Had a wonderful time at WordCamp Miami this year! My first time in Miami and I had a wonderful time hanging with both new and old friends. Below are my slides from my talk yesterday on “WordPress the Right Way.”
Hey everyone!
I am/was happy to share with everyone at WordCamp San Diego for the 3rd year in a row! We always enjoy our time at this event and it’s a fantastic time of year to spend in San Diego. Below are my slides from my talk. I will update this post when the video becomes available as well.
Presentation Slides
So I guess you could say I’m taking my talents to South Beach? Okay that was lame. I am humbled and excited to be a part of WordCamp Miami 2013! This event will be taking place on April 5-7th in Miami, FL. Tickets will go on sale very soon so if you are in or around the area you will want to act fast as they will be sure to sell out!
My session will be a high level look at how to efficiently approach a WordPress project. I will be sure to post the slides ahead of time for the talk so the folks in attendance can follow along with my talk.
If you are headed out to WordCamp Miami let me know! I’d love to talk shop and hang out!
See you in Miami!
-Cody Landefeld
What’s more memorable for you? A bad user experience or a gorgeous user experience? I’d argue that for most clients and end users that the former is most memorable. If you are a creative or a web developer you can speak to this differently, but largely our job is not to make solutions and websites only for creatives. Let’s begin to think more about the user.
Before I go any further I have a confession to make. I am not first and foremost a web developer. I am a designer. More specifically a designer who creates things people use on the internet. So you could call me a User Experience designer.
Does the client even know they have a User Experience problem?
Mostly no. I’ve recently been focused on solving a lot of development problems for my clients. But I’ve come to find recently with a few of our clients that their problems really aren’t rooted in strictly web development. Their problems are specifically with their user experience of their website or product.
Start to use a bad website. Let’s say it’s an E-Commerce website for example. When buying something online we need to develop some type of trust with that company before we buy right? But let’s say that this company has not done their job to design and develop a proper environment for their users (both new and old customers) to buy from them. This literally could mean a loss of major revenue for them.
How can companies make more money by investing in User Experience?
The end user is not clear on this. Although we live in a web savvier world, the end user is not comfortable with a fly by night improper web setup unless they are desperate to buy and the said website would be the only place they can buy that item or service. I know this because I’ve been there.
I recently sat down with a CEO of a company and we met to discuss their problems with their organization’s website. We discussed business challenges they currently having and expressed frustration at not being able to solve this internally.
I had to be honest with them as a potential customer that I had attempted to buy something from their store and decided not to. Their website and user experience is lackluster at best. Too many steps, losing my information, etc. I just happen to be sitting with this person to let them know.
But guess what. Most if not all of their potential customers are not taking the time to let them know about this problem! Especially if they can find the item elsewhere. This is a major problem! Loss of thousands if not millions of dollars in potential revenue, depending on the company. So I’d say that investing to create a more ideal User Experience would be extremely effective for any company.
Where are all the users?
Users are everywhere and on every device you can imagine. They are trying to find out about you at their convenience. This means they are fitting it in beyond business hours, in waiting lines, at restaurants, in their bedroom before they go to sleep, or even on the toilet. Yes, people read their cellphones and tablets on the toilet!
The fact is it’s not about you or your company’s preference It’s about your users and where it’s most convenient to find out about you. This can be a myriad of places. So you better be sure you’ve invested to make sure your client or user can do business with you.
Have you seen any of the statistics on mobile E-commerce? in 2009 users spent 1.9 billion dollars in online transactions. By 2015, that number is expected to go up to $119 billion. It’s staggering when you think about it. The shift is here and you have to be on that move to stay successful at a high rate.
How prepared is your company to remain successful with your online presence or product? Have you considered your customers recently? What was your investment on User Experience last year? It might be time to re-evaluate this and have a chat with a company who can help. Your users will thank you with their trust and their wallets.
WP Watercooler hits 1,000,000 views! Being friends with many of the people on the show and an occasional contributor to the show, I couldn’t be more happy for them!
So if you don’t yet know, WP Watercooler is a 30 minute show recorded and broadcasted live every Monday featuring 10 WordPress developer / aficionados. We come together to discuss WordPress in general and often times delve into the business side of our beloved WordPress.
Be sure to check out the the 20th episode below featuring yours truly!
What a great game huh? You know, the Super Bowl? Oh maybe you didn’t watch the football game yesterday but you caught the ads that ran in between breaks in the action. Among most notable ads was the ever notorious GoDaddy who has garnered a reputation for their racy and risqué Super Bowl ads that run yearly.
This year’s ads caught me off guard though. While there was a Superbowl ad from GoDaddy that featured Bar Refaeli and a nerd kissing, there was another that was worth catching. It features people from all over the world who have a big idea and in every scene the wife is prompting the husband to do something about it while he stalls to take action. It ends on a man and wife on a private jet celebrating the success from taking action on their “big idea.”
But it’s Godaddy, c’mon!
Yeah I know. As a WordPress consultant and development company we tend to steer our clients away from most of GoDaddy’s offerings. They also have been accused of taking advantage of the simpleton business owner who does not truly understand what they really need. That’s still a valid concern for our community of developers.
Do I personally hate the company? Of course not. We happen to be from the same city as GoDaddy and do wish to support local businesses when we can (even sometimes GoDaddy). But the decision to best serve our clients and their project goals is our most important focus. So I’d heartily tell anyone considering using a GoDaddy service to be careful and educate yourself before you buy anything.
The message of the ad…
Getting back to the ad. I want to say, business practices aside I do like part of their messaging for one of their Super Bowl ads this year. While the ad with Bar Refaeli and the stereotypical web nerd was a little over the top and a bit disturbing, the “big idea” Super Bowl ad was a good motivator to use GoDaddy and what they’re good for.
The ad runs and by the end it’s a clear call to action to buy a .CO domain from GoDaddy. They don’t try and tell you they’ll build you this “big idea,” but (seemingly) offer their service as a starting point. This could be a good thing! Now, the jury is still out on whether .CO is a good investment or not, but the bottom line is that if you’ve been sitting on the idea, it’s time to get moving.
Get off the couch and take action.
I know education that consultants and developers have to make at times in order to express value in our services. It’s not often we see a worldwide audience being prompted to take action in this way. As people in this industry we can thank GoDaddy for this aspect of the messaging in their Super Bowl ad this year. Simply put: “get off the couch and take action on your big idea.”
————-
Video of the ad:
I’d love to get your comments below and continue this discussion. Whether you’re a casual observer or a web developer your opinion is equally of value here. ;)
Let’s say you’re setting up a marketing website or some type of online community. Maybe you intend to launch some type of a SAAS (software as a service) application using WordPress. chances are good that you are looking for web development help. So you’ll need to find a good WordPress developer or company.
You ask around, you search Google, you look on a few other websites that have developers listed and begin the search for the web developer that would get the job done. How are you refining your search? Is it important to you that your developer knows WordPress amongst a variety of other web languages? or would you prefer using a true expert in the field?
As a WordPress consultant and WordPress developer I’ve heard my share of horror stories. I realize that I cannot build every website on the internet and I can’t change the past, but maybe writing more blogs like this (or this) can help folks prepare to build WordPress sites more efficiently. So let’s look at a few things to help with choosing the right fit for your project.
How do WordPress developers stand out?
So how do you search and what should you look for? That can be a pretty simple answer actually. Just like specialists in other industries, just being a developer is not always good enough. If a developer is just a developer that doesn’t mean they specialize in what you need to accomplish. As a potential client I hope you’d agree and understand that it wouldn’t be efficient for every programmer to know all languages and platforms.
Take doctors for example. No one goes to their family doctor to get their teeth x-rayed. You go to a dentist since they specialize in teeth. If we have a specific question or need a specific solution, it’s pretty common that we seek out a specialist in this area. Unfortunately it is not common for potential clients to seek out a specialist in the web development spectrum. Furthermore, a lot of potential clients simply just don’t know where to begin their search.
Begin your search for a WordPress developer in your city or town. It will be easy to find web developers, but you may have to do a bit of checking to see what the company or developer really specializes in. You can use resource such as WP Engine’s list of consultants to find a good selection of WordPress developers to work with, you might even find a good WordPress host?
Refining your search
Obviously it would be difficult to predict exactly what you want to accomplish in every case, but perhaps I can help bring a few specific ideas to help you search. It’s very helpful for you to know what exactly you’re looking to accomplish before beginning your search. If your project goals are well defined you can begin looking specifically at what type of developer you need.
Staying specific to WordPress, there are many developers in the industry who focus on different types of websites. So for instance, if you’re aiming to build a website that has a login or premium content area, you would inquire of a developer who has experience working with WordPress to accomplish a login based website. It’s helpful to be as specific as you can be when inquiring of a WordPress developer’s services to know if this is a fit for their development skill set.
If you understand WordPress and it’s many offerings then you might already know there is a ton of things to drill down more specifically on. For instance, our company does custom Genesis child themes. We specialize in this service for most of our client base. So we try to be very clear on what service we’re best at so potential clients can find us.
Recapping…
Let me say that building a website is a fantastic and often a necessary investment. WordPress is also a fantastic and awesome investment to build your website with! So going further to specifically find a solid WordPress developer who has great experience in this platform should put you in a good spot!
Thanks for taking the time to read this. You have many choices and I appreciate you taking a look. Hopefully there’s been some helpful information here. Hey, if you have feedback or thoughts feel free to leave a comment below.
Cheers!
Updated: WordPress.tv has now posted the video from my presentation!
Presentation Video
Fresh from WordCamp Phoenix 2013. We had a blast and were extremely happy to be a part of the event again this year! Our hats tip to all of the organizers, sponsors, and volunteers who made this event as awesome as it was. It was also great to hear such feedback both on Twitter and in person from the WordPress community.
Below are my slides from my presentation. I will add the video presentation once they go live on WordPress.tv. In the meantime you’re just left with the memories (that is, if you were there).
Presentation Slides
One of the things I am passionate about is trying to educated my client base and the community on providing value as a WordPress consultant. I recently wrote a tweet that received some great feedback and interaction. This seemed to address a subject that a lot of other folks in the WordPress community deem as important.
Look for the #WordPress developer who will provide the most value, not the lowest price.
— Cody Landefeld (@codyL) January 14, 2013
Anyhow another thing I value is the WordPress community. My good friend Chris Lema expanded more on this subject by writing a great article on the subject. I highly encourage you to head over this his blog to check it out.
This post is a late notice, but I am proud nonetheless to be speaking at WordCamp Phoenix 2013! I will say it’s also amazing that I can truly (and unbiasedly) say that WordCamp Phoenix is definitely one of my favorite WordPress events of the year. I am humbled to be a part and definitely respect the work that the awesome staff and volunteers have done in making this a top event!
My topic will be covering User Experience for WordPress. I will touch on aspects of where the web is currently and where it’s headed in the future. I am trying to move the conversation of what part WordPress plays in the shift towards devices and away from the browser. I’m curious to get your feedback on this. Feel free to leave comments below that would be helpful to use during my presentation.
Thanks and see you at WordCamp Phoenix!
