WordCamp Cincinnati 2016

How higher education (and non-profits) can use WordPress to reach their specific audiences. Examples will be provided by faculty. Those who will attend will be able to hear different perspectives from faculty regarding the use of communication technology, and why University of Cincinnati College of Arts & Sciences, and Department of Communication specifically, supported the WordCamp event.

How higher education (and non-profits) can use WordPress to reach their specific audiences. Examples will be provided by faculty. Those who will attend will be able to hear different perspectives from faculty regarding the use of communication technology, and why University of Cincinnati College of Arts & Sciences, and Department of Communication specifically, supported the WordCamp event.

How higher education (and non-profits) can use WordPress to reach their specific audiences. Examples will be provided by faculty. Those who will attend will be able to hear different perspectives from faculty regarding the use of communication technology, and why University of Cincinnati College of Arts & Sciences, and Department of Communication specifically, supported the WordCamp event.

Did you know WordPress has a great phone app so you can manage your website with your phone? In this session I will cover how to use the WordPress mobile app to write and manage pages and posts as well as add your own photos. Bonus: learn some of the best phone apps to fix your photos!

Want to make recurring income? Want to offer special things to members? Overwhelmed by the deluge of complex E-commerce offerings?

In 30 minutes we’ll cover the basics of adding Subscriptions and Memberships to your WordPress site using WooCommerce. We’ll also touch on some basic security best practices to keep your store safe and secure.

Session Slides

Multisite is a WordPress feature which allows users to create a network of sites on a single WordPress installation. There are a number of practical uses for such networks, and several configuration options. We’ll start with an overview of multisite configuration options and the practical uses of each (with business model examples). Then we’ll survey the SSL (e.g. https) implications for each configuration, including common problems. We’ll conclude with some how-to instructions, plus Q&A.

Session Slides

The WordPress community is built and maintained by volunteers, using the same methods — and many of the same tools — that are used to make WordPress itself. In this session, you’ll get a look at the WordPress community’s “source code” and learn how to contribute to the growth of your local community — or create a community if you don’t already have one.

Session Slides

Over the past we’ve experienced a number of pains when trying to build themes using the out-of-the-box template structure provided by WordPress. The Timber plugin is a comprehensive solution to help solve these development woes. Timber streamlines template development into a much more “standards” based MVC approach that developers can more easily understand than the core WordPress constructs. Break out of the loop, and get choppin’ with Timber.

Session Slides

What is a Plugin and How Can You Use One?
Adding and Managing Plugins
Accessing the Plugin Editor
Recommended Plugins
Allowing Others Access To Your Site: User Management

User Roles
Adding New Users
Editing Profile
Tools: Press This, Import and Export
Import and Export
And more!

Theme & Templates
Changing the Appearance of Your Site
Themes: What are they and what do they do for you?
Changing Your Theme
Managing the Home Page of This Particular Theme
Adding and Managing Widgets
Adding and Displaying Custom Menus
Accessing the Theme Editor
Expanding The Functionality of Your Site With Plugins

Adding Content To Your WordPress Website
Pages Versus Posts: What’s the Difference?
The Importance of Regular, Relevant Content
Planning Your Parent and Child Pages
Adding Pages
Planning Your Posts: Categories and Tags
Adding Posts
Getting Familiar With The ToolBar
Publishing Options: Status, Visibility, Schedule
Adding Media: Photos, Videos, Documents
Managing Existing Posts and Pages Quickly
Managing Comments
Moderating Comments

Customizing Your Dashboard

Dashboard: Media
Dashboard: Pages
Dashboard: Comments
Dashboard: Appearance
Dashboard: Plugins
Dashboard: Users
Dashboard: Tools
Screen Options

WordPress 101 is a full-day workshop designed for those who are just getting started with WordPress, or who may not even have a WordPress website yet.

Below is a brief outline of the topics covered.

What IS WordPress Anyway? On overview of the software.

WordPress.com vs Self-Hosted WordPress
Installing WordPress
Adjusting The General Settings

Review the General Settings
Review Your Writing Settings
Review Your Reading Settings
Review Your Discussion Settings
Review Your Media Settings
Getting to Know Your Dashboard

In this discussion, I’ll show money-saving hacks using free or single-cost plugins to create free or low-cost versions of premium services promoted to bloggers as the “end-all, be-all” solution to their blogging problems.

First, we’ll talk email list: how to use Mailchimp for free (or $9/mo if you’re willing to invest a little bit) rather than the more expensive options like ConvertKit (which starts at $29/mo). Then we’ll go through how to spend $20 one time to grow your list with fake Leadpages popup boxes and landing pages (normally $25 per month or more!).

Next we’re going to create an editorial calendar for your WordPress posts and email list. We’ll talk about free plugins you can use rather than CoSchedule ($15+ per month).

Finally, we’re going to discuss design. We’ll talk two money-saving solutions: how to use free programs or Adobe Creative Cloud ($50 per month if you want to invest) rather than hiring a graphic designer, and how to use a $20 plugin to customize your WordPress web design rather than paying hundreds for a custom site!

Session Slides

According to research by BrightLocal, 64% of local customers use online search engines and online directories as their primary method for finding local businesses. Only 28% of people use traditional paper directories.

Times have changed, and digital marketing is upon us. If you are a locally-based service business, it is essential that your website is optimized correctly and that you have properly claimed local directory profiles, Additionally, it is important that you optimize your local citations/links and have established a solid review strategy.

Session Slides

Search Engine Optimization is multi-faceted. There are several plug-ins, but I prefer Premium SEO because it takes all of these facets into account. I will cover the main features of Premium SEO and also discuss SEO strategies that work for most WordPress plugins.

One of the most important parts of building a WordPress site from scratch, is brainstorming and building out the various types of data, and how they relate to each other.

In this talk we will cover:
Creating Custom Post Types
Creating Custom Taxonomies
Using Metadata for CPT’s and taxonomies
How best to make relationships between these two data types.
How to build performant queries.
And lastly we will look at some basic caching techniques that we can employ with Transients and/or Object Cache to make these queries even more performant.

What content and functionality get the most use? What WordPress tools can help you add that content and functionality to your business online?

In this WordCamp Cincinnati presentation, you’ll learn six things you can do immediately to better tell your business’ or organization’s story and share it online in ways using WordPress that attracts the customers you want to reach. See and hear about the topics and formats that people want to find on your website — and which WordPress functionality and plugins to use to put your message in their hands. Examples will include tools for:

• Researching and writing topics efficiently
• Managing workflow and coordinating the work of internal and external contributors
• Setting up content to be found in search
• Social sharing
• Add powerful images to your content
• How to help customers contact you

Session Slides

I have designed a lot of WordPress sites and I like to think my sites don’t look like they are themes. But because of my news design experience, I know how to size photos and images properly, how to get in and change and tweak the code and basically, I have developed design hacks or use plugins that make my life worth living.

This talk is to teach people why and how to get off shared hosting for WordPress. We will go over the details for picking the host right for your site as well as the reasons why shared hosting can be a great place to start, but should quickly be moved into your own environment.

Handling all aspects of your business can be tough, especially in the digital age where content is king. So with all your responsibilities, how can you manage marketing, services, and content? Perhaps it’s time to hire a copywriter. They take away the burden of creating enticing and engaging content, making your life easier than you imagined! So how do you know if it’s time to hire a copywriter?

Session Slides

A local development server has become essential to working with WordPress. There are many different options for users to use such as MAMP/WAMP, Vagrant/VVV, Homestead, Docker, etc.  Over the last year while working as a WordPress developer with clients and at my position in higher education, I have found Vagrant or VVV (Varying Vagrant Vagrants ) to be a streamlined tool that enables a rapidly built development environment on both Mac and Windows. I will be discussing why to choose Vagrant, and how Vagrant can aid you in streamlining your local development environment process. In additional I will be demonstrating how to install Vagrant and what tools can be used to quickly generate the local web development environment for your specific project. So bring your computers and questions. By the end of session you will walk away with a local development environment you can leverage to accelerate your WordPress projects.

Bridget Willard started her career with office work, earned a teaching degree, but returned to the office where she carved out a career in social media and marketing and ended up at a WordPress Plugin Development Shop. Currently, she is the Marketing Manager for WordImpress, whose flagship plugin is GiveWP — an online donation plugin. She is also the co-host of WPblab, and co-organizer of the Women in WordPress meetup in Huntington Beach, California. She blogs about social media and, of course, WordPress on her site at www.bridgetwillard.com. Please check out her blog and give her a warm Cincinnati welcome!

Session Slides

Want to learn how to get the most out of this WordCamp? Attend our first keynote and learn all about the power of networking!

Podcasts are rising in popularity and allow you to connect more personally with an audience. You can share your passions, or build your business. Learn the plugins, tools, and techniques you’ll need to launch and host a successful podcast from your own WordPress-powered website.

Let’s discuss Rich Pins. Did you know there are 6 types of Rich Pins? The difference in each will be discussed as well as how to your prepare your website with the meta tags needed. Pinterest has to approve your application but once you understand the process, it is easy.

So what is a Rich Pin? Basically, Rich Pins are Pins that include a lot of extra information right on the Pin itself.

We will also discuss the different sized images needed for Pinterest and other platforms.

Logan takes the audience through the structure of a WordPress site’s security posture, dispelling common misconceptions and elaborating on perceived security overlaps. The session explains the differences between plugin-based security and external solutions, as well as how they best work together. In easy-to-understand terms, Logan also touches on basic hosting configuration best practices and security control spheres. Whether just getting started in WordPress or a seasoned developer, this talk has something for every WordPresser.

Session Slides

Search engines handle billions of searches every day. Optimize your website so people actively looking can find you. Learn what you should be doing on every page and how WordPress and Yoast make it easy to position your site to rank better. I’ll cover important SEO tips and a strategy to move your site up the rankings.

Session Slides

Whatever you’re trying to achieve through your WordPress site, relevant content must be part of your formula for success. You might have the world’s most amazing logo, design, search optimization, mobile-friendly features, and everything else a good WordPress site should offer. But without tangible, authentic, and valuable content to offer up, that beautiful, functional site will remain an empty, lonely shell.

Find out how to generate content that will reach and engage your intended target. By applying some fundamentals of good old-fashioned journalism and editorial strategy, you can crack the code on producing what today’s consumers of content really want.

This session will cover:
– Identifying which content areas or topics you should focus on
– Choosing which media will work best for you (articles, videos, e-books, etc.)
– Creating an editorial plan and calendar
– Getting your content out to your desired audience
– How to use your content to achieve your goals

Throughout the presentation, you’ll see illustrative examples of WordPress content at its best, with tips and takeaways to improve your own site.

Session Slides

Teaching through Online Courses & eLearning is booming and WordPress along with some cool plugins are making it easier than ever. In this session, I will share why you should consider creating online courses and how to do it.

We will discuss which tools, plugins, and resources to use to create, host and sell your online courses (starting with WordPress, of course!). I’ll talk about how you can package your intellectual property and make online courses to sell. We will then give case studies of successful online courses and how they were able to leverage the power of online courses to teach more effectively and grow their audience.

(I believe that learning how to properly teach online and package it together using WordPress based tools is a very popular topic and something that many will want to learn about in my session.)

How higher education (and non-profits) can use WordPress to reach their specific audiences. Examples will be provided by faculty. Those who will attend will be able to hear different perspectives from faculty regarding the use of communication technology, and why University of Cincinnati College of Arts & Sciences, and Department of Communication specifically, supported the WordCamp event.

In this talk, the audience can expect to learn about creating successful content strategies for their WordPress sites and blogs. I will cover creating an editorial calendar, using analytics and research to generate content ideas, and providing a report back to leadership regarding the success (or not) of a WordPress site or blog.

We all know a picture is worth 1,000 words, so what are your images saying to current and future readers?

The internet is a highly visual medium, and Photo Stylist and Creative Director Tamia Stinson breaks down five simple tips for taking better photos (even with your phone!), which apps to use to easily edit pictures and create professional-looking graphics, the best ways to use imagery to attract readers to your content (and maybe even get them to read it), and how to get more mileage out of your images on social media.

Whether you’re a freelancer, blogger, business owner, or hobbyist, you’ll leave with actionable information and the knowledge to create compelling visual content for your site.

Session Slides

The new WordPress REST API comes with a lot of functionality out of the box. This functionality can be coupled with new, powerful JavaScript technology to create fast, responsive, interfaces. In this session I will attempt to show how to utilize the new WP-API to create a REST interface for serving up posts. I will then construct a simple UI in React to access and display those posts. Along the way we will touch on Bootstrap, Postman, Webpack, Redux, and React-Router.

Session Slides

Learn the basics and some advanced tricks of WordPress plugin development as we code a new plugin from scratch live in the session. We will also dissect the Hello Dolly plugin and insert our own favorite song lyrics. This session will demonstrate how to create a complete plugin from scratch and make it work with any WordPress site. Topics covered include hooks, content manipulation, some of WordPress’ most powerful APIs that are utilized by plugins. By the time the session has completed, attendees will have the skills to develop plugins from scratch using simple PHP and the WordPress API.

Session Slides

Does the thought of creating video content scare the crap out of you? Have you wanted to begin creating video content but don’t know where to start? In this session you will learn the basics of video production from the equipment to use and what makes great video content as well as resources to help you become better educated in editing and producing your video content. We’ll also address live streaming and how it can be an easy useful tool to reach your audience.

What if you could sell without selling? By blogging about your business you create something your future, past and current clients want to follow. Stay top of mind by creating great content that they will want to come back to and share. We want to do business with people we know and trust not some stranger or robot. Story marketing is so important to create loyalty and cheerleaders for your business. With social media like Pinterest having a blog now is more important than ever! Control the conversation and help others fall in love with your brand!

Session Slides

Over the past we’ve experienced a number of pains when trying to build themes using the out-of-the-box template structure provided by WordPress. The Timber plugin is a comprehensive solution to help solve these development woes. Timber streamlines template development into a much more “standards” based MVC approach that developers can more easily understand than the core WordPress constructs. Break out of the loop, and get choppin’ with Timber.

Session Slides

As more developers move their environments to virtual machines, the need for a good debugging system grows. Amongst the myriad of options we are given, some exceed expectations and make this process as needed as it is easy to put in place.
In this session, I will debug a complete WordPress installation on a Vagrant machine with PhpStorm, Google Chrome and Xdebug, step by step with real project examples so the audience can easily follow along throughout the session.

Session Slides

It’s often heard off the lips of Drupal engineers and Joomla fans – “WordPress is just a blogging platform.” While blogging is of course a strong suit, it’s only scratching the surface of what we can accomplish. Using custom post types, taxonomies, fields, and metas, we can build almost anything we could want on WordPress, from a storefront to a forum and so much more.

With this talk, I intend to prove the “just a blog” crowd wrong in the most extreme way – by using WordPress and some creative thinking to build out a full-fledged tabletop RPG game system framework, with onboarding lessons, forums, maps, and more. We’ll discuss how these can be set up and developed to understand the how and why, then open the floor for questions. Buckle in – it’s about to get fun.

In WordPress there are infinite ways to create the perfect site. But there are a handful of ways to correctly customize WordPress.

This session will cover the wrong ways to customize a site, the right ways and even how to create a plugin to house custom changes.

Session Slides

This presentation will focus on businesses and individuals using WordPress to deliver their message and grow.
– Determining your web strategy
– Why WordPress is a good fit
– Effective planning and implementation
– Turning visitors in customer
– Managing maintenance and enhancements