December 19, 2019 — Have you ever updated your WordPress site or plugins, and suddenly found yourself looking at The White Screen of Death? What you thought was going to be a routine update has just brought down your entire website, and the panic sets in fast. If this is your live website, that can quickly translate to loss of revenue, customer trust, and a lot of time and money down the drain. Not to mention the very bad day you are about to have.

It’s so important to keep your WordPress site, plugins and themes updated due to the many security threats that are constantly being found and fixed – but what happens when one of these updates breaks your site? In this talk I will cover tips and strategies for keeping your site updated safely, what to do if it breaks, and how to avoid breaking your live site in the first place through use of a staging site that runs alongside your live website. Fortunately, there are many options for creating and managing a staging site, ranging from the most simple click-to-push, to more complex solutions integrated into a developers’ workflow. I will show you how to set up your very own staging server in a few different ways, so you can push that Update button without putting your live site in jeopardy.

Presentation Slides »

August 11, 2019 — “Have you ever updated your WordPress site or plugins, and suddenly found yourself looking at The White Screen of Death? What you thought was going to be a routine update has just brought down your entire website, and the panic sets in fast. If this is your live website, that can quickly translate to loss of revenue, customer trust, and a lot of time and money down the drain. Not to mention the very bad day you are about to have.
In this talk Jamie covers tips and strategies for keeping your site updated safely, and how to avoid breaking your live site through use of a staging site that runs alongside your live website. Big content changes, updates, and trying out new designs increases the potential for disaster when these changes are made directly to your live website. Fortunately, there are many options for creating and managing a staging site, ranging from the most simple click-to-push, to more complex solutions integrated into a developers’ workflow. She will show you how to set up your very own staging server in a few different ways, so you can push that Update button without putting your live site in jeopardy.”

Presentation Slides »

June 10, 2019 — Our lightning talk speakers answer questions after presenting.

Content Strategy in a Gutenberg World

Getting Into Position Zero – How to Leverage Content to Rise Above the Competition

Killer Keywords: How to Write Content for Both Humans and Search Engines

June 10, 2019 — With the release of WordPress 5.0, users now have default control over page-level design decisions. In this talk we will discuss the thought process that went into core Gutenberg architecture decisions, different strategies to achieve “smart” control: that balance between complete content freedom, and heavyhanded control. Jamie will present some options to create flexible content strategies for your clients in this new era.

March 18, 2019 — Have you ever updated your WordPress site or plugins, and suddenly found yourself looking at The White Screen of Death? I What you thought was going to be a routine update has just brought down your entire website, and the panic sets in fast. If this is your live website, that can quickly translate to loss of revenue, customer trust, and a lot of time and money down the drain. Not to mention the very bad day you are about to have.

It’s so important to keep your WordPress site, plugins and themes updated due to the many security threats that are constantly being found and fixed – but what happens when one of these updates breaks your site? In this talk I will cover tips and strategies for keeping your site updated safely, what to do if it breaks, and how to avoid breaking your live site in the first place through use of a staging site that runs alongside your live website. Big content changes, updates, and trying out new designs increases the potential for disaster when these changes are made directly to your live website. Fortunately, there are many options for creating and managing a staging site, ranging from the most simple click-to-push, to more complex solutions integrated into a developers’ workflow. I will show you how to set up your very own staging server in a few different ways, so you can push that Update button without putting your live site in jeopardy.

June 10, 2018 — As someone who builds WordPress websites for clients, you’ve probably learned that offering (or requiring) monthly maintenance contracts is smart business. It’s likely you’re including core software, plugin and theme updates as part of your maintenance plan, which ensures a steady income stream you can rely on and helps with your financial forecasting. But are you including website security as part of your project proposal and scope?

The security of your clients’ websites is often not a priority or is left till the end of a project as an optional add-on for the client to consider after going live. The value of a strong website security posture can be difficult to explain to clients, but when put in the context of their business and possible loss of revenue, it can become an integral part of your offering that separates you from the rest.

In this session, Jamie will cover simple website security best practices that you can implement immediately for your own site and those of your clients. In addition, she’ll also offer advice and examples on how to best present the importance of website security during the proposal, scope, and maintenance package stages to your clients. Not only does this ensure your maintenance plans offer what every website needs, but also presents an additional revenue stream opportunity for your business.

April 27, 2018 — As someone who builds WordPress websites for clients, you’ve probably learned that offering (or requiring) monthly maintenance contracts is smart business. It’s likely you’re including core software, plugin and theme updates as part of your maintenance plan, which ensures a steady income stream you can rely on and helps with your financial forecasting. But are you including website security as part of your project proposal and scope? The security of your clients’ websites is often not a priority or is left till the end of a project (or sale?) as an optional add-on for the client to consider after going live. The value of a strong website security posture can be difficult to explain to clients, but when put in the context of their business and possible loss of revenue, it can become an integral part of your offering that separates you from the rest. In this session, Jamie will cover simple website security best practices that you can implement immediately for your own site and those of your clients. In addition, she’ll also offer advice and examples on how to best present the importance of website security during the proposal, scope, and maintenance package stages to your clients. Not only does this ensure your maintenance plans offer what every website needs, but also presents an additional revenue stream opportunity for your business.

January 9, 2018 — Content is EVERYBODY’s problem: it’s a problem for the content creator, and a problem for the developer. Without content, there is no website. Without the website there is no client. Yet.. how is it always left for last? In this talk I will teach you the core practices of the field known as Content Strategy: planning, development, and management of content. Truly thinking “Content First” from the beginning will completely transform your workflow and give everyone a grasp on creating, managing and structuring content, in time and on budget.

This talk is equally valuable for content creators, agencies and freelancers alike. Everyone wants to avoid the horror situation of scrambling to get content together two days before going live. It’s a nightmare for the author and a nightmare for the developer to implement. Learn how to integrate Content Strategy into your entire web process, resulting in quality content — organized and delivered on-time.

December 19, 2016 — Content is EVERYBODY’s problem: it’s a problem for the content creator, and a problem for the developer. Without content, there is no website. Without the website there is no client. Yet… how is it always left for last? In this talk I will teach you the core practices of the field known as Content Strategy: planning, development, and management of content. Learn how to integrate Content Strategy into your web process will transform your workflow to give everyone a grasp on creating, managing and structuring content– organized and delivered on-time.

Presentation Slides »

January 11, 2016 — “Content is EVERYBODY’s problem: it’s a problem for the content creator, and a problem for the developer. Without content, there is no website. Without the website there is no client. Yet.. how is it content always gets left for last? In this talk I will teach you the core practices of the field known as Content Strategy.Truly thinking “Content First” from the beginning will completely transform your workflow and give everyone a grasp on creating, managing and structuring content, in time and on budget. Get started on this process early so you have enough time to write engaging, thoughtful content and get it published on time.

This talk is equally valuable for content creators, agencies and freelancers alike. Everyone wants to avoid the horror situation of scrambling to get content together two days before going live. It’s a nightmare for the author and a nightmare for the developer to implement. Learn how to integrate Content Strategy into your entire web process, resulting in quality content, organized and delivered on-time.”

Learning Outcomes:

– Understand and communicate the value of content as a true business asset.
– Organize your site build process around real content, not lorem ipsum.
– Better identify the organization’s content requirements to build a stronger CMS architecture.
– Build a content calendar to ensure your company/client is able to stay on top of content needs throughout the site build process and beyond.
– Set yourself apart from the competition by offering Content Strategy services to your clients.

Presentation Slides »