2021 23:31:17 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/8 One of the oldest commercial WordPress Plugins gets a facelift.

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about the most recent update to Gravity Forms (version 2.5). Cory reflects on the early days of the WordPress ecosystem. David recounts how Gravity Forms was his first major plugin purchase as a freelancer. Find out what's in the new Gravity Forms and why it matters for WordPress professionals.

Also covered: David brings up this week's announcement from Matt Mullenweg about CC Search, a CC0 (Creative Commons Zero) image search engine: they are joining the WordPress project. Does this mean the WordPress Media Library might get some overdue attention?

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 8) — Gravity Forms 2.5, CC Coming to WP Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:18:15 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about the recent major update to Gravity Forms, its 2.5 release. Cory reflects on the early days of the WordPress ecosystem. David recounts how Gravity Forms was his first major plugin purchase as a freelancer. Find out what's in the new Gravity Forms and why it matters for WordPress professionals. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about the recent major update to Gravity Forms, its 2.5 release. Cory reflects on the early days of the WordPress ecosystem. David recounts how Gravity Forms was his first major plugin purchase as a freelancer. Find out what's in the new Gravity Forms and why it matters for WordPress professionals. wordpress, gutenberg, gravity forms, accessibility, creative commons no bonus 7d76d211-6c2b-4179-8670-eb1da597f50e Danielle Joseph on Client Relations Danielle Joseph is the founder of Function Creative, a full-service brand and web design studio, and the author of The Brand Planner: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Brand Clarity & Business Direction. Her most recent project is Willowspace, a client management portal for freelancers and agencies that will be launching in the next few weeks.

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Danielle talks with Brian about her work with clients as a designer and how that has shaped the direction of her agency and Willowspace.

Freelance designers and any service-based businesses can benefit from a client management portal, but Willowspace goes a step further. it also has CRM style functions like lead capture forms to go with email integration, proposal generation, contracts, invoicing, and online payments. Leads become paying clients, and as they check in on their project status, you can offer them additional services. The client experience is very simple and can be managed through email with payments made in their own currency.

🔗 Mentioned in the show

👍 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Mon, 26 Apr 2021 13:00:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Danielle Joseph, Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Danielle Joseph is the founder of Function Creative, a full-service brand and web design studio, and the author of The Brand Planner: An Entrepreneur's Guide to Brand Clarity & Business Direction. Her most recent project is Willowspace, a client management portal for freelancers and agencies that will be launching in the next few weeks.

In this episode of Post Status Draft, Danielle talks with Brian about her work with clients as a designer and how that has shaped the direction of her agency and Willowspace.

Freelance designers and any service-based businesses can benefit from a client management portal, but Willowspace goes a step further. it also has CRM style functions like lead capture forms to go with email integration, proposal generation, contracts, invoicing, and online payments. Leads become paying clients, and as they check in on their project status, you can offer them additional services. The client experience is very simple and can be managed through email with payments made in their own currency.

🔗 Mentioned in the show

👍 Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest and most trusted advanced forms solution for your WordPress website. Packed with time-saving tools and features, Gravity Forms is the only WordPress form management plugin you will ever need. Stop losing valuable leads and grow your business with Gravity.

]]> Danielle Joseph on Client Relations Danielle Joseph, Brian Krogsgard 00:46:25 Danielle Joseph is the founder of Function Creative, and now she is launching Willowspace, a client management portal for freelancers and agencies. In this episode of Post Status Draft, she talks with Brian about her work with clients as a designer and how that has shaped the direction of Willowspace. Danielle Joseph is the founder of Function Creative, and now she is launching Willowspace, a client management portal for freelancers and agencies. In this episode of Post Status Draft, she talks with Brian about her work with clients as a designer and how that has shaped the direction of Willowspace. project management, freelancers, agencies, client management, designers, willowspace, client relations, function creative no full 112 eeae7ff4-1494-434c-b1fc-a76edc6799e9 Post Status Excerpt (No. 7) - Frustrations With Admin Notices Are you fed up with out of control Admin Notices in the WordPress dashboard? Us too.

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about Cory's recent negative experiences with admin notices in the WordPress dashboard. If the WordPress community cannot control and improve upon the location, frequency, language, and other aspects of notifications and notices inside the WordPress admin interface, the experience will continue to degrade for users, and Cory thinks WordPress.org will step in.

Also covered: David finds the animated GIFs (pronounced however David said it) starting to annoy him in the WordPress plugin repository.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Sandhills Development

No matter what you’re working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development has a tool that can help you. Sell digital products with Easy Digital Downloads. Use AffiliateWP as your affiliate marketing solution. Sugar Calendar is event management made easy. And WP Simple Pay is a lightweight Stripe payments plugin. Craft superior experiences with the ingenuity of Sandhills’ plugins.

]]> Fri, 23 Apr 2021 16:08:42 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/7/ Are you fed up with out of control Admin Notices in the WordPress dashboard? Us too.

In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about Cory's recent negative experiences with admin notices in the WordPress dashboard. If the WordPress community cannot control and improve upon the location, frequency, language, and other aspects of notifications and notices inside the WordPress admin interface, the experience will continue to degrade for users, and Cory thinks WordPress.org will step in.

Also covered: David finds the animated GIFs (pronounced however David said it) starting to annoy him in the WordPress plugin repository.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

Browse our archives, and don’t forget to subscribe via iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher, Simplecast, or RSS. 🎧

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Sandhills Development

No matter what you’re working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development has a tool that can help you. Sell digital products with Easy Digital Downloads. Use AffiliateWP as your affiliate marketing solution. Sugar Calendar is event management made easy. And WP Simple Pay is a lightweight Stripe payments plugin. Craft superior experiences with the ingenuity of Sandhills’ plugins.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 7) - Frustrations With Admin Notices Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:28:31 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about Cory's recent negative experiences with admin notices in the WordPress dashboard. If the WordPress community cannot control and improve upon the location, frequency, language, and other aspects of notifications and notices inside the WordPress admin interface, the experience will continue to degrade for users, and Cory thinks WordPress.org will step in. Also covered: David finds the animated GIFs (pronounced however David said it) starting to annoy him in the WordPress plugin repository. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about Cory's recent negative experiences with admin notices in the WordPress dashboard. If the WordPress community cannot control and improve upon the location, frequency, language, and other aspects of notifications and notices inside the WordPress admin interface, the experience will continue to degrade for users, and Cory thinks WordPress.org will step in. Also covered: David finds the animated GIFs (pronounced however David said it) starting to annoy him in the WordPress plugin repository. wordpress, admin spam, wordpress plugins, wordpress.org, dashboard notifications, wp notify, wordpress interface, admin notices, wordpress repository no bonus c23fa47a-7111-439d-9fb3-0aa0fdad0876 Beth Livingston on WordPress Project Management In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian Krogsgard talks with Beth Livingston, M. Ed. 

Today, Beth is an Online Course Creator and Educator at WP Roadmaps and Coaching. Previously, Beth worked in education and corporate IT management. When she joined the WordPress community, Beth saw a need that combined these two roles: project management education and training.

WordPress Designers and Developers from Freelancers to Agencies Face the Same Problems

While attending WordCamps, WordPress Meetups, and engaging in WordPress Facebook groups, Beth kept hearing the same questions:

  • How do I get the client to give me the content?
  • How can I control scope creep without angering my client?
  • What does it take for my client to understand how much is involved in building a website?

Beth learned how to solve these problems during her many years as an IT Business Analyst, Instructional Designer, and Project Manager. For that reason, it was a logical step for her to help WordPress professionals by offering online courses and private coaching in project management.

Whether you are a developer, designer, or agency, if you manage WordPress projects, Beth can help.

Learn about the key principles of WordPress project management with Beth in this interview. She covers deep discovery, proper proposals and estimates, scope creep, and gold plating.

Project management is not a plugin or SaaS tool like Trello, Asana, or Wrike. It's a role and a task with a skillset you train to acquire.

🔗 Mentioned in the show

 

👍 Sponsor: Sandhills Development

No matter what you’re working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development has a tool that can help you. Sell digital products with Easy Digital Downloads. Use AffiliateWP as your affiliate marketing solution. Sugar Calendar is event management made easy. And WP Simple Pay is a lightweight Stripe payments plugin. Craft superior experiences with the ingenuity of Sandhills’ plugins.

]]> Wed, 21 Apr 2021 00:03:10 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard, Beth Livingston) https://poststatus.com/beth-livingston-on-wordpress-project-management/ In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian Krogsgard talks with Beth Livingston, M. Ed. 

Today, Beth is an Online Course Creator and Educator at WP Roadmaps and Coaching. Previously, Beth worked in education and corporate IT management. When she joined the WordPress community, Beth saw a need that combined these two roles: project management education and training.

WordPress Designers and Developers from Freelancers to Agencies Face the Same Problems

While attending WordCamps, WordPress Meetups, and engaging in WordPress Facebook groups, Beth kept hearing the same questions:

  • How do I get the client to give me the content?
  • How can I control scope creep without angering my client?
  • What does it take for my client to understand how much is involved in building a website?

Beth learned how to solve these problems during her many years as an IT Business Analyst, Instructional Designer, and Project Manager. For that reason, it was a logical step for her to help WordPress professionals by offering online courses and private coaching in project management.

Whether you are a developer, designer, or agency, if you manage WordPress projects, Beth can help.

Learn about the key principles of WordPress project management with Beth in this interview. She covers deep discovery, proper proposals and estimates, scope creep, and gold plating.

Project management is not a plugin or SaaS tool like Trello, Asana, or Wrike. It's a role and a task with a skillset you train to acquire.

🔗 Mentioned in the show

 

👍 Sponsor: Sandhills Development

No matter what you’re working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development has a tool that can help you. Sell digital products with Easy Digital Downloads. Use AffiliateWP as your affiliate marketing solution. Sugar Calendar is event management made easy. And WP Simple Pay is a lightweight Stripe payments plugin. Craft superior experiences with the ingenuity of Sandhills’ plugins.

]]> Beth Livingston on WordPress Project Management Brian Krogsgard, Beth Livingston 00:45:37 Beth Livingston of WP Roadmaps (https://WPRoadmaps.com​) talks with Brian about project management for WordPress professionals — from freelance designers and developers to agencies. This episode is presented by Sandhills Development. Check out the suite of tools available with Sandhills at https://poststatus.com/sandhills​. Beth Livingston of WP Roadmaps (https://WPRoadmaps.com​) talks with Brian about project management for WordPress professionals — from freelance designers and developers to agencies. This episode is presented by Sandhills Development. Check out the suite of tools available with Sandhills at https://poststatus.com/sandhills​. post status, web developers, wordpress, brian krogsgard, project management, freelancers, agencies, beth livingston, post status draft, wordpress professionals, web designers no full 111 84a9c3e2-4562-4dd4-9d79-2bb1b7471942 Post Status Excerpt (No. 6) - Scope Creep and Full Site Editing In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about some upcoming Post Status webinars. One will feature Natasha Golinsky from On Purpose Projects. (You can RSVP here.) Natasha has a great take on scope creep and what she has done to obliterate it. WordPress freelancers and agencies live and die by setting their project estimates on target, so this is really valuable information in that line of work.

Also covered: David touches on the latest Full Site Editing news.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast SEO

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Thu, 15 Apr 2021 21:53:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/6/ In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about some upcoming Post Status webinars. One will feature Natasha Golinsky from On Purpose Projects. (You can RSVP here.) Natasha has a great take on scope creep and what she has done to obliterate it. WordPress freelancers and agencies live and die by setting their project estimates on target, so this is really valuable information in that line of work.

Also covered: David touches on the latest Full Site Editing news.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the show:

🙏 Sponsor: Yoast SEO

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 6) - Scope Creep and Full Site Editing Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:18:01 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about some upcoming Post Status webinars. One will feature Natasha Golinsky from On Purpose Projects. Natasha has a great take on scope creep and what she has done to obliterate it. In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about some upcoming Post Status webinars. One will feature Natasha Golinsky from On Purpose Projects. Natasha has a great take on scope creep and what she has done to obliterate it. natasha golinsky, on purpose projects, gutenberg, wordpress freelancers, wordpress agencies, wordpress full site editing, scope creep no bonus 9a76b4d6-1ed5-4bcf-95bd-d2d9ae36919b Anil Gupta on Multicollab — A New Collaboration Plugin for WordPress Multidots recently released Multicollab, a Google Docs-style internal commenting tool to take suggestions from stakeholders and feedback from editors within your content inside a WordPress site. It's for use with the new visual editor (Gutenberg) and works with most blocks by allowing you to attach comments to them.

How Multicollab Works:

Key features for Multicollab are inline comments inside posts and pages, the ability to mention other admin users, reply to comments, and resolve comments. Email notifications about comment activity keep everyone engaged with a group site building, or content authoring and editing process.

🎧 Listen to the audio or watch the video at Post Status Draft. 📺

🔗 Mentioned in the show

👍 Sponsor: Yoast SEO

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Fri, 9 Apr 2021 16:11:33 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Anil Gupta, Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/anil-gupta-on-multicollab-a-new-collaboration-plugin-for-wordpress/ Multidots recently released Multicollab, a Google Docs-style internal commenting tool to take suggestions from stakeholders and feedback from editors within your content inside a WordPress site. It's for use with the new visual editor (Gutenberg) and works with most blocks by allowing you to attach comments to them.

How Multicollab Works:

Key features for Multicollab are inline comments inside posts and pages, the ability to mention other admin users, reply to comments, and resolve comments. Email notifications about comment activity keep everyone engaged with a group site building, or content authoring and editing process.

🎧 Listen to the audio or watch the video at Post Status Draft. 📺

🔗 Mentioned in the show

👍 Sponsor: Yoast SEO

Yoast is SEO for everyone. Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support and extra features like internal linking, social previews, a redirect manager, tutorial videos, and integration with Google Webmaster Tools. Get on board today with the premiere SEO plugin for WordPress — Yoast.

]]> Anil Gupta on Multicollab — A New Collaboration Plugin for WordPress Anil Gupta, Brian Krogsgard 00:49:51 In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian catches up with Anil Gupta, CEO and co-founder of MultiDots. MultiDots recently released Multicollab, a Google Docs-style internal commenting tool to take suggestions from stakeholders and feedback from editors within content inside a WordPress site. In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian catches up with Anil Gupta, CEO and co-founder of MultiDots. MultiDots recently released Multicollab, a Google Docs-style internal commenting tool to take suggestions from stakeholders and feedback from editors within content inside a WordPress site. wordpress, multicollab, wordpress plugin yes full 110 653147c1-ea36-4fe7-8000-162287e7a5e8 Post Status Excerpt (No. 5) - Acquisitions, FSE Live "Review", Underrepresented In Tech, Taylor Arndt In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about two acquisitions. One involves iThemes, and the other involves GravityView. Cory mentions his recent interview with Michelle Frechette about UnderrepresentedInTech.com, while David notes some news from Post Status Slack that might have missed broader notice.

Also covered: Cory wants 🎧. Sigh.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the Show:

👍 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Fri, 9 Apr 2021 04:45:28 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/5/ In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about two acquisitions. One involves iThemes, and the other involves GravityView. Cory mentions his recent interview with Michelle Frechette about UnderrepresentedInTech.com, while David notes some news from Post Status Slack that might have missed broader notice.

Also covered: Cory wants 🎧. Sigh.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash. ⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the Show:

👍 Sponsor: Pagely

You need durable Managed WordPress Hosting for all your mission-critical sites. Pagely offers managed DevOps and a flexible stack with the same enterprise-level support to all its customers. Peace of mind starts with Pagely. Try it today!

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 5) - Acquisitions, FSE Live "Review", Underrepresented In Tech, Taylor Arndt Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:19:27 David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about two acquisitions - one involving iThemes and the other involving GravityView. Cory mentions his recent interview with Michelle Frechette about UnderrepresentedInTech.com. David notes some items made known in Post Status Slack that might have missed notice. David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about two acquisitions - one involving iThemes and the other involving GravityView. Cory mentions his recent interview with Michelle Frechette about UnderrepresentedInTech.com. David notes some items made known in Post Status Slack that might have missed notice. gravityview, wordpress, gutenberg, underpresented in tech, ithemes, full site editing, taylor arndt no bonus 6bbcabcc-12b5-40ca-ab4f-0e8bba12695f Post Status Excerpt (No. 4) - Our Job Board, Post Status Gigs, and WordPress Settings Screens In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about some upcoming enhancements to the Post Status job board and Cory's experience with the current #gig channel in Post Status Slack.

Also covered: David talks about a Brian Krogsgard tweet rant on WordPress settings screens. David asks Cory if he thinks some old "wrinkles" in WordPress might eventually be harmful.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news relevant to the Post Status community — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash.⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the show

Sponsor: Wordfence

Wordfence protects over 4 million WordPress websites with a world-class firewall and malware scanner. It is the most popular security plugin available, protecting WordPress sites from spam, malware, and other threats through the real-time threat defense feed.

]]> Fri, 2 Apr 2021 15:53:45 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/4 In this episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about some upcoming enhancements to the Post Status job board and Cory's experience with the current #gig channel in Post Status Slack.

Also covered: David talks about a Brian Krogsgard tweet rant on WordPress settings screens. David asks Cory if he thinks some old "wrinkles" in WordPress might eventually be harmful.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news relevant to the Post Status community — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash.⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the show

Sponsor: Wordfence

Wordfence protects over 4 million WordPress websites with a world-class firewall and malware scanner. It is the most popular security plugin available, protecting WordPress sites from spam, malware, and other threats through the real-time threat defense feed.

]]> Post Status Excerpt (No. 4) - Our Job Board, Post Status Gigs, and WordPress Settings Screens David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:20:56 David and Cory talk about the Post Status job board and #gigs Slack channel, as well as WordPress settings screens that make Brian scream. 😱 David and Cory talk about the Post Status job board and #gigs Slack channel, as well as WordPress settings screens that make Brian scream. 😱 post status, wordpress, post status gigs, wordpress gigs, post status slack, wordpress jobs, wordpress comments, wordpress settings no bonus a84e3b42-7411-4394-9102-538798b09312 Excerpt: Episode 3 - The Future of the Solo WordPress Plugin Developer, Jobs, and Post Status Slack In the third episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about what they think the future of the "single" or "solo" WordPress plugin developer might be. They also share some good points made by club members in Post Status Slack earlier in the week.

Also covered: Cory talks about being approached by a member of the WordPress community about finding employment opportunities to "break into" the WordPress space.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news relevant to the Post Status community — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash.⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the show

👍 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Fri, 26 Mar 2021 05:46:51 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/3 In the third episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about what they think the future of the "single" or "solo" WordPress plugin developer might be. They also share some good points made by club members in Post Status Slack earlier in the week.

Also covered: Cory talks about being approached by a member of the WordPress community about finding employment opportunities to "break into" the WordPress space.

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news relevant to the Post Status community — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash.⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the show

👍 Sponsor: iThemes

Take the guesswork out of building, maintaining, and securing WordPress websites. Professional plugins and training from iThemes help you create and manage your sites. Secure, back up, and manage them quickly and easily. Master leading-edge WordPress skills to grow your business and make more money. Learn and grow with the experts at iThemes.

]]> Excerpt: Episode 3 - The Future of the Solo WordPress Plugin Developer, Jobs, and Post Status Slack Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:17:38 In the third episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about what they think the future of the "single" or "solo" WordPress plugin developer might be. They also share some good points made by club members in Post Status Slack earlier in the week. In the third episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller talk about what they think the future of the "single" or "solo" WordPress plugin developer might be. They also share some good points made by club members in Post Status Slack earlier in the week. plugin developers, wordpress, jobs no bonus 0df0606a-25fe-4842-88f1-3c9c478fbe23 Excerpt: Episode 2 - WPEngine's Atlas, Headless Wordpress, and Learning JavaScript Quick previews from this week's Post Status newsletter, WPEngine's Atlas, and Learning JavaScript 🆕

In the second episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller follow up on some positive developments in WordPress 5.7. Then they cover the highlights of this week's Post Status newsletter. David talks about WPEngine's release of "Atlas," which addresses a growing "headless WordPress" interest in the community.

Also covered: Cory checks in on "learning JavaScript deeply" with David. Is this still a priority for today's WordPress developer?

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news relevant to the Post Status community — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash.⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the show

 

Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Fri, 19 Mar 2021 19:17:25 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/2/ Quick previews from this week's Post Status newsletter, WPEngine's Atlas, and Learning JavaScript 🆕

In the second episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller follow up on some positive developments in WordPress 5.7. Then they cover the highlights of this week's Post Status newsletter. David talks about WPEngine's release of "Atlas," which addresses a growing "headless WordPress" interest in the community.

Also covered: Cory checks in on "learning JavaScript deeply" with David. Is this still a priority for today's WordPress developer?

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news relevant to the Post Status community — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash.⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the show

 

Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Excerpt: Episode 2 - WPEngine's Atlas, Headless Wordpress, and Learning JavaScript David Bisset, Cory Miller 00:29:46 In the second episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller follow up on some positive developments in WordPress 5.7. Then they cover the highlights of this week's Post Status newsletter. David talks about WPEngine's release of "Atlas," which addresses a growing "headless WordPress" interest in the community. In the second episode of Post Status Excerpt, David Bisset and Cory Miller follow up on some positive developments in WordPress 5.7. Then they cover the highlights of this week's Post Status newsletter. David talks about WPEngine's release of "Atlas," which addresses a growing "headless WordPress" interest in the community. atlas, wpengine, wordpress, headless cms, javascript no bonus 5dfbb056-0b82-494f-9df5-63d99a230c22 Chris Hardie on WP Lookout and how information flows in the WordPress community Chris Hardie has been a web developer since the late 1990s. In this episode of the Post Status Draft podcast, Chris talks with Brian Krogsgard about his career as a deep generalist. Chris has worked as a writer, journalist, political candidate, and consultant, as well as a technologist and web developer.

This conversation touches on the challenges of winding down an agency and handling clients. Chris also talks about his experiences with the Special Projects team at Automattic, running for local office, being a journalist, and now launching WP Lookout to help site owners and developers safely update WordPress websites.

☝️ Safe WordPress Updates

Automatic updates are great, but what if you could get critical information about potentially breaking changes to WordPress core? What if you could get notified about changes to the plugins and themes you and your clients rely on?

WP Lookout is a new service that monitors WordPress core, plugin, and theme updates so you can apply them safely. You can subscribe to get notices about potentially breaking changes to the software you and your business depend on. 

🔗 Topics mentioned in the show

👍 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Wed, 17 Mar 2021 20:55:33 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard, Chris Hardie) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Chris Hardie has been a web developer since the late 1990s. In this episode of the Post Status Draft podcast, Chris talks with Brian Krogsgard about his career as a deep generalist. Chris has worked as a writer, journalist, political candidate, and consultant, as well as a technologist and web developer.

This conversation touches on the challenges of winding down an agency and handling clients. Chris also talks about his experiences with the Special Projects team at Automattic, running for local office, being a journalist, and now launching WP Lookout to help site owners and developers safely update WordPress websites.

☝️ Safe WordPress Updates

Automatic updates are great, but what if you could get critical information about potentially breaking changes to WordPress core? What if you could get notified about changes to the plugins and themes you and your clients rely on?

WP Lookout is a new service that monitors WordPress core, plugin, and theme updates so you can apply them safely. You can subscribe to get notices about potentially breaking changes to the software you and your business depend on. 

🔗 Topics mentioned in the show

👍 Sponsor: Bluehost

Everything your website needs — from start-up to success story — is at Bluehost. Whether you're looking to create a website, blog, or online store, Bluehost will get you started with an all-in-one website platform tailored to your specific needs. Get a free domain name in your first year, free 24/7 lifetime support, and total design freedom with WordPress at Bluehost.

]]> Chris Hardie on WP Lookout and how information flows in the WordPress community Brian Krogsgard, Chris Hardie 00:54:44 Chris Hardie talks with Brian about winding down a consulting business, working at Automattic, running for local office, working in journalism, and launching WP Lookout. Chris Hardie talks with Brian about winding down a consulting business, working at Automattic, running for local office, working in journalism, and launching WP Lookout. wordpress, wordpress agency, wordpress consulting, wp lookout, automattic no full 109 1666adef-ddd2-45ec-bc64-222de0decf0a Excerpt: Episode 1 - WordPress 5.7, Gutenberg, and PluginRank With this episode of Post Status Excerpt — the first of many to come — David Bisset and Cory Miller kick off the new show with a quick chat about the latest WordPress release (5.7 “Esperanza”) — what it addresses, and maybe a pet peeve or two about the new editor.

Also covered: PluginRank.com and the way it might be useful for WordPress entrepreneurs. 🔌

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news relevant to the Post Status community — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash.⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the Show:

👍 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics — and then send reports to your happy clients. 🙌

GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better. Try it today, for free.

]]> Fri, 12 Mar 2021 00:28:30 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller, David Bisset) https://poststatus.com/excerpt/1/ With this episode of Post Status Excerpt — the first of many to come — David Bisset and Cory Miller kick off the new show with a quick chat about the latest WordPress release (5.7 “Esperanza”) — what it addresses, and maybe a pet peeve or two about the new editor.

Also covered: PluginRank.com and the way it might be useful for WordPress entrepreneurs. 🔌

Every week Post Status Excerpt will brief you on important WordPress news relevant to the Post Status community — in about 15 minutes or less! Learn what's new in WordPress in a flash.⚡

🔗 Mentioned in the Show:

👍 Sponsor: GoDaddy Pro

Manage your clients, websites, and tasks from a single dashboard with GoDaddy Pro. Perform security scans, backups, and remote updates to many sites on any host. Check up on site performance, monitor uptime and analytics — and then send reports to your happy clients. 🙌

GoDaddy Pro is free — and designed to make your life better. Try it today, for free.

]]> Excerpt: Episode 1 - WordPress 5.7, Gutenberg, and PluginRank Cory Miller, David Bisset 00:20:04 Get the latest WordPress news from Post Status team members David Bisset and Cory Miller in the Post Status Excerpt. Topics: WordPress 5.7, the visual editor, and PluginRank.com. 🔌 Get the latest WordPress news from Post Status team members David Bisset and Cory Miller in the Post Status Excerpt. Topics: WordPress 5.7, the visual editor, and PluginRank.com. 🔌 wordpress, gutenberg, wordpress 5.7, pluginrank no bonus 441bd7d8-18cf-45e4-9478-5ed8697986b2 Angela Jin on WordCamp US 2020 Cancellation and the Future of WordPress Education In this episode of Post Status Draft, David Bisset talks with Angela Jin. Angela joined Automattic in 2018 and is one of the community organizers for the WordPress open source project. She has been helping organize, start conversations, and setting policies for WordCamps over the last few years.

David recorded this interview around the time that WordCamp US 2020 would have normally taken place in St. Louis, Missouri. WordCamp US organizers decided to cancel the event months before it would have taken place due to COVID-19. There were questions about what led to that decision. Why didn't it become a virtual conference, like WordCamp Europe? What are organizers planning for future WordCamp US events and WordPress education in general?

David sat down with Angela to get a better understanding of the WordPress community and its needs during a pivotal time of change. Join us as we discuss what the future holds for the conferences, meetups, and other social gatherings we've enjoyed in the past.

Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best-in-class managed WordPress hosting, powered by Amazon's Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Pagely helps big brands scale WordPress.Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner!

]]> Fri, 5 Mar 2021 23:25:49 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (David Bisset, Angela Jin) https://poststatus.com/future-of-wordcamp-us-and-wordpress-education/ In this episode of Post Status Draft, David Bisset talks with Angela Jin. Angela joined Automattic in 2018 and is one of the community organizers for the WordPress open source project. She has been helping organize, start conversations, and setting policies for WordCamps over the last few years.

David recorded this interview around the time that WordCamp US 2020 would have normally taken place in St. Louis, Missouri. WordCamp US organizers decided to cancel the event months before it would have taken place due to COVID-19. There were questions about what led to that decision. Why didn't it become a virtual conference, like WordCamp Europe? What are organizers planning for future WordCamp US events and WordPress education in general?

David sat down with Angela to get a better understanding of the WordPress community and its needs during a pivotal time of change. Join us as we discuss what the future holds for the conferences, meetups, and other social gatherings we've enjoyed in the past.

Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best-in-class managed WordPress hosting, powered by Amazon's Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Pagely helps big brands scale WordPress.Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner!

]]> Angela Jin on WordCamp US 2020 Cancellation and the Future of WordPress Education David Bisset, Angela Jin 01:07:57 A WordPress community organizer at Automattic, Angela Jin is our guest on the latest episode of Post Status Draft. Join us as we ask what the future holds for the conferences, meetups, and other social gatherings we’ve enjoyed in the past. A WordPress community organizer at Automattic, Angela Jin is our guest on the latest episode of Post Status Draft. Join us as we ask what the future holds for the conferences, meetups, and other social gatherings we’ve enjoyed in the past. wordcamp us 2020, wordpress, wordcamp, wordcamp us, wcus, covid-19 no full 108 2140cc2a-3c0f-4d8b-8564-fc8dd655786a Joe Casabona on creating quality content and courses David Bisset interviews Joe Casabona, an independent creator and teacher, and discusses what it's like to be a creator as his job, plus some news topics.

Links

Partner: Sandhills Development

Sandhills Development crafts ingenuity, developed with care:

  • Easy Digital Downloads – Sell digital products with WordPress
  • AffiliateWP – A full-featured affiliate marketing solution
  • Sugar Calendar – WordPress event management made simple
  • WP Simple Pay – A lightweight Stripe payments plugin
]]> Wed, 21 Oct 2020 21:16:39 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts David Bisset interviews Joe Casabona, an independent creator and teacher, and discusses what it's like to be a creator as his job, plus some news topics.

Links

Partner: Sandhills Development

Sandhills Development crafts ingenuity, developed with care:

  • Easy Digital Downloads – Sell digital products with WordPress
  • AffiliateWP – A full-featured affiliate marketing solution
  • Sugar Calendar – WordPress event management made simple
  • WP Simple Pay – A lightweight Stripe payments plugin
]]> Joe Casabona on creating quality content and courses Cory Miller 01:07:18 In this episode, David Bisset talks to Joe Casabona about creating content through both his podcast and courses, plus some of the recent news in the WordPress landscape. In this episode, David Bisset talks to Joe Casabona about creating content through both his podcast and courses, plus some of the recent news in the WordPress landscape. no full 107 579bbc18-d79d-4b90-a4e4-e4ea2b1de703 Joost de Valk on WordPress marketshare David Bisset makes his podcast debut for Post Status, as he interviews Joost de Valk, of Yoast, and discusses all things WordPress marketshare related.

]]> Tue, 6 Oct 2020 22:19:32 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts David Bisset makes his podcast debut for Post Status, as he interviews Joost de Valk, of Yoast, and discusses all things WordPress marketshare related.

]]> Joost de Valk on WordPress marketshare Cory Miller 00:50:30 In this episode of Post Status Draft, David Bisset interviews Joost de Valk about WordPress marketshare and CMS trends. In this episode of Post Status Draft, David Bisset interviews Joost de Valk about WordPress marketshare and CMS trends. no full 106 4976ad9a-55f8-46eb-b9af-ac26c6375ae2 Creating healthy virtual work environments Tue, 4 Aug 2020 19:28:59 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Creating healthy virtual work environments Cory Miller 00:28:05 In this episode of the Draft podcast, Cory and Brian discuss creating and operating in healthy virtual environments: For work, conference, and personal use -- all in a world that prevents the familiar physical experiences. In this episode of the Draft podcast, Cory and Brian discuss creating and operating in healthy virtual environments: For work, conference, and personal use -- all in a world that prevents the familiar physical experiences. no full 105 79d009d1-bfc9-4086-9e1f-59ef0216de0c On static WordPress, with Miriam Schwab of Strattic Miriam Schwab is co-founder and CEO of Strattic, a business making a big bet on the future of WordPress — and in particular for using it to create static websites.

They recently raised $6.5 million dollars in an oversubscribed round. Strattic aims to enable the power and flexibility of a dynamic WordPress website like we all know, with the security and speed of a completely static website.

In this interview, Cory Miller talks to Miriam about her journey to this moment, the Strattic product, raising money, and more.

Partner: Yoast

This episode is brought to you by Yoast, the best WordPress SEO solution, hands down. You can upgrade to Yoast SEO premium, or take advantage of their great bundles that include outstanding training resources so you can fully take advantage of all the awesome tools Yoast SEO provides.

]]> Wed, 13 May 2020 23:15:13 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/?p=78861 Miriam Schwab is co-founder and CEO of Strattic, a business making a big bet on the future of WordPress — and in particular for using it to create static websites.

They recently raised $6.5 million dollars in an oversubscribed round. Strattic aims to enable the power and flexibility of a dynamic WordPress website like we all know, with the security and speed of a completely static website.

In this interview, Cory Miller talks to Miriam about her journey to this moment, the Strattic product, raising money, and more.

Partner: Yoast

This episode is brought to you by Yoast, the best WordPress SEO solution, hands down. You can upgrade to Yoast SEO premium, or take advantage of their great bundles that include outstanding training resources so you can fully take advantage of all the awesome tools Yoast SEO provides.

]]> On static WordPress, with Miriam Schwab of Strattic Cory Miller 00:42:20 Miriam Schwab is the co-founder and CEO of Strattic, a company that has raised $6.5 million in an effort to blend the flexibility of WordPress with the speed and security of static websites. Miriam Schwab is the co-founder and CEO of Strattic, a company that has raised $6.5 million in an effort to blend the flexibility of WordPress with the speed and security of static websites. no full 104 938c5d5b-8c28-492b-a0b0-2290a494277d Professional WordPress Plugin Development: Interview with the authors Professional WordPress Plugin Development was one of the most helpful books I've ever read. To see a new edition with two returning authors, nine years after the original, is very exciting.

This edition of the book will be sure to offer a great resource for developer education for years to come. Brad Williams, Justin Tadlock, and John James Jacoby are each extremely talented developers and communicators. The work they can accomplish together is even greater.

Cory talks to them about their histories, the book, the process, and much more. We hope you enjoy this episode of Post Status Draft.

You can pre-order Professional WordPress Plugin Development now on Amazon. It is slated to be released June 10th.

Episode Partner: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest, most trusted tool to create advanced forms for your WordPress-powered website. I use Gravity Forms on every WordPress site I own, and I know I can always rely on its power, flexibility, and reliability.

Try Gravity Forms today.

]]> Wed, 29 Apr 2020 04:26:24 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Professional WordPress Plugin Development was one of the most helpful books I've ever read. To see a new edition with two returning authors, nine years after the original, is very exciting.

This edition of the book will be sure to offer a great resource for developer education for years to come. Brad Williams, Justin Tadlock, and John James Jacoby are each extremely talented developers and communicators. The work they can accomplish together is even greater.

Cory talks to them about their histories, the book, the process, and much more. We hope you enjoy this episode of Post Status Draft.

You can pre-order Professional WordPress Plugin Development now on Amazon. It is slated to be released June 10th.

Episode Partner: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms is the easiest, most trusted tool to create advanced forms for your WordPress-powered website. I use Gravity Forms on every WordPress site I own, and I know I can always rely on its power, flexibility, and reliability.

Try Gravity Forms today.

]]> Professional WordPress Plugin Development: Interview with the authors Cory Miller 01:02:24 In this episode of Post Status Draft, Cory Miller interviews the authors of the (second edition) of Professional WordPress Plugin Development. In this episode of Post Status Draft, Cory Miller interviews the authors of the (second edition) of Professional WordPress Plugin Development. no full 103 6dbe2871-0865-46a5-b7eb-22e424ccb5f8 Taking care of your mental health in uncertain times, with Dr. Sherry Walling Dr. Sherry Walling is a psychologist and entrepreneur, adept at, “helping smart people do hard things.” She was gracious to talk in a Post Status Webinar with Cory Miller, about how to navigate life in uncertain times like we have now.

Topics discussed

  • Managing fear, worry, and anxiety
  • The Coronavirus, and how to handle it
  • Isolation, social distancing, remote work, and our mental health
  • Q&A on work boundaries, stress, and more

Links

Episode Parter: WordFence

If your website is mission-critical you can't afford the downtime, reputation challenges or SEO impact of getting hacked. That's why so many sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium.

Wordfence protects your websites with the best WordPress security available, and offers a powerful and efficient way to manage security for multiple sites in one place with Wordfence Central.

]]> Thu, 19 Mar 2020 01:42:19 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/?p=78135 Dr. Sherry Walling is a psychologist and entrepreneur, adept at, “helping smart people do hard things.” She was gracious to talk in a Post Status Webinar with Cory Miller, about how to navigate life in uncertain times like we have now.

Topics discussed

  • Managing fear, worry, and anxiety
  • The Coronavirus, and how to handle it
  • Isolation, social distancing, remote work, and our mental health
  • Q&A on work boundaries, stress, and more

Links

Episode Parter: WordFence

If your website is mission-critical you can't afford the downtime, reputation challenges or SEO impact of getting hacked. That's why so many sites rely on the real-time protection provided by Wordfence Premium.

Wordfence protects your websites with the best WordPress security available, and offers a powerful and efficient way to manage security for multiple sites in one place with Wordfence Central.

]]> Taking care of your mental health in uncertain times, with Dr. Sherry Walling Cory Miller 01:02:24 In this episode of Post Status Draft, Cory Miller does a live Q&A webinar with Dr. Sherry Walling on mental health in uncertain times. In this episode of Post Status Draft, Cory Miller does a live Q&A webinar with Dr. Sherry Walling on mental health in uncertain times. no full 102 955701cf-f15f-4fd2-a9d7-875e03e5b867 The benefits of Masterminds, with Ken Wallace Ken Wallace runs Mastermind Jam, which according to the website, “gives you everything you need to join, create, and manage your mastermind group, all without having to waste time cobbling together a bunch of different software, forms, and shared documents, even if you don't have a large personal network.”

Some of the topics discussed about Masterminds

  • Defining what a mastermind is
  • The difference between a mastermind and other community channels
  • Why masterminds are important to hold with peers outside of your company
  • Learning to trust your mastermind
  • The importance of consistency, and setting up a regular cadence
  • How to structure conversations
  • How to find people for a mastermind

Episode Parter: Sandhills Development

No matter what you're working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development probably has a tool that can help you.

  • Easy Digital Downloads – Sell digital products with WordPress
  • AffiliateWP – A full-featured affiliate marketing solution
  • Restrict Content Pro – A powerful membership plugin for WordPress
  • Sugar Calendar – WordPress event management made simple
  • WP Simple Pay – A lightweight Stripe payments plugin
]]> Tue, 10 Mar 2020 16:38:52 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Ken Wallace runs Mastermind Jam, which according to the website, “gives you everything you need to join, create, and manage your mastermind group, all without having to waste time cobbling together a bunch of different software, forms, and shared documents, even if you don't have a large personal network.”

Some of the topics discussed about Masterminds

  • Defining what a mastermind is
  • The difference between a mastermind and other community channels
  • Why masterminds are important to hold with peers outside of your company
  • Learning to trust your mastermind
  • The importance of consistency, and setting up a regular cadence
  • How to structure conversations
  • How to find people for a mastermind

Episode Parter: Sandhills Development

No matter what you're working on with your WordPress website, Sandhills Development probably has a tool that can help you.

  • Easy Digital Downloads – Sell digital products with WordPress
  • AffiliateWP – A full-featured affiliate marketing solution
  • Restrict Content Pro – A powerful membership plugin for WordPress
  • Sugar Calendar – WordPress event management made simple
  • WP Simple Pay – A lightweight Stripe payments plugin
]]> The benefits of Masterminds, with Ken Wallace Cory Miller 00:51:56 Ken Wallace and Cory Miller talk about what masterminds are, how they work, and what benefits they can provide entrepreneurs and other professionals. Ken Wallace and Cory Miller talk about what masterminds are, how they work, and what benefits they can provide entrepreneurs and other professionals. no full 101 d9040e02-6962-4b39-bf17-086a5cdf479c Syed Balkhi on the acquisition of All In One SEO Syed Balkhi joins me to discuss the acquisition of AIO SEO.

Some of the questions he answers:

  • So who is your target customer with All in One SEO?
  • How is the model structured? You’re directing strategy… is there a Christoff or Atchison in this setup?
  • How does your vision for AIOSEO compare to what you see in Yoast SEO?
  • How do you envision the free/premium divide?
  • What are the first three things you plan to do?
  • How did the conversation w/ Michael start? You approach him? He approach you? Tell me a story.
  • How far do you think you can scale this business model?
  • What do you think about the consolidation we’re seeing in the plugin ecosystem — the consolidation you’re a major player in?

Links:

]]> Thu, 6 Feb 2020 18:58:59 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Syed Balkhi joins me to discuss the acquisition of AIO SEO.

Some of the questions he answers:

  • So who is your target customer with All in One SEO?
  • How is the model structured? You’re directing strategy… is there a Christoff or Atchison in this setup?
  • How does your vision for AIOSEO compare to what you see in Yoast SEO?
  • How do you envision the free/premium divide?
  • What are the first three things you plan to do?
  • How did the conversation w/ Michael start? You approach him? He approach you? Tell me a story.
  • How far do you think you can scale this business model?
  • What do you think about the consolidation we’re seeing in the plugin ecosystem — the consolidation you’re a major player in?

Links:

]]> Syed Balkhi on the acquisition of All In One SEO Cory Miller 00:28:18 In this episode of Post Status Draft, I talk to Syed Balkhi about Awesome Motive's acquisition of All In One SEO, the long-running SEO plugin by Michael Torbert, which boasts more than 2 million active installs. In this episode of Post Status Draft, I talk to Syed Balkhi about Awesome Motive's acquisition of All In One SEO, the long-running SEO plugin by Michael Torbert, which boasts more than 2 million active installs. no full 100 796d6bbb-ea1c-427a-bf24-52ea1471d479 Working on multiple things, and working with Partners A lot of folks in the WordPress economy, whether employed with a side hustle or self-employed, manage multiple things. Also, many of us work with partners, or are interested in partnerships.

Cory has long worked with partners, and we're now running Post Status as partners. Also, we are both working on several projects.

In this episode of Draft, we talk about how to balance multiple things, how we try and structure our weeks, and some things to consider when working with partners.

Show links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best-in-class managed WordPress hosting, powered by Amazon's Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Pagely helps big brands scale WordPress. Their new platform NorthStack is a completely serverless solution for managed application hosting. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner!

]]> Tue, 4 Feb 2020 01:11:58 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts A lot of folks in the WordPress economy, whether employed with a side hustle or self-employed, manage multiple things. Also, many of us work with partners, or are interested in partnerships.

Cory has long worked with partners, and we're now running Post Status as partners. Also, we are both working on several projects.

In this episode of Draft, we talk about how to balance multiple things, how we try and structure our weeks, and some things to consider when working with partners.

Show links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best-in-class managed WordPress hosting, powered by Amazon's Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Pagely helps big brands scale WordPress. Their new platform NorthStack is a completely serverless solution for managed application hosting. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner!

]]> Working on multiple things, and working with Partners Cory Miller 00:47:17 In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian and Cory talk about balancing multiple projects, and working with partners. In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian and Cory talk about balancing multiple projects, and working with partners. no full 99 fb9cb91d-a090-4173-b1f5-27c6119c435f Introducing a new chapter, with Cory Miller as Post Status partner I created Post Status in January 2013 and started the Club in January 2015. January 2020 marks another huge milestone for this community and business.

I’m very excited to share that Cory Miller is now an equal partner of Post Status. Cory purchased half the business and will be working with me in the day-to-day management, writing, community engagement, and everything else we do with Post Status.

Many should know Cory from his ten years running iThemes. After they sold the business to Liquid Web and he spent some time there, he decided to step away and continue his entrepreneurial journey. He’s working on a few projects, and Post Status is a significant part of where he’s dedicating his time and energy.

Cory is a long-time friend, and iThemes has been a Post Status sponsorship partner since 2015. Cory understands the community, the role Post Status plays in the space, and he brings so much to the table, from established community relationships to product and business experience.

We’ve known one another going back to 2010 or so. I got to watch as he navigated the WordPress space as the CEO of a theme company turned plugin company, from inception to exit.

Cory has so many qualities I admire. Most of all, I admire his honesty, his compassion, his passion for people, and his vision for what’s possible. I look forward to working with a true partner on Post Status after so many years of managing the primary responsibilities with much help from many friends and contractors along the way.

In addition to Cory and myself, David Bisset and Dan Knauss continue to be integral parts of the Post Status effort. Cory and I are thankful for their energy, consistency, and talents.

We are working together in Oklahoma City this week to finalize our plans for the 2020 year. We already have a lot planned and are looking to get these new initiatives and processes off to a rocking start.

Potential in the WordPress community

There is so much potential in the WordPress community, and Post Status plays an important role through news, community, and professional development. We are going to continue to do that, and we are also going to make changes that we think will benefit the community as a whole and Post Status Club Members in particular.

If you’ve ever thought about joining the Post Status Club, it’s a great time to do so. At a minimum, anyone in the WordPress community should subscribe to the newsletter. If you’ve been a member before, we thank you, and we hope we are able to continue to serve you for years to come — better than ever, better together.

Cory's thoughts

I asked Cory to share a couple of his own thoughts on why he’s investing in Post Status, both with his money and energy.

I’ve been a fan and supporter of Post Status since the beginning. At iThemes we were one of Brian’s first sponsors. Over the years I leaned on Brian’s insights and counsel — personally as well as through Post Status — to inform and grow iThemes.

When Brian approached me about becoming a partner my first reaction was, “Heck yes!” Over our weeks and months of conversations, my excitement grew and grew as our goals and aspirations for Post Status were revealed to be so well aligned.

I truly believe in what Brian has built. And I only want to be a value add and look forward to coming alongside Brian, the Post Status team and this great community.

We're so excited to finally be able to make this official. We look forward to continuing to serve you our readers, our Club members, our partners, and the broader community.

]]> Mon, 20 Jan 2020 16:04:45 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts I created Post Status in January 2013 and started the Club in January 2015. January 2020 marks another huge milestone for this community and business.

I’m very excited to share that Cory Miller is now an equal partner of Post Status. Cory purchased half the business and will be working with me in the day-to-day management, writing, community engagement, and everything else we do with Post Status.

Many should know Cory from his ten years running iThemes. After they sold the business to Liquid Web and he spent some time there, he decided to step away and continue his entrepreneurial journey. He’s working on a few projects, and Post Status is a significant part of where he’s dedicating his time and energy.

Cory is a long-time friend, and iThemes has been a Post Status sponsorship partner since 2015. Cory understands the community, the role Post Status plays in the space, and he brings so much to the table, from established community relationships to product and business experience.

We’ve known one another going back to 2010 or so. I got to watch as he navigated the WordPress space as the CEO of a theme company turned plugin company, from inception to exit.

Cory has so many qualities I admire. Most of all, I admire his honesty, his compassion, his passion for people, and his vision for what’s possible. I look forward to working with a true partner on Post Status after so many years of managing the primary responsibilities with much help from many friends and contractors along the way.

In addition to Cory and myself, David Bisset and Dan Knauss continue to be integral parts of the Post Status effort. Cory and I are thankful for their energy, consistency, and talents.

We are working together in Oklahoma City this week to finalize our plans for the 2020 year. We already have a lot planned and are looking to get these new initiatives and processes off to a rocking start.

Potential in the WordPress community

There is so much potential in the WordPress community, and Post Status plays an important role through news, community, and professional development. We are going to continue to do that, and we are also going to make changes that we think will benefit the community as a whole and Post Status Club Members in particular.

If you’ve ever thought about joining the Post Status Club, it’s a great time to do so. At a minimum, anyone in the WordPress community should subscribe to the newsletter. If you’ve been a member before, we thank you, and we hope we are able to continue to serve you for years to come — better than ever, better together.

Cory's thoughts

I asked Cory to share a couple of his own thoughts on why he’s investing in Post Status, both with his money and energy.

I’ve been a fan and supporter of Post Status since the beginning. At iThemes we were one of Brian’s first sponsors. Over the years I leaned on Brian’s insights and counsel — personally as well as through Post Status — to inform and grow iThemes.

When Brian approached me about becoming a partner my first reaction was, “Heck yes!” Over our weeks and months of conversations, my excitement grew and grew as our goals and aspirations for Post Status were revealed to be so well aligned.

I truly believe in what Brian has built. And I only want to be a value add and look forward to coming alongside Brian, the Post Status team and this great community.

We're so excited to finally be able to make this official. We look forward to continuing to serve you our readers, our Club members, our partners, and the broader community.

]]> Introducing a new chapter, with Cory Miller as Post Status partner Cory Miller 00:53:18 Cory Miller is now a co-owner and Partner of Post Status. He’s purchased half of the business and will help run and grow it moving forward. Cory Miller is now a co-owner and Partner of Post Status. He’s purchased half of the business and will help run and grow it moving forward. no full 98 00f41c06-2d1a-4bc1-ab5c-e16f891121b6 Scott Bolinger on WordPress, JAMstack, and the future of the independent developer In this episode, Scott and I dig into his world as an indie developer within the WordPress landscape.

Scott has long used JavaScript as a core technology with AppPresser. I think he's on the forefront of thinking about various technologies that are newer to WordPress but out in full force in other worlds.

Scott is really into JAMstack (JavaScript, APIs, Markup). He's working on Static Fuse now, which helps connect WordPress to Gatsby -- which has a lot of attention in the web space right now.

We also dig pretty deeply into the challenges and opportunities facing independent developers, and the interest levels in WordPress from the indie dev crowd. It's an interesting episode and I learned a lot from Scott. I hope you enjoy.

Other links from the show

 

Sponsor: Sandhills Development

Sandhills Development makes a suite of excellent plugins to power your WordPress website. Whether you need to sell digital downloads, restrict content, create an affiliate program, or manage an events calendar, they’ve got you covered. Thanks to Sandhills for being a Post Status partner.

]]> Sat, 16 Nov 2019 16:36:22 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts In this episode, Scott and I dig into his world as an indie developer within the WordPress landscape.

Scott has long used JavaScript as a core technology with AppPresser. I think he's on the forefront of thinking about various technologies that are newer to WordPress but out in full force in other worlds.

Scott is really into JAMstack (JavaScript, APIs, Markup). He's working on Static Fuse now, which helps connect WordPress to Gatsby -- which has a lot of attention in the web space right now.

We also dig pretty deeply into the challenges and opportunities facing independent developers, and the interest levels in WordPress from the indie dev crowd. It's an interesting episode and I learned a lot from Scott. I hope you enjoy.

Other links from the show

 

Sponsor: Sandhills Development

Sandhills Development makes a suite of excellent plugins to power your WordPress website. Whether you need to sell digital downloads, restrict content, create an affiliate program, or manage an events calendar, they’ve got you covered. Thanks to Sandhills for being a Post Status partner.

]]> Scott Bolinger on WordPress, JAMstack, and the future of the independent developer Cory Miller 00:59:50 Scott Bolinger talks to me about headless WordPress, JAMstack, APIs, and the state of the indie developer in the WordPress landscape. Scott Bolinger talks to me about headless WordPress, JAMstack, APIs, and the state of the indie developer in the WordPress landscape. no full 97 91aef34e-3183-44d2-b6a6-7adf84f19c0c Fear and uncertainty for WordPress, with Matt Medeiros Today I talk to Matt Medeiros, in a wide-ranging conversation about the WordPress ecosystem. It's informal and we cover a lot of different topics, but they all narrow down to various fears and uncertainties some in the WordPress community are experiencing in recent years.

What's the future of WordPress? How about the business community? Can smaller businesses make it? What threats exist: leadership, corporate, other platforms?

We cover a great deal here. It's not very structured, but I do think it's valuable to be able to capture a common line of sentiment in the WordPress community. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks to Matt for being so open with me in this episode.

Links from the show

Partner: Jilt

Jilt offers powerful email marketing built for eCommerce. From newsletters to highly segmented automations, Jilt is your one-stop show for eCommerce email. Join thousands of stores that have already earned tens of millions of dollars in extra sales using Jilt. Try Jilt for free

]]> Mon, 30 Sep 2019 16:55:36 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Today I talk to Matt Medeiros, in a wide-ranging conversation about the WordPress ecosystem. It's informal and we cover a lot of different topics, but they all narrow down to various fears and uncertainties some in the WordPress community are experiencing in recent years.

What's the future of WordPress? How about the business community? Can smaller businesses make it? What threats exist: leadership, corporate, other platforms?

We cover a great deal here. It's not very structured, but I do think it's valuable to be able to capture a common line of sentiment in the WordPress community. I hope you enjoy it, and thanks to Matt for being so open with me in this episode.

Links from the show

Partner: Jilt

Jilt offers powerful email marketing built for eCommerce. From newsletters to highly segmented automations, Jilt is your one-stop show for eCommerce email. Join thousands of stores that have already earned tens of millions of dollars in extra sales using Jilt. Try Jilt for free

]]> Fear and uncertainty for WordPress, with Matt Medeiros Cory Miller 01:13:27 Matt Medeiros talks to me about fear and uncertainty for WordPress. It's a wide ranging and casual conversation about various concerns present to many in the WordPress economy. Matt Medeiros talks to me about fear and uncertainty for WordPress. It's a wide ranging and casual conversation about various concerns present to many in the WordPress economy. no full 96 c8b58189-be2c-4a3f-aad0-37656839c920 Chat with a WordPress skeptic I talked with Kira Leigh, a full-stack creative entrepreneur and consultant. Skeptic may be too strong of a word, but she makes it clear that she thinks WordPress is too often used when it’s not necessary.

Kira handles every part of her projects, which typically stem with marketing and copywriting, but she takes on design, development, and whatever is required to get the job done. She is the type of person who WordPress should be able to serve quite ably. But more than not, she would rather steer clear.

In this episode of the Draft Podcast, I talk to her about her work, why she is pained by WordPress, and try to come to some conclusions from it all. I am not sure if I accomplish much, but I do feel like I am better able to see where she’s coming from.

This conversation stemmed from a friend linking me to a post Kira wrote that was (to my mind) a bit aggressive toward WordPress — and while perhaps not 100% accurate, it is 100% her perception of the reality that is working with WordPress.

Links from the show

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Pagely helps big brand scale WordPress. Their new brand Northstack is a completely serverless solution for managed application hosting. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner.

]]> Thu, 15 Aug 2019 21:29:28 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts I talked with Kira Leigh, a full-stack creative entrepreneur and consultant. Skeptic may be too strong of a word, but she makes it clear that she thinks WordPress is too often used when it’s not necessary.

Kira handles every part of her projects, which typically stem with marketing and copywriting, but she takes on design, development, and whatever is required to get the job done. She is the type of person who WordPress should be able to serve quite ably. But more than not, she would rather steer clear.

In this episode of the Draft Podcast, I talk to her about her work, why she is pained by WordPress, and try to come to some conclusions from it all. I am not sure if I accomplish much, but I do feel like I am better able to see where she’s coming from.

This conversation stemmed from a friend linking me to a post Kira wrote that was (to my mind) a bit aggressive toward WordPress — and while perhaps not 100% accurate, it is 100% her perception of the reality that is working with WordPress.

Links from the show

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Pagely helps big brand scale WordPress. Their new brand Northstack is a completely serverless solution for managed application hosting. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner.

]]> Chat with a WordPress skeptic Cory Miller 00:37:15 Kira Leigh works with WordPress, but in most instances she’d rather avoid it. I talk to her about why. Kira Leigh works with WordPress, but in most instances she’d rather avoid it. I talk to her about why. no full 95 687d631e-2c9f-4eae-a65d-a22cbefccd20 WooCommerce vs Shopify: A battle for ecommerce platform dominance Ben Thompson recently wrote about Shopify and the Power of Platforms. He highlights the difference between an aggregator (e.g. Amazon’s Merchant Services) and a platform (Shopify) and makes a case for how Shopify can successfully compete against Amazon. If you’re new to Ben’s work, I highly recommend following the links he references in the opening paragraphs.

Aggregators vs Platforms

As Ben explains, Amazon is an aggregator that owns the users (i.e. customers, Amazon Prime subscribers) and aggregates the suppliers (i.e. merchants, manufacturers). Amazon succeeds by providing a great user experience (e.g. one click checkout, same day delivery) and by treating products and their suppliers as commodities, all available to the customer in a single, aggregated shopping experience. While aggregation can provide high value for customers, it minimizes the opportunity for merchants to differentiate and can ultimately hurt customers as competition and innovation are stifled. 

A competitor to Amazon might try becoming a larger aggregator. It’s a difficult endeavor. Walmart has been trying for years. The larger an aggregator grows, the more entrenched their position, and the less likely a competitor can unseat them by utilizing the same strategy.

There is another way to compete with an aggregator. Build a platform. 

While an aggregator owns the customer and commoditizes its suppliers, a platform empowers those who build on it, relying on its suppliers being differentiated and successful in their own right. 

As Ben details in the article, Shopify’s best shot at taking on Amazon is to double-down on their focus as a platform and, by all evidence, that seems to be their strategy. Shopify wants to be the platform that empowers its merchants to succeed.

There are several problems I suggest with Shopify’s strategy, though.

  1. Data Control – Shopify has taken a strong stance on centralizing control of customer data and using their terms of service to enforce their policies. Their recent clash with MailChimp (who decided to leave the platform) may be indicative of more to come. It makes sense to have a centralized source of truth for your data. Shopify’s position, though, is an all or nothing approach that results in more lock-in to the platform and more data in their control. Actions that stifle or remove choice from the equation for end users and the suppliers who serve them is aggregator thinking more than platform thinking.
  2. Closed Source – Shopify is a proprietary platform with closed source code. While they make efforts to show open source friendliness, the reality is that the platform code is theirs. If you stop paying Shopify, you lose it all and if you don’t like what they’re doing with the platform, you’re stuck unless you choose to leave.
  3. Growth Risks – Shopify is growing fast and as a publicly traded company, they are focused on accelerating growth. Products like Shopify Capital, and the emphasis on offline services through Point-of-Sale as well as the continued push into enterprise, deepen the risk of growing for growth’s sake, rather than doing what’s best for the merchants they serve.

Shopify is a good solution for independent merchants who want to be more than an aggregated commodity. There are problems, though, and while Shopify is likely continue to grow despite the problems I’ve suggested (they have no shortage of interested investors), there is a better approach.

WooCommerce on WordPressOS

In my writing on Ecosystem Plugins, I introduced the concept of WordPress as an Operating System for the Open Web and cited WooCommerce as an example of an Ecosystem Plugin.

I believe strongly in the importance and value of WordPress as an Operating System, a platform, for the Open Web. 

With WooCommerce, I see potential for it to become more than an Ecosystem Plugin and serve as the platform for ecommerce on the Open Web. 

To do that, WooCommerce needs three things:

  1. A great core experience – Out-of-the-box, WooCommerce needs to have the essentials built-in and provide a great, user-focused onboarding and operating experience. It needs to be intuitive and accessible for non-technical, small business merchants, who should always be the core focus. Importantly, this is not about removing choices and dumbing interfaces down. This is about doing the harder work and teaching merchants how to make the right choices for them and use the power that WooCommerce provides.
  2. A vibrant partner ecosystem – Shopify has nearly 3000 apps in its “App Store” today. The WooCommerce marketplace has less than 300 extensions, and more than 30% are maintained by Automattic. For WooCommerce to succeed as a platform it needs to be trusted by its partners and seen as the best platform with clear short-term incentives and long-term value.
  3. A strong community – WordPress’ community is a huge key to its success. Meetups and WordCamps create a sense of belonging and shared ownership that drives a loyalty to WordPress that’s unparalleled. WooCommerce needs to create a similar community where merchants feel that they have each other’s backs and are able to share their love for the platform that makes it all possible.

By many standards, Shopify is a giant compared to WooCommerce. With 4000+ employees, a $35+ billion dollar market cap, and a marketing budget to match, they seem to be the dominate ecommerce platform and show no signs of slowing down their efforts.

You can’t buy trust, vibrancy, and loyalty though. Deepening trust through a great core experience, investing in the partner ecosystem, and strengthening community loyalty is where I think WooCommerce has the opportunity to improve and succeed.

Here are three ideas for WooCommerce to increase its value and strengthen its position as the platform for ecommerce on the Open Web:

  1. Introduce a WooCommerce Subscription – Provide access to non-SaaS extensions for a flat, monthly rate and easy bundling of SaaS billing for those who want it. Make it a clear win for all involved, including the merchants and marketplace partners. Position the subscription as an investment in the Open Web. The code is GPL – they could stop paying at any time and keep access. Paying, though, provides support and capital for reinvestment, ensuring the continued success of the platform. A subscription also offers opportunity to streamline the user experience for customers, reducing friction for developers.
  2. Invest in the Partner Ecosystem – Make building a healthy partner ecosystem a priority. Provide guidance, mentorship, and funding to help developers succeed on the WooCommerce platform. Build strong relationships with SaaS providers, including ecommerce focused companies like BigCommerce, and help streamline their integrations into the platform. 
  3. Cultivate Community – Invest in and support ecommerce meetups and create more ecommerce focused events. Double-down on the Open Web narrative and encourage community members to support each other in improving and maintaining their freedom as merchants on the Open Web.

Shopify provides a valuable service that empowers merchants. Unfortunately, their approach to centralized data control, their closed source platform, and the risks of a growth focus pose the potential for more harm than good.

I believe that WooCommerce, with data control in the hands of its users, an open source ecosystem, and a strong independent community give it the opportunity to become the best platform for ecommerce on the Open Web.

Special thanks to Caleb Johnson for his epic illustration.

This is a guest post by Jonathan Wold. Jonathan has been living and breathing WordPress for 14 years and believes its best years are still to come. He writes about WordPress on GrowInWP.com and blogs about life and habits on JonathanWold.com

]]> Fri, 2 Aug 2019 16:30:31 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Cory Miller) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Ben Thompson recently wrote about Shopify and the Power of Platforms. He highlights the difference between an aggregator (e.g. Amazon’s Merchant Services) and a platform (Shopify) and makes a case for how Shopify can successfully compete against Amazon. If you’re new to Ben’s work, I highly recommend following the links he references in the opening paragraphs.

Aggregators vs Platforms

As Ben explains, Amazon is an aggregator that owns the users (i.e. customers, Amazon Prime subscribers) and aggregates the suppliers (i.e. merchants, manufacturers). Amazon succeeds by providing a great user experience (e.g. one click checkout, same day delivery) and by treating products and their suppliers as commodities, all available to the customer in a single, aggregated shopping experience. While aggregation can provide high value for customers, it minimizes the opportunity for merchants to differentiate and can ultimately hurt customers as competition and innovation are stifled. 

A competitor to Amazon might try becoming a larger aggregator. It’s a difficult endeavor. Walmart has been trying for years. The larger an aggregator grows, the more entrenched their position, and the less likely a competitor can unseat them by utilizing the same strategy.

There is another way to compete with an aggregator. Build a platform. 

While an aggregator owns the customer and commoditizes its suppliers, a platform empowers those who build on it, relying on its suppliers being differentiated and successful in their own right. 

As Ben details in the article, Shopify’s best shot at taking on Amazon is to double-down on their focus as a platform and, by all evidence, that seems to be their strategy. Shopify wants to be the platform that empowers its merchants to succeed.

There are several problems I suggest with Shopify’s strategy, though.

  1. Data Control – Shopify has taken a strong stance on centralizing control of customer data and using their terms of service to enforce their policies. Their recent clash with MailChimp (who decided to leave the platform) may be indicative of more to come. It makes sense to have a centralized source of truth for your data. Shopify’s position, though, is an all or nothing approach that results in more lock-in to the platform and more data in their control. Actions that stifle or remove choice from the equation for end users and the suppliers who serve them is aggregator thinking more than platform thinking.
  2. Closed Source – Shopify is a proprietary platform with closed source code. While they make efforts to show open source friendliness, the reality is that the platform code is theirs. If you stop paying Shopify, you lose it all and if you don’t like what they’re doing with the platform, you’re stuck unless you choose to leave.
  3. Growth Risks – Shopify is growing fast and as a publicly traded company, they are focused on accelerating growth. Products like Shopify Capital, and the emphasis on offline services through Point-of-Sale as well as the continued push into enterprise, deepen the risk of growing for growth’s sake, rather than doing what’s best for the merchants they serve.

Shopify is a good solution for independent merchants who want to be more than an aggregated commodity. There are problems, though, and while Shopify is likely continue to grow despite the problems I’ve suggested (they have no shortage of interested investors), there is a better approach.

WooCommerce on WordPressOS

In my writing on Ecosystem Plugins, I introduced the concept of WordPress as an Operating System for the Open Web and cited WooCommerce as an example of an Ecosystem Plugin.

I believe strongly in the importance and value of WordPress as an Operating System, a platform, for the Open Web. 

With WooCommerce, I see potential for it to become more than an Ecosystem Plugin and serve as the platform for ecommerce on the Open Web. 

To do that, WooCommerce needs three things:

  1. A great core experience – Out-of-the-box, WooCommerce needs to have the essentials built-in and provide a great, user-focused onboarding and operating experience. It needs to be intuitive and accessible for non-technical, small business merchants, who should always be the core focus. Importantly, this is not about removing choices and dumbing interfaces down. This is about doing the harder work and teaching merchants how to make the right choices for them and use the power that WooCommerce provides.
  2. A vibrant partner ecosystem – Shopify has nearly 3000 apps in its “App Store” today. The WooCommerce marketplace has less than 300 extensions, and more than 30% are maintained by Automattic. For WooCommerce to succeed as a platform it needs to be trusted by its partners and seen as the best platform with clear short-term incentives and long-term value.
  3. A strong community – WordPress’ community is a huge key to its success. Meetups and WordCamps create a sense of belonging and shared ownership that drives a loyalty to WordPress that’s unparalleled. WooCommerce needs to create a similar community where merchants feel that they have each other’s backs and are able to share their love for the platform that makes it all possible.

By many standards, Shopify is a giant compared to WooCommerce. With 4000+ employees, a $35+ billion dollar market cap, and a marketing budget to match, they seem to be the dominate ecommerce platform and show no signs of slowing down their efforts.

You can’t buy trust, vibrancy, and loyalty though. Deepening trust through a great core experience, investing in the partner ecosystem, and strengthening community loyalty is where I think WooCommerce has the opportunity to improve and succeed.

Here are three ideas for WooCommerce to increase its value and strengthen its position as the platform for ecommerce on the Open Web:

  1. Introduce a WooCommerce Subscription – Provide access to non-SaaS extensions for a flat, monthly rate and easy bundling of SaaS billing for those who want it. Make it a clear win for all involved, including the merchants and marketplace partners. Position the subscription as an investment in the Open Web. The code is GPL – they could stop paying at any time and keep access. Paying, though, provides support and capital for reinvestment, ensuring the continued success of the platform. A subscription also offers opportunity to streamline the user experience for customers, reducing friction for developers.
  2. Invest in the Partner Ecosystem – Make building a healthy partner ecosystem a priority. Provide guidance, mentorship, and funding to help developers succeed on the WooCommerce platform. Build strong relationships with SaaS providers, including ecommerce focused companies like BigCommerce, and help streamline their integrations into the platform. 
  3. Cultivate Community – Invest in and support ecommerce meetups and create more ecommerce focused events. Double-down on the Open Web narrative and encourage community members to support each other in improving and maintaining their freedom as merchants on the Open Web.

Shopify provides a valuable service that empowers merchants. Unfortunately, their approach to centralized data control, their closed source platform, and the risks of a growth focus pose the potential for more harm than good.

I believe that WooCommerce, with data control in the hands of its users, an open source ecosystem, and a strong independent community give it the opportunity to become the best platform for ecommerce on the Open Web.

Special thanks to Caleb Johnson for his epic illustration.

This is a guest post by Jonathan Wold. Jonathan has been living and breathing WordPress for 14 years and believes its best years are still to come. He writes about WordPress on GrowInWP.com and blogs about life and habits on JonathanWold.com

]]> WooCommerce vs Shopify: A battle for ecommerce platform dominance Cory Miller 00:44:50 Shopify has a lot going for it. WooCommerce, though, is the better platform for ecommerce on the Open Web. I talk to Jonathan Wold about a post he wrote for Post Status on the subject. Shopify has a lot going for it. WooCommerce, though, is the better platform for ecommerce on the Open Web. I talk to Jonathan Wold about a post he wrote for Post Status on the subject. no full 94 91ce8cea-4c37-4128-a54c-0865e892c8bd Matt Mullenweg on eCommerce, and what's new with Post Status I talked to Matt Mullenweg for over an hour recently, and here I share about 8 minutes of our conversation, a part where we discuss eCommerce, and where WooCommerce currently fits into that world.

I also spend several minutes talking about big changes happening with Post Status. I hope you'll check it out, and join us for Post Status Publish, and subscribe to the now free newsletter.

]]> Tue, 25 Jun 2019 21:48:55 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts I talked to Matt Mullenweg for over an hour recently, and here I share about 8 minutes of our conversation, a part where we discuss eCommerce, and where WooCommerce currently fits into that world.

I also spend several minutes talking about big changes happening with Post Status. I hope you'll check it out, and join us for Post Status Publish, and subscribe to the now free newsletter.

]]> Matt Mullenweg on eCommerce, and what's new with Post Status Brian Krogsgard 00:17:43 In this short episode, I talk about a lot of stuff happening with Post Status, and share a snippet of my interview with Matt Mullenweg where he talks about eCommerce In this short episode, I talk about a lot of stuff happening with Post Status, and share a snippet of my interview with Matt Mullenweg where he talks about eCommerce no full 93 48531817-ce40-4027-b2cc-1ca404db3ca0 Building Multidots, with Anil Gupta Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode of Draft, I talk to Anil Gupta, the founder of Multidots. Multidots is a 100+ person company and Anil has established a very people-first environment. We discuss his journey and philosophies building the company.

I met Anil at CaboPress and we had a great chat, which we followed up with in this episode, recorded at WordCamp US. Anil has a great story and a lot of insight. I hope you enjoy.

Sponsor: Jilt

Jilt offers powerful email marketing built for eCommerce. Join thousands of stores that have already earned tens of millions of dollars extra sales using Jilt. Try Jilt for free ]]> Thu, 7 Feb 2019 17:00:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode of Draft, I talk to Anil Gupta, the founder of Multidots. Multidots is a 100+ person company and Anil has established a very people-first environment. We discuss his journey and philosophies building the company.

I met Anil at CaboPress and we had a great chat, which we followed up with in this episode, recorded at WordCamp US. Anil has a great story and a lot of insight. I hope you enjoy.

Sponsor: Jilt

Jilt offers powerful email marketing built for eCommerce. Join thousands of stores that have already earned tens of millions of dollars extra sales using Jilt. Try Jilt for free ]]> Building Multidots, with Anil Gupta Brian Krogsgard 00:21:05 In this episode I talk to Anil Gupta about his journey and philosophies building Multidots -- a company doing enterprise web development work all over the world with more than 100 employees. In this episode I talk to Anil Gupta about his journey and philosophies building Multidots -- a company doing enterprise web development work all over the world with more than 100 employees. no full 92 8108b5c6-a9d7-4ddd-92f6-ce23087d66bd Interview with Matt Mullenweg on Gutenberg, WordPress, and the future Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, I am joined by Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic.

Just after releasing WordPress 5.0, and on the heels of WordCamp US, Matt and I review the event, the release, and discuss how he thinks things went, what could have gone better, and what he sees ahead.

We also dig into WooCommerce, various plans around core development processes, Automattic, and more. I hope you enjoy. Full transcript is coming soon.

Episode Links

Sponsor: iThemes

iThemes makes great WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. I talk to iThemes CEO Cory Miller during the break to hear about what they are working on, and excited about for the coming year.

Thanks to iThemes for being a Post Status partner.

]]> Wed, 12 Dec 2018 05:31:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, I am joined by Matt Mullenweg, the co-founder of WordPress and CEO of Automattic.

Just after releasing WordPress 5.0, and on the heels of WordCamp US, Matt and I review the event, the release, and discuss how he thinks things went, what could have gone better, and what he sees ahead.

We also dig into WooCommerce, various plans around core development processes, Automattic, and more. I hope you enjoy. Full transcript is coming soon.

Episode Links

Sponsor: iThemes

iThemes makes great WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. I talk to iThemes CEO Cory Miller during the break to hear about what they are working on, and excited about for the coming year.

Thanks to iThemes for being a Post Status partner.

]]> Interview with Matt Mullenweg on Gutenberg, WordPress, and the future Brian Krogsgard 01:30:40 I am joined by Matt Mullenweg to discuss decision making, Gutenberg, core WordPress processes, Automattic's business, and more. I am joined by Matt Mullenweg to discuss decision making, Gutenberg, core WordPress processes, Automattic's business, and more. no full 91 e59b588a-4c04-4c2f-9669-ce6430f3203d Considerations for eCommerce merchants, with Andrew Youderian of eCommerce Fuel Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, I bring on Andrew Youderian. Andrew runs eCommerce Fuel -- a great website geared toward eCommerce store owners, specifically those making high six figures or seven figures in revenue per year.

Andrew keeps his ear low to the ground in the eCommerce landscape and carries no specific WordPress bias. If anything his experience is in other platforms -- making a discussion with him both on platforms and also just eCommerce in general particularly valuable to me.

Episode Links

Sponsor: SiteGround

Engineered for speed, built for security, crafted for WordPress. SiteGround offers feature-rich managed WordPress hosting with premium support, and is officially recommended by WordPress.org. Thanks to SiteGround for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Fri, 3 Aug 2018 21:05:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, I bring on Andrew Youderian. Andrew runs eCommerce Fuel -- a great website geared toward eCommerce store owners, specifically those making high six figures or seven figures in revenue per year.

Andrew keeps his ear low to the ground in the eCommerce landscape and carries no specific WordPress bias. If anything his experience is in other platforms -- making a discussion with him both on platforms and also just eCommerce in general particularly valuable to me.

Episode Links

Sponsor: SiteGround

Engineered for speed, built for security, crafted for WordPress. SiteGround offers feature-rich managed WordPress hosting with premium support, and is officially recommended by WordPress.org. Thanks to SiteGround for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Considerations for eCommerce merchants, with Andrew Youderian of eCommerce Fuel Brian Krogsgard 01:10:28 In this episode I discuss eCommerce and considerations for eCommerce merchants, with Andrew Youderian of eCommerce Fuel. In this episode I discuss eCommerce and considerations for eCommerce merchants, with Andrew Youderian of eCommerce Fuel. no full 90 497347c4-a92b-461d-9aae-fdaa625da8bb Why the makers of Ninja Forms are getting into eCommerce Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, I bring on James Laws and Kevin Stover -- cofounders of Saturday Drive, the parent company of Ninja Forms -- to discuss why they are entering the world of eCommerce. I found this especially interesting given the market dominance of WooCommerce for general WordPress-based eCommerce needs.

Saturday Drive purchased Exchange, the plugin initially developed by iThemes and then handed off to A.J. Morris, with the intention of making a play for the eCommerce market, much like they did successfully once already for the somewhat-saturated forms market.

Episode Links

Sponsor: Sandhills Development

Sandhills Development makes a suite of excellent plugins to power your WordPress website. Whether you need to sell digital downloads, restrict content, create an affiliate program, or manage an events calendar, they've got you covered. Thanks to Sandhills for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Fri, 20 Jul 2018 22:16:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, I bring on James Laws and Kevin Stover -- cofounders of Saturday Drive, the parent company of Ninja Forms -- to discuss why they are entering the world of eCommerce. I found this especially interesting given the market dominance of WooCommerce for general WordPress-based eCommerce needs.

Saturday Drive purchased Exchange, the plugin initially developed by iThemes and then handed off to A.J. Morris, with the intention of making a play for the eCommerce market, much like they did successfully once already for the somewhat-saturated forms market.

Episode Links

Sponsor: Sandhills Development

Sandhills Development makes a suite of excellent plugins to power your WordPress website. Whether you need to sell digital downloads, restrict content, create an affiliate program, or manage an events calendar, they've got you covered. Thanks to Sandhills for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Why the makers of Ninja Forms are getting into eCommerce Brian Krogsgard 00:57:26 In this episode, I talk with James and Kevin -- cofounders of the Ninja Forms product -- to discuss why their next leg of their business is in the competitive landscape of eCommerce. In this episode, I talk with James and Kevin -- cofounders of the Ninja Forms product -- to discuss why their next leg of their business is in the competitive landscape of eCommerce. no full 89 f7a99702-9db9-4503-883f-de862b638bac Working on your own website Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the Brians discuss the challenges of working on your own business website, when your company offers services or makes products for websites. Agencies often disregard their own websites, as do product companies. We discuss our own histories of attempting in-house redesign projects, strategies to get them done, and how we approach things today owning our own tiny businesses.

Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Post Status is proudly hosted by Pagely. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner ]]> Mon, 9 Jul 2018 18:32:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the Brians discuss the challenges of working on your own business website, when your company offers services or makes products for websites. Agencies often disregard their own websites, as do product companies. We discuss our own histories of attempting in-house redesign projects, strategies to get them done, and how we approach things today owning our own tiny businesses.

Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Post Status is proudly hosted by Pagely. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner ]]> Working on your own website Brian Krogsgard 00:40:40 In this episode, the Brians discuss the challenges of working on your own business website, when your company offers services or makes products for websites. In this episode, the Brians discuss the challenges of working on your own business website, when your company offers services or makes products for websites. no full 88 d2e49348-2fde-4417-a6ec-fdc3bff76f20 An Abundance of Acquisitions Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the Brians have a chat about a number of different acquisitions that have occurred in the WordPress space over these past few weeks. Listen in as they unpack some of the news surrounding StudioPress, WPEngine, Automattic, WPNinjas, Prospress, and AutomateWoo. Check out our episode links for further stories about each of those businesses as well as the virtual JavaScript for WordPress conference taking place live on July 29.

Sponsor: Jilt

Jilt offers powerful email marketing built for eCommerce. Join thousands of stores that have already earned over $28,000,000 in extra sales using Jilt. Try Jilt for free ]]> Fri, 29 Jun 2018 22:05:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the Brians have a chat about a number of different acquisitions that have occurred in the WordPress space over these past few weeks. Listen in as they unpack some of the news surrounding StudioPress, WPEngine, Automattic, WPNinjas, Prospress, and AutomateWoo. Check out our episode links for further stories about each of those businesses as well as the virtual JavaScript for WordPress conference taking place live on July 29.

Sponsor: Jilt

Jilt offers powerful email marketing built for eCommerce. Join thousands of stores that have already earned over $28,000,000 in extra sales using Jilt. Try Jilt for free ]]> An Abundance of Acquisitions Brian Krogsgard 00:35:53 In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss several acquisitions that have occurred in the WordPress space in recent weeks. In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss several acquisitions that have occurred in the WordPress space in recent weeks. no full 87 337a219e-f2e6-4ac4-9a47-841838856d79 Productizing your service business, with Brian Casel Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian is joined by guest-host Brian Casel. Brian runs Audience Ops, a productized service that offers all aspects of content creation for companies. Brian has been in the WordPress community for a long time, and for years has worked on creating processes around his business to enable him to get beyond a freelancer work life and into treating services like products.

Before Audience Ops, he ran Restuarant Engine -- a niche WordPress site provider, where he really honed many of the processes his company still uses today -- which he sold for six figures.

We dig in to why he decided to make a transformation with his businesses to be so process oriented, and how he turned that into the 30-person organization it is today, as well as the various courses and communities around Productize and Scale.

Links

Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support from a great support team and extra features such as a redirect manager, recommended internal links, tutorial videos and integration with Google Webmaster Tools! Check out Yoast SEO Premium. ]]> Fri, 15 Jun 2018 18:07:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian is joined by guest-host Brian Casel. Brian runs Audience Ops, a productized service that offers all aspects of content creation for companies. Brian has been in the WordPress community for a long time, and for years has worked on creating processes around his business to enable him to get beyond a freelancer work life and into treating services like products.

Before Audience Ops, he ran Restuarant Engine -- a niche WordPress site provider, where he really honed many of the processes his company still uses today -- which he sold for six figures.

We dig in to why he decided to make a transformation with his businesses to be so process oriented, and how he turned that into the 30-person organization it is today, as well as the various courses and communities around Productize and Scale.

Links

Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support from a great support team and extra features such as a redirect manager, recommended internal links, tutorial videos and integration with Google Webmaster Tools! Check out Yoast SEO Premium. ]]> Productizing your service business, with Brian Casel Brian Krogsgard 00:55:34 In this episode, I interview Brian Casel, the owner of Audience Ops, a productized content service he's built to employ 30 people. He also runs a podcast and course on helping others productize their services. In this episode, I interview Brian Casel, the owner of Audience Ops, a productized content service he's built to employ 30 people. He also runs a podcast and course on helping others productize their services. no full 86 bf8f7860-7d33-42a4-9739-ef14508d59a0 The History of the Web, and WordPress's 15th Birthday Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian is joined by guest-host Jay Hoffmann. Jay is the Lead Developer at Reaktiv Studios and the creator and curator of The History of the Web. It is a good time to discuss the history of the web with Jay, as WordPress is ready to celebrate its 15th birthday.

Be sure to subscribe to Jay's newsletter on the History of the Web website to receive new articles on such a fascinating project.

Brian and Jay discuss his work at Reaktiv, his prior work at Sesame Street Workshop and Random House, and the project he's worked on for two years now documenting the web's timeline and history. It was a fun discussion on all fronts.

Links

Sponsor: WooCommerce

WooCommerce makes the most customizable eCommerce software on the planet, and it’s the most popular too. You can build just about anything with WooCommerce. Try it today, and thanks to the team at WooCommerce being a Post Status partner ]]> Fri, 25 May 2018 21:31:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian is joined by guest-host Jay Hoffmann. Jay is the Lead Developer at Reaktiv Studios and the creator and curator of The History of the Web. It is a good time to discuss the history of the web with Jay, as WordPress is ready to celebrate its 15th birthday.

Be sure to subscribe to Jay's newsletter on the History of the Web website to receive new articles on such a fascinating project.

Brian and Jay discuss his work at Reaktiv, his prior work at Sesame Street Workshop and Random House, and the project he's worked on for two years now documenting the web's timeline and history. It was a fun discussion on all fronts.

Links

Sponsor: WooCommerce

WooCommerce makes the most customizable eCommerce software on the planet, and it’s the most popular too. You can build just about anything with WooCommerce. Try it today, and thanks to the team at WooCommerce being a Post Status partner ]]> The History of the Web, and WordPress's 15th Birthday Brian Krogsgard 00:53:42 In this episode, Brian is joined by Jay Hoffmann -- the owner and curator of The History of the Web, a timeline and history of the web -- and they discuss the project, as well as WordPress's 15 year arc of history. In this episode, Brian is joined by Jay Hoffmann -- the owner and curator of The History of the Web, a timeline and history of the web -- and they discuss the project, as well as WordPress's 15 year arc of history. no full 85 4b78748c-9c14-4fe8-925c-6e1148e4a43e Making WordPress and WordSesh Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss the upcoming WordSesh schedule and go spelunking through make.wordpress.org to surface some recent gems making their way to WordPress.org – both the project and the website.

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

This episode is sponsored by iThemes. The team at iThemes offers WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. For more information, check out their website and thank you to iThemes for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Mon, 7 May 2018 23:31:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss the upcoming WordSesh schedule and go spelunking through make.wordpress.org to surface some recent gems making their way to WordPress.org – both the project and the website.

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

This episode is sponsored by iThemes. The team at iThemes offers WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. For more information, check out their website and thank you to iThemes for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Making WordPress and WordSesh Brian Krogsgard 00:38:20 In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss the upcoming WordSesh schedule and go spelunking through make.wordpress.org to surface some recent gems making their way to WordPress.org – both the project and the website. In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss the upcoming WordSesh schedule and go spelunking through make.wordpress.org to surface some recent gems making their way to WordPress.org – both the project and the website. no full 84 e05a40e7-bec0-4ffd-a607-4d8ccf47190e The meta episode Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss meta data in WordPress, including the challenge of implementing data into new tools, such as the REST API and the Gutenberg editor.

With the endless options of data complexity that’s historically possible with meta fields, the way these features are implemented into new projects has to be well thought out. There is continued activity with both the REST API and Gutenberg to make sure meta is well supported. There are several things that are worth knowing, if you are a consultant or a product maker in regard to working with WordPress meta.

Links

Sponsor: Pippin's Plugins

This episode is sponsored by Pippin’s Plugins. Pippin’s Plugins creates a suite of plugins that work great alone, or together. Whether you need to restrict content, sell downloads, or start an affiliate program, they’ve got you covered. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Pippin’s Plugins for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Fri, 27 Apr 2018 20:04:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss meta data in WordPress, including the challenge of implementing data into new tools, such as the REST API and the Gutenberg editor.

With the endless options of data complexity that’s historically possible with meta fields, the way these features are implemented into new projects has to be well thought out. There is continued activity with both the REST API and Gutenberg to make sure meta is well supported. There are several things that are worth knowing, if you are a consultant or a product maker in regard to working with WordPress meta.

Links

Sponsor: Pippin's Plugins

This episode is sponsored by Pippin’s Plugins. Pippin’s Plugins creates a suite of plugins that work great alone, or together. Whether you need to restrict content, sell downloads, or start an affiliate program, they’ve got you covered. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Pippin’s Plugins for being a Post Status partner. ]]> The meta episode Brian Krogsgard 00:30:13 In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss meta data in WordPress, including the challenge of implementing data into new tools, such as the REST API and the Gutenberg editor In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss meta data in WordPress, including the challenge of implementing data into new tools, such as the REST API and the Gutenberg editor no full 83 7e7189f6-8cc0-42e9-81fb-260d15cc956d All about you(r privacy) Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the two Brian’s discuss the current conversations and controversy surrounding data collection and visitor privacy on the web. The duo dig in to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and what it means for you both as site visitors and site owners and, in particular, how WordPress core and plugin authors are (or should be) responding to the new regulation. It’s a pretty deep topic with many implications and ramifications. Be sure to follow the episode links, too, so that you can be best informed and prepared for when GDPR goes into effect on May 25, 2018.

Links

Sponsor: Valet

This episode is sponsored by Valet. Valet helps keep your clients happy & coming back. They offer expert services and keep the websites they manage functioning flawlessly. They offer preventative care that provides peace of mind around the clock. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Valet for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Mon, 16 Apr 2018 12:53:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the two Brian’s discuss the current conversations and controversy surrounding data collection and visitor privacy on the web. The duo dig in to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and what it means for you both as site visitors and site owners and, in particular, how WordPress core and plugin authors are (or should be) responding to the new regulation. It’s a pretty deep topic with many implications and ramifications. Be sure to follow the episode links, too, so that you can be best informed and prepared for when GDPR goes into effect on May 25, 2018.

Links

Sponsor: Valet

This episode is sponsored by Valet. Valet helps keep your clients happy & coming back. They offer expert services and keep the websites they manage functioning flawlessly. They offer preventative care that provides peace of mind around the clock. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Valet for being a Post Status partner. ]]> All about you(r privacy) Brian Krogsgard 00:46:47 In this episode, the two Brian’s discuss the current conversations and controversy surrounding data collection and visitor privacy on the web. In this episode, the two Brian’s discuss the current conversations and controversy surrounding data collection and visitor privacy on the web. no full 82 2c876643-4ede-4c7b-9056-5370ba469883 Designing the news Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss a variety of news topics spanning design, development, and business. Tune in to learn about the history of WordPress and the web, the newest TechCrunch redesign, a WordCamp for WordCamp organizers, and more.

Links

Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms makes the best web forms on the planet. Over a million WordPress sites are already using Gravity Forms. Is yours? Thanks to Gravity Forms for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Mon, 9 Apr 2018 18:34:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss a variety of news topics spanning design, development, and business. Tune in to learn about the history of WordPress and the web, the newest TechCrunch redesign, a WordCamp for WordCamp organizers, and more.

Links

Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms makes the best web forms on the planet. Over a million WordPress sites are already using Gravity Forms. Is yours? Thanks to Gravity Forms for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Designing the news Brian Krogsgard 00:34:11 In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss a variety of news topics spanning design, development, and business. In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss a variety of news topics spanning design, development, and business. no full 81 2f44fde1-ed84-43b0-b079-e52796383109 Contextualized Learning in or around WordPress Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the dynamic Brian duo discuss the highly-anticipated return of WordSesh, the different ways in which we all learn the same, and some of the problems we face in skill building. The guys also spend time finding and contacting the addressable market around WordPress, characterizing a business as WordPress-focused vs providing WordPress services in the context of a broader market, and some of the nuances of providing contextualized services (whether they be training, consulting, or otherwise).

Links

Sponsor: OptinMonster

OptinMonster allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create & A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. Be sure to check out their new Inactivity Sensor technology. ]]> Mon, 2 Apr 2018 19:26:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the dynamic Brian duo discuss the highly-anticipated return of WordSesh, the different ways in which we all learn the same, and some of the problems we face in skill building. The guys also spend time finding and contacting the addressable market around WordPress, characterizing a business as WordPress-focused vs providing WordPress services in the context of a broader market, and some of the nuances of providing contextualized services (whether they be training, consulting, or otherwise).

Links

Sponsor: OptinMonster

OptinMonster allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create & A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. Be sure to check out their new Inactivity Sensor technology. ]]> Contextualized Learning in or around WordPress Brian Krogsgard 00:48:29 In this episode, the dynamic Brian duo discuss the highly-anticipated return of WordSesh, the different ways in which we all learn the same, and some of the problems we face in skill building. In this episode, the dynamic Brian duo discuss the highly-anticipated return of WordSesh, the different ways in which we all learn the same, and some of the problems we face in skill building. no full 80 69377ae1-dd39-40d7-9344-534a4b5958e5 The Future of Content Distribution Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

This week the Brians put their brains together and discuss content distribution across various mediums and platforms as well as subscriptions for both digital and physical products. The conversation shifts between different tooling and platforms that exist for enabling content distribution as well as some of the societal shifts that have shaped how we share and consume both content and products.

This is a good episode for anyone who is developing sites and selling solutions around content distribution or subscriptions as well as anyone who is running (or looking to run) a business based around a subscriber model (paid or otherwise).

Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Post Status is proudly hosted by Pagely. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner ]]> Mon, 26 Mar 2018 13:21:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

This week the Brians put their brains together and discuss content distribution across various mediums and platforms as well as subscriptions for both digital and physical products. The conversation shifts between different tooling and platforms that exist for enabling content distribution as well as some of the societal shifts that have shaped how we share and consume both content and products.

This is a good episode for anyone who is developing sites and selling solutions around content distribution or subscriptions as well as anyone who is running (or looking to run) a business based around a subscriber model (paid or otherwise).

Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Post Status is proudly hosted by Pagely. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner ]]> The Future of Content Distribution Brian Krogsgard 00:48:14 This week the Brians put their brains together and discuss content distribution across various mediums and platforms as well as subscriptions for both digital and physical products. This week the Brians put their brains together and discuss content distribution across various mediums and platforms as well as subscriptions for both digital and physical products. no full 79 9cdb43e4-d054-4b1e-adaa-27e0d74049be Network effects and WordPress Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss the power of network effects and how they relate to WordPress’ increasing market share and maturity. WordPress has recently hit two major milestones, turning 15 years old and reaching 30% market share of the top 10 million websites, and we spend this episode reflecting on the innovations that brought us here and where innovations are likely to occur over the next 10 years.

We’ve come quite a long way in these 15 years. From the famous 5-minute install to being entirely pre-installed. From a supportive band of volunteers and vast ecosystem of free software to the commercially supported and highly-polished products that exist today. There is a lot about WordPress to be thankful for, and a lot of great things that will exist in the future because of it. And you can hear a bit about all of that on this episode of the Post Status Draft podcast.

Links

Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support from a great support team and extra features such as a redirect manager, recommended internal links, tutorial videos and integration with Google Webmaster Tools! Check out Yoast SEO Premium. ]]> Sat, 10 Mar 2018 20:15:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss the power of network effects and how they relate to WordPress’ increasing market share and maturity. WordPress has recently hit two major milestones, turning 15 years old and reaching 30% market share of the top 10 million websites, and we spend this episode reflecting on the innovations that brought us here and where innovations are likely to occur over the next 10 years.

We’ve come quite a long way in these 15 years. From the famous 5-minute install to being entirely pre-installed. From a supportive band of volunteers and vast ecosystem of free software to the commercially supported and highly-polished products that exist today. There is a lot about WordPress to be thankful for, and a lot of great things that will exist in the future because of it. And you can hear a bit about all of that on this episode of the Post Status Draft podcast.

Links

Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support from a great support team and extra features such as a redirect manager, recommended internal links, tutorial videos and integration with Google Webmaster Tools! Check out Yoast SEO Premium. ]]> Network effects and WordPress Brian Krogsgard 00:40:17 In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss the power of network effects and how they relate to WordPress’ increasing market share and maturity. In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss the power of network effects and how they relate to WordPress’ increasing market share and maturity. no full 78 da6bddf5-6608-4ce5-9dea-f527311742a7 Marketing and positioning WordPress products Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

This week BK and BR discuss a number of different aspects surrounding marketing and selling WordPress products and services. The conversation flows from selling benefits vs features, to social proof, to marketing and conversion funnels, to understanding and reacting to the problem space, to customer support, and many things in between. Whether you’re already selling products or services, about to sell something, or routinely buy things, there’s likely something for you in this episode.

Links

Sponsor: SiteGround

SiteGround is engineered for speed, built for security, and crafted for WordPress. They offer feature-rich managed WordPress hosting with premium support, and are officially recommended by WordPress.org. Check out SiteGround's website for a special deal for Post Status listeners, and thanks to SiteGround for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Fri, 2 Mar 2018 20:18:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

This week BK and BR discuss a number of different aspects surrounding marketing and selling WordPress products and services. The conversation flows from selling benefits vs features, to social proof, to marketing and conversion funnels, to understanding and reacting to the problem space, to customer support, and many things in between. Whether you’re already selling products or services, about to sell something, or routinely buy things, there’s likely something for you in this episode.

Links

Sponsor: SiteGround

SiteGround is engineered for speed, built for security, and crafted for WordPress. They offer feature-rich managed WordPress hosting with premium support, and are officially recommended by WordPress.org. Check out SiteGround's website for a special deal for Post Status listeners, and thanks to SiteGround for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Marketing and positioning WordPress products Brian Krogsgard 01:04:47 This week BK and BR discuss a number of different aspects surrounding marketing and selling WordPress products and services. This week BK and BR discuss a number of different aspects surrounding marketing and selling WordPress products and services. no full 77 e4424a6f-469c-4a7c-a6a8-e6164d0310be Observations on a maturing ecosystem Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the Brians chat about the steady change that has played out in the WordPress ecosystem throughout the past decade and speculate about what is still to come. One aspect they explore rather deeply is the future trajectory of a website’s purpose and the role WordPress has to play in this transition. Plus, don’t miss their conversation about the new WordPress.com president and Google’s move to hire WordPress talent.

Links

Sponsor: SearchWP

SearchWP makes WordPress search better. Instantly improve your site search without writing a line of code! SearchWP enables custom algorithms, searching custom fields, product data, and much more. Improve your site’s search today with our partner, SearchWP. ]]> Sun, 25 Feb 2018 12:55:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, the Brians chat about the steady change that has played out in the WordPress ecosystem throughout the past decade and speculate about what is still to come. One aspect they explore rather deeply is the future trajectory of a website’s purpose and the role WordPress has to play in this transition. Plus, don’t miss their conversation about the new WordPress.com president and Google’s move to hire WordPress talent.

Links

Sponsor: SearchWP

SearchWP makes WordPress search better. Instantly improve your site search without writing a line of code! SearchWP enables custom algorithms, searching custom fields, product data, and much more. Improve your site’s search today with our partner, SearchWP. ]]> Observations on a maturing ecosystem Brian Krogsgard 00:50:11 In this episode, the Brians chat about the steady change that has played out in the WordPress ecosystem throughout the past decade and speculate about what is still to come. In this episode, the Brians chat about the steady change that has played out in the WordPress ecosystem throughout the past decade and speculate about what is still to come. no full 76 f433574d-b98f-49af-b0c5-fcf0317baf32 How WebDevStudios is serving different market segments Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Lisa Sabin-Wilson shares about the entangled history of WebDevStudios and eWebscapes and how she and team are targeting every level of the market. WebDevStudios focuses heavily on the upper and enterprise market segments, providing a high degree of attention and support to those clients.

Sometime in 2017 Lisa did the math on all the lower-end projects that they were referring away and realized that WDS had a prime opportunity to re-introduce her former web studio, eWebscapes, as a way to serve these smaller-scope projects. This rebirth, so to speak, has positioned them to better target local communities, provide staff with more variety of work, and bring simplified processes alongside those they use for larger projects.

Key take-aways

  • Lisa observed a market opportunity and did the math first
  • Relaunching started with a solid content strategy
  • Simplified processes for managing a project
  • Utilized talent already on staff
  • Lots of opportunity to target local communities
  • Evaluating the success of this strategy after 6 months

Links

Photo Credit

Sponsor: Prospress

Prospress makes the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, that enables you to turn your online business into a recurring revenue business. Whether you want to ship a box or setup digital subscriptions like I have on Post Status, Prospress has you covered. Check out Prospress.com for more, and thanks to Prospress for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Fri, 16 Feb 2018 22:35:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Lisa Sabin-Wilson shares about the entangled history of WebDevStudios and eWebscapes and how she and team are targeting every level of the market. WebDevStudios focuses heavily on the upper and enterprise market segments, providing a high degree of attention and support to those clients.

Sometime in 2017 Lisa did the math on all the lower-end projects that they were referring away and realized that WDS had a prime opportunity to re-introduce her former web studio, eWebscapes, as a way to serve these smaller-scope projects. This rebirth, so to speak, has positioned them to better target local communities, provide staff with more variety of work, and bring simplified processes alongside those they use for larger projects.

Key take-aways

  • Lisa observed a market opportunity and did the math first
  • Relaunching started with a solid content strategy
  • Simplified processes for managing a project
  • Utilized talent already on staff
  • Lots of opportunity to target local communities
  • Evaluating the success of this strategy after 6 months

Links

Photo Credit

Sponsor: Prospress

Prospress makes the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, that enables you to turn your online business into a recurring revenue business. Whether you want to ship a box or setup digital subscriptions like I have on Post Status, Prospress has you covered. Check out Prospress.com for more, and thanks to Prospress for being a Post Status partner. ]]> How WebDevStudios is serving different market segments Brian Krogsgard 00:56:57 In this episode, Lisa Sabin-Wilson shares about the entangled history of WebDevStudios and eWebscapes and how she and team are targeting every level of the market. In this episode, Lisa Sabin-Wilson shares about the entangled history of WebDevStudios and eWebscapes and how she and team are targeting every level of the market. no full 75 f6c74755-6e0e-44e5-8351-e6aced10ac2f WordPress market opportunities: Upmarket edition Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian continue their discussion on WordPress market opportunities with a focus on the upper-market and enterprise clients. They take a look at discovery projects, pitching WordPress against competing platforms, and considerations to make before pitching on these high-budget projects. There are plenty of positives and negatives when working on long-term projects that may have a dramatic impact on your company in many ways.

In addition to these market opportunities, the boys also discuss recent news including iThemes acquisition by Liquid Web, a welcome change to the WordPress.org plugin directory, and an unfortunate and far-reaching bug that shipped with the 4.9.3 release last week.

Links

Sponsor: WooCommerce

WooCommerce makes the most customizable eCommerce software on the planet, and it’s the most popular too. You can build just about anything with WooCommerce. Try it today, and thanks to the team at WooCommerce being a Post Status partner ]]> Fri, 9 Feb 2018 20:38:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian continue their discussion on WordPress market opportunities with a focus on the upper-market and enterprise clients. They take a look at discovery projects, pitching WordPress against competing platforms, and considerations to make before pitching on these high-budget projects. There are plenty of positives and negatives when working on long-term projects that may have a dramatic impact on your company in many ways.

In addition to these market opportunities, the boys also discuss recent news including iThemes acquisition by Liquid Web, a welcome change to the WordPress.org plugin directory, and an unfortunate and far-reaching bug that shipped with the 4.9.3 release last week.

Links

Sponsor: WooCommerce

WooCommerce makes the most customizable eCommerce software on the planet, and it’s the most popular too. You can build just about anything with WooCommerce. Try it today, and thanks to the team at WooCommerce being a Post Status partner ]]> WordPress market opportunities: Upmarket edition Brian Krogsgard 00:54:04 In this episode, Brian and Brian continue their discussion on WordPress market opportunities with a focus on the upper-market and enterprise clients. In this episode, Brian and Brian continue their discussion on WordPress market opportunities with a focus on the upper-market and enterprise clients. no full 74 53ee6e58-2025-4295-8adc-681794fc35ca WordPress customer market segmentation Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss market segmentation across the WordPress ecosystem. The focus for this discussion focused entirely on the entry-level segment of site assemblers and their small-business clients as well as the mid-level market of contractors and agencies selling additional levels of service. The duo talked through a few different strategies employed in each segment, including service differentiation, regional focus, building a network of complementary contractors, systemizing processes, delivering quality customer support flow, and selling ongoing service.

In addition to this look at market segmentation, the Brians shared a few useful resources for both Gutenberg and WP-CLI.

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

This episode is sponsored by iThemes. The team at iThemes offers WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. For more information, check out their website and thank you to iThemes for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Fri, 26 Jan 2018 14:48:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss market segmentation across the WordPress ecosystem. The focus for this discussion focused entirely on the entry-level segment of site assemblers and their small-business clients as well as the mid-level market of contractors and agencies selling additional levels of service. The duo talked through a few different strategies employed in each segment, including service differentiation, regional focus, building a network of complementary contractors, systemizing processes, delivering quality customer support flow, and selling ongoing service.

In addition to this look at market segmentation, the Brians shared a few useful resources for both Gutenberg and WP-CLI.

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

This episode is sponsored by iThemes. The team at iThemes offers WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. For more information, check out their website and thank you to iThemes for being a Post Status partner. ]]> WordPress customer market segmentation Brian Krogsgard 00:51:59 In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss market segmentation across the WordPress ecosystem. In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss market segmentation across the WordPress ecosystem. no full 72 ffb2aa3b-b717-4306-864b-6bbad8f806ce WordPress Market Opportunities Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss market segmentation across the WordPress ecosystem. The focus for this discussion focused entirely on the entry-level segment of site assemblers and their small-business clients as well as the mid-level market of contractors and agencies selling additional levels of service. The duo talked through a few different strategies employed in each segment, including service differentiation, regional focus, building a network of complementary contractors, systemizing processes, delivering quality customer support flow, and selling ongoing service.

In addition to this look at market segmentation, the Brians shared a few useful resources for both Gutenberg and WP-CLI.

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

This episode is sponsored by iThemes. The team at iThemes offers WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. For more information, check out their website and thank you to iThemes for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Fri, 26 Jan 2018 14:48:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss market segmentation across the WordPress ecosystem. The focus for this discussion focused entirely on the entry-level segment of site assemblers and their small-business clients as well as the mid-level market of contractors and agencies selling additional levels of service. The duo talked through a few different strategies employed in each segment, including service differentiation, regional focus, building a network of complementary contractors, systemizing processes, delivering quality customer support flow, and selling ongoing service.

In addition to this look at market segmentation, the Brians shared a few useful resources for both Gutenberg and WP-CLI.

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

This episode is sponsored by iThemes. The team at iThemes offers WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. For more information, check out their website and thank you to iThemes for being a Post Status partner. ]]> WordPress Market Opportunities Brian Krogsgard 00:51:59 In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss market segmentation across the WordPress ecosystem. In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss market segmentation across the WordPress ecosystem. no full 73 a892ba61-63c9-450e-b681-eee01db4a2db Hosted versus self-hosted eCommerce Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss self-hosted vs managed ecommerce and whether or not conferences have outlived their usefulness. Specifically, they look at WooCommerce vs other solutions and explore Shopify and Liquid Web’s Managed WooCommerce hosting as viable done-for-you strategies. On the conference front, they talk about the good and the bad of conferences and ponder how tech conferences of the future may need to change to attract more attendees.

Links

Sponsor: Pippin's Plugins

This episode is sponsored by Pippin’s Plugins. Pippin’s Plugins creates a suite of plugins that work great alone, or together. Whether you need to restrict content, sell downloads, or start an affiliate program, they’ve got you covered. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Pippin’s Plugins for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Fri, 19 Jan 2018 20:51:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.

In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss self-hosted vs managed ecommerce and whether or not conferences have outlived their usefulness. Specifically, they look at WooCommerce vs other solutions and explore Shopify and Liquid Web’s Managed WooCommerce hosting as viable done-for-you strategies. On the conference front, they talk about the good and the bad of conferences and ponder how tech conferences of the future may need to change to attract more attendees.

Links

Sponsor: Pippin's Plugins

This episode is sponsored by Pippin’s Plugins. Pippin’s Plugins creates a suite of plugins that work great alone, or together. Whether you need to restrict content, sell downloads, or start an affiliate program, they’ve got you covered. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Pippin’s Plugins for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Hosted versus self-hosted eCommerce Brian Krogsgard 00:47:20 In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss self-hosted vs managed ecommerce and whether or not conferences have outlived their usefulness. In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss self-hosted vs managed ecommerce and whether or not conferences have outlived their usefulness. no full 71 9801f391-a853-4766-9c71-5ec4e130795f Two Brians are better than one Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and his new co-host, Brian Richards.

Brian Richards, the creator of WPSessions.com, has been developing with WordPress since 2007 and training and leading development teams since 2011. In addition to investing his time into training, Brian has had the opportunity to work with many amazing WordPress agencies and experts over these last several years. This has allowed him to help develop sites for Microsoft, Disney, TIME, YMCA, and numerous others.

Brian has an affinity for self-directed learning and helping others to develop skills and workflows to better solve important and complicated problems. He can’t resist helping good people do great things!

Links

Sponsor: Valet

This episode is sponsored by Valet. Valet helps keep your clients happy & coming back. They offer expert services and keep the websites they manage functioning flawlessly. They offer preventative care that provides peace of mind around the clock. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Valet for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Tue, 16 Jan 2018 21:22:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and his new co-host, Brian Richards.

Brian Richards, the creator of WPSessions.com, has been developing with WordPress since 2007 and training and leading development teams since 2011. In addition to investing his time into training, Brian has had the opportunity to work with many amazing WordPress agencies and experts over these last several years. This has allowed him to help develop sites for Microsoft, Disney, TIME, YMCA, and numerous others.

Brian has an affinity for self-directed learning and helping others to develop skills and workflows to better solve important and complicated problems. He can’t resist helping good people do great things!

Links

Sponsor: Valet

This episode is sponsored by Valet. Valet helps keep your clients happy & coming back. They offer expert services and keep the websites they manage functioning flawlessly. They offer preventative care that provides peace of mind around the clock. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Valet for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Two Brians are better than one Brian Krogsgard 00:44:05 In this episode, Brian Krogsgard chats with Brian Richards, creator of WPSessions and new co-host of the Draft podcast. In this episode, Brian Krogsgard chats with Brian Richards, creator of WPSessions and new co-host of the Draft podcast. no full 70 79412479-de38-4c82-9259-4eaeae359770 Interview with Matt Mullenweg Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, I am joined by Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic and the co-founder of WordPress. In this episode, we discuss a range of issues facing WordPress today, as well as the various arms of Automattic's business:

  • WordPress 4.9 features around customization.
  • Progress on the Gutenberg Editor
  • Feature projects and a year of day-to-day project lead
  • The React decision for WordPress, and what came of it
  • WooCommerce, Jetpack and issues they are facing
  • Site building versus blogging on WordPress.com, and their ad campaigns
  • WordPress community, the WordPress website
  • And more!
This was a fun episode, and it's always a privilege to be able to talk to the leader of the WordPress project. I hope you enjoy it.

Photo by Brian Richards, for Post Status

Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms makes the best web forms on the planet. Over a million WordPress sites are already using Gravity Forms. Is yours? Thanks to Gravity Forms for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Tue, 14 Nov 2017 20:56:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, I am joined by Matt Mullenweg, the CEO of Automattic and the co-founder of WordPress. In this episode, we discuss a range of issues facing WordPress today, as well as the various arms of Automattic's business:

  • WordPress 4.9 features around customization.
  • Progress on the Gutenberg Editor
  • Feature projects and a year of day-to-day project lead
  • The React decision for WordPress, and what came of it
  • WooCommerce, Jetpack and issues they are facing
  • Site building versus blogging on WordPress.com, and their ad campaigns
  • WordPress community, the WordPress website
  • And more!
This was a fun episode, and it's always a privilege to be able to talk to the leader of the WordPress project. I hope you enjoy it.

Photo by Brian Richards, for Post Status

Sponsor: Gravity Forms

Gravity Forms makes the best web forms on the planet. Over a million WordPress sites are already using Gravity Forms. Is yours? Thanks to Gravity Forms for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Interview with Matt Mullenweg Brian Krogsgard 01:03:16 In this episode, I talk to Matt Mullenweg -- co-founder of WordPress and the CEO of Automattic -- about what's happening in the world of WordPress, and his role in it all. In this episode, I talk to Matt Mullenweg -- co-founder of WordPress and the CEO of Automattic -- about what's happening in the world of WordPress, and his role in it all. no full 69 71a7d31f-6b12-41c0-89e3-963e105e57e5 Building a healthy remote company, with Tom Willmot Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Brian is joined by Tom Willmot, the CEO of Human Made. Human Made recently released an employee handbook as an open source document for anyone to use, copy, or learn from. Tom and Brian discuss several elements of the handbook, and how they approach these things at Human Made:

  • Employee onboarding
  • Remote work processes
  • Communication
  • Employee feedback and mentorship
  • HR policies
  • And more!
This was a fun episode. Human Made has some of the lowest turnover in our industry and it was educational to hear from Tom.

Sponsor: OptinMonster

OptinMonster allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create & A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. Be sure to check out their new Inactivity Sensor technology. ]]> Fri, 18 Aug 2017 01:11:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Brian is joined by Tom Willmot, the CEO of Human Made. Human Made recently released an employee handbook as an open source document for anyone to use, copy, or learn from. Tom and Brian discuss several elements of the handbook, and how they approach these things at Human Made:

  • Employee onboarding
  • Remote work processes
  • Communication
  • Employee feedback and mentorship
  • HR policies
  • And more!
This was a fun episode. Human Made has some of the lowest turnover in our industry and it was educational to hear from Tom.

Sponsor: OptinMonster

OptinMonster allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create & A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. Be sure to check out their new Inactivity Sensor technology. ]]> Building a healthy remote company, with Tom Willmot Brian Krogsgard 01:02:46 In this episode, Brian is joined by the CEO of Human Made, Tom Willmot, and they discuss steps for building a healthy remote company, and talk about Human Made’s new open source employee handbook. In this episode, Brian is joined by the CEO of Human Made, Tom Willmot, and they discuss steps for building a healthy remote company, and talk about Human Made’s new open source employee handbook. no full 68 a572d28e-6aa5-413f-adab-3ab41d506900 Live from Publish: Challenges facing the WordPress Economy Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Brian and Joe are live at Post Status Publish and answer questions from the conference audience. They are asked about mistakes they think the WordPress product ecosystem is making, the challenges of working remotely, and many more existential questions.

Publish was a lot of fun, and we’ll have more audio, video, and pictures available over the coming weeks.

Sponsor: Liquid Web

Liquid Web was the platinum sponsor of the Publish podcast, and therefore this episode of the podcast as well. If you haven’t tried Liquid Web’s Managed WordPress product, it’s time. They are doing awesome work in this space for mission critical sites. ]]> Wed, 9 Aug 2017 00:25:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Brian and Joe are live at Post Status Publish and answer questions from the conference audience. They are asked about mistakes they think the WordPress product ecosystem is making, the challenges of working remotely, and many more existential questions.

Publish was a lot of fun, and we’ll have more audio, video, and pictures available over the coming weeks.

Sponsor: Liquid Web

Liquid Web was the platinum sponsor of the Publish podcast, and therefore this episode of the podcast as well. If you haven’t tried Liquid Web’s Managed WordPress product, it’s time. They are doing awesome work in this space for mission critical sites. ]]> Live from Publish: Challenges facing the WordPress Economy Brian Krogsgard 00:48:50 In this episode, Brian and Joe are live at Post Status Publish, and answer questions from the conference audience. In this episode, Brian and Joe are live at Post Status Publish, and answer questions from the conference audience. no full 67 2d8f5810-4e47-4966-940e-5bedbb555ade An entrepreneurial journey around eCommerce, with Patrick Rauland Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by the creator and editor of Post Status, Brian Krogsgard, and this week's guest host, Patrick Rauland.

In this episode, Brian and Patrick Rauland discuss the state of eCommerce today, both from a product perspective, and for store owners. They also discuss Patrick’s own journeys in the land of eCommerce, as a former product manager for WooCommerce, a course author for Lynda (now LinkedIn Learning), consulting, and putting on an online eCommerce conference.

Links

Photo Credit

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Post Status is proudly hosted by Pagely. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Thu, 15 Jun 2017 01:26:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by the creator and editor of Post Status, Brian Krogsgard, and this week's guest host, Patrick Rauland.

In this episode, Brian and Patrick Rauland discuss the state of eCommerce today, both from a product perspective, and for store owners. They also discuss Patrick’s own journeys in the land of eCommerce, as a former product manager for WooCommerce, a course author for Lynda (now LinkedIn Learning), consulting, and putting on an online eCommerce conference.

Links

Photo Credit

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Post Status is proudly hosted by Pagely. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner. ]]> An entrepreneurial journey around eCommerce, with Patrick Rauland Brian Krogsgard 00:50:09 In this episode, Brian and Patrick Rauland discuss the state of eCommerce today, both from a product perspective, and for store owners. In this episode, Brian and Patrick Rauland discuss the state of eCommerce today, both from a product perspective, and for store owners. no full 66 ad2bfda6-236a-4b27-89b2-664587538519 Teaching what you learn with Joe Casabona Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by the creator and editor of Post Status, Brian Krogsgard, and this week's guest host, Joe Casabona.

Brian and Joe discuss the way they have learned WordPress over the years, and how they’ve gone about sharing and teaching what they’ve learned. They focus mostly on front-end parts of WordPress development.

Links

Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support from a great support team and extra features such as a redirect manager, recommended internal links, tutorial videos and integration with Google Webmaster Tools! Check out Yoast SEO Premium. ]]> Wed, 7 Jun 2017 17:28:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by the creator and editor of Post Status, Brian Krogsgard, and this week's guest host, Joe Casabona.

Brian and Joe discuss the way they have learned WordPress over the years, and how they’ve gone about sharing and teaching what they’ve learned. They focus mostly on front-end parts of WordPress development.

Links

Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support from a great support team and extra features such as a redirect manager, recommended internal links, tutorial videos and integration with Google Webmaster Tools! Check out Yoast SEO Premium. ]]> Teaching what you learn with Joe Casabona Brian Krogsgard 00:57:50 In this episode, Brian and Joe Casabona discuss learning WordPress, as well as teaching it, including the things they find most important to learn. In this episode, Brian and Joe Casabona discuss learning WordPress, as well as teaching it, including the things they find most important to learn. no full 65 6a621523-3ccc-473c-a10c-1d5036045c96 WordPress in higher education, with Rachel Cherry -- Draft Podcast Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

Brian is joined by guest-host Rachel Cherry -- a Senior Software Engineer at Disney, and the organizer of WP Campus, an event for WordPress in higher education. They discuss many of the things that folks working with WordPress in higher education encounter during this episode.

Prior to working for Disney, Rachel spent around a decade working on the web in higher ed, most recently at the University of Alabama.

Links

Sponsor: SiteGround

SiteGround is engineered for speed, built for security, and crafted for WordPress. They offer feature-rich managed WordPress hosting with premium support, and are officially recommended by WordPress.org. Check out SiteGround's website for a special deal for Post Status listeners, and thanks to SiteGround for being a Post Status partner.

Photo by Found Art Photography

]]> Sat, 20 May 2017 16:03:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

Brian is joined by guest-host Rachel Cherry -- a Senior Software Engineer at Disney, and the organizer of WP Campus, an event for WordPress in higher education. They discuss many of the things that folks working with WordPress in higher education encounter during this episode.

Prior to working for Disney, Rachel spent around a decade working on the web in higher ed, most recently at the University of Alabama.

Links

Sponsor: SiteGround

SiteGround is engineered for speed, built for security, and crafted for WordPress. They offer feature-rich managed WordPress hosting with premium support, and are officially recommended by WordPress.org. Check out SiteGround's website for a special deal for Post Status listeners, and thanks to SiteGround for being a Post Status partner.

Photo by Found Art Photography

]]> WordPress in higher education, with Rachel Cherry -- Draft Podcast Brian Krogsgard 01:07:30 In this episode, Brian is joined by Rachel Cherry, an experienced WordPress developer, including in the realm of using WordPress in higher education. She also organizes a WordPress for higher-ed conference, WP Campus. In this episode, Brian is joined by Rachel Cherry, an experienced WordPress developer, including in the realm of using WordPress in higher education. She also organizes a WordPress for higher-ed conference, WP Campus. no full 64 7dfb177f-4d2a-4941-9c4b-6cecdbf3cb67 Maintaining Legacy WordPress Websites Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Brian and Joe discuss many of the factors that are a part of maintaining a website for the long term. They discuss it both in the sense of when you own the site (like Brian with Post Status), and when you are doing long-term client work (like Human Made with retainers).

There are several things to consider, whether it’s in your own code, or the decisions you make on which third party developer’s tools to use.

Links

Sponsor: SearchWP

SearchWP makes WordPress search better. Instantly improve your site search without writing a line of code! SearchWP enables custom algorithms, searching custom fields, product data, and much more. Improve your site’s search today with our newest partner, SearchWP. ]]> Sun, 30 Apr 2017 14:26:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Brian and Joe discuss many of the factors that are a part of maintaining a website for the long term. They discuss it both in the sense of when you own the site (like Brian with Post Status), and when you are doing long-term client work (like Human Made with retainers).

There are several things to consider, whether it’s in your own code, or the decisions you make on which third party developer’s tools to use.

Links

Sponsor: SearchWP

SearchWP makes WordPress search better. Instantly improve your site search without writing a line of code! SearchWP enables custom algorithms, searching custom fields, product data, and much more. Improve your site’s search today with our newest partner, SearchWP. ]]> Maintaining Legacy WordPress Websites Brian Krogsgard 01:13:39 In this episode, Brian and Joe discuss maintaining legacy WordPress websites, including how to decide between third party code vendors. In this episode, Brian and Joe discuss maintaining legacy WordPress websites, including how to decide between third party code vendors. no full 63 f405126e-b81d-4182-a1f7-e4f7c8ce50fe Breaking into and building community, with WordPress and beyond Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

Brian is joined by guest-host Matt Medeiros -- host of the Matt Report podcast, and many other ventures in the WordPress ecosystem. They discuss community building, their experiences building community in the WordPress world, and the challenges of getting involved in a new community.

Links

Sponsor: Prospress

Prospress makes the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, that enables you to turn your online business into a recurring revenue business. Whether you want to ship a box or setup digital subscriptions like I have on Post Status, Prospress has you covered. Check out Prospress.com for more, and thanks to Prospress for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Mon, 24 Apr 2017 19:09:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard.

Brian is joined by guest-host Matt Medeiros -- host of the Matt Report podcast, and many other ventures in the WordPress ecosystem. They discuss community building, their experiences building community in the WordPress world, and the challenges of getting involved in a new community.

Links

Sponsor: Prospress

Prospress makes the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, that enables you to turn your online business into a recurring revenue business. Whether you want to ship a box or setup digital subscriptions like I have on Post Status, Prospress has you covered. Check out Prospress.com for more, and thanks to Prospress for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Breaking into and building community, with WordPress and beyond Brian Krogsgard 00:56:51 In this episode, Brian is joined by Matt Medeiros, a veteran of building communities in the WordPress Space. They talk about the challenges and rewards of diving into a new community. In this episode, Brian is joined by Matt Medeiros, a veteran of building communities in the WordPress Space. They talk about the challenges and rewards of diving into a new community. no full 62 6d7f614e-58bf-4c84-b376-8aed43424665 JavaScript frameworks in a WordPress context Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Live from the A Day of REST workshops, Brian, Joe, and Zac talk about the state of working with JavaScript -- including several popular JavaScript frameworks -- and WordPress. They go through the pros and cons of using each one, what to watch out for when working with them and WordPress, and ways they think the process can improve.

Links

Sponsor: WP Migrate DB Pro

Today’s show is sponsored by Delicious Brains. WP Migrate DB Pro makes moving and copying databases simple. They also have an exciting new project for merging databases, called Mergebot. Go to Mergebot.com for updates on that, and deliciousbrains.com for more information on WPMigrate DB Pro. Thanks to the team at Delicious Brains for being a Post Status partner.

Special Thanks: Bocoup

Special thanks to Bocoup for allowing us to record this podcast episode in their office. Bocoup was a partner and workshop host for A Day of REST, and were incredibly hospitable. Checkout Bocoup to learn more about how they embrace open source as a consulting agency. ]]> Mon, 13 Mar 2017 00:49:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Live from the A Day of REST workshops, Brian, Joe, and Zac talk about the state of working with JavaScript -- including several popular JavaScript frameworks -- and WordPress. They go through the pros and cons of using each one, what to watch out for when working with them and WordPress, and ways they think the process can improve.

Links

Sponsor: WP Migrate DB Pro

Today’s show is sponsored by Delicious Brains. WP Migrate DB Pro makes moving and copying databases simple. They also have an exciting new project for merging databases, called Mergebot. Go to Mergebot.com for updates on that, and deliciousbrains.com for more information on WPMigrate DB Pro. Thanks to the team at Delicious Brains for being a Post Status partner.

Special Thanks: Bocoup

Special thanks to Bocoup for allowing us to record this podcast episode in their office. Bocoup was a partner and workshop host for A Day of REST, and were incredibly hospitable. Checkout Bocoup to learn more about how they embrace open source as a consulting agency. ]]> JavaScript frameworks in a WordPress context Brian Krogsgard 00:55:32 In this episode, Brian and Joe are joined by Zac Gordon, and the three of them discuss the state of JavaScript and JavaScript frameworks in a WordPress context. In this episode, Brian and Joe are joined by Zac Gordon, and the three of them discuss the state of JavaScript and JavaScript frameworks in a WordPress context. no full 61 24599687-c3ef-4f00-8601-290ee899ab19 Making a living without client work, with Carrie Dils Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and this episode's special guest, Carrie Dils.

Carrie Dils has been self-employed for a long time. After years of client work, she now makes her full-time living through multiple different channels, but is not currently doing client services. In this episode, Brian and Carrie talk about various methods for generating revenue, and some helpful tools to do so.

Links

Links to Carrie's Work

Sponsor: Prospress

Prospress  makes the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, that enables you to turn your online business into a recurring revenue business. Whether you want to ship a box or setup digital subscriptions like I have on Post Status, Prospress has you covered. Check out Prospress.com for more, and thanks to Prospress for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Mon, 6 Mar 2017 15:40:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and this episode's special guest, Carrie Dils.

Carrie Dils has been self-employed for a long time. After years of client work, she now makes her full-time living through multiple different channels, but is not currently doing client services. In this episode, Brian and Carrie talk about various methods for generating revenue, and some helpful tools to do so.

Links

Links to Carrie's Work

Sponsor: Prospress

Prospress  makes the WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, that enables you to turn your online business into a recurring revenue business. Whether you want to ship a box or setup digital subscriptions like I have on Post Status, Prospress has you covered. Check out Prospress.com for more, and thanks to Prospress for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Making a living without client work, with Carrie Dils Brian Krogsgard 00:57:18 In this episode, Brian interviews Carrie Dils -- a self-employed entrepreneur -- about using multiple channels to make a full time living, and giving up client work. In this episode, Brian interviews Carrie Dils -- a self-employed entrepreneur -- about using multiple channels to make a full time living, and giving up client work. no full 60 534929b1-e410-4a8b-baab-e650d7a2aa57 Running a successful regional agency, with Ben May Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher.

In this episode, Brian interviews Ben May to talk about running The Code Company, a semi-remote agency based in Queensland, Australia. The Code Company works primarily with long term clients and repeat work, and they’ve grown from just Ben to a team of 11 almost entirely by referrals for new customers.

Links

Sponsor: WooCommerce

This episode of the Draft podcast is sponsored by WooCommerce. WooCommerce makes the most widely used eCommerce platform on the web, and has the power and flexibility you need to power your store. For more information on how to run your store with WordPress and WooCommerce, check out their website and thank you to WooCommerce for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Sat, 25 Feb 2017 18:35:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher.

In this episode, Brian interviews Ben May to talk about running The Code Company, a semi-remote agency based in Queensland, Australia. The Code Company works primarily with long term clients and repeat work, and they’ve grown from just Ben to a team of 11 almost entirely by referrals for new customers.

Links

Sponsor: WooCommerce

This episode of the Draft podcast is sponsored by WooCommerce. WooCommerce makes the most widely used eCommerce platform on the web, and has the power and flexibility you need to power your store. For more information on how to run your store with WordPress and WooCommerce, check out their website and thank you to WooCommerce for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Running a successful regional agency, with Ben May Brian Krogsgard 00:35:07 In this episode, Brian interviews Ben May -- owner of The Code Company -- about growing and running a successful development agency in Australia. In this episode, Brian interviews Ben May -- owner of The Code Company -- about growing and running a successful development agency in Australia. no full 59 c7170fc9-924e-486c-b2d5-5cc7b76e59cb Growing well: an interview with WP Engine founder, Jason Cohen Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. In this episode, I interview Jason Cohen, the founder of WP Engine and current CTO.

I talked to Jason about a whole lot of things, mostly to do with growing well. Whether you're growing revenue, company size, or personal development -- this is a conversation about growth, and how to do it well.

Unlike many entrepreneurs in the WordPress space, WP Engine isn't Jason's first business. He's done this before, and made plenty of mistakes. He talks about what he's done differently at WP Engine and how its made him a happier person.

This interview took place at LoopConf, and Jason was a keynote presenter. His LoopConf talk pairs well with our discussion.

Direct Download

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

This episode is sponsored by iThemes. The team at iThemes offers WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. For more information, check out their website and thank you to iThemes for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Sat, 11 Feb 2017 04:12:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. In this episode, I interview Jason Cohen, the founder of WP Engine and current CTO.

I talked to Jason about a whole lot of things, mostly to do with growing well. Whether you're growing revenue, company size, or personal development -- this is a conversation about growth, and how to do it well.

Unlike many entrepreneurs in the WordPress space, WP Engine isn't Jason's first business. He's done this before, and made plenty of mistakes. He talks about what he's done differently at WP Engine and how its made him a happier person.

This interview took place at LoopConf, and Jason was a keynote presenter. His LoopConf talk pairs well with our discussion.

Direct Download

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

This episode is sponsored by iThemes. The team at iThemes offers WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. For more information, check out their website and thank you to iThemes for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Growing well: an interview with WP Engine founder, Jason Cohen Brian Krogsgard 01:29:04 Growing well: an interview with WP Engine founder, Jason Cohen Growing well: an interview with WP Engine founder, Jason Cohen no full 58 409fb12f-941a-4fe8-9065-a5e10c177c6b Editing and customization core focus areas Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about two of the three WordPress core focus areas -- the customizer and the editor. There has been some news lately with initial ideas and mockups for each project, and we discuss the importance of these features, as well as what's happening with these projects so far.

Links

Sponsor: Pippin's Plugins

This episode is sponsored by Pippin's Plugins. Pippin's Plugins creates a suite of plugins that work great alone, or together. Whether you need to restrict content, sell downloads, or start an affiliate program, they've got you covered. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Pippin's Plugins for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Thu, 2 Feb 2017 17:42:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about two of the three WordPress core focus areas -- the customizer and the editor. There has been some news lately with initial ideas and mockups for each project, and we discuss the importance of these features, as well as what's happening with these projects so far.

Links

Sponsor: Pippin's Plugins

This episode is sponsored by Pippin's Plugins. Pippin's Plugins creates a suite of plugins that work great alone, or together. Whether you need to restrict content, sell downloads, or start an affiliate program, they've got you covered. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Pippin's Plugins for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Editing and customization core focus areas Brian Krogsgard 00:57:48 In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about both the editor and customizer feature projects -- two core focus areas for WordPress in 2017. In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about both the editor and customizer feature projects -- two core focus areas for WordPress in 2017. no full 57 518d3c6e-d355-41cd-acbb-95ca7321f1d0 What we want from WordPress in 2017, live from Post Status Publish After Post Status Publish's main talks concluded, Joe Hoyle and I recorded the podcast during the reception. It was a laid back format where we discuss the future of WordPress, including our own wishlist features, and then we spent the majority of the hour taking questions from the audience.

We recorded this prior to the announcement of the new development schedule and changes to major releases, but most of our conversation remains relevant, as many of our wishlist items are within the three release focus areas that have been chosen.

You can listen to just the audio, also on our podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher.

Or watch the video on YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe to my new channel on YouTube.

]]> Thu, 29 Dec 2016 15:15:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts After Post Status Publish's main talks concluded, Joe Hoyle and I recorded the podcast during the reception. It was a laid back format where we discuss the future of WordPress, including our own wishlist features, and then we spent the majority of the hour taking questions from the audience.

We recorded this prior to the announcement of the new development schedule and changes to major releases, but most of our conversation remains relevant, as many of our wishlist items are within the three release focus areas that have been chosen.

You can listen to just the audio, also on our podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher.

Or watch the video on YouTube. And don't forget to subscribe to my new channel on YouTube.

]]> What we want from WordPress in 2017, live from Post Status Publish Brian Krogsgard 01:05:39 Joe Hoyle and I discuss what we'd like to see in WordPress going forward, and take audience Q&A. This session was recorded at Post Status Publish 2016. Joe Hoyle and I discuss what we'd like to see in WordPress going forward, and take audience Q&A. This session was recorded at Post Status Publish 2016. no full 56 1dee80c5-71e9-4374-bb05-9a9c5d53e68b Interview with Matt Mullenweg on the new WordPress release cycle and more During contributor day of WordCamp US in Philadelphia, I was able to interview Matt Mullenweg to follow up on several items he announced in the State of the Word.

We mostly discussed the new WordPress development cycle and how it will work with the three focus areas. We also discussed how that will affect other non-major updates and WordPress features.

Matt also talked about the WordPress REST API, how he defines success for it, what he hopes to see out of it, and what he thinks would cause it to revert to a plugin only feature.

And as this was the second and final year of WordCamp US in Philadelphia, we reflected on the event, and talked about what there is to look forward to in Nashville for WordCamp US 2017 and 2018.

]]> Sat, 10 Dec 2016 22:45:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts During contributor day of WordCamp US in Philadelphia, I was able to interview Matt Mullenweg to follow up on several items he announced in the State of the Word.

We mostly discussed the new WordPress development cycle and how it will work with the three focus areas. We also discussed how that will affect other non-major updates and WordPress features.

Matt also talked about the WordPress REST API, how he defines success for it, what he hopes to see out of it, and what he thinks would cause it to revert to a plugin only feature.

And as this was the second and final year of WordCamp US in Philadelphia, we reflected on the event, and talked about what there is to look forward to in Nashville for WordCamp US 2017 and 2018.

]]> Interview with Matt Mullenweg on the new WordPress release cycle and more Brian Krogsgard 00:25:21 I had the opportunity to interview Matt Mullenweg at the end of WordCamp US 2016, and we chatted about the new WordPress development cycle, the WordPress REST API, and more. I had the opportunity to interview Matt Mullenweg at the end of WordCamp US 2016, and we chatted about the new WordPress development cycle, the WordPress REST API, and more. no full 55 c4beddf6-0533-4e7b-ada3-2e6c6dbbc3ea Learning WordPress development and how employers should look at candidates Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about how they learned WordPress development, how employers should look at candidates for skill hiring, and various resources they find valuable for learning WordPress.

Links

Sponsor: Gravity Forms

This episode is sponsored by Gravity Forms. Gravity Forms makes the best web forms on the planet. Over a million WordPress sites are already using Gravity Forms. Is yours? For more information, check out their website and thank you to Gravity Forms for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Mon, 7 Nov 2016 14:31:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about how they learned WordPress development, how employers should look at candidates for skill hiring, and various resources they find valuable for learning WordPress.

Links

Sponsor: Gravity Forms

This episode is sponsored by Gravity Forms. Gravity Forms makes the best web forms on the planet. Over a million WordPress sites are already using Gravity Forms. Is yours? For more information, check out their website and thank you to Gravity Forms for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Learning WordPress development and how employers should look at candidates Brian Krogsgard 01:30:41 In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about how they learned WordPress development, how we think employers should look at skill hiring, and resources for learning. In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about how they learned WordPress development, how we think employers should look at skill hiring, and resources for learning. no full 54 86d43f57-9c3a-41af-99d4-dc868c2e115f WordPress REST API in Core Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about the WordPress REST API and the core approval process

Topics

  • The API's journey
  • How Core projects work
  • What to know about the API know that it's in trunk
  • What that means for the future of the API

Links

Sponsor: OptinMonster

OptinMonster allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create & A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. Check out OptinMonster today!

 

]]> Mon, 24 Oct 2016 13:30:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about the WordPress REST API and the core approval process

Topics

  • The API's journey
  • How Core projects work
  • What to know about the API know that it's in trunk
  • What that means for the future of the API

Links

Sponsor: OptinMonster

OptinMonster allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create & A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. Check out OptinMonster today!

 

]]> WordPress REST API in Core Brian Krogsgard 01:38:09 In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about the WordPress REST API and the core approval process In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about the WordPress REST API and the core approval process no full 53 3d8854af-e70d-4f3f-84c1-09fc17e5a76d Ask Post Status: Innovation in WordPress Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian answer listener questions. You can go to poststatus.com/ask to ask questions for a future episode. We spent the second half of the show talking about innovation in WordPress and what makes big innovation difficult.

Topics and Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely helps the world’s biggest brands scale and secure WordPress. They are the original managed host, and have been at it for seven years now. Check out Pagely today, and thanks to Pagely for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Wed, 12 Oct 2016 17:19:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian answer listener questions. You can go to poststatus.com/ask to ask questions for a future episode. We spent the second half of the show talking about innovation in WordPress and what makes big innovation difficult.

Topics and Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely helps the world’s biggest brands scale and secure WordPress. They are the original managed host, and have been at it for seven years now. Check out Pagely today, and thanks to Pagely for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Ask Post Status: Innovation in WordPress Brian Krogsgard 01:03:04 In this episode, Joe and Brian answer listener questions. Questions range from development database syncing strategies, to the theme review process, and a long chat about innovation in WordPress. In this episode, Joe and Brian answer listener questions. Questions range from development database syncing strategies, to the theme review process, and a long chat about innovation in WordPress. no full 52 bb84b2ee-4d2e-42f5-8bf2-394c64c124c1 The art of being a self-employed web consultant Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and this week's special guest host, Diane Kinney.

Diane is a web professional and solo practitioner based in Florida. She’s writing a book with Carrie Dils called Real World Freelancing, and I thought it’d be fun to chat with her about freelancing.

Links and Topics

Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support from a dedicated support team and extra features such as a redirect manager, tutorial videos and integration with Google Webmaster Tools! Go to yoast.com for more information, and thanks to Yoast for being a Post Status partner ]]> Sat, 24 Sep 2016 15:01:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and this week's special guest host, Diane Kinney.

Diane is a web professional and solo practitioner based in Florida. She’s writing a book with Carrie Dils called Real World Freelancing, and I thought it’d be fun to chat with her about freelancing.

Links and Topics

Sponsor: Yoast

Yoast SEO Premium gives you 24/7 support from a dedicated support team and extra features such as a redirect manager, tutorial videos and integration with Google Webmaster Tools! Go to yoast.com for more information, and thanks to Yoast for being a Post Status partner ]]> The art of being a self-employed web consultant Brian Krogsgard 01:23:34 In this episode, Brian talks to Diane Kinney about web-based freelancing in the real world. In this episode, Brian talks to Diane Kinney about web-based freelancing in the real world. no full 51 775130d0-f3c3-4a81-9337-8c121484e5d5 What is a WordPress theme anyway? Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress themes, the functionality people put into them, and the challenges that face the WordPress ecosystem with the current state of theming. They also discuss various theme frameworks and how they are setup, common post types and how they can better be supported, and the popularity of page builders.

Topics

]]> Mon, 19 Sep 2016 17:23:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress themes, the functionality people put into them, and the challenges that face the WordPress ecosystem with the current state of theming. They also discuss various theme frameworks and how they are setup, common post types and how they can better be supported, and the popularity of page builders.

Topics

]]> What is a WordPress theme anyway? Brian Krogsgard 01:13:53 In this episode, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress themes, the functionality people put into them, and the challenges that face the WordPress ecosystem with the current state of theming. In this episode, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress themes, the functionality people put into them, and the challenges that face the WordPress ecosystem with the current state of theming. no full 50 1def629a-2028-435a-b3f8-8ac329398bda Rejuvenating old software products, with Pippin Williamson In this episode of Post Status Draft, I talk to Pippin Williamson, and we discuss the renewed effort he and his team have made to rejuvenate Restrict Content Pro.

Restrict Content Pro was initially sold without even a dedicated landing page, was successful on Code Canyon for a time, then he let it sputter as he and his team concentrated on Easy Digital Downloads and AffiliateWP.

But Pippin knew that Restrict Content Pro still had more life in it, and he wanted to see it become the kind of product he knew it had the potential to be. So when John Parris -- at the time primarily working with Easy Digital Downloads -- said he was interested in helping make RCP a proper membership plugin, Pippin jumped on the opportunity.

They have had a good bit of success early on in the attempt to rejuvenate this product:

Our goal was to double or triple the monthly revenue within six months. In March, 2016, RCP brought in $7,700. Last month, July 2016, it brought in $11,400. August, 2016, is estimated to bring in a little over $12,000.

We’re at the five month mark and have increased monthly revenue by about 1.5. That’s not double yet, but it’s getting close. Within another few months, I expect we’ve surpass $15,000 in monthly sales. Even with just an increase of 1.5, we’re still looking at more than $100,000 in annual revenue, and the monthly revenue is higher than it ever was in the past, so we’re succeeding.


Our conversation picked up where the blog post left off. We talked about the pain points they encountered during this effort, some of the additional rewards they've had, and how he structures the business more generally to have the same team work on multiple products.

If you are a business owner, or aspire to be one -- or if you are curious about managing multiple lines of business at once -- then I think you'll really enjoy this episode.

And, if you're a Post Status Club member, Pippin and I recorded a bonus segment, where we discuss hosted WordPress eCommerce, and Pippin shares his opinions on the concept, and whether or not it's something they are considering for Restrict Content Pro and/or Easy Digital Downloads.

Sponsor: Design Palette Pro makes customizing Genesis websites simple. The Design Palette Pro team has integrated with every Genesis child theme, and it’s the perfect place to send folks who need custom design, without a custom budget. Go to GenesisDesignPro.com for more information, and thanks to Design Palette Pro for being a Post Status partner.

Original photo credit: Marc Benzakein at WCSD

]]> Tue, 6 Sep 2016 18:25:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts In this episode of Post Status Draft, I talk to Pippin Williamson, and we discuss the renewed effort he and his team have made to rejuvenate Restrict Content Pro.

Restrict Content Pro was initially sold without even a dedicated landing page, was successful on Code Canyon for a time, then he let it sputter as he and his team concentrated on Easy Digital Downloads and AffiliateWP.

But Pippin knew that Restrict Content Pro still had more life in it, and he wanted to see it become the kind of product he knew it had the potential to be. So when John Parris -- at the time primarily working with Easy Digital Downloads -- said he was interested in helping make RCP a proper membership plugin, Pippin jumped on the opportunity.

They have had a good bit of success early on in the attempt to rejuvenate this product:

Our goal was to double or triple the monthly revenue within six months. In March, 2016, RCP brought in $7,700. Last month, July 2016, it brought in $11,400. August, 2016, is estimated to bring in a little over $12,000.

We’re at the five month mark and have increased monthly revenue by about 1.5. That’s not double yet, but it’s getting close. Within another few months, I expect we’ve surpass $15,000 in monthly sales. Even with just an increase of 1.5, we’re still looking at more than $100,000 in annual revenue, and the monthly revenue is higher than it ever was in the past, so we’re succeeding.


Our conversation picked up where the blog post left off. We talked about the pain points they encountered during this effort, some of the additional rewards they've had, and how he structures the business more generally to have the same team work on multiple products.

If you are a business owner, or aspire to be one -- or if you are curious about managing multiple lines of business at once -- then I think you'll really enjoy this episode.

And, if you're a Post Status Club member, Pippin and I recorded a bonus segment, where we discuss hosted WordPress eCommerce, and Pippin shares his opinions on the concept, and whether or not it's something they are considering for Restrict Content Pro and/or Easy Digital Downloads.

Sponsor: Design Palette Pro makes customizing Genesis websites simple. The Design Palette Pro team has integrated with every Genesis child theme, and it’s the perfect place to send folks who need custom design, without a custom budget. Go to GenesisDesignPro.com for more information, and thanks to Design Palette Pro for being a Post Status partner.

Original photo credit: Marc Benzakein at WCSD

]]> Rejuvenating old software products, with Pippin Williamson Brian Krogsgard 01:01:43 In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian talks to Pippin Williamson, and they examine the efforts he and his team have made while breathing new life into Restrict Content Pro. In this episode of Post Status Draft, Brian talks to Pippin Williamson, and they examine the efforts he and his team have made while breathing new life into Restrict Content Pro. no full 49 ff7b4c9f-f498-4373-a4ae-9150677f4d90 Mobile Apps that Work with WordPress Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about various third party publishing apps available and how they work with WordPress. They dig into apps that currently exist, how the connect to WordPress, how the future of WordPress could improve the third party ecosystem, and many of the challenges that must be tackled when interacting with WordPress as a third party application.

Apps We Discussed

Editor Interfaces

Other Links

Sponsor: Delicious Brains

Today’s show is sponsored by Delicious Brains. WP Migrate DB Pro makes moving and copying databases simple. They are also working on an exciting new project right now for merging databases, called Mergebot. Go to Mergebot.com for updates on that, and deliciousbrains.com for more information on WPMigrate DB Pro, and thanks to the team at Delicious Brains for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Tue, 30 Aug 2016 17:43:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about various third party publishing apps available and how they work with WordPress. They dig into apps that currently exist, how the connect to WordPress, how the future of WordPress could improve the third party ecosystem, and many of the challenges that must be tackled when interacting with WordPress as a third party application.

Apps We Discussed

Editor Interfaces

Other Links

Sponsor: Delicious Brains

Today’s show is sponsored by Delicious Brains. WP Migrate DB Pro makes moving and copying databases simple. They are also working on an exciting new project right now for merging databases, called Mergebot. Go to Mergebot.com for updates on that, and deliciousbrains.com for more information on WPMigrate DB Pro, and thanks to the team at Delicious Brains for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Mobile Apps that Work with WordPress Brian Krogsgard 01:01:51 In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about various third party publishing apps available and how they work with WordPress. In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about various third party publishing apps available and how they work with WordPress. no full 48 c34423ce-3158-4487-add2-90217ec707af WordPress 4.6, "Pepper" WordPress 4.6, “Pepper”, has been released. It’s named, as always, after a famous jazz musician, and this release is named after Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III, a baritone saxophonist and jazz composer.

The Release Lead for WordPress 4.6 was Dominik Schilling, known often as Ocean90, and the Deputy Release Lead was Garth Mortensen. There were 272 total contributors to this release. According to Aaron Jorbin, 85 of these contributors were first timers, so congratulations to all new WordPress contributors!

For this release, we did a special episode of the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle — the CTO of Human Made — and me, Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and I discuss WordPress 4.6 and deep dive on a few of its features.

About WordPress 4.6

Overall, this was a planned iterative release from the beginning, with a goal to fix as many longstanding bugs as possible, and to refine existing features, rather than to focus on a lot of brand new features.

Folks have been clamoring for a release like this for a long time, and in most respects 4.6 delivered. According to Trac, 489 tickets were closed, across 53 components, during the 4.6 milestone. Also, it shipped exactly on time.

User facing features

WordPress 4.6 has a few user facing features that aren't huge functional changes, but nice interface enhancements.

Shiny updates

No more bleak screen of sadness, as the team working on this termed it. The plugin installation, updates, and delete process is much smoother than it used to be. There's a nice video of this from the initial proposal:

This was the second release where "shiny updates" features were a focus. To see some under the hood considerations for developers, there's more information on that from Pascal Birchler.

Native fonts

WordPress is leaving Open Sans. You may have seen GitHub’s change to native fonts. Or if you’re running 4.6 in development, you’ve seen native fonts replace Open Sans in the admin too. Matt Miklic explains the switch from Open Sans to native system fonts in the WordPress admin.

By the way, the declaration of fonts has a good bit of science behind it, and may be useful for those of you who wish to do something similar for your site body copy. Marcin Wichary has a really interesting post describing Medium's process for the switch.

And if you're curious, the new declaration is this:

font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif;

Inline link checker

WordPress will now automatically detect improperly formatted links, as you write. While this doesn't check the validity of any properly written URL, it will ensure the URL you add in an href is properly formatted. So, it will catch if you accidentally type something like htp://w.org or http:/w.org and outline it in read for you to fix.

If you copy and past a URL into the link editor, but don't include http:// at all (I do this a bunch), it auto detects and inserts it for you.

Browser content caching

Yet more efforts have been made to always ensure that you do not lose your content as you write. I followed the steps in the Trac ticket to see exactly what happens here.

So I typed the first sentence below, saved a draft, then typed the second paragraph:

What if I start typing and save a draft?

Then start typing some more, because that's what bloggers do. And I chill here for a few seconds, then stupidly just reload this page?


Then I reloaded the page without saving again, and got a notice that there is a more up to date version available.

And just like that, the content is back, because it was saved in the browser's local storage. Pretty cool.

Developer features

There are several important developer centric features that you should know about.

Enhanced meta data registration

This is a significant aid to the (pending) REST API meta handling, but also improves other meta data functionality. The register_meta() function allows developers to tell WordPress more about what specific meta data is designed to do. In WordPress 4.6, the arguments for this function have changed, enabling more information to be communicated in the third parameter, which is now an array.

The show_in_rest key, an experimental key (until the API endpoint goes in), finally solves the issue for the REST API for knowing when to include meta data in the API's default responses. It's one step of a few that need to be made to better support meta for the API, but it's a good step forward.

For plugin developers not using register_meta(), be sure to learn more about it and the advantages, as there are quite a few. Jeremy Felt describes how to use register_meta on Make Core.

Translation priorities and changes

WordPress will now default to the translations from Translate.WordPress.org community translations, then pull from theme or plugin translation files. A procedure called “just-in-time” translation loading will be utilized, and for plugins and themes distributed through the official repository, load_plugin_textdomain() and load_theme_textdomain() no longer need to be used.

Commercial plugin authors will still largely follow the same internationalization procedures they always have.

In a related note, and quite impressively, WordPress 4.6 shipped 100% translated in 50+ languages.

Resource hints

Joe helped teach me more about resource hints on the podcast, and Aaron did a much better job detailing resource hints than I could, in his excellent field guide:
Resource Hints is a rather new W3C specification that “defines the dns-prefetch, preconnect, prefetch, and prerender relationships of the HTML Link Element ()”. These can be used to assist the browser in the decision process of which origins it should connect to, and which resources it should fetch and preprocess to improve page performance.

In 4.6, WordPress adds an API to register and use resource hints. The relevant ticket is #34292.

Developers can use the wp_resource_hints filter to add custom domains and URLs for dns-prefetch, preconnect, prefetch or prerender. One needs to be careful to not add too many resource hints as they could quite easily negatively impact performance, especially on mobile.


Resource hints can be very useful for certain situations, and it's a technique that I personally need to explore further. Those of you doing advanced performance-driven development will surely be excited about support for this in WordPress.

Customizer APIs

The Customize API continues to evolve and improve, and Nick Halsey walks through new developer-focused features and changes to the API for WordPress 4.6. Also quite notably, Weston Ruter describes new APIs for both settings validation and notification management in the customizer.

Other developer-centric changes

Multisite changes: Jeremy Felt describes WP_Site_Query and WP_Network_Query, and goes over a few new functions and filters.

There is now a persistent comment cache, allowing more performant comment loading functionality.

The WordPress HTTP API now uses the Requests library, as Ryan McCue describes.

Aaron Jorbin describes some of the lower level WordPress loading priorities and defaults that have changed. He also describes how WP CLI and core have reconciled their differences in wp-settings.php, which makes backward compatability for WP CLI possible now.

Boone Gorges describes the introduction of WP_Term_Query. He’s the term whisperer. As Joe and I discuss in the podcast, these sorts of changes make for better consistency in WordPress, and provide an improved developer experience.

Learn more

WordPress 4.6 is the result of hundreds of community members. You can find their names and links to their profiles on the official release post.

Also check out the official 4.6 Codex page that has a lot of handy information and links to source Trac tickets. You can see all closed tickets from 4.6 on the Trac milestone. View all new functions, classes, methods, and hooks on the official Developer Reference. And learn more about some of what I discuss above, and other items, on the ever-helpful field guide.

For the record, WordPress 4.5 was downloaded more than 45 million times. You can track 4.6 downloads on the page dedicated to the task.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to WordPress 4.6! I hope you have a 🍺 or 🍻 to celebrate if that's your kind of thing, or otherwise 🎉  your efforts.

Podcast Sponsor: Prospress

Prospress exists to make the world’s best eCommerce platform a little better, because they want to help entrepreneurs prosper with WordPress. They are the creators of WooCommerce Subscriptions, PayPal Digital Goods, and One Page Checkout. Check them out at Prospress.com. ]]> Wed, 17 Aug 2016 17:07:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts WordPress 4.6, “Pepper”, has been released. It’s named, as always, after a famous jazz musician, and this release is named after Park Frederick "Pepper" Adams III, a baritone saxophonist and jazz composer.

The Release Lead for WordPress 4.6 was Dominik Schilling, known often as Ocean90, and the Deputy Release Lead was Garth Mortensen. There were 272 total contributors to this release. According to Aaron Jorbin, 85 of these contributors were first timers, so congratulations to all new WordPress contributors!

For this release, we did a special episode of the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle — the CTO of Human Made — and me, Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and I discuss WordPress 4.6 and deep dive on a few of its features.

About WordPress 4.6

Overall, this was a planned iterative release from the beginning, with a goal to fix as many longstanding bugs as possible, and to refine existing features, rather than to focus on a lot of brand new features.

Folks have been clamoring for a release like this for a long time, and in most respects 4.6 delivered. According to Trac, 489 tickets were closed, across 53 components, during the 4.6 milestone. Also, it shipped exactly on time.

User facing features

WordPress 4.6 has a few user facing features that aren't huge functional changes, but nice interface enhancements.

Shiny updates

No more bleak screen of sadness, as the team working on this termed it. The plugin installation, updates, and delete process is much smoother than it used to be. There's a nice video of this from the initial proposal:

This was the second release where "shiny updates" features were a focus. To see some under the hood considerations for developers, there's more information on that from Pascal Birchler.

Native fonts

WordPress is leaving Open Sans. You may have seen GitHub’s change to native fonts. Or if you’re running 4.6 in development, you’ve seen native fonts replace Open Sans in the admin too. Matt Miklic explains the switch from Open Sans to native system fonts in the WordPress admin.

By the way, the declaration of fonts has a good bit of science behind it, and may be useful for those of you who wish to do something similar for your site body copy. Marcin Wichary has a really interesting post describing Medium's process for the switch.

And if you're curious, the new declaration is this:

font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Oxygen-Sans, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Helvetica Neue", sans-serif;

Inline link checker

WordPress will now automatically detect improperly formatted links, as you write. While this doesn't check the validity of any properly written URL, it will ensure the URL you add in an href is properly formatted. So, it will catch if you accidentally type something like htp://w.org or http:/w.org and outline it in read for you to fix.

If you copy and past a URL into the link editor, but don't include http:// at all (I do this a bunch), it auto detects and inserts it for you.

Browser content caching

Yet more efforts have been made to always ensure that you do not lose your content as you write. I followed the steps in the Trac ticket to see exactly what happens here.

So I typed the first sentence below, saved a draft, then typed the second paragraph:

What if I start typing and save a draft?

Then start typing some more, because that's what bloggers do. And I chill here for a few seconds, then stupidly just reload this page?


Then I reloaded the page without saving again, and got a notice that there is a more up to date version available.

And just like that, the content is back, because it was saved in the browser's local storage. Pretty cool.

Developer features

There are several important developer centric features that you should know about.

Enhanced meta data registration

This is a significant aid to the (pending) REST API meta handling, but also improves other meta data functionality. The register_meta() function allows developers to tell WordPress more about what specific meta data is designed to do. In WordPress 4.6, the arguments for this function have changed, enabling more information to be communicated in the third parameter, which is now an array.

The show_in_rest key, an experimental key (until the API endpoint goes in), finally solves the issue for the REST API for knowing when to include meta data in the API's default responses. It's one step of a few that need to be made to better support meta for the API, but it's a good step forward.

For plugin developers not using register_meta(), be sure to learn more about it and the advantages, as there are quite a few. Jeremy Felt describes how to use register_meta on Make Core.

Translation priorities and changes

WordPress will now default to the translations from Translate.WordPress.org community translations, then pull from theme or plugin translation files. A procedure called “just-in-time” translation loading will be utilized, and for plugins and themes distributed through the official repository, load_plugin_textdomain() and load_theme_textdomain() no longer need to be used.

Commercial plugin authors will still largely follow the same internationalization procedures they always have.

In a related note, and quite impressively, WordPress 4.6 shipped 100% translated in 50+ languages.

Resource hints

Joe helped teach me more about resource hints on the podcast, and Aaron did a much better job detailing resource hints than I could, in his excellent field guide:
Resource Hints is a rather new W3C specification that “defines the dns-prefetch, preconnect, prefetch, and prerender relationships of the HTML Link Element ()”. These can be used to assist the browser in the decision process of which origins it should connect to, and which resources it should fetch and preprocess to improve page performance.

In 4.6, WordPress adds an API to register and use resource hints. The relevant ticket is #34292.

Developers can use the wp_resource_hints filter to add custom domains and URLs for dns-prefetch, preconnect, prefetch or prerender. One needs to be careful to not add too many resource hints as they could quite easily negatively impact performance, especially on mobile.


Resource hints can be very useful for certain situations, and it's a technique that I personally need to explore further. Those of you doing advanced performance-driven development will surely be excited about support for this in WordPress.

Customizer APIs

The Customize API continues to evolve and improve, and Nick Halsey walks through new developer-focused features and changes to the API for WordPress 4.6. Also quite notably, Weston Ruter describes new APIs for both settings validation and notification management in the customizer.

Other developer-centric changes

Multisite changes: Jeremy Felt describes WP_Site_Query and WP_Network_Query, and goes over a few new functions and filters.

There is now a persistent comment cache, allowing more performant comment loading functionality.

The WordPress HTTP API now uses the Requests library, as Ryan McCue describes.

Aaron Jorbin describes some of the lower level WordPress loading priorities and defaults that have changed. He also describes how WP CLI and core have reconciled their differences in wp-settings.php, which makes backward compatability for WP CLI possible now.

Boone Gorges describes the introduction of WP_Term_Query. He’s the term whisperer. As Joe and I discuss in the podcast, these sorts of changes make for better consistency in WordPress, and provide an improved developer experience.

Learn more

WordPress 4.6 is the result of hundreds of community members. You can find their names and links to their profiles on the official release post.

Also check out the official 4.6 Codex page that has a lot of handy information and links to source Trac tickets. You can see all closed tickets from 4.6 on the Trac milestone. View all new functions, classes, methods, and hooks on the official Developer Reference. And learn more about some of what I discuss above, and other items, on the ever-helpful field guide.

For the record, WordPress 4.5 was downloaded more than 45 million times. You can track 4.6 downloads on the page dedicated to the task.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to WordPress 4.6! I hope you have a 🍺 or 🍻 to celebrate if that's your kind of thing, or otherwise 🎉  your efforts.

Podcast Sponsor: Prospress

Prospress exists to make the world’s best eCommerce platform a little better, because they want to help entrepreneurs prosper with WordPress. They are the creators of WooCommerce Subscriptions, PayPal Digital Goods, and One Page Checkout. Check them out at Prospress.com. ]]> WordPress 4.6, "Pepper" Brian Krogsgard 01:11:28 WordPress 4.6, "Pepper", has been released with shiny plugin management, system fonts, link syntax checking, resource hints, and more. This release post includes a special episode of the podcast. WordPress 4.6, "Pepper", has been released with shiny plugin management, system fonts, link syntax checking, resource hints, and more. This release post includes a special episode of the podcast. no full 47 61f5f910-46e3-425e-9e49-eac59252ba2e Choosing plugins, libraries, and frameworks Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and me, Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and I discuss how we choose plugins, code libraries, and frameworks for our projects.

Direct Download

Topics & Links

  • How we pick plugins
  • Analyzing a plugin on WordPress.org
  • Using GitHub
  • Picking libraries or drop-in frameworks
  • Dealing with updates
  • Differentiating between picking tools for our personal or internal projects, versus doing so for clients

Sponsor: WooCommerce

WooCommerce makes the most customizable eCommerce software on the planet, and it’s the most popular too. You can build just about anything with WooCommerce. Try it today, and thanks to the team at WooCommerce being a Post Status partner ]]> Sat, 6 Aug 2016 14:52:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and me, Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and I discuss how we choose plugins, code libraries, and frameworks for our projects.

Direct Download

Topics & Links

  • How we pick plugins
  • Analyzing a plugin on WordPress.org
  • Using GitHub
  • Picking libraries or drop-in frameworks
  • Dealing with updates
  • Differentiating between picking tools for our personal or internal projects, versus doing so for clients

Sponsor: WooCommerce

WooCommerce makes the most customizable eCommerce software on the planet, and it’s the most popular too. You can build just about anything with WooCommerce. Try it today, and thanks to the team at WooCommerce being a Post Status partner ]]> Choosing plugins, libraries, and frameworks Brian Krogsgard 00:58:07 In this episode, Joe and Brian talk their considerations when selecting which plugins, libraries, and frameworks to use with WordPress. In this episode, Joe and Brian talk their considerations when selecting which plugins, libraries, and frameworks to use with WordPress. no full 46 83738e98-1d89-46ae-a859-7bb6ed8e0908 Scaling WordPress Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk scaling WordPress, and what to do when you think you might’ve reached WordPress’s limits. From meta data, to users, to traffic management, they break down some of the most common scaling issues.

Topics

  • Posts
  • Meta
  • Search
  • Database
  • Users
  • Traffic (types of caching)

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

iThemes has a full suite of excellent products to help you level up your WordPress website. From iThemes Security, to BackupBuddy’s new live backups, to Exchange for your next membership site, iThemes has you covered. Thanks to the team at iThemes being a Post Status partner! ]]> Fri, 29 Jul 2016 17:50:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk scaling WordPress, and what to do when you think you might’ve reached WordPress’s limits. From meta data, to users, to traffic management, they break down some of the most common scaling issues.

Topics

  • Posts
  • Meta
  • Search
  • Database
  • Users
  • Traffic (types of caching)

Links

Sponsor: iThemes

iThemes has a full suite of excellent products to help you level up your WordPress website. From iThemes Security, to BackupBuddy’s new live backups, to Exchange for your next membership site, iThemes has you covered. Thanks to the team at iThemes being a Post Status partner! ]]> Scaling WordPress Brian Krogsgard 01:10:57 In this episode, Joe and Brian talk scaling WordPress, and what to do when you think you might’ve reached WordPress’s limits. In this episode, Joe and Brian talk scaling WordPress, and what to do when you think you might’ve reached WordPress’s limits. no full 45 a96a7cf2-9b35-4528-a031-fb990fdbd1e7 Medium and WordPress Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about Medium & WordPress and whether Medium and similar platforms are a significant threat to WordPress. They also discuss the benefits and challenges of open source platforms versus proprietary ones, and WordPress’s potential as a lower level item in the site stack.

Links

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Pippin's Plugins. If you want to sell downloads, setup content restriction, or start an affiliate program, Pippin’s Plugins have you covered. If you need all three, even better. Pippin’s Plugins is well known for making some of the best coded and most reliable plugins in the market. Check out PippinsPlugins.com for more information. ]]> Fri, 8 Jul 2016 23:25:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about Medium & WordPress and whether Medium and similar platforms are a significant threat to WordPress. They also discuss the benefits and challenges of open source platforms versus proprietary ones, and WordPress’s potential as a lower level item in the site stack.

Links

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Pippin's Plugins. If you want to sell downloads, setup content restriction, or start an affiliate program, Pippin’s Plugins have you covered. If you need all three, even better. Pippin’s Plugins is well known for making some of the best coded and most reliable plugins in the market. Check out PippinsPlugins.com for more information. ]]> Medium and WordPress Brian Krogsgard 01:16:19 In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about Medium & WordPress and whether Medium and similar platforms are a significant threat to WordPress. In this episode, Joe and Brian talk about Medium & WordPress and whether Medium and similar platforms are a significant threat to WordPress. no full 44 67e6bb7e-efa7-40b7-b8ab-b335889a1397 How WordPress news happens Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. This episode of Post Status Draft is hosted by Sarah Gooding -- another WordPress journalist -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Sarah and Brian discuss how they do WordPress news, manage working remotely, and handle family life.

Links

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Valet. Valet helps keep your clients happy & coming back. They offer expert services and keep the websites they manage functioning flawlessly. They offer preventative care that provides peace of mind around the clock. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Valet for being a Post Status partner.   ]]> Wed, 15 Jun 2016 13:30:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. This episode of Post Status Draft is hosted by Sarah Gooding -- another WordPress journalist -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Sarah and Brian discuss how they do WordPress news, manage working remotely, and handle family life.

Links

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Valet. Valet helps keep your clients happy & coming back. They offer expert services and keep the websites they manage functioning flawlessly. They offer preventative care that provides peace of mind around the clock. For more information, check out their website and thank you to Valet for being a Post Status partner.   ]]> How WordPress news happens Brian Krogsgard 01:05:40 In this episode, Sarah and Brian discuss how they do WordPress news, manage working remotely, and handle family life. In this episode, Sarah and Brian discuss how they do WordPress news, manage working remotely, and handle family life. no full 43 e2ff6bfa-f49b-4e0c-91f9-19ee2fd2bee4 WordPress.org Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian discuss the structure and function of the WordPress.org website, which is the hub of the WordPress project. From the actual software distribution, to discussions about the project, to support, and buying swag: it all happens from WordPress.org. We break down what’s what and what we think you should know.

Notes

Who owns WordPress.org? Who works on WordPress.org How WordPress.org distributes software updates

Different Sections of WordPress.org Navigation

  • Showcase
  • WordPress theme directory -- and reviews -- and commercial themes
  • WordPress plugin directory -- and reviews
  • Mobile -- Redirects to .com
  • Support Forums / Codex "documentation"
  • Make WordPress (Get Involved)
  • About (many sub pages and also project structure)
  • Blog
  • Hosting
  • Download (button -- in future to be Get WordPress)

Other Sections

Other Linked Sites

Active Projects for Improving

  • Helphub
  • Handbooks (theme), plugin published
  • Plugin directory

Links

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Gravity Forms. Gravity Forms  makes the best web forms on the planet. Over a million WordPress sites are already using Gravity Forms. Is yours? For more information, check out their website and thank you to Gravity Forms for being a Post Status partner.   ]]> Fri, 27 May 2016 19:10:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode, Joe and Brian discuss the structure and function of the WordPress.org website, which is the hub of the WordPress project. From the actual software distribution, to discussions about the project, to support, and buying swag: it all happens from WordPress.org. We break down what’s what and what we think you should know.

Notes

Who owns WordPress.org? Who works on WordPress.org How WordPress.org distributes software updates

Different Sections of WordPress.org Navigation

  • Showcase
  • WordPress theme directory -- and reviews -- and commercial themes
  • WordPress plugin directory -- and reviews
  • Mobile -- Redirects to .com
  • Support Forums / Codex "documentation"
  • Make WordPress (Get Involved)
  • About (many sub pages and also project structure)
  • Blog
  • Hosting
  • Download (button -- in future to be Get WordPress)

Other Sections

Other Linked Sites

Active Projects for Improving

  • Helphub
  • Handbooks (theme), plugin published
  • Plugin directory

Links

Sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Gravity Forms. Gravity Forms  makes the best web forms on the planet. Over a million WordPress sites are already using Gravity Forms. Is yours? For more information, check out their website and thank you to Gravity Forms for being a Post Status partner.   ]]> WordPress.org Brian Krogsgard 01:05:09 Joe and Brian discuss the structure and function of the WordPress.org website, which is the hub of the WordPress project. From who owns the website to its many moving parts, they go through it bit by bit. Joe and Brian discuss the structure and function of the WordPress.org website, which is the hub of the WordPress project. From who owns the website to its many moving parts, they go through it bit by bit. no full 42 06415165-2453-4fd7-a7b3-c056ad44a3e0 WordPress as a Headless CMS Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Joe and Brian discuss WordPress as a Headless CMS. They talk about what a Headless CMS is, WordPress’s strengths and weaknesses as a Headless CMS, popular frameworks to utilize, and offer up example websites to check out.

Examples

Links

Sponsor

Today’s show is sponsored by OptinMonster. OptinMonster allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create & A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. They recently released OptinMonster 3.0, with an all new builder interface and other great features. ]]> Wed, 18 May 2016 17:43:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Joe and Brian discuss WordPress as a Headless CMS. They talk about what a Headless CMS is, WordPress’s strengths and weaknesses as a Headless CMS, popular frameworks to utilize, and offer up example websites to check out.

Examples

Links

Sponsor

Today’s show is sponsored by OptinMonster. OptinMonster allows you to convert visitors into subscribers. You can easily create & A/B test beautiful lead capture forms without a developer. They recently released OptinMonster 3.0, with an all new builder interface and other great features. ]]> WordPress as a Headless CMS Brian Krogsgard 01:17:53 Joe and Brian discuss WordPress as a Headless CMS, what that means, things to consider using WordPress as a Headless CMS, and more. Joe and Brian discuss WordPress as a Headless CMS, what that means, things to consider using WordPress as a Headless CMS, and more. no full 41 0995de0c-2867-42cc-af01-d355bd3c4fb0 WordPress Security -- Draft podcast Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Security -- in WordPress core, distributed plugins and themes, and in our custom code -- is a constant battle. It’s important to be vigilant with our security practices, from the perspective of managing our websites and when writing code. In this episode, Joe and Brian discuss the nature of WordPress security, best practices for writing secure code, and dig into various situations WordPress developers and site owners may run into.

Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Post Status is proudly hosted by Pagely. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Mon, 9 May 2016 00:55:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Security -- in WordPress core, distributed plugins and themes, and in our custom code -- is a constant battle. It’s important to be vigilant with our security practices, from the perspective of managing our websites and when writing code. In this episode, Joe and Brian discuss the nature of WordPress security, best practices for writing secure code, and dig into various situations WordPress developers and site owners may run into.

Links

Sponsor: Pagely

Pagely offers best in class managed WordPress hosting, powered by the Amazon Cloud, the Internet’s most reliable infrastructure. Post Status is proudly hosted by Pagely. Thank you to Pagely for being a Post Status partner. ]]> WordPress Security -- Draft podcast Brian Krogsgard 01:11:12 This week, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress and website security, why it matters, how to go about it, and what the consequences can be when everything goes downhill. This week, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress and website security, why it matters, how to go about it, and what the consequences can be when everything goes downhill. no full 40 3c21ce42-fc17-4f23-9c30-c8cc0981066a WordPress Development Tools Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Everybody creates workflows to accomplish their development work. And sometimes you come upon a new tool that completely changes how you do things, and helps you improve your productivity.

In this episode, Joe and Brian aim to share their tools in the hopes that it will help others review and refine their own processes. And Joe and Brian approach things quite differently themselves, so they compare and contrast their own workflows. Have something to add to the conversation, be sure to comment!

Tools

Coding Tools & Debugging

Build Tools

Version Control / Review Tools / Deployment

Frontend Tools / Extensions

Sponsor

This podcast is sponsored by Yoast. Yoast SEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin available, with a premium version to provide expert support and additional features. Thank you to Yoast for being a Post Status partner.

Related Podcasts

Understanding WP-CLI

Local WordPress Development Strategies

 

]]> Sat, 23 Apr 2016 13:53:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Everybody creates workflows to accomplish their development work. And sometimes you come upon a new tool that completely changes how you do things, and helps you improve your productivity.

In this episode, Joe and Brian aim to share their tools in the hopes that it will help others review and refine their own processes. And Joe and Brian approach things quite differently themselves, so they compare and contrast their own workflows. Have something to add to the conversation, be sure to comment!

Tools

Coding Tools & Debugging

Build Tools

Version Control / Review Tools / Deployment

Frontend Tools / Extensions

Sponsor

This podcast is sponsored by Yoast. Yoast SEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin available, with a premium version to provide expert support and additional features. Thank you to Yoast for being a Post Status partner.

Related Podcasts

Understanding WP-CLI

Local WordPress Development Strategies

 

]]> WordPress Development Tools Brian Krogsgard 01:39:08 This week, Joe and Brian discuss the tools they use for web and WordPress development. They go from productivity apps that help them accomplish their work to IDSs to build tools to version control. This week, Joe and Brian discuss the tools they use for web and WordPress development. They go from productivity apps that help them accomplish their work to IDSs to build tools to version control. no full 39 8e417e7e-3935-4449-ba2a-a6fced5ead3e WordPress 4.5 Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

WordPress 4.5 was just released, and comes backed with a lot of great new features. Some of our favorites have to do with the editing experience, but we go over all the new user facing features as well as under the hood bits of WordPress 4.5. We also dig into the earliest stages of WordPress 4.6, which is already underway.

If you’ve been enjoying Post Status Draft, would you considering rating us in iTunes? We’ve never asked for it, but it would help tremendously! You can do so by going to iTunes, click “Ratings and Reviews” and leave a quick review. Thanks!
 

Links

Sponsor

This podcast is sponsored by WP101. The WP101 Plugin delivers a set of WordPress video tutorials right in your clients’ dashboard, freeing your time to do what you do best! They also just released a great 22 part course on WooCommerce that you should definitely check out. Thank you to WP101 for being a Post Status partner. ]]> Sat, 16 Apr 2016 12:49:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

WordPress 4.5 was just released, and comes backed with a lot of great new features. Some of our favorites have to do with the editing experience, but we go over all the new user facing features as well as under the hood bits of WordPress 4.5. We also dig into the earliest stages of WordPress 4.6, which is already underway.

If you’ve been enjoying Post Status Draft, would you considering rating us in iTunes? We’ve never asked for it, but it would help tremendously! You can do so by going to iTunes, click “Ratings and Reviews” and leave a quick review. Thanks!
 

Links

Sponsor

This podcast is sponsored by WP101. The WP101 Plugin delivers a set of WordPress video tutorials right in your clients’ dashboard, freeing your time to do what you do best! They also just released a great 22 part course on WooCommerce that you should definitely check out. Thank you to WP101 for being a Post Status partner. ]]> WordPress 4.5 Brian Krogsgard 01:08:49 Joe and Brian talk about the release and features of WordPress 4.5, “Coleman”. They also discuss the earliest stages of WordPress 4.6 -- no rest for the wicked. Joe and Brian talk about the release and features of WordPress 4.5, “Coleman”. They also discuss the earliest stages of WordPress 4.6 -- no rest for the wicked. no full 38 88c03276-008c-46c9-8276-6503044c16ff WordPress Questions & Answers Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Today, we answer questions from Post Status community members, who asked us all sorts of stuff on the Post Status Ask page. If you'd like to ask a question, be sure to go there and we'll see if we can answer it on a future show.

Questions & Links

We answered the following questions:

Why WordPress?

In a survey I did before my PressNomics talk, the top answer for what's important to people in regards to the WordPress world was the quality of the community. WordPress' ubiquity -- powering 26% of the web -- helps too.

What is the biggest mistake you made learning WordPress? (Or, what would you do differently?)

Joe and I each shared what we tend to do wrong when learning new things. We are fully on opposite ends of the spectrum. Recommended link: Just Build Websites. Also, my post on learning WordPress holds up pretty well, considering I wrote it in 2014.

Why did a lot of web and WordPress people get upset about the Mandrill pricing changes, when we want people to value the work we're doing ourselves?

We discuss what made Mandrill's pricing changes controversial, and why we think some level of "outcry" is understandable here. Basically, Mandrill isn't differentiated enough to warrant the new pricing, in our opinions. However, it's obviously their right to change their pricing and structure, and the questioner has a valid point in how we value other services versus our own.

Why isn't the WordPress importer being worked on more intensively?

Good question! We talk about the state of the importer, some other options like WP Migrate DB Pro, WP All Import, and WP CLI. We also discuss how to get involved with open source development.

Should taxonomies have the same feature capabilities as posts in the future?

There's been a lot of interesting work on taxonomies in the last several releases, and you can read more about some of that and find links going back from my release post for WordPress 4.4. However, we think taxonomies and posts should be different. With the introduction of term meta, it is more important to consider architectural choices well in advance. Finally, the Fields API will be interesting in how it affects customizing term edit screens.

How should I use my own domains with Multisite?

This turned interesting! Fortunately, Multisite component maintainer Jeremy Felt came through while we were on the show to point us to tickets that were merged in WordPress 3.9 for enabling simpler domain mapping, and in 4.3, when a better UI was introduced. So, today, it's much easier to use a custom domain in a network -- within the existing WordPress Multisite options interface -- versus using a tool like Mercator.

In addition to these questions, we also banter on about some other things and answer a few less serious questions we go from funny listeners. And at the end, I make a pretty big announcement...

Today’s podcast is sponsored by Design Palette Pro. Design Palette Pro makes it easy to customize pretty much any Genesis theme, without touching code. It’s perfect for when you’re helping a friend with a website, but they don’t have a full service budget and you don’t have time to custom code every element. Get a great website in no time, with Design Palette Pro. Go to GenesisDesignPro.com for more information. Thank you to the team at Reaktiv Studios, who builds Design Palette Pro, for being a Post Status partner.

]]> Fri, 1 Apr 2016 19:13:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Today, we answer questions from Post Status community members, who asked us all sorts of stuff on the Post Status Ask page. If you'd like to ask a question, be sure to go there and we'll see if we can answer it on a future show.

Questions & Links

We answered the following questions:

Why WordPress?

In a survey I did before my PressNomics talk, the top answer for what's important to people in regards to the WordPress world was the quality of the community. WordPress' ubiquity -- powering 26% of the web -- helps too.

What is the biggest mistake you made learning WordPress? (Or, what would you do differently?)

Joe and I each shared what we tend to do wrong when learning new things. We are fully on opposite ends of the spectrum. Recommended link: Just Build Websites. Also, my post on learning WordPress holds up pretty well, considering I wrote it in 2014.

Why did a lot of web and WordPress people get upset about the Mandrill pricing changes, when we want people to value the work we're doing ourselves?

We discuss what made Mandrill's pricing changes controversial, and why we think some level of "outcry" is understandable here. Basically, Mandrill isn't differentiated enough to warrant the new pricing, in our opinions. However, it's obviously their right to change their pricing and structure, and the questioner has a valid point in how we value other services versus our own.

Why isn't the WordPress importer being worked on more intensively?

Good question! We talk about the state of the importer, some other options like WP Migrate DB Pro, WP All Import, and WP CLI. We also discuss how to get involved with open source development.

Should taxonomies have the same feature capabilities as posts in the future?

There's been a lot of interesting work on taxonomies in the last several releases, and you can read more about some of that and find links going back from my release post for WordPress 4.4. However, we think taxonomies and posts should be different. With the introduction of term meta, it is more important to consider architectural choices well in advance. Finally, the Fields API will be interesting in how it affects customizing term edit screens.

How should I use my own domains with Multisite?

This turned interesting! Fortunately, Multisite component maintainer Jeremy Felt came through while we were on the show to point us to tickets that were merged in WordPress 3.9 for enabling simpler domain mapping, and in 4.3, when a better UI was introduced. So, today, it's much easier to use a custom domain in a network -- within the existing WordPress Multisite options interface -- versus using a tool like Mercator.

In addition to these questions, we also banter on about some other things and answer a few less serious questions we go from funny listeners. And at the end, I make a pretty big announcement...

Today’s podcast is sponsored by Design Palette Pro. Design Palette Pro makes it easy to customize pretty much any Genesis theme, without touching code. It’s perfect for when you’re helping a friend with a website, but they don’t have a full service budget and you don’t have time to custom code every element. Get a great website in no time, with Design Palette Pro. Go to GenesisDesignPro.com for more information. Thank you to the team at Reaktiv Studios, who builds Design Palette Pro, for being a Post Status partner.

]]> WordPress Questions & Answers Brian Krogsgard 00:58:46 In this episode, Joe and Brian answer listeners' WordPress questions, from topics like Multisite, to understanding taxonomies versus posts, the state of the WordPress importer, and more. In this episode, Joe and Brian answer listeners' WordPress questions, from topics like Multisite, to understanding taxonomies versus posts, the state of the WordPress importer, and more. no full 37 4582c665-b62d-42ab-aabd-d2b69506f4bc WordPress and SaaS Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Software as a service (SaaS) is often viewed as a holy grail for successful online business. The ability to generate recurring revenue that doesn’t require hours-for-dollars is attractive to most entrepreneurs.

WordPress can be a helpful tool to get a lot of SaaS functionality out of the box. In today’s episode, we discuss WordPress and SaaS in two contexts: one, using WordPress as a technology basis for a SaaS in another industry, and two, creating a SaaS catered to the WordPress world.

Links

We mentioned the following SaaS products, and probably some others too. Today’s podcast is sponsored by WP Migrate DB Pro by Delicious Brains, the tool that makes syncing your databases effortless. Check out WP Migrate DB Pro and all their other great products on their website. ]]> Sat, 26 Mar 2016 17:40:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Software as a service (SaaS) is often viewed as a holy grail for successful online business. The ability to generate recurring revenue that doesn’t require hours-for-dollars is attractive to most entrepreneurs.

WordPress can be a helpful tool to get a lot of SaaS functionality out of the box. In today’s episode, we discuss WordPress and SaaS in two contexts: one, using WordPress as a technology basis for a SaaS in another industry, and two, creating a SaaS catered to the WordPress world.

Links

We mentioned the following SaaS products, and probably some others too. Today’s podcast is sponsored by WP Migrate DB Pro by Delicious Brains, the tool that makes syncing your databases effortless. Check out WP Migrate DB Pro and all their other great products on their website. ]]> WordPress and SaaS Brian Krogsgard 01:03:55 Joe and Brian discuss WordPress in the context of SaaS — or Software as a Service. They dig into WordPress as a tool for a SaaS within another industry, as well as WordPress-centric tools with SaaS based business models. Joe and Brian discuss WordPress in the context of SaaS — or Software as a Service. They dig into WordPress as a tool for a SaaS within another industry, as well as WordPress-centric tools with SaaS based business models. no full 36 4a36cd13-a319-4849-b3dc-340340a2e180 WordPress Hosting Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

WordPress hosting is always a hot topic of conversation, due to the difficult task of differentiating one host from another. There is also a lot of money and marketing involved in the industry -- an industry that includes some of the largest companies in the WordPress ecosystem.

In this episode, Joe and I attempt to break down what different types of hosting are available, how they are applicable to WordPress, and even dig in to some of the drama and politics that surround the hosting world.

The techical part of the conversation is the first 50 minutes or so, and around that mark, we get into the politics and non-technical issues around WordPress hosting, as well as tell some stories of how companies have successfully marketed themselves by getting embedded in the WordPress community.

Links

This episode is sponsored by one of our great partners, Prospress. Check out Prospress's Post Status profile, as well as their website. They are the makers of the excellent WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, amongst other helpful products. ]]> Fri, 18 Mar 2016 19:40:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

WordPress hosting is always a hot topic of conversation, due to the difficult task of differentiating one host from another. There is also a lot of money and marketing involved in the industry -- an industry that includes some of the largest companies in the WordPress ecosystem.

In this episode, Joe and I attempt to break down what different types of hosting are available, how they are applicable to WordPress, and even dig in to some of the drama and politics that surround the hosting world.

The techical part of the conversation is the first 50 minutes or so, and around that mark, we get into the politics and non-technical issues around WordPress hosting, as well as tell some stories of how companies have successfully marketed themselves by getting embedded in the WordPress community.

Links

This episode is sponsored by one of our great partners, Prospress. Check out Prospress's Post Status profile, as well as their website. They are the makers of the excellent WooCommerce Subscriptions plugin, amongst other helpful products. ]]> WordPress Hosting Brian Krogsgard 01:38:19 In this episode, Joe and Brian talk all about WordPress hosting, including the different types of hosting that are available, our technical preferences, and some of the non-technical issues that surround hosting in the WordPress world. In this episode, Joe and Brian talk all about WordPress hosting, including the different types of hosting that are available, our technical preferences, and some of the non-technical issues that surround hosting in the WordPress world. no full 35 744baf25-05b7-4ad3-8f92-e3553fcd7cd3 All things HTTP/2 and HTTPS Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

HTTPS and HTTP/2 are somewhat intertwined, and a lot has been going on lately in this realm. Google has made a big push to encourage the use of SSL for websites -- including making it a search ranking factor -- and LetsEncrypt and other services are offering new ways to deliver free SSL certificates, securely. And HTTPS is required for HTTP/2, which is making a big splash as well, quickly outpacing SPDY. Today, we’ll talk about what these terms are, and what it means for the web and for WordPress.

Links

]]> Sat, 20 Feb 2016 18:17:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

HTTPS and HTTP/2 are somewhat intertwined, and a lot has been going on lately in this realm. Google has made a big push to encourage the use of SSL for websites -- including making it a search ranking factor -- and LetsEncrypt and other services are offering new ways to deliver free SSL certificates, securely. And HTTPS is required for HTTP/2, which is making a big splash as well, quickly outpacing SPDY. Today, we’ll talk about what these terms are, and what it means for the web and for WordPress.

Links

]]> All things HTTP/2 and HTTPS Brian Krogsgard 01:05:58 Joe and Brian talk about HTTPS and HTTP/2, including what they are, what it means, and how they affect WordPress. Joe and Brian talk about HTTPS and HTTP/2, including what they are, what it means, and how they affect WordPress. no full 34 a8e73157-0aa2-41fc-878b-e366ae289aa5 WordPress in the Enterprise Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Today, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress in the “enterprise," starting with a discussion on what the enterprise even is. We discuss WordPress’s value to the enterprise, and what enterprise level companies are looking for in their technology solutions.

The conversation turns into conspiracy theories and joking around by the 50 minute mark, so don’t be intimidated by the hour and fifteen minute timestamp.

Links

]]> Sat, 13 Feb 2016 15:34:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Today, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress in the “enterprise," starting with a discussion on what the enterprise even is. We discuss WordPress’s value to the enterprise, and what enterprise level companies are looking for in their technology solutions.

The conversation turns into conspiracy theories and joking around by the 50 minute mark, so don’t be intimidated by the hour and fifteen minute timestamp.

Links

]]> WordPress in the Enterprise Brian Krogsgard 01:17:01 Today, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress in the enterprise, the role WordPress currently plays in big company technology stacks, and what opportunities exist. Today, Joe and Brian discuss WordPress in the enterprise, the role WordPress currently plays in big company technology stacks, and what opportunities exist. no full 33 b1f9cefe-4d3a-4ce4-acdb-ff449cf04924 WordPress REST API Round-table Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Joe and Brian were joined by Ryan McCue, the Lead Developer of the REST API, Daniel Bachhuber, a contributing developer to the REST API, and K.Adam White, Aaron Jorbin, and Jack Lenox — each with unique experiences using the REST API. They discussed the talks from A Day of REST, but also about the impact of the new API more broadly as well.

If you’re at all interested in the REST API, this is an excellent round table to listen to.

Links

Photo credit: Aaron Jorbin ]]> Fri, 5 Feb 2016 18:25:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

Joe and Brian were joined by Ryan McCue, the Lead Developer of the REST API, Daniel Bachhuber, a contributing developer to the REST API, and K.Adam White, Aaron Jorbin, and Jack Lenox — each with unique experiences using the REST API. They discussed the talks from A Day of REST, but also about the impact of the new API more broadly as well.

If you’re at all interested in the REST API, this is an excellent round table to listen to.

Links

Photo credit: Aaron Jorbin ]]> WordPress REST API Round-table Brian Krogsgard 01:04:27 Today, Joe and Brian are joined by several experts of the WordPress REST API for a community round-table podcast. This podcast was recorded in London at A Day of REST, a conference that was devoted to the REST API. Today, Joe and Brian are joined by several experts of the WordPress REST API for a community round-table podcast. This podcast was recorded in London at A Day of REST, a conference that was devoted to the REST API. no full 32 35c235a2-b9ee-4425-8744-470d4c6c1f37 Challenges managing a WordPress consulting business and doing client work Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk working in an agency and doing client work.

Joe and Brian discussed a variety of facets to agency and client work, including:

  • Hourly billing, daily billing, and project billing
  • Tracking time for internal or external purposes
  • Pricing websites
  • Taking on large versus small projects in both large and small agencies, and how risk changes in each scenario
  • Making payroll and managing cashflow
  • Being selective with clients
  • Retainers and monthly maintenance plans, and how it can fit in
  • Team structures for projects
  • And more!
  ]]> Fri, 8 Jan 2016 14:32:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk working in an agency and doing client work.

Joe and Brian discussed a variety of facets to agency and client work, including:

  • Hourly billing, daily billing, and project billing
  • Tracking time for internal or external purposes
  • Pricing websites
  • Taking on large versus small projects in both large and small agencies, and how risk changes in each scenario
  • Making payroll and managing cashflow
  • Being selective with clients
  • Retainers and monthly maintenance plans, and how it can fit in
  • Team structures for projects
  • And more!
  ]]> Challenges managing a WordPress consulting business and doing client work Brian Krogsgard 01:14:10 This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk working in an agency and doing client work. This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk working in an agency and doing client work. no full 31 b11f6cc0-41c7-4bd1-9800-089e9e1fcfe9 Recap of WordPress in 2015, and what to look forward to in 2016 Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss the biggest stories of 2015 and look forward to predict where the WordPress world will go in 2016.

Topics and Links

Stories of 2015

What to expect in 2016

]]> Fri, 18 Dec 2015 14:50:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and Brian Krogsgard.

In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss the biggest stories of 2015 and look forward to predict where the WordPress world will go in 2016.

Topics and Links

Stories of 2015

What to expect in 2016

]]> Recap of WordPress in 2015, and what to look forward to in 2016 Brian Krogsgard 01:35:49 This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk about WordPress in 2015 and what to expect in 2016. This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk about WordPress in 2015 and what to expect in 2016. no full 30 32e32fa5-dda2-4ab4-bcaf-2fa0bcd56a84 Interview with Scott Taylor, WordPress 4.4 release lead Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and myself.

In this episode, Joe and I interview Scott Taylor, who works at The New York Times, is a WordPress Core Committer, and has lead the release of WordPress 4.4. We discuss dig into many WordPress 4.4 features, the thinking behind them, what it's like to lead a release, and core development in general.

We also talked about WordCamp US, where we recorded the podcast from, including Scott's experience speaking during the State of the Word. After the interview with Scott, Joe and I dig more into the State of the Word and WordCamp US in general.

The interview with Scott is first and Joe and I switch to WCUS and the State of the Word around 37 minutes in.

Helpful links

]]> Wed, 9 Dec 2015 09:43:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Joe Hoyle -- the CTO of Human Made -- and myself.

In this episode, Joe and I interview Scott Taylor, who works at The New York Times, is a WordPress Core Committer, and has lead the release of WordPress 4.4. We discuss dig into many WordPress 4.4 features, the thinking behind them, what it's like to lead a release, and core development in general.

We also talked about WordCamp US, where we recorded the podcast from, including Scott's experience speaking during the State of the Word. After the interview with Scott, Joe and I dig more into the State of the Word and WordCamp US in general.

The interview with Scott is first and Joe and I switch to WCUS and the State of the Word around 37 minutes in.

Helpful links

]]> Interview with Scott Taylor, WordPress 4.4 release lead Brian Krogsgard 01:13:58 In this episode of the Post Status Draft Podcast, Joe and Brian interview Scott Taylor, a WordPress Core Committer and the Release Lead for WordPress 4.4, and then talk about WordCamp US and Matt Mullenweg's State of the Word. In this episode of the Post Status Draft Podcast, Joe and Brian interview Scott Taylor, a WordPress Core Committer and the Release Lead for WordPress 4.4, and then talk about WordCamp US and Matt Mullenweg's State of the Word. no full 29 934cffa9-650f-469a-99f0-8853de669e57 Interview with Automattic CEO, Matt Mullenweg, on Calypso and more I had the opportunity to interview Matt Mullenweg about an   ambitious project that included more than a year and a half of development to create an all new WordPress.com interface, both for the web and a desktop app. The project was codenamed Calypso, and we talked about many aspects fo Calypso, as well  as a   variety of subjects that relate to it.

Why  did you make such a big bet on Calypso?

Matt has talked for a while now about his vision that WordPress can become an "app platform", and this is an example of what that meant to him.

He also notes how he's always  looking for things that will "move the needle" for greater WordPress adoption. We were both thinking about the same statistic: that roughly 96% of WordPress.com users (and probably a high number of WordPress.org users too) essentially abandon their websites after a short tenure. So anything that can increase that number, to say 8% or 15% of folks that stick with it long term, can make a huge difference.

How do you think about investing in feature development for WordPress.com, and how it affects  WordPress as well?

When Matt considers what he wants to invest Automattic developer and designer time in, he says he thinks of WordPress as a whole first, before considering specifics for WordPress.com. He'd rather see WordPress.com as a gateway to a self-hosted install. And whether they stay on .com or move to a self-hosted install, he wants to help ensure that their problems are solved.

WordPresses

I guess it's new to me, because Matt says he's been saying it for years, but he calls WordPress websites "WordPresses", after a long time debate internally about whether to call WordPress.com sites sites or blogs.

WordPress.com as a network versus a platform

The new homepage for logged in users, or users in the WordPress.com app, default to the Reader view of the WordPress.com interface, versus the writing view. This intrigued me, as I don't personally think of WordPress.com as a read-first ecosystem, but rather a place to write. I think more of Tumblr or Medium when I think of a destination for reading, where I may write.

Matt  and I talked about the merits of WordPress as a network versus a platform. He thinks it can be both. And I think this touches on one of the big goals for Calypso that we haven't discussed yet: to make WordPress a better network.

To me, WordPress.com is a platform, but WordPress (both .com and Jetpack enabled sites) are ripe to be a hugely successful network, through the huge number of websites and independent publishers that are interconnected via WordPress.com.

There is more evidence that this is a goal for them too, with the launch of Discover WordPress along with the release of the new interface. Discover WordPress is a project by the editorial team to surface the best writing across WordPress.com and Jetpack enabled websites.

Furthermore, beyond the human curated content, much could be done in the future algorithmically. We didn't get as much into this stuff as I would've liked, but I think it's  an enormous growth area for Automattic.

Open Sourcing Calypso

The Calypso project code is fully open source, and is a top trending project on Github right now. There are few requirements to run the code locally, so you can pretty quickly get a working web view.

There are a slew of fancy React components that could be pretty easily lifted from Calypso and used independently, as well as a guide to getting started with the full codebase.

How can the community anticipate  the future, with  more abstracted implementations of WordPress?

As WordPress projects continue to use REST APIs to create fully custom frontends, backends, and inbetweens, I was curious what Matt thinks the community can do to anticipate and educate users on how to deal with these scenarios, that may fragment WordPress and be confusing for people who expect WordPress plugins and code to interract well with one another.

He doesn't think it's too much of a problem, but says it's important that we experiment and learn from our experiments; he was hesitant to call the potential for confusion fragmentation as much as experimentation. Either way, I do think education and documentation will be important as other folks continue to use parts of WordPress to make impressive things, without supporting every specific thing that can also run on WordPress.

An example of this is the WordPress.com app itself. You can manage   Jetpack enabled sites through it, but that doesn't mean you get everything in the editor you'd get with a WordPress.org site, like custom fields and other plugin functionality that the desktop app doesn't support.

What is Automattic's differentiating factor?

I wanted to know what Automattic's differentiating factor is, in Matt's mind. He defaulted, I guess unsurprisingly, to "everything", but as I pushed him a little further, he dug a bit more into some of the things that make Automattic interesting.

From a WordPress.org   perspective, WordPress.com integrated tools like Stats, VaultPress, and Akismet are difficult to match with other tools.

For  WordPress.com, he thinks the potential power of the Reader and network can be compelling. I agree there that the diversity of the WordPress.com and Jetpack author  audience could make for a compelling Reading product, that has more potential than I see right now in a competitor   like Medium, which is very tech heavy.

Matt   says,   [pullquote align="right"]"We've built up a lot of trust in the community, and that goodwill definitely pays back."[/pullquote] Part of what makes it hard to identify Automattic's specific differentiator is that they do a lot of things. Matt acknoledged this, but counters by saying that they work hard on user experience and being a good community citizen.

How have teams changed at Automattic over time?

Automattic scales by splitting teams when they get too big. Today, there are 46 teams. Some of those teams are embedded in larger teams and have some hierarchy, but the company is still quite flat for a company of 400 people.

The rule of thumb Matt wants   to maintain is that someone should have   no more than 10 people that report directly to them, though he has around 23.

According to the standards of the tech world, Automattic's scale in terms of the number of employees may be somewhat ordinary, but they have still had massive and consistent change over the decade of the company's existence. And they are hiring as fast as they can to this day.

The challenge of customizing WordPress sites

A couple of years ago, someone from Automattic told me how concerned they were about the WordPress customizer's ability to scale, both for use on mobile devices, and as a utility that could manage a lot of features. And I wanted to know how Matt thinks that has evolved, now that the customizer is in such significant use on both WordPress.com and for self-hosted websites.

As he notes, the customizer has undergone a lot of positive iteration over the last several releases, and today the WordPress.com and WordPress.org customizers are using the same base code; whereas for a while WordPress.com had their own custom implementation.

But he still says that, "if we're candid with ourselves, ... customization is still the  worst part of WordPress, you know?  It's the hardest. It's  where people get stuck. It's where there's a real gap between the promise and what people are able to realize and create when they get started using WordPress."

It's not as much a problem with the use of themes, or if you can code, but for new users, "it's their biggest struggle."

One idea that I have is to have a more Medium-like interface be the "default" view, versus a changing default theme. That way, WordPress.com could be more opinionated about the default view, and change the theme at will, or along with trends, versus giving new users the default theme of a particular year and then that theme is untouched unless the user decides to switch.

Matt said they have that a bit on the Reader view, but that is what someone in the WordPress.com network would see, versus what an outside website visitor would see.

Anyway, there are definitely challenges ahead for making customization and, more importantly,  just ensuring sites look good for users. I think that this is an area where other platforms -- like Medium and Squarespace, though in different ways -- are doing a good job.

The first line of the Automattic creed

The Automattic creed states at the very beginning, "I will never stop learning." That was part of Matt's response when I asked just how they managed to cross-train a workforce that was primarily made of PHP developers to create a   world-class JavaScript driven application.

Additionally to the natural desires that Automattic employees should have to learn, they created internal resources for helping people, and are considering releasing some of that material, maybe in the form of webinars or an online conference.

Matt said Automatticians will also be sharing what they learn at other conferences, like the upcoming A Day of REST, where  two Automatticians will be speaking.

Matt did admit that he hasn't made the PHP to JavaScript switch yet, and personally feels more comfortable in PHP; though some of his team have said it wasn't as intimidating as it sounds.

Bug bounties

Did you know all Automattic properties are on Hacker One , the bug bounty community? If you find a security bug, you can get a bounty if you report it. I didn't know this until the Calypso launch.

How is Automattic thinking about revenue?

With my napkin math and a few small things I know about Automattic, I'd guesstimate they are somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million in annual revenue. I didn't even attempt to get confirmation of this, because I know they don't reveal this kind of information. So instead I wanted to get more insights of how Matt thinks about revenue at Automattic.

Generally, he says  they put their focus in, "three main buckets." The use that focus both for revenue purposes and product purposes. Those areas are  WordPress.com, Jetpack, and WooCommerce.

They group things like VaultPress and Akismet under Jetpack; so it's basically their WordPress.org SaaS revenue stream. Those are paid subscription products.  They have been transitioning that offering, as Matt shared, "a big trend over the past few years, has been to move away from a la carte upgrades, and have more bundles."

They've discovered that bundled plans of $100 per year and $300  per year have been successful. Here are those plans, for both WordPress.com and WordPress.org, as shown in the new WordPress.com/Calypso interface:

wp-org-planwpcom-plan

It appears they get most of their revenue from this stream. I do know, and have previously reported, that at least one point, WordPress.com VIP accounted for upwards of 25% of overally revenue, and though that gross number has gone up over the years, its percentage of overally revenue has gone down, meaning that these paid plans have outpaced VIP, growth-wise. I'd guess VIP revenue is now less than half of that 25% number now, but can't confirm it.

Total sites,  versus engagement

There are a lot of WordPress.com websites, but as  Matt noted, it's a vanity metric due to the face that such a small percentage are active, from engaged users. So they are trying more to track engagement versus total blogs.

I tried to get him to share the number of active websites, but that's not something he could share.

Helping site owners monetize, and WooCommerce integration to WordPress.com

I talked about the roadmap some, and asked Matt about what they may offer in the future to help authors monetize their sites. They currently have a WordAds program, but that is a pageview driven strategy, and I'd love to see them introduce a way for authors to get paid via a tipjar, private paid posts, or subscription system like I've heard Medium is talking about. It's not on their current roadmap, but he says he'd be open to it.

He also noted that since WooCommerce is now "part of the family," that there may be future monetization opportunities   through that, though he said they don't have current plans for a hosted version of WordPress.com. I was honestly pretty surprised by this:

In the beginning, our focus is really going to be on people hosting their   stores, you know, with  web hosts. Because, part of the beauty of why WooCommerce is so popular is the flexibility, and I don't think the usability is there -- yet -- to be competitive with, like, a  Shopify, or a BigCommerce. So, it's just a lot of work to do there.
[pullquote align="right"]Matt said he thinks of WooCommerce as how WordPress was around version 1.5. He called it, "very early days"[/pullquote], in that people are using it and see the potential, but knows, "there's just so much to work on and improve to make it accessible to a wider audience."

He says the Woo team is now 63 people, and a number of Automatticians are doing "Wootations", or rotations with the Woo team.

What to expect next in the  new WordPress.com interface

They are still working on a lot of things for the new interface. There are certain things that aren't there yet. For instance, showing and hiding your blogs you are personally attached to still requires the regular admin. I actually experienced this myself. Some parts of the interface are pretty circular and confusing.

But they expect to do more going forward. They want to see what there is demand for, and what other people do with the open source nature of the project.

Matt also noted that he'd like to "loop back" to content blocks (code named CEUX) -- the project that stalled last year. And he's like to see what can be done around collaboration, editing, and the suggestion process.

Power and ease of use

One of the biggest challenges for WordPress is to continue to get easier to use, as other avenues for sharing information have gotten easier and easier, while continuing to enable powerful, feature rich implementations of WordPress.

Matt thinks this balance is important, and that we must continue to improve in both directions to continue WordPress's growth.

Wrapping up

I really enjoyed my first audio interview with Matt. He says we can expect more announcements around WordCamp US, which starts next week.

The Calypso project is a fascinating one, and it's a great example of what we should continue to expect: powerful, catered tools  that run on a RESTful API. They aren't always going to be tools for use everywhere, but we can expect to continue to see WordPress used in innovative ways, and be an exceptional platform for all kinds of applications.

And finally, at the end of the interview, I  pitched Matt on one  of my most hairbrained ideas. The naming conflict between WordPress.com and WordPress was really bad with this project, as nearly everyone not deeply embedded within the WordPress world got it wrong, and conflated Automattic's WordPress.com with WordPress the software.

And I think Jetpack's brand has really blossomed. I think there is an argument to be made that Automattic could change the name of WordPress.com to Jetpack, and both Automattic and WordPress would win from the change. It wouldn't be easy, but all I asked from him, is whether he'd read my post if I made one to give the pitch. He said he would, so expect that sometime soon.

Thanks to Matt for the interview, and thanks to Mark Armstrong for helping me get going with the new WordPress.com app and arranging the interview.

]]> Wed, 25 Nov 2015 19:06:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts I had the opportunity to interview Matt Mullenweg about an   ambitious project that included more than a year and a half of development to create an all new WordPress.com interface, both for the web and a desktop app. The project was codenamed Calypso, and we talked about many aspects fo Calypso, as well  as a   variety of subjects that relate to it.

Why  did you make such a big bet on Calypso?

Matt has talked for a while now about his vision that WordPress can become an "app platform", and this is an example of what that meant to him.

He also notes how he's always  looking for things that will "move the needle" for greater WordPress adoption. We were both thinking about the same statistic: that roughly 96% of WordPress.com users (and probably a high number of WordPress.org users too) essentially abandon their websites after a short tenure. So anything that can increase that number, to say 8% or 15% of folks that stick with it long term, can make a huge difference.

How do you think about investing in feature development for WordPress.com, and how it affects  WordPress as well?

When Matt considers what he wants to invest Automattic developer and designer time in, he says he thinks of WordPress as a whole first, before considering specifics for WordPress.com. He'd rather see WordPress.com as a gateway to a self-hosted install. And whether they stay on .com or move to a self-hosted install, he wants to help ensure that their problems are solved.

WordPresses

I guess it's new to me, because Matt says he's been saying it for years, but he calls WordPress websites "WordPresses", after a long time debate internally about whether to call WordPress.com sites sites or blogs.

WordPress.com as a network versus a platform

The new homepage for logged in users, or users in the WordPress.com app, default to the Reader view of the WordPress.com interface, versus the writing view. This intrigued me, as I don't personally think of WordPress.com as a read-first ecosystem, but rather a place to write. I think more of Tumblr or Medium when I think of a destination for reading, where I may write.

Matt  and I talked about the merits of WordPress as a network versus a platform. He thinks it can be both. And I think this touches on one of the big goals for Calypso that we haven't discussed yet: to make WordPress a better network.

To me, WordPress.com is a platform, but WordPress (both .com and Jetpack enabled sites) are ripe to be a hugely successful network, through the huge number of websites and independent publishers that are interconnected via WordPress.com.

There is more evidence that this is a goal for them too, with the launch of Discover WordPress along with the release of the new interface. Discover WordPress is a project by the editorial team to surface the best writing across WordPress.com and Jetpack enabled websites.

Furthermore, beyond the human curated content, much could be done in the future algorithmically. We didn't get as much into this stuff as I would've liked, but I think it's  an enormous growth area for Automattic.

Open Sourcing Calypso

The Calypso project code is fully open source, and is a top trending project on Github right now. There are few requirements to run the code locally, so you can pretty quickly get a working web view.

There are a slew of fancy React components that could be pretty easily lifted from Calypso and used independently, as well as a guide to getting started with the full codebase.

How can the community anticipate  the future, with  more abstracted implementations of WordPress?

As WordPress projects continue to use REST APIs to create fully custom frontends, backends, and inbetweens, I was curious what Matt thinks the community can do to anticipate and educate users on how to deal with these scenarios, that may fragment WordPress and be confusing for people who expect WordPress plugins and code to interract well with one another.

He doesn't think it's too much of a problem, but says it's important that we experiment and learn from our experiments; he was hesitant to call the potential for confusion fragmentation as much as experimentation. Either way, I do think education and documentation will be important as other folks continue to use parts of WordPress to make impressive things, without supporting every specific thing that can also run on WordPress.

An example of this is the WordPress.com app itself. You can manage   Jetpack enabled sites through it, but that doesn't mean you get everything in the editor you'd get with a WordPress.org site, like custom fields and other plugin functionality that the desktop app doesn't support.

What is Automattic's differentiating factor?

I wanted to know what Automattic's differentiating factor is, in Matt's mind. He defaulted, I guess unsurprisingly, to "everything", but as I pushed him a little further, he dug a bit more into some of the things that make Automattic interesting.

From a WordPress.org   perspective, WordPress.com integrated tools like Stats, VaultPress, and Akismet are difficult to match with other tools.

For  WordPress.com, he thinks the potential power of the Reader and network can be compelling. I agree there that the diversity of the WordPress.com and Jetpack author  audience could make for a compelling Reading product, that has more potential than I see right now in a competitor   like Medium, which is very tech heavy.

Matt   says,   [pullquote align="right"]"We've built up a lot of trust in the community, and that goodwill definitely pays back."[/pullquote] Part of what makes it hard to identify Automattic's specific differentiator is that they do a lot of things. Matt acknoledged this, but counters by saying that they work hard on user experience and being a good community citizen.

How have teams changed at Automattic over time?

Automattic scales by splitting teams when they get too big. Today, there are 46 teams. Some of those teams are embedded in larger teams and have some hierarchy, but the company is still quite flat for a company of 400 people.

The rule of thumb Matt wants   to maintain is that someone should have   no more than 10 people that report directly to them, though he has around 23.

According to the standards of the tech world, Automattic's scale in terms of the number of employees may be somewhat ordinary, but they have still had massive and consistent change over the decade of the company's existence. And they are hiring as fast as they can to this day.

The challenge of customizing WordPress sites

A couple of years ago, someone from Automattic told me how concerned they were about the WordPress customizer's ability to scale, both for use on mobile devices, and as a utility that could manage a lot of features. And I wanted to know how Matt thinks that has evolved, now that the customizer is in such significant use on both WordPress.com and for self-hosted websites.

As he notes, the customizer has undergone a lot of positive iteration over the last several releases, and today the WordPress.com and WordPress.org customizers are using the same base code; whereas for a while WordPress.com had their own custom implementation.

But he still says that, "if we're candid with ourselves, ... customization is still the  worst part of WordPress, you know?  It's the hardest. It's  where people get stuck. It's where there's a real gap between the promise and what people are able to realize and create when they get started using WordPress."

It's not as much a problem with the use of themes, or if you can code, but for new users, "it's their biggest struggle."

One idea that I have is to have a more Medium-like interface be the "default" view, versus a changing default theme. That way, WordPress.com could be more opinionated about the default view, and change the theme at will, or along with trends, versus giving new users the default theme of a particular year and then that theme is untouched unless the user decides to switch.

Matt said they have that a bit on the Reader view, but that is what someone in the WordPress.com network would see, versus what an outside website visitor would see.

Anyway, there are definitely challenges ahead for making customization and, more importantly,  just ensuring sites look good for users. I think that this is an area where other platforms -- like Medium and Squarespace, though in different ways -- are doing a good job.

The first line of the Automattic creed

The Automattic creed states at the very beginning, "I will never stop learning." That was part of Matt's response when I asked just how they managed to cross-train a workforce that was primarily made of PHP developers to create a   world-class JavaScript driven application.

Additionally to the natural desires that Automattic employees should have to learn, they created internal resources for helping people, and are considering releasing some of that material, maybe in the form of webinars or an online conference.

Matt said Automatticians will also be sharing what they learn at other conferences, like the upcoming A Day of REST, where  two Automatticians will be speaking.

Matt did admit that he hasn't made the PHP to JavaScript switch yet, and personally feels more comfortable in PHP; though some of his team have said it wasn't as intimidating as it sounds.

Bug bounties

Did you know all Automattic properties are on Hacker One , the bug bounty community? If you find a security bug, you can get a bounty if you report it. I didn't know this until the Calypso launch.

How is Automattic thinking about revenue?

With my napkin math and a few small things I know about Automattic, I'd guesstimate they are somewhere in the neighborhood of $100 million in annual revenue. I didn't even attempt to get confirmation of this, because I know they don't reveal this kind of information. So instead I wanted to get more insights of how Matt thinks about revenue at Automattic.

Generally, he says  they put their focus in, "three main buckets." The use that focus both for revenue purposes and product purposes. Those areas are  WordPress.com, Jetpack, and WooCommerce.

They group things like VaultPress and Akismet under Jetpack; so it's basically their WordPress.org SaaS revenue stream. Those are paid subscription products.  They have been transitioning that offering, as Matt shared, "a big trend over the past few years, has been to move away from a la carte upgrades, and have more bundles."

They've discovered that bundled plans of $100 per year and $300  per year have been successful. Here are those plans, for both WordPress.com and WordPress.org, as shown in the new WordPress.com/Calypso interface:

wp-org-planwpcom-plan

It appears they get most of their revenue from this stream. I do know, and have previously reported, that at least one point, WordPress.com VIP accounted for upwards of 25% of overally revenue, and though that gross number has gone up over the years, its percentage of overally revenue has gone down, meaning that these paid plans have outpaced VIP, growth-wise. I'd guess VIP revenue is now less than half of that 25% number now, but can't confirm it.

Total sites,  versus engagement

There are a lot of WordPress.com websites, but as  Matt noted, it's a vanity metric due to the face that such a small percentage are active, from engaged users. So they are trying more to track engagement versus total blogs.

I tried to get him to share the number of active websites, but that's not something he could share.

Helping site owners monetize, and WooCommerce integration to WordPress.com

I talked about the roadmap some, and asked Matt about what they may offer in the future to help authors monetize their sites. They currently have a WordAds program, but that is a pageview driven strategy, and I'd love to see them introduce a way for authors to get paid via a tipjar, private paid posts, or subscription system like I've heard Medium is talking about. It's not on their current roadmap, but he says he'd be open to it.

He also noted that since WooCommerce is now "part of the family," that there may be future monetization opportunities   through that, though he said they don't have current plans for a hosted version of WordPress.com. I was honestly pretty surprised by this:

In the beginning, our focus is really going to be on people hosting their   stores, you know, with  web hosts. Because, part of the beauty of why WooCommerce is so popular is the flexibility, and I don't think the usability is there -- yet -- to be competitive with, like, a  Shopify, or a BigCommerce. So, it's just a lot of work to do there.
[pullquote align="right"]Matt said he thinks of WooCommerce as how WordPress was around version 1.5. He called it, "very early days"[/pullquote], in that people are using it and see the potential, but knows, "there's just so much to work on and improve to make it accessible to a wider audience."

He says the Woo team is now 63 people, and a number of Automatticians are doing "Wootations", or rotations with the Woo team.

What to expect next in the  new WordPress.com interface

They are still working on a lot of things for the new interface. There are certain things that aren't there yet. For instance, showing and hiding your blogs you are personally attached to still requires the regular admin. I actually experienced this myself. Some parts of the interface are pretty circular and confusing.

But they expect to do more going forward. They want to see what there is demand for, and what other people do with the open source nature of the project.

Matt also noted that he'd like to "loop back" to content blocks (code named CEUX) -- the project that stalled last year. And he's like to see what can be done around collaboration, editing, and the suggestion process.

Power and ease of use

One of the biggest challenges for WordPress is to continue to get easier to use, as other avenues for sharing information have gotten easier and easier, while continuing to enable powerful, feature rich implementations of WordPress.

Matt thinks this balance is important, and that we must continue to improve in both directions to continue WordPress's growth.

Wrapping up

I really enjoyed my first audio interview with Matt. He says we can expect more announcements around WordCamp US, which starts next week.

The Calypso project is a fascinating one, and it's a great example of what we should continue to expect: powerful, catered tools  that run on a RESTful API. They aren't always going to be tools for use everywhere, but we can expect to continue to see WordPress used in innovative ways, and be an exceptional platform for all kinds of applications.

And finally, at the end of the interview, I  pitched Matt on one  of my most hairbrained ideas. The naming conflict between WordPress.com and WordPress was really bad with this project, as nearly everyone not deeply embedded within the WordPress world got it wrong, and conflated Automattic's WordPress.com with WordPress the software.

And I think Jetpack's brand has really blossomed. I think there is an argument to be made that Automattic could change the name of WordPress.com to Jetpack, and both Automattic and WordPress would win from the change. It wouldn't be easy, but all I asked from him, is whether he'd read my post if I made one to give the pitch. He said he would, so expect that sometime soon.

Thanks to Matt for the interview, and thanks to Mark Armstrong for helping me get going with the new WordPress.com app and arranging the interview.

]]> Interview with Automattic CEO, Matt Mullenweg, on Calypso and more Brian Krogsgard 00:49:25 Matt Mullenweg is the co-founder of WordPress, and founder and CEO of Automattic. In this interview, we talk about their new WordPress.com editor, and more. Matt Mullenweg is the co-founder of WordPress, and founder and CEO of Automattic. In this interview, we talk about their new WordPress.com editor, and more. no full 28 caea8c16-43e2-4f01-81ae-df11f81800b8 How to design a commercial WordPress theme Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher.

Joe is away this week, so Brian goes solo. Brian highlights WordCamp US and A Day of REST and describes why you should attend these events. He also tells the story of his first ever WordCamp San Francisco (the precursor to WCUS). Then, he interviews Mike McAlister, of Array Themes, and they talk about the process of building a commercial WordPress theme from the ground up.

The interview with Mike starts around 14 minutes in.
Topics & Links

Event Links

Interview with Mike

]]> Wed, 11 Nov 2015 19:09:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes, Stitcher, and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher.

Joe is away this week, so Brian goes solo. Brian highlights WordCamp US and A Day of REST and describes why you should attend these events. He also tells the story of his first ever WordCamp San Francisco (the precursor to WCUS). Then, he interviews Mike McAlister, of Array Themes, and they talk about the process of building a commercial WordPress theme from the ground up.

The interview with Mike starts around 14 minutes in.
Topics & Links

Event Links

Interview with Mike

]]> How to design a commercial WordPress theme Brian Krogsgard 00:57:06 This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard, and he interviews WordPress theme designer Mike McAlister. Brian also talks about the value of attending events. This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard, and he interviews WordPress theme designer Mike McAlister. Brian also talks about the value of attending events. no full 27 47191886-f3c3-4619-864d-7cde235c5ef4 Understanding WP-CLI, and a discussion on micro plugin businesses Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss micro plugin businesses and playback a recent interview with Barry Kooij. They also tackle WP-CLI, what it is, why it’s useful, and ways they use it the most.

The interview with Barry starts around 3:00 in and ends 20:00 in, for members that would like to skip it, if they already heard it in the main newsletter. WP-CLI discussion starts around 44:00.

Topics & Links

Niche Plugin Businesses

WP-CLI

]]> Wed, 4 Nov 2015 14:22:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss micro plugin businesses and playback a recent interview with Barry Kooij. They also tackle WP-CLI, what it is, why it’s useful, and ways they use it the most.

The interview with Barry starts around 3:00 in and ends 20:00 in, for members that would like to skip it, if they already heard it in the main newsletter. WP-CLI discussion starts around 44:00.

Topics & Links

Niche Plugin Businesses

WP-CLI

]]> Understanding WP-CLI, and a discussion on micro plugin businesses Brian Krogsgard 01:19:24 This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk about WP-CLI, and running a micro plugin business. This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk about WP-CLI, and running a micro plugin business. no full 26 abe36c87-80b2-4deb-94e3-c3bb3b479ffb Using WordPress as an application framework In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss a popular site’s redesign, and how the developers viewed WordPress’s shortcomings. They also talk about WordPress’s chops generally for complex sites and applications.

Topics:

An outside look at WordPress

WordPress as an application framework

]]> Wed, 28 Oct 2015 03:58:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss a popular site’s redesign, and how the developers viewed WordPress’s shortcomings. They also talk about WordPress’s chops generally for complex sites and applications.

Topics:

An outside look at WordPress

WordPress as an application framework

]]> Using WordPress as an application framework Brian Krogsgard 01:12:59 This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk about using WordPress for complex blogs, websites, and applications. This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week, they talk about using WordPress for complex blogs, websites, and applications. no full 25 91d54f23-5e7f-41b3-8aac-0d61bd9cc37e Work life balance Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss work life balance. We discuss working long hours, managing and preventing burnout, moonlighting and its challenges, side projects, embracing hobbies, and creating exercise routines.

Links

  ]]> Fri, 16 Oct 2015 13:20:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss work life balance. We discuss working long hours, managing and preventing burnout, moonlighting and its challenges, side projects, embracing hobbies, and creating exercise routines.

Links

  ]]> Work life balance Brian Krogsgard 01:16:44 This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. Our topic this week is work life balance. This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. Our topic this week is work life balance. no full 24 30c5be17-44dd-47bc-8a85-5dabb7331e91 Responsive images for WordPress and mobile pages with AMP Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss Google’s AMP project for Accelerated Mobile Page loading, and what it means for WordPress. They also go in-depth on WordPress’s upcoming core support for handling responsive images.

Topics & Links

Google's AMP Responsive Images (starts at 35 minutes in) ]]> Fri, 9 Oct 2015 18:11:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

In this episode of Draft, Joe and Brian discuss Google’s AMP project for Accelerated Mobile Page loading, and what it means for WordPress. They also go in-depth on WordPress’s upcoming core support for handling responsive images.

Topics & Links

Google's AMP Responsive Images (starts at 35 minutes in) ]]> Responsive images for WordPress and mobile pages with AMP Brian Krogsgard 01:08:01 This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. The topics are responsive image support in WordPress and Google’s new AMP specification. This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. The topics are responsive image support in WordPress and Google’s new AMP specification. no full 23 1deb313c-8fe4-4e9c-b551-40f4ce79ee92 How WordPress core development happens Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his guest co-host, Brad Williams discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

This week Brian and Brad talk about how to get involved in WordPress core, what to expect when you do, how to navigate the waters of core development. They also discuss term meta, its use cases, how it works, and why it’s a great feature for WordPress 4.4.

Brad is guest hosting this week, as Joe is out. He’s the co-founder of WebDevStudios, a co-organizer for WordCamp US, and wrote Professional WordPress Design & Development  (my go-to book on WordPress development). You can follow Brad on Twitter @williamsba.

Topics

WordPress core development process: Term meta: ]]> Sun, 4 Oct 2015 00:49:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his guest co-host, Brad Williams discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

This week Brian and Brad talk about how to get involved in WordPress core, what to expect when you do, how to navigate the waters of core development. They also discuss term meta, its use cases, how it works, and why it’s a great feature for WordPress 4.4.

Brad is guest hosting this week, as Joe is out. He’s the co-founder of WebDevStudios, a co-organizer for WordCamp US, and wrote Professional WordPress Design & Development  (my go-to book on WordPress development). You can follow Brad on Twitter @williamsba.

Topics

WordPress core development process: Term meta: ]]> How WordPress core development happens Brian Krogsgard 01:01:54 This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Brad Williams. We talk about the WordPress core development process and term meta. This week’s Post Status Draft podcast is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Brad Williams. We talk about the WordPress core development process and term meta. no full 22 e3f96022-d24d-4a9a-9e6f-dcf8d53256b0 All about the WordPress REST API and its current state Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

This week, Joe and Brian go into depth discussing all aspects of the WordPress REST API, and the state of the API today.

With the recent merge proposal, there is a good chance it will be included in WordPress core via a two stage process in the WordPress 4.4 and 4.5 releases. The first release would be the core infrastructure and the second release would include the endpoints. This is our longest podcast, but we go in depth on one of WordPress's most anticipated features in years.

Topics:

  • Brief overview: what is the REST API?
  • Why is the REST API important, and why are people excited about it?
  • REST API proposal
  • Reviews from the core team
  • New REST API core component
  • Trac Ticket
  • Comparison's to Drupal's REST API
  • Customizer roadmap in regards to the API
  • Authentication and future REST API projects

Links:

]]> Fri, 25 Sep 2015 05:11:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

This week, Joe and Brian go into depth discussing all aspects of the WordPress REST API, and the state of the API today.

With the recent merge proposal, there is a good chance it will be included in WordPress core via a two stage process in the WordPress 4.4 and 4.5 releases. The first release would be the core infrastructure and the second release would include the endpoints. This is our longest podcast, but we go in depth on one of WordPress's most anticipated features in years.

Topics:

  • Brief overview: what is the REST API?
  • Why is the REST API important, and why are people excited about it?
  • REST API proposal
  • Reviews from the core team
  • New REST API core component
  • Trac Ticket
  • Comparison's to Drupal's REST API
  • Customizer roadmap in regards to the API
  • Authentication and future REST API projects

Links:

]]> All about the WordPress REST API and its current state Brian Krogsgard 01:26:42 This week we discuss the WordPress REST API and the recent proposal for it to be merged into WordPress Core. This week we discuss the WordPress REST API and the recent proposal for it to be merged into WordPress Core. no full 21 c58491d3-20b5-49b4-8984-9525e69c25a3 Local WordPress development strategies and transparency in business Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today's hottest, current WordPress news

Links and stories discussed:

Working locally

Underscore.js

Transparency

Nomadbase.io launch

]]> Sat, 19 Sep 2015 15:21:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today's hottest, current WordPress news

Links and stories discussed:

Working locally

Underscore.js

Transparency

Nomadbase.io launch

]]> Local WordPress development strategies and transparency in business Brian Krogsgard 01:22:41 This week we discuss strategies for working locally, Underscore.js templating, and transparency in WordPress businesses. This week we discuss strategies for working locally, Underscore.js templating, and transparency in WordPress businesses. no full 20 cf5669ff-01f8-4f71-8dcd-1edaa1028e41 Justifying conferences, improving WordPress comments, and WordPress’s PHP version support Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

Links and Stories Discussed

Events links

Comments links

PHP links

Segments

  • We start the show with events and discuss justification for them.
  • 25 minutes in or so, we switch to comment discussion.
  • 47 minutes in we switch to PHP.
]]> Fri, 11 Sep 2015 22:44:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today’s hottest, current WordPress news.

Links and Stories Discussed

Events links

Comments links

PHP links

Segments

  • We start the show with events and discuss justification for them.
  • 25 minutes in or so, we switch to comment discussion.
  • 47 minutes in we switch to PHP.
]]> Justifying conferences, improving WordPress comments, and WordPress’s PHP version support Brian Krogsgard 01:17:40 This week on the Draft podcast, Joe and Brian discuss justification for attending WordPress events, WordPress comments, and WordPress PHP version support, PHP7, and HHVM. This week on the Draft podcast, Joe and Brian discuss justification for attending WordPress events, WordPress comments, and WordPress PHP version support, PHP7, and HHVM. no full 19 4b63963a-022d-4cd6-85ce-7a71e0490dad Using React with WordPress Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today's hottest, current WordPress news.

Stories discussed:

  ]]> Sat, 5 Sep 2015 14:09:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes and via RSS for your favorite podcatcher. Brian and his co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, discuss some of today's hottest, current WordPress news.

Stories discussed:

  ]]> Using React with WordPress Brian Krogsgard 00:55:53 Post Status Draft is a podcast about WordPress news and events hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week we discuss plugin and theme language packs, Trac gardening, and using React for WordPress. Post Status Draft is a podcast about WordPress news and events hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week we discuss plugin and theme language packs, Trac gardening, and using React for WordPress. no full 18 6bad0477-0aaf-4d9e-a8df-106c5aaa6b47 Our WordPress 4.4 wishlist -- Draft podcast Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes. My co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, and I discuss some of today's hottest, current WordPress news.

Stories discussed:

]]> Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:18:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes. My co-host, Joe Hoyle, a co-founder and the CTO of Human Made, and I discuss some of today's hottest, current WordPress news.

Stories discussed:

]]> Our WordPress 4.4 wishlist -- Draft podcast Brian Krogsgard 01:03:19 Post Status Draft is a podcast about WordPress news and events hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week we discuss WordPress 4.3, our 4.4 wishlist features, and the WordPress REST API. Post Status Draft is a podcast about WordPress news and events hosted by Brian Krogsgard and Joe Hoyle. This week we discuss WordPress 4.3, our 4.4 wishlist features, and the WordPress REST API. no full 17 0113c4f3-2780-49c9-9d65-090091c982ab The Excerpt Episode 4 — WordPress news with Daniel Espinoza Welcome to The Excerpt Episode 4, part of the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes. With The Excerpt, we cover a few of our favorite stories from the Post Status Club over the last week or two. The primary goal is to keep it short and informational: we keep the podcast to around 15 minutes.

In Episode 3, I'm joined by Daniel Espinoza, who is a WordPress developer with a focus on eCommerce, and he also owns ShopPlugins, an eCommerce plugin marketplace for EDD and WooCommerce.

Stories discussed:

]]> Fri, 17 Apr 2015 20:37:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to The Excerpt Episode 4, part of the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes. With The Excerpt, we cover a few of our favorite stories from the Post Status Club over the last week or two. The primary goal is to keep it short and informational: we keep the podcast to around 15 minutes.

In Episode 3, I'm joined by Daniel Espinoza, who is a WordPress developer with a focus on eCommerce, and he also owns ShopPlugins, an eCommerce plugin marketplace for EDD and WooCommerce.

Stories discussed:

]]> The Excerpt Episode 4 — WordPress news with Daniel Espinoza Brian Krogsgard 00:17:44 Daniel Espinoza and I cover the week in WordPress news with a short format (~15 minute) podcast. This week we talk about Automattic versus WordPress, the 4.2 release candidate, clever REST API uses, taxes, and hosted website solutions' marketing. Daniel Espinoza and I cover the week in WordPress news with a short format (~15 minute) podcast. This week we talk about Automattic versus WordPress, the 4.2 release candidate, clever REST API uses, taxes, and hosted website solutions' marketing. no full 16 b433ce21-6039-4c84-9db7-194b938797f7 The Excerpt Episode 3 — WordPress news with Beka Rice Welcome to The Excerpt Episode 3, part of the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes. Draft consists of two formats: long form interviews like I’ve done for a long time, and The Excerpt for a summary of news around the WordPress ecosystem.

With The Excerpt, we cover a few of our favorite stories from the Post Status Club over the last week or two. The primary goal is to keep it short and informational: we keep the podcast to around 15 minutes.

In Episode 3, I'm joined by Beka Rice, who writes the excellent eCommerce blog SellWithWP and is a partner at eCommerce company SkyVerge.

Stories discussed:

]]> Fri, 3 Apr 2015 18:00:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to The Excerpt Episode 3, part of the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can find on iTunes. Draft consists of two formats: long form interviews like I’ve done for a long time, and The Excerpt for a summary of news around the WordPress ecosystem.

With The Excerpt, we cover a few of our favorite stories from the Post Status Club over the last week or two. The primary goal is to keep it short and informational: we keep the podcast to around 15 minutes.

In Episode 3, I'm joined by Beka Rice, who writes the excellent eCommerce blog SellWithWP and is a partner at eCommerce company SkyVerge.

Stories discussed:

]]> The Excerpt Episode 3 — WordPress news with Beka Rice Brian Krogsgard 00:17:19 Beka Rice and I cover the week in WordPress news with a short format (~15 minute) podcast. This week we talk about Mesh (an upcoming app by Automattic), 4.3 and 4.4 release leads, April Fools', and Array's year in review. Beka Rice and I cover the week in WordPress news with a short format (~15 minute) podcast. This week we talk about Mesh (an upcoming app by Automattic), 4.3 and 4.4 release leads, April Fools', and Array's year in review. wordpress, april fools, wordpress themes no full 15 ff3b107d-0542-445c-a7e8-3e63f885ddc9 How StoryCorps uses WordPress to enable storytelling everywhere StoryCorp is an organization that aims "to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives." Featured stories are broadcast nationally on NPR.

StoryCorp has published more than 50,000 interviews with almost 100,000 participants since they launched in 2003. A small to mid-size non-profit organization, StoryCorp's interviews are logged in the Library of Congress, and over the years they have created new and ingenious ways to enable story telling.

There are recording booths in a number of cities throughout the country where anyone can go and record and interview or story. The first was in Grand Central Station, though it's since shut down due to budget issues. However, booths are open in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Chicago where anyone can make a reservation to record.

They also have an Airstream trailer that travels the country and records interviews all over the place. Creating ways for people to share stories is the heart of StoryCorps mission.

[caption id="attachment_12144" align="aligncenter" width="752"]The StoryCorps MobileBooth. Credit: StoryCorp Flickr The StoryCorps MobileBooth. Credit: StoryCorp Flickr[/caption]

One WordPress developer that worked on the StoryCorp project told me, "I cry almost every time" as they listen to StoryCorps on their local NPR station every Friday morning. The stories to tend to be very powerful. I was nearly brought to tears by one where a lady hugs her son's murderer. Another moving story (from my hometown no less), features a father that comes to terms with his daughter's homosexuality. Or there's one where President Obama interviews a boy who overcame adversity to join My Brother's Keeper.

Record stories anywhere

The latest initiative for creating ways for people to share their story is via StoryCorps.me, a website and companion apps that make it easy for anyone with a smartphone to record an interview and publish it.

StoryCorps.me is built on WordPress, and utilizes the WordPress REST API to enable access to a customized content architecture. The StoryCorps app utilizes the API to consume data and publish stories from the app back to the website.

I interviewed Dean Haddock, Director of Digital & Technical Innovation at StoryCorp, about how the idea for the app came about, how they use and think of WordPress, and other insights from their short three month development period.

A national day of listening

Dean says he thinks the StoryCorps app really dates back to a program they ran three years ago called A National Day of Listening, where instead of shopping on Black Friday, they hosted an event where people could tell stories.

Dean's team expanding on the idea, and the event turned into a micro-site using SoundCloud's API that made that process easier. That project eventually expanded into the idea that would become StoryCorps.me.

Funding for the app

The StoryCorps app was funded thanks to StoryCorps founder Dave Isay winning this year's TED Prize Winner. He gave a TED Talk in Vancouver just a few weeks ago, where he shared how everyone has a story to tell.

[caption id="attachment_12145" align="aligncenter" width="752"]Dave Isay at TED Dave Isay at TED[/caption]

The TED Prize is awarded to an individual with a creative, bold vision to spark global change. By leveraging the TED community’s resources and investing $1 million into a powerful idea, each year the TED Prize supports one wish to inspire the world.

- TED Prize website


His wish after winning the TED Prize was to "to grow this digital archive of the collective wisdom of humanity." During the TED Talk, he noted that StoryCorps is "the single largest collection of human voices ever collected."

The new app makes this mission even more plausible, by having almost no barrier for interview creation. The $1 million TED Prize made it possible.

Development of the StoryCorps app

storycorps-app

With "one tap", interviews can be created and uploaded to the StoryCorps.me website and the Library of Congress archive.

Dave shared some of his vision for the app during the TED Talk:

Imagine, for example, a national homework assignment where every high school student studying U.S. history across the country records an interview with an elder over Thanksgiving, so that in one single weekend an entire generation of American lives and experiences are captured.
Development of the app was managed on three levels.

The StoryCorps team did project management, communication, and handled RFPs for app and website development. They also ensured that everything fit the StoryCorps model, and ensured that the new website and app talked to existing StoryCorps software and APIs properly.

10up built the website infrastructure, manages scalability issues, and managed the integration of the WordPress REST API.

MAYA design designed and built the app for the end-user, utilizing PhoneGap so that the app could be launched simultaneously to both iOS and Android platforms.

[pullquote align="right"]"We knew we going to use WordPress before we started looking for partners to help us build this thing."[/pullquote] As a "small to midsize non-profit," StoryCorps has few resources. StoryCorps.org has been on WordPress, and they wanted to use WordPress for StoryCorps.me as well.

The development phase was quite short: from funding to launch took only three months. They launched at TED after receiving the funding last October.

For public facing web technology, WordPress is so flexible and so malleable and amenable to whatever we need to do with it, that it really wasn't much of a question whether this was the right platform.
What their real question was, Dean shares, was how WordPress could scale if and when they hit a million users, and that's why they brought in 10up.

What they learned

They are really pleased with how the project has gone so far. However, not everything was a success. They had to pivot and make adjustments as they went along and learned new things and requirements.

Dean noted, [pullquote align="right"]"You have to be willing to completely submit to the process."[/pullquote] He says it wouldn't have succeeded if 10up and Maya weren't committed as StoryCorps to the success of the project.

They also learned what Dean calls "more tangible" things, like the usage of PhoneGap. Without using a tool like PhoneGap, they wouldn't have been able to "get to market as soon as possible." However, he admits the app could be slightly better if it were built in a native platform to either iOS or Android.

Powerful stories

I really enjoyed digging into StoryCorps mission and the new StoryCorps.me project. I'm addicted to their stories, and some of the stories that have been uploaded -- such as those in the audio intro -- are really endearing.

While there may be an element of noise to the StoryCorps.me archive, it's already evident that many gems will emerge, and who knows what ideas people will come up with for creative ways to perform interviews and record stories.

The apps are available on Google Play and in the App Store. It'll be improving over the next weeks and and months. If you're excited about technology at StoryCorps, you can reach Dean at dhaddock@storycorps.org or you can also report issues or ask questions about the app at contactus@storycorps.me.

StoryCorps is a great testament to WordPress and its ability to be an infrastructure to an app at scale, while also enabling efficient development cycles. This is probably my favorite utilization of the new REST API yet.

]]> Tue, 31 Mar 2015 23:10:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts StoryCorp is an organization that aims "to provide people of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share and preserve the stories of our lives." Featured stories are broadcast nationally on NPR.

StoryCorp has published more than 50,000 interviews with almost 100,000 participants since they launched in 2003. A small to mid-size non-profit organization, StoryCorp's interviews are logged in the Library of Congress, and over the years they have created new and ingenious ways to enable story telling.

There are recording booths in a number of cities throughout the country where anyone can go and record and interview or story. The first was in Grand Central Station, though it's since shut down due to budget issues. However, booths are open in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Chicago where anyone can make a reservation to record.

They also have an Airstream trailer that travels the country and records interviews all over the place. Creating ways for people to share stories is the heart of StoryCorps mission.

[caption id="attachment_12144" align="aligncenter" width="752"]The StoryCorps MobileBooth. Credit: StoryCorp Flickr The StoryCorps MobileBooth. Credit: StoryCorp Flickr[/caption]

One WordPress developer that worked on the StoryCorp project told me, "I cry almost every time" as they listen to StoryCorps on their local NPR station every Friday morning. The stories to tend to be very powerful. I was nearly brought to tears by one where a lady hugs her son's murderer. Another moving story (from my hometown no less), features a father that comes to terms with his daughter's homosexuality. Or there's one where President Obama interviews a boy who overcame adversity to join My Brother's Keeper.

Record stories anywhere

The latest initiative for creating ways for people to share their story is via StoryCorps.me, a website and companion apps that make it easy for anyone with a smartphone to record an interview and publish it.

StoryCorps.me is built on WordPress, and utilizes the WordPress REST API to enable access to a customized content architecture. The StoryCorps app utilizes the API to consume data and publish stories from the app back to the website.

I interviewed Dean Haddock, Director of Digital & Technical Innovation at StoryCorp, about how the idea for the app came about, how they use and think of WordPress, and other insights from their short three month development period.

A national day of listening

Dean says he thinks the StoryCorps app really dates back to a program they ran three years ago called A National Day of Listening, where instead of shopping on Black Friday, they hosted an event where people could tell stories.

Dean's team expanding on the idea, and the event turned into a micro-site using SoundCloud's API that made that process easier. That project eventually expanded into the idea that would become StoryCorps.me.

Funding for the app

The StoryCorps app was funded thanks to StoryCorps founder Dave Isay winning this year's TED Prize Winner. He gave a TED Talk in Vancouver just a few weeks ago, where he shared how everyone has a story to tell.

[caption id="attachment_12145" align="aligncenter" width="752"]Dave Isay at TED Dave Isay at TED[/caption]

The TED Prize is awarded to an individual with a creative, bold vision to spark global change. By leveraging the TED community’s resources and investing $1 million into a powerful idea, each year the TED Prize supports one wish to inspire the world.

- TED Prize website


His wish after winning the TED Prize was to "to grow this digital archive of the collective wisdom of humanity." During the TED Talk, he noted that StoryCorps is "the single largest collection of human voices ever collected."

The new app makes this mission even more plausible, by having almost no barrier for interview creation. The $1 million TED Prize made it possible.

Development of the StoryCorps app

storycorps-app

With "one tap", interviews can be created and uploaded to the StoryCorps.me website and the Library of Congress archive.

Dave shared some of his vision for the app during the TED Talk:

Imagine, for example, a national homework assignment where every high school student studying U.S. history across the country records an interview with an elder over Thanksgiving, so that in one single weekend an entire generation of American lives and experiences are captured.
Development of the app was managed on three levels.

The StoryCorps team did project management, communication, and handled RFPs for app and website development. They also ensured that everything fit the StoryCorps model, and ensured that the new website and app talked to existing StoryCorps software and APIs properly.

10up built the website infrastructure, manages scalability issues, and managed the integration of the WordPress REST API.

MAYA design designed and built the app for the end-user, utilizing PhoneGap so that the app could be launched simultaneously to both iOS and Android platforms.

[pullquote align="right"]"We knew we going to use WordPress before we started looking for partners to help us build this thing."[/pullquote] As a "small to midsize non-profit," StoryCorps has few resources. StoryCorps.org has been on WordPress, and they wanted to use WordPress for StoryCorps.me as well.

The development phase was quite short: from funding to launch took only three months. They launched at TED after receiving the funding last October.

For public facing web technology, WordPress is so flexible and so malleable and amenable to whatever we need to do with it, that it really wasn't much of a question whether this was the right platform.
What their real question was, Dean shares, was how WordPress could scale if and when they hit a million users, and that's why they brought in 10up.

What they learned

They are really pleased with how the project has gone so far. However, not everything was a success. They had to pivot and make adjustments as they went along and learned new things and requirements.

Dean noted, [pullquote align="right"]"You have to be willing to completely submit to the process."[/pullquote] He says it wouldn't have succeeded if 10up and Maya weren't committed as StoryCorps to the success of the project.

They also learned what Dean calls "more tangible" things, like the usage of PhoneGap. Without using a tool like PhoneGap, they wouldn't have been able to "get to market as soon as possible." However, he admits the app could be slightly better if it were built in a native platform to either iOS or Android.

Powerful stories

I really enjoyed digging into StoryCorps mission and the new StoryCorps.me project. I'm addicted to their stories, and some of the stories that have been uploaded -- such as those in the audio intro -- are really endearing.

While there may be an element of noise to the StoryCorps.me archive, it's already evident that many gems will emerge, and who knows what ideas people will come up with for creative ways to perform interviews and record stories.

The apps are available on Google Play and in the App Store. It'll be improving over the next weeks and and months. If you're excited about technology at StoryCorps, you can reach Dean at dhaddock@storycorps.org or you can also report issues or ask questions about the app at contactus@storycorps.me.

StoryCorps is a great testament to WordPress and its ability to be an infrastructure to an app at scale, while also enabling efficient development cycles. This is probably my favorite utilization of the new REST API yet.

]]> How StoryCorps uses WordPress to enable storytelling everywhere Brian Krogsgard 00:32:14 StoryCorps.me enables anyone to create and share powerful stories. Just launched as an iOS and Android app, the website that provides the app infrastructure is built on WordPress, utilizing the WordPress REST API. Here's how StoryCorps.me came to be. StoryCorps.me enables anyone to create and share powerful stories. Just launched as an iOS and Android app, the website that provides the app infrastructure is built on WordPress, utilizing the WordPress REST API. Here's how StoryCorps.me came to be. rest api, wordpress, storycorps no full 14 e75836c9-d998-44ff-99df-2295ce2f21c7 The Excerpt Episode 2 -- WordPress news with Julie Kuehl Welcome to The Excerpt, part of the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can also find on iTunes. Draft consists of two formats: long form interviews like I’ve done for a long time, and The Excerpt for a summary of news around the WordPress ecosystem.

With The Excerpt, we cover a few of our favorite stories from the Post Status Club over the last week or two. The primary goal is to keep it short and informational: we keep the podcast to 15 minutes.

Content covered in The Excerpt will largely be samples from the members only content, but may also cover free articles and resources. You don’t have to be a member to enjoy The Excerpt, but it is a nice way to preview what members get every day.

Here’s Episode 2, which Julie Kuehl hosted with me:

]]> Fri, 27 Mar 2015 15:11:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to The Excerpt, part of the Post Status Draft podcast, which you can also find on iTunes. Draft consists of two formats: long form interviews like I’ve done for a long time, and The Excerpt for a summary of news around the WordPress ecosystem.

With The Excerpt, we cover a few of our favorite stories from the Post Status Club over the last week or two. The primary goal is to keep it short and informational: we keep the podcast to 15 minutes.

Content covered in The Excerpt will largely be samples from the members only content, but may also cover free articles and resources. You don’t have to be a member to enjoy The Excerpt, but it is a nice way to preview what members get every day.

Here’s Episode 2, which Julie Kuehl hosted with me:

]]> The Excerpt Episode 2 -- WordPress news with Julie Kuehl Brian Krogsgard 00:16:19 Julie Kuehl and I cover the week in WordPress news with a short format (15 minute) podcast. The Excerpt is part of the Draft podcast, and will be balanced by long form interviews. This week we talk about Shiny Installs, host growth, finding your place, and the REST API. Julie Kuehl and I cover the week in WordPress news with a short format (15 minute) podcast. The Excerpt is part of the Draft podcast, and will be balanced by long form interviews. This week we talk about Shiny Installs, host growth, finding your place, and the REST API. no full 13 0756883d-9638-4f90-b27a-a93ca9ee8e61 The Excerpt episode 1 -- WordPress news with Brian Richards Welcome to The Excerpt, part of the Post Status Draft podcast, which was submitted to iTunes recently. Draft will consist of two formats: long form interviews like I've done for a long time, and The Excerpt for a summary of news around the WordPress ecosystem.

With The Excerpt, we'll cover a few of our favorite stories from the Post Status Club over the last week or two. The primary goal is to keep it short and informational: we set a hard stop at 15 minutes.

Content covered in The Excerpt will largely be samples from the members only content, but may also cover free articles and resources. You don't have to be a member to enjoy The Excerpt, but it is a nice way to preview what members get every day.

Here's Episode 1, which Brian Richards hosted with me:

 

Stories discussed:

I will try and have guest hosts as much as possible. They may rotate or it might just be a few people that are relatively consistent. We'll see how it goes, and your feedback will always be welcome. Let me know what you think about the new show. ]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2015 16:43:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Welcome to The Excerpt, part of the Post Status Draft podcast, which was submitted to iTunes recently. Draft will consist of two formats: long form interviews like I've done for a long time, and The Excerpt for a summary of news around the WordPress ecosystem.

With The Excerpt, we'll cover a few of our favorite stories from the Post Status Club over the last week or two. The primary goal is to keep it short and informational: we set a hard stop at 15 minutes.

Content covered in The Excerpt will largely be samples from the members only content, but may also cover free articles and resources. You don't have to be a member to enjoy The Excerpt, but it is a nice way to preview what members get every day.

Here's Episode 1, which Brian Richards hosted with me:

 

Stories discussed:

I will try and have guest hosts as much as possible. They may rotate or it might just be a few people that are relatively consistent. We'll see how it goes, and your feedback will always be welcome. Let me know what you think about the new show. ]]> The Excerpt episode 1 -- WordPress news with Brian Richards Brian Krogsgard 00:14:56 Brian Richards and I cover the week in WordPress news with a new short format (15 minute) podcast. The Excerpt is part of the Draft podcast, and will be balanced by long form interviews. Brian Richards and I cover the week in WordPress news with a new short format (15 minute) podcast. The Excerpt is part of the Draft podcast, and will be balanced by long form interviews. no full 12 115fa3e3-4e3d-4d70-8dde-ad05c72095ca Running a successful membership site in real life, with Jonathan Williamson Jonathan Williamson is the co-founder and COO of CGCookie, a membership website that provides as an educational resource for computer graphics and modeling. CGCookie has been around since 2008, and today is a network of five websites, has thousands of paying members, a team of six full time employees plus a number of contractors.

CGCookie is built completely on WordPress and has a built in membership component. Some astute readers may recognize both the site and Jonathan's name; Jonathan is Pippin Williamson's identical twin brother, and Pippin has worked with Jonathan on CGCookie many times. So, in this interview, you're not listening to me talk to Pippin -- though it sounds like it -- but I'm talking to Jonathan Williamson.

Jonathan is as passionate about CG, modeling, 3D printing, and the software that surrounds these disciplines as Pippin is about WordPress and programming. It was a pleasure to talk to Jonathan about what it's like to run a membership site that runs on WordPress. I think this interview will be beneficial for those that want to run a membership site, and also those that work with clients who make their living off of their website.

How CGCookie evolved

CGCookie started as a blog with news, tutorials, and resources for CG enthusiasts. The first form of its monetization was by selling the source files for the various tutorials. Within about two years, Jonathan and co-founder Wes Burke decided to add a membership component that ended up working far better than they anticipated.

Jonathan has been working full-time on CGCookie since around the summer of 2009. They originally launched on aMember, before eventually migrating to Pippin's Restrict Content Pro plugin, along with Easy Digital Downloads.

Today, CGCookie has more than 120,000 free users, and they have around 4,700 paid members.

Since 2008, CGCookie have managed to not have a full time web developer until February of 2014, when they hired Nick Haskins. You may recognize Nick as the founder of Aesop Stories as well. Nick manages front-end development for the site, and they still don't have a backend developer -- though a backend developer and designer are on their roadmap.

How CGCookie's eCommerce setup runs

Considering Jonathan is using his brother's own plugins in the real world, it makes for a great avenue for feedback and insight for Pippin to improve those products.

CGCookie is using Restrict Content Pro for memberships themselves, and EDD for their store. We talked about whether EDD could be used for both, or if there is room for improvement in the marriage between the two systems, and he believes there is and that it's a goal for the two plugins. For instance, currently, reporting and user management and a number of other features are independent between each plugin even though often times the users that utilize the system may overlap.

I asked Jonathan about scaling WordPress and eCommerce for their large user base. He says that scaling for eCommerce has not been difficult, but with over a hundred thousand users, some default WordPress functionality has not scaled well; for instance, some admin areas create dropdowns for all users, which does not work well. Fortunately, there are some trac tickets in place currently to help solve some of these problems.

Prioritizing goals for a membership site

When discussing challenges running a membership site, Jonathan highlights the internal battles: balancing new features versus iterative improvements. Based on my short experience managing this membership site, I completely agree.

For an example, Jonathan told me about a potential question and answer system to help his members get answers for specific technical topics that may be beyond the scope of a specific course. They believe a Stack Exchange style setup that allows them to refer their courses to specific questions would allow them to better serve their customers with the same content they already have.

How do you get people to find your content that answers their question, but you don't have a way of just explicitly saying that these are the questions this course answers?
They're considering a method of post to post relationships that direct courses as question answers and vice versa. For this feature and others, they try to do things with a short return on investment, but they also don't want to be a slave to it. They sometimes do things "that are important to the quality of CGCookie, that never make a dime." They removed ads last year under that very premise, to make CGCookie a better learning experience.

Not the only place to learn

Jonathan knows CGCookie isn't the only place to learn, so they focus on creating an excellent community and learning experience for their customers.

Realizing that our sites aren't the only way to get certain information is an important thing to know to be able to better focus what we create for our users and why we create it.

Pricing for CGCookie

CGCookie has pricing for monthly, quarterly, or yearly pricing; all plans renew automatically unless explicitly cancelled. This is a feature they actively A/B test to see what's working and what's not.

Behavior of customers varies between the three levels. Jonathan says that the users are more invested in their purchases (and getting more out of it) when they sign up for longer. Quarterly members have 10% longer lifetime memberships and spend three times longer on the site.

However, they do have "a fair bit" of what I called "download and dash" members that sign up for a month, download a bunch of assets and cancel. Monthly memberships are also the most popular plan. They've considered locking down downloads for monthly signups but it's not something they want to do unless it becomes a bigger problem; however they do lose money on those customers that download gigabytes of files and videos but only stay subscribed for one month.

Testing

During A/B tests, they have found that people will be just as likely to sign up for quarterly as monthly if monthly isn't available, and quarterly members are more engaged. One thing they noted is that once people stick around for a few months, the average tenure of a user skyrockets; they have some users that have been a paying member as long as the site has been running.

One of my big takeaways talking to Jonathan was about how significant testing can be. Their tests help them decide on the optimal pricing and payment plans to maximize a lifetime value.

For testing, insights, and statistics they use both Optimizely, Mixpanel, and Google Analytics.

Mixpanel allows you to create custom events in your software, and does require some code knowledge, but it can deliver valuable insights if you use it correctly. Jonathan notes, "It's basically as comprehensive as you make it."

They can also mesh tools. They can track which A/B test from Optimizely a customer signed up with, and then use Mixpanel to track what they did and how they did it. They can get login metrics, renewal numbers, and more for each plan and signup flow.

Mixpanel requires PHP and JavaScript knowledge to utilize, but Optimizely has an extensive visual interface that doesn't require code knowledge to utilize.

What encourages membership signups

"It varies day to day, week to week, month to month," in regard to how their signups work. A bad month in the economy can make their signups go down. Sometimes quarterly users will spike while monthly users are steady.

Their biggest thing that affects signup rates is customer support. Some presale, but also support for new members to help answer questions and get people engaged. [pullquote align="right"]When they can help someone answer the question, "Where do I go next?", they are able to keep them for a long time.[/pullquote]

They have one or two courses that drive a ton of traffic to their site, and it is therefore their largest onboarding channel for new members. However, they don't have a silver bullet for what it takes to get new users. They are always trying new things.

On competing and the industry

Jonathan doesn't see themselves as a part of a singular industry. While many think of CG as a part of the film industry, it's one of dozens of potential applications, and they don't want to narrow themselves to a particular one.

They also poll users to get a feel for who they are and what industry actual users come from. Based on around a thousand responses, they had no real pattern at all. The results were all over the board.

So they don't want to compete with a film tutorials site or any other industry site. They want to focus on the tool itself. They want to teach people how to use Blender and show them how it can be applied to various industries their users are a part of.

Advice for those running membership sites

"Build your community would be the main one. It's one thing to offer a really good product. It's one thing to build a really good website. But if you don't have the community behind you that's going to be willing to trust in you with their wallet ... it's not going to go anywhere long term, sustainably."
Jonathan says it's about building the community as well as the sense of trust within that community. He believes that customers will want to know that not only the content will be worth it, but that it will continue to be worth it -- and that the communication and support from the team behind the site will be consistent as well.

He believes that subscriptions and products are very different. With a subscription, the interaction is just as or far more important than specific content itself.

When he refers to community, he doesn't mean it has to be strictly through something like a forum. He considers it a broad term, and for them it evolved out of their Blender community user base. At the time we recorded this, they didn't have forums, a dedicated chat system, or an actual community integration part. But the community exists and thrives within comments and their gallery functionality.

Wrapping up

Jonathan is full of great advice and I could listen to him talk about membership sites for a long time. I have no experience with CG but at the end of this interview he had me wanted to go build something with Blender.

You can (and should) keep up with Jonathan on Twitter, or perhaps you'll see him at a conference near you -- but you'll probably think it's Pippin at first. Also be sure to checkout CGCookie's website; it's really great.

]]> Thu, 12 Mar 2015 22:41:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts Jonathan Williamson is the co-founder and COO of CGCookie, a membership website that provides as an educational resource for computer graphics and modeling. CGCookie has been around since 2008, and today is a network of five websites, has thousands of paying members, a team of six full time employees plus a number of contractors.

CGCookie is built completely on WordPress and has a built in membership component. Some astute readers may recognize both the site and Jonathan's name; Jonathan is Pippin Williamson's identical twin brother, and Pippin has worked with Jonathan on CGCookie many times. So, in this interview, you're not listening to me talk to Pippin -- though it sounds like it -- but I'm talking to Jonathan Williamson.

Jonathan is as passionate about CG, modeling, 3D printing, and the software that surrounds these disciplines as Pippin is about WordPress and programming. It was a pleasure to talk to Jonathan about what it's like to run a membership site that runs on WordPress. I think this interview will be beneficial for those that want to run a membership site, and also those that work with clients who make their living off of their website.

How CGCookie evolved

CGCookie started as a blog with news, tutorials, and resources for CG enthusiasts. The first form of its monetization was by selling the source files for the various tutorials. Within about two years, Jonathan and co-founder Wes Burke decided to add a membership component that ended up working far better than they anticipated.

Jonathan has been working full-time on CGCookie since around the summer of 2009. They originally launched on aMember, before eventually migrating to Pippin's Restrict Content Pro plugin, along with Easy Digital Downloads.

Today, CGCookie has more than 120,000 free users, and they have around 4,700 paid members.

Since 2008, CGCookie have managed to not have a full time web developer until February of 2014, when they hired Nick Haskins. You may recognize Nick as the founder of Aesop Stories as well. Nick manages front-end development for the site, and they still don't have a backend developer -- though a backend developer and designer are on their roadmap.

How CGCookie's eCommerce setup runs

Considering Jonathan is using his brother's own plugins in the real world, it makes for a great avenue for feedback and insight for Pippin to improve those products.

CGCookie is using Restrict Content Pro for memberships themselves, and EDD for their store. We talked about whether EDD could be used for both, or if there is room for improvement in the marriage between the two systems, and he believes there is and that it's a goal for the two plugins. For instance, currently, reporting and user management and a number of other features are independent between each plugin even though often times the users that utilize the system may overlap.

I asked Jonathan about scaling WordPress and eCommerce for their large user base. He says that scaling for eCommerce has not been difficult, but with over a hundred thousand users, some default WordPress functionality has not scaled well; for instance, some admin areas create dropdowns for all users, which does not work well. Fortunately, there are some trac tickets in place currently to help solve some of these problems.

Prioritizing goals for a membership site

When discussing challenges running a membership site, Jonathan highlights the internal battles: balancing new features versus iterative improvements. Based on my short experience managing this membership site, I completely agree.

For an example, Jonathan told me about a potential question and answer system to help his members get answers for specific technical topics that may be beyond the scope of a specific course. They believe a Stack Exchange style setup that allows them to refer their courses to specific questions would allow them to better serve their customers with the same content they already have.

How do you get people to find your content that answers their question, but you don't have a way of just explicitly saying that these are the questions this course answers?
They're considering a method of post to post relationships that direct courses as question answers and vice versa. For this feature and others, they try to do things with a short return on investment, but they also don't want to be a slave to it. They sometimes do things "that are important to the quality of CGCookie, that never make a dime." They removed ads last year under that very premise, to make CGCookie a better learning experience.

Not the only place to learn

Jonathan knows CGCookie isn't the only place to learn, so they focus on creating an excellent community and learning experience for their customers.

Realizing that our sites aren't the only way to get certain information is an important thing to know to be able to better focus what we create for our users and why we create it.

Pricing for CGCookie

CGCookie has pricing for monthly, quarterly, or yearly pricing; all plans renew automatically unless explicitly cancelled. This is a feature they actively A/B test to see what's working and what's not.

Behavior of customers varies between the three levels. Jonathan says that the users are more invested in their purchases (and getting more out of it) when they sign up for longer. Quarterly members have 10% longer lifetime memberships and spend three times longer on the site.

However, they do have "a fair bit" of what I called "download and dash" members that sign up for a month, download a bunch of assets and cancel. Monthly memberships are also the most popular plan. They've considered locking down downloads for monthly signups but it's not something they want to do unless it becomes a bigger problem; however they do lose money on those customers that download gigabytes of files and videos but only stay subscribed for one month.

Testing

During A/B tests, they have found that people will be just as likely to sign up for quarterly as monthly if monthly isn't available, and quarterly members are more engaged. One thing they noted is that once people stick around for a few months, the average tenure of a user skyrockets; they have some users that have been a paying member as long as the site has been running.

One of my big takeaways talking to Jonathan was about how significant testing can be. Their tests help them decide on the optimal pricing and payment plans to maximize a lifetime value.

For testing, insights, and statistics they use both Optimizely, Mixpanel, and Google Analytics.

Mixpanel allows you to create custom events in your software, and does require some code knowledge, but it can deliver valuable insights if you use it correctly. Jonathan notes, "It's basically as comprehensive as you make it."

They can also mesh tools. They can track which A/B test from Optimizely a customer signed up with, and then use Mixpanel to track what they did and how they did it. They can get login metrics, renewal numbers, and more for each plan and signup flow.

Mixpanel requires PHP and JavaScript knowledge to utilize, but Optimizely has an extensive visual interface that doesn't require code knowledge to utilize.

What encourages membership signups

"It varies day to day, week to week, month to month," in regard to how their signups work. A bad month in the economy can make their signups go down. Sometimes quarterly users will spike while monthly users are steady.

Their biggest thing that affects signup rates is customer support. Some presale, but also support for new members to help answer questions and get people engaged. [pullquote align="right"]When they can help someone answer the question, "Where do I go next?", they are able to keep them for a long time.[/pullquote]

They have one or two courses that drive a ton of traffic to their site, and it is therefore their largest onboarding channel for new members. However, they don't have a silver bullet for what it takes to get new users. They are always trying new things.

On competing and the industry

Jonathan doesn't see themselves as a part of a singular industry. While many think of CG as a part of the film industry, it's one of dozens of potential applications, and they don't want to narrow themselves to a particular one.

They also poll users to get a feel for who they are and what industry actual users come from. Based on around a thousand responses, they had no real pattern at all. The results were all over the board.

So they don't want to compete with a film tutorials site or any other industry site. They want to focus on the tool itself. They want to teach people how to use Blender and show them how it can be applied to various industries their users are a part of.

Advice for those running membership sites

"Build your community would be the main one. It's one thing to offer a really good product. It's one thing to build a really good website. But if you don't have the community behind you that's going to be willing to trust in you with their wallet ... it's not going to go anywhere long term, sustainably."
Jonathan says it's about building the community as well as the sense of trust within that community. He believes that customers will want to know that not only the content will be worth it, but that it will continue to be worth it -- and that the communication and support from the team behind the site will be consistent as well.

He believes that subscriptions and products are very different. With a subscription, the interaction is just as or far more important than specific content itself.

When he refers to community, he doesn't mean it has to be strictly through something like a forum. He considers it a broad term, and for them it evolved out of their Blender community user base. At the time we recorded this, they didn't have forums, a dedicated chat system, or an actual community integration part. But the community exists and thrives within comments and their gallery functionality.

Wrapping up

Jonathan is full of great advice and I could listen to him talk about membership sites for a long time. I have no experience with CG but at the end of this interview he had me wanted to go build something with Blender.

You can (and should) keep up with Jonathan on Twitter, or perhaps you'll see him at a conference near you -- but you'll probably think it's Pippin at first. Also be sure to checkout CGCookie's website; it's really great.

]]> Running a successful membership site in real life, with Jonathan Williamson Brian Krogsgard 01:16:40 This interview is with Jonathan Williamson, co-founder of CGCookie. He’s going to talk to us about running a real world membership website on WordPress. Jonathan is Pippin Williamson's twin brother, and he has years of experience running membership websites. There is much that we can learn from him. This interview is with Jonathan Williamson, co-founder of CGCookie. He’s going to talk to us about running a real world membership website on WordPress. Jonathan is Pippin Williamson's twin brother, and he has years of experience running membership websites. There is much that we can learn from him. blender, cgcookie, wordpress, membership websites no full 11 https://poststatus.com/?p=6995 How has WordPress changed your life? wc-nycLast week, I was in New York City for WordCamp and some client meetings. The event was a huge success, with four full tracks of expert designers, developers, and WordPress professionals sharing what they’ve learned.

I had a great time with everyone there. I saw old friends, and met new friends.

I had my recording equipment with me, and I asked a question to some folks there: how has WordPress changed your life?

Here are their answers:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/how-has-wordpress-changed-your-life.mp3

Direct Download

And here are just a few of the pictures I took, from WordCamp and some just from around the city. I’m not much of a photographer, but feel free to use any of these however you wish:

this-is-a-busy-town nyc-tunnel nyc-street-tower wcnyc-tshirt lema-on-membership boon-keynote-pie-chart sara-cannon-design-talk ryan-wp-json-api-talk jenn-php-lol mike-heartbeat-api-fun pippin-is-always-working everyone-is-hiring freedom-tower september-11-memorial flower-in-911-victims-name nyc-from-the-plane

I’d like to thank the organizers for their efforts, the sponsors for their investment in the WordPress community, the speakers for their wisdom, and the attendees for their hunger to learn and connect with like-minded individuals.

If you’ve never attended a WordCamp — especially one outside of your own city — I highly encourage you do. They are so fun. There are a number of events coming up that I’ll be at as well, so I hope you’ll say hi there: WordCamp Birmingham (August 16th), WordCamp San Francisco (October 25-26th), and PressNomics (January 22nd-24th).

]]> Fri, 8 Aug 2014 16:29:55 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts wc-nycLast week, I was in New York City for WordCamp and some client meetings. The event was a huge success, with four full tracks of expert designers, developers, and WordPress professionals sharing what they’ve learned.

I had a great time with everyone there. I saw old friends, and met new friends.

I had my recording equipment with me, and I asked a question to some folks there: how has WordPress changed your life?

Here are their answers:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/how-has-wordpress-changed-your-life.mp3

Direct Download

And here are just a few of the pictures I took, from WordCamp and some just from around the city. I’m not much of a photographer, but feel free to use any of these however you wish:

this-is-a-busy-town nyc-tunnel nyc-street-tower wcnyc-tshirt lema-on-membership boon-keynote-pie-chart sara-cannon-design-talk ryan-wp-json-api-talk jenn-php-lol mike-heartbeat-api-fun pippin-is-always-working everyone-is-hiring freedom-tower september-11-memorial flower-in-911-victims-name nyc-from-the-plane

I’d like to thank the organizers for their efforts, the sponsors for their investment in the WordPress community, the speakers for their wisdom, and the attendees for their hunger to learn and connect with like-minded individuals.

If you’ve never attended a WordCamp — especially one outside of your own city — I highly encourage you do. They are so fun. There are a number of events coming up that I’ll be at as well, so I hope you’ll say hi there: WordCamp Birmingham (August 16th), WordCamp San Francisco (October 25-26th), and PressNomics (January 22nd-24th).

]]> How has WordPress changed your life? Brian Krogsgard 00:10:22 Last week, I was in New York City for WordCamp and some client meetings. The event was a huge success, with four full tracks of expert designers, developers, and WordPress professionals sharing what they’ve learned. I had a great time with everyone there. I saw old friends, and met new friends. I had my recording […] Last week, I was in New York City for WordCamp and some client meetings. The event was a huge success, with four full tracks of expert designers, developers, and WordPress professionals sharing what they’ve learned. I had a great time with everyone there. I saw old friends, and met new friends. I had my recording […] no full 10 https://poststatus.com/?p=7004 Interview with Chris Lema: a journey to working full time with WordPress chrislema

On May 28th, 2012, I was virtually introduced to Chris Lema. He had 653 Twitter followers at the time. I know so, because that’s how we were introduced — through an email from Twitter telling me he was now following me. At the time, he’d not even started daily writing on his personal blog; he didn’t start that until September of that year.

It’s hard to imagine a time where I didn’t know who Chris Lema was, or a time where I wasn’t learning from him. Today, Chris is a significant voice in the WordPress world. He was just announced, deservedly so, in the first batch of speakers for WordCamp San Francisco.

He’s been blogging nearly every day for two years. I’ve met him at a number of events. We’ve shared meals together. We’ve had phone calls where Chris gave me advice for my career and life. We even spent a week in Cape Town, South Africa traveling together for a WordCamp that I won’t forget.

Chris Lema is my friend, and a mentor. I owe him a tremendous amount for his advice, his continuous generosity, and his kindness toward me. And I also know I can’t pay him back; giving to others is his passion, and I’ll never be able match that in return.

What I know I can do is pay it forward. As I gain knowledge, and maybe even a shred of my own wisdom, I can pay forward that mentorship to others that are up and coming in their careers, and be to them as Chris has been to me and as others have been to Chris.

I’m one of many, many people that feel this way about Chris. He now has 6,500 followers on Twitter — something I note purely as a way to compare to the beginning of this post, and highlight how many people he’s impacted in such a short time. He’s also a direct mentor to dozens of people who make their living with WordPress.

What if Chris did WordPress full time?

Incredibly, Chris has had this influence and impact on the WordPress community without having a full time WordPress job.

For eight years, he’s been at Emphasys Software — a successful company, but not one you’d know of in the WordPress ecosystem — and he’s been coaching WordPress companies and blogging in his spare time.

It makes you wonder, what would he do if his full time job were WordPress-centric? I certainly have thought so. And as Chris notes in our interview, I asked him this question while we were in Cape Town.

I wanted to see what would happen with Chris full time in the WordPress world, and now we’re about to find out.

Joining Crowd Favorite as CTO

Chris is announcing today that he’s joining Crowd Favorite full time as its new Chief Technical Officer.

Chris was already on the board of the VeloMedia Group, which has utilized the Crowd Favorite brand since its acquisition of the company late last year.

CEO Karim Marucchi has wanted Chris to be a full time part of the VeloMedia group for some time as well. But the logistics weren’t easy to work out. However, in the last month or so they really pushed to make it happen, and now Chris will be the CTO as well as a chief strategist for Crowd Favorite and other companies within the VeloMedia group.

Chris will focus heavily on reaching out to the enterprise space, via consulting opportunities and a variety of other concepts they are working on.

Hear about Chris’ journey to full time WordPress

In this interview, Chris and I talk about his journey to working full time with WordPress. We talk about his career, his entry into blogging and the WordPress community, about the structure of Crowd Favorite, and the WordPress economy in general.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/chris-lema-post-status-draft.mp3

Direct Download

It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Chris, and I’m thrilled to see him join Crowd Favorite full time. You can see Chris’ announcement on his blog, as well as Crowd Favorite’s. Also be sure to follow Chris on Twitter, and definitely tell him congratulations on this new journey.

]]> Tue, 5 Aug 2014 20:44:16 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts chrislema

On May 28th, 2012, I was virtually introduced to Chris Lema. He had 653 Twitter followers at the time. I know so, because that’s how we were introduced — through an email from Twitter telling me he was now following me. At the time, he’d not even started daily writing on his personal blog; he didn’t start that until September of that year.

It’s hard to imagine a time where I didn’t know who Chris Lema was, or a time where I wasn’t learning from him. Today, Chris is a significant voice in the WordPress world. He was just announced, deservedly so, in the first batch of speakers for WordCamp San Francisco.

He’s been blogging nearly every day for two years. I’ve met him at a number of events. We’ve shared meals together. We’ve had phone calls where Chris gave me advice for my career and life. We even spent a week in Cape Town, South Africa traveling together for a WordCamp that I won’t forget.

Chris Lema is my friend, and a mentor. I owe him a tremendous amount for his advice, his continuous generosity, and his kindness toward me. And I also know I can’t pay him back; giving to others is his passion, and I’ll never be able match that in return.

What I know I can do is pay it forward. As I gain knowledge, and maybe even a shred of my own wisdom, I can pay forward that mentorship to others that are up and coming in their careers, and be to them as Chris has been to me and as others have been to Chris.

I’m one of many, many people that feel this way about Chris. He now has 6,500 followers on Twitter — something I note purely as a way to compare to the beginning of this post, and highlight how many people he’s impacted in such a short time. He’s also a direct mentor to dozens of people who make their living with WordPress.

What if Chris did WordPress full time?

Incredibly, Chris has had this influence and impact on the WordPress community without having a full time WordPress job.

For eight years, he’s been at Emphasys Software — a successful company, but not one you’d know of in the WordPress ecosystem — and he’s been coaching WordPress companies and blogging in his spare time.

It makes you wonder, what would he do if his full time job were WordPress-centric? I certainly have thought so. And as Chris notes in our interview, I asked him this question while we were in Cape Town.

I wanted to see what would happen with Chris full time in the WordPress world, and now we’re about to find out.

Joining Crowd Favorite as CTO

Chris is announcing today that he’s joining Crowd Favorite full time as its new Chief Technical Officer.

Chris was already on the board of the VeloMedia Group, which has utilized the Crowd Favorite brand since its acquisition of the company late last year.

CEO Karim Marucchi has wanted Chris to be a full time part of the VeloMedia group for some time as well. But the logistics weren’t easy to work out. However, in the last month or so they really pushed to make it happen, and now Chris will be the CTO as well as a chief strategist for Crowd Favorite and other companies within the VeloMedia group.

Chris will focus heavily on reaching out to the enterprise space, via consulting opportunities and a variety of other concepts they are working on.

Hear about Chris’ journey to full time WordPress

In this interview, Chris and I talk about his journey to working full time with WordPress. We talk about his career, his entry into blogging and the WordPress community, about the structure of Crowd Favorite, and the WordPress economy in general.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/chris-lema-post-status-draft.mp3

Direct Download

It was an absolute pleasure to talk to Chris, and I’m thrilled to see him join Crowd Favorite full time. You can see Chris’ announcement on his blog, as well as Crowd Favorite’s. Also be sure to follow Chris on Twitter, and definitely tell him congratulations on this new journey.

]]> Interview with Chris Lema: a journey to working full time with WordPress Brian Krogsgard 01:13:46 On May 28th, 2012, I was virtually introduced to Chris Lema. He had 653 Twitter followers at the time. I know so, because that’s how we were introduced — through an email from Twitter telling me he was now following me. At the time, he’d not even started daily writing on his personal blog; he […] On May 28th, 2012, I was virtually introduced to Chris Lema. He had 653 Twitter followers at the time. I know so, because that’s how we were introduced — through an email from Twitter telling me he was now following me. At the time, he’d not even started daily writing on his personal blog; he […] no full 9 https://poststatus.com/?p=6874 Chris Coyier on WordPress, business, and building the web chris-coyierChris Coyier is not a stranger to most of us web workers. He’s a designer at CodePen, a writer at CSS-Tricks, and a podcaster at ShopTalk.

He uses WordPress on all three of his primary projects. For years, Chris has been a consistent advocate for the platform. He develops his own websites with WordPress, but his day-to-day interactions are as a user.

Chris brings a unique perspective, I believe. He did some client work early in his career, but he’s been more involved in SaaS projects and membership websites; his current membership websites are on WordPress (CSS-Tricks) and Ruby on Rails (CodePen).

I asked Chris about his projects, his perspective on various aspects of WordPress, and the community around it. I enjoyed learning from him, and I hope you do too:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/chris-coyier-post-status-draft.mp3

Direct Download

What have you learned from working on membership websites?

 It’s just a good dang business idea.

Chris was sold on the idea of membership websites from his tenure at Wufoo and SurveyMonkey (where he worked once they acquired Wufoo).

He uses Pippin Williamson’s Restrict Content Pro for managing The Lodge on CSS-Tricks. At CodePen, they spend time thinking about pricing, churn, and other membership metrics.

They talk about some of these things (and much more) on the CodePen Radio podcast — an awesome podcast for anyone interested in SaaS, not just CodePen.

Delivering value

Another aspect Chris noted about membership websites is how it makes you want to continually deliver value for customers. He always wants to make people feel like they’re getting excellent features and value for the price of their membership.

Another thing he and the CodePen team are learning is prioritizing feature requests. When you are building for members, you want to build features members want; and sometimes that goes against other fixes that are less glamorous. So they are consistently trying to balance time spent on customer-facing features versus behind the scenes development.

Build the feature, get the reward

Chris talked about how important it is for him to build something, then be rewarded for the work he does, versus selling something and then having to build the feature for it.

He experience this with his big Kickstarter project for a CSS-Tricks redesign a couple of years ago, and said that mentality was really difficult for him.

What do you appreciate more now about WordPress, after using other software?

WordPress comes with a lot of built-in features that many of us (I do at least) may take for granted. Need a user system? Check. Need comments? Check. Need categorization? Check.

Building CodePen, Chris is able to appreciate (even more than before) just how powerful WordPress is and how much thought goes into every feature.

We dove into something seemingly simple as an example: tags. It turns out that something even that simple takes a lot of thought, consideration, and user experience considerations.

What it ends up as, is something you’ll have to iterate on for years to get anywhere close to how good the WordPress one works already. And that’s like the tiniest thing we could think about. Think about the login system, or something else.

So his advice was to focus on simplicity and decisions when building features, because required effort grows rapidly as a feature gets more complicated.

How would you compare the WordPress community to other web communities?

Chris has exposure to a much broader web community than I do. I’m pretty locked into the WordPress bubble. He sees the Ruby on Rails world, the more generic web world, and attends and speaks at a slew of non-WordPress conferences every year.

Even though he says he’s mostly in a WordPress bubble himself (he’s not exactly attending Drupal conferences, he notes), he thinks that the WordPress community is pretty top-notch, and hasn’t seen other communities that are “better” than the WordPress community.

There’s definitely no other CMS that I’m jealous of that community.

What questions about WordPress are you always seeing on the ShopTalk Podcast

Chris and his co-host Dave Rupert (seriously, follow Dave and gain laughs and knowledge in life) get a lot of questions about WordPress on the ShopTalk Podcast. Some of these questions are repeated pretty frequently, and they see trends of common issues.

Working locally and syncing remotely

For WordPress, the most common questions tend to come around syncing the local development environment with the live environment. They’ve been recommending WP Migrate DB Pro for people trying to get around that, though Chris says he doesn’t think it’s perfect for huge websites like CSS-Tricks.

I think, to a degree, the common confusion is logical. WordPress development is really centered around three different layers of “stuff”: the content (posts, pages, etc), the files in the directory, and the site management database options. I think there is plenty of room for confusion when it’s not easy to decouple website management with website content, from a database perspective.

Learning more about WordPress through the lens of a different audience

I used this segment to talk about other confusing aspects of WordPress. We talked about database management, the degree of PHP knowledge required for WordPress theming, using pre-processors in distributed versus custom themes, responsive images, and the asset-itis of many WordPress websites that utilize plugins that each load their own scripts and styles.

Regardless of the specific issues people are having, I find tremendous value listening to ShopTalk — which is not as hardcore of a WordPress audience as I have here — where the trends of people’s struggles help reveal real struggles that perhaps we could build better tools for in WordPress.

It’s also worth noting that some of the “struggles” we talked about are very modern struggles, and WordPress has been around for over eleven years. WordPress iterates pretty quickly and does a great job of supporting modern web features, but it’s rarely immediate, especially in terms of core support. But plugin support and the shear number of people innovating on top of WordPress is significant and awesome.

Just build websites!

So many people want to be told what to do and what to learn next. That’s for sure the #1 question on ShopTalk.

In the face of lots of new and changing technology, Chris is often asked about what to do first, or what to do next. He and Dave have a core mantra at ShopTalk to encourage people to “just build websites!”

The things that you learn will happen as a result of building those websites and things for other people.

The degree of paralysis by analysis they see is significant, and Chris and Dave hope that people will let their experiences guide them versus a to-do list of things they must learn today.

You’re desirable

Another note is that pretty much everyone has something they can do to provide value to others. People surely know something from a tooling perspective that’s worthwhile; even sans-modern tools, basic knowledge of HTML and CSS — the building blocks of the web — could be a great asset to lots of business.

Even more important than tooling though, is the ability to solve problems. Chris used an example of a business that sells wrenches. If you can help a business that sells wrenches to sell more wrenches, then you are able to provide that business a lot of value; so focus on helping businesses do what they do better.

Learn by sharing

I admire Chris’ degree of sharing what he’s learning, through ShopTalk, CodePen Radio, and for years on CSS-Tricks.

He doesn’t do anything special to write about what he learns. He keeps his drafts right there in WordPress. He doesn’t take special notes. He just writes, and he often writes about what he’s learning.

Over time he’s been able to refine his writing and learn what to expect, as far as feedback goes. But at the core he just writes, and through that writing he’s been able to grow his own audience and get better at everything else he’s doing professionally.

Staying consistent and avoiding burnout

I was curious what Chris has done to stay so consistent online and avoid burnout. It seems to me that a lot of people get temporarily motivated and quickly disenchanted.

I’ve learned in my own experience with the web that any measure of success takes lots and lots of consistent effort. Chris hasn’t done a lot to think about avoiding burnout, but figures there are some things he subconsciously does to stay motivated.

That may be taking extended breaks from the web and disconnecting for a trip to the woods, or shorter breaks just in the day like stopping and playing the banjo for a few minutes.

Stay in touch with Chris

At the end of every episode of ShopTalk, Chris and Dave give guests an opportunity to plug whatever they want.

Chris’ plug for our interview was to advise folks to take some time off from building their own product and instead go into their issues list and clean up after themselves and their project — which is what Chris and team are doing at CodePen right now.

He also noted that nothing would make him happier than folks going Pro on CodePen. If you teach, interact with others, or want a way to store private pens, you should definitely check it out. And it’s affordable too, at only $75 for the year.

While he didn’t take the opportunity to plug much of his own stuff, you should definitely still check out his various projects. I’ve learned a ton from Chris since I started my own journey on the web. If my learning journey on the web were a university, I’ve definitely taken multiple classes from CSS-Tricks and the ShopTalk Show. Chris’ business is built on a three-legged stool right now. Check them out:

  • CodePen – a playground for the front-end side of the web.
  • ShopTalk Show – a podcast about front-end web design (and sound effects).
  • CSS-Tricks – where the whole internet learns CSS.

Also check out Chris’ fun about page with his life’s timeline and follow him on Twitter.

I’d like to thank Chris for the time he spent with me, and I hope that if you enjoyed this interview and write-up, that you’ll share it!

]]> Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:43:45 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts chris-coyierChris Coyier is not a stranger to most of us web workers. He’s a designer at CodePen, a writer at CSS-Tricks, and a podcaster at ShopTalk.

He uses WordPress on all three of his primary projects. For years, Chris has been a consistent advocate for the platform. He develops his own websites with WordPress, but his day-to-day interactions are as a user.

Chris brings a unique perspective, I believe. He did some client work early in his career, but he’s been more involved in SaaS projects and membership websites; his current membership websites are on WordPress (CSS-Tricks) and Ruby on Rails (CodePen).

I asked Chris about his projects, his perspective on various aspects of WordPress, and the community around it. I enjoyed learning from him, and I hope you do too:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/chris-coyier-post-status-draft.mp3

Direct Download

What have you learned from working on membership websites?

 It’s just a good dang business idea.

Chris was sold on the idea of membership websites from his tenure at Wufoo and SurveyMonkey (where he worked once they acquired Wufoo).

He uses Pippin Williamson’s Restrict Content Pro for managing The Lodge on CSS-Tricks. At CodePen, they spend time thinking about pricing, churn, and other membership metrics.

They talk about some of these things (and much more) on the CodePen Radio podcast — an awesome podcast for anyone interested in SaaS, not just CodePen.

Delivering value

Another aspect Chris noted about membership websites is how it makes you want to continually deliver value for customers. He always wants to make people feel like they’re getting excellent features and value for the price of their membership.

Another thing he and the CodePen team are learning is prioritizing feature requests. When you are building for members, you want to build features members want; and sometimes that goes against other fixes that are less glamorous. So they are consistently trying to balance time spent on customer-facing features versus behind the scenes development.

Build the feature, get the reward

Chris talked about how important it is for him to build something, then be rewarded for the work he does, versus selling something and then having to build the feature for it.

He experience this with his big Kickstarter project for a CSS-Tricks redesign a couple of years ago, and said that mentality was really difficult for him.

What do you appreciate more now about WordPress, after using other software?

WordPress comes with a lot of built-in features that many of us (I do at least) may take for granted. Need a user system? Check. Need comments? Check. Need categorization? Check.

Building CodePen, Chris is able to appreciate (even more than before) just how powerful WordPress is and how much thought goes into every feature.

We dove into something seemingly simple as an example: tags. It turns out that something even that simple takes a lot of thought, consideration, and user experience considerations.

What it ends up as, is something you’ll have to iterate on for years to get anywhere close to how good the WordPress one works already. And that’s like the tiniest thing we could think about. Think about the login system, or something else.

So his advice was to focus on simplicity and decisions when building features, because required effort grows rapidly as a feature gets more complicated.

How would you compare the WordPress community to other web communities?

Chris has exposure to a much broader web community than I do. I’m pretty locked into the WordPress bubble. He sees the Ruby on Rails world, the more generic web world, and attends and speaks at a slew of non-WordPress conferences every year.

Even though he says he’s mostly in a WordPress bubble himself (he’s not exactly attending Drupal conferences, he notes), he thinks that the WordPress community is pretty top-notch, and hasn’t seen other communities that are “better” than the WordPress community.

There’s definitely no other CMS that I’m jealous of that community.

What questions about WordPress are you always seeing on the ShopTalk Podcast

Chris and his co-host Dave Rupert (seriously, follow Dave and gain laughs and knowledge in life) get a lot of questions about WordPress on the ShopTalk Podcast. Some of these questions are repeated pretty frequently, and they see trends of common issues.

Working locally and syncing remotely

For WordPress, the most common questions tend to come around syncing the local development environment with the live environment. They’ve been recommending WP Migrate DB Pro for people trying to get around that, though Chris says he doesn’t think it’s perfect for huge websites like CSS-Tricks.

I think, to a degree, the common confusion is logical. WordPress development is really centered around three different layers of “stuff”: the content (posts, pages, etc), the files in the directory, and the site management database options. I think there is plenty of room for confusion when it’s not easy to decouple website management with website content, from a database perspective.

Learning more about WordPress through the lens of a different audience

I used this segment to talk about other confusing aspects of WordPress. We talked about database management, the degree of PHP knowledge required for WordPress theming, using pre-processors in distributed versus custom themes, responsive images, and the asset-itis of many WordPress websites that utilize plugins that each load their own scripts and styles.

Regardless of the specific issues people are having, I find tremendous value listening to ShopTalk — which is not as hardcore of a WordPress audience as I have here — where the trends of people’s struggles help reveal real struggles that perhaps we could build better tools for in WordPress.

It’s also worth noting that some of the “struggles” we talked about are very modern struggles, and WordPress has been around for over eleven years. WordPress iterates pretty quickly and does a great job of supporting modern web features, but it’s rarely immediate, especially in terms of core support. But plugin support and the shear number of people innovating on top of WordPress is significant and awesome.

Just build websites!

So many people want to be told what to do and what to learn next. That’s for sure the #1 question on ShopTalk.

In the face of lots of new and changing technology, Chris is often asked about what to do first, or what to do next. He and Dave have a core mantra at ShopTalk to encourage people to “just build websites!”

The things that you learn will happen as a result of building those websites and things for other people.

The degree of paralysis by analysis they see is significant, and Chris and Dave hope that people will let their experiences guide them versus a to-do list of things they must learn today.

You’re desirable

Another note is that pretty much everyone has something they can do to provide value to others. People surely know something from a tooling perspective that’s worthwhile; even sans-modern tools, basic knowledge of HTML and CSS — the building blocks of the web — could be a great asset to lots of business.

Even more important than tooling though, is the ability to solve problems. Chris used an example of a business that sells wrenches. If you can help a business that sells wrenches to sell more wrenches, then you are able to provide that business a lot of value; so focus on helping businesses do what they do better.

Learn by sharing

I admire Chris’ degree of sharing what he’s learning, through ShopTalk, CodePen Radio, and for years on CSS-Tricks.

He doesn’t do anything special to write about what he learns. He keeps his drafts right there in WordPress. He doesn’t take special notes. He just writes, and he often writes about what he’s learning.

Over time he’s been able to refine his writing and learn what to expect, as far as feedback goes. But at the core he just writes, and through that writing he’s been able to grow his own audience and get better at everything else he’s doing professionally.

Staying consistent and avoiding burnout

I was curious what Chris has done to stay so consistent online and avoid burnout. It seems to me that a lot of people get temporarily motivated and quickly disenchanted.

I’ve learned in my own experience with the web that any measure of success takes lots and lots of consistent effort. Chris hasn’t done a lot to think about avoiding burnout, but figures there are some things he subconsciously does to stay motivated.

That may be taking extended breaks from the web and disconnecting for a trip to the woods, or shorter breaks just in the day like stopping and playing the banjo for a few minutes.

Stay in touch with Chris

At the end of every episode of ShopTalk, Chris and Dave give guests an opportunity to plug whatever they want.

Chris’ plug for our interview was to advise folks to take some time off from building their own product and instead go into their issues list and clean up after themselves and their project — which is what Chris and team are doing at CodePen right now.

He also noted that nothing would make him happier than folks going Pro on CodePen. If you teach, interact with others, or want a way to store private pens, you should definitely check it out. And it’s affordable too, at only $75 for the year.

While he didn’t take the opportunity to plug much of his own stuff, you should definitely still check out his various projects. I’ve learned a ton from Chris since I started my own journey on the web. If my learning journey on the web were a university, I’ve definitely taken multiple classes from CSS-Tricks and the ShopTalk Show. Chris’ business is built on a three-legged stool right now. Check them out:

  • CodePen – a playground for the front-end side of the web.
  • ShopTalk Show – a podcast about front-end web design (and sound effects).
  • CSS-Tricks – where the whole internet learns CSS.

Also check out Chris’ fun about page with his life’s timeline and follow him on Twitter.

I’d like to thank Chris for the time he spent with me, and I hope that if you enjoyed this interview and write-up, that you’ll share it!

]]> Chris Coyier on WordPress, business, and building the web Brian Krogsgard 01:06:14 Chris Coyier is not a stranger to most of us web workers. He’s a designer at CodePen, a writer at CSS-Tricks, and a podcaster at ShopTalk. He uses WordPress on all three of his primary projects. For years, Chris has been a consistent advocate for the platform. He develops his own websites with WordPress, but his day-to-day […] Chris Coyier is not a stranger to most of us web workers. He’s a designer at CodePen, a writer at CSS-Tricks, and a podcaster at ShopTalk. He uses WordPress on all three of his primary projects. For years, Chris has been a consistent advocate for the platform. He develops his own websites with WordPress, but his day-to-day […] no full 8 https://poststatus.com/?p=6694 Evermore, hosted WordPress with power and ease of use evermoreFinally, finally someone has done it. They’ve combined the power of self-hosted WordPress with the ease of hosted WordPress.com.

Evermore is WordPress for everyone. It comes with “the most important functionality built in.”

There aren’t loads of tiny upsells like other hosted services (I’m looking at you, WordPress.com), and there are only two plans. It is not free. You can pay $50 per month, or $75 per month, and each plan comes with a 10x setup fee.

But the result is exactly what you’d hope for: a very powerful, functional, easy-to-use website.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/evermore-cliff-seal-draft-podcast-poststatus.mp3

Direct Download

If I had to give Evermore a competitor, I’d say it’s much closer to Squarespace than WordPress.com. But it’s built on WordPress, meaning you can leave Evermore any time and take your install with you.

In fact, they sell the ability to leave Evermore as a feature. Because they should.

Evermore offers you true portability and freedom: as your needs outgrow it, we’ll help you move to another service by giving you all the files and instructions you need. We’ll even suggest new hosts that will take care of you and your site.

I just love that. It reminds me of Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street sending people to another store instead of trying to side-sell them what they don’t want. Little will help establish my loyalty to a service like the ease one offers me to leave it.

I have no desire to take WordPress and try to hijack the open source process and make people feel like they’re closed into another product system.

Who is behind Evermore?

Evermore is a project by Cliff Seal and Kyle Bowman. Cliff is a respected WordPress developer and works full-time at Pardot, a division of SalesForce.

Kyle is an accountant and avid WordPress fan who has invested heavily in the concerns of WordPress users. In our interview, Cliff accounts many Evermore decisions to Kyle’s attunement to the end user.

Together they make Evermore, a service that represents exactly three clients — or a 50% increase since I interviewed Cliff. ;)

Yes, Evermore is a new service. But I haven’t been this excited about a relatively generic WordPress product in a long time.

For one, I think Cliff is a great developer. He’s the type of guy that will work through the difficult technical challenges a hosted service will inevitably face. For instance, he helped work on the ability to symlink plugins in WordPress 3.9 before launching Evermore so he could more easily share directories between sites.

Second, I love that Kyle has recently faced some of the same concerns as many of their future customers face. This allows him to be empathetic to their needs and better serve them. His business savvy as a self-described “recovering CPA” probably won’t hurt either.

Why a hosted solution?

More than Cliff and Kyle’s qualifications to operate a service like Evermore, I just like their motivations.

Cliff and Kyle felt that there was a gap in the market for web design, development, and maintenance services. They would run into users and site owners with common frustrations: frustrations with getting their initial site setup, managing their hosting and updates, finding the right plugins to use for particular functionality, and more.

They decided they had an opportunity, and they wanted to see if they could fill the gap.

The process

Evermore is a multi-stage process. First, there’s a setup fee. With this fee ($500 for the base plan, $750 for the secondary plan), they’ll walk you through getting a new domain or using your own, choosing a theme and setting up your site with demo content, including sample menus and widgets.

The setup period is currently 24 hours, since they haven’t automated every aspect of it. They are going to force themselves to scale in this arena, versus automating things that don’t need it yet. They also want to have that time to do the kind of individual site testing they want to do with early customers.

Once you get setup, they have some generic guides for helping clients manage their site. But for the most part, they don’t have an interest in massively changing the admin. They want people to feel like they are in WordPress.

The features

Evermore is baked with a number of features. Some highlights:

  • Forms
  • eCommerce
  • Google Analytics
  • An events calendar
  • A slider
  • Podcasting functionality

They are also willing to add functionality over time to enable customers to do more with Evermore.

However, you will never be able to add your own plugins on Evermore. It is restricted in that sense just like other hosted website solutions. This is for support and maintainability reasons.

You have to have this critical mass of knowledge to operate — even the best CMS out there. So, instead what we’ve chosen to do is say, curate themes and plugins for you. Especially with plugins, we’ve gone through and combined some of the best plugins specific to features.

The plugins they use are a blend of commercial plugins they pay for and free plugins from WordPress.org; but importantly they curate the plugins and are able to manage them at a network level to benefit their users. For commercial plugins Evermore uses their own licensing, so site owners don’t need to own their own versions or manage license keys or anything else.

Evermore currently has 35 themes to choose from. Some are the WordPress default themes, many are from Genesis and StudioPress, and others are free or commercial options from a variety of locations.

Pricing

The $50 per month (and $500 setup fee) for Evermore gets users a website setup with a commercial theme, and up to 50,000 monthly visits. The deal is for one website and includes a free domain registration.

The $75 option (and $750 setup fee) includes mostly the same features, but includes support for up to 100,000 monthly visits and the option to enable eCommerce.

Regarding the pricing, Cliff calls their choices, “a best guess” based on a year of research he and Kyle have done, to fit in the market that includes a variety of different styles of managed WordPress hosting and support solutions.

As far as the setup fee goes as well, that’s an attempt to kind of cover for us as well; because there is nothing stopping you from signing up for a day, getting your website back and asking for the dump and then leaving. … And so much of that setup is the difficult part. So much of that expertise, and automation, manual labor and things like that come at the beginning.

Nearly impossible to fail

Another aspect I really enjoyed about our talk was that no matter how Evermore turns out, Cliff wouldn’t see it as a failure. They aren’t trying to scale a free product. They definitely have some up-front investments in Evermore, but more importantly, it equips them to better serve their own service clients both now and in the future.

Additionally, honestly I’m really tired of seeing people launch, sort of, products and SaaS products and things like that and not be able to support anything long term. They have to shut down in six months because they didn’t have enough money to keep it going.

If other people don’t think it’s a great idea, then they will be happy with it as a service even for just a few people. They can live with that. There isn’t a “runway” to consider, as so often motivates the startup culture. Worst case scenario, Evermore stops taking new customers and just maintains existing customers as long as they are happy. And as Cliff notes, customers have little risk.

No matter what, there’s no way to get locked into a bad business decision [as a customer], because you can always leave, and you always have that information, and it’s always yours to begin with.

Going generic versus a niche

They basically didn’t see anyone looking for the market in same way they are.

We’re trying to explore whether we’re in the right place or not. … Instead of trying to pick a niche and go for it directly — we want to see if we can create some awareness in this space. Can we begin solving a problem?

Even if it ends up that other people come and take the exact idea and target them and “run them out of town”, they’ll still be happy because they’ll have helped drive the market forward.

While they think multiple people can work in the market together, and that they can do well even with competition, they would love to see the hosted WordPress space evolve.

The evolution of the hosted WordPress space

While I think Evermore is going to need to rely on slow growth — since organic search will be competitive and hard to come by without a niche — I think they can still strike a chord and make some noise in the hosted space by referral and leveraging the power of WordPress as their platform.

I agree with Cliff. I think there is room for dozens of Evermores. Maybe hundreds of them.

It wouldn’t surprise me if many theme shops start creating a seamless theme purchase to hosted website transition for quick setups. Whether that works through white-labeling services with hosts, fully automated hosted solutions, or some kind of hybrid, I think it’s coming.

I also think that the framing of Evermore as a springboard to the greater WordPress experience shouldn’t be understated. As a WordPress consultant that often struggles with whether to recommend my friends to WordPress.com or self-hosted WordPress, something like Evermore sounds like exactly the type of service I’d love to refer people to.

Do I think Evermore is perfect? No, of course not. It’s a brand new service and product, and I’m sure they’ll learn a ton as they onboard new users. But I’m incredibly excited to see that something like Evermore even exists, and that people like Cliff and Kyle are thinking of these kinds of problems to solve. I really look forward to following up with them in a year to see what they’ve learned and how Evermore has evolved.

If you enjoyed this post and interview, I’d really appreciate it if you share it. These type of posts take more effort than any other, with hours of research, interviews, processing, and writing. I love doing them, and also love seeing them shared on all your favorite social networks! Also check out Chris Lema’s post on Evermore, which compliments this one well.

You can follow Cliff and Kyle on Twitter if you want to stay in touch with them, and of course be sure to check out the Evermore website.

]]> Thu, 19 Jun 2014 07:20:52 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts evermoreFinally, finally someone has done it. They’ve combined the power of self-hosted WordPress with the ease of hosted WordPress.com.

Evermore is WordPress for everyone. It comes with “the most important functionality built in.”

There aren’t loads of tiny upsells like other hosted services (I’m looking at you, WordPress.com), and there are only two plans. It is not free. You can pay $50 per month, or $75 per month, and each plan comes with a 10x setup fee.

But the result is exactly what you’d hope for: a very powerful, functional, easy-to-use website.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/evermore-cliff-seal-draft-podcast-poststatus.mp3

Direct Download

If I had to give Evermore a competitor, I’d say it’s much closer to Squarespace than WordPress.com. But it’s built on WordPress, meaning you can leave Evermore any time and take your install with you.

In fact, they sell the ability to leave Evermore as a feature. Because they should.

Evermore offers you true portability and freedom: as your needs outgrow it, we’ll help you move to another service by giving you all the files and instructions you need. We’ll even suggest new hosts that will take care of you and your site.

I just love that. It reminds me of Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street sending people to another store instead of trying to side-sell them what they don’t want. Little will help establish my loyalty to a service like the ease one offers me to leave it.

I have no desire to take WordPress and try to hijack the open source process and make people feel like they’re closed into another product system.

Who is behind Evermore?

Evermore is a project by Cliff Seal and Kyle Bowman. Cliff is a respected WordPress developer and works full-time at Pardot, a division of SalesForce.

Kyle is an accountant and avid WordPress fan who has invested heavily in the concerns of WordPress users. In our interview, Cliff accounts many Evermore decisions to Kyle’s attunement to the end user.

Together they make Evermore, a service that represents exactly three clients — or a 50% increase since I interviewed Cliff. ;)

Yes, Evermore is a new service. But I haven’t been this excited about a relatively generic WordPress product in a long time.

For one, I think Cliff is a great developer. He’s the type of guy that will work through the difficult technical challenges a hosted service will inevitably face. For instance, he helped work on the ability to symlink plugins in WordPress 3.9 before launching Evermore so he could more easily share directories between sites.

Second, I love that Kyle has recently faced some of the same concerns as many of their future customers face. This allows him to be empathetic to their needs and better serve them. His business savvy as a self-described “recovering CPA” probably won’t hurt either.

Why a hosted solution?

More than Cliff and Kyle’s qualifications to operate a service like Evermore, I just like their motivations.

Cliff and Kyle felt that there was a gap in the market for web design, development, and maintenance services. They would run into users and site owners with common frustrations: frustrations with getting their initial site setup, managing their hosting and updates, finding the right plugins to use for particular functionality, and more.

They decided they had an opportunity, and they wanted to see if they could fill the gap.

The process

Evermore is a multi-stage process. First, there’s a setup fee. With this fee ($500 for the base plan, $750 for the secondary plan), they’ll walk you through getting a new domain or using your own, choosing a theme and setting up your site with demo content, including sample menus and widgets.

The setup period is currently 24 hours, since they haven’t automated every aspect of it. They are going to force themselves to scale in this arena, versus automating things that don’t need it yet. They also want to have that time to do the kind of individual site testing they want to do with early customers.

Once you get setup, they have some generic guides for helping clients manage their site. But for the most part, they don’t have an interest in massively changing the admin. They want people to feel like they are in WordPress.

The features

Evermore is baked with a number of features. Some highlights:

  • Forms
  • eCommerce
  • Google Analytics
  • An events calendar
  • A slider
  • Podcasting functionality

They are also willing to add functionality over time to enable customers to do more with Evermore.

However, you will never be able to add your own plugins on Evermore. It is restricted in that sense just like other hosted website solutions. This is for support and maintainability reasons.

You have to have this critical mass of knowledge to operate — even the best CMS out there. So, instead what we’ve chosen to do is say, curate themes and plugins for you. Especially with plugins, we’ve gone through and combined some of the best plugins specific to features.

The plugins they use are a blend of commercial plugins they pay for and free plugins from WordPress.org; but importantly they curate the plugins and are able to manage them at a network level to benefit their users. For commercial plugins Evermore uses their own licensing, so site owners don’t need to own their own versions or manage license keys or anything else.

Evermore currently has 35 themes to choose from. Some are the WordPress default themes, many are from Genesis and StudioPress, and others are free or commercial options from a variety of locations.

Pricing

The $50 per month (and $500 setup fee) for Evermore gets users a website setup with a commercial theme, and up to 50,000 monthly visits. The deal is for one website and includes a free domain registration.

The $75 option (and $750 setup fee) includes mostly the same features, but includes support for up to 100,000 monthly visits and the option to enable eCommerce.

Regarding the pricing, Cliff calls their choices, “a best guess” based on a year of research he and Kyle have done, to fit in the market that includes a variety of different styles of managed WordPress hosting and support solutions.

As far as the setup fee goes as well, that’s an attempt to kind of cover for us as well; because there is nothing stopping you from signing up for a day, getting your website back and asking for the dump and then leaving. … And so much of that setup is the difficult part. So much of that expertise, and automation, manual labor and things like that come at the beginning.

Nearly impossible to fail

Another aspect I really enjoyed about our talk was that no matter how Evermore turns out, Cliff wouldn’t see it as a failure. They aren’t trying to scale a free product. They definitely have some up-front investments in Evermore, but more importantly, it equips them to better serve their own service clients both now and in the future.

Additionally, honestly I’m really tired of seeing people launch, sort of, products and SaaS products and things like that and not be able to support anything long term. They have to shut down in six months because they didn’t have enough money to keep it going.

If other people don’t think it’s a great idea, then they will be happy with it as a service even for just a few people. They can live with that. There isn’t a “runway” to consider, as so often motivates the startup culture. Worst case scenario, Evermore stops taking new customers and just maintains existing customers as long as they are happy. And as Cliff notes, customers have little risk.

No matter what, there’s no way to get locked into a bad business decision [as a customer], because you can always leave, and you always have that information, and it’s always yours to begin with.

Going generic versus a niche

They basically didn’t see anyone looking for the market in same way they are.

We’re trying to explore whether we’re in the right place or not. … Instead of trying to pick a niche and go for it directly — we want to see if we can create some awareness in this space. Can we begin solving a problem?

Even if it ends up that other people come and take the exact idea and target them and “run them out of town”, they’ll still be happy because they’ll have helped drive the market forward.

While they think multiple people can work in the market together, and that they can do well even with competition, they would love to see the hosted WordPress space evolve.

The evolution of the hosted WordPress space

While I think Evermore is going to need to rely on slow growth — since organic search will be competitive and hard to come by without a niche — I think they can still strike a chord and make some noise in the hosted space by referral and leveraging the power of WordPress as their platform.

I agree with Cliff. I think there is room for dozens of Evermores. Maybe hundreds of them.

It wouldn’t surprise me if many theme shops start creating a seamless theme purchase to hosted website transition for quick setups. Whether that works through white-labeling services with hosts, fully automated hosted solutions, or some kind of hybrid, I think it’s coming.

I also think that the framing of Evermore as a springboard to the greater WordPress experience shouldn’t be understated. As a WordPress consultant that often struggles with whether to recommend my friends to WordPress.com or self-hosted WordPress, something like Evermore sounds like exactly the type of service I’d love to refer people to.

Do I think Evermore is perfect? No, of course not. It’s a brand new service and product, and I’m sure they’ll learn a ton as they onboard new users. But I’m incredibly excited to see that something like Evermore even exists, and that people like Cliff and Kyle are thinking of these kinds of problems to solve. I really look forward to following up with them in a year to see what they’ve learned and how Evermore has evolved.

If you enjoyed this post and interview, I’d really appreciate it if you share it. These type of posts take more effort than any other, with hours of research, interviews, processing, and writing. I love doing them, and also love seeing them shared on all your favorite social networks! Also check out Chris Lema’s post on Evermore, which compliments this one well.

You can follow Cliff and Kyle on Twitter if you want to stay in touch with them, and of course be sure to check out the Evermore website.

]]> Evermore, hosted WordPress with power and ease of use Brian Krogsgard 00:44:12 Finally, finally someone has done it. They’ve combined the power of self-hosted WordPress with the ease of hosted WordPress.com. Evermore is WordPress for everyone. It comes with “the most important functionality built in.” There aren’t loads of tiny upsells like other hosted services (I’m looking at you, WordPress.com), and there are only two plans. It […] Finally, finally someone has done it. They’ve combined the power of self-hosted WordPress with the ease of hosted WordPress.com. Evermore is WordPress for everyone. It comes with “the most important functionality built in.” There aren’t loads of tiny upsells like other hosted services (I’m looking at you, WordPress.com), and there are only two plans. It […] no full 7 https://poststatus.com/?p=6626 WP eCommerce: What’s old is new again. wp-ecommerceWP eCommerce is one of the oldest WordPress plugins you’ll find. That it’s an eCommerce plugin — built on WordPress, well before such a thing seemed sensible — is even more of a testament to just how impressive this plugin is. It’s been under development for eight years, and is nearing 3 million downloads on WordPress.org.

Today, WP eCommerce is working to shed layers of duplicate functionality that can now be replaced by WordPress core. It’s a wicked thing for a product to be ahead of its time. An eCommerce plugin built on WordPress is clearly — we know today — a viable thing. But for years, as WP eCommerce chugged along, many were skeptical that eCommerce and WordPress could — or even should — be harmonious.

That WP eCommerce is so old is its blessing and its curse. The blessing is that it was the only major player for a long time, allowing it to achieve great success, relative to other commercial plugins of the time. Its curse is that it gained a reputation for bugginess and as a product that was trying to be a round peg in a square hole.

It’s safe to say that WP eCommerce has passed the time where anyone should doubt it’s a viable product. But the question remains: can something old be new again?

Dan Milward and Justin Sainton believe so. And they are now 50 / 50 partners to ensure it.

For years, Dan ran WP eCommerce under the umbrella of Instinct Entertainment. While WP eCommerce wasn’t Instinct’s only project, it was its largest for a long time. Dan hired support staff and developers to help maintain the product and manage customers of their premium support tokens.

Justin Sainton has been contributing to WP eCommerce since 2010. He’s written nearly 70,000 lines of code and deleted nearly 30,000 lines of code from the codebase, just since they started tracking activity on Github in 2011. He’s got more commits to the project than any of the other 39 contributors. At times, Justin has been the lifeblood of WP eCommerce development.

Now that the two are partnered, they are ready to move ahead with full steam.

Or catch the audio:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/wp-e-commerce-audio.mp3
Direct download

Born out of need

Dan was building websites with b2, pre-WordPress. He remembers when the repository was on a third party website, with only twenty or so plugins. He had a customer looking to sell plumbing related supplies online. Dan looked at osCommerce and Zen Cart to see if they could do the job. The hosted solutions we know today, and even Magento, didn’t exist yet. Dan had the wild idea to build it in WordPress, and the client let them release it to the public.

The world’s first eCommerce plugin for WordPress was born out of a need to cater to plumbers.

That was in 2006.

Instant growth

The plugin took off very quickly. Dan remembers launching “Gold Cart”, their premium version of WP eCommerce, on a Friday, and was blown away by the transaction history he saw the very next day. The success was unexpected.

They never thought it’d be the kind of plugin “that would end up being used by millions of people around the world.” And if he could go back, he says he probably would’ve done it differently.

Today, WP eCommerce powers sites large and small. They know of sites with upwards of 100,00 products and / or seven figures in revenue. Impressive numbers.

Retro-fitted

One of the hardest parts of development of WP eCommerce has been growing with WordPress and retro-fitting the plugin to utilize functionality and APIs that WordPress offers in core.

The best example of this is for custom post types. Custom post types were not introduced until WordPress 3.0, meaning that it took a significant effort and change of the WP eCommerce codebase to utilize custom post types, and all the benefits that go along with using them.

The Jetpack of WP eCommerce

Gold Cart is what Dan calls the Jetpack of WP eCommerce. In an attempt at longevity, WP eCommerce was an early player in the commercial plugin market. They quickly offered a premium version of WP eCommerce.

They now monetize in two ways. They have support tokens, as well as commercial add-ons. Support for WP eCommerce is managed via Help Scout.

Justin’s entrance to WP eCommerce

Justin also got into eCommerce with WordPress due to client work. He’s been working with WordPress since 2007, but he’s been doing eCommerce since 2005. So he quickly searched for WordPress eCommerce integrations, and therefore found WP eCommerce. By 2008 and 2009 he was using WP eCommerce for client work, and he reach out to Dan to figure out how he could start contributing.

Justin got heavily involved with WP eCommerce when they were making the switch to using custom post types. He helped guide the plugin from using around 40 custom tables to 13 custom tables today.

He’s been the biggest contributor to WP eCommerce ever since. With the release of WP eCommerce 3.9, their new partnership becomes official.

The new structure of Instinct

Instinct is now focused on WP eCommerce, and Dan’s other projects (like Gamefroot, an impressive HTML5-centric gaming entity) have shifted over to a different organization. Justin and Dan are now managing the day to day of WP eCommerce through Instinct.

The team of support providers and paid developers will be managed under the new Instinct.

Long term opportunities

WP eCommerce 3.9 will be a huge release for them. The features in this release include nearly five years of work between Justin, Ryan McCue, Gary Cao, and others.

All of these have been developed as the “features as plugins” concept over the last five years. So that was something that we were a little bit early to market with as a concept.

A few of the new features:

1) A new theme engine.

It’s not as easy as it should be to create themes, so they are fixing that with 3.9. They have a number of commercial theme developers they are working with to help create themes with the new theme engine this year.

2) New payment gateway API

WP eCommerce will have a much simpler and more flexible API for managing payment gateway integrations with 3.9. It will replace an API that’s been in existence since 2009.

3) Marketplace functionality

The most impressive functionality to Justin (and to me too) is the marketplace functionality they’re building into WP eCommerce 3.9. This means that people who install WP eCommerce will be able to view and shop extensions for WP eCommerce through the admin, and purchase straight through that system.

They hope to open up third party development considerably with this feature.

A product to be proud of

One of the most impressive parts of the interview was when Dan talked about the rise and slow fall of WP eCommerce as other platforms “leapfrogged” them.

At one point, they figured that around 250,000 users had migrated to using WordPress with WP eCommerce. But over time, as development stagnated some, he knew that it wasn’t the same type of product as it once was — a product that he was super proud of and ready to go to WordCamps and promote.

However, as they are now entering the final stages of 3.9 and even gear toward 4.0, they are ready to go head-on again marketing and promoting what they think can still be a go-to solution for WordPress eCommerce.

Evolve or die

“Evolve or die.” This is the Darwinian quote Dan used to describe the necessary change that an open market creates for products. WP eCommerce has certainly had to evolve. Yes, they were early to market, but they were probably (in my opinion) too early to market.

Now, they’re evolving, and working hard to once again be the big player in the market. And they’ve got longevity on their side, which is a benefit that is often undervalued.

The WordPress space is a big space, right? … eCommerce can mean so much. … There’s plenty of opportunity to do new things.

They are excited and confident about what the future holds WordPress and WP eCommerce. They believe there are untouched niches and market segments that have a lot of potential.

We don’t want to just compete. We want to be doing new and innovative things — which is what we’ve always done.

I asked where some of that potential is, and Dan said at least a couple areas where he sees potential are in-app purchasing experiences and the user-interface.

Prioritizing goals

Justin has a lot of plans for future development. While he has a list of long term goals, he’s also outlined shorter term plans.

The Product

He wants to zero in on the WP eCommerce product itself. He’s not necessarily interested in WP eCommerce in terms of how it competes feature-for-feature with other WordPress eCommerce options as much as how strongly it stands on its own.

The community

Justin wants to empower the developer community surrounding WP eCommerce to feel welcome and encouraged to contribute.

When I enter a community that I’m new to, and I feel immediately that I don’t have a voice, that’s going to turn me off pretty quick to staying active in that community.

Partnership development

Justin and Dan both see a ton of potential with connecting and integrating with some of the thousands of other platforms, services, and softwares that are part of the overall eCommerce process.

Longevity as a feature

Justin has run his consulting company, Zao, for ten years now. Both Justin and Dan have been involved in the WordPress community for a long time. They intend to be involved in the WordPress ecosystem for a long time to come.

In my mind, their collective experience and expertise are a considerable asset to the future of WP eCommerce. When someone is choosing what eCommerce platform to use, longevity of those providing the software is a huge feature. Nobody wants to invest in building a site on software that will become unsupported during the lifetime of the project.

WP eCommerce has been around longer than any other eCommerce platform, and I think they can combine this history with their more modern features to really strongly market their position in the WordPress eCommerce space and the eCommerce space in general.

Spreading the word

WP eCommerce does still face a number of challenges. One of these is spreading the word. Not only do they need to spread the word that WP eCommerce exists, but also that it’s good again.

Justin used the example of a WordCamp he went to, where he asked the crowd who had heard of WP eCommerce, and about 70% of the room raised their hand. When he asked those that loved it to keep their hand raised, only about 20% of the room kept their hand up. Jokingly, he said, “Okay, I’ve got some work to do. Let’s talk.”

This is the kind of attitude that I think can make WP eCommerce successful, in a big way.

In addition to WordCamps and evangelizing to developers, they are also sponsoring and organizing sponsoring smaller events. Just last week, Justin headed up the organization of BeachPress, a micro event of about 30 developers in a beach house on Oregon’s coast. Events like this and the personal relationships that come from them are what will help them find willing contributors and product advocates.

A new stage for a new plugin

While the WP eCommerce plugin approaches a new stage of life, you wouldn’t really know it by looking at GetShopped.org, the landing page for the plugin. This, along with other internal infrastructure issues, are additional goals for improvement for Justin and Dan.

They are planning to re-analyze business models, restructure documentation, rebuild the website, and much more. Dan notes that getting past the technical challenges of the upcoming versions of the plugin is like ridding themselves of shackles.

Depending on how well the changes are received, Dan and Justin are also prepared to put more and more of their focus on WP eCommerce versus their other projects. WP eCommerce is their priority, and they plan to see it through.

WP eCommerce really does remind me of the saying that, “what’s old is new again.”

I look forward to seeing how the rollout of WP eCommerce 3.9 goes, and how the community responds. I have a feeling that we’re going to see a second life for WP eCommerce, not as a replacement to other options, but to a place back in the front-runner category for viable WordPress eCommerce options.

If you want to keep track of WP eCommerce, you can do so on their main website, and follow Dan Milward and Justin Sainton on Twitter.

]]> Tue, 10 Jun 2014 16:03:17 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts wp-ecommerceWP eCommerce is one of the oldest WordPress plugins you’ll find. That it’s an eCommerce plugin — built on WordPress, well before such a thing seemed sensible — is even more of a testament to just how impressive this plugin is. It’s been under development for eight years, and is nearing 3 million downloads on WordPress.org.

Today, WP eCommerce is working to shed layers of duplicate functionality that can now be replaced by WordPress core. It’s a wicked thing for a product to be ahead of its time. An eCommerce plugin built on WordPress is clearly — we know today — a viable thing. But for years, as WP eCommerce chugged along, many were skeptical that eCommerce and WordPress could — or even should — be harmonious.

That WP eCommerce is so old is its blessing and its curse. The blessing is that it was the only major player for a long time, allowing it to achieve great success, relative to other commercial plugins of the time. Its curse is that it gained a reputation for bugginess and as a product that was trying to be a round peg in a square hole.

It’s safe to say that WP eCommerce has passed the time where anyone should doubt it’s a viable product. But the question remains: can something old be new again?

Dan Milward and Justin Sainton believe so. And they are now 50 / 50 partners to ensure it.

For years, Dan ran WP eCommerce under the umbrella of Instinct Entertainment. While WP eCommerce wasn’t Instinct’s only project, it was its largest for a long time. Dan hired support staff and developers to help maintain the product and manage customers of their premium support tokens.

Justin Sainton has been contributing to WP eCommerce since 2010. He’s written nearly 70,000 lines of code and deleted nearly 30,000 lines of code from the codebase, just since they started tracking activity on Github in 2011. He’s got more commits to the project than any of the other 39 contributors. At times, Justin has been the lifeblood of WP eCommerce development.

Now that the two are partnered, they are ready to move ahead with full steam.

Or catch the audio:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/wp-e-commerce-audio.mp3
Direct download

Born out of need

Dan was building websites with b2, pre-WordPress. He remembers when the repository was on a third party website, with only twenty or so plugins. He had a customer looking to sell plumbing related supplies online. Dan looked at osCommerce and Zen Cart to see if they could do the job. The hosted solutions we know today, and even Magento, didn’t exist yet. Dan had the wild idea to build it in WordPress, and the client let them release it to the public.

The world’s first eCommerce plugin for WordPress was born out of a need to cater to plumbers.

That was in 2006.

Instant growth

The plugin took off very quickly. Dan remembers launching “Gold Cart”, their premium version of WP eCommerce, on a Friday, and was blown away by the transaction history he saw the very next day. The success was unexpected.

They never thought it’d be the kind of plugin “that would end up being used by millions of people around the world.” And if he could go back, he says he probably would’ve done it differently.

Today, WP eCommerce powers sites large and small. They know of sites with upwards of 100,00 products and / or seven figures in revenue. Impressive numbers.

Retro-fitted

One of the hardest parts of development of WP eCommerce has been growing with WordPress and retro-fitting the plugin to utilize functionality and APIs that WordPress offers in core.

The best example of this is for custom post types. Custom post types were not introduced until WordPress 3.0, meaning that it took a significant effort and change of the WP eCommerce codebase to utilize custom post types, and all the benefits that go along with using them.

The Jetpack of WP eCommerce

Gold Cart is what Dan calls the Jetpack of WP eCommerce. In an attempt at longevity, WP eCommerce was an early player in the commercial plugin market. They quickly offered a premium version of WP eCommerce.

They now monetize in two ways. They have support tokens, as well as commercial add-ons. Support for WP eCommerce is managed via Help Scout.

Justin’s entrance to WP eCommerce

Justin also got into eCommerce with WordPress due to client work. He’s been working with WordPress since 2007, but he’s been doing eCommerce since 2005. So he quickly searched for WordPress eCommerce integrations, and therefore found WP eCommerce. By 2008 and 2009 he was using WP eCommerce for client work, and he reach out to Dan to figure out how he could start contributing.

Justin got heavily involved with WP eCommerce when they were making the switch to using custom post types. He helped guide the plugin from using around 40 custom tables to 13 custom tables today.

He’s been the biggest contributor to WP eCommerce ever since. With the release of WP eCommerce 3.9, their new partnership becomes official.

The new structure of Instinct

Instinct is now focused on WP eCommerce, and Dan’s other projects (like Gamefroot, an impressive HTML5-centric gaming entity) have shifted over to a different organization. Justin and Dan are now managing the day to day of WP eCommerce through Instinct.

The team of support providers and paid developers will be managed under the new Instinct.

Long term opportunities

WP eCommerce 3.9 will be a huge release for them. The features in this release include nearly five years of work between Justin, Ryan McCue, Gary Cao, and others.

All of these have been developed as the “features as plugins” concept over the last five years. So that was something that we were a little bit early to market with as a concept.

A few of the new features:

1) A new theme engine.

It’s not as easy as it should be to create themes, so they are fixing that with 3.9. They have a number of commercial theme developers they are working with to help create themes with the new theme engine this year.

2) New payment gateway API

WP eCommerce will have a much simpler and more flexible API for managing payment gateway integrations with 3.9. It will replace an API that’s been in existence since 2009.

3) Marketplace functionality

The most impressive functionality to Justin (and to me too) is the marketplace functionality they’re building into WP eCommerce 3.9. This means that people who install WP eCommerce will be able to view and shop extensions for WP eCommerce through the admin, and purchase straight through that system.

They hope to open up third party development considerably with this feature.

A product to be proud of

One of the most impressive parts of the interview was when Dan talked about the rise and slow fall of WP eCommerce as other platforms “leapfrogged” them.

At one point, they figured that around 250,000 users had migrated to using WordPress with WP eCommerce. But over time, as development stagnated some, he knew that it wasn’t the same type of product as it once was — a product that he was super proud of and ready to go to WordCamps and promote.

However, as they are now entering the final stages of 3.9 and even gear toward 4.0, they are ready to go head-on again marketing and promoting what they think can still be a go-to solution for WordPress eCommerce.

Evolve or die

“Evolve or die.” This is the Darwinian quote Dan used to describe the necessary change that an open market creates for products. WP eCommerce has certainly had to evolve. Yes, they were early to market, but they were probably (in my opinion) too early to market.

Now, they’re evolving, and working hard to once again be the big player in the market. And they’ve got longevity on their side, which is a benefit that is often undervalued.

The WordPress space is a big space, right? … eCommerce can mean so much. … There’s plenty of opportunity to do new things.

They are excited and confident about what the future holds WordPress and WP eCommerce. They believe there are untouched niches and market segments that have a lot of potential.

We don’t want to just compete. We want to be doing new and innovative things — which is what we’ve always done.

I asked where some of that potential is, and Dan said at least a couple areas where he sees potential are in-app purchasing experiences and the user-interface.

Prioritizing goals

Justin has a lot of plans for future development. While he has a list of long term goals, he’s also outlined shorter term plans.

The Product

He wants to zero in on the WP eCommerce product itself. He’s not necessarily interested in WP eCommerce in terms of how it competes feature-for-feature with other WordPress eCommerce options as much as how strongly it stands on its own.

The community

Justin wants to empower the developer community surrounding WP eCommerce to feel welcome and encouraged to contribute.

When I enter a community that I’m new to, and I feel immediately that I don’t have a voice, that’s going to turn me off pretty quick to staying active in that community.

Partnership development

Justin and Dan both see a ton of potential with connecting and integrating with some of the thousands of other platforms, services, and softwares that are part of the overall eCommerce process.

Longevity as a feature

Justin has run his consulting company, Zao, for ten years now. Both Justin and Dan have been involved in the WordPress community for a long time. They intend to be involved in the WordPress ecosystem for a long time to come.

In my mind, their collective experience and expertise are a considerable asset to the future of WP eCommerce. When someone is choosing what eCommerce platform to use, longevity of those providing the software is a huge feature. Nobody wants to invest in building a site on software that will become unsupported during the lifetime of the project.

WP eCommerce has been around longer than any other eCommerce platform, and I think they can combine this history with their more modern features to really strongly market their position in the WordPress eCommerce space and the eCommerce space in general.

Spreading the word

WP eCommerce does still face a number of challenges. One of these is spreading the word. Not only do they need to spread the word that WP eCommerce exists, but also that it’s good again.

Justin used the example of a WordCamp he went to, where he asked the crowd who had heard of WP eCommerce, and about 70% of the room raised their hand. When he asked those that loved it to keep their hand raised, only about 20% of the room kept their hand up. Jokingly, he said, “Okay, I’ve got some work to do. Let’s talk.”

This is the kind of attitude that I think can make WP eCommerce successful, in a big way.

In addition to WordCamps and evangelizing to developers, they are also sponsoring and organizing sponsoring smaller events. Just last week, Justin headed up the organization of BeachPress, a micro event of about 30 developers in a beach house on Oregon’s coast. Events like this and the personal relationships that come from them are what will help them find willing contributors and product advocates.

A new stage for a new plugin

While the WP eCommerce plugin approaches a new stage of life, you wouldn’t really know it by looking at GetShopped.org, the landing page for the plugin. This, along with other internal infrastructure issues, are additional goals for improvement for Justin and Dan.

They are planning to re-analyze business models, restructure documentation, rebuild the website, and much more. Dan notes that getting past the technical challenges of the upcoming versions of the plugin is like ridding themselves of shackles.

Depending on how well the changes are received, Dan and Justin are also prepared to put more and more of their focus on WP eCommerce versus their other projects. WP eCommerce is their priority, and they plan to see it through.

WP eCommerce really does remind me of the saying that, “what’s old is new again.”

I look forward to seeing how the rollout of WP eCommerce 3.9 goes, and how the community responds. I have a feeling that we’re going to see a second life for WP eCommerce, not as a replacement to other options, but to a place back in the front-runner category for viable WordPress eCommerce options.

If you want to keep track of WP eCommerce, you can do so on their main website, and follow Dan Milward and Justin Sainton on Twitter.

]]> WP eCommerce: What’s old is new again. Brian Krogsgard 01:02:06 WP eCommerce is one of the oldest WordPress plugins you’ll find. That it’s an eCommerce plugin — built on WordPress, well before such a thing seemed sensible — is even more of a testament to just how impressive this plugin is. It’s been under development for eight years, and is nearing 3 million downloads on […] WP eCommerce is one of the oldest WordPress plugins you’ll find. That it’s an eCommerce plugin — built on WordPress, well before such a thing seemed sensible — is even more of a testament to just how impressive this plugin is. It’s been under development for eight years, and is nearing 3 million downloads on […] no full 6 https://poststatus.com/?p=6278 From ThemeForest to Array, the story of a theme business array-mike-mcalister Mike McAlister has been an active member of the commercial WordPress theme space since 2009. He started by selling themes on ThemeForest. He transitioned to the Okay Themes brand in December of 2011. And at the end of March of this year, Mike transitioned yet again to Array.

While these transitions may seem like arbitrary branding, to me they represent broader shifts both in Mike’s style and the direction of the commercial WordPress space in general. He’s never really attempted to fit anyone else’s mold, but I believe he’s done quite well at predicting the market and staying ahead of the pack; and that’s why I love following his work.

Mike consistently challenges himself to succeed in a saturated space by attacking the market in a different way than the rest of the crowd.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/mike-mcalister-post-status-draft.mp3

Direct Download

Selling WordPress themes on ThemeForest

In 2009, Mike discovered WordPress and saw the opportunities of the commercial WordPress space. He quickly got his first ThemeForest theme put together, which he admits was probably sub-par code; but it got him started on his journey to consistently sell themes at a fairly early stage of the market.

ThemeForest has always been a controversial space. From a consumer side, with nice designs and a huge selection, it’s an easy way to discover themes — hence the popularity and explosive growth of the marketplace. From the non-ThemeForest developer side (developers dealing with ThemeForest themes), it’s often a frustrating marketplace because good code is very difficult to quantify on ThemeForest themes, making it difficult to steer people away from bad themes.

But there’s also the seller’s viewpoint. Exclusive sellers on ThemeForest start by making 50% of the revenue on a sale. Once they hit elite status ($75,000 in cumulative sales), they max out at 70%. But for non-exclusive partnerships, sellers only make 33.33% of the sale, which strongly encourages exclusive authorship for ThemeForest community members. More than four out of five ThemeForest authors are exclusive authors.

Moving the market forward

Selling on ThemeForest means that you accept the terms of the marketplace, both as a buyer and a seller. Over the years, this has resulted in a variety of public debates. Mike started one such debate on pricing, when he advocated for a change in the pricing model. The debate Mike helped start is what led Envato to establish the elite program, which at the time gave elite authors more flexibility for pricing, and higher rewards for various achievements.

Throughout his tenure on ThemeForest, Mike was part of a core group of authors that helped move the marketplace forward. I saw Mike participate in community conversations regarding price, bucking design trends, methods for offering theme support, licensing themes, and more. Authors like Mike helped make Envato a better place.

Establishing Okay

One of the things Mike discovered as he became a more experienced theme developer was that support was easier with simpler themes. Also, simpler themes allowed him to make design decisions versus offering design options.

In December 2011, Mike made the transition to simpler themes official with the launch of Okay Themes.

I don’t want that to be the bulk of my business. I don’t want to be answering questions about settings. You know, that seems adverse to everything I’m trying to do.

So, yeah, I started ripping things out slowly over the years, taking out various settings and going with the mantra of ‘decisions not options’ – that kind of thing – and really just spending the time to make these decisions, you know, add the details where I thought they needed to be and just whitling it down to a very, very simple theme that just works.

Such a decision doesn’t come lightly. When the proven model is options-centered, taking the other route takes guts.

Mike’s themes evolved into much simpler products. He tried to make a specific theme for a specific purpose versus creating a generic theme for any purpose that could be reused for dozens of sites.

Okay Themes had successes and failures on ThemeForest, but Mike was able to establish a reputation and a brand around well designed, simple themes that are reliably free of the bloat ThemeForest is infamous for. It’s what made his themes a go-to recommendation for many WordPress developers, myself included.

Over time, Mike realized he wanted to fully separate from Envato.

Despite all of the positive change over the years from Envato leadership, it doesn’t make the consumer’s decision making skills any better. And Mike’s style of theme didn’t really fit perfectly any more with the style of customer ThemeForest tends to have.

Selling themes on WordPress.com

One way Mike has reached out to more user-centric customers, versus “flippers”, is through the WordPress.com marketplace.

Mike was invited to the WordPress.com marketplace and launched Publisher in August of 2013. The experience was enlightening for him.

Envato has theme reviews, but it has never reached anything close to the level of code critique that WordPress.com offers. Themes distributed to WordPress.com require complete review and assurances that they will be able to scale incredibly well. Therefore, all new authors are mentored under an Automattician “Theme Wrangler” that guides them as they prepare their theme for the marketplace.

This experience led Mike to re-evaluate and improve (with the help of his team) nearly all of his themes. The result was that he became even more committed to simple themes that do a job and do it well.

Okay is now Array

The experience with WordPress.com and his desire to create a different kind of theme led Mike to further consider his relationship as a seller on Envato’s ThemeForest.

It’s hard to be a part of that, when ultimately my philosophy is quite drastically different these days, and I’m trying to target a different crowd. So, yeah, it culminated, and here we are in April, and Okay is now Array.

Mike completely rebranded Okay Themes to Array. The project included logo and identity work from Heavy Heavy, an entirely new website, and of course the new name. In the launch post, he assures that the change doesn’t mark a new “way of doing business,” but a transition:

Okay Themes will now be known simply as _ Array _. We (still) specialize in beautifully crafted, high quality WordPress goods. New name, new website, new logo, same way of doing business.

Pricing themes

Array themes cost $69 each right now, or you can buy access to all of them for $199 per year. Currently Array does not auto-renew packages.

We spent some time talking about how renewals work across the industry, as well as some ideas for creating licenses for longer update periods, and perhaps separating those from support pricing (okay, this was mostly me spouting off).

Tools behind a theme shop

We spent also spent some time going over the variety of tools Mike uses to power the Array website.

Like many theme shops nowadays, Array is running eCommerce with Easy Digital Downloads, which manages both digital downloads as well as software licensing and updates. They also switched from Tender to bbPress for support, which I thought was interesting, since I feel like there’s been a trend of moving away from forums.

The whole post about tools Array uses is really interesting and worth checking out.

Advice to other theme authors

As one of a number of theme authors that have taken the route from a theme marketplace to his own marketplace, I was curious what Mike’s advice would be to others aiming to start their own theme shop.

In general, he would still encourage new authors to utilize a marketplace like ThemeForest to get started and get their name out there. We both largely agreed with Chris Lema’s post that a marketplace can be a great incubator for a WordPress product maker.

However, if someone does start on a marketplace, they do need to be aware that when and if they make the switch to their own shop, they basically have to start over from an SEO and marketing perspective.

SEO may seem like an odd thing to an outsider to the theme industry, but when the market is as saturated as it is, it takes a lot of work to get your themes out in front of a largely theme-uneducated audience.

Mike’s primary advice was to “make it manageable” from the very beginning.

Make it as manageable as possible. Write clean code, not just because it looks nice, but because it’s manageable, and then you won’t spend a bunch of time rewriting it later. And just spread that throughout your whole business. Make it simple to begin with. Make it manageable.

Use the right tools. Use quality tools that get the job done, and treat your customers with respect. It goes a long way when people actually get a nice quality response and conversation out of something.

Just talking themes

I’ve tried to summarize much of Mike’s story in this post, as I’ve done with other interviews. However, we spent around 50 minutes talking about the ins and outs of WordPress themes, business, and other things. It was one of the most fun and laid back interviews I’ve ever had the privilege of conducting.

I hope that you listen to the entire thing, and I hope that you enjoy it. I love doing these, and I hope to keep bringing them to you. That said, I’d also really appreciate any feedback readers and listeners have as to how I can make these posts better.

Thanks to Mike for joining me for this interview, and everyone be sure to check out his excellent new adventure, Array.

]]> Tue, 22 Apr 2014 15:42:51 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts array-mike-mcalister Mike McAlister has been an active member of the commercial WordPress theme space since 2009. He started by selling themes on ThemeForest. He transitioned to the Okay Themes brand in December of 2011. And at the end of March of this year, Mike transitioned yet again to Array.

While these transitions may seem like arbitrary branding, to me they represent broader shifts both in Mike’s style and the direction of the commercial WordPress space in general. He’s never really attempted to fit anyone else’s mold, but I believe he’s done quite well at predicting the market and staying ahead of the pack; and that’s why I love following his work.

Mike consistently challenges himself to succeed in a saturated space by attacking the market in a different way than the rest of the crowd.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/mike-mcalister-post-status-draft.mp3

Direct Download

Selling WordPress themes on ThemeForest

In 2009, Mike discovered WordPress and saw the opportunities of the commercial WordPress space. He quickly got his first ThemeForest theme put together, which he admits was probably sub-par code; but it got him started on his journey to consistently sell themes at a fairly early stage of the market.

ThemeForest has always been a controversial space. From a consumer side, with nice designs and a huge selection, it’s an easy way to discover themes — hence the popularity and explosive growth of the marketplace. From the non-ThemeForest developer side (developers dealing with ThemeForest themes), it’s often a frustrating marketplace because good code is very difficult to quantify on ThemeForest themes, making it difficult to steer people away from bad themes.

But there’s also the seller’s viewpoint. Exclusive sellers on ThemeForest start by making 50% of the revenue on a sale. Once they hit elite status ($75,000 in cumulative sales), they max out at 70%. But for non-exclusive partnerships, sellers only make 33.33% of the sale, which strongly encourages exclusive authorship for ThemeForest community members. More than four out of five ThemeForest authors are exclusive authors.

Moving the market forward

Selling on ThemeForest means that you accept the terms of the marketplace, both as a buyer and a seller. Over the years, this has resulted in a variety of public debates. Mike started one such debate on pricing, when he advocated for a change in the pricing model. The debate Mike helped start is what led Envato to establish the elite program, which at the time gave elite authors more flexibility for pricing, and higher rewards for various achievements.

Throughout his tenure on ThemeForest, Mike was part of a core group of authors that helped move the marketplace forward. I saw Mike participate in community conversations regarding price, bucking design trends, methods for offering theme support, licensing themes, and more. Authors like Mike helped make Envato a better place.

Establishing Okay

One of the things Mike discovered as he became a more experienced theme developer was that support was easier with simpler themes. Also, simpler themes allowed him to make design decisions versus offering design options.

In December 2011, Mike made the transition to simpler themes official with the launch of Okay Themes.

I don’t want that to be the bulk of my business. I don’t want to be answering questions about settings. You know, that seems adverse to everything I’m trying to do.

So, yeah, I started ripping things out slowly over the years, taking out various settings and going with the mantra of ‘decisions not options’ – that kind of thing – and really just spending the time to make these decisions, you know, add the details where I thought they needed to be and just whitling it down to a very, very simple theme that just works.

Such a decision doesn’t come lightly. When the proven model is options-centered, taking the other route takes guts.

Mike’s themes evolved into much simpler products. He tried to make a specific theme for a specific purpose versus creating a generic theme for any purpose that could be reused for dozens of sites.

Okay Themes had successes and failures on ThemeForest, but Mike was able to establish a reputation and a brand around well designed, simple themes that are reliably free of the bloat ThemeForest is infamous for. It’s what made his themes a go-to recommendation for many WordPress developers, myself included.

Over time, Mike realized he wanted to fully separate from Envato.

Despite all of the positive change over the years from Envato leadership, it doesn’t make the consumer’s decision making skills any better. And Mike’s style of theme didn’t really fit perfectly any more with the style of customer ThemeForest tends to have.

Selling themes on WordPress.com

One way Mike has reached out to more user-centric customers, versus “flippers”, is through the WordPress.com marketplace.

Mike was invited to the WordPress.com marketplace and launched Publisher in August of 2013. The experience was enlightening for him.

Envato has theme reviews, but it has never reached anything close to the level of code critique that WordPress.com offers. Themes distributed to WordPress.com require complete review and assurances that they will be able to scale incredibly well. Therefore, all new authors are mentored under an Automattician “Theme Wrangler” that guides them as they prepare their theme for the marketplace.

This experience led Mike to re-evaluate and improve (with the help of his team) nearly all of his themes. The result was that he became even more committed to simple themes that do a job and do it well.

Okay is now Array

The experience with WordPress.com and his desire to create a different kind of theme led Mike to further consider his relationship as a seller on Envato’s ThemeForest.

It’s hard to be a part of that, when ultimately my philosophy is quite drastically different these days, and I’m trying to target a different crowd. So, yeah, it culminated, and here we are in April, and Okay is now Array.

Mike completely rebranded Okay Themes to Array. The project included logo and identity work from Heavy Heavy, an entirely new website, and of course the new name. In the launch post, he assures that the change doesn’t mark a new “way of doing business,” but a transition:

Okay Themes will now be known simply as _ Array _. We (still) specialize in beautifully crafted, high quality WordPress goods. New name, new website, new logo, same way of doing business.

Pricing themes

Array themes cost $69 each right now, or you can buy access to all of them for $199 per year. Currently Array does not auto-renew packages.

We spent some time talking about how renewals work across the industry, as well as some ideas for creating licenses for longer update periods, and perhaps separating those from support pricing (okay, this was mostly me spouting off).

Tools behind a theme shop

We spent also spent some time going over the variety of tools Mike uses to power the Array website.

Like many theme shops nowadays, Array is running eCommerce with Easy Digital Downloads, which manages both digital downloads as well as software licensing and updates. They also switched from Tender to bbPress for support, which I thought was interesting, since I feel like there’s been a trend of moving away from forums.

The whole post about tools Array uses is really interesting and worth checking out.

Advice to other theme authors

As one of a number of theme authors that have taken the route from a theme marketplace to his own marketplace, I was curious what Mike’s advice would be to others aiming to start their own theme shop.

In general, he would still encourage new authors to utilize a marketplace like ThemeForest to get started and get their name out there. We both largely agreed with Chris Lema’s post that a marketplace can be a great incubator for a WordPress product maker.

However, if someone does start on a marketplace, they do need to be aware that when and if they make the switch to their own shop, they basically have to start over from an SEO and marketing perspective.

SEO may seem like an odd thing to an outsider to the theme industry, but when the market is as saturated as it is, it takes a lot of work to get your themes out in front of a largely theme-uneducated audience.

Mike’s primary advice was to “make it manageable” from the very beginning.

Make it as manageable as possible. Write clean code, not just because it looks nice, but because it’s manageable, and then you won’t spend a bunch of time rewriting it later. And just spread that throughout your whole business. Make it simple to begin with. Make it manageable.

Use the right tools. Use quality tools that get the job done, and treat your customers with respect. It goes a long way when people actually get a nice quality response and conversation out of something.

Just talking themes

I’ve tried to summarize much of Mike’s story in this post, as I’ve done with other interviews. However, we spent around 50 minutes talking about the ins and outs of WordPress themes, business, and other things. It was one of the most fun and laid back interviews I’ve ever had the privilege of conducting.

I hope that you listen to the entire thing, and I hope that you enjoy it. I love doing these, and I hope to keep bringing them to you. That said, I’d also really appreciate any feedback readers and listeners have as to how I can make these posts better.

Thanks to Mike for joining me for this interview, and everyone be sure to check out his excellent new adventure, Array.

]]> From ThemeForest to Array, the story of a theme business Brian Krogsgard 00:52:36 Mike McAlister has been an active member of the commercial WordPress theme space since 2009. He started by selling themes on ThemeForest. He transitioned to the Okay Themes brand in December of 2011. And at the end of March of this year, Mike transitioned yet again to Array. While these transitions may seem like arbitrary branding, to me […] Mike McAlister has been an active member of the commercial WordPress theme space since 2009. He started by selling themes on ThemeForest. He transitioned to the Okay Themes brand in December of 2011. And at the end of March of this year, Mike transitioned yet again to Array. While these transitions may seem like arbitrary branding, to me […] no full 5 https://poststatus.com/?p=6251 WordPress 3.9 roundtable with core contributors I was privileged to be joined by six core contributors to WordPress 3.9 for a Google Hangout where we talked about the new release, contributing to WordPress, and more.

To learn more about WordPress 3.9, check out our summary.

You can watch the full video right here:

I was joined by an all-star cast. Of course, keep in mind, these six people are amazing, but a whopping 267 people made WordPress 3.9 happen. That said, here was our panel:

Andrew Nacin

Lead Developer, 3.9 Lead ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

nacin

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: No more “Paste from Word” in TinyMCE
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Settings screens and Mulitsite

Mike Schroder

3.9 Co-lead ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

mikeschroeder

Photo Credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: WP Views / Customizer enhancements
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: The plugin editor

Gregory Cornelius

Contributing Developer ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

gcorne

Photo credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Widget Customizer
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Managing page hierarchy

Helen Hou-Sandí

Core Committer ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

helen-housandi

Photo credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Widget Customizer
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Admin Menus

Scott Taylor

Core Committer ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

wonderboy

Photo Credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Customizer improvements
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: List Tables

Weston Ruter

Core Contributor ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

weston

Photo credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Media improvements
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Magic quotes

Brian Krogsgard

Post Status editor, Panel Host

bk-canyon

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Image editing
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Default comment handling
]]> Thu, 17 Apr 2014 20:14:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts I was privileged to be joined by six core contributors to WordPress 3.9 for a Google Hangout where we talked about the new release, contributing to WordPress, and more.

To learn more about WordPress 3.9, check out our summary.

You can watch the full video right here:

I was joined by an all-star cast. Of course, keep in mind, these six people are amazing, but a whopping 267 people made WordPress 3.9 happen. That said, here was our panel:

Andrew Nacin

Lead Developer, 3.9 Lead ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

nacin

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: No more “Paste from Word” in TinyMCE
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Settings screens and Mulitsite

Mike Schroder

3.9 Co-lead ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

mikeschroeder

Photo Credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: WP Views / Customizer enhancements
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: The plugin editor

Gregory Cornelius

Contributing Developer ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

gcorne

Photo credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Widget Customizer
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Managing page hierarchy

Helen Hou-Sandí

Core Committer ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

helen-housandi

Photo credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Widget Customizer
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Admin Menus

Scott Taylor

Core Committer ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

wonderboy

Photo Credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Customizer improvements
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: List Tables

Weston Ruter

Core Contributor ( Twitter |  WP Profile)

weston

Photo credit

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Media improvements
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Magic quotes

Brian Krogsgard

Post Status editor, Panel Host

bk-canyon

  • Favorite feature of WordPress 3.9: Image editing
  • Least favorite feature of WordPress: Default comment handling
]]> WordPress 3.9 roundtable with core contributors Brian Krogsgard 01:08:18 I was privileged to be joined by six core contributors to WordPress 3.9 for a Google Hangout where we talked about the new release, contributing to WordPress, and more. To learn more about WordPress 3.9, check out our summary. You can watch the full video right here: I was joined by an all-star cast. Of […] I was privileged to be joined by six core contributors to WordPress 3.9 for a Google Hangout where we talked about the new release, contributing to WordPress, and more. To learn more about WordPress 3.9, check out our summary. You can watch the full video right here: I was joined by an all-star cast. Of […] no full 4 https://poststatus.com/?p=6023 Pantheon for WordPress: a website hosting and management platform pantheon-wordpress Pantheon is a website development, deployment, and hosting platform. But they aren’t just any host. They like to think of their product as a hosting killer, because in their mind, they do much more than just hosting.

I heard about Pantheon for the first time last year, when it was a Drupal-only platform. When Pantheon announced last week that their platform would now support WordPress, I knew I had to check it out.

I spoke with Josh Koenig, one of the co-founders of Pantheon, and the Head of Developer Experience for the company. You can listen to our entire half hour conversation here:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/pantheon-josh-koenig-post-status-draft.mp3

Direct Download

How Pantheon works

Pantheon markets itself differently than most hosts. For one, they target developers. They think about developers all the way down to the way to pay for services; they have a feature for developers to invite a client to pay for a service they’re managing, versus a client needing to share access with their developer.

The way Josh describes Pantheon, it’s more like Heroku than a traditional host in terms of how it runs. A Pantheon customer, like a Heroku customer, is on the exact same platform as every other customer. For scaling, Pantheon simply adjusts the number of containers that are running, similar to Heroku’s Dynos.

The containerization is much more nimble and much more efficient than virtual machines are. … If you have a bunch of virtual machines that are all running websites, they’re probably all running the same server software, using the same libraries, but they’re doing many copies of that for every virtual machine, whereas we have one host endpoint and that can share all the common binaries, all the common libraries, for all the containers that are located there.

Containers can spin up in ten or fifteen seconds, much faster than scaling your website from one type of hosting (like a shared environment) to another (like a VPS) with a traditional host.

How Pantheon compares their platform to traditional hosts

How Pantheon compares their platform to traditional hosts

 Using Pantheon

Every new user gets two development environments with Pantheon for free. To begin, it asks you to start a new project or import a site. I was able to easily download my files and database into one zip file from WP Remote, and I purposefully did nothing special to make it easier on Pantheon.

When I uploaded my backup, I was amazed that in around one minute, it had perfectly imported my site, extracted and connected the database, edited my config file for the Pantheon setup, and my development website was ready to go.

pantheon-dashboardThere were some UX things with the dashboard that were a little weird to me. It took me a few minutes of digging around and figuring how where and how to do things. But once I got the hang of it, I could see how I could easily get used to a system like this.

As far as developing with Pantheon, you can work locally very easily, as their dev sites come setup as a Git repository and the Git clone URL is ready and waiting from the start. Or a developer can quickly grab SFTP connection details from the dashboard and edit their site straight in the development environment.

Once you are happy with your website, Pantheon makes pushing to testing and live servers easy, right from the dashboard.

Pantheon also has a paid feature called MultiDev, which allows for Git branching through the dashboard to quickly create entirely new installs for testing, training, feature building, etc. From a branch, users can then merge the code back to the main site through the dashboard.

Is Pantheon different from other Managed WordPress hosts?

I was curious how Pantheon is really different from a WordPress managed host like WP Engine, Pressable, or Pagely. They certainly aren’t marketing themselves as a managed host. They are trying to expand their marketability beyond that.

The way Josh describes it, what makes Pantheon different is the smoothness of the development workflow, with automatic and simple management of development, testing, and live environments.

Another item Josh highlights is that Pantheon allows for more than just WordPress websites. This is something I’d never really considered, because I’ve never had a need beyond a WordPress website, but I can totally understand why a development shop that does both Drupal and WordPress work would really enjoy this.

Finally, Josh says that the smoothness of their scaling experience with their containers sets them apart.

Pantheon is one platform. Our biggest sites and our free sites all run on one coherent platform. So we really can say, ‘If you can make it work on your free dev site and you like the performance you got there, we can scale that to millions of users and you won’t have to, like, go through a migration.’

Josh said that they are pushing billions of pageviews per month on the platform right now, most of which are currently Drupal sites since the WordPress setup is so new.

While his statement about a single platform makes sense, I do think it’s more complicated than that. For one, it assumes the code quality is good. This is exactly why WordPress.com VIP reviews code before deploying to their system, even though it can also easily scale for large websites — any large website needs quality code running. So I hope that Pantheon has a way to determine that, or plans to police plugins and code a bit, as other managed hosts have done.

Whether Pantheon is truly different from managed hosts like Pressable, WP Engine, and Pagely, I don’t know. I think that they are after a more developer-centered audience means their tools may evolve further beyond what other options offer.

However, they are an opinionated platform, just like other managed hosts. You won’t have cPanel and the things that come with it. Multisite could be a pain (or maybe not available, I’m not sure). You’ll need a different solution for email. These things are fine, and they are what we’ve come to understand as part of working with a managed host.

Pricing for Pantheon

Pantheon isn’t cheap, but it’s comparable to other managed hosts. They bill mostly on pageviews, though Josh notes it’s not a hard barrier (also consistent with how I know others work). The personal plan is $25 per month. Professional plans are $100 per month, with a $30 add-on for SSL. Their business plans scale to 1 million pageviews per month and dedicated phone support, for $400 per month.

pantheon-pricing

In our conversation, we used my own site as an example. I have one site I really care about and am willing to pay a decent amount for hosting — this one. Other than that, I manage a few small websites for friends and family.

In a situation like mine, Pantheon would probably not be my only host. With other managed hosts, I can easily tack on domains for lower priority sites, mixed in with my main website account. Though Josh did throw out some interesting ideas about how they might actually want to offer “hobby” site hosting in the future, perhaps even for free — further evidence for their developer target.

Additionally, as I noted earlier in the post, it’s easy to invite a client to pay for a new site, without having to use different credentials. Pressable has a similar setup for this, which I really enjoy.

Is Pantheon a game-changer in WordPress website management?

I think Pantheon is going to raise the bar for WordPress hosting. I don’t think they’ll suddenly convert the tens of thousands of customers currently using various WordPress managed hosts, but I do think others will integrate some of the features (and marketing tactics) from Pantheon.

Also, Pantheon isn’t new to this. They have a team of 30, appear well funded, and have a couple of years of experience doing this with Drupal already under their belt.

I know it’s a bit lame to do so, but I think Andrew Nacin, a lead developer for WordPress, really nicely highlighted how Pantheon has targeted features that could help them gain serious traction in the WordPress development community.

. @getpantheon has all the stuff I’d be looking for in a host: awareness of the application stack, focus on scaling, CLI access, rsync, etc.

— Andrew Nacin (@nacin) March 20, 2014

This is for professional web developers doing professional web projects.

Josh said this toward the end of our interview. I think if they stick to this tactic and this marketing, Pantheon could really do great.

]]> Wed, 26 Mar 2014 06:55:23 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts pantheon-wordpress Pantheon is a website development, deployment, and hosting platform. But they aren’t just any host. They like to think of their product as a hosting killer, because in their mind, they do much more than just hosting.

I heard about Pantheon for the first time last year, when it was a Drupal-only platform. When Pantheon announced last week that their platform would now support WordPress, I knew I had to check it out.

I spoke with Josh Koenig, one of the co-founders of Pantheon, and the Head of Developer Experience for the company. You can listen to our entire half hour conversation here:

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/pantheon-josh-koenig-post-status-draft.mp3

Direct Download

How Pantheon works

Pantheon markets itself differently than most hosts. For one, they target developers. They think about developers all the way down to the way to pay for services; they have a feature for developers to invite a client to pay for a service they’re managing, versus a client needing to share access with their developer.

The way Josh describes Pantheon, it’s more like Heroku than a traditional host in terms of how it runs. A Pantheon customer, like a Heroku customer, is on the exact same platform as every other customer. For scaling, Pantheon simply adjusts the number of containers that are running, similar to Heroku’s Dynos.

The containerization is much more nimble and much more efficient than virtual machines are. … If you have a bunch of virtual machines that are all running websites, they’re probably all running the same server software, using the same libraries, but they’re doing many copies of that for every virtual machine, whereas we have one host endpoint and that can share all the common binaries, all the common libraries, for all the containers that are located there.

Containers can spin up in ten or fifteen seconds, much faster than scaling your website from one type of hosting (like a shared environment) to another (like a VPS) with a traditional host.

How Pantheon compares their platform to traditional hosts

How Pantheon compares their platform to traditional hosts

 Using Pantheon

Every new user gets two development environments with Pantheon for free. To begin, it asks you to start a new project or import a site. I was able to easily download my files and database into one zip file from WP Remote, and I purposefully did nothing special to make it easier on Pantheon.

When I uploaded my backup, I was amazed that in around one minute, it had perfectly imported my site, extracted and connected the database, edited my config file for the Pantheon setup, and my development website was ready to go.

pantheon-dashboardThere were some UX things with the dashboard that were a little weird to me. It took me a few minutes of digging around and figuring how where and how to do things. But once I got the hang of it, I could see how I could easily get used to a system like this.

As far as developing with Pantheon, you can work locally very easily, as their dev sites come setup as a Git repository and the Git clone URL is ready and waiting from the start. Or a developer can quickly grab SFTP connection details from the dashboard and edit their site straight in the development environment.

Once you are happy with your website, Pantheon makes pushing to testing and live servers easy, right from the dashboard.

Pantheon also has a paid feature called MultiDev, which allows for Git branching through the dashboard to quickly create entirely new installs for testing, training, feature building, etc. From a branch, users can then merge the code back to the main site through the dashboard.

Is Pantheon different from other Managed WordPress hosts?

I was curious how Pantheon is really different from a WordPress managed host like WP Engine, Pressable, or Pagely. They certainly aren’t marketing themselves as a managed host. They are trying to expand their marketability beyond that.

The way Josh describes it, what makes Pantheon different is the smoothness of the development workflow, with automatic and simple management of development, testing, and live environments.

Another item Josh highlights is that Pantheon allows for more than just WordPress websites. This is something I’d never really considered, because I’ve never had a need beyond a WordPress website, but I can totally understand why a development shop that does both Drupal and WordPress work would really enjoy this.

Finally, Josh says that the smoothness of their scaling experience with their containers sets them apart.

Pantheon is one platform. Our biggest sites and our free sites all run on one coherent platform. So we really can say, ‘If you can make it work on your free dev site and you like the performance you got there, we can scale that to millions of users and you won’t have to, like, go through a migration.’

Josh said that they are pushing billions of pageviews per month on the platform right now, most of which are currently Drupal sites since the WordPress setup is so new.

While his statement about a single platform makes sense, I do think it’s more complicated than that. For one, it assumes the code quality is good. This is exactly why WordPress.com VIP reviews code before deploying to their system, even though it can also easily scale for large websites — any large website needs quality code running. So I hope that Pantheon has a way to determine that, or plans to police plugins and code a bit, as other managed hosts have done.

Whether Pantheon is truly different from managed hosts like Pressable, WP Engine, and Pagely, I don’t know. I think that they are after a more developer-centered audience means their tools may evolve further beyond what other options offer.

However, they are an opinionated platform, just like other managed hosts. You won’t have cPanel and the things that come with it. Multisite could be a pain (or maybe not available, I’m not sure). You’ll need a different solution for email. These things are fine, and they are what we’ve come to understand as part of working with a managed host.

Pricing for Pantheon

Pantheon isn’t cheap, but it’s comparable to other managed hosts. They bill mostly on pageviews, though Josh notes it’s not a hard barrier (also consistent with how I know others work). The personal plan is $25 per month. Professional plans are $100 per month, with a $30 add-on for SSL. Their business plans scale to 1 million pageviews per month and dedicated phone support, for $400 per month.

pantheon-pricing

In our conversation, we used my own site as an example. I have one site I really care about and am willing to pay a decent amount for hosting — this one. Other than that, I manage a few small websites for friends and family.

In a situation like mine, Pantheon would probably not be my only host. With other managed hosts, I can easily tack on domains for lower priority sites, mixed in with my main website account. Though Josh did throw out some interesting ideas about how they might actually want to offer “hobby” site hosting in the future, perhaps even for free — further evidence for their developer target.

Additionally, as I noted earlier in the post, it’s easy to invite a client to pay for a new site, without having to use different credentials. Pressable has a similar setup for this, which I really enjoy.

Is Pantheon a game-changer in WordPress website management?

I think Pantheon is going to raise the bar for WordPress hosting. I don’t think they’ll suddenly convert the tens of thousands of customers currently using various WordPress managed hosts, but I do think others will integrate some of the features (and marketing tactics) from Pantheon.

Also, Pantheon isn’t new to this. They have a team of 30, appear well funded, and have a couple of years of experience doing this with Drupal already under their belt.

I know it’s a bit lame to do so, but I think Andrew Nacin, a lead developer for WordPress, really nicely highlighted how Pantheon has targeted features that could help them gain serious traction in the WordPress development community.

. @getpantheon has all the stuff I’d be looking for in a host: awareness of the application stack, focus on scaling, CLI access, rsync, etc.

— Andrew Nacin (@nacin) March 20, 2014

This is for professional web developers doing professional web projects.

Josh said this toward the end of our interview. I think if they stick to this tactic and this marketing, Pantheon could really do great.

]]> Pantheon for WordPress: a website hosting and management platform Brian Krogsgard 00:35:54 Pantheon is a website development, deployment, and hosting platform. But they aren’t just any host. They like to think of their product as a hosting killer, because in their mind, they do much more than just hosting. I heard about Pantheon for the first time last year, when it was a Drupal-only platform. When Pantheon […] Pantheon is a website development, deployment, and hosting platform. But they aren’t just any host. They like to think of their product as a hosting killer, because in their mind, they do much more than just hosting. I heard about Pantheon for the first time last year, when it was a Drupal-only platform. When Pantheon […] no full 3 https://poststatus.com/?p=5929 The evolution of 10up 10up-logo-teamThe ecosystem of businesses that have been built around WordPress is huge, but shallow. Few companies are both large (relatively speaking) and central to a broad WordPress community. With 60+ employees, some of which are very well-known WordPress developers, 10up has quickly become a central figure in the WordPress world.

Big WordPress companies with significant community influence

Until recently, Automattic has always been the primary example cited as a mature company in the WordPress space. But it’s hardly the only company using WordPress as a primary tool. Envato is similarly sized (just over 200 employees, and 50+ more this year), but Envato’s business spans well beyond WordPress themes and plugins on ThemeForest and CodeCanyon.

A 60+ person team doing web consulting is not particularly unique either. There are loads of more traditional design agencies, ad agencies, and regional web firms that do a good bit of their business using WordPress. But there aren’t very many companies in general, much less the size of 10up, that are so engrossed within the WordPress community.

Yet, as WordPress gains more and more traction as the CMS of choice for the web services and consulting industry, there are now WordPress focused service agencies that are growing quite rapidly. 10up leads this pack, despite being quite a young company; they just celebrated their 3 year anniversary.

Meet John Eckman, 10up CEO

10up Founder Jake Goldman has just announced that they’ve hired a CEO, John Eckman. The hire is representative of a new era for 10up, a company often analyzed by other agencies and professionals in the WordPress ecosystem.

I was fortunate to be able to interview Jake and John together to talk about the announcement, a number of other topics around running 10up, and the WordPress ecosystem in general.

John Eckman is from the Boston area, and is an organizer of WordCamp Boston. Prior to his new role at 10up, he was the managing director of ISITE Design‘s Boston office. John has experience working for and managing teams in a number of service companies over the years. He’s generally an open source advocate, with specific interests in Drupal and WordPress.

Jake and John met in 2009 during planning for WordCamp Boston. Jake has been thinking about bringing on a CEO for about a year and a half. Jake interviewed a number of candidates for the position, but specifically wanted someone with ties to the WordPress community, understanding of engineering disciplines, and experience managing teams within large web-based organizations.

This is the first interview Jake and John have done together. We talked about a number of things, largely around decision making and running a business.

Mini 10ups within 10up

One of the things I was interested in was the growing pains. If you are like me, you’ve watched, flabbergasted, as 10up grew at an amazing rate. And Jake admitted that a significant challenge has been realizing when architecture needs to change.

The company was mostly flat until they scaled beyond a dozen people. At that time, they established a leadership team, most of whom have now evolved into Vice President or Director roles. However, he also notes the early lesson they learned that great engineers don’t always make great team managers and mentorship doesn’t have to be exclusive to managers.

When they got to around 30 employees, they switched to a pod system, with pod leaders. Each pod has dedicated production employees, a pod leader that acts as a manager and lead strategist, and they are now introducing a “producer” role to help the pod leader manage day to day managerial duties.

From what I could glean from the conversation, a pod within 10up basically functions like its own little agency, with each pod handling a variety of projects. The design pod, however, is independent from the others. 10up is better known for programming and implementation than design — something they are working to change — and currently the design pod acts more like an outsourced element from each pod on a per-project basis as needed.

Turnaround projects and managing cashflow

I was curious about cashflow and managing clients when you have a lot of teams. If 10up was only doing new projects and not maintaining relationships longer term, it seems like it would be difficult to constantly manage everyone’s time.

While they didn’t downplay these challenges, both Jake and John highlighted how recurring revenue from large customers and also engaging customers beyond “positioning yourself as a coder” and simply doing what is asked. He notes that those who do so set themselves up for short term clients, and instead 10up offers advice for engaging a client long term.

In those early phases, bring value, bring strategy, bring ideas that help them build their business; to show that you’re a partner that has business solutions, right, that you create those kind of relationships. It’s why we call everybody at 10up engineers, instead of developers. Because the definition of an engineer is not a coder or a programmer; it’s somebody that builds a solution for a problem.

For those looking to get into these types of relationships, John advises to begin in the proposal phase, by introducing ideas and showcasing the experience the client would be buying, versus simply showing deliverables of your proposal.

You’re essentially selling a point a view. You’re bringing a consultative guidance to them on how things ought to operate. And as long as they’re hearing that value, they’ll be excited for it.

Jake estimates that between 60 and 70 percent of their business is reliably repeat business and another portion of their business is repeat business that was less planned. They are able to categorize these projections as expected repeat customers and not have to worry as much about constantly finding new work to make payroll every month.

As far as the size of projects, they like to take on large projects, which helps reduce churn, but they also like to stay open to smaller projects that excite them.

Jake didn’t exactly highlight what their “floor” is, but he did use $5,000 as an example of the type of budget that sometimes comes in and is usually unrealistic for them.

He also noted that they have some accounts that have spent over $1 million with them in a year, and “definitely” some that have spent that amount over the life of the project.

These long term, higher value clients rarely spend the money they do because of WordPress specifically, but rather consider 10up a partner to their web presence. And  these longer term and higher dollar projects are what enable them to more effectively manage their team.

How big will 10up grow to be?

When I asked the inevitable question of just how big 10up would grow to be, Jake responded the way he says he always does. “My reply to that is always, ‘as big as it can be while we do great work.’ To me the number of people is actually irrelevant.”

Adding to that, John notes, “growing does enable us to have more impact in places we want to have more impact.” The impact he’s referencing is to push into markets like “government, higher ed, the enterprise,” but also cites that it’s important for them to do so “without sacrificing culture or quality.”

Bringing in CEOs in tech companies

There is some precedent for a founder of a tech company to bring in a CEO. Outside of WordPress, the examples are many; even within the WordPress world, there are a few worth noting:

  • Matt Mullenweg brought in Toni Schneider to be the CEO of Automattic in 2006; and at the beginning of this year they actually switched jobs.
  • In October 2013, WP Engine CEO Jason Cohen stepped down into a CTO role, and hired Heather Brunner to be CEO.
  • Not exactly the same, but in November of 2013, VeloMedia acquired Crowd Favorite, and Crowd Favorite founder Alex King became the CTO — a role he felt more comfortable in.

It’s very impressive to me when a founder relinquishes a level of control and brings in a CEO to help steer a ship they’ve made such great efforts to build. I think in the instances I cite above the changes have been hugely successful for each company, and we’ve seen them all continue to grow and do a lot of impressive things since.

What will things look like three years from now?

I do hope you watch the full interview with Jake and John. I think it’s very valuable for anyone interested in the business of WordPress, or want to know what life is like inside a company like 10up.

I haven’t gone into some of the topics we discussed at all, such as their stepping into the product business.

It amazes me just how fast our space is evolving. The “old” companies in the WordPress world aren’t even ten years old; WordPress itself hardly is.

A slew of companies are doubling (at least) in size every year.

Traditional web agencies around the world are abandoning proprietary software and advertising their WordPress chops — because their customers demand it.

Businesses that have historically just done services are getting into products.

It seems almost everyone is hiring.

The culture of work is being disrupted.

With all of these incredible shifts, it’s almost not surprising that a company like 10up could go from 1 to 60+ in three years, gaining a stellar reputation along the way. But it doesn’t stop it from being impressive.

I can’t wait to see what the landscape looks like three years from now, to see how existing companies continue to evolve. And most of all I’m excited to see how many other entrepreneurs enter the fray between now and then and how they change the conversation again.

]]> Mon, 17 Mar 2014 17:22:00 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts 10up-logo-teamThe ecosystem of businesses that have been built around WordPress is huge, but shallow. Few companies are both large (relatively speaking) and central to a broad WordPress community. With 60+ employees, some of which are very well-known WordPress developers, 10up has quickly become a central figure in the WordPress world.

Big WordPress companies with significant community influence

Until recently, Automattic has always been the primary example cited as a mature company in the WordPress space. But it’s hardly the only company using WordPress as a primary tool. Envato is similarly sized (just over 200 employees, and 50+ more this year), but Envato’s business spans well beyond WordPress themes and plugins on ThemeForest and CodeCanyon.

A 60+ person team doing web consulting is not particularly unique either. There are loads of more traditional design agencies, ad agencies, and regional web firms that do a good bit of their business using WordPress. But there aren’t very many companies in general, much less the size of 10up, that are so engrossed within the WordPress community.

Yet, as WordPress gains more and more traction as the CMS of choice for the web services and consulting industry, there are now WordPress focused service agencies that are growing quite rapidly. 10up leads this pack, despite being quite a young company; they just celebrated their 3 year anniversary.

Meet John Eckman, 10up CEO

10up Founder Jake Goldman has just announced that they’ve hired a CEO, John Eckman. The hire is representative of a new era for 10up, a company often analyzed by other agencies and professionals in the WordPress ecosystem.

I was fortunate to be able to interview Jake and John together to talk about the announcement, a number of other topics around running 10up, and the WordPress ecosystem in general.

John Eckman is from the Boston area, and is an organizer of WordCamp Boston. Prior to his new role at 10up, he was the managing director of ISITE Design‘s Boston office. John has experience working for and managing teams in a number of service companies over the years. He’s generally an open source advocate, with specific interests in Drupal and WordPress.

Jake and John met in 2009 during planning for WordCamp Boston. Jake has been thinking about bringing on a CEO for about a year and a half. Jake interviewed a number of candidates for the position, but specifically wanted someone with ties to the WordPress community, understanding of engineering disciplines, and experience managing teams within large web-based organizations.

This is the first interview Jake and John have done together. We talked about a number of things, largely around decision making and running a business.

Mini 10ups within 10up

One of the things I was interested in was the growing pains. If you are like me, you’ve watched, flabbergasted, as 10up grew at an amazing rate. And Jake admitted that a significant challenge has been realizing when architecture needs to change.

The company was mostly flat until they scaled beyond a dozen people. At that time, they established a leadership team, most of whom have now evolved into Vice President or Director roles. However, he also notes the early lesson they learned that great engineers don’t always make great team managers and mentorship doesn’t have to be exclusive to managers.

When they got to around 30 employees, they switched to a pod system, with pod leaders. Each pod has dedicated production employees, a pod leader that acts as a manager and lead strategist, and they are now introducing a “producer” role to help the pod leader manage day to day managerial duties.

From what I could glean from the conversation, a pod within 10up basically functions like its own little agency, with each pod handling a variety of projects. The design pod, however, is independent from the others. 10up is better known for programming and implementation than design — something they are working to change — and currently the design pod acts more like an outsourced element from each pod on a per-project basis as needed.

Turnaround projects and managing cashflow

I was curious about cashflow and managing clients when you have a lot of teams. If 10up was only doing new projects and not maintaining relationships longer term, it seems like it would be difficult to constantly manage everyone’s time.

While they didn’t downplay these challenges, both Jake and John highlighted how recurring revenue from large customers and also engaging customers beyond “positioning yourself as a coder” and simply doing what is asked. He notes that those who do so set themselves up for short term clients, and instead 10up offers advice for engaging a client long term.

In those early phases, bring value, bring strategy, bring ideas that help them build their business; to show that you’re a partner that has business solutions, right, that you create those kind of relationships. It’s why we call everybody at 10up engineers, instead of developers. Because the definition of an engineer is not a coder or a programmer; it’s somebody that builds a solution for a problem.

For those looking to get into these types of relationships, John advises to begin in the proposal phase, by introducing ideas and showcasing the experience the client would be buying, versus simply showing deliverables of your proposal.

You’re essentially selling a point a view. You’re bringing a consultative guidance to them on how things ought to operate. And as long as they’re hearing that value, they’ll be excited for it.

Jake estimates that between 60 and 70 percent of their business is reliably repeat business and another portion of their business is repeat business that was less planned. They are able to categorize these projections as expected repeat customers and not have to worry as much about constantly finding new work to make payroll every month.

As far as the size of projects, they like to take on large projects, which helps reduce churn, but they also like to stay open to smaller projects that excite them.

Jake didn’t exactly highlight what their “floor” is, but he did use $5,000 as an example of the type of budget that sometimes comes in and is usually unrealistic for them.

He also noted that they have some accounts that have spent over $1 million with them in a year, and “definitely” some that have spent that amount over the life of the project.

These long term, higher value clients rarely spend the money they do because of WordPress specifically, but rather consider 10up a partner to their web presence. And  these longer term and higher dollar projects are what enable them to more effectively manage their team.

How big will 10up grow to be?

When I asked the inevitable question of just how big 10up would grow to be, Jake responded the way he says he always does. “My reply to that is always, ‘as big as it can be while we do great work.’ To me the number of people is actually irrelevant.”

Adding to that, John notes, “growing does enable us to have more impact in places we want to have more impact.” The impact he’s referencing is to push into markets like “government, higher ed, the enterprise,” but also cites that it’s important for them to do so “without sacrificing culture or quality.”

Bringing in CEOs in tech companies

There is some precedent for a founder of a tech company to bring in a CEO. Outside of WordPress, the examples are many; even within the WordPress world, there are a few worth noting:

  • Matt Mullenweg brought in Toni Schneider to be the CEO of Automattic in 2006; and at the beginning of this year they actually switched jobs.
  • In October 2013, WP Engine CEO Jason Cohen stepped down into a CTO role, and hired Heather Brunner to be CEO.
  • Not exactly the same, but in November of 2013, VeloMedia acquired Crowd Favorite, and Crowd Favorite founder Alex King became the CTO — a role he felt more comfortable in.

It’s very impressive to me when a founder relinquishes a level of control and brings in a CEO to help steer a ship they’ve made such great efforts to build. I think in the instances I cite above the changes have been hugely successful for each company, and we’ve seen them all continue to grow and do a lot of impressive things since.

What will things look like three years from now?

I do hope you watch the full interview with Jake and John. I think it’s very valuable for anyone interested in the business of WordPress, or want to know what life is like inside a company like 10up.

I haven’t gone into some of the topics we discussed at all, such as their stepping into the product business.

It amazes me just how fast our space is evolving. The “old” companies in the WordPress world aren’t even ten years old; WordPress itself hardly is.

A slew of companies are doubling (at least) in size every year.

Traditional web agencies around the world are abandoning proprietary software and advertising their WordPress chops — because their customers demand it.

Businesses that have historically just done services are getting into products.

It seems almost everyone is hiring.

The culture of work is being disrupted.

With all of these incredible shifts, it’s almost not surprising that a company like 10up could go from 1 to 60+ in three years, gaining a stellar reputation along the way. But it doesn’t stop it from being impressive.

I can’t wait to see what the landscape looks like three years from now, to see how existing companies continue to evolve. And most of all I’m excited to see how many other entrepreneurs enter the fray between now and then and how they change the conversation again.

]]> The evolution of 10up Brian Krogsgard 01:03:55 The ecosystem of businesses that have been built around WordPress is huge, but shallow. Few companies are both large (relatively speaking) and central to a broad WordPress community. With 60+ employees, some of which are very well-known WordPress developers, 10up has quickly become a central figure in the WordPress world. Big WordPress companies with significant […] The ecosystem of businesses that have been built around WordPress is huge, but shallow. Few companies are both large (relatively speaking) and central to a broad WordPress community. With 60+ employees, some of which are very well-known WordPress developers, 10up has quickly become a central figure in the WordPress world. Big WordPress companies with significant […] no full 2 https://poststatus.com/?p=5775 Interview with Drew Strojny, Founder of The Theme Foundry drewstrojnyI had the pleasure to interview Drew Strojny, founder of The Theme Foundry, about their work at The Theme Foundry, their philosophies about themes, and their latest theme release, Oxford.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/Post-Status-Draft-3-Drew-Strojny-ThemeFoundry.mp3

Direct Download

Drew is a former Duke football player that spent a few years in the NFL before he started a small business doing general marketing. Over time, his clients started asking for websites, so he discovered WordPress. His work with web projects led him to start designing WordPress themes, and he ended up being an early player in the commercial theme market in 2008.

Competition with themes over time

In 2008, there weren’t many people selling themes. Chris Pearson was selling Thesis, Brian Gardner was selling Revolution, pre-Genesis. WooThemes was just underway. But the demand was enormous.

Well, I thought we’d just throw our hat into the ring and try a design and see how it goes, and we got a really huge response.

It was really great timing on our part. It was one of the best times to get into the theme market.

The WordPress theme space really exploded for a few years. Drew notes that they haven’t seen the explosive growth in the past couple years compared to the first two

The market is maturing and there are a lot more companies in the space, and a lot more options.

Setting themselves apart

I asked Drew how The Theme Foundry sets themselves apart from the competition, considering just how many theme providers there are now. They like to tout their “world class design and clean code” when they market their themes.

They do most of their design in house, but they also commission some designs to get outside the bubble of the “WordPress theme” concept, and those commissioned themes help them expand their work.

John Hicks designed Shelf. Ryan Essmaker designed the Anthem theme, Dave Ruiz designed the Avid theme, and most recently Veerle Pieters designed the Collections theme.

The Theme Foundry notably doesn’t use any form of framework and attempts to limit theme options as much as possible. When they sell a theme to a customer, they want it to “just work” and be reliable over time.

The impact of selling themes on WordPress.com

The Theme Foundry was one of the first providers invited to sell commercial themes on WordPress.com. They released the Shelf theme in early 2011, and today nearly their entire collection is available.

However, WordPress.com wants as many great themes in the marketplace as possible, so over time the overall impact WordPress.com plays on The Theme Foundry’s business has been reduced, but it’s still an important part of what they do.

Making big splashes with themes

The Theme Foundry has made a number of big splashes in the theme market. Shelf, at the time, was an innovative theme, making use of post formats and responsive design when hardly anyone was doing it. Collections has a single page app (SPA) feel, using Backbone for loading pages, and Basis has a drag and drop builder that made a lot of waves.

Drew says that they don’t like to just put out themes, but prefer to create themes that target a specific concept, and then build the theme to fit well into that concept, without bloating the theme with unnecessary functionality.

Oxford theme and Typekit integration

oxford-theme

Their latest theme is another that’s ready to make a splash. To date, no theme company has automated Typekit integration; as in, if a theme customer currently wants to use Typekit fonts, they need a separate account for it.

With Oxford ( demo), The Theme Foundry is including Typekit support, without a Typekit account, as part of the yearly licensing deal. What this means, is that Oxford offers the theme plus the Typekit font integration, for $79. And the yearly renewal fee is reduced to $39 for support, updates, and a continued Typekit font license.

The Typekit integration is the first of its kind in the WordPress theme landscape. To date, it’s a world limited by Google web fonts for hosted custom font integrations. There’s nothing wrong with Google web fonts, but Typekit is certainly a level up, and I’m excited to see this happen.

All of The Theme Foundry’s themes will be integrated with Typekit over the coming weeks. You can read more on their announcement post.

The Theme Foundry, Post Status, and what’s next

Drew and I had a fifty minute convesation discussing the topics above and much more. We also spent some time talking about advertising, content marketing, and The Theme Foundry’s partnership with Post Status. If you’re interested in our relationship and Drew’s motivation for supporting what I do, I hope you’ll give this interview a listen.

It was a pleasure to talk to Drew, and I look forward to seeing what The Theme Foundry has coming next.

You can follow Drew on Twitter, The Theme Foundry on Twitter, and check out their website.

]]> Wed, 26 Feb 2014 22:21:19 +0000 cory@poststatus.com (Brian Krogsgard) https://poststatus.com/podcasts drewstrojnyI had the pleasure to interview Drew Strojny, founder of The Theme Foundry, about their work at The Theme Foundry, their philosophies about themes, and their latest theme release, Oxford.

http://s3.amazonaws.com/PostStatus/DraftPodcast/Post-Status-Draft-3-Drew-Strojny-ThemeFoundry.mp3

Direct Download

Drew is a former Duke football player that spent a few years in the NFL before he started a small business doing general marketing. Over time, his clients started asking for websites, so he discovered WordPress. His work with web projects led him to start designing WordPress themes, and he ended up being an early player in the commercial theme market in 2008.

Competition with themes over time

In 2008, there weren’t many people selling themes. Chris Pearson was selling Thesis, Brian Gardner was selling Revolution, pre-Genesis. WooThemes was just underway. But the demand was enormous.

Well, I thought we’d just throw our hat into the ring and try a design and see how it goes, and we got a really huge response.

It was really great timing on our part. It was one of the best times to get into the theme market.

The WordPress theme space really exploded for a few years. Drew notes that they haven’t seen the explosive growth in the past couple years compared to the first two

The market is maturing and there are a lot more companies in the space, and a lot more options.

Setting themselves apart

I asked Drew how The Theme Foundry sets themselves apart from the competition, considering just how many theme providers there are now. They like to tout their “world class design and clean code” when they market their themes.

They do most of their design in house, but they also commission some designs to get outside the bubble of the “WordPress theme” concept, and those commissioned themes help them expand their work.

John Hicks designed Shelf. Ryan Essmaker designed the Anthem theme, Dave Ruiz designed the Avid theme, and most recently Veerle Pieters designed the Collections theme.

The Theme Foundry notably doesn’t use any form of framework and attempts to limit theme options as much as possible. When they sell a theme to a customer, they want it to “just work” and be reliable over time.

The impact of selling themes on WordPress.com

The Theme Foundry was one of the first providers invited to sell commercial themes on WordPress.com. They released the Shelf theme in early 2011, and today nearly their entire collection is available.

However, WordPress.com wants as many great themes in the marketplace as possible, so over time the overall impact WordPress.com plays on The Theme Foundry’s business has been reduced, but it’s still an important part of what they do.

Making big splashes with themes

The Theme Foundry has made a number of big splashes in the theme market. Shelf, at the time, was an innovative theme, making use of post formats and responsive design when hardly anyone was doing it. Collections has a single page app (SPA) feel, using Backbone for loading pages, and Basis has a drag and drop builder that made a lot of waves.

Drew says that they don’t like to just put out themes, but prefer to create themes that target a specific concept, and then build the theme to fit well into that concept, without bloating the theme with unnecessary functionality.

Oxford theme and Typekit integration

oxford-theme

Their latest theme is another that’s ready to make a splash. To date, no theme company has automated Typekit integration; as in, if a theme customer currently wants to use Typekit fonts, they need a separate account for it.

With Oxford ( demo), The Theme Foundry is including Typekit support, without a Typekit account, as part of the yearly licensing deal. What this means, is that Oxford offers the theme plus the Typekit font integration, for $79. And the yearly renewal fee is reduced to $39 for support, updates, and a continued Typekit font license.

The Typekit integration is the first of its kind in the WordPress theme landscape. To date, it’s a world limited by Google web fonts for hosted custom font integrations. There’s nothing wrong with Google web fonts, but Typekit is certainly a level up, and I’m excited to see this happen.

All of The Theme Foundry’s themes will be integrated with Typekit over the coming weeks. You can read more on their announcement post.

The Theme Foundry, Post Status, and what’s next

Drew and I had a fifty minute convesation discussing the topics above and much more. We also spent some time talking about advertising, content marketing, and The Theme Foundry’s partnership with Post Status. If you’re interested in our relationship and Drew’s motivation for supporting what I do, I hope you’ll give this interview a listen.

It was a pleasure to talk to Drew, and I look forward to seeing what The Theme Foundry has coming next.

You can follow Drew on Twitter, The Theme Foundry on Twitter, and check out their website.

]]> Interview with Drew Strojny, Founder of The Theme Foundry Brian Krogsgard 00:47:47 I had the pleasure to interview Drew Strojny, founder of The Theme Foundry, about their work at The Theme Foundry, their philosophies about themes, and their latest theme release, Oxford. Direct Download Drew is a former Duke football player that spent a few years in the NFL before he started a small business doing general […] I had the pleasure to interview Drew Strojny, founder of The Theme Foundry, about their work at The Theme Foundry, their philosophies about themes, and their latest theme release, Oxford. Direct Download Drew is a former Duke football player that spent a few years in the NFL before he started a small business doing general […] no full 1