Planning a Successful WordPress Site

Presented in the business lightening talk session at Wordcamp Seattle 2014.

A blueprint for investing your time and money wisely to end up with a site you love that is also useful, effective and easy to manage. I’ll talk about finding a good developer, asking the right questions, and what you as the site owner should be prepared to contribute.

Transcript

1. Planning  a  Successful     WordPress  Site Kronda  Adair   ! karveldigital.com
   @karveldigital
2. Part  1:   So  you  think  you  need   a  website.     ! Now  What?  
3. If  your  website  was  an  employee,   what  would  its  job  be?   •  Sell  stuff   •  promote  your  business   •  spread  your  ideas   •  build  community   •  write  about  your  chickens     •  because  everyone  else  has  one
4. Business  Owners   •  Do  your  homework   •  Ask  (and  answer)  the  right  quesNons   •  Get  help   •  Build  a  team
5. What  do  you  want  to   say?   Ex:  I’m  a  dog  trainer  and  I  want  to   educate  people  about  the  right   and  wrong  ways  to  train  your  dog   and  get  new  clients  for  my  puppy   classes
6. When  is  launch  day? Goal:     I  want  a  website.     ! SMART  GOAL:     I  will  launch  my  new  dog  training   website  by  May  15th,  2014  to  promote   summer  puppy  training  classes.   I  want  500  views  per  day  by  the  end  of   the  first  six  months.   Specific,  Measurable,  Achievable,  RealisNc,  Timely  
7. Who  are  you  talking   to?   Imagine  your  audience:  Age,   gender,  other  interests,  where  do   they  hang  out  online?     What  are  their  problems,  and  how   will  you  solve  them?
8. $   $$   $$$   $$$$   $$$$$ What  is  your  budget?
9. Be  RealisNc Dream Budget? Does  your match  your
10. Value  >  Cost
11. The  least  expensive   website  is  the  one  that   is  done  well,  the  first   Nme.
12. Strategies  for  ge`ng  a   good  site  on  a  budget •  WordPress.com   •  Premium  themes   •  Students     •  Bartering hap://jillmalone.com
13. Domain  &  Web  HosNng hap://karvel.me/no-­‐daddy
14. Ask  (developers)  for   RecommendaNons
15. Domain  privacy Keep  your  address   off  the  internet.
16. Part  2:     Assembling  Your  Team content  strategy  .  copywriNng  .   design  .  development  .     project  management  
17. What  is  the  most  important   quality  to  look  for  when   hiring  your  web  team?  TRUST
18. How  do  you  find  good   web  designers  &   developers? Use  your  network
19. By  Steve  and  Sara  Emry  on  Flickr Part  3:  DESIGN
20. Design  is: Visual   User  Experience  (Behavior)   Responsive  (adjusts  to  devices)
21. The  pixel  is  dead Consider  a  mobile  first   approach.  Constraints  are   great  for  design!  
23. Planning Tech  spec Prototypes
24. Part  3:  Build  it! Clear  Nmeline   Weekly  checkins     Centralized  place  for  project   informaNon
25. Test  it! Review  content  for  spelling   and  grammar   Review  site  in  different   browsers  &  devices   Check  URL  structure
26. Pre-­‐launch Setup  accounts   WordPress.com  (for  Jetpack)   Gravatar   Google  AnalyNcs   Site  backups
27. Launch!  Baby  by  Wojciech  Zasina  from  The  Noun  Project
28. Part  4:  Care  &  Feeding Promote  your  site   Feed  your  site  fresh   content  regularly   Keep  your  site’s  code  up  to   date
29. QuesNons ? Tweet  me:  @karveldigital