I 2+ year retrospective of a WordPress user. Failures and success stories using the Website Platform and how the common website designer, manager, user can benefit from the use of WordPress and its supporting group of followers.

1. My Journey with WordPress
“In 20 Months, From Zero to I’m Ready to
Hand it Off Now!”
John Hughes, PGA
WordPress User
Entrepreneur

2. Who am I?
I am Not a Website Guy

3. My Office
• Outdoors
• No Wifi
• No Electricity

4. Where My Journey Started - 2010

5. Necessity is the Mother of Invention
December 2013
No Job
Limited Clientele
No Website
No Where to Coach
No $’s
What would be My
Mother of Invention?

6. First Rendition of Site

7. Coming Up Short

8. Coming Up Short
• No Phone Calls
• No Email Inquiries
• Failed to Delivery on Consistent Timely Content
• Failed at Compressing Images = Poor Loading Times
• Failed to Insure Proper/Just Enough Coding
• Failed to H1, H2, H3, Properly
• Failed to Delivery a Quality Message/Product to My Clientele
What Did this Equal?
Page 7+ Ranking and No $’s

9. Keep Par in Play
Golf
Making Decisions on the Course, Utilizing Your Current
Abilities, Capabilities, and Resources, which will Allow You to
Obtain the Target Score, One Shot at a Time.
WordPress
Making Decisions about your Site or Agency, Utilizing Your
Current Abilities, Capabilities, and Resources, which will Allow
You to Obtain the Objective of your Site or Company, One Site
or One Task at a Time.

10. Align Yourself
Golf
Setting Up Off-Target as much as 2° to a 150-Yard Target can Cause You
to Miss the Target by 75 feet or More to Either Side
WordPress
DIY – Lots of Targets
Site
Hosting
Themes
Plugins
Security
TIME!

11. Align Yourself
January 11, 2014 – My First Encounter w/Orlando WordPress Meet-Up
Totally Lost!
February 9 – Reincarnation of JohnHughesGolf.com

12. Short Game
• Changed Theme – You Get What You Pay For
• Changed Focus
• Content
• Target Market and Buying Persona
• Eliminated Auto-Booking Calendar/Gateway
• Changed Schedule
• Early Mornings, Late Nights, Weekends
• Regular Schedule for Content
• Continued to Come to WP Orlando Meetings, Workshops, and
WORDCAMPS

13. Drive for Dough - SEO
Golf – “You Drive for Show and You Putt for Dough”
SEO is the “Dough” of Website Development
Local KeyWord Strategy
Alt Tags
H1, H2, H3 Tags
Compressed Images
Great Content that “Flows”
Linking Strategy

14. What it Looks Like Now
Its what you don’t see below the photos that kills
this site - 83% bounce from the Home Page

15. What a Great WordPress Website Did For Me
2015-16 Improvements
278% Increase Gross
900% Net Profit
SEO – Ranking Page 1 for 6 of 10 Targeted Organic Keyword Searches
Unique Visits – Increased 241%
Return Visits - Increase of 326%
Email List – 277% Increase in First Time Entries
But What Else Can I do to Improve?

16. Is the Site Doing All it Can Do?
KASD
Keep Par In Play, Align, Short Game, Drive for Dough
More Mentoring ($’s this Time) and More Coffee
New Theme – Linkable Buttons, Improved Look, Easier Navigation
More Speed – Dedicated Hosting, Debug Coding, Improved CDN
SEO – Better Compression, Revised/More Content
Data Collection – Subscription Video Page, Improved CTA’s

17. What Will it Look Like?
dev.johnhughesgolf.com/

18. Live Sites
Instant Improvement Golf School
GolfSchool.golf OrlandoGolfLesson.net
OrlandoGolfCoach.com Florida CMM Group Ventures, Inc.

19. In Development
Landing Pages
OrlandoGolfTeachers.com
OrlandoGolfTeacher.com
Golf Schools
UltimateGolfSchool.golf
HawksLandingGolfExperience.com
Rental Real Estate
DisneyVacationVillas.com
SouthernDunesVacationRentals.com

20. Users of WordPress – The Secret Sauce
• K.A.S.D.
• Education – attend all the WP events you can
• Hosting
• SiteGround
• Just Host
• Themes
• ThemeForest
• Elegant
• SEO
Google Tools SEMRush OptimizeMySite.com
Moz.com KissMetrics.com CrazyEgg
• Plugins
WordFence (Premium) WPMain/Child JetPack
Yoast SEO Atomic Writer MailChimp
W3 Total Cache/Comet Cache Google Analytics Gravity Forms
WPCleanFix Winsite I/O BJ Lazy Load

21. Developers of WordPress
Keep Par In Play
Clients are Looking for Transparency and True Capabilities
Under Sell and Over Deliver!
Alignments
Who, What, and Why are You Aligned?
Short Game and Objectives
Alignment with your Long Game/Objectives?
Drive for Dough
What is Your Strategy to Drive Dough to Your Clients’ Sites?

22. What’s Next?
Continuing the Journey/Creating More w/WordPress
Handing Things Off Soon
Making Myself Proud
John Hughes
John@JohnHughesGolf.com
407-852-8547