Track: Highland Park

Building WordPress websites for a living can become a soul searing experience. In the beginning, you think it’s great that you are doing something you love. In the end, you’re miserable, frustrated and unfulfilled with the process.

If this is your story come join me as I explain what career path I took by accident that is providing some of the most fulfilling experiences of my life. I will show you how to take 4 things you already know to build your next career.

Attendees will learn how to leverage what they already know about WordPress into new career possibilities that will change how they feel about themselves and the work they do.

Yes, there is life after web design and development.

When site owners go to the plugins section of WP-Admin, they are met with a cryptic list. What are all these things supposed to be doing, and how did they get there?

Do you really need “Mario’s Magic Slideshow”? Will your site break if you deactivate it or delete it? Or worse, is it malware?

In this talk, I’ll show you how you can make informed decisions about your plugins. I’ll also present alternatives to commonly used plugins, and ways to trim your plugin count down, resulting in a leaner, cleaner site.

Your website is live—what’s next? In this session, we’ll explore the five key actions to take after launching your website to ensure it is secure and visible. We’ll compare and contrast different tools for each critical step, giving you the flexibility to choose what works best for your needs.

Learn how to set up backups using options like UpdraftPlus or WP Timecapsule and securing those backups in a cloud environment like Dropbox or AWS, and review update strategies with tools like BlogVault. We’ll also discuss the importance of using staging environments such as InstaWP or Local by Flywheel to safely test updates before applying them to your live site.

On the security front, we’ll cover options like AIO Security and SolidWP, and show how to implement captchas on forms and enforce two-factor authentication (2FA). You’ll also gain insights into monitoring your site’s performance using Google Analytics and Tag Manager.

For SEO, we’ll examine popular plugins like AIO SEO and Yoast, helping you optimize your site for search engines. Additionally, we’ll talk about the importance of getting your website listed in key directories like Google Business Profile, so you can start appearing in local and organic searches.

Whether you’re new to website management or looking to refine your processes, this talk will provide practical insights into securing and optimizing your site using a variety of tools.

In this presentation I’ll talk about how I set up a WooCommerce t-shirt shop on WordPress with fulfilment provided by Printful and payments via Stripe. I’ll discuss why I picked the service providers I did and how I like them so far.

Further discussion will include:

• Installing and configuring the WooCommerce, Printful, and Yoast plugins for product management and SEO,
• Customizing my store’s appearance,
• Obtaining a Tax Certificate of Authority from the State of New York,
• And I’ll wear one of my products.

Not getting the results you want form your newsletter? you might be making some simple, easy-to-fix mistakes!

In this session, I’ll show you what NOT to do when sending a newsletter, and 5 things you should do instead so you can maximize engagement.

Then, if you stick around till the end of the session, learn how you can automate some simple newsletters to put engagement on autopilot.

How we use WordPress for Digital Media Arts and how we upload our projects and blog posts and explore the different themes on the website as part of a college educational program.

After working in the web development space for over a decade and following hot dramas within tech, the decision to finally speak out and connect with the WordPress community didn’t start until late 2023. This talk covers a 1-year journey into the power of community. Once the bandaid came off, doors opened, opportunities came, new friends were made, and lessons were learned. Come and see how you can join the community and thrive. It’s never too late!