July 6, 2017 — Short interview with first time WordPress MeetUp attendee

July 6, 2017 — During the redesign/development of a site and migration to WordPress, we ended up creating a custom plugin, after custom plugin to handle various post types and other custom functionality. After a period of a few months it became evident that we had too many plugins, updating code was beginning to become a logistical nightmare, not to mention some things didn’t really constitute a full plugin. While tweaking some JetPack settings one day, I thought to myself how can I emulate the JetPack feature manage page, with our own plugins. I remembered a session from a previous WordCamp about the Custom Fields API and set out to create my own merged plugin.

In this session I’ll describe some of the custom code challenges we had, and how I used the Settings and Options APIs to create a control panel to enable and disable specific plugin features. The control panel allows the site to turn on or off specific sections of the plugin. I also added in a default features section for features that should always be on.

I’ll walk through the code, show the basics of how to create a version of your own, and answer any questions.

Presentation Slides »

July 6, 2017 — DESIGN IS DEAD!
Why does every website look the same today? Let’s take a stroll down the internet history of web design, see what went wrong, and what went right. I’ll also share some useful tools and design tricks to break free from the cliché and stand out in the world (wide web).
LONG LIVE DESIGN!

Presentation Slides »

July 6, 2017 — Online, everything’s a competition. If your website isn’t healthy enough to compete, you lose, which can be detrimental to the profitability and viability of your business. If you want your business to win the online marketing race — or at least place in the top 10 — you have to train for it, just as you would if you were preparing for an actual, physical race.

In this session, I will provide you with a five-point training regimen that will help you whip your WordPress website into shape and make it a true contender in online marketing.

1. Learn what website architecture issues to look for and what tools will help you detect them
2. Discover the role of keyword research in today’s online marketing landscape and how to properly optimize content
3. Understand content’s role in online competition
4. Learn social media’s threefold role in your website’s health and how it impacts search rankings
5. Know what usability issues you should be testing to make using your site effortless for visitors

July 6, 2017 — Have you thought about starting a blog but don’t where to start? In this talk, you will hear the thought processes that went behind the start up of tinykitchenbigfood.com, a food blog, last year. In an easy and practical way, he will share the top four take-aways on content creation and blogging for new bloggers including: A) Avoiding “paralysis by analysis” and comparisons to established sites, B) Start writing for YOU, C) Learn more about WordPress and SEO as you go, D) How to find your voice with in your niche.

July 6, 2017 — There are more ways to share WordPress content every year. WordPress offers a range of solutions, ranging from the old RSS standards to newer REST approaches and even templated caching strategies like AMP. Making sense of it can be hard. Matt Bakaitis will share his experiences and observations managing a content engineering team for Cleveland Clinic, serving almost 70 million visitors per year via WordPress.

July 6, 2017 — I’ll explain what a custom post type is and how you can use them the with the plugin called “WP-Views” to create a specific layout of content for your client.

Points of emphasis:
1. What is a custom post type and why would you use one?
2. Advantages of customizing WordPress layouts.
3. Explain by example, how to customize a site by mocking a basic page up with some styling.
4. Emphasize how this can help separate yourself from others who just use what is available in the theme or plugins. A web designer/developer can give the client EXACTLY what they want. (Well, most of the time.)
5. Discuss simplifying the publishing process for the client.
6. No PHP experience needed

July 6, 2017 — Computers have one job: to read and process data. One job, and sometimes they *still* need help!

Structured data puts you in control, ensuring that search engines and other parsers aren’t misreading your information. Get your events recognized as events, your business address as a location, and those product reviews working to attract customers!

Implementing good, structured data is also the first step into the Google Knowledge Graph, the Holy Grail for content marketers. Better yet, with modern standards, it’s easier than ever before to get started!

July 5, 2017 — Various “dos” and “don’ts”.

July 5, 2017 — The process of building an effective website starts long before you even touch a WordPress installation. The simple truth is that your audience will construct a story about your business or organization. If you want that story to match the vision you have for it, you’ll need to put some thought into how to talk about yourself to your users. In other words, you must consider your brand. Whether you’re doing it yourself, or hiring professionals, this talk will give you guidance on designing an authentic, intentional, brand that attracts ideal customers, and translates well both on and off-line. We’ll talk about what should inform your brand choices, and how to effectively communicate to your audience with your site’s design, content, and functionality. We’ll also discuss ideas for how you can go about infusing your brand into offline interactions for a consistent user experience.