General Conference Notes
Importance of Story-telling in Web Design
Denise Jacobs
- Storytelling is all about connecting with your customer
- Numbers don’t teach people
- Storytelling
- A better way to teach
- Triggers an emotional response
- 21st Century Bards
- It’s about being unique
- Characters/Mascots
- Scene & Setting – Our Personal World
- Website
- Not linear – they can get to your site on any page
- Need to establish a path
- who, what, when, where, why
- How to do
- Micro-Content: testimonials, more links, and other widgets
- Macro-Content: banners
- Pictures
- You pick up more information from pictures
- You need explanation points and pauses
- You don’t want to ramble on
- Incorporation
- Reverse Engineer
- Start at the end and work backwards
- Literary Devices
- foreshadowing, metaphor, imagery…
- Don’t mix messages
- BOOK
- Enhnasment or Enchangment (butterfly on top)
Increase WordPress Performance on the Stack
Taylor Jasko
- PHP can’t keep up
- hard to handle a lot of traffic
- NGINX – used by WordPress.com
- keeps server up
- multi-acceptgzip
- for varnish
- Wp-Varnish Plugin – bit.ly/vpvarnish
- Have Nginx on port 8080, Varnish on 80
- Try to use InnoDB (vs MyISAM)
- caching queries! – homepaege
Design Talk
Jayvie Canodo
- css-3 unfriendly layer effect
- converting to something… update
- You need to understand who things are coded to design, not neccisarily the code
- Put things in folders in you PSD
- give names that talk to the developer (15 min)
- Tool – color zilla (css gradient)
Freelance Primer
Shane Pearlman
- Success – Family, Friends, Fitness, Finance, Faith, Fun
- 15.3 million people are freelancers
- Find a mentor
- “I can predict the long-term outcome of your success if you show me your daily habits.” – John Maxwell
- ACCOUNTABILITY – trumps talent
- The art of setting (& re-setting) expectations is the secret to a happy life. The cult of the genius is BS.
- It’s not out of sight if it’s in your calendar
- No one likes a super hero who is consistently 30 minutes too late.
- Clock it
- The Daily Minimum
- min amount to bill each day
- Measure Performance
- Trying is good. Saving the world is better.
- Ask the client –> What does a win look like?
- Just keep asking
- Things change
- Be effective instead of efficient
- Backup
- The Urgent vs Important
- When your look important, people want to buy your stuff
- Peace of mind
- Make a list of everyone you know
- call them and ask if they need your services
- Getting the perfect voicemail
- Hey _____, I have a question for you! Can you give me a call at 555-555-5555?
- 90% return call success rate
- Referrals
- ask the client when they love you most (middle)
- Presentation Matters – Be Professional
- Don’t work in your PJs
- dumb emails
- no clip art
- dont refuse to meet on video
- Don’t say dumb stuff on Facebook and Twitter
- We vs I
- Unless your the hulk, get a bud
- The client thinks of you, not the company
- Company name? davidparsons.me or krakendesigns.com
- Try Subcontracting (hint)
- Sell when you need it least
- What’s In A Contract
- Scope, Time, Budget, Terms
- haked site
- Get it in writing
- its about clarity
- http://bit.ly/sp-customer-contract
- http://bit.ly/sp-master-services-agreement
- Get a Down-Payment!
- Pay attention to patterns
Offensive Support
Mason James
- wpvalet.com
- Product vs Service vs Support
- People will always use your service incorrectly
- The cost of lost of people complaining in public > Cost of fewer people complaining in public + Cost of support efforts
- How to do it
- Answer Questions
- FAQs
- Hot-to articles
- User Forums
- Document, Document, Document
- Offensive Support
- Authentic Communication (wherever they are is where you should be)
- Phone
- Email – give it out
- More access means less junk
- Puts a face on your company
- Making a change?
- Communicate ahead of time
- The Nuts and Bolts
- Feedback Surveys
- Reach out regularly afterwards
- How are you doing?
- Iterate on it!
- Service – User Voice!
- voice out what they do on your site
- Everyone is a support rep in your company
- Eat your own dog food!
- Don’t take yourself to seriously
- dont stress too much
- humans make mistakes
- How do you apologize?
- Resources
- uservoice.com/blog
- helpscout.net/blog
- neltockcom/blog
- Use a ticketing system, not just email
- They use mailchimp
- zen desk – ticketing system
Google Analytics – Measuring for Success
Ken Granger
- Bounce Rate – people who clicked the back button
- Look at it on a weekly basis
- Lots of great info
- location
- time
- speed
- browser
- much more
- Create a custom dashboard
- Get a report sent to you
Beginner Workshop Notes
Domain Names, Hosting, WordPress.ORG vs .COM
David Bisset
- .com is still the best choice
- instantdomainsearch.com – helps you think of alternative domain names
- Don’t get domain names at a hosting company
- Just forward it so you don’t have to worry when you switch hosts
- Where to get domain names – hover.com
- Pick the hosting plan that works best for you
- Some hosts don’t let you install certain plugins and other applications
Installing WordPress / Site Settings/ Users & User Rules
Mauricia Ragland
- Check out every settings page within WordPress at least once
- Did a demo on how to install WordPress and when over basic settings
Your First Post / Posts vs. Pages / Categories / Tags / Comments
David Laietta
- Pages don’t use categories or tags
- Don’t use too many tags
- CPT’s are powerful
Importing/Exporting, Bulk Posting, Customizing Themes
Ernie Hsiung
- Use VaultPress if you can afford it!
- Use Backup Buddy!!!
- Change the folder name for your plugin or theme in order to debug
- Use custom css feature of Jetpack in order to make custom css changes
“Must Have” Plugins For Beginners
Jackqueline Jimenez
- Security Plugins
- Use Yoast’s WordPress SEO Plugin
- Backup with ValtPresss, Backup Buddy, and Backup to Dropbox
- MailChimp for Email Newsletter