WordCamp Ann Arbor 2014

Successful WordPress entrepreneurs share the lessons learned while building a company from scratch and tell the tales of all the challenges and trials experienced along the way.

Successful WordPress entrepreneurs share the lessons learned while building a company from scratch and tell the tales of all the challenges and trials experienced along the way.

The focus of my presentation will be on WordPress and website accessibility; from a front-end perspective. First, I will explain what web accessibility is and why it is important. To continue, I will discuss AODA and Section 508 regulations for Canada and the United States. Then, I will go over some key WCAG 2.0 compliancy requirements a developer will need to ensure the websites they develop are fully accessible. From there, I will showcase a few web accessibility tools, then some WordPress accessibility plugins; followed by a quick demonstration on how to evaluate a website’s accessibility.

So you have your shiny new WordPress site running great on the test server, and the client has signed off on everything. Now it’s time to deploy it!

By following a simple 3 step process, you can save time, reduce headaches, and have a reliable process for launching your WordPress sites from one environment to another.

Successful WordPress entrepreneurs share the lessons learned while building a company from scratch and tell the tales of all the challenges and trials experienced along the way.

“Build power! Create focus! Establish consistency! …All with one, easy-to-understand innovation in brand strategy.”

In the world of web development, especially with designers, content creators and marketers, we have a HUGE challenge; The client sometimes just can’t get out of their own way!

Even if a designer teaches them the right way to view aesthetic issues, the content person still battles them with words … and neither of these situations fixes the same issue for the marketing person’s task.

In one, easy to grasp, powerful, fell-swoop, it’s possible to fix all of these problems all at once! Better yet, the problem is fixed permanently! The client (and your team as well) has focus, power and consistency!

This presentation will completely re-define how you think about brand strategy forever!

Successful WordPress entrepreneurs share the lessons learned while building a company from scratch and tell the tales of all the challenges and trials experienced along the way.

This talk will look at some of the ways that bad guys will attempt to break into and take over your WordPress site, and will include a live demo of attacking a site. By understanding what techniques attackers use, you will gain insights into WordPress security which will help you keep your sites safe.

No matter the niche, website security is important to everyone doing business on the Internet. Simply existing on the Web turns users into virtual targets for digital thieves and opportunists.

While seemingly mysterious, and often over-complicated, proper security begins with a basic understanding of do’s and don’t’s, and why’s and why not’s. Let’s cut through the red tape and talk about what matters: knowing how to protect your WordPress site. Step one: Avoid The 7 Deadly Sins of WordPress Security.

A talk covering the various different ways to build themes and how using frameworks and child themes can significantly improve your workflow. A live coding session showing examples of frameworks and how they work. Followed by a Q&A.

Google Analytics is a data goldmine and it is completely free. Amazing1 The problem for many site owners is information overload from the moment you log in. After all, the idea is to use that data to improve the performance of your site. At the same time, how do you know where to begin? We’ll discuss the various options for implementing Google Analytics into your WordPress site and, once installed, where to focus your attention to get the most out of the traffic numbers it makes available to you. If you want to understand bounce rate, landing pages, exit pages, visitor loyalty and what these terms actually mean to you and your blog or business website, you’ll want to join us. The data tells a story if you know how to follow the plot.

Time to step up your SEO game on your WordPress site. I’ll dive into how businesses can utilize plugins to track conversions through their Google Analytics.

The internet has grown so great, that it is difficult to stand out and make yourself distinguishable. To attract and capture a solid audience, you have to be the peacock. You have to be bold and colorful. This session will teach you how to find your inner peacock, so that you can strut like no one has ever seen you strut before.

Successful WordPress entrepreneurs share the lessons learned while building a company from scratch and tell the tales of all the challenges and trials experienced along the way.

I’ve now been to about 15 WordCamps and discovered that they all have the same problems. First-time WordCampers seem kind of lost and by the end of the day they seem to feel like their head is going to explode from all of the information made available to them in such a short time. My talk would cover my 12-step program on how to get the most out of a WordCamp and how to start giving back to the Community immediately.

With thousands of functions in the WordPress codebase, it’s virtually impossible to remember all of them. We’ll cover some overlooked WordPress core functions that you may not know exist. We’ll walk through some practical examples for their use, and give you a variety of new gems you can use every day.

Integrating WordPress with a popular JavaScript Framework such as Backbone or Angular.

We’ll discuss how to speed up your site using caching via easy plugins like WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache, transients, and server site options like Memcache, APC, and Batcache.

In developing an online voice, higher education faculty face many challenges and a distinct lack of institutional support. Yet there is an enormous opportunity to improve student learning, improve faculty productivity, and reduce costs for faculty through WordPress and related technologies.

Malartu Inc is a non-profit project launched in Michigan to help provide WordPress sites and technologies to higher ed faculty. After a couple years of planning and experimentation, the project is launching its first sites in summer 2014 using a WP multi-site/multi-network installation. A BuddyPress/Commons-in-a-Box implemenation is added to develop a social network space for collaboration within and between schools.

This session will explore the challenges, benefits, and risks of creating a multi-user / mulit-site community with social network features. The presentation is oriented towards: anyone in higher education and power users/developers interested in multi-site or BuddyPress.

A developer-oriented talk about how to use AJAX inside of WordPress, and what it can be used for.

Successful WordPress entrepreneurs share the lessons learned while building a company from scratch and tell the tales of all the challenges and trials experienced along the way.

This session takes users who are looking to expand their knowledge of WordPress hooks for theme and plugin development. I’ll walk them through what hooks are, first and foremost, the WordPress core page load (ie when certain hooks fire), the anatomy of the various hook functions, and finally some examples of common ways they are used.

Successful WordPress entrepreneurs share the lessons learned while building a company from scratch and tell the tales of all the challenges and trials experienced along the way.

Want to sell a service or product? In this session, Justin Ferriman will review the only 100% guaranteed way to generate leads (and ultimately sales) for your offering.

Taking your WordPress skills from newbie to intermediate has it’s share of hurdles. This talk will walk you through some big no-nos when it comes to maintaining your WordPress website or blog. Learn from my mistakes and keep your visitors on your site and coming back for more.