Mary Anne Shew is president and founder of Business Vitality LLC and has been developing and maintaining web sites since 1998 when clip art was considered high-level art. In the years since, she has stubbornly refused to use tools like Photoshop and Dreamweaver to punch out code (although she used the latter for managing sites) and hand-coded all of her clients’ sites. Eighteen months ago she saw the light and dived into the world of WordPress. Since then she has taken it to heart and beaten it into submission so she can build great sites for her clients without extensive manual labor. In this presentation she will share her successes and failures, tips and tricks, and answer your questions of how to build a great business with WordPress as the foundation.

1. For Fun and Profit
Mixing Business & WP
Mary Anne Shew
www.BizVitality.com
ROC WP 03/16/2015

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• Started making web sites in 1998
 First client: About.com’s Rochester NY site
 Hand-coded HTML + used clip art
 FTP, hosting console, email setup, etc.
• Thru 2013 hand-coded sites (Dreamweaver)
 Created modest graphics (Fireworks)
 Used ASP for “includes” (repeatable snippets)
 Learned basic CSS (TopStyle)
ABOUT ME

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• 2004: Formally added business coaching
 Had been informally coaching to get
marketing info sm biz clients didn’t have
 Became certified business coach
 Business owners, professionals as clients
 Maybe a site involved, often not
• 2013: WordPress here to stay
• Am I in or out of the web site business?
ABOUT ME
+ Biz
Coaching

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• 2014 focus: Learn WP and all it entails
• Hired experienced WP developers to help
me through the hard parts of first few
client sites (and my own)
• Did two client sites on my own successfully
• Decided I was still IN the web site business
ABOUT ME

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Business First
Add WordPress
Profit from the Mix
Mixing Business
& WordPress

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Business First
A. Selling a service creating web sites
for businesses
B. Selling something other than web
sites and using your web site to:
• Market your business
• Sell online
• Both
YOUR BUSINESS IS FOCUSED ON EITHER…

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A. It’s a fast, flexible, reliable, (relatively)
safe, (relatively) easy tool for creating
client web sites.
B. You need/want to build and run your
business web site yourself. Plus A above.
YOU’RE USING WORDPRESS BECAUSE…
Add
WordPress

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Profit from
the Mix
A. Producing high-value sites that clients
can afford and get business from.
B. Saving money by not paying a web
designer, especially in early stage of your
business.
YOUR PROFIT COMES FROM…

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• Marketing works the same way.
• All the site prep work is the same.
 Targeted audience, keywords, etc.
 Choose design.
 Site pages and hierarchy decided.
• Under the hood, it’s still a web site.
 Site architecture still made sense.
 Still have hosting console, FTP, etc.
HAPPY SURPRISES

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1. Make people want to do
business with you.
2. Make people want to buy
your product or service.
(Slide from 2007)
For Both A & B:
Marketing Goals

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For Both A & B:
Online (STILL) Just a Part of Strategy
Products
and
Services
Online
Marketing
Channels
Your
Billing
Process
Your
Sales
Process
Your
Product/
Service
Delivery
Process
Your
Customer
Service
Process
Offline
Marketing
Channels
Brochure
Business Card
Promotional
Items
Ads
Press Releases
Articles
Sponsorships
Your
Employees
and Subs
(Slide from 2006)

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Domain
Name
Web Site
Email
Address
Email Signature File
• Tag line
• Web site name
• Office/fax numbers
• HTML: Title, Metatags,
img ALT parameters
• Navigation
• Text-based content
What the USER sees
Web Site Components
Search
Engines
Links from
Other
Relevant
Sites
• Web sites
• E-zines
• Blogs
Newsletter
Forwarded
Newsletter
Purchased
Ads on
Other Sites
• Google
• Yahoo
• MSN
Word of
Mouth
You can control the “ovals.”
You can’t control the rest.
(Slide from 2007)
For Both A & B:
Online Marketing STILL Works the Same Way

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Products &
Services
Home Page *
* *
* = Link appears on every pg
About Us
History
Employment info (with PDF
application)
Map to Office
Mission/Values
Executive Profiles
Certifications, Awards
Press Releases
Privacy/Copyright Statements
SamplesClients/
Portfolio
* *
CONTACT INFO ON
EVERY PAGENews
Announcements
Events
List of clients
Testimonials
Samples of work
Photos of work
Description of benefits
How you do business
How to do business with you
Contact Us
*
For Both A & B:
Site Layout STILL Important
(Slide from 2007)

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web site hosting service
viewer’s
PC/Mac
Your PC/Mac
•dial-up
•RoadRunner
viewer’s Internet access
•dial-up
•RoadRunner
Internet browser
http://www.yourname.com
wp-content
folder
ftp software
(copy files--maybe)
Your
Internet access
If site designer is YOU:
• Red italic items cost you money
• Blue items cost you your time
(+ money if paid theme)
your share of hosting server
For Both A & B:
When Site Designer Is YOU
(Slide from 2007--modified)
your browser
WP Dashboard

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• Internal SEO still works the same:
 Page title, meta desc, paragraph tags,
image ALT/TITLE, file names, cross-links
• HTML still comes in very handy.
• CSS still part of it (but more complicated)
• Graphics became easier—now a puzzle of
good images that theme pulls together.
• Can set up pages for content very quickly.
• Changing navigation a breeze.
HAPPY SURPRISES

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• Theme? Child theme? Widgets? Plugins?
• Dashboard?
• Why doesn’t the installed theme look like
the demo??
• Where the heck is the menu?
• There’s only one menu in this theme? I
need TWO!
• Why isn’t there a home page?
• Categories versus tags?
“FUN” CHALLENGES

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• Where can I test site before it goes live?
• What do I do for backups? Restores?
• Whaddya mean I shouldn’t change the
theme’s CSS?
• How the heck do I create CHILD theme?
• Where are the <HEAD> meta tags?
• How do I overwrite uploaded files?
• Where does Google Analytics code go?
“FUN” CHALLENGES

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• Overall amount of development work is
the same; just allocated differently.
 WP requires installation on host.
 Less hand-coding but more pieces to
understand, choose, deal with.
 Theme tools vary considerably.
 WP not as easy to use as “sold.”
 I developed guide for clients who
blog.
WHAT I LEARNED

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• Ongoing WP, theme, and plugin updates
and backups are a MUST.
 Set expectations if client chooses not
to have me do that.
 Insist they do a backup themselves
after they make changes.
 Good idea to get to know your hosting
backup system also (ask me how I know).
WHAT I LEARNED

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• Overall amount of development work is
the same
 Less hand-coding but more pieces to
understand, choose, deal with.
 Understanding CSS is critical.
 WP and plugin security an ongoing
challenge.
 It’s not as easy to use as perceived.
 For clients who blog, set boundaries.
WHAT I LEARNED

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• Paid themes and plugins are worth the
money
 Paid themes less likely to be a security
risk.
 Paying for backup plugins are worth it.
• TRACK SUPPORT SITES and PASSWORDS
 See ROC WP FB>Files>customer_site_info_v1 .doc
WHAT I LEARNED

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• Keep a notebook!
 Develop standard list of your favorite
plugins.
 Where WP dashboard, theme, plugin
settings are.
 Make note of why you created each
bkup.
 Results when you try something new.
WHAT I LEARNED

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Learning WordPress is like raising a child—it
takes a village. Many have helped me, and
I’m happy to help you, if I can!
Mary Anne Shew
585-746-9140
mashew@BizVitality.com
Contact Me