Since moving to Colorado 4 years ago, I’ve been fortunate enough to attend 3 WordCamps.
WordCamp reminds me of attending LAN parties when I was a kid. A bunch of friends, hanging out, having fun, and talking about all the things we are currently nerding out on. Except fast forward a decade or two and we’re actually getting paid for these things and no longer (hopefully) live in our parent’s house.
This year was no exception. We met for two days on the University of Denver campus. We attended lectures and workshops, talked shop, and enjoyed some delicious guac, queso, and margs at the after party.
Excited to be at @WordCampDenver this weekend! pic.twitter.com/3dlpoxf0LV
— Endo Creative (@EndoCreative) August 26, 2017
Here are a few of my takeaways:
Delayed Project Pricing:
As a project manager and detailed oriented person in general, I’m constantly looking at project timelines. Thinking about where we are, where we need to be, and when/how we are going to get there is something I do on a daily basis.
There are several ways people typically break down project payments. 50% upfront, 50% upon completion, X incremental payments of X%, or a whole slew of other approaches.
I imagine we’re all familiar with projects getting delayed: A client goes MIA. You’re continually waiting on assets or copy or anything else needed to complete the site. Things drag on (for what seems like) forever.
During one of the townhalls, someone mentioned their policy on handling this: “If a client stalls for X number of days (you pick the number that feels appropriate for your business), then in order to pick up the project again, they must pay the balance in full.”
Sounds like good motivation to me.
Google Index Hack:
If you type “site:domainname.com” in Google (where domainname.com = whatever domain you are working with), you will get a result of all of the pages Google has indexed on that site.
Pretty nifty, eh?
Work/Life Balance:
As a mostly work-at-home mom, Amber Hind’s talk on work/life balance totally hit home for me. It’s not that she had it all figured out and was telling us where/how to find this magical unicorn called balance… she literally gave the entire talk while holding her 4 month old daughter, Adelaide… but she’s asking the right questions and starting the conversation.
She’s collecting data in this survey. She wrote a blog post about putting your children if daycare, if you’re serious about your business.
It’s not an answer, but it’s a start.
And as someone trying to figure it out myself, I dig that.
Mobile is a big deal for ecommerce:
Did you know 50% (projected to be at 60% by the end of the year) of all ecommerce purchases are made on a mobile?
When looking at the overall experience a customer has, we must be keeping this in mind.
A/B price testing:
Did you know that you can A/B test pricing in WooCommerce? Well, you can with this plugin: Price Lab.
They currently don’t have split testing with shipping options… but it’s coming.
How to raise your prices:
Erin Flynn had three recommendations on how to raise your prices. The first thing on her list? Improve your skills.
Take classes, study, and practice like crazy! She says to always be learning. Books. YouTube. Online Courses. Conferences. Practice, practice, practice!
Hydration is important:
In addition to adding two more books to my “to-read” list (The Most Productive 90 Minutes of Your Life and Manage Your Day-To-Day: Build Your Routine, Find your Focus, & Sharpen Your Creative Mind), Tricia Akins gave us several tips on getting more done in less time.
The one that stuck with me? Hydration. Every morning she fills up a 2 qt. pitcher of water and puts it in her fridge. By the end of the work day, she makes sure it’s empty. Just like good sleep, hydration is important and directly related to your productivity.
It’s a part of the “physical” bucket of discretion. (The other buckets are: mental, environmental, and habitual.)
What is Open Source?
I’ve been familiar with the term “open source” for years, but I’d never heard of the Four Freedoms of Open Source:
- The freedom to run the program as you wish, for any purpose.
- The freedom to study how the program works, and change it so it does your computing as you wish.
- The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
- The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others. By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes.
WordPress is AWESOME.
Zach Katz gave the opening remarks for this year’s WordCamp Denver. Just like every other WordCamp I had attended, I left so. pumped. up. about the potential and future of WordPress! We talked about Gutenberg and The Customizer. And man… I’m excited!
Like a little kid on Christmas morning, I’m so happy for new things that are coming our way in the WordPress world.
WordPress is PEOPLE.
Zach and his team put together a little video for all the attendees. WordPress is people ← this couldn’t be more true. In my 7 years of working with WordPress, my most favorite aspect is, hands down, the WordPress community.
(I may or may not dance with my baby to this song on a daily basis. Good luck getting it unstuck from your head.)
If you haven’t attended a Wordcamp yet, what are you waiting for?
They haven’t posted the videos yet, but soon you’ll be able to check out all of the sessions on WordPress TV.
