January 8, 2019 — The number one complaint we hear about web designers and agencies is poor customer service. Poor communication, ambiguous expectations, and missed deadlines frustrate clients and often deliver a disappointing finished product. Service is what sets you apart as an agency. You can have incredible design work and create innovative functionality, but if your clients don’t like you, they’ll leave. And it’s about much more than getting your clients to like you: it’s about listening to your clients so that you offer a solution that actually solves their problems; it’s about knowing when to push back and when to concede; and it’s about being honest and transparent even in the face of failure. When you provide service that meets these criteria, you produce clients that advocate for your business and stay around for the long haul.

Takeaways:

Web designers and agencies have a reputation for providing poor customer service. If you don’t recognize this problem and try to address it through the services you provide, you’re going to lose business and drive customers away.
Practical strategies and tips for providing great customer service during every stage of the project, from the initial sales meeting to the website launch and even beyond. These can apply to freelancers, full agencies, and anything inbetween.
How providing great customer service can help you retain current clients and gain new ones.

Presentation Slides »

January 8, 2019 — Most websites are disposable – they are built once and not changed until they are replaced or turned off. Frequently, this is despite the best intentions of the original owner, designer, or developer.

But some sites and applications are made to last – to be updated frequently as part of doing work, for weeks, months, or even years. These sites are an integrated part of a high-performing business or organization – one that can do a job well, and then adjust quickly to meet changing business needs.

In this talk, we will explore best practices that smart developers use when building things to last for years. In addition to technical design and development topics, we’ll cover some of the human factors that are at play in IT projects, especially when it comes to WordPress:

WordPress as a critical tool for business (not just as a workaround to IT policies)
Themes and plugins and custom development (how not to paint yourself into a corner)
Ownership through collaborative construction (how to avoid hand-offs that disappoint)

January 8, 2019 — This talk is specifically designed to explain how to use WordPress in order to create transformational relationships between your product and service with your customer. This talk will specifically focus on tools within WordPress that make it easier for WordPress users to send their customers on a journey where the customers use their products or services in order to transform their lives.

Takeaways:

What is a transformational transaction?
How does this type of transaction inform and engage your audience?
Why is this vital to online conversions?

Presentation Slides »

January 8, 2019 — Get your website neurofied on the spot. We will review 2-3 pages that you – the audience – provide.

This is your chance to see applied neuromarketing in action!

January 8, 2019 — WordCamp Asheville 2018 Keynote

January 8, 2019 — Having trouble getting Flexbox straight in your mind? I can get you going with it in a matter of minutes. Come see how!

January 8, 2019 — Do you struggle to hold your clients’ interest and keep them on task? Do you suffer from scope creep, money chasing and project fatigue (aka, the project the NEVER ENDS!)?

Clients need (and crave!) boundaries, deadlines and – dare I say – gentle harassment. Learn how to automate the process of content collection, nurture your clients throughout the entire web build process and protect your business from committing to another project that never ends!

January 8, 2019 — The use cases for the WP REST-API are truly endless. While the api has the potential to power the data for almost any non-WP application, we will discuss how the WP Rest-API can power content syndication across multiple WordPress sites for educational institutions, enterprise publishing/marketing, and even for humanitarian projects to help save lives. All of which while leveraging native WordPress features!

January 7, 2019 — It is time to rethink online marketing. The Internet has become a place where you hook your customers through experiments with marketing tactics. What is just coming along is the addition of neuropsychology to this mix. Join Dr Evert Semeijn, co-founder and neuropsychologist at Neurofied to see how you can use brain insights to grow your clients’ brand online. You will learn about persuasion principles and practical ways to apply them to boost your clients’ online sales.

January 7, 2019 — Boston Globe Media has many WordPress sites under its umbrella. The biggest of these sites, Boston.com, is under constant development. We take a look at our developer workflow, how we automate tasks using Jenkins, and generally what the lifecycle of a task looks like. We’ll also talk about what comes next for us and what take aways you can apply to your own workflows.