The Hello Bar Story

How we used the WordPress.org platform to build, grow, scale and sell Hello Bar. Presented at WordCamp San Francisco 2012. #WCSF

Transcript

1. How we used WordPress to build, grow and scale
2. The Idea •  What experience do you want to deliver to each visitor?! •  "Damn, why didn’t I think of that!”" •  Flashy bars"
3. The Prototype •  33 pixels of new real estate on the web" •  The Anti Pop-up" •  Prototype for SlideDeck.com! •  It worked – MVP time" •  30 days"
4. The 30 Day Build •  MVP  –  simple  and  focused  experience  
5. The 30 Day Build •  Focused  MVP  Interface  
6. The 30 Day Build •  Easy  to  use  edi:ng  interface  
7. The 30 Day Build •  Use  Plugins  to  build  your  func:onality   •  Custom  post  types,  Plugin  API,  Shortcode   API,  post  meta   •  Use  the  WordPress  community  to  help  you   build  your  applica:on   •  Plugins  like  S2Member  for  turn  key  user   access  control,  page  access  control  as  well   as  free  and  paid  subscrip:ons  
8. The 30 Day Build •  Beta  Key  Plugin   •  Control  growth  for  scaling   •  Create  air  of  exclusivity   •  Expansion  for  viral  sharing  and  growth  of   the  applica:on  
9. •  Influencers" •  New Features" •  Design/Craft" Growth
10. •  Mo Users Mo Problems" Growth
11. Scaling •  Linux,  nginx,  MySQL,  PHP-­‐FPM  stack   •  Ac:ve  file  caching  and  nginx  caching   systems  for  commonly  served  data   •  Spread  workload  to  mul:ple  servers   •  Memcached  +  Batcache  plugin   •  Don’t  forget  to  scale  your  applica:on’s   automa:on  so  you’re  freed  up  to  create   instead  of  just  maintain  
12. •  The  Happy  Ending   It Worked!
13. •  Mission:  To  Improve  the  design  of  the  web   What’s Next?