It’s the 18th episode of our “Thinking the Unthinkable” series and our topic is "Who needs a Content Management System (CMS) anyway?" Have you noticed how you obsess about all the amazing things that you can do with your client websites? Imagine if they did this, or, you know what would double your revenue... you could do this. A few months after launch you realise that they're using none of the functionality that you painstakingly built! WordPress is a truly capable Content Management System (CMS), but do most of our clients really need it? Can they make use of all that's possible, or should we be pointing them towards other options, like static sites. We talk about our history with CMS's as well as when we think that WordPress is the 'best fit' for clients.
The WordPress news from the last week which commenced Monday 16th October 2023.
On the podcast today we have Jason Cross. He's an experienced tech executive with a diverse background in the industry. Currently serving as the SVP of product at Bluehost / Newfold Digital, and he's been there for over a year and a half. He is responsible for overseeing their WordPress, commerce, and proprietary products across multiple global brands. Before joining Bluehost / Newfold Digital. The basic premise is this... WordPress website hosts experience quite a lot of customer churn, and so Bluehost are seeking to reduce this by delivering websites as efficiently as possible, aiming to keep users satisfied with their WordPress experience from the moment they first log in to their account. This endeavour is called WonderSuite, and later in the episode we unravel the wonders of WonderSuite (did you see what I did there!), a series of unique experiences curated to cater to the needs of agencies, professionals, and small business owners, irrespective of their WordPress familiarity.
It’s the 17th episode of our “Thinking the Unthinkable” series and our topic is “Don’t make websites for friends and family”. Do I even need to explain this episode?!?! If, like David and I, you stumbled into working on the web, then it's likely that friends and relations played some part in getting your career off the ground. Back-in-the-day there were no 'pros' and clients were just after someone who had a pulse and knew how to turn a computer on to build their site. This was nice. Now, the industry is highly skilled and professional, so is there any space for someone to work for their friends when there's more 'legitimate' places to find work? We discuss this and more on the podcast today.
It is the 14th episode of our “Thinking the Unthinkable” series. The idea for today's topic came from our last episode in which we were talking about the pros and cons of no code builders. Here we’re asking "Are web design clients only interested in what they can see?", but it could have been "Are web designers responsible for the growth in DIY sites?". We explore the evolving landscape of web design and the growing trend of clients taking a more active role in designing their own websites. We discuss the challenges of balancing client expectations, user experience, performance, and accessibility. We also touch on the rise of page builders and DIY website building, examining the potential consequences and legal implications for those who lack the necessary knowledge and skills in areas such as accessibility. On a side note, we're looking for sponsors for the upcoming Page Builder Summit in September, so if you're interested, be sure to reach out. Also, please note that there will be a week off next week, but rest assured, we'll be back with episode two of our security mini series then. As always, we invite you to subscribe to the WP Builds podcast and leave your comments on our website.
So you've been building websites for a while now and you've got really good at it. You don't really touch the code, but that's okay, because the tool that you're using promised that you would never have to. Erm... how's that working out in reality? I'm guessing that if this question resonates with you, you'll be interested in the podcast today. Is it possible to have tools which really allow you to create good, working websites with none, zero, nada, ziltch, no code at all? We talk about whether true no code is possible, if it's something to be desired and the reliance you develop for a specific tool. Oh, and of course there's AI coming for your job as well! If you're creating WordPress websites with the assistance of tools, this podcast is for you.
On the podcast today we have Roman Axelrod, a web developer from Israel. Roman joins us to share his experience running a web development agency, and his journey into the world of WordPress. He discusses the challenges his agency faced when working with third-party freelancers who created inconsistent designs; the frustrations he felt and what he did about it. To tackle this issue, Roman and his team developed a dev tool that allows them to share style guidelines with freelancers and ensure consistency in design elements. The tool includes features for testing and ensuring accurate designs. We talk about what this tool can do, as well as the fact that Roman is open to having discussions with other like-minded people about the direction the tool might take. It's an interesting chat and you can leave a comment on the post as well as finding the links mentioned in the show.
It is the 11th episode of our “Thinking the Unthinkable” series, and today's thought provoking title is “No one cares what your website looks like!”. There’s a number of articles with this title and similar sentiment expressed by many UX designers and SEO’s. With limited ways to judge the abilities of a web agency, many clients are likely to approach websites as if they were a piece of work in an art gallery. This can see them getting ripped off. It is hard for us not to do the same. We know first impressions matter, and we are always searching for visual inspiration too. We get into how UX, SEO, branding, call to actions (and more) can influence the route that you might take when creating a website. Check out the episode...
This is the 9th episode of our "Thinking the Unthinkable" series and today's unpalatable thought is… WordPress is too expensive? We can dismiss this as insane ramblings straightway? It’s free! But, it can be expensive to do anything out of the ordinary, although Site Editing is changing that! Is WordPress a trap for the naive DIYer? Cheap start, but a longer term hidden costs in hosting and maintenance? Or is it still possible to build something decent but at a low cost? What about the freedoms that the GPL provides, and (dare I say it?) the websites that sell premium plugins for knock down prices? It's an interesting chat and we hope that you enjoy it!
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!
On the podcast today we have Fränk Klein, and he's here to discuss the important topic of making a career from using WordPress. Like any other career, in technology, there's really no replacement for knowledge. The more you know, the more likely you are to adapt to situations that arise. Some of those might be repetitive, but there's also the curve balls that life throws at you, and your knowledge can empower you when strange things happen. Fränk is all about acquiring new skills. Learning new things so that you can make yourself indispensable to the organisation that you work for. Fränk's premise is pretty simple… being better educated will give you a chance to earn more. We talk about how Fränk became a WordPress developer. What his framework is for moving through the software industry, what his current job market is like in the wider WordPress ecosystem. Essentially, the message from this podcast boils down to staying curious and keep learning as a priority.
Welcome to the 6th episode of our "Thinking the Unthinkable" series where we attempt to rationalise controversial views on WordPress and web design. Today’s topic is, "If you use more than 10 plugins on a site, you are a cad and a scoundrel!" This is WP Builds humour for a chat about plugin strategy! We are sure most listeners will know plugins are only a method to deliver additional functionality to WordPress. They can be as complex as WooCommerce or as simple as the Hello Dolly plugin. As silly as it is to count the numbers, most of us are fascinated by what others use and are always reviewing the situation. So is there a sweet spot in the number of plugins you should use, and do you try to reduce plugin usage where possible? Find out what we think on the podcast...
Welcome to the 5th episode of our "Thinking the Unthinkable" series, where we attempt to rationalise controversial views on WordPress and web design. Today’s topic is… Website Clients are Impossible! This could have been called "Web Designers are Impossible", as it’s about the sometimes tense relationship between those who commission websites and those who build them. Do we correctly set the expectations for our clients, or are we opening ourselves up to criticism because they're not at all clear on how our process works? Are we working with "the client always knows best" model, and does this really give them what they need? Should we rather explain to them we're the expert and they should jolly well listen every time we speak? It's a fun conversation and no doubt there's going to be a lot of food for thought!
This seems a little odd, 'Do we even need WordPress', given that we're a WordPress podcast. But, there's actually quite a lot to be said here. Both David and I have been using WordPress for years (David, quite a bit longer), and perhaps it's time to think about whether WordPress is always the right choice for our website building projects. If the site is a simple brochure site that's really never going to get updates, is WordPress really the right option? After all, you'll be needing to maintain the website, patch for security, update themes and plugins, when all that you really needed were a few lines of HTML, CSS as perhaps some JavaScript. David's been exploring taking his sites more in the 'static' direction lately, and whilst you can do this with WordPress and some plugins, David's finding the joys of writing his own HTML and getting back into what the w3c have to say. It's a fun chat and something that you might not have looked at closely, so go and have a listen and leave us a comment.
Welcome to the very first episode in our sparkling new series that we are calling "Thinking the Unthinkable", or TUTT for short, which I quite like! Here we challenge ourselves to answer (or at least rationalise) provocative statements or critical opinions of WordPress and our glorious website building profession. We are gently easing ourselves in with today’s topic, which is… "Website builders should be certified" (like - what proper professionals are)! By "certified" we mean officially recognised as possessing certain qualifications or meeting certain standards. Not legally declared insane and committed to a psychiatric institution. What might this look like? What should be included? Do we even need anything like this? Is there anything in WordPress trying to tackle this? Listen to the podcast and tell us what you think.
Welcome to the last episode (sigh) in our Business Bootcamp series. Over the last year, we have been attempting to question everything we know about building WordPress sites and running a web design businesses. We looked at the entire process, from meeting our first client to helping them to support their site. We’ve tried to contrast approaches by looking at the traditional project (waterfall) where we are hired to build the finished (website) "product", and an agile approach, where we will try to use online SEO and UX data gathered, to iteratively improve the site as an ongoing collaboration with the client. Here we have set ourselves a few questions in an attempt to sum up what we have learned over this series and, more generally, our time in the website building industry. It's been a fun ride!
Welcome to the penultimate episode in our Business Bootcamp series. Usually, this is where I write... "where we relearn everything we know about building WordPress sites and running a web design business from start to finish". But if you are joining us now, you probably need to go back a year to season one! We are on Season 5, which is the last in this Bootcamp series and is about what happens after the website build. This is episode 5. Today we are talking about Future Proofing (our tech based business and maybe our clients’ sites). We're supposed to be talking about Traditional (Waterfall) v Agile, but as you'll hear we get slightly derailed and go off piste for quite a bit of the podcast, which is fun! We cover: Reduce or embrace dependencies? Should we offer long term support? What kind of efforts do we put into making sure that we're keeping our knowledge and skills up to date? Check it out...
With all these no code options, do you find your clients are becoming experts and no longer needing you? We try (and fail) to talk about this today and end up going on about JAMStack instead! It's a serious point though. Page Builders and Gutenberg have opened up the website creation process to a whole new audience, and it brings into question what we do as WordPress web developers / builders that make us worthwhile. What can you say to the client to make you seem like value for money in a time when 'affordability' is more important than ever, and when many of the tasks that used to be 'out of scope' for non-technical users, is not possible in an easy-to-use interface? Go listen...
What happens when your client suddenly has new staff members that you need to interact with? It might be a really smooth transition with nothing to worry about, but it might not. Old relationships may need to be rebuilt, and common understandings and goals about the website might need to be reworked. It's even possible that your communications were not written down and you suddenly need to think about the entire project once more with new staff. What if you just don't get along? What can you do then to ensure that you don't lose the client? What can you do to keep things working for you both? We have some ideas for you on the podcast today. Go listen...
So the moment has arrived. You've busted a jut and got the website finished. It's 100% ready to roll. Now what? Well, you've got to launch it and let the world see the great work that you've done! So what's involved in that? What do you typically need to do to make that happen? This is the subject that we explore on the podcast today and it's one where David and Nathan have different approaches. David is going agile and is likely to ship it as soon as the first page is ready, whereas Nathan is waiting until the entire site is completed. What steps do you need to follow on our launch checklist, and what things can go wrong?
On the podcast today we have Raitis Sevelis from Visual Composer, and he's here today to talk about the how you should use your WordPress page builder with pride and explain to your clients the many benefits that it brings to your workflow. There was a time when page builders first came around that they were somewhat spurned in the community. Not by all, and not for long. They were doing things in a new way, and sometimes new hurts. Gone were many of the technical barriers to creating sites. No more need to be wrangling template files and inserting shortcodes here there and everywhere. Page builders allowed a whole new audience to come to WordPress and build site for themselves as well as for their clients. Raitis thinks that sometimes we hide our page builder skills a little; assume that clients will think that less of us for using them. He has the opinion that we ought to be talking about how we use them more with our clients, and explaining how their use us making websites faster, cheaper and more easy for non-technical users to maintain and amend.
Welcome to another in the Business Bootcamp series where we relearn everything we know about building WordPress sites and running a web design business from start to finish. We are on Season 2 where we are looking at The Design Process. Today we are discussing "Creating a brand". With so much to take in, we needed to split the subject up into seven, easy to understand, sections. So take a listen to the podcast and hit up the comments if you think that we missed anything.
On the podcast today we continue our WordPress Business Bootcamp series. Now we're trying to figure out "How do we get our website copy?". It's a thorny issue and I'm pretty certain that this problem has held up one or other of your website builds in the past. Who should create the content that goes on the site? Should it be you, a professional copywriter, an SEO expert or perhaps we leave that to the client and just place Lorem placeholders in until they're ready? The problem though is that the text is really crucial for the success of a website, and therefore it's crucial to get it right. Not only will Google like it, but the way that your site looks, the structure of it all hangs on how the words fit in the overall design that you've decided upon. So listen to the podcast as we discuss this topic and leave some feedback...
Welcome to another in the Business Bootcamp series where we relearn everything we know about building WordPress sites and running a web design business from start to finish. We're on series 2, episode 2. "How do we structure our clients' websites?" We're trying to figure out which parts of a website does our client really need from the outset. There's hundreds of things that we can do, but as the budget is tight, what are the things that we're going to suggest that the client implement to get the most from this fledgling site? Do they need something specific in the header? What about lead magnets or landing pages? Which pages are essential at the start and how are we going to measure the success of what we're building over time? There's a lot in here, and it may be that you've in a habit of doing things in a certain way, and this conversation might make you stop and have a rethink about the structure of your clients' websites. Go listen...
To stay in business, you need to keep working. That usually means more clients. But where does this never ending conveyor belt of clients come from? What can you do to avoid gaps in your work roster? There's no magic bullet, and likely there's disappointment along the way. But you'll get into a pattern of gaining work at some point, but it's good to discuss some of the things that we've tried before. Find out what they might be in the Podcast today...
Welcome to another in our Business Bootcamp series. It’s the series where we relearn everything we know about building WordPress sites, and running a web design business from start to finish. Presently, we are on Season 1 (where we look at what needs to happen) before the build. Have we set the right expectation? Nathan and David are taking different routes to get our invented businesses going and our client’s website up. In this episode we tackle how you might get your client expectations set up, and what those expectations might be. This includes things like what points typically cause friction in a web project, how can we effectively gather content, what channels of communication are we going to use, how will we handle revisions, and the worst of them all... clients just ghosting us. It's an interesting chat and we cover a lot of ground. Go check out the podcast.
Welcome to another in our Business Bootcamp series. It’s the series where we relearn everything we know about building WordPress sites, and running a web design business from start to finish. Today we're thinking about the legal side of things... agreements / contracts and payments. How would you handle this as someone new to the industry. Do you even need a contract? Perhaps you're starting out and making a website for a friend, in which case the situation might be different, but do you owe it to yourself to protect you and your business from things which might go wrong... late payment / no payment, absent client who never returns your calls, a client who is simply unreasonable in their expectations of your time. It's really only after you've been doing this for a while that you might start to realise that some form of legal protection is a good idea, but where do you go to get that? You could try a lawyer, but that might be expensive. You could make something up, but that might not really protect you. You could download something from the internet, but that might not cover all the things that you need covering. So many things! Fins out what we've done in the past, the mistakes that we've made and where you might find some useful resources. Go check out the podcast...
Welcome to another in the WordPress Business Bootcamp series. It’s the series where we relearn everything we know about building WordPress sites and running a web design business from start to finish. Presently, we are on Season 01 (of the series which is looking at the things that need to happen) 'Before the Build'. This is episode 03... "Getting a brief and scoping the project". So this is really all about making the first contact, making an impression and letting the client know how you work and what they can expect. There's so many possible routes that you can take here. Are you going to meet face-to-face or work on Zoom? What are the ways that you're going to communicate the expected budget? How will you explain your processes to see if you're a good fit for one another? How do you qualify them as a 'good' client? Do you introduce care plans at this point? There's so much more to this, but you're going to have to listen to the show to find out more...
Welcome to another in the WP Business Bootcamp series. It’s the series where we relearn EVERYTHING we know about building WordPress sites and running a web design business from start to finish. The Premise of this series is that we have our first potential website client. All we know is that she is a lawyer in a large city. She asked a mutual friend who thought of us. We have few skills and no business or processes in place. She has no previous website. No branding or copy. As we go through the series, Nathan and David will be taking different routes to get our business going and our client’s website up and running. Presently, we are on Season 1 of the series which is looking at the things that need to happen before the build. Today we're trying to figure out how we might think about charging for the services that we offer, and as always, there's more to this than meets the eye... fixed v value pricing, being competitive, discounting, bundling services together and much more. Check out the podcast and leave us a comment with your thoughts...
This week's WordPress news for the week commencing Monday 29th November 2021
In this brand new, and huge series of podcast episodes we try to re-learn everything that we know about running a WordPress website business. We start from the idea that we've got our first potential client, but we have no prior experience. So where do we start? What do we do? Where do we go to find inspiration? What methodologies could assist us towards becoming profitable? Join us on this journey as we start the "WordPress Business Bootcamp"! Check out the podcast...
One the more challenging things to do when creating a website is to write effective copy. In the era of Page Builders, getting the site to look good and work well is easier than ever... but getting effective and compelling copy on your site is as hard as it's ever been. In fact, with the competition out there, all trying to get the same SEO juice as you are, it might be harder than it's ever been. Unless you're a pro at this you might struggle, and your clients might be even worse. Step up Todd E. Jones and his Website Copy Framework. We talked on the podcast about why Todd built the product and what it contains. It's essentially a collection of templates for all the different components you need to put on your website. It makes it easier for you to understand how to get started and what effective copywriting is. So if you need help with your copywriting, check out the podcast and see if the Website Copy Framework might get you writing better copy.
We could have tried to eke this one out. According to one online crossword solver there are 378 Words Starting With X, but I imagine X for xeroxed - how to copy your WP website, might be going too far! So we just decided to end with a pathetic whimper! (We should have had a Family Fortunes styled game show thing. "Let’s see if it’s on the board! You said, flush your permalinks. Our survey of 100 WordPress experts said’ Uh - Urrr! I’m afraid you’ll not be going home with the Goblin TeasMaid and bone china cup and saucer set). You have to be British and of a certain age to understand that! Instead... X is for what not to do with WordPress (according to the fine people of the interwebs) as in X for cross out / delete. Y for why we should still use WordPress (seems more relevant with such changes going on). Finally lots of Zzzz's is for, got to sleep... it’s time to put this series to bed.
In this episode of the podcast we asked you submit what you thought were some Killer Tips for creating your WordPress websites, and you did not disappoint! So there's loads of useful little nuggets of information in here, many of them might be new to you. It never ceases to amaze me just how my processes differ from other people doing the exact same job, and how much I could learn from other WordPress professionals. Well in this episode of the podcast, we kinda make that possible! Go check it out!
This episode is about all the many, many, many jobs that you do each and every time you build a WordPress website for yourself or for a client. There really are so many! I'm not too sure that I do quite as much as David does, because, as you'll hear, he's does rather a lot. From setting hosting and email, from forms to security, this episode could have gone on for a long time. Maybe you treat each project individually, or have a template that you keep coming back to. Go listen to the podcast today and tell us what you think...
I've often thought about building my WordPress websites on the one day model, it's got so much going for it. I've heard stories of quite a few people who are managing this very effectively. However, it's always been something that I've associated with a single freelancer. I'd always assumed that the margins were pretty tight, and therefore most likely to work with one person. Well, Candy Phelps is on the podcast today to tell me (and you) otherwise! She's built a business creating websites in a day with a team, and, as you might have guessed, it's all about the process. If you get the process right from the start, you can make this work, as you'll have all your ducks in a row, so that there's no time wasted and every member of your team know what to do and when to do it. It's pretty interesting to see how this all hangs together. Go listen...
This is one of those warm and fuzzy episodes! It's all about Wendie and her journey with WordPress. There's no product here, no tutorial, just a good, old fashioned chat about WordPress with a thoroughly lovely person! Wendie and I have been chatting on and off for years. It all started back in the day that both of us were going through the WP Elevation program and we decided to be accountability partners. We chatted from time to time during that and drifted in and our of conversations online for many years. We met in person at WordCamp London in 2018 as well as WordCamp Europe in 2019. She's been working in the WordPress space for years and has a really interesting story to tell. So have a listen to the podcast to find out more...
So, you're a WordPress website creator. You sell your websites to clients far and wide, or at least that's the hope. We all know though that the reality is that finding new clients can be hard and keeping them can be harder. The question in this episode of the podcast is, what's the best approach for attracting new clients. Should you go for anyone and everyone, or are you best targeting your efforts at a particular niche? Well, it's not that easy and there are pros and cons to both options. Today on the podcast, which by the way is episode 200 (yay!), we discuss which is best. Honestly, it throws up some unexpected results. In the end you'll have to decide for yourself, but perhaps listening to others debate this point might get you on the right track! Go listen...
This debate will never die, but we keep hearing more about it each year. The traditional model is to charge your client a fee that is made clear on your website. You charge a fixed fee for the services that your provide. But now we've got value pricing which says charge the client based upon the value that you bring to their business. More profit for you. But is this easy to pull off, or does it feel like deception from the client's point of view. One model is simple, the other takes more thought, but offers higher rewards (if you can find the clients). Find out what we think about this debate in the WP Builds Podcast today...
If you've been building WordPress websites for any length of time, then you know this debate inside out. Should you get all the content from the client before you start the project? The answer is not as simple as you think. There are so many factors at play. Clients who just don't know what they want until they see it. Clients who don't understand your processes. Perhaps you even prefer to iterate your designs as the prject wears on and like the possibility to adapt what the client needs as you go. You might even take of the whole thing and say that you'll supply content and they can overwrite it at a later date when they're ready. Whatever the case may be, you don't want to be help up getting the website built, shipped and paid for because of content! So what's the best appraoch? Find out what we thing on the WP Builds podcast today...
I got into building WordPress websites because I like building websites. Now that is a breathtaking insight I know! But it's important to think about this for a minute. I have no metrics on this, but I know for certain that I spend quite a but of my week just patching up and maintaining websites that I've already built. This is covered by my care plans but I'm not all that sure how profitable my WordPress website care plans are, one month I might do very little, another, I'm inundated! Today on the WP Builds Podcast we have Brad Morrison from GoWP who is here to tell us how they can take this support burden away from you. They'll do all the maintainance, support, updating and content edits for you. Their new service will even build your webpages for you! Have a listen and see if it's for you...
Some WordPress freelancers and agencies give clients full admin access to WordPress. Some give another role, such as the Editor role. What works best for you and your clients? Some completely reconfigure and white label the WordPress dashboard. Some give an Editor role for everyday use and an Admin role so they have ownership. I’m sure there are more variations. Perhaps you've changed your position on this over the years, or still have a level of uncertainty. Do you or don't you want clients to see what's going on under the hood with their WordPress website? Check out the WP Builds podcast to find out what we think!
Today we chat with Jason Resnick, a seasoned WordPress pro, who has been working with WordPress and eCommerce pretty much when it all started out! We're talking today about 'word of mouth' marketing. Now, most people when asked about word of mouth will probably see this as something that happens organically, something that you don't really have all that much control over. After all it's happening in situations largely outside of your control. You can offer a great service and hope that people are going to mention your name when they get asked the question... 'Who would you recommend to build my WordPress website?', but it's little more than hope, right? Jason explains why it's a little bit more than this in this weeks podcast...
You know how this goes... You have an inbox and it's overflowing. You have almost no time in the day to deal with nonsense, but you do read your emails... some of your emails. But which ones? Which emails make the cut and get opened and which ones fall by the wayside, their only purpose in life was just to add a tiny amount to the carbon footprint? Building WordPress websites, you need to advise your clients about ways that they can interact with their customers or audience. They need to have a little understanding in terms of how they can market to the world. Perhaps you're not the person to teach them all of this, and yes, there might be people out there who are heaps better at marketing than you are (this is certainly true for myself and David), but that should not stop you thinking about this subject and offer your clients some thoughts as to what might work, and certainly what does not work anymore. Check out the podcast to hear our thoughts on this...
Why should your WordPress website clients have any confidence in your ability to actually build and deploy their website? After all there are so many competitors to choose from. Is there any way that you can turn disbelief into belief? In another exploration of the 'Watertight Marketing' book we discuss this subject. Perhaps you've been using testimonials and turning them into case studies. These are easy to do, and no doubt quite effective, but how on earth do you actually get your clients to give up their precious time to provide then to you? Are you best just asking them directly or should you have them on some kind of 'website launch' sequence which guides them towards this? Are you going to tell them what to say or just leave it up to them, knowing that they'll miss out most of the things that you really need. It's a really difficult subject and one that both David and I feel that we need some help with!
What do you do when your WordPress website client says that they are talking to other people about the site that you're building... my girlfriend's nephew! How do we manage this?
Do you just roll with the punches and assume that all will be well. Perhaps you need to ask who these people and what makes them qualified to offer their opinions. You could also put processes in place to make sure that the client has clear boundaries about who can suggest what.
In this episode of the WP Builds WordPress podcast we talk this through. Guided by the Watertight Marketing book by Bryony Thomas. I'm sure that you've been through situations like this yourself, perhaps our ideas align with yours? Anyway, it's a fascinating subject which is the cause of so much wasted time and energy!
How do your WordPress website clients 'try before they buy'? What can we do to trust our services and try them out before they part with their money. We share some ideas about that. Because, in the real world, we want to try out all-the-things before we buy them. Shoes, clothes, phones... most things. But was can't allow customers to try out the finished website before they are to sign the contract... we'd be broke. But perhaps there are some other ways that we can build up the trust that they need to have in us, ways that won't break the bank for us, but offer meaningful value to the clients and slowly, but surely edge them closer to the ultimate goal... the building of their new WordPress website. Join David and Nathan as they discuss what might be possible...
Some things are universal. Something about death and taxes. Another universal is that you will put some kind of contact form on every site that you build. You will though, won't you?
WP Forms entered a crowded marketplace a few years ago with a simple idea... can we make it faster for users to create their forms, and I think that the answer is a yes!
Join Jared Atchison, the founder of WP Forms, as we discuss what makes WP Forms different, how they got started, and where they are headed.
Even if you're entirely happy with your current WordPress forms solution, this is still worth a listen to see how you can enter a saturated market, and still make an impact.
This discussion is another based on the book Watertight Marketing by Bryony Thomas which gives us 13 areas where we (or our clients) could be leaking potential business. With this series, we are working our way up an imaginary funnel starting first with our existing customers (Leak #1), then our on-boarding for leads (Leak #2) Now we are looking at Leak #3 – No emotional connection - Your brand or reputation – what kind of people are you? All of the elements above come together to really sum up what your company is about. It’s what will determine how it feels to be a customer of yours. It is what builds your company's reputation. This happens over time, but there are some foundations you need to lay. And those are what your company looks and sounds like.
This is a little mini-series based upon the book 'Watertight Marketing' by Bryony Thomas. This is about that time in the client / project lifecycle when they (the client) have made some kind of commitment to use your products or services, they might even have signed a contract, but you've not delivered anything yet. It's a time when they can still 'get away' from you. Yes, you might have a contract in place whereby you can insist that they are obliged to give you this or that, but honestly, have you ever enforced this, or is it better to just let them walk away and save yourself the legal fees and headache of trying to get them to pay up what they owe you? David calls this 'The Welcome Window'. You think that you have them as a client, but it's still possible for things to go wrong...
This episode is really about keeping the WordPress clients that you already have. What's the old phrase? Don't leave money on the table? Well, that's certainly the case for many of us. This is another episode in our mini series and it's all about trying to get as much value from and to the clients that you already have. Perhaps you build sites and then just move on not making use of the rapport and connections that you've made. Surely though, our existing clients are the ones that know us and what we do best. They have trust in you and what you're able to offer. So today we explore what we've done to foster these client relationships and David has some great ideas about what he's doing with his own agency. Well worth a listen...
This discussion is about marketing, and it has a very click-bait title! It’s probably safe to say that we are not experts in marketing and certainly not marketing funnels. Nevertheless we thought we would chat about this and why we might need to get better a digital marketing for ourselves and clients and where WordPress could help with that. What's different about this discussion is that really is an introduction to a series of discussions we will have based on a book called Watertight Marketing by Bryony Thomas. Listen to this episode to find out more...
Today we have Kyle Van Deusen on as a WP Builds ‘Contribute’ guest. Kyle and Matt are hosts of The Admin Bar, and they’ve come up with something that you really ought to take a look at. You know when…
Today, the podcast talks about tasks. Not so much the tasks themselves, but more the way that we approach them. We discuss the way that different people have the ability to move happily from task to task, whilst other people need to complete one task before they can move onto another one. I guess that there's no 'right' way to accomplish tasks, but it's interesting to see whether or not we think that other people's approaches are batter than our own. It's a fun episode for sure!
In this episode David and I talk about the interactions which we have with clients. Most of the time (I hope) we have good relations with our clients. They want to work with you and you want to work with them... but this does not mean that you're always going to see eye to eye with them. From time to time you're going to have to face up to a client who is not wanting to work with your processes and it not willing to be flexible. What do we do...?
So this episode is a little bit of a departure for us, in that it's much more personal than usual, and has very little to do with WordPress, so forgive us! When we decided to cover this topic, I (Nathan) was thinking that we'd be talking about the things in life my non-work life that I have to do, sometimes in opposition to my work life.
If you've work with WordPress websites for client you'll know that one of the hardest parts of the job is successfully communicating with clients. Today, Hannah Smith talks about her approach for doing just that. It's a really interesting take on how you can try to keep your clients happy all the time, but that's realistically possible and there's going to be times when you need to push back and say "no". It's an interesting talk with some fresh perspectives in this important business area.
– to get the plugin at a heavily discounted rate for a short time… Live WordPress showcase of WP Feedback. Use the WP Feedback plugin to get instant feedback on your WordPress website builds. It’s super easy to use…
Have you ever thought about the fact that your personality has a direct impact upon how successful you are? Your personality type might make you better at some tasks that others and if you're building WordPress websites for your clients, it might also affect the way that you interact with them too, and have a real impact upon their success and failure. Join us as we discuss this topic; we're not experts and are just scratching the surface, but it's really interesting what we uncover.
Do you struggle getting content from your clients when you're building them a WordPress website? Well, you're not alone. We all do. There are so many things that you need from them and so many ways that miscommunication can result. Even if your processes are battle hardened, chances are that they still tested from time to time. So how do you get images, copy and all the rest of it from your clients. Nathan and David discuss it, but don't expect any perfect solution from us...
Have you ever had a problem with your WordPress website that you could not figure out. Something appears to have been deleted, something suspicious appears to be happening but your cannot really be sure. WP Security Audit Log is a WordPress plugin that creates logs for just about everything on your site. It will enable you to work out exactly what went wrong and hopefully give you a let up in getting the site back up and running in the least time possible.
Web design is dead. There's no doubt about it. The tools that we have now are so easy to use, there's literally zero barrier to entry. Within a week, you can a great website up and running even if you've never used the internet before. Mmm... You're the expert, these tools are only easy to you because you've worked hard at getting to know them. Then there's marketing, funnels, hosting updates. You know what, perhaps we're safe after all. This stuff is actually quite hard you know!
In this episode David and I talk about the subject of pricing and in particular the thorny subject of putting prices up. We get started with a chat about what systems we use to actually receive payments from clients, PayPal, Stripe and good old fashioned bank transfers. We then move on to discuss what we've done in the past to up our rates. It turns out that maybe we need your help with this as there are so many areas where we're not sure what to do...
There are so many ways you can get paid for building WordPress websites, and if you've been in this industry for any length of time, then you've perhaps tried a few out? Do you charge on-off fees or use a model which judges the value that you add to the client's business? Perhaps you perfer to work on the basis that the website is an ongoing cost and the recurring revenue is really where you should be getting paid? We have no idea which is best, but it's fun chatting it all though...
Are you the type of person who always does what your clients ask of you, or do you get angry with them? It's hardly a binary answer is it, but it certainly feels like it is sometimes! We've all been there... you've worked really hard on their WordPress website and you think that you've done everything right, but then the client comes back to you with a difficult email and your serenity is blown out of the water! What should you do...?
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...
Should we be available on the phone to deal with client issues for our WordPress website business? I have had this conversation so many times in the past with so many people! We all know that, in the right hands, a phone can be one of the best ways to engage with your clients. But, in the wrong hands, the phone can be a scary thing that wastes your time and causes you stress and anxiety. See what we think...
In this discussion episode with David and I, we discuss an idea called "The Magic Email". It's a really simple email that you can send to get something... anything back from a client who has gone AWOL. Simply, the email is designed to be deployed with the minimum of effort from you, but in return you'll get clarity if the email is replied to as well as if the email is not replied to! It's 17 words long and brings up some interesting points...
We talk to Paul Lacey and discuss with him what UI is. Both David and I work as independent freelancers and this means that we have a process that has worked for us over time. Paul however is part of a growing agency called DickieBirds and this means that he has to think about all this more than we do. It's a wide ranging discussion which might resonate with you if you are working with WordPress to create client sites. We know that other people who are really successful follow a whole bunch of processes which makes their life easier. I don't, but Paul does, so listen in...
We all have things in our lives that we want to quit, but we're limiting this conversation to your work as a WordPress professional and the moments in the day when you start to do things that you know that you shouldn't! Perhaps it's too much Facebook. You've set up email notifications to appear, and appear they do, with alarming regularity. Several time an hour you get pinged and go to read what you hope will be something of weight and importance. We're all guilty of it, as Mark Zuckerberg's accountant can testify. Or perhaps it's trying to keep up with the latest trends, or time wasting, or office hour or podcasting!
Today, we get to meet Laura Elizabeth. She’s a designer turned plugin creator that has some good ideas for you! Like I say, she’s a designer and her latest product, Client Portal, is a great way to help you and your clients to stay on the same page. If you build WordPress websites for clients, then I think that you’ll know this problem… you get out of sync with your clients and all the communication seems to go all over the place. Some people want you to send them email, others would rather that you use Slack or Dropbox or Google Drive or some other system that you’ve never heard of! The long and the short of it is that you’ve got many clients all needing you to communicate with them in a variety of ways and Client Portal makes that process much easier!
I don't know you, but I know for an absolute fact that I'm hopeless at marketing. I'm not very good at it and it find it really hard to do, or to get excited about. It's a something that I've struggled with for a long time. I'm lucky in that I have enough work (right now) to keep me going and it comes my way largely through word of mouth. Because I'm a study in mediocrity, this is fine by me; I have not needed to market too much to keep my head above the water. But I'm hoping that you're not as satisfied with mediocre, as I am - you're a get-up-and-got type aren't you? You want more out of life than I do? Well guess what, you're going to have to market yourself in order to get, because you can be sure that competitors will.
In this episode, we return to the ‘good old days’ in which David and myself just used to drone on and on! We decided that we had not done nearly enough droning recently, and so… I give you episode 95! We go over our thoughts about how we cope when a client asks us to do something that is completely new to us. I’m guessing that we’ve all been in that meeting, or been on that call when you realise that the client is asking for something that you don’t know that you can pull out of that WordPress hat that you’ve been wearing. Perhaps it’s something that you know can be done, but you know that you’re not able to do it. Or maybe it’s something that you simply cannot understand and don’t even know where to start.
I’m not that keen on writing. It’s one of the things that we all have to do, but it’s not my greatest strength as you can tell if you are reading this. What I dislike more than just writing though is writing proposals for prospective clients. I don’t like it because I’m not very good at getting my points across all that succinctly and I find it hard to get into the ‘style’ that I need to adopt to make it have a fighting chance of being read and accepted. Well, don’t you love living in the age of the internet where there is an online service for just about everything that you could possibly need in life? Adam Hempenstall discovered that there were people like me all over the planet; people who needed to hand writing their proposals.
We have a 'special guest' called Paul Lacey from Dickie Birds to discuss the always relevant subject of pricing, and more specifically do better paying clients mean 'better' clients? We all know that the answer is, annoyingly, sometimes, it all depends and maybe! Ha! There's no guarantee that, just because someone has deep pockets, they are going to fun to work with. Sometimes the fact that a client is paying more for your WordPress products and services means that you have more 'bandwidth' to absorb the many problems that arise during your website build, but equally, clients that have very tight budgets can be very demanding of your time and have expectations far above what their wallet will realistically allow!
I'm not very good in the real world! Get me away from my little office and my screens and I'm all 'out-at-sea'! I have to suddenly communicate with people and interact; I cannot click a button and get an expected response from other people. People, unlike code, are just so darn unpredictable. They do what they want and have hidden thoughts and expectations. If you've been building websites for clients for any length of time, you'll know that your clients can be your best friend and your worse nightmare. They want things they didn't communicate to you. So it goes! Erin Flynn is here to help you sort this mess out.
Two for the price of one! That's what this episode feels like, because not only do I get to interview Clark Marshall from Blue Dog Digital, but I also get to interview our very own David Waumsley, AT THE SAME TIME! The reason that we have them both on the show is that both Clark and David have made some very important decisions about how they would like their lives to pan out. They decided to become 'Digital Nomads'. This, to me, evokes thoughts of great pioneers; people who are brave enough to reject the 9-to-5 lifestyles that most of us moan about, but put up with.
In this episode of the WP Builds podcast we chat to Pia Silva from badassyourbrand.com. She's a New Yorker with a whole load of energy and is a lady on a mission to "Bad Ass Your Brand". It's the title of her book as well as her philosophy to create a brand for your company. It's definitely not about just growing your agency; more staff, more contracts more... everything. It's about cutting things out of your business and making it very specifically the place that you want to work. It's about trying to do less work, to get paid more and have a little more time off.
Discussion - David and Nathan discuss whether or not it's a good idea to automatically update your plugins.
Interview - How to get paid more with Brent Weaver - Part 2. Last week we were introduced to Brent Weaver from uGurus. We learned about his business and how he aims to assist businesses achieve higher fees and become more profitable. This week is a little different, because we're delving more into Brent (the man) and not Brent (the business man)! Does that make sense?
In this episode of the podcast we talk to Brent Weaver from uGurus. He's an exceptionally thoughtful mentor for people who would like to see an upturn in their web design business. uGurus has been going for many years and has helped loads of agencies both big and small to increase their fees. I guess that there is no magic sauce for this kind of thing, but what you'll be gaining is the combined experience of people who have struggled through this problem before.
In this episode we talk a lot at the beginning about the fact that we're going to be making some changes to the podcast over the coming weeks. We also talk about what processes we follow when we work. In the light of all the tools that we have available to us these days, what we do / use to get a site from proposal to completion. Now, we're not saying that you should follow what we do, as we know that it's likely hopeless, but we're telling you anyway so that you can tear us down and make us feel inadequate!
In this episode we talk to Andre Gagnon from
Project Huddle. Andre has been wrestling with the issue that we all face of trying to gain meaningful comments about static designs and website builds. Often, it’s tricky trying to communicate with clients, but he hopes to solve some of that! It’s worth listening to the very end as he’s a really lovely guy with some great advice!
In this episode we interview Adam Hempenstall from BetterProposals.io, a company on a mission to make the dull job of writing proposal for your client work as painless as possible. We’ve all been there, you’ve had the client meeting, then you get back to the office to discover that you’ve lost your mojo, because you have to write that proposal and the blank page just kills your will to live! This can help!
In this weeks episode we discuss the thorny issue of how we communicate with clients; how we communicate our value to clients in the face of stiff competition from the likes of Squarespace and Wix. We talk about the way that we talk to clients and what we do to ensure that they 'get' what it is that we're trying to sell them.
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.
My oh my! Software licenses. What a knotty subject that it. It seems we both came to WordPress seeing software primarily as the tools we use to build websites. I mean who asks a plumber what spanner he (sometimes she) uses to fix a boiler? Okay, maybe Nathan might, but that’s not the point!
In this episode we are joined by Adam Lacey from penguinmedia.co.uk. We chat about coping when enthusiastic clients want to exercise their creativity. We ask how much we restrict their role both during and after the website build?
In episode 4 of the WP Builds podcast, David Waumsley and Nathan Wrigley discuss the role of the web developer and how we can sometimes be a thorn in the side of clients.
We know that dealing with clients can be painful, but what about us? Do we always do the right thing by our clients?
In episode 3 of the WPBuilds.com podcast Nathan Wrigley and David Waumsley discuss clients and what it is about them that makes them so great.
We've come up with 13 stereotypical client types and explain more about what we think of them.
In episode 2 of the WPBuilds.com podcast Nathan Wrigley and David Waumsley discuss the many ways that WordPress professionals onboard their clients. Simple linear workflows, right through to productising the whole process. There's loads of ways to do it it turns out!
