Another WordCamp has come and gone. WordCamp Boston 2014 was held at MIT’s media lab on Saturday. Wow! What a building … and what a gorgeous day to have lunch outside on the 6th floor deck. Lunches at WordCamps are just one of the treats provided by Sponsors. The sheer generosity of nourishment for the mind and body at WordCamps is humbling.
Ah…the Happiness Bar
The Happiness Bar is the place to go for help with WordPress. Another attendee I met commented, “They didn’t just make me happy. I’m ecstatic!”
My own happiness was realized when a VERY smart tech was able to quickly answer a question that had me stumped for weeks. Just like many of you, when WordPress gets a little tough, it’s easier to walk away from my own website and get busy with other jobs that need tending. Unfortunately, before you know it, weeks have passed. When you finally do have time to tackle that challenge, you forgot where you left off. At that point it’s even easier to work on yet another client request that really does need to get done.
Fortunately for me I met Amanda Giles who pointed me in the right direction in under 10 minutes. That was easy!
My Highlights From WordCamp Boston 2014
The 5 Secrets of Tech Marketing by Anna Remus
Successful marketing involves getting your message out to the people who need your product or service, in a way that they understand what you’re talking about.
Tech marketing can be a challenge because it often involves communicating to two different groups: the technician and the “average” consumer.
If you find yourself needing to present information to two different audiences, Remus advises to write once and edit your copy for each audience. This might seem like you’re doubling your efforts, but you’re actually repurposing content. Plus, it’s easy once you can fill in the blanks to these statements:
- You are______
- That does ________
- Because _______
Just keep your brand consistent — no matter who your audience. That means same logo, color, fonts, business card, stationery. All those good things that talented graphic designers create for their clients. Sorry, couldn’t resist!
Designing for Content by David Hickox
The unexpected highlight of my day came from a musician who loved commercial design as a child and stumbled into web design while still a college student. His web pages are incredibly beautiful to read.
I’ve always prided myself on creating printed pieces (brochures, e-books, articles) that are easy on the eye and easy to absorb, but relied on the WordPress theme developer to determine webpage readability. No more. I’m armed and dangerous thanks to Hickox’s inspiring presentation and CSS styling tips.
And, one more really important tip: body copy needs to be large. Yes, 14-18 point large. Why? So people can easily read your brilliant prose on their mobile phones.
No, Your Site Is NOT Safe
Joseph Herbrandson of Sucuti kept heads from bobbing after lunch with his downright frightful presentation on website security. My biggest take away from The 7 Deadly Sins of WordPress Security was that managed hosting is worth the price because even if you keep your site updated most people on shared hosting do not. If they get hacked, you will very likely get hacked too, simply because you’re on the same server.
What helps save your site from the inevitable? A 3rd party professional backup system installed on your WordPress website. A few that were mentioned were BackupBuddy, VaultPress, or Sucuri. Get one and use it. Roger that!
Did you find this helpful? I’d love to hear from you.
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