WP-Tonic | WordPress | SaaS | Bootstrap SaaS | Startups

This week, our guest is Zack Rosen, CEO of Pantheon. As CEO & Co-Founder, Zack leads the charge to define what developers need now, & what they and their clients will need 5 years from now—and beyond. Zack pioneered the first large-scale Drupal website for the Howard Dean campaign in 2003, co-founded the world’s first Drupal development shop, CivicSpace, co-founded a successful Drupal deve...

In this episode, we look at local development, and how that can help your workflow. What options are there for local development, and what do you do with a local site when it's time to deploy. We examine why you need a local environment in your workflow, and some choices for getting started.   Our WordPress panel this week:   Jackie D'Elia: https://jackiedelia.com / Morten Rand-Hendriksen: https:/...

We sit down to talk with Dusty Davidson, the CEO and co-founder of Flywheel. He tells us how the hosting company got started, early years and growing, what they look for in hiring, their acquisition of Local, and much more. We also ask Dusty about early years and growing, what they look for in hiring, their acquisition of Local,  and much more.   ==================   Our episode this week is spons...

Lee Jackson returns to talk his other company, Event Engine. This is a web agency devoted entirely to website design for conferences, events, and expos. We look the unique challenges faced by conference website managers, and some great tips for digital marketing for events, expos, and conferences.   Links Event Engine The Event & Expo Podcast Angled Crown   ==================   Our episode thi...

We look at event management plugins, what they do, and when you will need specific ones. What if you run recurring events? Say you run a once a year event, and need to sell tickets? What if you're a musician or band posting gigs? We give our recommendations for these scenarios and more.   Our WordPress panel this week:   Sallie Goetsch: https://wpfangirl.com Kim Shivler: https://howtobuildanonline...

We look at what a marketing funnel is, and how they can help grow your business. Then we analyze how to build funnels in WordPress, methodologies for building funnels, and moving people down the funnel to close a sale. At the top of the funnel is awareness, further down the funnel is interest, evaluation, and finally commitment, and closing the sale.   Our WordPress panel this week:   Adam Fout of...

Tom is a self-employed WordPress developer and a top contributor to the WordPress development community. Tom also runs a small business called Pressware, that builds web applications, sites, themes, plugins, and more – using WordPress. He also works as the Tuts+ Code editor where he is responsible for overseeing all of the Web Development and CMS content that’s published via Envato. You can find a...

In the world of web design and development, there is a divide between designers and developers. Many agencies have figured out how to bridge this communication gap, but many people out there don't know how to speak the language of the other side. In this episode, we look at some of the communication issues that come up regularly, and how to solve them. We examine how our own processes for working...

Jonathan Courtney is a UX designer and Product Strategist. He runs the cheeky design blog, UX Messiah . Originally from Ireland, Jonathan moved to Berlin and co-founded the UX Design agency AJ&Smart in 2011. AJ&Smart has worked with some of the largest brands on the planet, including the UN, eBay, Lufthansa, and Zalando. In this insightful interview, Jonathan talks about how he got into UX...

WordPress development involves PHP, HTML, CSS, JS, MySQL – but what if you don’t know what any of this even means yet? Where do you go to learn WordPress if you’re still a beginner? This week, we look at WordPress for beginners. We have covered tons of resources for learning WordPress as a complete beginner.   Our WordPress panel this week:   Bridget Willard: https://bridgetwillard.com/ Kim Shivle...

In this episode, we talk about the history of WPShout, and we also get deep in connected to WordPress development and discuss the best ways a newbie WordPress developer can increase their skill level. The crew from WPShout (Fred Meyer, David Hayes, Alex Denning) joins us to talk running a WordPress tutorial site, the state of WordPress education, how WPShout supports their agency Press Up.   We al...

I'll be honest, we intended to talk the most useful e-commerce plugins for WordPress, but ended up talking mostly about WooCommerce. That said, there's a ton of information in here about WooCommerce plugins and extensions, including what  plugins you'll need for specific functionality in WooCommerce.   Our WordPress panel this week:   Sallie Goetsch: from WP Fangirl Jackie D’Elia: from Jackie D’El...

Jackie D'Elia has had a long career in web development and programming. For the past several years she has been an independent WordPress developer, primarily on the Genesis platform. During the last year, Jackie has been a regular member of our Saturday podcast panel. We talk to Jackie about her experiences in web development, and what it takes to become a top-quality front-end / WordPress develop...

Our WordPress panel shares the biggest mistakes they have made on website projects. If you've done one website or a thousand, chances are you will identify with at least one thing on this list. We talk not only about our botch-ups, but how our processes changed afterwards as a result. There's something for everyone in this episode.   Our WordPress panel this week:   David Hayes: from WPShout Salli...

We talk with James Laws, founder of WP Ninjas, and co-creator of Ninja Forms. In this episode James share his insights on building a WordPress product company, managing internal growth, and advice for podcasters in the WordPress space.   WP Ninjas https://wpninjas.com/   Mastermind. FM http://mastermind.fm/   Adventures in Businessing http://aib.fm   ==================   Our episode this week is s...

The WP-Tonic panel looks at how to tackle large scale web projects. What sort of preparation and research goes into more complex projects? We analyze project management, organization, communication, and delegation in this can't miss episode.   ==================   This Weeks WordPress Panel   Sallie Goetsch: from WP Fangirl Christopher Hawkins: from Cogeian Systems Kim Shivler: from White Glove We...

Our guest this week is Emily White, of Emily White Designs. Emily has a successful business developing custom Genesis WordPress themes with her development partner, Greg Young. Emily clearly knows her customer base and is focused on giving her clients a fantastic customer experience. This interview shows you can still be successful running a small agency.   Emily White Designs https://www.emilywhi...

This week, we look at site structure and SEO. How does site architecture affect your search rank? We look at keyword research, internal linking, URL structure, permalinks, categories and tags, 301 redirects, setting up call-to-actions throughout the site, user experience, and more.   One of the more valuable episodes we've done this year, especially if you're trying to get your site to rank higher...

WordPress architect Mario Peshev joins us to talk WordPress in the enterprise. Mario is the founder and CEO of DevriX, a 25 person WordPress agency. He also is a core contributor to WordPress and a frequent speaker on web development. Mario Peshev at DevWP.eu http://devwp.eu/   DevriX: http://devrix.com/   Mario Peshev on Twitter https://twitter.com/no_fear_inc   Digital Growth with Mario Peshev h...

In this episode, we look at the value of participating in the WordPress community, both offline and online. Is there anything substantial to be gained from befriending people who do the same thing that you do? Join us every Saturday at 9 am PST for our live show where you can ask WordPress tech questions and be part of the discussion. To see a list upcoming Saturday shows go to the WP-Tonic websit...

Chris Lema and AJ Morris of Liquid Web stop by to talk product innovation, hosting, and the WordPress community.   We're also joined by our WordPress panel for this special episode.   Cast for Episode 169:   AJ Morris: https://ajmorris.me/ Chris Lema: http://chrislema.com/ Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/ Lee Jackson https://trailblazer.fm Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/ John L...

We look at the role of user experience design in web design. How does UX differ from other disciplines in web design and development?   Our panel this week:   Krissie VandeNoord: http://krissievandenoord.com/ Sallie Goetsch: https://www.wpfangirl.com/ Jackie D'Elia: https://jackiedelia.com/ Kim Shivler: https://whiteglovewebtraining.com/ John Locke: https://www.lockedownseo.com/ Jonathan Denwood:...

Tim Brown is someone that if you haven't heard of him yet, you soon will. A web designer, marketer, and WordPress fanatic from Minneapolis, MN, Tim has been building his personal brand while working full time at a local agency. Seriously, Tim publishes quality content like a beast, and has earned every bit of his success. In this episode, Tim will share his experiences in both freelancing, organiz...

In this week's WordPress panel, we looked at social media tools and services. What tools do we use to share, track, and accelerate social media engagement? We also talk social media strategies, and what platforms are giving us the best returns. We do a live show every Saturday at 9am PST. You can find details about each Saturday show here: https://www.wp-tonic.com/blab/   =======   Our panel this...

Social media consultant Mojca Marš returns to tell us all about Facebook ads and why they are so effective. http://superspicymedia.com/ =============   Table of Contents for Episode 165   0:00 Podcast Intros 2:53 What things is Mojca applying in her business that's allowing her to double her income from last year? 4:34 Why Mojca recommends Facebook ads above other social media lead generation chan...