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Interview with Ryan Sullivan on LoopConf

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Community, Events, Featured

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November 12, 2014

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Over the past month or so, there’s been lots of hype surrounding LoopConf, a niche-Wordpress conference specifically for developers. The conference aims to provide an opportunity for WordPress developers, regardless of their background, to come together to tackle more advanced engineering and development. There are going to be topics that are geared toward enterprise level engineers, but we’ll also have sessions that are great for intermediate or self-taught WordPress developers who are looking to take that next step in their careers, Ryan Sullivan, event organizer indicated in an interview. If you love to code, and love to code on the WordPress […]

Improve Your Blog’s Design with These Style-Enhancing WordPress Plugins

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November 11, 2014

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When people ask me what the best thing about using WordPress is, I generally tell them that it’s the huge number of plugins available, which allows even programming-illiterate webmasters to add some awesome functionality to their website. Most WordPress users will choose an attractive theme to handle the design elements of their website. While this is encouraged — the theme provides the framework for your design, including layout, colors, and widget areas — there are also some fantastic plugins out there to make your website look pretty impressive. Today I want to introduce some of the best style-enhancing WordPress plugins […]

Interview with Mark Forrester, Co-Founder of WooThemes

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November 6, 2014

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WooCommerce is the most popular WordPress eCommerce plugin, powering roughly 18%, or more than 380,000, of websites across the Internet. With this growing WooCommerce community in mind, the very first WooConf — a conference focused solely around WooCommerce — was held earlier this week in San Francisco. Just one week after WordCamp San Francisco, WooConf was a success, selling out with more than 300 attendees. In the past year or so WooCommerce has experienced unyielding growth. For some perspective, consider this: there have been more than 1 million downloads since August, and more than 40 thousand downloads in the past three days. During WooConf, […]

Interview with Lori McLeese, HR Lead at Automattic

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Al Davis

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Published

November 5, 2014

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I first met Lori McLeese at the speakers’ dinner for WordCamp Montreal in 2013. We spent a fair bit of time that evening talking about the culture at Automattic. Not only had Lori traveled to Montreal for WordCamp but she was staying afterwards to attend one of the team meetings, or working sessions, that was happening in the city right after WordCamp. She also (unfortunately for her) sat through my session that weekend. So when I emailed her to ask if she would answer a few questions she willing agreed. She also provided some background info on the hiring process at Automattic. The hiring process Every resume […]

6 WordPress Plugins to Help Promote Your Content

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November 4, 2014

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Content marketing today involves two things: content creation and content promotion. Both are needed to achieve success in digital marketing, especially if your goals are to increase brand exposure and to improve monthly sales for your business. In this post, we will only focus on the second important phase in content marketing – that is content promotion. There are many ways to promote content but there are only a few strategies that work effective in getting results for the brand, i.e. bringing in traffic and potential clients/sales. To make those strategies easy to implement, content marketers would definitely need tools […]

Confessions of a (Former) WordCamp Organizer

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Al Davis

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October 31, 2014

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I have been fortunate enough over the years to have had many different roles at various WordCamps. I have been a speaker at WordCamps such as Victoria BC and Boston, a sponsor while in my role as a Product Manager for a major Canadian telco, and an organizer for several WordCamps in Toronto. So I think it’s fair to say that I have a unique perspective on the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to WordCamps. In this article, however, I’d like to talk about my experiences as an organizer. Organizing a WordCamp The most important person you will meet in your journey as […]

Highlights from WordCamp San Francisco 2014

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October 29, 2014

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Over the weekend, more than a thousand WordPress developers, professionals, and enthusiasts came together to attend the much-anticipated WordCamp San Francisco. The WordPress-centric event kicked off to a somewhat alarming start. . . Literally, the early morning talks were interrupted by a fire alarm, which resulted in some impromptu socializing on the sidewalks. The rest of the weekend unfolded quite perfectly, with a jam-packed venue, an exciting afterparty, and lots and lots of swag. Seriously though, I went home with 12 t-shirts. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from WCSF14! WordPress Global Many of the sessions at […]

Interview with Chris Lema on Thinking Strategically

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October 23, 2014

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Starting and growing a successful business requires focus, hard work, and a great deal of industry knowledge. Understanding how to select and appeal to a target market, increase efficiency, and grow revenue are just a few of the important facets that should be considered. To bridge this knowledge gap, hiring a third-party consultant to improve your company’s business strategy is a great option. For some strategic insight into business development we reached out to Chris Lema — CTO & Chief Strategist Crowdfavorite and speaker, coach, and daily blogger. Q: How did you start? A: From 1997 until 2006 I worked in five software startups in San Francisco. I […]

5 Free Lightbox Plugins to Create Beautiful Popup Boxes

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Published

October 23, 2014

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To find more great plugins, check out Torque’s free eBook, The Ultimate Guide to WordPress Plugins. Download it here.  Lightboxes are one of the oldest and most popular functionalities of plugin-extended WordPress media management. Whether you’re a freelancer trying to make your portfolio more appealing to clients, or a restaurant owner trying to entice new customers with sumptuous pictures of your delicacies, your website can benefit from a lightbox plugin. Due to their popularity, there’s a seemingly never-ending list of lightbox plugins at the WordPress.org plugin repository (and even more premium ones outside of it). If you’ve been inundated with […]

Is It Time for More Niche WordCamps?

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Published

October 22, 2014

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One very useful thing I’ve come to understand about attending a WordCamp is the need to specialize, to find my niche. This is something that’s been emphasized time and time again at WordCamp sessions. Taking that excellent advice is a part of the reason that, when I go to a WordCamp, I attend very few talks, as very few of them apply to me. Of course, I’ve also learned that there is more to a WordCamp than just attending talks. The last WordCamp I went to, WordCamp DFW, I only went to one talk besides the keynote — an incredible speech by […]

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