It's the 7th in our “Thinking the Unthinkable” series where we attempt to rationalise controversial views on WordPress and web design? Today’s topic is… Designing in the browser is for amateurs. David thought this topic was about whether to use design software rather than jump in with a page builder or start amending a template. Nathan thought it was about how design tools are increasingly online and work in the browser leaving us not having to install software for our computer operating systems. We will cover both because more recently graphical tools that work in the browser are also capable of spitting out HTML code too. Please feel free to leave us a comment at the bottom of the post!
The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 16th January 2023.
There's a WordPress plugin solution for almost every possible scenario. Booking - done. Commerce - done. Learning management - done. Done, done and done. In fact in many cases, there's many different plugins available with slightly differing features! We're spoilt for choice frankly. By are there times when it's better for you or your client to think outside of WordPress plugins and consider a SaaS solution? That's the topic of the conversation to and we dig into situations where we're preferred non-WordPress options because it's just a better fit for the specific project / client. We chat about what we're using and when we think it's best to just confess that WordPress is not always what we want to use and that there are many superb solutions out there. We hope that you enjoy the podcast.
Having a newsletter is one of the best ways that you can communicate with an audience. In fact, I'd go as far as to say, that it's the best. There's no third-party platform involved. You are communicating with people who have signed up, and therefore really want to get your content. But, it can be a dull job keeping the content flowing. Today we learn about a SaaS platform which might just make that job a lot less painful. I've started to use it and it's shaved hours out of my week. Go listen to the podcast today to find out more...
I'm sure that we've all had experiences with our WordPress websites where things went wrong; the site was hacked, something got deleted. In most cases we can recover, but if the worst comes to the worst we need a backup to save us. As with all things in the WordPress space, we're spoiled in the number of backup options available to us. There's plugins backups, our hosting backups, 3rd party SaaS backups and more. So which should we use? In this episode of the WP Builds Podcast we explore the pros and cons of the different backup types and why you might want to pick one over another. Have a listen to our thoughts on the podcast...
Writing is important. It's one of the greatest inventions in the history of humanity. In fact, it may very well be the most important. But we can all agree that not all writing is equal. Most of the writing that we create and read has nothing to do with prose. It's the news that we consume, the recipes we crib from, the information that we study and the emails / letters that we use to communicate. In these situations, it's important to write in a clear and understandable way. Errors in grammar, spelling and structure stand out and spoil the flow of what you're trying to get across. So step up ProWritingAid to the rescue! It's a tool built by Chris Banks, the guest on the podcast today. Listen now to see why he built it and how it might help your own writing.
So this is a new series called the 'A-Z of WordPress' in which David and Nathan discuss a topic starting with the next letter of the alphabet. To kick us off, it's A is for Appointments. WordPress works as a great platform for allowing bookings and appointments. There's heaps of plugins which will allow you or your clients to sync their calendar, take payments etc. What are those plugins and are they superior to SaaS alternatives? Perhaps you want to integrate an appointment system into your WordPress website, or maybe you want to pay a company to take this process over for you. There's lots to talk about so join David and Nathan on this new series. Go check out the podcast...
Flipping domains can be a profitable business and today on the WP Builds WordPress podcast we're going to be hearing about how and why you might want to look into doing it. There's more than you might think! In it's simplest form, flipping is the process of buying (or selling) a domain. In the real world businesses are bought and sold all the time, there's nothing unusual about it at all, but buying a current domain can be a little harder, and Flippa is a platform that's designed to take all of that difficulty away! Whether that's the job of locating a website / domain / app (and more) that you might want to buy, to actually taking care of all the minutiae of getting the deal done. Blake Hutchison is here to explain how it all works. Go check it out...
This weeks WordPress news - Covering The Week Commencing 8th June 2020
This is the WordPress.org page builders i.e. Beaver Builder, Elementor, Divi, Oxygen, Brizy etc, against Wix, Weebly, Squarespace etc. In this debate we're talking about building a standard brochure sites that may need a blog or a shopping cart. So it's not about building out a complex, bespoke site that has masses of unique features. It's about something that's simple and can be done with the native features in the Page Builders. We debate the pros of using both types of page builders and learn some truths along the way...
Adam has been on the podcast before, but on that occasion he was talking about his life as a freelancer, not as the owner of a SaaS app! He's founded a company called 'Split Hero' which is laser focussed upon one thing - split testing your WordPress website pages and gain meaningful data back about which one wins! Hang on a minute though... what is a 'split test'? Well, I'm glad you asked...
In this episode of the WP Builds “Contribute” series, Boris Gefter comes on to show us around his SaaS app called Cogsworth. wpbuilds.com/link/cogsworth/ Cogsworth is designed enable you to make bookings and appointments with ease. You set your business (or…
If you listen to this podcast with any regularity then you'll know that I'm (Nathan) a sucker for a new app. Mostly I hear about a new app, signup for a trial and play with it for a few days. Sometimes, although rarely, I continue to use the app and pay for it. Such is the case with Plutio. It's a SaaS app that I've been using for a few months now because I just like it so much. I also like the founder, Leo Bassam, the guest on this week's podcast. I like the app because it replaces quite a few apps that I was using in the past, and I like Leo because he's just so positive about Plutio. The app does tasks, invoices, proposals, timesheets, client management and more. Go check it out...
The SaaS app that you use on the WP Builds website to enter the competitions is called Viral Loops and today we have Savvas Zortikis on to speak about it.The idea behind viral marketing is that you offer something that people want and you ask them for their email in return. Well, that's all pretty standard stuff that we've all known about since 1995! The word 'viral' is used here because of the fact that your entrants are encouraged to share your offer because if they do, they increase their own chance of winning. The more you share, the more you're likely to walk away with the prize.
Since the dawn of the internet, it was pretty obvious that if you wanted to do anything other than look at "stuff that other people had put there", you were going to need forms. You can submit things to a web site and they can then parse that data, do fun things to it and then present it to you in a different way. So now there are forms everywhere! Mark Sinclair explains why SparkChart is a powerhouse survey tool for you and your clients.
Today we have Kim Doyal, aka The WordPress Chick, on the podcast. I don’t think that it’s entirely possible that you’ve not heard of her before if you’ve been in the WordPress space for any length of time! She a powerhouse of energy and enthusiasm and has been pushing put content at a breathtaking rate day after day, year after year. Does she ever sleep, no! Is she great, YES!
In this episode of the WP Builds podcast we have a slightly different take from the usual WP related content, because this week, we’re talking to James Rose form Content Snare, which has no connection to WordPress at all! However, fear not, all is not lost because this has a great deal to do with your web design and development business.
