Have you ever said to yourself ‘…some days there are just too many choices?’ That was certainly the case for me at WordCamp Boston 2103. Here is Part 1 of a 2 part series on what sessions I attend, and what I took away to share with you.
“WooCommerce Setup and Launch in 30 Minutes”
“That’s My Cookie” a small bakery nestled in the Ozark Hills of Missouri, asked me to design their new website. They’ll be selling cookies online so will need a shopping cart, plus an easy way for customers to make their purchases. I’ve heard rave reviews about Woo Commerce for a while, so when the opportunity came to see it installed, and learn how the shopping cart is configured, I was the first one in the door.
WooCommerce 2.0 is a free plugin that can be upgraded to the Premium version. There are 210 extensions from payment gateways, to social media integration.
The most basic Woo Commerce Store setup involves a 3 step process which the presenter, Matthew Nelson of Firsttracksmarketing,com showed, as promised, in 30 minutes.
- Step 1: Set up website hosting
- Step 2: Install these three plugins (1) Woocommerce (2) Woodojo (3) WordPress SEO by Yoast
- Step 3: Configure the settings
After plugin is set up, the products are entered for sale. Preparing images, tagging them, writing the copy with SEO in mind is not part of the 30 minute as these takes tasks can take many hours, or even days to prepare, depending upon the depth and breadth of your online store.
Product image tip: resize your shopping cart images for 500-600 maximum pixel width
“How WordPress Entrepreneurs Build Their Business”
Matt Medeiros Matt Report featured four website designer/developers as an example of how other entrepreneurs are making money building WordPress websites.
Whether they are using one of the most popular theme platforms like Genesis/StudioPress, iThemes, or Woo, or custom building from the ground up, the successful designers and developers all:
- Focus on consistency in their service and theme platform
- Have a target audience
- Sell their service on its value
- Stay engaged and connected within the WordPress Community
What are the biggest challenges these four business owners face?
The same challenges every business owner faces:
- Getting more traffic through blogging, outreach, and Twitter
- Making more money while selling on value
- Slowing the customer down and not beginning a site until all necessary text and images are in hand
- Getting better at time management by releasing those things you can’t do, or don’t have time to do
- Saying ‘No’ a lot, so you can simplify and continue to narrow down the process
Thinking about applying for a job as a web developer?
WordPress guru Jake Goldman, president of 10up, and who graciously provided a delicious lunch for all attendees, shared what he asks prospective employees seeking a job in web development, in “10 Interview Questions I ask Every Developer”
A candidate must have good communication skills.
He wants to know if the candidate “gets” the WordPress platform, so he asks:
- What a “hook” is, and then a
- Asks them to speak about the two basic hooks: Action hooks and Filter hooks
- They also need to be able to demonstrate how to create a hook/li>
He wants them to explain:
- What a “taxonomy” is,
- What the open source platform is all about, and/li>
- Where to get the information?
He also wants to know if the candidate thinks critically about his/her work.
Don’t have a computer science degree from a college or university? No need to apply.
Next week I’ll be sharing tips on creating a positive user experience for mobile web design, and ways to increase your blog reach and influence. Until then…
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