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Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.</p>\n<p>In this episode, Brian and Brian continue their discussion on WordPress market opportunities with a focus on the upper-market and enterprise clients. They take a look at discovery projects, pitching WordPress against competing platforms, and considerations to make before pitching on these high-budget projects. There are plenty of positives and negatives when working on long-term projects that may have a dramatic impact on your company in many ways.</p>\n<p>In addition to these market opportunities, the boys also discuss recent news including iThemes acquisition by Liquid Web, a welcome change to the WordPress.org plugin directory, and an unfortunate and far-reaching bug that shipped with the 4.9.3 release last week.</p>\n<p></p>\n<h3>Links</h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://poststatus.com/liquid-web-acquired-ithemes/\">Liquid Web acquires iThemes</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://generatewp.com/new-policy-changes-wordpress-plugin-directory/\">Plugin directory notice changes</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/02/06/wordpress-4-9-4-release-the-technical-details/\">4.9.4 technical details</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://wpsessions.com/sessions/infusing-websites-brand-voice/\">Infusing Websites with Brand Voice</a><a href=\"https://wpsessions.com/teams\">WPS Team Training</a></li>\n</ul>\n<h3>Sponsor: WooCommerce</h3>\n<p><a href=\"https://woocommerce.com/\">WooCommerce</a> makes the most customizable eCommerce software on the planet, and it’s the most popular too. 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We discussed recent updates to DesktopServer and received a progress report on 4.0. Marc also shared some of the struggles the team encountered throughout 2017.</p>\n<p>We learned what&#8217;s new with <a href=\"https://wpsitesync.com/\">WP SiteSync</a> and what customers can look forward too later this year. We also talked about <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2017/12/08/marc-benzakein-fat-happy-and-fifty/\">Marc&#8217;s journey</a> of becoming a healthier person both physically and mentally. He recalls the issues he had to overcome and shares advice on how others can improve their health.</p>\n<h2>Stories Discussed:</h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-3-3-1-released-addresses-template-conflicts\">WooCommerce 3.3.1 Released, Addresses Template Conflicts</a><br />\n<a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-4-fixes-critical-auto-update-bug-in-4-9-3\">WordPress 4.9.4 Fixes Critical Auto Update Bug in 4.9.3</a><br />\n<a href=\"https://thehackernews.com/2018/02/wordpress-dos-exploit.html\">Unpatched DoS Flaw Could Help Anyone Take Down WordPress Websites</a></p>\n<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>\n<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, February 14th 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-weekly/id694849738\">WordPress Weekly via Itunes</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://www.wptavern.com/feed/podcast\">WordPress Weekly via RSS</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wordpress-weekly-podcast?refid=stpr\">WordPress Weekly via Stitcher Radio</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ir3keivkvwwh24xy7qiymurwpbe\">WordPress Weekly via Google Play</a></p>\n<p><strong>Listen To Episode #304:</strong><br />\n</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 08 Feb 2018 01:48:04 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:55:\"HeroPress: Becoming a Better Designer Through WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2441\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:142:\"https://heropress.com/essays/becoming-better-designer-wordpress/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=becoming-better-designer-wordpress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19189:\"<img width=\"960\" height=\"480\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/020718-1024x512.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pull Quote: The connections I\'ve made, the skills I\'ve honed, and the mentorship I\'ve received have all contributed to making me the designer I am today.\" /><h3>The early years</h3>\n<p>I’ve always been an art kid. One of my first school memories is of drawing a clown and my art teacher being so enamored with it, she hung it up on her door for the whole year.</p>\n<p>The first time in my educational life I didn’t take an art class was my first year of college. By the end of the year, my fingers were itching and I was ready to scream — I had to take art. It didn’t take long for me to declare a Studio Art minor, which eventually became an Arts and Technology minor my senior year.</p>\n<p>I’ve also always been an internet kid. We received our first internet-connected Windows desktop in 1997. I’ll never forget the sound of dial-up as I signed into AOL, day after day for years to come. When my older brother started working for an ISP, we were able to go beyond just using AOL to connect, and I started spending more time exploring websites (rather than just AOL’s apps and chat rooms). I wanted to be like my older brother and learn how to make sites. I taught myself basic HTML by using View Source on existing sites — even back then, I was benefiting from the open web!</p>\n<p>Angelfire was my earliest web canvas. A couple of my friends eventually got into making websites, but I was always a little disdainful of them for using Homestead’s GUI builder, while I was making my sites from scratch. I had a blast making image-rich personal and fan sites with tables and HTML styles. Landing a copy of Photoshop Elements in high school only intensified my enjoyment of web design. I kept that passion up through college, when I found my first design gig.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/old_web_site.jpg\"><img class=\"size-large wp-image-2442 aligncenter\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/old_web_site-1024x479.jpg\" alt=\"Old Website, best viewed on AOL\" width=\"960\" height=\"449\" /></a></p>\n<h3>Could this be a career?</h3>\n<p>My first year of college got off to a bit of a rough financial start. By the time my financial aid was finalized and I was finally able to pick a work study job, my options were pretty limited. A dance professor needed an assistant to help her with some photocopying and organization tasks, along with helping her build out a print and web portfolio.</p>\n<p>I was honestly a terrible assistant, but I did a pretty good job with the design work. I continued to refine my skills working in the computers labs in subsequent years, and in my Junior year of college (ten years ago!) I landed an internship at a local web design agency. That internship turned into a part-time job, which opened up doors to more local web design opportunities, and soon I was graduating college and pretty well situated into the start of my career.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/early-site.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2443\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/early-site-1024x666.jpg\" alt=\"Skeumorphic website design that looks like a notepad with pen ink all over it.\" width=\"960\" height=\"624\" /></a></p>\n<p>It was at these agencies that I started learning how to build WordPress websites. I’d used WordPress a couple times in college and felt comfortable with it, but now I was focusing a lot more on building my skills as a designer and front-end developer. My girlfriend (who was working at the same web agency) and I managed to convince our boss to start letting us create totally custom websites, rather than customizing existing themes, and that opened up a whole new world of design opportunities.</p>\n<h3>My first WordCamp</h3>\n<p>It was around then that my girlfriend, who attended WordCamp NYC the previous year, noticed the conference organizers were <a href=\"https://2010.nyc.wordcamp.org/volunteer-designer-needed/\">looking for some volunteer designers</a> to help create some graphics. She passed along the information, and I got in touch.</p>\n<p>I collaborated with a few other designers to create the WordCamp branding, which was used across the website, t-shirt, signage, and stickers:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/wcnyc.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2444\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/wcnyc.png\" alt=\"WCNYC Banner\" width=\"429\" height=\"286\" /></a></p>\n<p>It was amazing to see it everywhere at the WordCamp. It felt really special. Though I didn’t get “props” for this, I still consider it my first contribution to WordPress.</p>\n<p>WordCamp NYC was a ton of fun. I met interesting people, learned a lot about WordPress, and started to get a feel for the community. I left with a desire to get more involved. I browsed through WordPress.org, stumbling upon the “Make” section. I was stoked to see that there was a design group. I couldn’t write much code beyond CSS, but I could contribute my design skills. I joined a couple of the core channels on IRC, including the design channel (#wordpress-ui), and observed for while. I watched how the other designers in the project communicated, what they worked on, where they presented their work, etc. By observing before participating, I could learn the social queues and mores of the community. I didn’t want to embarass myself — I wanted to do things the established way based on community standards.</p>\n<p>What I found to be one of the most difficult parts of contributing was adapting to the technology used to build WordPress. I had to learn how to use command line and SVN. Getting set up in SVN and terminal was probably the biggest thing that stopped me from contributing code during my early years.</p>\n<p>But most of all, it came down to conquering fear. Fear that my design skills would be unwanted and unwelcome; fear that other contributors would look down on me or ignore me, or that they’d find me irritating; fear that I just wasn’t good enough to contribute. Some of this fear persists today, albeit greatly reduced.</p>\n<p>There’s a point at which I managed to conquer a little bit of that fear, stop observing, and really start to pitch in. Slowly, I started chiming in and volunteering for design tasks in IRC and the Make Design p2. I ended up doing a lot of small projects on the community side (rather than the core side) at first — some new landing pages and redesigns of sections on WordPress.org, graphics, and design for my own local meetups. I started feeling more and more confident with my contributions.</p>\n<h3>Core Props</h3>\n<p>By this point, I had done some wireframes and mockups for the core WordPress software — I’d even spoken at a WordCamp! — but I hadn’t actually gotten any code committed. Which meant, at this point in time, I didn’t have any “core props.” I was still really intimidated by Trac and SVN. I was a designer, and most design conversations happened in explicitly design space. But I really wanted to get some code committed into core, so I needed to find a CSS bug I felt qualified to fix.</p>\n<p>At WordCamp Philly in 2012, I finally got a chance. Sunday was devoted to contributing to WordPress. There were experienced core contributors present who could teach people how to make a patch, how to submit a ticket, and suggest tickets for people to work on.</p>\n<p>Aaron Jorbin, a core contributor and fellow speaker (and, now a friend), found a CSS issue I could work on: bringing the alternate “blue” color scheme into sync with the default “grey” scheme. He helped me get set up, helped me through saving my changes as a patch, and then helped me submit that patch to Trac. Andy Nacin, another core contributor (and future friend!) subsequently committed that patch, and I received my first core props.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/first-props2.png\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2445\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/first-props2-1024x370.png\" alt=\"Screenshot of ticket giving Mel props\" width=\"960\" height=\"347\" /></a></p>\n<p>After creating my first patch, contributing became easier and easier. My confidence grew, and I spent more time participating in IRC, p2s, and Trac discussions. Then, in January of 2013, major design changes started coming to WordPress.</p>\n<h3>My WordPress apprenticeship</h3>\n<p>It started with icons.</p>\n<p>Ben Dunkle, WordPress’s official icon designer, proposed some shiny new icons for the WordPress dashboard. They were “flat” — one color, not a ton of details. The icons were awesome, but they didn’t really fit stylistically with the rest of the admin. The flat styles clashed with WordPress’ heavy use of gradients.</p>\n<p>So, I helped imagine what the admin could look like totally flat. We tried out a couple ideas, got them committed, and refined in code. The stark styles looked really fresh after years of gradients!</p>\n<p>Unfortunately, flattening the admin unearthed a whole lot of other issues. There wasn’t enough time to flesh out the new design before the next version of WordPress launched, so the flat styles got reverted and tabled for another time.</p>\n<p>Pretty soon after, I received an email via my site’s contact form:</p>\n<p><em><strong>Name</strong>: Matt</em><br />\n<em><strong> Comment</strong>: Add me on Skype when you get a chance.</em></p>\n<p>I think my heart stopped when I realized I had been emailed by the co-founder of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg. Matt invited me to come join a group that would take a broader look at redesigning the admin (codenamed “MP6”). It meant a lot for someone as important as Matt to recognize my skills. I spent a lot of my early years as a designer plagued with self-doubt, and suddenly I had someone pointing at me, going “I believe in you!”</p>\n<p>I leapt at the chance.</p>\n<p>Our group worked together on Skype. We quickly scoped the goal of MP6 to only update CSS and a little bit of JS. I helped Ben make some new vector icons, gave feedback and critiqued design proposals, and made some design proposals of my own. It was an intimate group where we all felt free to safely share and critique each other’s work. The mentorship I received from more experienced WordPress designers was invaluable to my growth. Working with these veterans of WordPress really helped me to grow into my fledgling wings.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2013/10/23/mp6-3-8-proposal/\">WordPress 3.8 shipped with the updated admin interface</a>, and I knew it was time to take my design career to a new level.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/4-8-credits-smaller.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2446\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/4-8-credits-smaller-1024x895.jpg\" alt=\"WordPress 4.8 Credits\" width=\"960\" height=\"839\" /></a></p>\n<h3>Leaving the nest</h3>\n<p>I’d had my eye on Automattic, the makers of WordPress.com, the Jetpack plugin, and many other products, for most of my time contributing to WordPress. A couple of the designers I worked with on MP6 were Automattic designers, and it was an absolute joy to collaborate with them. At this point I’d spent so much of my career as either a lone designer, or in a competitive environment, that having a supportive, collaborative group of people helping me improve my work was a revelation.</p>\n<p>I desperately wanted to work at Automattic.</p>\n<p>While MP6 was in the works, I participated in a three month long design apprenticeship at a local agency. I worked alongside experienced mentors and fellow apprentices to hone my interface and user experience design skills. It was challenging and thrilling and totally complemented the mentorship I was receiving from WordPress folks. Plus, working in a positive environment reinforced my desire to work somewhere similar.</p>\n<p>After the apprenticeship, I finally felt like I had the skills and confidence to apply. I spent a lot of time writing my cover letter, and redesigning my portfolio to use in-depth case studies on a small number of recent projects. I finally sent off my application and crossed my fingers.</p>\n<p>A couple weeks later, I received a reply back asking to schedule an interview. I was terrified, but luckily, Automattic conducts interviews via text, so I was able to hide my fear behind my keyboard and hopefully try to project confidence. (Aside: I also show all my emotions on my face, so online communication is the best.)</p>\n<p>It must have worked, because I was moved on to the next phase of the application, doing a self-contained trial project, which was a whole ton of fun. I was able to put my recently refined research, interviewing, and user testing skills to use. I loved being given a real challenge to tackle. My trial went well, so I was moved along to the final interview with Matt Mullenweg. We spent a couple hours chatting on Skype, and at the end of our conversation I was given an offer. Welcome to Automattic!</p>\n<p>After working so hard on my apprenticeship, and on MP6, joining Automattic felt incredibly validating. The work I put in, the mentorship I received, all of the collaboration, led to this moment. I felt like I had graduated from apprentice and was now embarking on my adventure as a design journeyman. And boy, has it been an adventure!</p>\n<h3><a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/automattic-2-smaller.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-2447\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/automattic-2-smaller-1024x678.jpg\" alt=\"Automattic Group Photo\" width=\"960\" height=\"636\" /></a></h3>\n<h3>Design leadership</h3>\n<p>The past four and a half years at Automattic have been fantastic. I have the best coworkers anyone can ask for. I’ve worked with some incredibly talented and empathetic designers, whose guidance and feedback constantly encourage me to improve my skills.</p>\n<p>I’ve continued to contribute to WordPress, slowly gaining more responsibility in the project the longer I stuck around. That’s the secret to becoming an open source leader, I discovered — <strong>decisions are made by the people who show up</strong>.</p>\n<p>In 2016, I was asked to by the Release Design Lead for <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2016/04/coleman/\">WordPress 4.5 “Coleman.”</a> I worked alongside the other release leads to make design-related decisions that impacted the release. This was the first release we experimented with having a Design Lead. I felt like design finally had a seat at the table.</p>\n<p>This continued to be the case last year, when Matt Mullenweg announced core focuses for the year: Editing, Customization, and the API. Both Editing and Customization had designers co-leading their focus. I was named the Customization co-lead. I’d been working on customization and site building on WordPress.com for over a year, so I had relevant experience.</p>\n<p>I worked with my developer co-lead, Weston Ruter, on low-hanging fruit, most of which we released in WordPress 4.8. The release was smaller, focused more on improvements than new features. We made a lot of updates to widgets, which had been long neglected.</p>\n<p>After that, we turned our sights to some more ambitious projects: drafting and scheduling changes in the Customizer, improvements to code editing in the WordPress admin, even more widget updates, and upgrades around the flow of changing themes and building menus for your site. We took a design-first approach to building out these new features, and I think it really shows in the work that we produced during the 4.9 release cycle, which Weston and I co-led.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2017/11/tipton/\">WordPress 4.9 “Tipton”</a> launched in November. Since then, I’ve pivoted to work on <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/\">Gutenberg</a>, the new editing experience for WordPress which should be released in 5.0. Once the editing experience wraps up, we’re going to start looking at how we can extend Gutenberg to cover site building and customization. It’s a big, audacious goal that I hope to pursue with caution, humility, and a spirit of adventure.</p>\n<p>I owe WordPress a great deal. The connections I’ve made, the skills I’ve honed, and the mentorship I’ve received have all contributed to making me the designer I am today. I hope to give back for years to come!</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/community-summit-smaller.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2448\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/community-summit-smaller.jpg\" alt=\"Community Summit Group Photo\" width=\"960\" height=\"556\" /></a></p>\n<div class=\"rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Tweet: Becoming a Better Designer Through WordPress\" class=\"rtsocial-twitter-button\" href=\"https://twitter.com/share?text=Becoming%20a%20Better%20Designer%20Through%20WordPress&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fbecoming-better-designer-wordpress%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light\"><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Like: Becoming a Better Designer Through WordPress\" class=\"rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fbecoming-better-designer-wordpress%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-button\" href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fbecoming-better-designer-wordpress%2F&title=Becoming+a+Better+Designer+Through+WordPress\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share: Becoming a Better Designer Through WordPress\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-button\" href=\"https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/becoming-better-designer-wordpress/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/020718-150x150.jpg&description=Becoming a Better Designer Through WordPress\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pin: Becoming a Better Designer Through WordPress\"></a></div></div><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"perma-link\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/becoming-better-designer-wordpress/\" title=\"Becoming a Better Designer Through WordPress\"></a></div><p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/becoming-better-designer-wordpress/\">Becoming a Better Designer Through WordPress</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 07 Feb 2018 12:00:30 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"Mel Choyce\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"WPTavern: WooCommerce 3.3.1 Released, Addresses Template Conflicts\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=78089\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-3-3-1-released-addresses-template-conflicts\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1330:\"<p>WooCommerce 3.3.1 <a href=\"https://woocommerce.wordpress.com/2018/02/06/woocommerce-3-3-1-fix-release-notes/\">is available</a> and fixes template conflicts discovered in a handful of WordPress themes that forced the team to <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-3-3-removed-from-plugin-directory-due-to-theme-conflicts\">revert WooCommerce 3.3</a>. The team reviewed handful of the most common themes running WooCommerce and tested them for compatibility with 3.3.1.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/wiki/Template-File-Guidelines-for-Devs-and-Theme-Authors#hook-vs-override---when-to-use-what\">WooCommerce developers recommend</a> that theme authors use hooks instead of template overrides to ensure maximum compatibility.</p>\n<p>According to Mike Jolley, WooCommerce lead developer, this release highlighted issues with the template system&#8217;s extensibility and a disconnect between theme authors on external marketplaces. &#8220;We hope to find solutions to these problems in the near future,&#8221; Jolley said.</p>\n<p>WooCommerce 3.3.1 has at least <a href=\"https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/compare/3.3.0...3.3.1\">90 commits</a>. Users are encouraged to create a full-backup of their sites and then browse to Dashboard &gt; Updates to update WooCommerce from within WordPress.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 07 Feb 2018 09:46:24 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:65:\"WPTavern: WordPress 4.9.4 Fixes Critical Auto Update Bug in 4.9.3\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=78087\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-4-fixes-critical-auto-update-bug-in-4-9-3\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1984:\"<p>Hours after <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-3-released-fixes-34-bugs\">WordPress 4.9.3 was released</a>, the WordPress development team followed it up <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/02/06/wordpress-4-9-4-release-the-technical-details/\">with 4.9.4</a> to fix a critical bug with the auto update process. The bug generates a fatal PHP error when WordPress attempts to update itself.</p>\n<p>This error requires WordPress site owners and administrators to manually update to WordPress 4.9.4 by visiting your Dashboard and clicking the Update Now button on the Updates page. Alternatively, you can update by uploading the files via SFTP or by using WP-CLI.</p>\n<p>Dion Hulse, WordPress lead developer, says managed hosts that apply updates automatically for their customers will be able to update sites as they normally do. This may explain why some users have reported that sites running 4.9.3 have automatically updated to 4.9.4 without issue.</p>\n<p>The bug stems from an attempt to <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/43103\">reduce the number of API calls</a> made when the auto update cron job is run. Unfortunately, the code committed had unintended consequences. &#8220;It triggers a fatal error as not all of the dependencies of <code>find_core_auto_update()</code> are met,&#8221; Hulse said.</p>\n<p>A postmortem will be published once the team determines how to prevent this mistake from happening in the future. &#8220;We don’t like bugs in WordPress any more than you do, and we’ll be taking steps to both increase automated coverage of our updates and improve tools to aid in the detection of similar bugs before they become an issue in the future,&#8221; Hulse said.</p>\n<p>While WordPress 4.9.3 and 4.9.4 do not include any security fixes, it&#8217;s important to note that in order to receive automatic security updates in the future, sites using the 4.9 branch must be running at least 4.9.4. Older branches are unaffected.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 07 Feb 2018 09:19:38 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:45:\"Dev Blog: WordPress 4.9.4 Maintenance Release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=5559\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2018/02/wordpress-4-9-4-maintenance-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1814:\"<p>WordPress 4.9.4 is now available.</p>\n<p>This maintenance release fixes a severe bug in 4.9.3, which will cause sites that support automatic background updates to fail to update automatically, and will require action from you (or your host) for it to be updated to 4.9.4.</p>\n<p>Four years ago with <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2013/10/basie/\">WordPress 3.7 &#8220;Basie&#8221;</a>, we added the ability for WordPress to self-update, keeping your website secure and bug-free, even when you weren&#8217;t available to do it yourself. For four years it&#8217;s helped keep millions of installs updated with very few issues over that time. Unfortunately <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2018/02/wordpress-4-9-3-maintenance-release/\">yesterdays 4.9.3 release</a> contained a severe bug which was only discovered after release. The bug will cause WordPress to encounter an error when it attempts to update itself to WordPress 4.9.4, and will require an update to be performed through the WordPress dashboard or hosts update tools.</p>\n<p>WordPress managed hosting companies who install updates automatically for their customers can install the update as normal, and we&#8217;ll be working with other hosts to ensure that as many customers of theirs who can be automatically updated to WordPress 4.9.4 can be.</p>\n<p>For more technical details of the issue, we&#8217;ve <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/02/06/wordpress-4-9-4-release-the-technical-details/\">posted on our Core Development blog</a>. For a full list of changes, consult the <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&milestone=4.9.4&group=component\">list of tickets</a>.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/download/\">Download WordPress 4.9.4</a> or visit Dashboard → Updates and click “Update Now.”</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 06 Feb 2018 16:17:55 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"Dion Hulse\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:49:\"WPTavern: WordPress 4.9.3 Released, Fixes 34 Bugs\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=78081\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:59:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-3-released-fixes-34-bugs\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:681:\"<p>WordPress 4.9.3 <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2018/02/wordpress-4-9-3-maintenance-release/\">is available</a> and fixes 34 bugs. Customizer changesets, the visual editor, widgets, and compatibility for PHP 7.2 highlight this release. You can view all of the changes via the <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/log/branches/4.9?rev=42630&stop_rev=42521\">changelog</a> or <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&milestone=4.9.3&group=component\">trac tickets</a>. Most sites will update automatically. However, if you want to trigger the update ahead of time or manually update, visit your Dashboard, click the Updates link, and click Update Now.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 06 Feb 2018 08:35:20 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"WPTavern: Liquid Web Acquires iThemes in Multi-Million Dollar Deal\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77907\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:77:\"https://wptavern.com/liquid-web-acquires-ithemes-in-multi-million-dollar-deal\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4149:\"<p>Liquid Web, a managed hosting service founded in 1997, <a href=\"https://www.liquidweb.com/blog/liquid-web-acquires-ithemes/\">has acquired</a> <a href=\"https://ithemes.com/\">iThemes</a>. iThemes recently <a href=\"https://ithemes.com/10-years-in-wordpress/\">celebrated its 10th year</a> in business. <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/liquid-web-acquired-ithemes/\">PostStatus reports</a> that it was an all cash deal and sources confirmed to the Tavern that it was a multi-million dollar acquisition.</p>\n<p>iThemes will continue to operate as an independent unit within Liquid Web. Cory Miller will remain as General Manager of iThemes and the company will keep its office and employees in Oklahoma City, OK.</p>\n<p>iThemes was founded in 2008 and is part of a group of WordPress focused companies that started <a href=\"https://medium.com/@jasonpatricksc/a-brief-history-of-a-wordpress-theme-business-3847e16fcba4\">around the same time</a>. The group includes WooThemes, Revolution Themes now known as StudioPress, Press75, WPZoom, and others.</p>\n<p>WooThemes was <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/automattic-acquires-woocommerce\">acquired by Automattic</a>. StudioPress has branched off into content marketing with CopyBlogger and hosting via StudioPress sites. Press75 was acquired by Westwerk in 2014 and WPZoom continues to operate independently.</p>\n<p>iThemes diversified its business a number of times over the years, adding plugins and services to its portfolio. Some of the most notable products include, FlexxTheme, BackupBuddy, Builder, iThemes Sync, and iThemes Security. In 2013, the company branched off into the e-commerce space <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/ithemes-launches-e-commerce-plugin-exchange\">with Exchange</a>. In 2017, <a href=\"https://ithemes.com/2017/07/13/ithemes-exchange-new-home-exchangewpcom/\">Exchange was acquired</a> by AJ Morris allowing the company to focus on iThemes Sales Accelerator, a new product that works exclusively with WooCommerce.</p>\n<p>Considering Liquid Web recently launched <a href=\"https://www.liquidweb.com/products/managed-woocommerce-hosting/\">its managed WooCommerce hosting</a>, iThemes Sales Accelerator should pair nicely with its services.</p>\n<p>This isn&#8217;t the first time a large webhosting company has acquired a WordPress business. In the last two years, GoDaddy has acquired three companies with a presence in the WordPress ecosystem.</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>April 2013</strong> EIG Acquires MOJO-Themes</li>\n<li><strong>September 2016</strong> GoDaddy Acquires ManageWP</li>\n<li><strong>December 2016</strong> GoDaddy Acquires WP Curve</li>\n<li><strong>March 2017</strong> GoDaddy Acquires Sucuri</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>After 10 Years, Cory Miller Lets Go</h2>\n<p>Miller founded iThemes 10 years ago and helped navigate it through the ups and downs that come with running a business. Although Miller no longer owns the company he founded, he&#8217;s excited about the next chapter and the opportunities it presents to him and his team.</p>\n<p>&#8220;One of the keys that has contributed greatly to our success over the last 10 years is being willing to adapt and to innovate and to try new things,&#8221; Miller said. &#8220;For instance, If we’d kept focusing solely on WordPress themes, which was our primary business for the early years, we wouldn’t be around today.</p>\n<p>&#8220;As we surveyed the landscape in WordPress, one thing was very obvious to us: hosting is the future. As a bootstrapped company from the beginning, with our DNA as a software company, and seeing where Liquid Web is going, it just made sense for us to join forces.</p>\n<p>&#8220;We view this is as another chapter in our story of our willingness to adapt and try new things so we can keep doing what we do best — Make People’s Lives Awesome. So we&#8217;re tremendously excited about our future with Liquid Web, and what we’re going to be able to do for the WordPress community together.&#8221;</p>\n<p>Miller says they&#8217;re in the middle of the transition process and are working towards tighter integration between iThemes&#8217; products and Liquid Web&#8217;s managed hosting services.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 06 Feb 2018 00:33:58 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:10;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:45:\"Dev Blog: WordPress 4.9.3 Maintenance Release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=5545\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2018/02/wordpress-4-9-3-maintenance-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3408:\"<p>WordPress 4.9.3 is now available.</p>\n<p>This maintenance release fixes 34 bugs in 4.9, including fixes for Customizer changesets, widgets, visual editor, and PHP 7.2 compatibility. For a full list of changes, consult the <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&milestone=4.9.3&group=component\">list of tickets</a> and the <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/log/branches/4.9?rev=42630&stop_rev=42521\">changelog</a>.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/download/\">Download WordPress 4.9.3</a> or visit Dashboard → Updates and click “Update Now.” Sites that support automatic background updates are already beginning to update automatically.</p>\n<p>Thank you to everyone who contributed to WordPress 4.9.3:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin/\">Aaron Jorbin</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/abdullahramzan/\">abdullahramzan</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/adamsilverstein/\">Adam Silverstein</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/afercia/\">Andrea Fercia</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreiglingeanu/\">andreiglingeanu</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/azaozz/\">Andrew Ozz</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bpayton/\">Brandon Payton</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chetan200891/\">Chetan Prajapati</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/coleh/\">coleh</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/darko-a7/\">Darko A7</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/desertsnowman/\">David Cramer</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dlh/\">David Herrera</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dd32/\">Dion Hulse</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/flixos90/\">Felix Arntz</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/frank-klein/\">Frank Klein</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/pento/\">Gary Pendergast</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/\">Jb Audras</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jbpaul17/\">Jeffrey Paul</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/lizkarkoski/\">lizkarkoski</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/clorith/\">Marius L. J.</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/mattyrob/\">mattyrob</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/monikarao/\">Monika Rao</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/munyagu/\">munyagu</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ndavison/\">ndavison</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/nickmomrik/\">Nick Momrik</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/\">Peter Wilson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rachelbaker/\">Rachel Baker</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rishishah/\">rishishah</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/othellobloke/\">Ryan Paul</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sasiddiqui/\">Sami Ahmed Siddiqui</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sayedwp/\">Sayed Taqui</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/seanchayes/\">Sean Hayes</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sergeybiryukov/\">Sergey Biryukov</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/shooper/\">Shawn Hooper</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/netweb/\">Stephen Edgar</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/manikmist09/\">Sultan Nasir Uddin</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/tigertech/\">tigertech</a>, and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/westonruter/\">Weston Ruter</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 05 Feb 2018 19:47:45 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"Sergey Biryukov\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:11;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"Mark Jaquith: Tips for configuring WordPress environments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"http://markjaquith.wordpress.com/?p=5476\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:89:\"https://markjaquith.wordpress.com/2018/02/05/tips-for-configuring-wordpress-environments/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4626:\"<p>Many WordPress hosts will give your site a &#8220;staging&#8221; environment. You can also use tools like <a href=\"https://local.getflywheel.com/\">Local by Flywheel</a>, or <a href=\"https://www.mamp.info/\">MAMP Pro</a> to run a local &#8220;dev&#8221; version of your site. These are great ways of testing code changes, playing with new plugins, or making theme tweaks, without risking breaking your live &#8220;production&#8221; site.</p>\n<p>Here is my advice for working with different WordPress environments.</p>\n<h2>Handling Credentials</h2>\n<p>The live (&#8220;production&#8221;) version of your site should be opt-in. That is, your site&#8217;s Git repo should <strong>not</strong> store production credentials in <strong>wp-config.php</strong>. You don&#8217;t want something to happen like <a href=\"https://www.reddit.com/r/cscareerquestions/comments/6ez8ag/accidentally_destroyed_production_database_on/\">when this developer accidentally connected to the production database</a> and destroyed all the company data on his first day.</p>\n<p>Instead of keeping database credentials in <strong>wp-config.php</strong>, have <strong>wp-config.php</strong> look for a <strong>local-config.php</strong> file. Replace the section that defines the database credentials with something like this:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: php; title: ; notranslate\">if ( file_exists( __DIR__ . \'/local-config.php\' ) ) {\n    include( __DIR__ . \'/local-config.php\' );\n} else {\n    die( \'local-config.php not found\' );\n}</pre>\n<p>Make sure you add <strong>local-config.php</strong> to your <strong>.gitignore</strong> so that no one commits their local version to the repo.</p>\n<p>On production, you&#8217;ll create a <strong>local-config.php</strong> with production credentials. On staging or development environments, you&#8217;ll create a <strong>local-config.php</strong> with the credentials for those environments.</p>\n<h2>Production is a Choice</h2>\n<p>Right after the section that calls out <strong>local-config.php</strong>, put something like this:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: php; title: ; notranslate\">if ( ! defined( \'WP_ENVIRONMENT\' ) ) {\n    define( \'WP_ENVIRONMENT\', \'development\' );\n}</pre>\n<p>The idea here is that there will always be a <strong>WP_ENVIRONMENT</strong> constant available to you that tells you what kind of environment your site is being run in. In production, you will put this in <strong>local-config.php</strong> along with the database credentials:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: php; title: ; notranslate\">define( \'WP_ENVIRONMENT\', \'production\' );</pre>\n<p>Now, in your theme, or your custom plugins, or other code, you can do things like this:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: php; title: ; notranslate\">if ( \'production\' === WP_ENVIRONMENT ) {\n    add_filter( \'option_gravityformsaddon_gravityformsstripe_settings\', function( $stripe_settings ) {\n        $stripe_settings[\'api_mode\'] = \'live\';\n        return $stripe_settings;\n    });\n} else {\n    add_filter( \'option_gravityformsaddon_gravityformsstripe_settings\', function( $stripe_settings ) {\n        $stripe_settings[\'api_mode\'] = \'test\';\n        return $stripe_settings;\n    });\n}</pre>\n<p>This bit of code is for the Easy Digital Downloads Stripe gateway plugin. It makes sure that on the production environment, the payment gateway is always in <strong>live</strong> mode, and the anywhere else, it is always in <strong>test</strong> mode. This protects against two very bad situations: connecting to live services from a test environment (which could result in customers being charged for test transactions) and connecting to test services from a live environment (which could prevent customers from purchasing products on your site).</p>\n<p>You can also use this pattern to do things like hide Google Analytics on your test sites, or make sure debug plugins are only active on development sites (more on that, in a future post!)</p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t rely on complicated procedures (&#8220;step 34: make sure you go into the Stripe settings and switch the site to test mode on your local test site&#8221;) — make these things explicit in code. Make it impossible to screw it up, and working on your sites will become faster and less stressful.</p>\n<hr />\n<p><b>Do you need <a href=\"https://coveredwebservices.com/\">WordPress services?</a></b></p>\n<p>Mark runs <a href=\"https://coveredwebservices.com/\">Covered Web Services</a> which specializes in custom WordPress solutions with focuses on security, speed optimization, plugin development and customization, and complex migrations.</p>\n<p>Please reach out to start a conversation!</p>\n[contact-form]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 05 Feb 2018 14:59:04 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Mark Jaquith\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:12;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"Matt: National Magazine Award Nomination\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:22:\"https://ma.tt/?p=47900\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:57:\"https://ma.tt/2018/02/national-magazine-award-nomination/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:761:\"<p>Longreads <a href=\"http://www.magazine.org/asme/about-asme/pressroom/asme-press-releases/ellies-2018-finalists-announced\">was nominated today</a> for its first-ever <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Magazine_Awards\">National Magazine Award</a>, in the category of columns and commentary, alongside ESPN The Magazine, BuzzFeed News, Pitchfork, and New York magazine. Laurie Penny&#x27;s Longreads columns <a href=\"https://longreads.com/tag/metoo-and-consent/\">explore important questions of consent and female desire</a> that have strongly resonated in our current moment. In addition to this nomination, Penny&#x27;s columns have been translated and republished in Italian and German newspapers, and will be collected in a forthcoming book.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 02 Feb 2018 21:37:36 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:13;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:46:\"Dev Blog: The Month in WordPress: January 2018\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=5541\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2018/02/the-month-in-wordpress-january-2018/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3861:\"<p>Things got off to a gradual start in 2018 with momentum starting to pick up over the course of the month. There were some notable developments in January, including a new point release and work being done on other important areas of the WordPress project.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<h2>WordPress 4.9.2 Security and Maintenance Release</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>On January 16, <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2018/01/wordpress-4-9-2-security-and-maintenance-release/\">WordPress 4.9.2 was released</a> to fix an important security issue with the media player, as well as a number of other smaller bugs. This release goes a long way to smoothing out the 4.9 release cycle with the next point release, v4.9.3, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/01/31/wordpress-4-9-3-release-pushed-to-february-5th/\">due in early February</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To get involved in building WordPress Core, jump into the #core channel in the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/chat/\"> Making WordPress Slack group</a>, and follow<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/\"> the Core team blog</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Updated Plugin Directory Guidelines</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At the end of 2017, <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-org/detailed-plugin-guidelines/\">the guidelines for the Plugin Directory</a> received a significant update to make them clearer and expanded to address certain situations. This does not necessarily make these guidelines complete, but rather more user-friendly and practical; they govern how developers build plugins for the Plugin Directory, so they need to evolve with the global community that the Directory serves.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you would like to contribute to these guidelines, you can make a pull request to <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/wporg-plugin-guidelines\">the GitHub repository</a> or email <a href=\"mailto:plugins@wordpress.org\">plugins@wordpress.org</a>. You can also jump into the #pluginreview channel in the<a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/chat/\"> Making WordPress Slack group</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<h2>Further Reading:</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n    <li>Near the end of last year a lot of work was put into improving the standards in the WordPress core codebase and now <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/11/30/wordpress-php-now-mostly-conforms-to-wordpress-coding-standards/\">the entire platform is at nearly 100% compliance with the WordPress coding standards</a>.</li>\n    <li>Gutenberg, the new editor coming to WordPress core in the next major release, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/01/25/whats-new-in-gutenberg-25th-january/\">was updated to v2.1 this month</a> with some great usability and technical improvements.</li>\n    <li>The Global Community Team is <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2018/01/16/2018-goals-for-the-global-community-team-suggestions-time/\">taking suggestions for the goals of the Community program in 2018</a>.</li>\n    <li><a href=\"https://online.wpcampus.org/\">WPCampus Online</a>, a digital conference focused on WordPress in higher education, took place on January 30. The videos of the event sessions will be online soon.</li>\n    <li>A WordPress community member <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/new-toolkit-simplifies-the-process-of-creating-gutenberg-blocks\">has released a toolkit</a> to help developers build blocks for Gutenberg.</li>\n    <li>The community team that works to improve the WordPress hosting experience is relatively young, but <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/2018/01/25/hosting-meeting-notes-january-10-2018/\">they have been making some great progress recently</a>.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If you have a story we should consider including in the next “Month in WordPress” post, please <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\">submit it here</a>.</em></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 02 Feb 2018 08:10:07 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"Hugh Lashbrooke\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:14;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:54:\"WPTavern: WordPress 4.9.3 Rescheduled for February 5th\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=78058\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:65:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-3-rescheduled-for-february-5th\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1336:\"<p>WordPress 4.9.3 is a maintenance release and was originally scheduled to be available on January 30th. However, due to ongoing tickets and a short time frame to test the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/02/01/wordpress-4-9-3-rc/\">release candidate</a>, it has <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/01/31/wordpress-4-9-3-release-pushed-to-february-5th/\">been pushed back</a> to February 5th.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/02/01/wordpress-4-9-3-rc/\">WordPress 4.9.3 RC 1</a> is available for testing. This release <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/01/24/jshint-removed-from-codemirror-in-4-9-3/\">removes JSHint from the code editors</a> due to conflicts with the GPL License. If your code relies on JSHint from Core, <a href=\"https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/42850\">developers encourage</a> you to update it to use a copy of JSHint.</p>\n<p>Other changes in 4.9.3 include, avoiding page scrolling when navigating the media modal, a handful of improvements to the customizer, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/01/26/wordpress-4-9-3-beta/\">and more</a>. Please test WordPress 4.9.3 on a staging site and if you encounter any bugs, you can report them on the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/\">Alpha/Beta section</a> of the support forums.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 02 Feb 2018 08:09:02 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:15;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:78:\"WPTavern: WooCommerce 3.3 Removed From Plugin Directory Due to Theme Conflicts\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77962\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:89:\"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-3-3-removed-from-plugin-directory-due-to-theme-conflicts\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3081:\"<p>Earlier this week, WooCommerce 3.3 <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-3-3-increases-theme-compatibility-auto-regenerates-thumbnails\">was released</a> and among the features was increased theme compatibility. However, soon after release, users of third-party themes <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/support/topic/wc-3-3-issues-with-categories-displaying-in-shop/\">reported issues</a> with categories displaying improperly.</p>\n<p>Despite it being a minor release that should be fully backwards compatible with previous releases up to 3.0, WooCommerce has removed 3.3 from the plugin directory and replaced it with 3.2.6.</p>\n<p>According <a href=\"https://woocommerce.wordpress.com/2018/02/01/woocommerce-3-3-1-status-update/\">to a post</a> on the project&#8217;s official blog, WooCommerce 3.3.1 will take the place of 3.3 and will include a fix for the category display issue.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\"><p>The issue affected themes with template overrides from 3.2.x which hadn’t been made compatible with 3.3. In general, <a href=\"https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/wiki/Template-File-Guidelines-for-Devs-and-Theme-Authors#hook-vs-override---when-to-use-what\">we recommend that themes use hooks instead of template overrides.</a> Themes such as <a href=\"https://en-gb.wordpress.org/themes/storefront/\">Storefront</a> (which does not use template overrides) were compatible at launch.</p>\n<p><cite>WooCommerce Blog</cite></p></blockquote>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve already updated to WooCommerce 3.3 and your theme is compatible, you don&#8217;t need to make any changes. If your theme is not compatible, WooCommerce recommends checking with your theme&#8217;s author to see if a compatibility fix has been released.</p>\n<p>Users can also wait for the release of 3.3.1, update to the <a href=\"https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/releases/tag/3.3.1-rc.1\">pre-release version</a> of 3.3.1, or use the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-rollback/\">WP-Rollback plugin</a> and revert back to 3.2.6. WooCommerce developers suggest only going the WP-Rollback route if you&#8217;re not comfortable installing pre-release software.</p>\n<p>Coen Jacobs, a former member of the WooCommerce development team, commented on Twitter that this was the first time he can remember that a release was reverted.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Fun fact: As far as I recall, there has never been a release of WooCommerce that has been withdrawn before. During my time on the development team we have pushed fix releases on the same day as a big releases, but never was it reverted like this.</p>\n<p>&mdash; Coen Jacobs (@CoenJacobs) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/CoenJacobs/status/958768816808497152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 31, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p></p>\n<p>The development team has tested 3.3.1 with more than 40 different themes and believe it is stable. However, they are exercising caution and thoroughly testing the fixes with more themes. Users can expect to see 3.3.1 officially released the week of February 5th.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 02 Feb 2018 07:06:53 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:16;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:81:\"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 303 – Interview With Zac Gordon, Technology Educator\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:58:\"https://wptavern.com?p=77901&preview=true&preview_id=77901\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:87:\"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-303-interview-with-zac-gordon-technology-educator\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1902:\"<p>In this episode, <a href=\"http://jjj.me\">John James Jacoby</a> and I are joined by <a href=\"http://zacgordon.com/\">Zac Gordon</a>. We discussed a wide range of topics including, balancing freelance work with educating, an overview of Gutenberg from an educator&#8217;s perspective, and potential brand issues if the Gutenberg name <a href=\"githubhttps://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/4681\">was deprecated</a>. We also talked about some of the difficulties involved with <a href=\"https://gutenberg.courses/\">creating a course</a> around a feature that&#8217;s not yet part of WordPress core.</p>\n<h2>Stories Discussed:</h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://ithemes.com/2018/01/31/ithemes-joining-the-liquid-web-family/\">iThemes Acquired by LiquidWeb</a><br />\n<a href=\"https://woocommerce.com/2018/01/whats-new-woocommerce-3-3/\">WooCommerce 3.3 Released</a><br />\n<a href=\"https://wptavern.com/updraftplus-acquires-easy-updates-manager-plugin\">Easy Updates Manager Acquired by UpdraftPlus</a></p>\n<h2>Picks of the Week:</h2>\n<p>John James Jacoby suggested <a href=\"https://www.beamauthentic.com/\">Beam Authentic</a>. Beam Authentic is a wearable, connected, smart button that can be programmed to display different images through an app.</p>\n<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>\n<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, February 7th 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-weekly/id694849738\">WordPress Weekly via Itunes</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://www.wptavern.com/feed/podcast\">WordPress Weekly via RSS</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wordpress-weekly-podcast?refid=stpr\">WordPress Weekly via Stitcher Radio</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ir3keivkvwwh24xy7qiymurwpbe\">WordPress Weekly via Google Play</a></p>\n<p><strong>Listen To Episode #303:</strong><br />\n</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 01 Feb 2018 02:12:47 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:17;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:100:\"WPTavern: Efrain Rivera, A Longtime Community Member, WordCamp Organizer, and Volunteer, Passes Away\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77893\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:107:\"https://wptavern.com/efrain-rivera-a-longtime-community-member-wordcamp-organizer-and-volunteer-passes-away\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2776:\"<p>Efrain Rivera, who helped organize and volunteer at numerous WordCamps in Florida has passed away at the age of 47. The news was shared on Facebook by his sister on January 28th.</p>\n<img />Efrain Rivera and his wife at WordCamp Miami. Photo courtesy of David Bisset\n<p>David Bisset, organizer of WordCamp Miami and a well-known figure in the Florida WordPress community, <a href=\"http://davidbisset.com/efrain-rivera/\">shared his thoughts</a> on Rivera&#8217;s passing.</p>\n<blockquote><p>Efrain wasn’t just a fellow organizer, but also a supporter of the local WordPress meetups. There was no ulterior motive in anything that he did. Never once did he ask for anything – he was just happy to be there and help out. He was 100% about giving back to the WordPress community, but even if the community didn’t exist he would find a way to help out folks.</p>\n<p>Efrain wasn’t just a supporter and volunteer. He was a good friend to have – someone you could speak frankly too.</p></blockquote>\n<p>Rivera is being remembered as a kind, compassionate, and happy person by members of the community.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I’m so sorry, he was a pleasure volunteering with,  <a href=\"https://twitter.com/EfrainWp?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@EfrainWp</a> was always happy to help and answer questions.</p>\n<p>&mdash; Rian M. Kinney, Esq. (@TheKinneyFirm) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/TheKinneyFirm/status/958855848784252928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 1, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I remember his kindness David. What a great person and sad loss.</p>\n<p>&mdash; Diane Kinney (@dkinney) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/dkinney/status/958858994843611138?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 1, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p></p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Efrain was one of happiest, smiliest, caring people I’d ever hung out with at any WordPress event. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.4/72x72/1f64f.png\" alt=\"🙏\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /> <a href=\"https://t.co/qW7ChUmjX0\">https://t.co/qW7ChUmjX0</a></p>\n<p>&mdash; J ³ (@JJJ) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/JJJ/status/958448885030182913?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 30, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://memorials.serenitymemorialchapels.com/efrain-rivera/3417849/obituary.php\">Memorial services are scheduled</a> for Saturday, February 3, 2018 from 4:00 P.M.-9:00 P.M. EST at Serenity Funeral Home and Cremation, 1450 S State Road 7, North Lauderdale, Florida 33068. The service will take place during visitation at 7PM. If you have any memories of meeting or hanging out with Efrain at any of the WordPress events in Florida, please share them in the comments.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 01 Feb 2018 01:13:15 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:18;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:44:\"Post Status: Liquid Web has acquired iThemes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=41738\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:51:\"https://poststatus.com/liquid-web-acquired-ithemes/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5096:\"<p><a href=\"https://www.liquidweb.com/\">Liquid Web</a> has acquired <a href=\"https://ithemes.com/\">iThemes</a>, in an all cash deal that includes the entire iThemes team moving over to Liquid Web as an independent unit. Cory Miller &#8212; CEO of iThemes &#8212; will be the Business Manager of the new unit, with iThemes COO Matt Danner as the Director of Technology and Operations for iThemes. The entire team of twenty three people is staying on, and will continue to be headquartered in Oklahoma.</p>\n<p>This is not the first or last time we&#8217;ll see longstanding WordPress companies get rolled into large hosting providers. It&#8217;s a trend that is natural in any ecosystem as it matures, and iThemes was a clear and quality candidate for a host to target. Cory said the culture around Liquid Web, including their &#8220;heroic support,&#8221; but also the quality he sees in their management team, was a key motivator for them to go work with Liquid Web.</p>\n<p>As hosting companies evolve more and more to provide broader services for customers with managed WordPress offerings, there is less room for utility product creators to fill that gap.</p>\n<p>Backups are a fine example: customers may see less need for external backups if they have confidence that their hosting is managing backups properly. Security is another. These have been great products for iThemes, and still are &#8212; but their current markets are more for hosts without a managed experience, and that slice of the pie has been narrowing.</p>\n<p>iThemes has had a partnership with Liquid Web for about a year and a half now, which started by licensing iThemes Sync for Liquid Web&#8217;s WordPress hosting offering. They&#8217;ve slowly been integrating more features into the platform, and the acquisition will allow Liquid Web to further integrate iThemes&#8217; offerings, and allow iThemes to improve some of their product offerings with the backing of Liquid&#8217;s Web&#8217;s hosting infrastructure.</p>\n<p>I spoke to Cory Miller about the move, which is occurring not long after iThemes&#8217; ten year anniversary in business. He said he looks back every year and sees them as chapters in the iThemes story, and this feels just the same. He&#8217;s excited about what the backing from Liquid Web will allow them to do, and most importantly for him, the ability to keep supporting the team they have built over the years.</p>\n<p>Cory tells me he&#8217;s amazed that they&#8217;ve been able to build the company they have built, and neither he nor his business partners would have imagined it ten years ago. All equity holders had their shares purchased by Liquid Web, and Cory and the team will be Liquid Web employees.</p>\n<p>iThemes has iterated on the business many times over the years &#8212; as the name implies. Their theme business slowly dwindled in terms of the overall ratio of sales revenue it provided. BackupBuddy has long been a flagship, and they&#8217;ve found great success the past couple of years since they acquired and iterated on the iThemes Security product. He said that it took them experimenting a great deal &#8212; and like Exchange for eCommerce, and others &#8212; it didn&#8217;t always work out the way they hoped. But because they stayed agile and kept working at it, they&#8217;ve consistently been able to grow and diversify their product line.</p>\n<p>One practical component Liquid Web will be able to provide, as an example, is their data centers to power BackupBuddy and iThemes Stash storage and processing. iThemes has historically used Amazon, which Cory said really adds up and has started to eat into their own margins. Liquid Web will help them not only improve the offering but also to be able to perform those functions more affordably.</p>\n<p>For Liquid Web, this acquisition furthers their goal to integrate WordPress-specific functionality into their suite of WordPress hosting tools. They recently launched WooCommerce hosting on their platform, and the iThemes Sales Accelerator product can now be a core component of that offering. Additionally, the technology iThemes has built with BackupBuddy and Sync will further add to their platform.</p>\n<p>Beyond the technology and products, Liquid Web Vice President of Products and Innovation Chris Lema tells me it&#8217;s about the team:</p>\n<blockquote><p>This adds so much to what we’re doing with managed WordPress and managed WooCommerce, that it just made a lot of sense — both from a product perspective, and even more from a team perspective.</p></blockquote>\n<p>Having spent a lot of time with the management teams for each of these companies, I would agree that the culture fit is a really good one. And for Liquid Web, a company continuing to make its big push into the WordPress market, it is a solid strategic acquisition move that offers product dividends but more importantly adds a great and experienced WordPress team to their company.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://ithemes.com/2018/01/31/ithemes-joining-the-liquid-web-family/\">Cory shares more</a> about the news on the iThemes blog.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 31 Jan 2018 17:12:29 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"Brian Krogsgard\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:19;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"HeroPress: The Journey: Curiosity, Challenge, Transformation\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2431\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:158:\"https://heropress.com/essays/journey-curiosity-challenge-transformation/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=journey-curiosity-challenge-transformation\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9293:\"<img width=\"960\" height=\"480\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/013118-2-1024x512.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pull Quote: My place in the world has transformed.\" /><p>When I look back on the past five years I’ve been working with WordPress, I feel the real weight of the journey I’ve had to get where I am. Much of it has been filled with challenge of both of the difficult and welcome variety. I’m an optimist and problem-solver to the core, but I sometimes wonder how I got through these past years. One thing is for certain, my involvement with WordPress, the opportunities and community around it, has been a force for so much good, motivation, and satisfaction in my life.</p>\n<h2>The Beginning</h2>\n<p>When I was introduced to WordPress, I was going through one of the most trying times of my adult life. My dad had suddenly passed away just a few years before. We didn’t have the best relationship, but his quirkiness, interest in esoteric things, and passion for food certainly rubbed off on me.</p>\n<p>I was living with roommates, but moved back home to be with my mom. Not too long after, she developed debilitating osteoarthritis in both of her hips. From a physically healthy yet grieving 52-year-old woman to eventually becoming handicap and walker-bound, needless to say, impacted our lives greatly. I became her caretaker, and I also worked retail part-time for the flexible schedule.</p>\n<blockquote><p>I felt emotionally exhausted, uninspired and quite lost with what my next steps would be.</p></blockquote>\n<p>I grew up using the internet fervently as a youth and in my college years. I met new friends, learned new skills, and traveled to new places thanks the endless source of information it provided for my active mind. So when a friend, now my mentor, John Bolyard, approached me to help him in his web marketing and development consultancy using “WordPress” I just said “yes.” It was mysterious, being unknown to me, and intriguing, which is usually a green light in my book!</p>\n<p>I started doing administrative work on a website he helped develop for a national guild. Like many situations, he had finished their website and they would circle back to him for minor updates. I took on the minor updates, started tinkering on my own, and fell in love in the process.</p>\n<p>The accessibility with which one could make changes and produce content dynamically was just mind blowing to me. It was my gateway to web development and now I could make web content with the ability to work with code, if I so chose. It seemed an endless source of learning and knowledge- it was a great fit.</p>\n<h2>Levelling Up</h2>\n<p>That went well and he brought me on a larger project to help the artist, Dorothy Braudy, create her website archive. I was able to blend my affinity for the technical and handy visual memory to help an all around amazing person (she&#8217;s still one of closest people in my life) tell her story through her art. I was thrilled to have the challenge and the privilege to bring her vibrant and prolific work (hundreds of pieces) to the web.</p>\n<p>I also started assisting John with teaching WordPress classes at SCORE, a government organization that helps people develop and sustain small businesses.</p>\n<blockquote><p>We volunteered our time teaching business owners WordPress to help them build their own websites.</p></blockquote>\n<p>It was challenging yet rewarding to see them feel empowered that they could take a hands-on role in making their web presence.</p>\n<p>Nevertheless, I ended up with several clients and that’s how my freelancing career began :). I also started going to meetups. John brought me to my first one in the San Fernando Valley. I was like wait&#8230;this software is cool and people gather to talk about it? I can also learn stuff too?! Get outta town!</p>\n<p>Well, I started attending fairly frequently. Particularly, the meetup in the West Valley lead by Andrew Behla (then at the Topanga Canyon Library). I soaked up info from presentations given by Roy Sivan, Suzette Franck, and Lucy Beer (who is now my teammate). Just to name a few ;).</p>\n<p>After building a consistent client base, I also started working part-time as a project assistant at a boutique museum exhibit development firm. My first project was for the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens supporting the development of an educational WordPress website for their Junípero Serra exhibition. What were the chances? My skills in WordPress proved helpful for the project and the firm&#8217;s website.</p>\n<h2>Pivoting</h2>\n<p>At this point, I had seen my mom through her first hip replacement and recovery, and she was moving on to her next one. I thought about where I saw myself and also where I could build a sustainable future given the circumstances. I thought WordPress, and so I did a trial as a Happiness Engineer at WordPress.com.</p>\n<p>While I didn&#8217;t get the position, I met some great people and learned exponentially more in that short time than I had on my own. More so, I learned about the users, WordPress’ strengths and weaknesses, and how to fill that gap in an accessible way. I was sad, but also motivated. I took on more client work and just did the thing.</p>\n<p>After three years, it was time to leave the exhibit development firm. It was fascinating, it provided me a design, development and project management vocabulary I had never encountered before. However, I needed a firmer career path and I still thought WordPress. My mom was recovered, I had also just recovered from some health issues, and I knew it was time for a change.</p>\n<p>While doing client work for several months, I also explored options on how I could &#8220;level up.&#8221; Maybe it was my time to dig into web development: should I learn on my own, go to a school?</p>\n<blockquote><p>In my gut, I knew I had to find work that supported my endeavors, so I started applying in the WordPress and tech ecosystem.</p></blockquote>\n<p>I networked, attended workshops, and met some awesome folks in the local tech and WordPress communities. I was also approached about joining the organizer team for WordCamp Los Angeles (WCLAX). I said “yes” (that magic word) and last year we had a great event.</p>\n<p>When we started planning, I had also heard from WP Media, (the company behind the WP Rocket and Imagify plugins), that I was hired for their Customer Support position. We’re a remote crew spread across 8 countries. However, I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with them at WordCamp Europe, WordCamp US, and our annual retreat last year.</p>\n<h2>Transformation</h2>\n<p>My place in the world has transformed. I&#8217;ve traveled to places once out of reach, work every day with some of the most brilliant and kind people in the WordPress space, and grow day by day with new challenges and opportunities. I&#8217;m happy, mom is healthy, and the journey continues…</p>\n<div class=\"rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Tweet: The Journey: Curiosity, Challenge, Transformation\" class=\"rtsocial-twitter-button\" href=\"https://twitter.com/share?text=The%20Journey%3A%20Curiosity%2C%20Challenge%2C%20Transformation&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fjourney-curiosity-challenge-transformation%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light\"><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Like: The Journey: Curiosity, Challenge, Transformation\" class=\"rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fjourney-curiosity-challenge-transformation%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-button\" href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fjourney-curiosity-challenge-transformation%2F&title=The+Journey%3A+Curiosity%2C+Challenge%2C+Transformation\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share: The Journey: Curiosity, Challenge, Transformation\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-button\" href=\"https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/journey-curiosity-challenge-transformation/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/013118-2-150x150.jpg&description=The Journey: Curiosity, Challenge, Transformation\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pin: The Journey: Curiosity, Challenge, Transformation\"></a></div></div><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"perma-link\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/journey-curiosity-challenge-transformation/\" title=\"The Journey: Curiosity, Challenge, Transformation\"></a></div><p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/journey-curiosity-challenge-transformation/\">The Journey: Curiosity, Challenge, Transformation</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 31 Jan 2018 11:00:30 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Renee Johnson\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:20;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"WPTavern: WooCommerce 3.3 Increases Theme Compatibility, Auto Regenerates Thumbnails\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77795\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:94:\"https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-3-3-increases-theme-compatibility-auto-regenerates-thumbnails\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3108:\"<p>WooCommerce 3.3 <a href=\"https://woocommerce.com/2018/01/whats-new-woocommerce-3-3/\">is available</a> and is considered a minor release. Based on the project’s <a href=\"https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/wiki/Roadmap-and-release-process\">new release process</a>, it should be fully backwards compatible with previous releases up to 3.0.</p>\n<p>The orders screen has been redesigned with large buttons that indicate an order’s status. You can also view an order’s details from the order screen without having to edit the order.</p>\n<img class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WC33OrdersScreen.png?w=627&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"627\" height=\"261\" />WooCommerce 3.3 Orders Screen\n<p>For products that are on backorder and have stock management enabled, WooCommerce 3.3 will automatically transition from ‘In stock’ to ‘On backorder’ or ‘Out of stock’ as the inventory decreases. Once inventory is added, the status will switch back to ‘In Stock’.</p>\n<img class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WC33OrderStatus.png?w=627&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"627\" height=\"328\" />WooCommerce 3.3 Order Status Screen\n<p>For full compatibility, users generally needed to use a WordPress theme that specifically supported WooCommerce. In 3.3, improvements have been made so that WooCommerce renders on themes that don’t fully support it, making it compatible with nearly every WordPress theme.</p>\n<p>Users can now set the number of columns and rows for shops with the ability to preview the results live via the Customizer. The columns will resize to fill the entire width of the area and is available on all themes.</p>\n<p>In earlier versions of WooCommerce, shop owners needed to use the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/regenerate-thumbnails/\">Regenerate Thumbnails</a> after updating a product’s image as WordPress did not automatically resize the image and generate new thumbnails. WooCommerce 3.3 adds on-the-fly thumbnail regeneration and background thumbnail resizing.</p>\n<p>In addition, users can customize the aspect ratios of product images. The choices are classic square images, custom cropped images, or uncropped images</p>\n<img class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/WC33ImageAspectRatio.png?w=627&ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"627\" height=\"402\" />WooCommerce 3.3 Image Aspect Ratio Options\n<p>Shop owners can now view logs of product downloads with a couple of built-in filters including, by order, by product, by customer, and by file. You can also search for extensions now from the Extensions administration screen.</p>\n<p>WooCommerce 3.3 includes more features and changes than what’s listed here. For a detailed overview of what’s new in 3.3, <a href=\"https://github.com/woocommerce/woocommerce/blob/release/3.3/readme.txt\">check out the changelog</a>. If you think you’ve discovered a bug, please report it on the <a href=\"https://github.com/woothemes/woocommerce/issues\">project’s GitHub page</a>.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 30 Jan 2018 22:53:45 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:21;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"Mark Jaquith: Simple WordPress deploys using Git\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"http://markjaquith.wordpress.com/?p=5422\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:80:\"https://markjaquith.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/simple-wordpress-deploys-using-git/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3328:\"<p>A few weeks back, Clifton Griffin asked me a question about deploying WordPress sites:</p>\n<div class=\"embed-twitter\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https://twitter.com/markjaquith?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@markjaquith</a> Hey Mark, quick question: Do you still use and recommend Capistrano?</p>\n<p>&mdash; Clifton Griffin (@clifgriffin) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/clifgriffin/status/948373150680707073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 3, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p></div>\n<p>I <b>do not</b> use Capistrano for deployments anymore, for one simple reason: it was massive overkill for most of the sites I manage, and maintaining it was not worth the benefit.</p>\n<p>My current deployment system for WordPress sites is simple: I use Git.</p>\n<p>I&#8217;m already using Git for version control of the site&#8217;s code, so using Git for deployments is not that much more work. There are a few ways to do this, but the simplest way is to just make your site root a Git checkout of your site files.</p>\n<p>Then, if your server has read-access to your Git remote, you can run some Git commands to sync everything. Here are your options:</p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>git pull</strong> — Simple, but might fail if someone naughty has made code modifications on the server.</li>\n<li><strong>git fetch &amp;&amp; git reset &#8211;hard origin/master</strong> — The hard reset method will wipe any local modifications that someone has mistakenly made.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>But wait. Before you implement this, it is very important that you ensure that your server&#8217;s <strong>.git</strong> directory is not readable, as it might be able to leak sensitive information about your site&#8217;s code. How you do this will depend on what web server you&#8217;re running. In Nginx, I do the following:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: plain; title: ; notranslate\">location ~ /\\.(ht[a-z]+|git|svn) {\ndeny all;\n}</pre>\n<p>In Apache, you could put the following in your <strong>.htaccess</strong> file:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: plain; title: ; notranslate\">RedirectMatch 404 /\\.git</pre>\n<p>SSHing into your server every time is tedious, so let&#8217;s script that:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: bash; title: ; notranslate\">#!/bin/bash\nssh example.com \'cd /srv/www/example.com &amp;&amp; git pull\'</pre>\n<p>Save that to <strong>deploy.sh</strong> in your Git repo, run <strong>chmod +x deploy.sh</strong>, and commit it to the repo. Now when you&#8217;re ready to deploy the site, just type <strong>./deploy.sh</strong> and the public site will pull down the latest changes from your main Git remote.</p>\n<p>Bonus points if you make <strong>deploy.sh</strong> take an optional commit hash, so you can also use this tool to roll back to a previous hash, in case a commit goes wrong.</p>\n<p>This method has served me well, for years, and has required no maintenance.</p>\n<p>What methods are you using for WordPress code deploys?</p>\n<hr />\n<p><b>Do you need <a href=\"https://coveredwebservices.com/\">WordPress services?</a></b></p>\n<p>Mark runs <a href=\"https://coveredwebservices.com/\">Covered Web Services</a> which specializes in custom WordPress solutions with focuses on security, speed optimization, plugin development and customization, and complex migrations.</p>\n<p>Please reach out to start a conversation!</p>\n[contact-form]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 30 Jan 2018 15:31:09 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Mark Jaquith\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:22;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:58:\"WPTavern: UpdraftPlus Acquires Easy Updates Manager Plugin\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77700\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:69:\"https://wptavern.com/updraftplus-acquires-easy-updates-manager-plugin\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2048:\"<p><a href=\"https://updraftplus.com/\">UpdraftPlus</a>, a popular WordPress backup plugin actively installed on more than 1 million sites has acquired the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/stops-core-theme-and-plugin-updates/\">Easy Updates Manager</a> plugin for an undisclosed amount.</p>\n<p>Easy Updates Manager disables core, theme, and plugin updates in WordPress and provides granular control over them. It was created in 2015, is actively installed on more than 100K sites, and is maintained by <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/kidsguide/\">Matthew Sparrow</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ronalfy/\">Ronald Huereca</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/roary86/\">Roary Tubbs</a>, and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/bigwing/\">BigWing Interactive</a>.</p>\n<img />Easy Updates manager User Interface\n<p>Burnout was a contributing factor for selling the plugin. &#8220;Matthew Sparrow and I were both burnt out on the project, so the offer to sell was a no-brainer,&#8221; Huereca said. &#8220;It’s bittersweet letting our baby go, but it’s in good hands.&#8221;</p>\n<p>Without proper vetting, selling established plugins to individuals or companies can be harmful to sites and tarnish its reputation. Because UpdraftPlus is a well established company, Huereca didn&#8217;t have to do a lot of research.</p>\n<p>&#8220;We were looking for more backend plugins that we understand and it&#8217;s a great plugin, highly rated and growing,&#8221; A company representative said. &#8220;Updates and backups go hand-in-hand as people should really backup before updating.&#8221;</p>\n<p>UpdraftPlus will focus its marketing efforts towards <a href=\"https://updraftplus.com/updraftcentral/\">UpdraftCentral</a> later this year. UpdraftCentral provides the ability for users to update, backup, and manage their sites from one dashboard. Easy Updates Manager and UpdraftCentral are complimentary products.</p>\n<p>Users can expect to see more updates later this year and continued refinement of the user interface.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 30 Jan 2018 00:30:31 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:23;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:61:\"BuddyPress: BuddyPress 2.9.3 Security and Maintenance Release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"https://buddypress.org/?p=270325\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:81:\"https://buddypress.org/2018/01/buddypress-2-9-3-security-and-maintenance-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1312:\"<p>BuddyPress 2.9.3 is now available. This is a security and maintenance release. We strongly encourage all BuddyPress sites to upgrade as soon as possible.</p>\n<p>The 2.9.3 release addresses two security issues:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>A dynamic template loading feature could be used in some cases for unauthorized file execution and directory traversal. Reported by <a href=\"https://pritect.net\">James Golovich</a>.</li>\n<li>Some permissions checks and path validations in the attachment deletion process were hardened. Reported by <a href=\"https://www.ripstech.com/\">RIPSTech</a> and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/slaFFik/\">Slava Abakumov</a> of the BuddyPress security team.</li>\n</ul>\n<p>These vulnerabilities were reported privately to the BuddyPress team, in accordance with <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/reporting-security-vulnerabilities/\">WordPress&#8217;s security policies</a>. Our thanks to all reporters for practicing coordinated disclosure.</p>\n<p>In addition, 2.9.3 includes a change that fixes the ability to install legacy bbPress 1.x forums. Please note that legacy forum support will be removed altogether in BuddyPress 3.0; see <a href=\"https://bpdevel.wordpress.com/2017/12/07/legacy-forums-support-will-be/\">the announcement blog post</a> for more details.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 26 Jan 2018 18:11:30 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Boone Gorges\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:24;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:61:\"Post Status: WordPress Market Opportunities — Draft podcast\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=41485\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:68:\"https://poststatus.com/wordpress-market-opportunities-draft-podcast/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2459:\"<p>Welcome to the Post Status <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/category/draft\">Draft podcast</a>, which you can find <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\">on iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://play.google.com/music/m/Ih5egfxskgcec4qadr3f4zfpzzm?t=Post_Status__Draft_WordPress_Podcast\">Google Play</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\">Stitcher</a>, and <a href=\"http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1061/rss\">via RSS</a> for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.</p>\n<p>In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss market segmentation across the WordPress ecosystem. The focus for this discussion focused entirely on the entry-level segment of site assemblers and their small-business clients as well as the mid-level market of contractors and agencies selling additional levels of service. The duo talked through a few different strategies employed in each segment, including service differentiation, regional focus, building a network of complementary contractors, systemizing processes, delivering quality customer support flow, and selling ongoing service.</p>\n<p>In addition to this look at market segmentation, the Brians shared a few useful resources for both Gutenberg and WP-CLI.</p>\n<p></p>\n<h3>Links</h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Mike McAlister&#8217;s <a href=\"http://gutenberg.news/\">Gutenberg News</a></li>\n<li>Ahmed Awais&#8217;s <a href=\"https://github.com/ahmadawais/create-guten-block\">create-gutenberg-block</a></li>\n<li>Delicious Brain&#8217;s <a href=\"https://deliciousbrains.com/wordpress-cli-packages-review/\">WP-CLI packages reviews</a></li>\n<li>WordPress Website: <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/wordpress-website-cost/\">How much should it cost?</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://wpsessions.com/sessions/selling-ongoing-service/\">Selling Ongoing Services with Sara Dunn</a></li>\n</ul>\n<h3>Sponsor: iThemes</h3>\n<p>This episode is sponsored by <a href=\"https://ithemes.com/?utm_source=post_status&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=ps_ads\">iThemes</a>. The team at iThemes offers WordPress plugins, themes and training to help take the guesswork out of building, maintaining and securing WordPress websites. For more information, check out their <a href=\"https://ithemes.com/?utm_source=post_status&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=ps_ads\">website</a> and thank you to iThemes for being a Post Status partner.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 26 Jan 2018 16:50:22 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Katie Richards\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:25;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 302 – Brian Gardner, Founder of StudioPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:58:\"https://wptavern.com?p=77689&preview=true&preview_id=77689\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:78:\"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-302-brian-gardner-founder-of-studiopress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1338:\"<p>In this episode, <a href=\"http://jjj.me\">John James Jacoby</a> and I are joined by <a href=\"https://briangardner.com/\">Brian Gardner</a>, founder of <a href=\"https://www.studiopress.com/\">StudioPress</a>. We talk about the past, present, and future of the company including various milestones such as the Genesis framework and merger with CopyBlogger Media in 2010. We also discuss the community surrounding StudioPress&#8217; products and the role it plays in the company&#8217;s continued success.</p>\n<h2>Picks of the Week:</h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://wptavern.com/new-toolkit-simplifies-the-process-of-creating-gutenberg-blocks\">Ahmad Awais Create Guten Block toolkit</a>.</p>\n<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>\n<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, January 31st 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-weekly/id694849738\">WordPress Weekly via Itunes</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://www.wptavern.com/feed/podcast\">WordPress Weekly via RSS</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wordpress-weekly-podcast?refid=stpr\">WordPress Weekly via Stitcher Radio</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ir3keivkvwwh24xy7qiymurwpbe\">WordPress Weekly via Google Play</a></p>\n<p><strong>Listen To Episode #302:</strong> </p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 26 Jan 2018 04:15:18 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:26;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:38:\"WPTavern: WordPress Turns 15 Years Old\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77652\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:49:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-turns-15-years-old\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1120:\"<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --><br />\nWordPress, the free open source project, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2003/01/the-blogging-software-dilemma/\">turns 15 years</a> old today. Here is the comment that started it all.<br />\n<!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/image {\"id\":51095} --></p>\n<img src=\"https://i2.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/MikeLittleForkB2Comment.png?w=627&ssl=1\" alt=\"Mike Little&#x27;s Comment\" />Mike Little&#x27;s Comment\n<p><!-- /wp:core/image --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --><br />\nIn addition to celebrating 15 years as a successful software project, it&#x27;s also a good opportunity to reflect on the number of people across the world who are making a great living and <a href=\"http://heropress.com/\">turning dreams into reality</a> thanks to the project.<br />\n<!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --><br />\nThank you Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little for creating WordPress, its contributors for keeping the ball rolling all these years, and providing opportunities for so many people. Happy birthday WordPress!<br />\n<!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 26 Jan 2018 03:41:27 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:27;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"WPTavern: WordCamp Miami Celebrates Its 10th Consecutive Year March 16-18\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77595\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"https://wptavern.com/wordcamp-miami-celebrates-its-10th-consecutive-year-march-16-18\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3689:\"<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://2018.miami.wordcamp.org/\">WordCamp Miami</a> is celebrating its 10th anniversary on March 16-18th. This year&#x27;s event is organized by twelve people and organizers expect more than 800 people to attend. Speakers will arrive from Italy, Germany, London, Brazil, and other international locations to share their knowledge.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>In addition to a <a href=\"https://2018.miami.wordcamp.org/kids/\">two-day Kids Camp</a> with a Kids Panel, WordCamp Miami will feature two new workshops. The first is developer focused and will prepare developers for <a href=\"https://2018.miami.wordcamp.org/2017/12/19/developer-workshop-announcement-future-of-wordpress/\">the future of WordPress</a>. The second is <a href=\"https://2018.miami.wordcamp.org/2017/12/21/ecommerce-workshop-coming-to-wcmia/\">focused on eCommerce</a>.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Attendees will receive their own site and be able to apply what they&#x27;ve learned to it. The sites will have pre-installed plugins and access to various tools mentioned by the workshop teachers.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>The &#x27;Learn JavaScript Deeply&#x27; track is returning this year, featuring local and international JavaScript developers. This is the third time WordCamp Miami has had this track and according to David Bisset, one of the organizers, the focus will be on JavaScript basics, React, plus using JavaScript to create &#x27;cool and unique&#x27; projects with or without WordPress.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Joshua Strebel, Syed Balkhi, and Christie Chirinos will highlight Saturday&#x27;s business track. </p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>For the first time in recent years, WordCamp Miami will have a closing keynote on Saturday, March 17th by John James Jacoby. Jacoby was one of the founders of WordCamp Miami a decade ago, and his talk will cover both nostalgic moments and what the future of WordPress holds for users.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Finally, WordCamp Miami will be doing a &#x27;game show hour&#x27; before the official after party. \"We wanted to do something fun and interactive for everyone &#8211; and we think we found a great way to segue people from the talks to unwinding at the after party,\" Bisset explained. </p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>\"We are even planning on having our sponsors form teams in a trivia contest battle. There will be provisions at the party for those who want to network or just relax in a quiet setting.\"</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Bisset praised volunteers and organizers for helping make 10 years of WordCamp Miami a reality.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>\"Each and every one of our organizers and speakers deserve a huge amount of thanks and praise for their hard work.\" He said. \"We couldn&#x27;t have done ten years without the support of the WordPress community.\"</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Tickets are <a href=\"https://2018.miami.wordcamp.org/tickets/\">on sale</a> with a number of purchasing options. Workshops cost $15 each and general admission tickets are $40 each. General admission tickets provide access to Saturday and Sunday sessions, lunch, swag, and the after party. </p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 25 Jan 2018 01:56:52 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:28;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:30:\"HeroPress: Believe In Yourself\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2420\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:112:\"https://heropress.com/essays/believe-in-yourself/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=believe-in-yourself\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10510:\"<img width=\"960\" height=\"480\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/012418-1024x512.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pull Quote: Working in WordPress has allowed my curiosity to run wild.\" /><p>You ever have a moment where you blink your eyes and you wonder how you’ve gotten to where you are today? I’m having one of those moments right now as I sit here to share my story with you. It’s bizarre to think of how far I’ve come because I truly thought that I was not good enough to be where I am today. Let’s get into it.</p>\n<h3>The Beginning</h3>\n<p>As a child, I was always around technology. My dad was a computer scientist and considered it a great idea to get each of his four children their own computer so they would stay away from his. So as the years went by with system administrative tasks being “one of the hard-knocks of life”, I went off to Drexel University in 2005 to pursue a degree in Computer Science. I remember when I walked into my first class and instantly saw how different I was. Everyone was white. Everyone was male. And I was not. In fact, I couldn’t even check off one of those boxes. I was opposite. I was female and I was black.</p>\n<p>The first year pursuing my degree actually went really well and finished off the year, completing my C++ final project to create a matching cards game using objects and classes. All was swell. I found that I was doing just as well as everyone else. And I found that was struggling in certain areas just like everyone else.</p>\n<h3>Leaning In</h3>\n<p>Next semester came and that’s when the more difficult course load began. There was one class in particular called “Data Algorithms &amp; Theories” that was incredibly and frustratingly difficult. As someone who always wanted to do well and is inclined to beat herself up for not being “perfect”, it was an incredibly stressful time for me. But once again, I was not the only one who was struggling because the class was difficult for all of my classmates. But as the class progressed, I decided to step out of my comfort zone and ask for help. This was the first time I would actually utilize the teaching assistant (TA) that was often present during this class. So our scheduled meeting comes around and it doesn’t go as I’d hoped. It wasn’t at all a welcoming atmosphere.</p>\n<blockquote><p>The demeanor of the TA made it clear that he didn’t want to be there but my happy-go-lucky personality brushed it aside.</p></blockquote>\n<p>To make things worse, I wasn’t understanding the “simple” concepts that he was explaining and was subject to the TA’s dismissive glances of judgement and shame. I remember at one point, my mind shifted into trying to make him like me rather than realize that he was discriminating against me. Then he said to me “You know, maybe this just isn’t for you. I’ve explained this to you multiple times and you’re just not getting.” This was a very upsetting moment in my life because someone who was supposed to be helping me learn was telling me that you’re too stupid to learn. Needless to say, I left that session very upset and I ultimately ended up changing my major to something “easier” because apparently it “wasn’t for me”.</p>\n<h3>Accepting A Career</h3>\n<p>After I graduated in 2010 with my degree in Information Technology, I moved to DC to pursue an unfulfilling Systems Engineering career in government contracting. Don’t get me wrong. I learned a plethora of valuable skills that I will use for the rest of my life. But I wasn’t doing something that was enriching me. Not only that, I was often made to feel ostracized in the work culture because of the lack of diversity.</p>\n<blockquote><p>I’m not sure if anyone’s told you&#8230;but it’s extremely hard being a minority and working with people who don’t look like you and who can’t relate to you.</p></blockquote>\n<p>If someone said something racially insensitive or offensive (and there have been multiple instances), that was always a battle I had to fight on my own. And to be honest, sometimes I didn’t fight because I knew no one would give a damn and the person would get away with it with a slap on the wrist.</p>\n<h3>Remembering Joy</h3>\n<p>So in the mist of all of this, no matter how upset, beaten-up and angry I felt after a work day, I could always come back to my love for the metal music genre. I would spend so much time listening to new metal music after work that co-workers nicknamed me “the DJ”. Which isn’t completely untrue. In college, one of my extracurriculars was to host a weekly metal radio show on the college radio station. But I didn’t have that anymore so I essentially felt a bit lost.</p>\n<p>That’s when I decided to get it back! Not in the form of an actual radio show. But in the form of a metal music blog. Outside of having played around with making marque-filled pages on GeoCities and changing the backgrounds of my MySpace and Xanga profiles to be neon-colored or highly pixelated images, I didn’t have any experience making a website. So I GOOGLED it! And in that research I learned how hosting providers work and the best blogging platform for me to use for my blog. And that platform was WordPress. So in 2015, I launched my first website ever on WordPress: metalandcoffee.com. And this point I didn’t really know anything super WordPress-nerdy outside of being able to select a theme and add/organize content on the navigation bar. But I finally had my own voice live and anyone can see it!</p>\n<h3>Looking Deep</h3>\n<p>Now &#8211; the year was 2017 and words cannot describe how miserable I am in my current work position. I thought transferring to a position within the company that brought me back to Philadelphia would help my pain and suffering but it only numbed it for a couple months. I still didn’t like the environment, I didn’t like what I was doing, and although I was able to look at the occasional code snippet that would give me a spark of confidence when I understood what the code was doing, I wasn’t given an opportunity to be on the other side. This is what lit a fire under me to finally do everything in my power to move towards a developer career. I felt like that was where I was supposed to be. Sure, I was told that I wasn’t smart enough to be anywhere near code but why did it excite me to see it and recognize it? Why was I able to troubleshoot errors even though I wasn’t a developer? Why was I excelling at quality assuring software by being able to understand the code’s logic thus thinking of scenarios that were unaccounted for?</p>\n<h3>Breaking Through</h3>\n<p>So I signed up for a couple online courses focused on web development and eventually found myself having been accepted to <a href=\"http://www.interactivemechanics.com/fellowship\">a front-end developer fellowship program</a> that provided me with an amazing mentor and a final project to work towards. For my final project, I chose to learn how to create a custom WordPress theme for my Metal &amp; Coffee website because the current one that I was using did not fully suite my needs.</p>\n<blockquote><p>And there you have it &#8211; throughout the next 9 months, the doubt and shame instilled in me since college kept coming up and I kept having to find ways to break through it whether it’d be a pep talk from my mentor, talking to developers who look like me (black women) or using meditation to help me through the anxiety.</p></blockquote>\n<p>And by the end of that, not only did I finish my final project (<a href=\"http://metalandcoffee.github.io\">http://metalandcoffee.github.io</a>) and come to really love WordPress theming, I got a job offer from Tracy Levesque and Mia Levesque to work at their WordPress web agency, <a href=\"https://www.yikesinc.com/\">Yikes Inc.</a></p>\n<h3>Finding My Place</h3>\n<p>Now, I’m a full-time WordPress developer and I couldn’t be more satisfied. Working at Yikes has sent my developer skills soaring over mountains and valleys. My curiosity is allowed to run wild and I’ve actually been diving into the plugin world, completely re-coding an internal plugin from the ground up and learning essential web programming practices in the process.</p>\n<p>My next goal in the WordPress community is to see more WordPress developers who look like me. And one step I’ve taken towards that goal is to co-teach a Intro to WordPress workshop at Codeland 2018 which I’m very excited (and nervous) for. And I’ll continue to be as visible and outspoken as possible to encourage diversity in this community.</p>\n<div class=\"rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Tweet: Believe In Yourself\" class=\"rtsocial-twitter-button\" href=\"https://twitter.com/share?text=Believe%20In%20Yourself&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fbelieve-in-yourself%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light\"><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Like: Believe In Yourself\" class=\"rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fbelieve-in-yourself%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-button\" href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fbelieve-in-yourself%2F&title=Believe+In+Yourself\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share: Believe In Yourself\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-button\" href=\"https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/believe-in-yourself/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/012418-150x150.jpg&description=Believe In Yourself\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pin: Believe In Yourself\"></a></div></div><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"perma-link\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/believe-in-yourself/\" title=\"Believe In Yourself\"></a></div><p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/believe-in-yourself/\">Believe In Yourself</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 24 Jan 2018 13:00:37 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Ebonie Butler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:29;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"WPTavern: New Toolkit Simplifies the Process of Creating Gutenberg Blocks\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77521\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"https://wptavern.com/new-toolkit-simplifies-the-process-of-creating-gutenberg-blocks\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5470:\"<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://ahmadawais.com/\">Ahmad Awais</a>, who <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-boilerplate-demonstrates-how-to-build-custom-blocks\">created the Gutenberg Boilerplate</a> last year, has <a href=\"https://ahmadawais.com/create-guten-block-toolkit/\">released</a> a <a href=\"https://github.com/ahmadawais/create-guten-block\">Guten Block Toolkit</a>. The toolkit substantially simplifies the creation of Gutenberg Blocks by providing no configuration, one dependency, and no lock-in.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Awais created the toolkit after receiving feedback that configuring things like Webpack, React, ES 6/7/8/Next, ESLint, Babel and keeping up with their development was too difficult.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>\"Developers told me that they built Gutenberg blocks with ES5 because the amount of time required to configure, set up, and learn tools like Babel, Webpack, ESLint, Prettier, etc. wasn’t worth it,\" Awais said.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>\"So, yes! I went ahead and built a solution — a zero-config-js #0CJS WordPress developers’ toolkit called create-guten-block!\"</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Creating blocks using the toolkit is a three-step process. </p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Developers begin by installing Node version 8 or higher on a local server. The next step is to run the create-guten-block command and provide a name for the plugin that will be created. This command also creates the folder structure necessary to maintain the project. The last step is to run the NPM start command which runs the plugin in development mode.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Once these steps are completed, the WordPress plugin will be compatible with Gutenberg and have React.js, ES 6/7/8/Next, and Babel, which also has ESLint configurations for code editors to detect and use automatically. </p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>The Guten Block Toolkit comes with the following:</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/list --></p>\n<ul>\n<li>React, JSX, and ES6 syntax support. </li>\n<li>Webpack dev/production build process behind the scene. </li>\n<li>Language extras beyond ES6 like the object spread operator. </li>\n<li>Auto-prefixed CSS, so you don’t need -webkit or other prefixes. </li>\n<li>A build script to bundle JS, CSS, and images for production with source-maps. </li>\n<li>Hassle-free updates for the above tools with a single dependency cgb-scripts.</li>\n</ul>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/list --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>The project has received positive feedback, including from members of Gutenberg&#x27;s development team.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/embed {\"url\":\"https://twitter.com/GaryPendergast/status/954559771910193152\"} --></p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Mad props to <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrAhmadAwais?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MrAhmadAwais</a> for making a super useful Gutenberg tool that I\'ve been really looking forward to! 🎉</p>\n<p>I\'m excited about the possibilities for this, and I love how it\'s embraced WordPress\' \"decisions, not options\" philosophy, doing all of the hard work for you. 💪💯 <a href=\"https://t.co/hUAQVDL7S1\">https://t.co/hUAQVDL7S1</a></p>\n<p>&mdash; Gary (@GaryPendergast) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/GaryPendergast/status/954559771910193152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 20, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><br />\n\n<p><!-- /wp:core/embed --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/embed {\"url\":\"https://twitter.com/igorbenic/status/955539392273281025\"} --></p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Tried the <a href=\"https://t.co/WkvhwSVBh6\">https://t.co/WkvhwSVBh6</a> from <a href=\"https://twitter.com/MrAhmadAwais?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@MrAhmadAwais</a>, had a block within a minute. Now it\'s time to finish the <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/Gutenberg?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Gutenberg</a> course from <a href=\"https://twitter.com/zgordon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@zgordon</a> to actually build something useful :D</p>\n<p>&mdash; Igor Benić (@igorbenic) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/igorbenic/status/955539392273281025?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 22, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><br />\n\n<p><!-- /wp:core/embed --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>With a stable release now available to the public, Awais is working on <a href=\"https://github.com/ahmadawais/create-guten-block/issues/11\">2.0.0</a>. \"The next step is to get this toolkit tested and mature the entire app to release version 2.0.0 for that not only do I need your <a href=\"https://ahmadawais.com/contact/\">support</a>, I ask that you hop on board and contribute — that’s the only way forward,\" he said.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Create Guten Block Toolkit is <a href=\"https://github.com/ahmadawais/create-guten-block/blob/master/LICENSE\">MIT licensed</a> and available for free <a href=\"https://github.com/ahmadawais/create-guten-block\">on GitHub</a>. Contributions are welcomed! </p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 24 Jan 2018 03:30:09 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:30;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:97:\"WPTavern: Free Conference Dedicated to WordPress in Higher Ed Takes Place January 30th at 9AM CST\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77514\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:108:\"https://wptavern.com/free-conference-dedicated-to-wordpress-in-higher-ed-takes-place-january-30th-at-9am-cst\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1380:\"<p>If you&#8217;re interested in learning how WordPress is used in Higher Ed, tune in to <a href=\"https://online.wpcampus.org/\">WPCampus Online</a>, January 30th at 9AM Central Standard Time. WPCampus Online is a virtual conference that people can watch for free, no traveling necessary. The event uses <a href=\"https://www.crowdcast.io/\">Crowdcast</a> allowing viewers to switch between rooms, interact with each other, and ask questions.</p>\n<p>Some of the topics that <a href=\"https://online.wpcampus.org/schedule/\">will be presented</a> include, <a href=\"https://online.wpcampus.org/schedule/wordpress-and-real-world-data-with-students/\">WordPress and Real-World Data with Students</a>, <a href=\"https://online.wpcampus.org/schedule/headless-brainless-wordpress/\">Headless and Brainless WordPress</a>, and <a href=\"https://online.wpcampus.org/schedule/using-wordpress-support-run-student-government-elections/\">Using WordPress to Support and Run Student Government Elections</a>. If in-person conferences are more your style, keep an eye out for information on WPCampus 2018 tentatively planned for this Summer.</p>\n<p>To learn more about WPCampus and the people behind it, <a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-301-wordpress-in-highered-accessibility-and-more-with-rachel-cherry\">listen to our interview</a> with Rachel Cherry on episode 301 of WordPress Weekly.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 22 Jan 2018 22:14:36 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:31;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:70:\"Mark Jaquith: How I fixed Yoast SEO sitemaps on a large WordPress site\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"http://markjaquith.wordpress.com/?p=5392\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:102:\"https://markjaquith.wordpress.com/2018/01/22/how-i-fixed-yoast-seo-sitemaps-on-a-large-wordpress-site/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4852:\"<p>One of my Covered Web Services clients recently came to me with a problem: <a href=\"https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/\">Yoast SEO</a> sitemaps were broken on their largest, highest-traffic WordPress site. Yoast SEO breaks your sitemap up into chunks. On this site, the individual chunks were loading, but the sitemap index (its &#8220;table of contents&#8221;) would not load, and was giving a timeout error. This prevented search engines from finding the individual sitemap chunks.</p>\n<p>Sitemaps are really helpful for providing information to search engines about the content on your site, so fixing this issue was a high priority to the client! They were frustrated, and confused, because this was working just fine on their other sites.</p>\n<p>Given that this site has over a decade of content, I figured that Yoast SEO&#8217;s dynamic generation of the sitemap was simply taking too long, and the server was giving up.</p>\n<p>So I increased the site&#8217;s various timeout settings to 120 seconds.</p>\n<p><strong>No good.</strong></p>\n<p>I increased the timeout settings to 300 seconds. Five whole minutes!</p>\n<p><strong>Still no good.</strong></p>\n<p>This illustrates one of the problems that WordPress sites can face when they accumulate a lot of content: <strong>dynamic processes start to take longer</strong>. A process that takes a reasonable 5 seconds with 5,000 posts might take 100 seconds with 500,000 posts. I could have eventually made the Yoast SEO sitemap index work if I increased the timeout high enough, but that wouldn&#8217;t have been a good solution.</p>\n<ol>\n<li>It would have meant increasing the timeout settings irresponsibly high, leaving the server potentially open to abuse.</li>\n<li>Even though it is search engines, not people, who are requesting the sitemap, it is unreasonable to expect them to wait over 5 minutes for it to load. They&#8217;re likely to give up. They might even penalize the site in their rankings for being slow.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>I needed the sitemap to be reliably generated without making the search engines wait.</p>\n<p><strong>When something intensive needs to happen reliably on a site, look to the command line.</strong></p>\n<h2>The Solution</h2>\n<p>Yoast SEO doesn&#8217;t have <a href=\"http://wp-cli.org/\">WP-CLI</a> (WordPress command line interface) commands, but that doesn&#8217;t matter — you can just use <a href=\"https://developer.wordpress.org/cli/commands/eval/\"><b>wp eval</b></a> to run arbitrary WordPress PHP code.</p>\n<p>After a little digging through the <a href=\"https://github.com/Yoast/wordpress-seo/blob/46802dbcf8e7d2ac0d6552f4de0923cd0eba2b07/inc/sitemaps/class-sitemaps.php#L345-L364\">Yoast SEO code</a>, I determined that this WP-CLI command would output the index sitemap:</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: bash; title: ; notranslate\">wp eval \'\n$sm = new WPSEO_Sitemaps;\n$sm-&gt;build_root_map();\n$sm-&gt;output();\n\'</pre>\n<p>That took a good while to run on the command line, but that doesn&#8217;t matter, because I just set a <a href=\"https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CronHowto\">cron job</a> to run it once a day and save its output to a static file.</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: plain; title: ; notranslate\">0 3 * * * cd /srv/www/example.com &amp;&amp; /usr/local/bin/wp eval \'$sm = new WPSEO_Sitemaps;$sm-&gt;build_root_map();$sm-&gt;output();\' &gt; /srv/www/example.com/wp-content/uploads/sitemap_index.xml</pre>\n<p>The final step that was needed was to modify a rewrite in the site&#8217;s Nginx config that would make the <b>/sitemap_index.xml</b> path point to the cron-created static file, instead of resolving to Yoast SEO&#8217;s dynamic generation URL.</p>\n<pre class=\"brush: plain; highlight: [4]; title: ; notranslate\">location ~ ([^/]*)sitemap(.*).x(m|s)l$ {\n    rewrite ^/sitemap.xml$ /sitemap_index.xml permanent;\n    rewrite ^/([a-z]+)?-?sitemap.xsl$ /index.php?xsl=$1 last;\n    rewrite ^/sitemap_index.xml$ /wp-content/uploads/sitemap_index.xml last;\n    rewrite ^/([^/]+?)-sitemap([0-9]+)?.xml$ /index.php?sitemap=$1&amp;sitemap_n=$2 last;\n}</pre>\n<p>Now the sitemap index loads instantly (because it&#8217;s a static file), and is kept up-to-date with a reliable background process. The client is happy that they didn&#8217;t have to switch SEO plugins or install a separate sitemap plugin. Everything just works, thanks to a little bit of command line magic.</p>\n<p>What other WordPress processes would benefit from this kind of approach?</p>\n<hr />\n<p><b>Do you need <a href=\"https://coveredwebservices.com/\">WordPress services?</a></b></p>\n<p>Mark runs <a href=\"https://coveredwebservices.com/\">Covered Web Services</a> which specializes in custom WordPress solutions with focuses on security, speed optimization, plugin development and customization, and complex migrations.</p>\n<p>Please reach out to start a conversation!</p>\n[contact-form]\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 22 Jan 2018 15:15:06 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Mark Jaquith\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:32;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"Post Status: Hosted versus self-hosted eCommerce — Draft podcast\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=41084\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"https://poststatus.com/hosted-versus-self-hosted-ecommerce-draft-podcast/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2130:\"<p>Welcome to the Post Status <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/category/draft\">Draft podcast</a>, which you can find <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\">on iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://play.google.com/music/m/Ih5egfxskgcec4qadr3f4zfpzzm?t=Post_Status__Draft_WordPress_Podcast\">Google Play</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\">Stitcher</a>, and <a href=\"http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1061/rss\">via RSS</a> for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and co-host Brian Richards.</p>\n<p>In this episode, Brian and Brian discuss self-hosted vs managed ecommerce and whether or not conferences have outlived their usefulness. Specifically, they look at WooCommerce vs other solutions and explore Shopify and Liquid Web’s Managed WooCommerce hosting as viable done-for-you strategies. On the conference front, they talk about the good and the bad of conferences and ponder how tech conferences of the future may need to change to attract more attendees.</p>\n<p></p>\n<h3>Links</h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://marco.org/2018/01/17/end-of-conference-era\">The End of the Conference Era</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.liquidweb.com/blog/liquid-web-announces-the-launch-of-managed-woocommerce-hosting/\">Liquid Web introduces Managed WooCommerce</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://github.com/liquidweb/woocommerce-order-tables\">Liquid Web&#8217;s WooCommerce Order Tables Plugin</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://metorik.com/\">Metorik</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.ecommercefuel.com/\">eCommerceFuel</a></li>\n</ul>\n<h3>Sponsor: Pippin&#8217;s Plugins</h3>\n<p>This episode is sponsored by Pippin’s Plugins. <a href=\"http://pippinsplugins.com/\">Pippin’s Plugins</a> creates a suite of plugins that work great alone, or together. Whether you need to restrict content, sell downloads, or start an affiliate program, they’ve got you covered. For more information, check out their <a href=\"http://pippinsplugins.com/\">website</a> and thank you to Pippin’s Plugins for being a Post Status partner.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 19 Jan 2018 20:56:40 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Katie Richards\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:33;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:16:\"Matt: R.I.P Dean\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:22:\"https://ma.tt/?p=47840\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:33:\"https://ma.tt/2018/01/r-i-p-dean/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3493:\"<p>Dean Allen, a web pioneer and good man, has passed away. I&#x27;ve been processing the news for a few days and still don&#x27;t know where to begin. Dean was a writer, who wrote the software he wrote on. His websites were crafted, designed, and typeset so well you would have visited them even if they were filled with Lorem Ipsum, and paired with his writing you were drawn into an impossibly rich world. His blog was called Textism, and among many other things it introduced me to the art of typography.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Later, he created Textpattern, without which WordPress wouldn&#x27;t exist. Later, he created Textdrive with Jason Hoffman, without which WordPress wouldn&#x27;t have found an early business model or had a home on the web. He brought a care and craft to everything he touched that inspires me to this day. As <a href=\"https://daringfireball.net/2018/01/dean_allen\">John Gruber said</a>, \"Dean strove for perfection and often achieved it.\" (Aside: Making typography better on the web led John Gruber to release Smarty Pants, Dean a tool called Textile, and myself something called Texturize all within a few months of each other; John continued his work and created Markdown, I put Texturize into WP, and Dean released Textile in Textpattern.)</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Years later, we became friends and shared many trips, walks, drinks, and meals together, often with Hanni and <a href=\"https://om.co/2018/01/18/dean-allen-rest-in-peace/\">Om</a>. (When we overlapped in Vancouver he immediately texted \"I&#x27;ll show you some butt-kicking food and drink.\") His zest for life was matched with an encyclopedic knowledge of culture and voracious reading (and later podcast listening) habits. I learned so much in our time together, a web inspiration who turned for me into a real-life mensch. He was endlessly generous with his time and counsel in design, prose, and fashion. I learned the impossibly clever sentences he wrote, that you assumed were the product of a small writing crew or at least a few revisions, came annoyingly easily to him, an extension of how he actually thought and wrote and the culmination of a lifetime of telling stories and connecting to the human psyche.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dean, who (of course) was also a great photographer, didn&#x27;t love having his own photo taken but would occasionally tolerate me when I pointed a camera at him <a href=\"https://om.co/2018/01/18/dean-allen-rest-in-peace/\">and Om has a number of the photos on his post</a>. There&#x27;s one that haunts me: before getting BBQ we were at his friend&#x27;s apartment in Vancouver, listening to Mingus and enjoying hand-crafted old fashioneds with <a href=\"https://ma.tt/files/2018/01/IMG_7147.jpg\">antique bitters</a>, and despite the rain we went on the roof to see the art that was visible from there. He obliged to a photo this time though and we took photos of each other individually in front of a sign that said \"EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT.\" It wasn&#x27;t, but it&#x27;s what I imagine Dean would say right now if he could.</p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-gallery alignnone columns-2 is-cropped\">\n    <img src=\"https://i2.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2018/01/IMG_7151.jpg?w=604&ssl=1\" />\n    <img src=\"https://i0.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2018/01/IMG_7158.jpg?w=604&ssl=1\" />\n</div>\n\n\n\n<img src=\"https://i1.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2018/01/104050690_ce98a95092_o.jpg?w=604&ssl=1\" />\n    When we first met, in 2006, <a href=\"https://www.flickr.com/photos/textdriveinc/104050690/in/photostream/\">from Jason</a>.\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 19 Jan 2018 05:21:34 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:34;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:100:\"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 301 – WordPress in HigherEd, Accessibility, and More With Rachel Cherry\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:58:\"https://wptavern.com?p=77497&preview=true&preview_id=77497\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:105:\"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-301-wordpress-in-highered-accessibility-and-more-with-rachel-cherry\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2840:\"<p>In this episode, <a href=\"http://jjj.me\">John James Jacoby</a> and I are joined by <a href=\"https://bamadesigner.com/\">Rachel Cherry</a>, Senior Software Engineer for <a href=\"http://www.disneyinteractive.com/\">Disney Interactive</a> and Director of <a href=\"https://wpcampus.org/\">WPCampus</a>. Cherry describes how she got involved with WordPress, its use in higher education, the inspiration behind WPCampus, and her thoughts on accessibility both in WordPress and across the web. She also assigned everyone the following homework assignment.</p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Per my interview on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/WordPress?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#WordPress</a> Weekly, I’ve assigned everyone <a href=\"https://twitter.com/hashtag/accessibility?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#accessibility</a> homework: open your website and navigate using ONLY THE KEYBOARD. Can you access all content and functionality? Can you open AND close popups? Let me know what you learned.</p>\n<p>&mdash; Rachel Cherry (@bamadesigner) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/bamadesigner/status/953742847831818240?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 17, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p></p>\n<p>If you want to learn how WordPress is being used in higher education, tune in to<a href=\"https://online.wpcampus.org/\"> WPCampus Online</a> Tuesday, January 30, 2018. Viewers will be able to watch sessions and interact with the speakers for free. Near the end of the show, Jacoby provides a review of the Nintendo Switch he received for Christmas.</p>\n<h2>Stories Discussed:</h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/01/12/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12th-january/\">Gutenberg 2.0 Released</a><br />\n<a href=\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-2-patches-xss-vulnerability\">WordPress 4.9.2 Patches XSS Vulnerability</a><br />\n<a href=\"https://wptavern.com/zac-gordon-launches-gutenberg-development-course-includes-more-than-30-videos\">Zac Gordon Launches Gutenberg Development Course, Includes More Than 30 Videos</a></p>\n<h2>Picks of the Week:</h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://pippinsplugins.com/2017-in-review/\">Pippin Williamson&#8217;s 2017 Year in Review</a></p>\n<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>\n<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, January 24th 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-weekly/id694849738\">WordPress Weekly via Itunes</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://www.wptavern.com/feed/podcast\">WordPress Weekly via RSS</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wordpress-weekly-podcast?refid=stpr\">WordPress Weekly via Stitcher Radio</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ir3keivkvwwh24xy7qiymurwpbe\">WordPress Weekly via Google Play</a></p>\n<p><strong>Listen To Episode #301:</strong><br />\n</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 18 Jan 2018 02:42:56 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:35;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:62:\"WPTavern: DesktopServer 3.8.4 Includes A Gift to the Community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77259\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"https://wptavern.com/desktopserver-3-8-4-includes-a-gift-to-the-community\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2802:\"<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>DesktopServer <a href=\"https://serverpress.com/announcing-desktopserver-v3-8-4/\">has released</a> version 3.8.4 of its local development software. This version includes a lot of refactored code, setting the foundation for faster updates in the future along with design-time plugins.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>One of the major changes in 3.8.4 is the use of the .dev.cc top level domain.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/quote --></p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Due to the latest changes with the .dev Top Level Domain and the fact that many browsers now force SSL on anything with the .dev extension, DesktopServer will now use .dev.cc as its TLD extension. This is a legitimate top level domain owned by ServerPress, LLC and will ONLY be used for local development purposes.</p>\n<p><cite><a href=\"https://serverpress.com/announcing-desktopserver-v3-8-4/\">Release Announcement Post</a></cite></p></blockquote>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/quote --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Marc Benzakein says the domain will work no matter which local development solution is being used and that it&#x27;s a gift to the community. Other domains such as .test will continue to work as expected. </p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>Other improvements include speed optimizations for Windows installs, a Windows compatibility plugin to fix long filename problems when updating from third-party plugin repositories such as Easy Digital Downloads, and a WordPress 4.9.1 Blueprint.</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>If you use an Apple device with a Retina screen or Hi-DPI in Windows, you&#x27;ll likely appreciate the user-interface changes that are vastly improved on high resolution screens. Josh Eby does!</p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/embed {\"url\":\"https://twitter.com/josheby/status/953089139439751168\"} --></p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Love the new scaling fix on <a href=\"https://twitter.com/DesktopServer?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@DesktopServer</a> 3.8.4!  Looks great on my 4K display now. Can\'t wait for 3.9 to get released!</p>\n<p>&mdash; Josh Eby (@josheby) <a href=\"https://twitter.com/josheby/status/953089139439751168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 16, 2018</a></p></blockquote>\n<p><br />\n\n<p><!-- /wp:core/embed --></p>\n<p><!-- wp:core/paragraph --></p>\n<p>DesktopServer 3.8.4 also includes a number of enhancements for premium service customers. To view these and other notes related to the release, check out <a href=\"https://serverpress.com/announcing-desktopserver-v3-8-4/\">the announcement post</a>. </p>\n<p><!-- /wp:core/paragraph --></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 17 Jan 2018 19:12:14 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:36;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:51:\"WPTavern: WordPress 4.9.2 Patches XSS Vulnerability\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77438\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:62:\"https://wptavern.com/wordpress-4-9-2-patches-xss-vulnerability\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1106:\"<p>WordPress 4.9.2 has been released and patches a cross-site scripting vulnerability in the Flash fallback files in the MediaElement library. <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2018/01/wordpress-4-9-2-security-and-maintenance-release/\">According to Ian Dunn</a>, the Flash files are rarely needed and have been removed from WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need access to the Flash fallback files, they can be obtained using the <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/mediaelement-flash-fallbacks/\">MediaElement Flash Fallback</a> plugin. <a href=\"https://opnsec.com\">Enguerran Gillier</a> and <a href=\"https://widiz.com/\">Widiz</a> are credited with responsibly disclosing the vulnerability. ﻿</p>\n\n\n\n<p>In addition to the patch, this releases fixes 21 bugs. JavaScript errors that prevented saving posts in Firefox has been fixed and switching themes will attempt to restore previous widget assignments, even if no sidebars exist.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can view detailed information about the changes in 4.9.2 by <a href=\"https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.9.2\">reading the following Codex article</a>. </p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 17 Jan 2018 09:19:39 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:37;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:37:\"HeroPress: Growing WordPress in India\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2406\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:120:\"https://heropress.com/essays/growing-wordpress-india/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=growing-wordpress-india\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18306:\"<img width=\"960\" height=\"480\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/011718-1024x512.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pull Quote: The world will know you for the path you have chosen.\" /><h3>Preface</h3>\n<p>I was one of the first batch of participants in the initial version of HeroPress, which was video stories but I backed out due to multiple reasons. But, I’m glad HeroPress has survived in this current avatar, telling some really interesting stories of some real wonderful people. Few of whom I’ve had the pleasure of calling friends.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://heropress.com/about/\">Topher</a> has umpteen number of times asked me to write my HeroPress story and I have always either given excuses or deadlines that I never planned on meeting. The few times that I did start writing this article I went into too much of a deep dive into my life story (that I never finished it&#8230;) which is quite the rollercoaster from having failed Std.10th (high School) in English or dropping out in College to having guest lectured(teaching WordPress, of course) in one of the biggest B-schools in India OR my work experience which includes Film, TV, dealing cards to even working as an assistant to the Union Minister of India for Youth Affairs and sports… There I go again!! While that does make for a good story I should save it for when you buy me a beer.</p>\n<p>I wanted my HeroPress article to tell a story of how our WordPress Community is truly open source and always open for everyone’s participation. I think this version does the Job. Also would like to thank <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/andreamiddleton\">Andrea Middleton </a>and <a href=\"https://twitter.com/adityakane?lang=en\">Aditya Kane</a> who have been the most supportive of my efforts all these years. Last but not the least I’d like to thank Topher for this great space he has created and being a true friend with whom I could share some of my troubles.</p>\n<p>I am <a href=\"https://twitter.com/gounder?lang=en\">Alexander Gounder</a>, somewhat of a nobody who become somebody not only because I tried but also because WordPress is open enough to allow it and this is my story!</p>\n<h3>Background</h3>\n<p>I was born in a lower middle class household in Mumbai, India. I am the middle kid among three siblings. My Father works as a tailor in Saudi Arabia and visits every few years. My Mother is a strong willed woman, who would fight the world for her kids which was evident when she refused to listen to doctors that my sister who suffers from Cerebral Palsy be sent to Special school and instead went pillar to post to get her to study in her normal school, even if it meant that she had to wait outside class during school hours (in case my sister had to go to the restroom) or carry my sister (who then was about 8 yrs old) around.</p>\n<blockquote><p>I live where 70%, if not more, of Mumbai’s population lives, the slum or <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chawl\">chawls</a> in the suburbs.</p></blockquote>\n<p>So I’ve lived through the hunger for a day when I lost <u title=\"15 cents USD\">Rs.10</u> on my way to buy bread, this was during the Gulf war when my father couldn’t send us any money for months; I’ve lived through the darkness of when there are frequent power cuts and still the power companies claim that there isn’t any load shedding in this city; I’ve lived through the annual ritual of walking in knee deep water to school, then college and now work as Monsoon water, thanks to clogged drains finds its way to the empty plot between our chawl and the main road.</p>\n<p>In terms of education I was an above average student but somehow managed to fail my Std. 10 board exams (this is a very important milestones in the Indian education system). Failure has been my stepping stone to success. I learnt computers as I had free time because I had to wait six months for joining college. I got a job at a local cyber cafe which was run by a linux enthusiast, this was my introduction to Free and Open Source. Post that I attended college (but didn’t graduate) and had many jobs (I’ve been working since I was 17, almost 50% of my lifetime).</p>\n<p>To conclude, the point I’m trying to make here is, I don’t come from a lot of money or have a lot in terms of education qualifications in spite of which I was able to do everything I did in the WordPress Community here in Mumbai and India at large.</p>\n<h3>My first WordCamp</h3>\n<p>I was an attendee at the first WordCamp in Mumbai in 2012. I was pretty excited about attending it, because only a few days before I saw a video from WordCamp San Francisco. I thought the idea of having a conference about WordPress was super cool. Though the tickets seemed a little expensive, I had just started freelancing and wasn’t attending events yet, so didn’t really have any benchmarks and thought it was worth it as this was an International/official event.</p>\n<p>My excitement was short lived when talks were sponsor pitches or mostly not about WordPress. The arrangements too weren’t as expected. During a session that was delayed by over 45 mins because the speaker and his connectivity problems (which could have been resolved by just using another machine), I lost my cool and walked out, one of the volunteers struck a conversation with me where I began by complaining about the arrangements and wanted to speak with the organizers to complain, but anger turned to sympathy when I realized that these student volunteers were in fact the event organizers, with that fact in mind even putting together this event was a great achievement. I probed further trying to understand where things were going wrong, checked what they paid for the t-shirts, it was about 30-40% higher than market price, asked if everyone paid the sponsor amount listed on the site, they said &#8211; many had bargained for upto 50% less than the published sponsor slab and some agreed with speaker slots thrown in. I asked how many tickets they sold and was informed free tickets were distributed in their colleges and to some of their partners. Partners? These were a few individuals who in the guise of helping these kids organize WordCamp had brokered deals that got sponsors discounts and/or speaker slots, free tickets (over 50) for friends / colleagues / employees, speaker slots for themselves and even their companies or brands as in kind sponsors.</p>\n<p>On the second day, things went to a confrontational stage with many (who paid to attend the event) questioning the Non-WordPress talks and long twitter threads ensued. While it is easy to blame the organizers of the WC Mumbai 2012, I think it was those few selfish individuals who weren’t part of the organizing team but tried to influence them while offering to help.</p>\n<p>This showed there was a need for the Indian WordPress Community to come together so we started a small buddypress website which was inundated with spam registrations hence replaced it with a <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/groups/JaiWP/\">FB group</a>.</p>\n<p>This WordPress India FB group helped us co-ordinate our first meetup in Jan 2013.</p>\n<h3>Visiting Other WordCamps</h3>\n<p>While talking to others about bringing WordPress enthusiasts from all over India, I got a sense there&#8217;s mostly mistrust among people involved in WordCamps and those attending or speaking at it. That&#8217;s when something I read on plan.wordcamp.org struck me, it said that sponsoring a WordCamp is a great way to contribute and give back. So I sponsored the next WordCamp in India, WC Baroda. When asked what is the sponsoring brand, I named our BuddyPress website. Little did I realise that this helped others see I was genuinely interested in bringing people together than make a quick buck or get publicity for myself.</p>\n<p>While the next few WordCamps were better than my experience at WC Mumbai 2012, but they shared some common threads, in terms of the people who spoke there, or how there was no clarity in terms of how speakers were selected. I had even applied to speak at a WordCamp through FB chat, because that&#8217;s how the organiser was handling it. To my disappointment I sat through a session at that WordCamp with someone from automattic presenting exactly what I had proposed, later to be told by the speaker that he didn&#8217;t intend to speak and this was a topic proposed by the organisers.</p>\n<blockquote><p>I was disgusted by how these WordCamps were filled with shady underhand deals and zero transparency. While WordCamps had some set of guidelines and expectations, these organizers knowingly or unknowingly followed none of them.</p></blockquote>\n<p>At that point of time, the idea of organising a WordCamp in Mumbai came to mind too, but then what if I would end up doing the same as what was already happening was the only thing that stopped me from applying for a WordCamp.</p>\n<h3>Moment of truth</h3>\n<p>WordPress turned 10, and there were meetups organised everywhere and with a little confusion we too managed to organise a meet-up at a coffee shop, here the attendees weren&#8217;t people who we normally meet at WordCamps but regular WordPress users who discovered the meetup through WordPress.org. They had some amazing stories to tell about their association with the software &#8211; I met Manish who 80k downloads for his theme on WordPress.org or Sachin who had been blogging since ‘98 even before WordPress.</p>\n<p>So I realised the Meetups and WordCamps weren&#8217;t really reaching most WordPress users within our own neighborhood, these users were equally passionate about WordPress and they too wanted to have real world meetups to meet others like them.</p>\n<h3>Then how did we do it</h3>\n<h4>We not I</h4>\n<p>While “I” claim to have broken WordCamps in India, I couldn’t have done it alone. Right from the beginning I started asking other to join and help out, because we were at the end of the day trying to build a community and that couldn’t be done alone. At first it was Aditya, then we had other regular members like Sahil and Vachan join in to help us organize regular meetups.</p>\n<p>Getting more stock holders allowed us to bring a different perspective to everything that we were doing. Till then people blocked others from participating as organizers or volunteers because of their own insecurities and used the line that “meetups don’t work in India”. Maybe even peddling that lie to even WordPress Foundation which was then allowing these WordCamps in the hope they would kickstart local. We went the opposite way.</p>\n<h4>Persevere</h4>\n<p>When we started off with meetups we were told “Meetups don’t work in India”, but this wasn’t true because I was already attending Startup Saturday, a monthly Meetup for startups, Quora had a meetup, Many Bloggers had meetups. So we got started. A few meetups had 10-20 people showing up while others had 2-3 but we didn’t give up on meetups because we were meeting new people which was our end goal. Aditya once remarked that even if he met one new person and discussed WordPress that would be a successful, and has resulted in us having a fairly active meetup with so many different people speaking and attending it.</p>\n<h4>Put a little thought</h4>\n<p>I became very close friends with Aditya and we spent a lot of time discussing what we were doing here. We were a good cop / bad cop team many times. From our discussion we set up some guidelines for what we stood for inclusiveness and transparency. This was before we had a WordCamp Handbook which guides you through most of the challenges you would face.</p>\n<p>We were the first WordCamp in India to publish the code of conduct and make sure it was accessible to everyone, we made repeated announcements on the run-up to the WordCamp and during the WordCamp about this Code of Conduct and how serious we were about following it. We even discussed thing amongst ourselves about handling any complaints about violations of the code of conduct, for e.g. as per Indian law you can’t disclose the identity of a person who is victim of Sexual Harassment and therefore we took care and had a system in place to take complaints and maintain the complainants privacy.</p>\n<p>When we did our first WordCamp we tried to have ticket cost as low as possible (<u title=\"\">INR 300</u> or pay more if you’d like) to allow anyone to afford it. ( Fun fact &#8211; WC Mumbai to date has the lowest Avg. ticket price per day among WordCamps in India ).</p>\n<blockquote><p>At the first WordCamp Mumbai (2014) organized by our meetup group, I had someone come to me and tell me that he was glad to have attended and missed the last Mumbai WordCamp because the tickets were too expensive and his parents wouldn’t give him that kind of money.</p></blockquote>\n<p>This reinforced my view of never making WordCamp tickets too expensive, in fact we picked up what WC Pune 2015 did and started offering Student Discounts among other discounts to aid inclusivity.</p>\n<p>During the WordCamp preparation time all vendor information, speaker selection and accounts data was available to all organizers, post WordCamp Mumbai 2014, we published this account on our WordCamp website for everyone to review.</p>\n<h4>Focus on Basics</h4>\n<p>We want to build a community that shared information and talked about WordPress, So we focused on the basics that included having regular meetups. Even our first WordCamp was very low key in terms of the menu or swag at the event or international speakers or host of sponsors… the things that other used to say if they organized a successful WordCamp. We focused instead on getting good speakers, affordable tickets, reaching out and spreading the message about our WordCamp. Putting in a Processes / Guidelines for speakers selection and so on. We wanted to get the WordCamp right rather than find something that we could brag about, we knew if we delivered on the first we could then brag all we want. Some simple ideas helped us cut cost as we didn’t really have many sponsors For e.g. we had packed lunch packets which bought catering cost to <u title=\"$2.36\">INR 150/day</u> from INR 350 &#8211; 450/day if we would have a simple buffet spread. We did mugs instead of tshirts because the quality ones costed us INR 80 instead of INR 150 for decent quality t-shirts.</p>\n<h4>Keeping it open</h4>\n<p>We didn’t discriminate amongst attendees or treat someone as more important than others, everyone from the organizing team was approachable and we wanted to help. The meetups too became a welcoming space, we tried to keep a check on behaviour that could harmful or make the space unwelcoming to other. We didn’t shy away from calling out sexist behaviour. We didn’t discriminate amongst people who wanted to volunteer, we have freelancers and students in our team and they are as important as someone who owns an IT firm employing several people.</p>\n<h4>What the future holds for us</h4>\n<p>Even before WordCamp Central had a rule for allowing a person to be lead organizer only for two consecutive years we had started on planning of grooming the next set of leaders so that, if we decide to become a little inactive meetups and WordCamps would continue as usual.</p>\n<p>WordCamp Mumbai in a gist:</p>\n<p>As a result of the above I can proudly say that WordCamp Mumbai is oldest actively running WordCamp/meetup group in India having had twice as many WordCamps than any other city.</p>\n<p>I would like to leave you with this song which everyone here at our meetup group can Identify with.</p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"></div>\n<p>हमारी ही मुठ्ठी में आकाश सारा (Humari hi mutthi mein akash sara)<br />\nजब भी खुलेगी चमकेगा तारा (Jab bhi khulenga chamkenga tara)<br />\nकभी ना ढले जो, वो ही सितारा (Kabhi na dale jo, woh hi sitara)<br />\nदिशा जिस से पहचाने संसार सारा (Disha jis se pehchane sansaar sara)</p>\n<p>These lyrics roughly translate to</p>\n<p>We have the skies in our fist. Whenever it opens, a star will shine.</p>\n<p>One that never sets will be a Superstar and the world will know you for the path you have chosen.</p>\n<div class=\"rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Tweet: Growing WordPress in India\" class=\"rtsocial-twitter-button\" href=\"https://twitter.com/share?text=Growing%20WordPress%20in%20India&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fgrowing-wordpress-india%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light\"><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Like: Growing WordPress in India\" class=\"rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fgrowing-wordpress-india%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-button\" href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fgrowing-wordpress-india%2F&title=Growing+WordPress+in+India\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share: Growing WordPress in India\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-button\" href=\"https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/growing-wordpress-india/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/011718-150x150.jpg&description=Growing WordPress in India\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pin: Growing WordPress in India\"></a></div></div><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"perma-link\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/growing-wordpress-india/\" title=\"Growing WordPress in India\"></a></div><p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/growing-wordpress-india/\">Growing WordPress in India</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 17 Jan 2018 02:30:30 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"Alexander Gounder\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:38;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:58:\"Dev Blog: WordPress 4.9.2 Security and Maintenance Release\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=5376\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2018/01/wordpress-4-9-2-security-and-maintenance-release/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3953:\"<p>WordPress 4.9.2 is now available. This is a <strong>security and maintenance release</strong> for all versions since WordPress 3.7﻿. We strongly encourage you to update your sites immediately.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>An XSS vulnerability was discovered in the Flash fallback files in MediaElement, a library that is included with WordPress. Because the Flash files are no longer needed for most use cases, they have been removed from WordPress.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>MediaElement has released a new version that contains a fix for the bug, and <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/mediaelement-flash-fallbacks/\">a WordPress plugin containing the fixed files</a> is available in the plugin repository.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to the reporters of this issue for practicing <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/reporting-security-vulnerabilities/\">responsible security disclosure</a>: <a href=\"https://opnsec.com\">Enguerran Gillier</a> and <a href=\"https://widiz.com/\">Widiz﻿</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>21 other bugs were fixed in WordPress 4.9.2. Particularly of note were:</p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n    <li>JavaScript errors that prevented saving posts in Firefox have been fixed.</li>\n    <li>The previous taxonomy-agnostic behavior of <code>get_category_link()</code> and <code>category_description()</code> was restored.</li>\n    <li>Switching themes will now attempt to restore previous widget assignments, even when there are no sidebars to map.<br /></li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Codex has <a href=\"https://codex.wordpress.org/Version_4.9.2\">more information about all of the issues fixed in 4.9.2</a>, if you&#x27;d like to learn more.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>﻿<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/download/\"></a><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/download/\">Download WordPress 4.9.2</a> or venture over to Dashboard → Updates and click \"Update Now.\" Sites that support automatic background updates are already beginning to update automatically.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to everyone who contributed to WordPress 4.9.2:</p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/0x6f0/\">0x6f0</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorbin/\">Aaron Jorbin</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/afercia/\">Andrea Fercia</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/aduth/\">Andrew Duthie</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/azaozz/\">Andrew Ozz</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/blobfolio/\">Blobfolio</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/boonebgorges/\">Boone Gorges</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/icaleb/\">Caleb Burks</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/poena/\">Carolina Nymark</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chasewg/\">chasewg</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/chetan200891/\">Chetan Prajapati</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/dd32/\">Dion Hulse</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/hardik-amipara/\">Hardik Amipara</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/ionvv/\">ionvv</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jaswrks/\">Jason Caldwell</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jbpaul17/\">Jeffrey Paul</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/jeremyfelt/\">Jeremy Felt</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/joemcgill/\">Joe McGill</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/johnschulz/\">johnschulz</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/juiiee8487/\">Juhi Patel</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/obenland/\">Konstantin Obenland</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/markjaquith/\">Mark Jaquith</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rabmalin/\">Nilambar Sharma</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/peterwilsoncc/\">Peter Wilson</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rachelbaker/\">Rachel Baker</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/rinkuyadav999/\">Rinku Y</a>, <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/sergeybiryukov/\">Sergey Biryukov</a>, and <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/westonruter/\">Weston Ruter</a>.﻿<strong></strong><br /></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 16 Jan 2018 23:00:14 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Ian Dunn\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:39;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:61:\"Post Status: Two Brians are better than one — Draft podcast\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"https://poststatus.com/?p=41041\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:59:\"https://poststatus.com/two-brians-better-one-draft-podcast/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2210:\"<p>Welcome to the Post Status <a href=\"https://poststatus.com/category/draft\">Draft podcast</a>, which you can find <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/post-status-draft-wordpress/id976403008\">on iTunes</a>, <a href=\"https://play.google.com/music/m/Ih5egfxskgcec4qadr3f4zfpzzm?t=Post_Status__Draft_WordPress_Podcast\">Google Play</a>, <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/krogsgard/post-status-draft-wordpress-podcast\">Stitcher</a>, and <a href=\"http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1061/rss\">via RSS</a> for your favorite podcatcher. Post Status Draft is hosted by Brian Krogsgard and his new co-host, Brian Richards.</p>\n<p>Brian Richards, the creator of <a href=\"https://wpsessions.com/\">WPSessions.com</a>, has been developing with WordPress since 2007 and training and leading development teams since 2011. In addition to investing his time into training, Brian has had the opportunity to work with many amazing WordPress agencies and experts over these last several years. This has allowed him to help develop sites for Microsoft, Disney, TIME, YMCA, and numerous others.</p>\n<p>Brian has an affinity for self-directed learning and helping others to develop skills and workflows to better solve important and complicated problems. He can’t resist helping good people do great things!</p>\n<p></p>\n<p>&nbsp;</p>\n<h3>Links</h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://wpsessions.com/\">WPSessions.com</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://crowdfavorite.com/\">Crowd Favorite</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://webdevstudios.com/\">WebDevStudios</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"http://rzen.net/\">Ramblings from a nobody</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/rzen\">Brian Richards on Twitter</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://twitter.com/wpsessions\">WPSessions on Twitter</a></li>\n</ul>\n<h3>Sponsor: Valet</h3>\n<p>This episode is sponsored by <a href=\"https://www.valet.io/\">Valet</a>. Valet helps keep your clients happy &amp; coming back. They offer expert services and keep the websites they manage functioning flawlessly. They offer preventative care that provides peace of mind around the clock. For more information, check out <a href=\"https://www.valet.io/\">their website</a> and thank you to Valet for being a Post Status partner. </p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 16 Jan 2018 21:26:57 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Katie Richards\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:40;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:97:\"WPTavern: Gutenberg 2.0 Released With Numerous Accessibility and Keyboard Navigation Improvements\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77370\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:108:\"https://wptavern.com/gutenberg-2-0-released-with-numerous-accessibility-and-keyboard-navigation-improvements\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1337:\"<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/\">Gutenberg 2.0</a> is available for testing and includes a <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/#developers\">changelog</a> that&#x27;s a mile long. Accessibility, keyboard navigation, and the ability to drag-and-drop multiple images to the Gallery block are among the improvements listed.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Clicking the Publish button displays options in the sidebar rather than a drop-down menu to add polish to the publishing flow.<br /></p>\n\n\n\n<img src=\"https://i0.wp.com/wptavern.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/PublishButtonSidebarOptions.png?w=627&ssl=1\" />\n    Publish Button Options In The Sidebar\n\n\n\n\n<p>The Table of Contents has <a href=\"https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/4288\">been redesigned</a> to increase readability and copying and pasting has also significantly improved. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gutenberg 2.0 covers a lot of ground and the changes are too numerous to list here. However, Matias Ventura does a great job <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2018/01/12/whats-new-in-gutenberg-12th-january/\">listing the changes</a> with links to Pull Requests on GitHub where people can see how they were made.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you haven&#x27;t tried or tested <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/\">Gutenberg</a>, now is a great time to check it out.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 15 Jan 2018 22:48:55 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:41;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"Matt: Thirty-Four\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:22:\"https://ma.tt/?p=47801\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://ma.tt/2018/01/thirty-four/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2257:\"<p>I am very thankful and grateful to have made it through the past year, which was a really special one personally and professionally. I learned to open myself up more to relationships, continued aspiring to be clear and direct with <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2017/01/rebirth-and-yellow-arrows/\">yellow arrows</a>, and worked alongside some incredible people to tackle the biggest and hardest problems, whether it was getting plugin and theme support on WP.com or the start and growth of <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/gutenberg/\">Gutenberg</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I read a <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2017/12/books-in-2017/\">lot more books</a>, traveled 337k miles between 91 cities, spent more time in Texas, kept my health in a good balance with weight training, running, and a better diet including several months of 16/8 intermittent fasting, while still getting in some excellent meals with friends and loved ones (up to 58% of top 50 list). As I&#x27;m solidly in my mid-thirties now, and I want to continue to live by: all things in moderation. I consider what I do with WordPress and Automattic my life&#x27;s work, and hope to continue it as long as I&#x27;m useful. Some days I pinch myself.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you to all of you on this journey with me. I am imperfect but trying my darndest, and I&#x27;m lucky to have friends and colleagues doing the same.</p>\n\n\n\n<img src=\"https://i1.wp.com/ma.tt/files/2018/01/IMG_1232.jpg?w=604&ssl=1\" />\n\n\n\n<p>Previously: <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2003/01/bday/\">19</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2004/01/so-im-20/\">20</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2005/01/hot-barely-legal-matt/\">21</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2006/01/matt-22/\">22</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2007/01/twenty-three/\">23</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2008/01/twenty-four/\">24</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2009/01/twenty-five/\">25</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2010/01/twenty-six/\">26</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2011/01/twenty-seven/\">27</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2012/01/twenty-eight/\">28</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2013/01/twenty-nine/\">29</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2014/01/matt-3-0/\">30</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2015/01/thirty-one/\">31</a>, <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2016/01/thirty-two/\">32</a>, and <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2017/01/thirty-three/\">33</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 12 Jan 2018 01:55:27 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:42;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:39:\"HeroPress: Make It Better, Give It Back\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:56:\"https://heropress.com/?post_type=heropress-essays&p=2396\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:116:\"https://heropress.com/essays/make-better-give-back/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=make-better-give-back\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13479:\"<img width=\"960\" height=\"480\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/011017-1024x512.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pull Quote: Giving back makes me a better person and allows me to help others become better people.\" /><p>Recently, technology entrepreneur Anil Dash <a href=\"https://twitter.com/anildash/status/939137973240696832\">tweeted the following question</a>:</p>\n<blockquote><p>Who is a person (not counting family) that opened doors for you in your career when they didn&#8217;t have to? Anytime is a good time to show gratitude!</p></blockquote>\n<p>If you need a pick-me-up, go and read through the replies and threads that start with Anil&#8217;s question. There are replies from many people who are grateful to others for an unending variety of reasons, some large and immediate, some small and indirect, some that were only realised months or years later.</p>\n<p>One commonality between many of the replies is that of selflessness. People who help others without expecting something in return. This prompted me to think about those people who&#8217;ve helped me in my career through their own selflessness, without my prompting, and without their expecting anything in return.</p>\n<p>I&#8217;m lucky that several people have helped me in this way. My WordPress story started in around 1998 when, as a fourteen year old living in a house that was one among just sixteen in a forest in the English countryside, my divorced parents saved up and bought me a Windows 98 PC for Christmas. A personal computer was a big expenditure for my parents. We weren&#8217;t able to afford an Internet connection, and at that time I don&#8217;t recall being particularly aware of the Internet. As a result, I took an interesting route into web development.</p>\n<p>Windows PCs at the time came bundled with Internet Explorer and promotional material from Internet service providers in HTML files. I wanted to find out how these pages were built, and I discovered Frontpage Express could edit the files, although often with many errors (which years later I attributed to the lack of HTML standards in use).</p>\n<blockquote><p>One day my curiosity lead me to the View Source menu in Internet Explorer. <strong>Boom</strong>. What is all this code? What do all these angle brackets do? Is this how web pages are built? Can I change this?</p></blockquote>\n<p>Naturally, everything I changed initially broke pages completely. The Undo command was my version control system. I figured out that text wrapped in <code>&lt;b&gt;</code> produced bold text. I hadn&#8217;t a clue how a <code>&lt;table&gt;</code> worked without breaking it. <code>&lt;marquee&gt;</code> ended up everywhere. Poor support for much of the markup in these files made Frontpage redundant. Looking back, I could say that the View Source menu in Internet Explorer was an important part of the progression of my career. Maybe also that of thousands of other web developers. If the inventor and early adopters of the web hadn&#8217;t been strong proponents of open data and information sharing, it&#8217;s possible that the View Source menu would never have existed and the open web would not have flourished to the extent that it has.</p>\n<p>(The topic of open access to technology, both software and hardware, can be discussed all day. Consider if Adobe Photoshop would have had the same great commercial success that it did without its widespread piracy leading to an abundance of students leaving school with years of Photoshop experience. But I digress.)</p>\n<p>I spent evenings after school hacking on HTML. My older brother Adam gave me a book titled &#8220;How to Create pages for the Web using HTML&#8221; which introduced me to the world of HTML 2.0. I learned about the available tags. I learned about inline CSS, which set me up for learning React twenty years later. And I learned that you can see the source behind any web page, hack on it, and learn from it.</p>\n<h3>Getting Online</h3>\n<p>I don&#8217;t remember the first web page that I put online when we eventually got Internet access. I doubt it was any good, but what the whole experience did do was help my curiosity grow, to which I&#8217;ve attributed much of my success so far. Being curious about a topic helps enormously when learning, self-teaching, and staying motivated.</p>\n<p>I didn&#8217;t attend university, partly due to my excellent high school grades not being followed up by any good college grades (in the UK, there’s two years of sixth form college between high school and university). In hindsight I see that I got bored of state education, and two short years flew by with no time for me to to fix that attitude. Stay in school, kids.</p>\n<p>The years after school saw me working barely above minimum wage in a supermarket by day and hacking on web projects at night. I was first introduced to WordPress by <a href=\"https://profiles.wordpress.org/lumpysimon/\">my brother Simon</a> who built websites for customers of his printing business. After a brief period of building my own CMS (everyone&#8217;s done it, right?), I realised there were many advantages to using a free and community built CMS maintained by a relatively large number of people. I started building simple WordPress sites for myself. Along with Simon and his friend Tom, we played around with the idea of a hosted web service to make it even easier for people to publish online using WordPress. The project never went anywhere (hello wordpress.com), but the ideas we explored helped me learn a lot about WordPress.</p>\n<blockquote><p>Who is a person (not counting family) that opened doors for you in your career when they didn&#8217;t have to? Anytime is a good time to show gratitude!</p></blockquote>\n<p>I can pinpoint the start of my career with WordPress when Tom recommended me to someone who was looking for a WordPress plugin developer. That person, Conor O&#8217;Neill, became one of the people that opened a door for me in my career when they didn&#8217;t have to. Conor was pleased with the plugin work that I did for him, and selflessly passed my name onto several of his friends and acquaintances. He didn&#8217;t need to do that, it didn&#8217;t directly benefit him, but he did it because he knew it would help out his acquaintances and help me to get work.</p>\n<h3>Becoming A WordPress Consultant</h3>\n<p>I started building WordPress themes and plugins for people that Conor gave my name to. I didn&#8217;t have much experience at the time, but I had the advantage of personal recommendations. It&#8217;s difficult to overstate how valuable a personal recommendation is. All the advertising in the world can be useless when competing against a personal recommendation. If you&#8217;re looking to start or change a career, I recommend asking people to pass your name on to friends and colleagues whenever they can.</p>\n<blockquote><p>I&#8217;m one of the lucky ones that got a good start through personal recommendations, and if you can do that too then it&#8217;ll set you up well.</p></blockquote>\n<p>Conor passed my name onto a chap named Damien Mulley who was also instrumental in advancing my career by passing my name on when he didn&#8217;t need to. I owe a lot to the selflessness of Conor and Damien.</p>\n<p>Around this time I started finding bugs in WordPress (a practice that I continue to this day). Another key point in my career came when I reported a bug on the WordPress bug tracking system, and was greeted with a pleasant welcome. One of the contributors, Lloyd Budd, was kind enough to take the time to explain to me that I could fix the bug myself and submit the fix to the WordPress project. He pointed me to resources for learning Subversion and creating patches. That small act of help lead to me becoming a regular WordPress contributor, and ultimately one of the core developers. Lloyd didn&#8217;t have to use his free time to help others out, but he did, and it had long-reaching impact on my career and on the WordPress project.</p>\n<p>After a year of freelancing, I was able to get enough work that I could drop down to part time work at my supermarket job. I worked and self-taught for seventy hours a week for six months. I was afraid of leaving a stable job despite earning three times as much working as a freelance developer, but making that jump felt very scary before I made it. A combination of personal recommendations and working to get a name for myself in the WordPress sphere lead me to leave my supermarket job, freelance for a few years, become the first employee at WordPress agency <a href=\"https://codeforthepeople.com/\">Code for the People</a>, and ultimately to join <a href=\"https://humanmade.com/\">Human Made</a> as a senior WordPress engineer.</p>\n<h3>Giving Back</h3>\n<p>I’m lucky that I’m able to spend some of my time contributing back to WordPress, and I&#8217;ve been thinking a lot about how the principles of open source apply outside of software. I gave <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2016/05/31/john-blackbourn-rachel-mccollin-and-taco-verdonschot-lightning-sessions/\">a short talk at WordCamp London in 2016</a> where I coined the phrase &#8220;<em>Make it better, give it back</em>&#8220;, which is how I interpret the fundamental principles of open source. It’s the idea of improving upon an existing process and giving it back to the community in order to embetter everyone, whether it’s through an open data project such as OpenStreetMap, a community initiative in your local area, or shared learning.</p>\n<blockquote><p>Recently I came to realise that the &#8220;<em>it</em>&#8221; in &#8220;<em>Make it better, give it back</em>&#8221; doesn&#8217;t have to refer to the primary aspect of what you&#8217;re contributing to.</p></blockquote>\n<p>Lloyd made WordPress better by writing code and giving it back, but he also made WordPress better by improving the knowledge and skills of its community members, many of whom in turn give back in a variety of ways.</p>\n<p>Giving back allows me to improve many of my own skills. It allows me to challenge myself, not only technically but also in areas such as communication, compassion, critical thinking, and time management. Giving back makes me a better person and allows me to help others become better people.</p>\n<a href=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/dsc_3097.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-2398\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/dsc_3097-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"John and Francesca\" width=\"350\" height=\"467\" /></a>John and Francesca\n<p>Giving back has advanced my professional career thanks to the technical and people skills that I learn from it and the recognition gained by my contributions. In turn this has lead to many new friends, a career in a field that I enjoy very much, and it also lead to me finding the love of my life at a WordPress contributor day.</p>\n<p>I hope that in one way or another I&#8217;ve given back to many people in the open source community. I&#8217;ve been involved with WordPress for twelve years now, and over those years I&#8217;ve given advice, pointers, and encouragement to others that might seem small or inconsequential at the time but can be just the sort of encouragement that somebody needs. The difference between not receiving a reply to a query, and receiving one which says &#8220;Thanks! That&#8217;s a good start&#8221; might mean the difference between never contributing again versus becoming a decade long community member.</p>\n<div class=\"rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Tweet: Make It Better, Give It Back\" class=\"rtsocial-twitter-button\" href=\"https://twitter.com/share?text=Make%20It%20Better%2C%20Give%20It%20Back&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fmake-better-give-back%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light\"><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Like: Make It Better, Give It Back\" class=\"rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fmake-better-give-back%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-button\" href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fessays%2Fmake-better-give-back%2F&title=Make+It+Better%2C+Give+It+Back\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share: Make It Better, Give It Back\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-button\" href=\"https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/essays/make-better-give-back/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/011017-150x150.jpg&description=Make It Better, Give It Back\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pin: Make It Better, Give It Back\"></a></div></div><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"perma-link\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/make-better-give-back/\" title=\"Make It Better, Give It Back\"></a></div><p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com/essays/make-better-give-back/\">Make It Better, Give It Back</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 10 Jan 2018 08:00:35 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"John Blackbourn\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:43;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"Matt: Ariel Levy in Longreads\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:22:\"https://ma.tt/?p=47797\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:46:\"https://ma.tt/2018/01/ariel-levy-in-longreads/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:769:\"<p>I had originally planned last year to write <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2017/12/books-in-2017/\">a review of each book as I read it</a>, but The Rules Do Not Apply threw a spanner in the works. I had no idea how to write about it, much less review it. The author, <a href=\"https://longreads.com/2017/03/14/ariel-levy-interview/\">Ariel Levy, has a great interview in Longreads from when the book came out</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Speaking of Longreads, <a href=\"https://longreads.com/2017/12/29/the-25-most-popular-longreads-exclusives-of-2017/\">don&#x27;t forget to check out their top 25 exclusives from 2017</a>, and <a href=\"https://longreads.com/2017/12/11/longreads-best-of-2017-all-of-our-no-1-story-picks/\">their number 1 picks overall</a>. Some amazing writing in there.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 08 Jan 2018 00:44:11 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Matt\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:44;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:67:\"Lorelle on WP: Vulnerability in phpMyAdmin Requires Immediate Patch\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:37:\"http://lorelle.wordpress.com/?p=14409\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:94:\"https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2018/01/06/vulnerability-in-phpmyadmin-requires-immediate-patch/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4273:\"<p>A <a href=\"http://www.itprotoday.com/patch-management/critical-csrf-security-vulnerability-phpmyadmin-database-tool-patched\" title=\"Critical CSRF Vulnerability in phpMyAdmin Database Tool Patched | IT Pro\">critical CSRF Vulnerability in phpMyAdmin Database administration tool</a> has been found and a <a href=\"https://www.phpmyadmin.net/security/PMASA-2017-9/\" title=\"phpMyAdmin - Security - PMASA-2017-9\">patch is available</a> for all computers and servers running the MySQL database. </p>\n<p>Does this include you?</p>\n<p>If you are using WordPress, yes it does. </p>\n<p>Contact your web host to ensure phpMyAdmin is updated immediately. </p>\n<p>If you are self-hosted and manage your own server, update phpMyAdmin immediately. </p>\n<p>If you are using WordPress or phpMyAdmin and MySQL on your computer through <a href=\"http://www.wampserver.com/en/\" title=\"WAMP\">WAMP</a>, <a href=\"http://www.mamp.info/en/index.html\" title=\"MAMP\">MAMP</a>, <a href=\"http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html\" title=\"XAMPP\">XAMPP</a>, <a href=\"http://www.instantwp.com/\" title=\"Instant WordPress\">Instant WordPress</a>, <a href=\"http://serverpress.com/products/desktopserver/\" title=\"DesktopServer\">DesktopServer</a>, <a href=\"http://bitnami.org/stack/wordpress\" title=\"BitNami\">BitNami</a> or any of the other ways you can install WordPress on your computer or a stick (USB), update phpMyAdmin by using the patch or check the install technique&#8217;s site for updates. </p>\n<p><strong>If you are using WordPress.com, don&#8217;t worry.</strong> This does not apply to you or your site. </p>\n<p>The flaw affects phpMyAdmin versions 4.7.x prior to 4.7.7. Hopefully, your server/web host company has been updating phpMyAdmin all along and you don&#8217;t need to worry, but even though this is a medium security vulnerability, it is your responsibility as a site owner and administrator to ensure that your site is safe. Don&#8217;t just rely on GoDaddy, Dreamhost, or whatever hosting service you use to take care of these things for you. Sometimes they are on top of these before an announcement is made public. Other times, they are clueless and require customer intervention and nagging. </p>\n<p>Now, what is phpMyAdmin?</p>\n<p>MySQL is an open source database program, and <a href=\"https://www.phpmyadmin.net/\" title=\"phpMyAdmin\">phpMyAdmin</a> is the free, open source tool that makes the administration and use of MySQL easier to manage. <em>It is not a database. It is a database manager.</em> You can <a href=\"https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2014/08/10/find-search-replace-and-delete-in-the-wordpress-database/\" title=\"Find, Search, Replace, and Delete in the WordPress Database « Lorelle on WordPress\">easily search and replace data</a> in the database, make changes, and do other maintenance and utility tasks in the database.</p>\n<p>Every installation of WordPress requires PHP and MySQL along with a variety of other web-based programming packages and software. Most installations by web hosts and portable versions of WordPress add phpMyAdmin to manage the WordPress site. It is not required for WordPress to work, but don&#8217;t assume that it is or isn&#8217;t installed. CHECK. </p>\n<p>To find out if phpMyAdmin is installed on your site:</p>\n<ol>\n<li>Check with your web host and ask. Don&#8217;t expect their customer service staff to know for sure. Make them check your account and verify whether or not it is installed, and if they&#8217;ve updated. Push them for a specific answer.</li>\n<li>Check the site admin interface (cPanel, Plesk, etc.) to see if it is installed.</li>\n<li>Log into your site through secure FTP into the root (if you have access) and look for the installation at <em>/usr/share/phpmyadmin</code> or <code>localhost/phpmyadmin</code>. Unfortunately, it could be anywhere depending upon the installation as these are virtual folders, not folders found on your computer, so it must be assigned to a location.</li>\n<li>If running a portable installation of MySQL and/or WordPress, follow the instructions for that tool and download and install all patches to ensure phpMyAdmin is updated to the latest secure version.</li>\n</ol>\n<div class=\"sig\">\n<p><img src=\"https://lorelle.files.wordpress.com/2006/08/sig.gif\" alt=\"\" /></p>\n<hr /> </div>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Sat, 06 Jan 2018 16:55:40 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"Lorelle VanFossen\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:45;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:88:\"WPTavern: Zac Gordon Launches Gutenberg Development Course, Includes More Than 30 Videos\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://wptavern.com/?p=77285\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:98:\"https://wptavern.com/zac-gordon-launches-gutenberg-development-course-includes-more-than-30-videos\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2756:\"<p><a href=\"https://zacgordon.com/\">Zac Gordon</a>, a technology educator, has released his <a href=\"http://gutenberg.courses/\">Gutenberg Development course</a>. The course is $79 but is available for $49 using the coupon code <strong>earlyadopter</strong>.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gordon says the course is aimed at developers who want to update their themes, plugins, shortcodes, etc. to work with Gutenberg and take advantage of blocks. <br /></p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"There is also some content I am adding geared towards theme developers, but honestly there is not much to that,\" Gordon said. \"I think plugin developers will fill a lot of the needs of theme developers and help prevent them from having to build too many custom blocks. </p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"Also, in my opinion, blocks belong in plugins, so maybe some theme developers will migrate into plugin development through working with blocks.\"</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The course includes more than 30 videos, a dozen example blocks, access to support forums, and the community run Slack channel. It covers how Gutenberg works, how to extend and customize it, and using a modern JavaScript development approach.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gordon learned quite a few things about Gutenberg while creating the course. \"Specifically, I learned Gutenberg is really just React under the hood, and then the more traditional WordPress PHP under that,\" he said.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"Digging deeper into the source attributes system that Gutenberg has to keep track of dynamic data was interesting. Also, there are far more possibilities with server-side code hooking into blocks than I thought ahead of time. I also came to the opinion that I&#x27;m not sure why someone would build a block in anything other than React, so I&#x27;m interested to see what common practices evolve.\"</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Creating the course has allowed Gordon to dive deep into Gutenberg. So does he think it&#x27;s a suitable replacement for the editor? <br /></p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"I think most users will feel Gutenberg is an improvement of the editing experience,\" he responded. \"We are definitely moving in the right direction. Ironically perhaps, I still like site and page builder plugins when editing or creating content in WordPress.\"</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gutenberg is still in a high state of flux with rapid development. According to Gordon, if there is one thing developers should know about Gutenberg, it&#x27;s that learning JavaScript deeply will pay off.<br /></p>\n\n\n\n<p>\"Matt Mullenweg was right when he said &#x27;<a href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrZx4IY1IgU\">Learn JavaScript Deeply</a>&#x27;,\" Gordon said. \"In terms of Gutenberg, that means a foundation with ES+, JSX/React, and webpack/babel/etc. You can learn as you go, but we are definitely moving from the time of learning to a time of doing.\"</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 05 Jan 2018 23:32:12 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:46;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:81:\"WPTavern: WPWeekly Episode 300 – Interview with Matt ‘Gutenbeard’ Mullenweg\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:58:\"https://wptavern.com?p=77276&preview=true&preview_id=77276\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:82:\"https://wptavern.com/wpweekly-episode-300-interview-with-matt-gutenbeard-mullenweg\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1492:\"<p>In this the 300th episode, <a href=\"http://jjj.me\">John James Jacoby</a> and I interview <a href=\"https://ma.tt/\">Matt &#8216;Gutenbeard&#8217; Mullenweg</a>, co-creator of the WordPress project. We discuss a range of topics including, the somewhat controversial poetry reading that included a curse word prior to the State of the Word, the WordPress Foundation increasing its range of funding, and of course, Gutenberg.</p>\n<p>One of the big takeaways from this interview is learning that Gutenberg will not arrive at the flick of a switch. There will be a transition period and a considerable amount of effort to make it as smooth as possible. Unlike episode 296, Mullenweg&#8217;s internet is fantastic and we didn&#8217;t experience any audio issues. A transcription of this interview will be published in a few days.</p>\n<h2>WPWeekly Meta:</h2>\n<p><strong>Next Episode:</strong> Wednesday, January 10th 3:00 P.M. Eastern</p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-weekly/id694849738\">WordPress Weekly via Itunes</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://www.wptavern.com/feed/podcast\">WordPress Weekly via RSS</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/wordpress-weekly-podcast?refid=stpr\">WordPress Weekly via Stitcher Radio</a></p>\n<p>Subscribe to <a href=\"https://play.google.com/music/listen?u=0#/ps/Ir3keivkvwwh24xy7qiymurwpbe\">WordPress Weekly via Google Play</a></p>\n<p><strong>Listen To Episode #300:</strong><br />\n</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 04 Jan 2018 03:55:27 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Jeff Chandler\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:47;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:11:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"HeroPress: A Review Of HeroPress in 2017\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:29:\"https://heropress.com/?p=2387\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:119:\"https://heropress.com/a-review-of-heropress-2017/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-review-of-heropress-2017\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9442:\"<img width=\"960\" height=\"480\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/010318-1024x512.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Pull Quote: HeroPress is something WordPress people do for themselves. The world simply gets to watch.\" /><p><strong>FIRST</strong>: please leave a comment if HeroPress has inspired or impacted you this year. I&#8217;ve love for you to be a part of this post.</p>\n<p>With that out of the way, another year of HeroPress has come and gone. HeroPress is still young enough that we can&#8217;t really see multi-year trends, but I still find it interesting to look at them and try to guess things.  In this post we&#8217;ll look at some stats, some things I tried that didn&#8217;t work, some things that did work, and some dreams for the future.</p>\n<h3>Statistics</h3>\n<h4>Diversity</h4>\n<p>Diversity has always been important to me.  In 2015 and 2016 I had more men than women, by a pretty wide margin, and that bothered me.  In 2017 I&#8217;m happy to say we had 32 women and 21 men. I didn&#8217;t work SUPER hard at that, it was just something I kind of kept in my head when I was looking for new folks.</p>\n<p>We also had great geographical diversity in our contributors, representing 26 different countries.</p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Country</th>\n<th>No. of Essays</th>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Bangladesh</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Cameroon</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Croatia</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Finland</td>\n<td>2</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>France</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Germany</td>\n<td>2</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>India</td>\n<td>7</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Italy</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Jamaica</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Nepal</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Netherlands</td>\n<td>2</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Nigeria</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Norway</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Poland</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Romania</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Russia</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Scotland</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Serbia</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Somalia</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>South Africa</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Spain</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sweden</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Turkey</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>United Kingdom</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>United States</td>\n<td>13</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Yemen</td>\n<td>1</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<p>The US and India had far more than any other country, which has been the trend since we started, but the US has far fewer in 2017 than 2016.</p>\n<h4>Readers</h4>\n<p>We had traffic from 175 countries this year.</p>\n<p><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2388\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/country_traffic.png\" alt=\"World map showing HeroPress visitors\" width=\"951\" height=\"547\" /></p>\n<p>That said, HeroPress saw less traffic overall in 2017 than in 2016.</p>\n<p><img class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-2389\" src=\"https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/heropress_stats.png\" alt=\"Bar chart showing HeroPress stats\" width=\"692\" height=\"282\" /></p>\n<h4>The Important Stuff</h4>\n<p>As fun as stats are, it&#8217;s been pointed out to me many times that they&#8217;re meaningless. Someone asked me recently how I define success for HeroPress, and the answer was that at least one person is impacted for the better. The interesting twist to that is the hierarchy of people impacted positively by HeroPress.  It goes like this:</p>\n<p><strong>Topher</strong>: Because he gets to see them all, AND behind the scenes. It&#8217;s heady stuff.</p>\n<p><strong>Contributors themselves</strong>: MANY people have told me that writing their story changed their life. The simple act of processing things from the past, and getting them out there, and being vulnerable is powerful.</p>\n<p><strong>Readers</strong>: Lot&#8217;s of people tell me it&#8217;s inspiring.</p>\n<p>What we learn from the above information is that HeroPress would be a success if we had zero readers. HeroPress is something WordPress people do for themselves. The world simply gets to watch.</p>\n<h3>Experiments</h3>\n<h4>The Scholarship</h4>\n<p>Last spring the folks from WPShout approached me about working together to offer a scholarship.  They would offer the actual scholarship, and we would manage getting applicants and deciding who won.</p>\n<p>It was a huge success.  We had tons of traffic, many great applicants, and the winners did great things with their scholarships.  We&#8217;d love to do something like that again, so if you&#8217;re interested, drop us a note.</p>\n<h4>Commercial Support</h4>\n<p>This changed a bit in 2017. Most of the year was sponsored by Gravity Forms, which was great. That ended with only a few weeks left in the year, and I was surprised to find that there were a number of organizations that were interested in sponsoring a single week. That worked quite well, and I&#8217;m interested in looking into that more.</p>\n<p>At WordCamp US I spoke to an organization that was interested in sponsoring an entire quarter, which would be a first.  It hasn&#8217;t happened yet, but I&#8217;m also looking into that some more.</p>\n<h4>Donations</h4>\n<p>This didn&#8217;t really work out. I put up the donation form at the request of a few people that wanted to give. Those people gave, and a few more, but after the third day or so there were no more. There could be many reasons, but I&#8217;m not too concerned. I&#8217;ll probably take the form down, and if I ask for donations again it&#8217;ll be a Public Radio style press-a-thon for a week or something. Lots of flash, and then it&#8217;s gone for a year.</p>\n<h3>Thanks</h3>\n<p>As always happens, I got some great advice this year and lots of donated services and software.</p>\n<p>Many thanks to Tine Haugen from XWP for her ongoing input from a Larger Company perspective.</p>\n<p>Thanks to <a href=\"https://pagely.com/\">Pagely</a> for hosting HeroPress.</p>\n<p>Thanks to these commercial plugin folk that donated licenses:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Analytify &#8211; Google Analytics Dashboard</li>\n<li>Give &#8211; Donation Plugin</li>\n<li>Make Plus</li>\n<li>Maps Builder Pro</li>\n<li>Ninja Forms</li>\n<li>Postmatic &amp; Postmatic Labs</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Thanks to these wonderful software developers who&#8217;ve released there work to the world for free:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Akismet Anti-Spam</li>\n<li>Blog Time</li>\n<li>Jetpack by WordPress.com</li>\n<li>Post Type Archive Descriptions</li>\n<li>Public Post Preview</li>\n<li>Really Simple Series</li>\n<li>rtSocial</li>\n<li>Simple 301 Redirects</li>\n<li>Simply Exclude</li>\n<li>Widget Logic</li>\n<li>WP Custom Login Page Logo</li>\n<li>WP Retina 2x</li>\n<li>Yoast SEO</li>\n</ul>\n<p>Thanks to 2017&#8217;s commercial supporters:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https://eventespresso.com/\">Event Espresso</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.gowp.com/\">GoWP</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.gravityforms.com/\">Gravity Forms</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://rtcamp.com/\">rtCamp</a></li>\n</ul>\n<p><strong>MOST IMPORTANTLY</strong></p>\n<p>Thanks to our contributors.  Without people willing to share of themselves, tell us their stories, make themselves vulnerable, HeroPress would not exist. Thank you SO SO much, all of you who&#8217;ve written.</p>\n<h3>Your Turn</h3>\n<p>As I mentioned at the top of the post, the rest of the post is to be written by you.  How has HeroPress impacted you this year? What value is there besides numbers and charts and graphs?</p>\n<p>Please leave a comment.</p>\n<div class=\"rtsocial-container rtsocial-container-align-right rtsocial-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-twitter-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Tweet: A Review Of HeroPress in 2017\" class=\"rtsocial-twitter-button\" href=\"https://twitter.com/share?text=A%20Review%20Of%20HeroPress%20in%202017&via=heropress&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fa-review-of-heropress-2017%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal fb-light\"><div class=\"rtsocial-fb-horizontal-button\"><a title=\"Like: A Review Of HeroPress in 2017\" class=\"rtsocial-fb-button rtsocial-fb-like-light\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fa-review-of-heropress-2017%2F\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-linkedin-button\" href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A%2F%2Fheropress.com%2Fa-review-of-heropress-2017%2F&title=A+Review+Of+HeroPress+in+2017\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Share: A Review Of HeroPress in 2017\"></a></div></div><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal\"><div class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-horizontal-button\"><a class=\"rtsocial-pinterest-button\" href=\"https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://heropress.com/a-review-of-heropress-2017/&media=https://heropress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/010318-150x150.jpg&description=A Review Of HeroPress in 2017\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Pin: A Review Of HeroPress in 2017\"></a></div></div><a rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"perma-link\" href=\"https://heropress.com/a-review-of-heropress-2017/\" title=\"A Review Of HeroPress in 2017\"></a></div><p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com/a-review-of-heropress-2017/\">A Review Of HeroPress in 2017</a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https://heropress.com\">HeroPress</a>.</p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 03 Jan 2018 17:49:39 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:48;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:47:\"Dev Blog: The Month in WordPress: December 2017\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=5424\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2018/01/the-month-in-wordpress-december-2017/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4742:\"<p>Activity slowed down in December in the WordPress community, particularly in the last two weeks. However, the month started off with a big event and work pushed forward in a number of key areas of the project. Read on to find out more about what transpired in the WordPress community as 2017 came to a close.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<h2>WordCamp US 2017 Brings the Community Together</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The latest edition of <a href=\"https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/\">WordCamp US</a> took place last month in Nashville on December 1-3. The event brought together over 1,400 WordPress enthusiasts from around the world, fostering a deeper, more engaged global community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>While attending a WordCamp is always a unique experience, you can catch up on <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/event/wordcamp-us-2017/\">the sessions on WordPress.tv</a> and look through <a href=\"https://www.facebook.com/pg/WordCampUSA/photos/?tab=albums\">the event photos on Facebook</a> to get a feel for how it all happened. Of course, <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2017/12/04/matt-mullenweg-state-of-the-word-2017/\">Matt Mullenweg’s State of the Word</a> talk is always one of the highlights at this event.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next WordCamp US will be held in Nashville again in 2018, but if you would like to see it hosted in your city in 2019 and 2020, then <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2017/12/19/apply-to-host-wordcamp-us-2019-2020/\">you have until February 2 to apply</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>WordPress User Survey Data Is Published</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the last few years, tens of thousands of WordPress users all over the world have filled out the annual WordPress user survey. The results of that survey are used to improve the WordPress project, but that data has mostly remained private. This has changed now and <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2017/12/wordpress-user-survey-data-for-2015-2017/\">the results from the last three surveys are now publicly available</a> for everyone to analyze.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The data will be useful to anyone involved in WordPress since it provides a detailed look at who uses WordPress and what they do with it — information that can help inform product development decisions across the board.</p>\n\n\n\n<h2>New WordPress.org Team for the Tide Project</h2>\n\n\n\n<p>As announced at WordCamp US, <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/tide/2017/12/02/new-home/\">the Tide project is being brought under the WordPress.org umbrella</a> to be managed and developed by the community.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tide is a series of automated tests run against every plugin and theme in the directory to help WordPress users make informed decisions about the plugins and themes that they choose to install.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>To get involved in developing Tide, jump into the #tide channel in the <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/chat/\">Making WordPress Slack group</a>, and follow <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/tide/\">the Tide team blog</a>.</p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" />\n\n\n\n<h2>Further Reading:</h2>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n    <li>If you’re following the development of Gutenberg, or if you want a primer on where it’s headed, then <a href=\"https://wordpress.tv/2017/12/10/morten-rand-hendriksen-gutenberg-and-the-wordpress-of-tomorrow/\">Morten Rand-Hendriksen’s talk from WordCamp US</a> is a must watch.</li>\n    <li>The annual surveys for WordPress <a href=\"https://wordpressdotorg.polldaddy.com/s/2017-annual-meetup-member-survey\">meetup members</a> and <a href=\"https://wordpressdotorg.polldaddy.com/s/2017-annual-meetup-organizer-survey\">meetup organizers</a> are available for people to fill out — if you’re involved in or attend your local meetup group then be sure to complete those.</li>\n    <li>10up has <a href=\"https://distributorplugin.com/\">a brand new plugin in beta</a> that will assist with powerful and flexible content publishing and syndication across WordPress sites.</li>\n    <li><a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/2017/12/07/should-we-change-the-default-wordcamp-theme-to-campsite-2017/\">The Community Team is exploring a move</a> to make the recently developed CampSite theme the default theme for all new WordCamp websites. This is the theme that was developed and employed for <a href=\"https://2017.europe.wordcamp.org\">WordCamp Europe 2017</a>.</li>\n    <li>The team working on the multisite features of WordPress Core has recently published <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/core/2017/12/19/multisite-roadmap-published/\">their planned roadmap for development</a>.</li>\n</ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>If you have a story we should consider including in the next “Month in WordPress” post, please <a href=\"https://make.wordpress.org/community/month-in-wordpress-submissions/\">submit it here</a>.</em></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 03 Jan 2018 10:00:24 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"Hugh Lashbrooke\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:49;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n	\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:2:{s:0:\"\";a:5:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:50:\"Dev Blog: WordPress User Survey Data for 2015-2017\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://wordpress.org/news/?p=5310\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"https://wordpress.org/news/2017/12/wordpress-user-survey-data-for-2015-2017/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:61756:\"<p>For many years, we&#8217;ve invited folks to tell us how they use WordPress by filling out an annual survey. In the past, interesting results from this survey have been shared in the annual <a href=\"https://ma.tt/2017/12/state-of-the-word-2017/\">State of the Word</a> address. This year, for the first time, the results of the 2017 survey are being published on WordPress News, along with the results of the 2015 and 2016 survey.</p>\n<p>So that information from the survey doesn&#8217;t reveal anything that respondents might consider private, we do not publish a full export of the raw data. We’d love to make this information as accessible as possible, though, so if you have a suggestion for an OS project or tool we can put the data into that allows people to play with it that still protects individual response privacy, please leave a comment on this post!</p>\n<h4>Major Groups</h4>\n<p>This survey features multiple groups, dividing respondents at the first question:</p>\n<blockquote><p>Which of the following best describes how you use WordPress? (<em>Mandatory</em>)</p></blockquote>\n<p>Those who selected &#8220;I&#8217;m a designer or developer, or I work for a company that designs/develops websites; I use WordPress to build websites and/or blogs for others. (This might include theme development, writing plugins, or other custom work.)&#8221; were served questions from what we&#8217;ll call the &#8220;WordPress Professionals&#8221; group.</p>\n<p>This &#8220;WordPress Professionals&#8221; group is further divided into WordPress Company and WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist groups, based on how the respondent answered the question, &#8220;Which of the following best describes your involvement with WordPress? (2015) / Do you work for a company, or on your own? (2016-17).&#8221;</p>\n<p>Those who selected &#8220;I own, run, or contribute to a blog or website that is built with WordPress.&#8221; were served questions in what we&#8217;re calling the &#8220;WordPress Users&#8221; group.</p>\n<p>The relevant survey group is noted in each table below. In the case of questions that were served to different groups in 2015 but then served to all respondents in 2016 and 2017, the group responses from 2015 have been consolidated into one set of data for easier comparison between years.</p>\n<h4>Survey results</h4>\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/feed/#pro\">Jump to answers from WordPress Professionals</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/feed/#user\">Jump to answers from WordPress Users</a></p>\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/feed/#all\">Jump to answers from All Respondents</a></p>\n<p><!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}--></p>\n<h3>Which of the following best describes how you use WordPress? (Mandatory)</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses (since this question was mandatory, the number of responses here is the total number for the survey)</td>\n<td>45,995</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>15,585</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>16,029</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;m a designer or developer, or I work for a company that designs/develops websites; I use WordPress to build websites and/or blogs for others. (This might include theme development, writing plugins, other custom work.)</td>\n<td>26,662</td>\n<td>58%</td>\n<td>8,838</td>\n<td>57%</td>\n<td>9,099</td>\n<td>57%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I own, run, or contribute to a blog or website that is built with WordPress.</td>\n<td>16,130</td>\n<td>35%</td>\n<td>5,293</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n<td>5,625</td>\n<td>35%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Neither of the above.</td>\n<td>3,204</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>1,460</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>1,306</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h2 id=\"pro\">WordPress Professionals</h2>\n<h3><strong>Which of the following best describes your involvement with WordPress? (Mandatory, 2015) / Do you work for a company, or on your own? (Mandatory, 2016-17)</strong></h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Professional</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>26,699</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>8,838</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>9,101</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>My primary job is working for a company or organization that uses WordPress.</td>\n<td>9,505</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n<td>3,529</td>\n<td>40%</td>\n<td>3,660</td>\n<td>40%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>My primary job is as a self-employed designer or developer that uses WordPress.</td>\n<td>9,310</td>\n<td>35%</td>\n<td>3,188</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n<td>3,440</td>\n<td>38%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I earn money from part-time or occasional freelance work involving WordPress.</td>\n<td>5,954</td>\n<td>22%</td>\n<td>1,633</td>\n<td>18%</td>\n<td>1,590</td>\n<td>17%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Work that I do involving WordPress is just a hobby, I don&#8217;t make money from it.</td>\n<td>1,930</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>491</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>411</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>How does your company or organization work with WordPress?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Company</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>9,342</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Build/design and/or maintain websites or blogs for other people, companies, or organizations.</td>\n<td>7,772</td>\n<td>27%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Develop or customize themes.</td>\n<td>5,404</td>\n<td>19%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Build/design and/or maintain websites or blogs for my own use.</td>\n<td>4,733</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Host websites for customers.</td>\n<td>4,397</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Develop or distribute plugins.</td>\n<td>3,181</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Provide educational resources to help others to use WordPress.</td>\n<td>1,349</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sponsor and/or attend WordCamps.</td>\n<td>1,127</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Contribute bug reports and/or patches to WordPress core.</td>\n<td>914</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>182</td>\n<td> 1%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,457</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,598</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We make websites for others.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>2,695</td>\n<td>24%</td>\n<td>2,722</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We make websites for ourselves.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>2,355</td>\n<td>21%</td>\n<td>2,470</td>\n<td>21%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We develop or customize themes.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>1,866</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n<td>1,910</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We host websites for others.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>1,564</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n<td>1,595</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We develop or distribute plugins.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>1,283</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>1,342</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We provide educational resources to help others to use WordPress.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>581</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>631</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We sponsor and/or attend WordCamps.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>561</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>579</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We contribute bug reports and/or patches to WordPress core.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>444</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td>468</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>98</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>96</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<p><strong>How would you describe the business of your typical client(s)? (2015) / How would you describe the business of your typical client/customer? (2016, 2017)</strong></p>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Company</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>9,154</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,317</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,498</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Small business</td>\n<td>6,893</td>\n<td>32%</td>\n<td>2,398</td>\n<td>31%</td>\n<td>2,510</td>\n<td>31%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Large business or Enterprise</td>\n<td>3,635</td>\n<td>17%</td>\n<td>1,361</td>\n<td>18%</td>\n<td>1,447</td>\n<td>18%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Non-profit</td>\n<td>2,644</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>934</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>992</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Individual</td>\n<td>2,600</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>888</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>1,022</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Education</td>\n<td>2,344</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>854</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>966</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Website development (sub-contracting)</td>\n<td>2,065</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>637</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>677</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Government</td>\n<td>1,410</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>524</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>552</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>127</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>66</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>64</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<p><strong>How does your company or organization use WordPress when developing websites? (2015) / When making websites, how does your company or organization use WordPress? (2016, 2017)</strong></p>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Company</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>9,078</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,369</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,552</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mostly as a content management system (CMS)</td>\n<td>6,361</td>\n<td>70%</td>\n<td>2,482</td>\n<td>74%</td>\n<td>2,640</td>\n<td>74%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>About half the time as a blogging platform and half the time as a CMS</td>\n<td>1,222</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td>370</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>383</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mostly as a blogging platform</td>\n<td>721</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>137</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td>129</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mostly as an application framework</td>\n<td>629</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>303</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>303</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>145</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>78</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>97</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>How much is your average WordPress site customized from the original WordPress installation?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Company</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>9,054</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,302</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,473</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>A lot of work has been done, the front end is unrecognizable, but the Dashboard still looks like the usual WordPress interface.</td>\n<td>5,651</td>\n<td>62%</td>\n<td>2,025</td>\n<td>61%</td>\n<td>2,105</td>\n<td>61%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>There&#8217;s a different theme and some plugins have been added.</td>\n<td>2,230</td>\n<td>25%</td>\n<td>799</td>\n<td>24%</td>\n<td>905</td>\n<td>26%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Not at all, it&#8217;s still pretty much the same as the original download.</td>\n<td>756</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>302</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>298</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>You&#8217;d never know this was a WordPress installation, everything (including the admin) has been customized.</td>\n<td>417</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>177</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>165</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>Roughly how many currently active WordPress sites has your company or organization built?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Company</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>8,801</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>200 +</td>\n<td>1,074</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>51 &#8211; 200</td>\n<td>1,721</td>\n<td>20%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>21 &#8211; 50</td>\n<td>1,718</td>\n<td>20%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>11 &#8211; 20</td>\n<td>1,284</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>6 &#8211; 10</td>\n<td>1,109</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2 &#8211; 5</td>\n<td>1,418</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1</td>\n<td>390</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>0</td>\n<td>87</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,358</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,540</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Thousands.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>291</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>331</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Hundreds.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>770</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n<td>894</td>\n<td>25%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Fewer than a hundred.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>1,144</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n<td>1,177</td>\n<td>33%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Just a few, but they are really great.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>926</td>\n<td>28%</td>\n<td>896</td>\n<td>25%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Prefer not to answer.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>228</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>242</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>How many person-hours (of your company&#8217;s work) does the typical site take to complete?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Company</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>9,091</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,353</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,522</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>More than 200</td>\n<td>939</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>309</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>325</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>100 &#8211; 200</td>\n<td>1080</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>329</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>367</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>60 &#8211; 100</td>\n<td>1541</td>\n<td>17%</td>\n<td>527</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n<td>513</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>40 &#8211; 60</td>\n<td>1854</td>\n<td>20%</td>\n<td>583</td>\n<td>17%</td>\n<td>620</td>\n<td>18%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>20 &#8211; 40</td>\n<td>2066</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n<td>691</td>\n<td>21%</td>\n<td>685</td>\n<td>19%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Fewer than 20</td>\n<td>1611</td>\n<td>18%</td>\n<td>479</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n<td>519</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Prefer not to answer (2016, 2017)</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>436</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td>493</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>Roughly what percentage of your company or organization&#8217;s output is based around WordPress (as opposed to other platforms or software)?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Company</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>8,950</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,345</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,503</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>100 %</td>\n<td>1,089</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>438</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td>480</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>90 %</td>\n<td>1,043</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>417</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>459</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>80 %</td>\n<td>955</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>367</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>424</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>70 %</td>\n<td>831</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>305</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>344</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>60 %</td>\n<td>534</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>246</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>226</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>50 %</td>\n<td>973</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>335</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>338</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>40 %</td>\n<td>613</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>245</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>202</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>30 %</td>\n<td>877</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>335</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>310</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>20 %</td>\n<td>806</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>242</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>280</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>10 %</td>\n<td>1,039</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>344</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>348</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>0 %</td>\n<td>190</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>72</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>92</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>In which of the following ways do you work with WordPress?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>17,009</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,221</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,425</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Build/design and/or maintain websites or blogs for other people, companies, or organizations</td>\n<td>15,342</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n<td>4,795</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n<td>5,064</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Develop or customize themes</td>\n<td>10,549</td>\n<td>24%</td>\n<td>2,997</td>\n<td>21%</td>\n<td>3,021</td>\n<td>20%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Host websites for customers</td>\n<td>8,142</td>\n<td>18%</td>\n<td>2,466</td>\n<td>17%</td>\n<td>2,728</td>\n<td>18%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Develop or distribute plugins</td>\n<td>4,125</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>1,395</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>1,416</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Provide educational resources to help others to use WordPress</td>\n<td>3,276</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>1,187</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>1,308</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sponsor and/or attend WordCamps</td>\n<td>1,559</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td>648</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>724</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Contribute bug reports and/or patches to WordPress core</td>\n<td>1,107</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>381</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n<td>393</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>389</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>243</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>299</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>How would you describe the business of your typical client(s)?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>16,863</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,151</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,353</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Small business</td>\n<td>14,185</td>\n<td>35%</td>\n<td>4,342</td>\n<td>35%</td>\n<td>4,622</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Individual</td>\n<td>8,513</td>\n<td>21%</td>\n<td>2,581</td>\n<td>21%</td>\n<td>2,583</td>\n<td>20%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Non-profit</td>\n<td>6,585</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n<td>2,004</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n<td>2,113</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Website development (sub-contracting)</td>\n<td>4,301</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>1,258</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>1,216</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Education</td>\n<td>3,458</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>1,049</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>1,139</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Large business or Enterprise</td>\n<td>2,391</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>805</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>857</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Government</td>\n<td>1,150</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n<td>300</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>329</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>173</td>\n<td>0%</td>\n<td>101</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>99</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>How do you use WordPress in your development?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>16,768</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,145</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,372</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mostly as a content management system (CMS)</td>\n<td>11,754</td>\n<td>70%</td>\n<td>3,641</td>\n<td>71%</td>\n<td>3,959</td>\n<td>74%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>About half the time as a blogging platform and half the time as a CMS</td>\n<td>2,825</td>\n<td>17%</td>\n<td>812</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n<td>721</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mostly as an application framework</td>\n<td>1,012</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>343</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>344</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mostly as a blogging platform</td>\n<td>992</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>246</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>226</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>185</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>105</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>122</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>How much is your average WordPress site customized from the original WordPress installation?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>16,699</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,131</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,317</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>A lot of work has been done, the front end is unrecognizable, but the Dashboard still looks like the usual WordPress interface.</td>\n<td>9,457</td>\n<td>57%</td>\n<td>2,837</td>\n<td>55%</td>\n<td>2,998</td>\n<td>56%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>There&#8217;s a different theme and some plugins have been added.</td>\n<td>5,526</td>\n<td>33%</td>\n<td>1,694</td>\n<td>33%</td>\n<td>1,781</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Not at all, it&#8217;s still pretty much the same as the original download.</td>\n<td>977</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>341</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>310</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>You&#8217;d never know this was a WordPress installation, everything (including the admin) has been customized.</td>\n<td>739</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td>261</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>228</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>How many currently active WordPress sites have you built? (2015) / Roughly how many currently active WordPress sites have you built? (2016, 2017)</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>16,690</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>200 +</td>\n<td>514</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>51 &#8211; 200</td>\n<td>1,728</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>21 &#8211; 50</td>\n<td>3,000</td>\n<td>18%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>11 &#8211; 20</td>\n<td>3,146</td>\n<td>19%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>6 &#8211; 10</td>\n<td>3,405</td>\n<td>20%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>2 &#8211; 5</td>\n<td>3,838</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>1</td>\n<td>698</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>0</td>\n<td>361</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,165</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5367</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Thousands.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>110</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>104</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Hundreds.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>603</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>713</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Fewer than a hundred.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>2,264</td>\n<td>44%</td>\n<td>2,457</td>\n<td>46%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Just a few, but they are really great.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>1,871</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n<td>1,813</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Prefer not to answer.</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>319</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>280</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>Roughly what percentage of your working time is spent working with WordPress?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>16,658</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,039</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,241</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>100 %</td>\n<td>949</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>459</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>461</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>90 %</td>\n<td>1,300</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>527</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>540</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>80 %</td>\n<td>1,784</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>637</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td>711</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>70 %</td>\n<td>1,850</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>608</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>627</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>60 %</td>\n<td>1,313</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>438</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>465</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>50 %</td>\n<td>2,095</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td>612</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>639</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>40 %</td>\n<td>1,438</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>391</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>384</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>30 %</td>\n<td>2,076</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>530</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>511</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>20 %</td>\n<td>1,743</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>445</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>429</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>10 %</td>\n<td>1,819</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>342</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>419</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>0 %</td>\n<td>291</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>52</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>55</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>How many hours of your work does the typical site take to complete? (2015) / How many hours of work does your typical WordPress project take to launch? (2016, 2017)</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Freelancer/Hobbyist</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>16,670</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,164</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,378</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>More than 200</td>\n<td>503</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n<td>222</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td>245</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>100 &#8211; 200</td>\n<td>973</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>386</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>393</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>60 &#8211; 100</td>\n<td>2,277</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n<td>788</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n<td>815</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>40 &#8211; 60</td>\n<td>3,896</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n<td>1,153</td>\n<td>22%</td>\n<td>1,216</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>20 &#8211; 40</td>\n<td>6,068</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n<td>1,487</td>\n<td>29%</td>\n<td>1,582</td>\n<td>29%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Fewer than 20</td>\n<td>2,953</td>\n<td>18%</td>\n<td>712</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n<td>751</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Prefer not to answer</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>418</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>376</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>Which of the following have you done with WordPress?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" /> </colgroup>\n</table>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Professional (Company/Freelancer/Hobbyist)</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>20,687</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I’ve written a theme from scratch.</td>\n<td>11,894</td>\n<td>25%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I’ve written a plugin.</td>\n<td>9,719</td>\n<td>21%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;ve answered a question in the WordPress forum.</td>\n<td>8,805</td>\n<td>19%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;ve attended a WordPress meetup.</td>\n<td>4,062</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;ve submitted a WordPress bug report.</td>\n<td>4,062</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;ve attended a WordCamp.</td>\n<td>3,571</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;ve contributed to WordPress documentation.</td>\n<td>1,778</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>1,739</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;ve contributed a WordPress core patch.</td>\n<td>1,055</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>What&#8217;s the best thing about WordPress?<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/feed/#text\">*</a></h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Professional</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>22,718</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>7,891</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>8,267</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Easy/simple/user-friendly</td>\n<td>9,450</td>\n<td>42%</td>\n<td>3,454</td>\n<td>44%</td>\n<td>3,852</td>\n<td>47%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Customizable/extensible/modular/plugins/themes</td>\n<td>8,601</td>\n<td>38%</td>\n<td>3,116</td>\n<td>39%</td>\n<td>3,555</td>\n<td>43%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Community/support/documentation/help</td>\n<td>3,806</td>\n<td>17%</td>\n<td>1,211</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n<td>1,340</td>\n<td>16%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Free/open/open source</td>\n<td>2,291</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>802</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>908</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Popular/ubiquitous</td>\n<td>249</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>86</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>187</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3> What&#8217;s the most frustrating thing about WordPress?<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/feed/#text\">*</a></h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Professional</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>21,144</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>7,294</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>7,691</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Plugins &amp; themes (abandoned/conflicts/coding standards)</td>\n<td>6,122</td>\n<td>29%</td>\n<td>2,194</td>\n<td>30%</td>\n<td>2,187</td>\n<td>28%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Security/vulnerabilities/hacks</td>\n<td>2,321</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>712</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>829</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Updates</td>\n<td>1,544</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>422</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>508</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Nothing/I don&#8217;t know/can&#8217;t think of anything</td>\n<td>1,276</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>344</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>476</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Speed/performance/slow/heavy</td>\n<td>1,196</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>644</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>516</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>WordPress is as good as, or better than, its main competitors.</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress Professional</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses (this question was not asked in the 2015 survey)</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>8,672</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>9,059</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Agree</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>7551</td>\n<td>87%</td>\n<td>7836</td>\n<td>87%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Prefer not to answer</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>754</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>795</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Disagree</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>370</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td>428</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h2 id=\"user\">WordPress Users</h2>\n<h3>Which of the following describes how you use WordPress?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress User</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>15,169</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,043</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,521</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>My personal blog (or blogs) uses WordPress.</td>\n<td>9,395</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n<td>3,117</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n<td>3,424</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>My company or organization&#8217;s website is built with WordPress software.</td>\n<td>7,480</td>\n<td>29%</td>\n<td>2,519</td>\n<td>29%</td>\n<td>2,841</td>\n<td>30%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I have a hobby or side project that has a website built with WordPress.</td>\n<td>6,112</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n<td>1,973</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n<td>2,200</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I write (or otherwise work) for an online publication that uses WordPress.</td>\n<td>2,329</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>806</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>821</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>872</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n<td>234</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n<td>288</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>Who installed your WordPress website?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress User</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>15,055</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,020</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,523</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I did.</td>\n<td>11,216</td>\n<td>66%</td>\n<td>3,659</td>\n<td>73%</td>\n<td>4,129</td>\n<td>75%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>My hosting provider</td>\n<td>2,236</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td>667</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td>767</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>An external company</td>\n<td>909</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>182</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td>178</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>An internal web person/team or a colleague</td>\n<td>874</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>178</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td>191</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>A friend or family member</td>\n<td>787</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>192</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td>172</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I don&#8217;t know</td>\n<td>502</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n<td>145</td>\n<td>3%</td>\n<td>87</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>345</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>n/a</td>\n<td>n/a</td>\n<td>n/a</td>\n<td>n/a</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>How much has the site been customized from the original WordPress installation?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress User</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>14,789</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>4,997</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,494</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>There&#8217;s a different theme and some plugins have been added.</td>\n<td>7,465</td>\n<td>50%</td>\n<td>2,337</td>\n<td>47%</td>\n<td>2,660</td>\n<td>48%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>A lot of work has been done, the site itself is unrecognizable from the original theme, but the Dashboard still looks like the usual WordPress interface.</td>\n<td>4,715</td>\n<td>32%</td>\n<td>1,707</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n<td>1,872</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Not at all, it&#8217;s still pretty much the same as it was when I started out.</td>\n<td>1,841</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n<td>635</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td>673</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>You&#8217;d never know this was a WordPress installation, everything has been customized.</td>\n<td>768</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>321</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>290</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>What&#8217;s the best thing about WordPress?<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/feed/#text\">*</a></h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress User</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>14,328</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>4,613</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,076</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Easy/simple/user-friendly</td>\n<td>7,391</td>\n<td>52%</td>\n<td>2,276</td>\n<td>49%</td>\n<td>2,511</td>\n<td>49%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Customizable/extensible/modular/plugins/themes</td>\n<td>4,219</td>\n<td>29%</td>\n<td>1,569</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n<td>1,632</td>\n<td>32%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Free/open/open source</td>\n<td>1,586</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>493</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n<td>538</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Community/support/documentation/help</td>\n<td>1,085</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>388</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>458</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Popular/ubiquitous</td>\n<td>223</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>74</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>48</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>What&#8217;s the most frustrating thing about WordPress?<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/feed/#text\">*</a></h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress User</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td>13,681</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>4,287</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>4,758</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Plugins &amp; themes (abandoned/conflicts/coding standards)</td>\n<td>2,531</td>\n<td>19%</td>\n<td>1,183</td>\n<td>28%</td>\n<td>1,300</td>\n<td>27%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Customization/design/look/template</td>\n<td>1,273</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>381</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n<td>408</td>\n<td>9%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Code/coding/PHP</td>\n<td>931</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>306</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>277</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Updates</td>\n<td>926</td>\n<td>7%</td>\n<td>209</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>296</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Security/vulnerabilites/hacks</td>\n<td>785</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>255</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n<td>292</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>WordPress is as good as, or better than, its main competitors.</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: WordPress User</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,026</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,498</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Agree</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>4,038</td>\n<td>80%</td>\n<td>4,462</td>\n<td>81%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Prefer not to answer</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>737</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n<td>782</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Disagree</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>254</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n<td>255</td>\n<td>5%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h2 id=\"all\">All Respondents</h2>\n<h3>Can you (truthfully!) say &#8220;I make my living from WordPress&#8221;?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: All Respondents</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses (combination of all three groups from 2015; this question was not broken out by group in 2016-2017)</td>\n<td>42,236</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>14,906</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>15,616</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Not really, but I do get some or all of my income as a result of working with WordPress.</td>\n<td>16,607</td>\n<td>39%</td>\n<td>5,408</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n<td>5,702</td>\n<td>37%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Yes.</td>\n<td>9,635</td>\n<td>23%</td>\n<td>4,791</td>\n<td>32%</td>\n<td>5,033</td>\n<td>32%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>No.</td>\n<td>15,995</td>\n<td>38%</td>\n<td>4,713</td>\n<td>32%</td>\n<td>4,882</td>\n<td>31%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>Which devices do you access WordPress on?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: All Respondents</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses (combination of all three groups from 2015; this question was not broken out by group in 2016-2017)</td>\n<td>42,433</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Web</td>\n<td>40,503</td>\n<td>95%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Android phone</td>\n<td>15,396</td>\n<td>36%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>iPhone</td>\n<td>12,353</td>\n<td>29%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>iPad</td>\n<td>11,748</td>\n<td>28%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Android tablet</td>\n<td>9,223</td>\n<td>22%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Desktop app, like MarsEdit</td>\n<td>6,018</td>\n<td>14%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td>1837</td>\n<td>4%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses (this question was not broken out by group in 2016-2017)</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>14,840</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>15,597</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Web browser on a desktop or laptop</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>14,160</td>\n<td>54%</td>\n<td>15,052</td>\n<td>55%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Web browser on a mobile device (tablet or phone)</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>7,952</td>\n<td>30%</td>\n<td>8,248</td>\n<td>30%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>An app on a mobile device (table or phone)</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,309</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n<td>3,311</td>\n<td>12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>A desktop app like MarsEdit</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>517</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n<td>498</td>\n<td>2%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Other Option</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>282</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n<td>240</td>\n<td>1%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>WordPress now updates minor &amp; security releases automatically for you. Check all that apply: (question not asked in 2016, 2017)</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: All Respondents</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses (combination of all three groups)</td>\n<td>39,726</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I love auto-updates.</td>\n<td>17,367</td>\n<td>44%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;d like to see auto-updates for plugins.</td>\n<td>12,796</td>\n<td>32%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Initially, I was nervous about auto updates.</td>\n<td>11,868</td>\n<td>30%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Auto updates still make me nervous.</td>\n<td>10,809</td>\n<td>27%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Auto updates don&#8217;t make me nervous now.</td>\n<td>10,708</td>\n<td>27%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;d like to see auto-updates for themes.</td>\n<td>10,449</td>\n<td>26%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I&#8217;d like to see auto updates for major versions of WordPress.</td>\n<td>10,225</td>\n<td>26%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>This is the first I&#8217;ve heard of auto-updates.</td>\n<td>8,660</td>\n<td>22%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I hate auto-updates.</td>\n<td>3,293</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>What is your gender?<a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/feed/#text\">*</a></h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: All respondents (This question was not asked in the 2015 survey.)</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>13,953</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>14,680</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Male</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>10,978</td>\n<td>78.68%</td>\n<td>11,570</td>\n<td>78.81%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Female</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>2,340</td>\n<td>16.77%</td>\n<td>2,511</td>\n<td>21.70%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Prefer not to answer</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>601</td>\n<td>4.31%</td>\n<td>562</td>\n<td>3.83%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Transgender</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>11</td>\n<td>0.08%</td>\n<td>8</td>\n<td>0.05%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Nonbinary</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>8</td>\n<td>0.06%</td>\n<td>17</td>\n<td>0.12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Genderqueer</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>4</td>\n<td>0.03%</td>\n<td>3</td>\n<td>0.02%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Androgynous</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>6</td>\n<td>0.04%</td>\n<td>5</td>\n<td>0.03%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Fluid</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3</td>\n<td>0.02%</td>\n<td>4</td>\n<td>0.03%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Demimale</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>2</td>\n<td>0.01%</td>\n<td>0</td>\n<td>0</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>Where are you located?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: All respondents (This question was not asked in the 2015 survey.)</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>14,562</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>15,343</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>United States</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,770</td>\n<td>25.89%</td>\n<td>4,067</td>\n<td>26.51%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>India</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>1,456</td>\n<td>10.00%</td>\n<td>1,424</td>\n<td>9.28%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>United Kingdom</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>810</td>\n<td>5.56%</td>\n<td>900</td>\n<td>5.87%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Germany</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>555</td>\n<td>3.81%</td>\n<td>729</td>\n<td>4.75%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Canada</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>511</td>\n<td>3.51%</td>\n<td>599</td>\n<td>3.90%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Australia</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>389</td>\n<td>2.67%</td>\n<td>460</td>\n<td>3.00%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Italy</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>298</td>\n<td>2.05%</td>\n<td>356</td>\n<td>2.32%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Netherlands</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>343</td>\n<td>2.36%</td>\n<td>350</td>\n<td>2.28%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>France</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>232</td>\n<td>1.59%</td>\n<td>283</td>\n<td>1.84%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Bangladesh</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>257</td>\n<td>1.76%</td>\n<td>263</td>\n<td>1.71%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Spain</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>271</td>\n<td>1.86%</td>\n<td>252</td>\n<td>1.64%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Brazil</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>239</td>\n<td>1.64%</td>\n<td>251</td>\n<td>1.64%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Pakistan</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>254</td>\n<td>1.74%</td>\n<td>240</td>\n<td>1.56%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Indonesia</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>230</td>\n<td>1.58%</td>\n<td>226</td>\n<td>1.47%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Iran, Islamic Republic of</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>190</td>\n<td>1.30%</td>\n<td>173</td>\n<td>1.13%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Sweden</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>144</td>\n<td>0.99%</td>\n<td>173</td>\n<td>1.13%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Nigeria</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>196</td>\n<td>1.35%</td>\n<td>172</td>\n<td>1.12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>South Africa</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>193</td>\n<td>1.33%</td>\n<td>172</td>\n<td>1.12%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Russian Federation</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>181</td>\n<td>1.24%</td>\n<td>151</td>\n<td>0.98%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Poland</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>129</td>\n<td>0.89%</td>\n<td>137</td>\n<td>0.89%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Romania</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>144</td>\n<td>0.99%</td>\n<td>132</td>\n<td>0.86%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Switzerland</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>122</td>\n<td>0.84%</td>\n<td>130</td>\n<td>0.85%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Philippines</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>92</td>\n<td>0.63%</td>\n<td>125</td>\n<td>0.81%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>China</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>136</td>\n<td>0.93%</td>\n<td>123</td>\n<td>0.80%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Austria</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>89</td>\n<td>0.61%</td>\n<td>122</td>\n<td>0.80%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Ukraine</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>105</td>\n<td>0.72%</td>\n<td>118</td>\n<td>0.77%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Denmark</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>107</td>\n<td>0.73%</td>\n<td>114</td>\n<td>0.74%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Greece</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>120</td>\n<td>0.82%</td>\n<td>114</td>\n<td>0.74%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Portugal</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>94</td>\n<td>0.65%</td>\n<td>109</td>\n<td>0.71%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Vietnam</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>101</td>\n<td>0.69%</td>\n<td>108</td>\n<td>0.70%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Mexico</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>94</td>\n<td>0.65%</td>\n<td>105</td>\n<td>0.68%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Nepal</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>76</td>\n<td>0.52%</td>\n<td>97</td>\n<td>0.63%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Ireland</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>72</td>\n<td>0.49%</td>\n<td>94</td>\n<td>0.61%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Israel</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>78</td>\n<td>0.54%</td>\n<td>94</td>\n<td>0.61%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>New Zealand</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>77</td>\n<td>0.53%</td>\n<td>91</td>\n<td>0.59%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Finland</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>63</td>\n<td>0.43%</td>\n<td>90</td>\n<td>0.59%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Turkey</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>91</td>\n<td>0.62%</td>\n<td>86</td>\n<td>0.56%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Malaysia</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>91</td>\n<td>0.62%</td>\n<td>81</td>\n<td>0.53%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Belgium</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>84</td>\n<td>0.58%</td>\n<td>79</td>\n<td>0.51%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Norway</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>66</td>\n<td>0.45%</td>\n<td>79</td>\n<td>0.51%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Argentina</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>65</td>\n<td>0.45%</td>\n<td>76</td>\n<td>0.50%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Bulgaria</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>74</td>\n<td>0.51%</td>\n<td>72</td>\n<td>0.47%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Japan</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>61</td>\n<td>0.42%</td>\n<td>68</td>\n<td>0.44%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Thailand</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>69</td>\n<td>0.47%</td>\n<td>67</td>\n<td>0.44%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Czech Republic</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>76</td>\n<td>0.52%</td>\n<td>66</td>\n<td>0.43%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Serbia</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>89</td>\n<td>0.61%</td>\n<td>63</td>\n<td>0.41%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Kenya</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>58</td>\n<td>0.40%</td>\n<td>62</td>\n<td>0.40%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Colombia</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>39</td>\n<td>0.27%</td>\n<td>59</td>\n<td>0.38%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Egypt</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>40</td>\n<td>0.27%</td>\n<td>52</td>\n<td>0.34%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<h3>What is your age?</h3>\n<table dir=\"ltr\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"554\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"36\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" />\n<col width=\"47\" />\n<col width=\"51\" /></colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2015</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2016</strong></td>\n<td colspan=\"2\" rowspan=\"1\"><strong>2017</strong></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td><em>Group: All Respondents</em></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Number of responses (This question was not asked in 2015.)</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>14,944</td>\n<td></td>\n<td>15,636</td>\n<td></td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>60 and over</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>1,139</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>1,641</td>\n<td>11%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>50-59</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>1,537</td>\n<td>10%</td>\n<td>1,996</td>\n<td>13%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>40-49</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>2,205</td>\n<td>15%</td>\n<td>2,643</td>\n<td>17%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>30-39</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>3,914</td>\n<td>26%</td>\n<td>3,972</td>\n<td>25%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>20-29</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>5,013</td>\n<td>34%</td>\n<td>4,444</td>\n<td>28%</td>\n</tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Under 20</td>\n<td></td>\n<td></td>\n<td>1142</td>\n<td>8%</td>\n<td>941</td>\n<td>6%</td>\n</tr>\n</tbody>\n</table>\n<p>Thank you to everyone who made time to fill out the survey &#8212; we&#8217;re so happy you use WordPress, and we&#8217;re very grateful that you&#8217;re willing to share your experiences with us! Thanks also to everyone who spread the word about this survey, and to those of you who read all the way to the bottom of this post. <img src=\"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/2.4/72x72/1f609.png\" alt=\"😉\" class=\"wp-smiley\" /></p>\n<p><small><a id=\"text\"></a>*Text Field Questions: Each survey included some questions that could be answered only by filling out a text field. In the case of the questions &#8220;What is the best thing about WordPress?&#8221; and &#8220;What is the most frustrating thing about WordPress?&#8221; we listed the five most common responses, aggregated when applicable. In the case of the question “What is your gender?” in the 2016 and 2017 surveys, we aggregated responses as best we could. Responses meant to obscure respondents’ gender entirely are aggregated in “prefer not to answer.”</small></p>\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 22 Dec 2017 21:40:57 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:16:\"Andrea Middleton\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}s:4:\"type\";i:128;s:7:\"headers\";O:42:\"Requests_Utility_CaseInsensitiveDictionary\":1:{s:7:\"\0*\0data\";a:8:{s:6:\"server\";s:5:\"nginx\";s:4:\"date\";s:29:\"Sat, 10 Feb 2018 07:02:14 GMT\";s:12:\"content-type\";s:8:\"text/xml\";s:4:\"vary\";s:15:\"Accept-Encoding\";s:13:\"last-modified\";s:29:\"Sat, 10 Feb 2018 06:45:27 GMT\";s:15:\"x-frame-options\";s:10:\"SAMEORIGIN\";s:4:\"x-nc\";s:9:\"HIT ord 1\";s:16:\"content-encoding\";s:4:\"gzip\";}}s:5:\"build\";s:14:\"20130911040210\";}', 'no');
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Here are five reasons why your conversion rate is underwhelming.\" width=\"850\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5-reasons-why-your-site-is-not-converting-featured.jpg 850w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5-reasons-why-your-site-is-not-converting-featured-300x88.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5-reasons-why-your-site-is-not-converting-featured-768x226.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5-reasons-why-your-site-is-not-converting-featured-100x29.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5-reasons-why-your-site-is-not-converting-featured-150x44.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5-reasons-why-your-site-is-not-converting-featured-200x59.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5-reasons-why-your-site-is-not-converting-featured-450x132.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5-reasons-why-your-site-is-not-converting-featured-600x176.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" /></p>\n<p>How do you measure the success of a site? Conversion.</p>\n<p>You could have a lot of traffic going to your site, but those visits don’t really matter if you aren’t converting them into customers. The only visitors that matter are those that are adding to your bottom-line. All other traffic is essentially wasted.</p>\n<p>Are you finding yourself with a lot of traffic, selling the right products at competitive prices, yet not with many paying customers? Then read on to find out why your site isn’t converting and what you can do about it.</p>\n<h2>Check Your Current Conversion Rate</h2>\n<p>First things first, you should know your current conversion rate. Whether you measure your conversions by product purchases, brochure downloads or email newsletter signups: you need to be measuring and tracking those conversions regularly. You can track your conversion rate using Goals in <a href=\"https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Analytics,</a> or through any other analytics platform of your choosing.</p>\n<p>So what&#8217;s considered a good conversion rate? The ideal rate is between 2 to 3 percent. This rate could be higher or lower based on the value of the conversion (e.g. you’d have more difficulty converting customers if you’re selling products or services worth $10,000+). But if you’re having less than 2 percent conversion and your conversion value isn’t very high, then you might have a problem on your hands.</p>\n<p>Here are five reasons why your site may be underperforming.</p>\n<h2>#1. You’re Providing a Bad Mobile Experience</h2>\n<p>If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, there is no way it will survive in these times. It isn&#8217;t enough for your site to be responsive, it has to be designed specifically for mobile in terms of content and structure. Failure to do so would mean marginalizing a substantial portion of your customer base and in turn decreasing your conversion rate.</p>\n<p>But what does designing for mobile entail?</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Using large and easily legible text</li>\n<li>Using short paragraphs</li>\n<li>Making sure that every key feature is just a tap away</li>\n<li>Having just a single call-to-action</li>\n</ul>\n<p>The key is to keep testing your mobile site. Perhaps you should even ask customers and family members for feedback on your site’s mobile experience. Afterwards, you should review what is working and what is not &#8211; and address those issues.</p>\n<p>As long as you do not ignore the importance of having a good mobile experience for your site, you can easily hone in on the reason(s) your site is not converting.</p>\n<h2>#2. No Call to Action</h2>\n<p>Your website could be user-friendly with engaging and quality content, but without a clear and concise call-to-action, you simply won’t convert. Users may want to convert but just don&#8217;t have the opportunity or means to do so. Because you haven’t provided it.</p>\n<p>Make your call-to-action clear, concise, prominent, specific and compelling. Provide all the information users need so they know exactly what you want them to do next. Create calls-to-action that are relevant and specific; and place them in a prominent place on every page of your site.</p>\n<p>Whatever you do, make sure it is very easy for the user to convert when they are ready to.</p>\n<h2>#3. Your Users Are Annoyed with Your Website</h2>\n<p>You may be missing out on conversion opportunities if there is something off-putting about your site. Look at your bounce rate: if it is high, then you know there is something that is not appealing to users.</p>\n<p>In such a case, you need to find out what the problem is &#8211; directly from the user. You may use heat maps and look at your user journeys via Google Analytics, but perhaps it will make your job easier to ask users directly (e.g. via a quick survey).</p>\n<p>A few common annoyances on websites:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>You do not offer any useful information</li>\n<li>Navigation is too difficult</li>\n<li>You have too many ads or popups</li>\n<li>Your site doesn’t look good</li>\n</ul>\n<p>These are all problems with a rather easy fix. Take your time investigating them and fix the errors as soon as you can.</p>\n<h2>#4. You’re Off-Target</h2>\n<p>Your website should be anything but general. A lot of website owners aim to please everyone – but they can’t – and end up isolating their entire audience.</p>\n<p>Perhaps you’re writing for the wrong audience, perhaps you’re writing for a larger demographic than you should be; whatever the case, inaccurate targeting could negatively impact your conversion rate. Your copy, branding, marketing and site design should speak directly to a niche demographic.</p>\n<p>Conduct market research to properly define and know your audience.</p>\n<h2>#5. You Have a Slow Site</h2>\n<p>We previously covered the importance of website load speed and provided <a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/10-quick-easy-ways-to-speed-up-your-site/\">tips on to speed up your site</a>. When your website doesn’t load fast, your visitors leave and are unlikely to visit again in the near future.</p>\n<p>There are many factors that can slow down your site, such as:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>A site that isn’t optimized for mobile</li>\n<li>Broken links</li>\n<li>Not using caching</li>\n<li>Messy code</li>\n<li>Images that aren’t optimized</li>\n<li>Flash and Java</li>\n<li>Average web hosting</li>\n</ul>\n<p>You can <a href=\"https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">check your current site speed via Page Speed Insights</a>. If your site is taking longer than 3 seconds to load, you need to work on it. Studies show that most users quickly exit sites that take longer than 3 seconds to load.</p>\n<h2>Measure, Measure and Measure</h2>\n<p>This is actually a sixth reason why your site may not be converting. Measure, measure and keep measuring. If you’re not measuring, you’re guessing, and in turn, not really making any strides.</p>\n<p>The problem most website owners encounter is that they are either not tracking their website traffic or that they are tracking but not reviewing their metrics. Some do know they should be tracking, but just aren’t sure what to look for or what to make of the results.</p>\n<p>Well, you should always start with your goals in mind. Then you can identify which key metrics will help you to measure your progress towards those goals.</p>\n<p>Once you start measuring, you can improve on those metrics; figure out what is working, what isn’t, and then fine-tune and optimize.</p>\n<h2>Wrapping Up</h2>\n<p>These five reasons are just a starting point to help boost your conversion rates. There are many other reasons why your site may not be converting. However, these are fairly common in under-converting sites.</p>\n<p>If you find that any of these reasons apply to your business, simply make the changes and you’ll see a big difference or improvement in your conversion rates and bottom line.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:36:\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\";a:1:{s:10:\"commentRss\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"https://semperplugins.com/5-reasons-why-your-website-is-not-converting/feed/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:38:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\";a:1:{s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2:\"31\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:1;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:51:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n		\n		\n				\n			\n		\n		\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:5:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:38:\"Choosing the Right Domain Name for SEO\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:65:\"https://semperplugins.com/choosing-the-right-domain-name-for-seo/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:74:\"https://semperplugins.com/choosing-the-right-domain-name-for-seo/#comments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 12 Sep 2017 14:51:02 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:4:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Blog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"SEO Tips\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"domain names\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"SEO tips\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://semperplugins.com/?p=3443/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:398:\"Back in the day, way way back, your website domain could have had a major impact on your site’s rankings. That changed a few years ago (2012 to be exact) when Google wanted to weed out websites that may have<span class=\"ellipsis\">&#8230;</span><div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/choosing-the-right-domain-name-for-seo/\">Read more &#8250;</a></div><!-- end of .read-more -->\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Arnaud Broes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:7445:\"<p><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3702 aligncenter\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/choosing-a-domain-name-for-seo-featured.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/choosing-a-domain-name-for-seo-featured.jpg 850w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/choosing-a-domain-name-for-seo-featured-300x88.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/choosing-a-domain-name-for-seo-featured-768x226.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/choosing-a-domain-name-for-seo-featured-100x29.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/choosing-a-domain-name-for-seo-featured-150x44.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/choosing-a-domain-name-for-seo-featured-200x59.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/choosing-a-domain-name-for-seo-featured-450x132.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/choosing-a-domain-name-for-seo-featured-600x176.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" /></p>\n<p>Back in the day, way way back, your website domain could have had a major impact on your site’s rankings. That changed a few years ago (2012 to be exact) when Google wanted to weed out websites that may have good domain names but very little “substance”.</p>\n<p>Exact Match Domains (EMD) is where the problem started. Businesses would essentially purchase keyword domains to rank for a particular keyword. And the EMD was enough for them to rank: they barely focused on quality content and relevance (two things that matter greatly for SEO nowadays). That strategy no longer works.</p>\n<p>That’s not to say that domain names no longer affect SEO. They still do (and studies have proven that), but how?</p>\n<p>Let’s find out.</p>\n<h2>How Domain Names Impact SEO</h2>\n<p>There have been a lot of changes to SEO, particularly from the largest search engine: Google. But one thing that hasn’t changed, but has been emphasized more, is original quality content, relevance and always aligning with search engine best practices. A component of this is your domain name &#8211; it’s unique, only you can have it.</p>\n<p>Even though it may not directly impact your rankings anymore, a good domain name will get you more brand recognition, trust and higher click-through-rates (CTR).</p>\n<p>However, the definition of a good domain name has changed, at least according to Google. We see this in how the search engine treats certain types of domains.</p>\n<h2>Exact Match Domains (EMD)</h2>\n<p>EMDs are domain names that include keyword phrases. For example, let’s say you are selling hair products and want to rank for “quality hair products.” The EMD you would most likely use is qualityhairproducts.com. Just purchasing that domain would have gotten you the first page ranking a while ago.</p>\n<p>Yup! You wouldn’t have needed original content or backlinks. You would simply rank for it with your domain name. That all changed after Google released the Exact Match Domain Update.</p>\n<p>The update essentially made EMDs obsolete in search engine rankings. In fact, a study by High Position showed that the average EMD ranking went from position 13.4 to 26.6 (yikes!) after Google’s update. The average top 10 EMD also dropped in rankings: from 3.2 down to 11.9. So now we know that choosing an exact match domain in 2017 is quite pointless, a bad idea even.</p>\n<p>So how should you decide on a domain name to maximize SEO? You need only do two things: choose a memorable brand name (to make your domain name) and pick a .com extension.</p>\n<p>Let’s go into more detail.</p>\n<h2>Your Brand Name Should Be Your Domain Name</h2>\n<p>We can all agree that your brand is important. Your brand name is how your customers recognize and find you in search engines and social media platforms. So think of your domain name as the foothold of your online brand.</p>\n<p>In fact, the more customers are using your brand name to search for you online, the more your SEO and rankings will improve. This is referred to as brand signalling (any reference of your business online). Matt Cutts, former Head of Web Spam at Google, claimed that Google “actually came up with a classifier to say, okay, IRS or Wikipedia or New York Times is over on this side, and the low-quality sites are over on this side.”</p>\n<p>That’s right, Google now cares more about brands for SEO than it does about keywords and links. For that reason, using your brand name is more important than keywords. You’re probably scratching your head at this point, wondering how Google would associate your brand with certain keywords&#8230;</p>\n<p>Well, Google will associate keywords with your brand as your brand becomes more popular; and as you produce more relevant and high quality content. Let’s take a look at Bitly as an example. It’s a URL shortener and link management platform yet their brand name does not match those keywords. It however ranks at the top for those keywords in Google.</p>\n<p>That’s because of its popularity. As long as people recognize it and are searching for it, Google will measure that brand signal and rank it accordingly. For this reason, it is important to have a memorable brand name and consequently, a memorable domain name.</p>\n<p>Don’t worry if your brand name contains a keyword, or in other words, is a PMD (partial match domain). That’s because Google is only searching for spam sites with EMDs and PMDs &#8211; the actual problem isn’t the keywords, but rather the content and quality of the site. A PMD or EMD with bad user experience and low quality content would experience a steep downgrade in rankings. Whereas, a PMD or EMD with great user experience and content would not be greatly affected.</p>\n<p><em>However</em>, if you are just starting out, you should go with a memorable brand name domain and avoid using keywords.</p>\n<h2>Opt For a .com Extension</h2>\n<p>You probably already know that .com is the most popular domain extension. That is because most other domain extensions like .biz and .us are viewed as spam. Although choosing it may not directly impact your rankings, you may be viewed as a low-ranking site which could affect your SEO.</p>\n<p>.com is simply the most convenient and safest choice to go with. When in doubt, go with it.</p>\n<h2>Tips for Choosing the Perfect Domain Name</h2>\n<p>Now let’s recap and go over the tips on picking the best domain name:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Use your brand name</li>\n<li>Don’t use exact match domains. Partial match domains are OK but a brand name is always more effective</li>\n<li>Choose a .com extension</li>\n<li>Make it memorable so users can easily remember it</li>\n<li>Keep it short, 15 characters at most</li>\n<li>Avoid numbers, hyphens and special characters</li>\n<li>Avoid misspelling words on purpose. It’s a no-no for branding</li>\n<li>Make it easy to spell</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Wrapping Up</h2>\n<p>We hope you now have a good understanding of how domain names affect SEO in 2017. If you’re starting a new business or changing to a better domain name, the tips above should help you pick out the best one for your business.</p>\n<p>Remember: As long as you have great content and a good SEO strategy, a strong and unique domain name may rank you higher. Choose one wisely, use it correctly and start reaping the value.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:36:\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\";a:1:{s:10:\"commentRss\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:70:\"https://semperplugins.com/choosing-the-right-domain-name-for-seo/feed/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:38:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\";a:1:{s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2:\"37\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:2;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n		\n		\n				\n			\n		\n		\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:5:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:39:\"How to Come up with Great Content Ideas\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-come-up-with-great-content-ideas/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:75:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-come-up-with-great-content-ideas/#comments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 29 Aug 2017 13:00:30 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:3:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Blog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"SEO Tips\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"content marketing\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"http://semperplugins.com/?p=2375\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:423:\"Do you spend hours staring at a blank computer screen or piece of paper, desperately racking your brain for just one great content idea? Well, the sad reality is that you cannot afford to wait for inspiration to strike: your readers<span class=\"ellipsis\">&#8230;</span><div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-come-up-with-great-content-ideas/\">Read more &#8250;</a></div><!-- end of .read-more -->\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Arnaud Broes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12709:\"<p><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3674 aligncenter\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/great-content-ideas-featured.jpg\" alt=\"Looking for some great ideas to produce new content? Here are a few tips to get you started.\" width=\"850\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/great-content-ideas-featured.jpg 850w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/great-content-ideas-featured-300x88.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/great-content-ideas-featured-768x226.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/great-content-ideas-featured-100x29.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/great-content-ideas-featured-150x44.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/great-content-ideas-featured-200x59.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/great-content-ideas-featured-450x132.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/great-content-ideas-featured-600x176.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" /></p>\n<p>Do you spend hours staring at a blank computer screen or piece of paper, desperately racking your brain for just one great content idea? Well, the sad reality is that you cannot afford to wait for inspiration to strike: your readers are waiting for yet another one of your great posts to enjoy and share.</p>\n<p>This article is your reference for tips and tricks to find inspiration and create great content to grow your WordPress site.</p>\n<p>We’ll cover the following topics:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>How to source inspiration directly from your readers</li>\n<li>How to get great topic ideas from your social media channels</li>\n<li>Useful tools you may already be using, but not as effectively</li>\n<li>How to overcome writer&#8217;s block</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Know Your Readers and Their Concerns</h2>\n<p>This is arguably the starting point to creating great content: knowing your reader and their concerns.</p>\n<p>To gain and maintain a steady stream of followers, you must produce consistently good content that your blog visitors are interested in. Since your content is ideally centered around the needs and interests of your readers, it is therefore very important to know who they are.  But how would you know what your readers are interested in?</p>\n<p>First, put yourself in your reader&#8217;s shoes. Then ask and answer the following questions:</p>\n<ol>\n<li>What issues do your readers struggle with most?</li>\n<li>What would better enable them to understand and solve those issues?</li>\n<li>What would a reader enter in search engines to find content in your niche?</li>\n</ol>\n<p>Creating valuable content boils down to problem solving. You can start writing winning content more easily once you know what your readers are looking for and what their pain points are.</p>\n<p>A key thing to remember, however, is that some of your readers may be beginners who are trying to come to grips with your subject area. So create content that is clear &amp; appealing to beginners and which does not exclusively focus on advanced readers.</p>\n<h3>Look at Your Analytics</h3>\n<p>Your website analytics will provide you with a lot of insight regarding where your readers are coming from and how they&#8217;re interacting with your site. Check <a href=\"https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Analytics</a> for keywords that users are searching for to get to your site, and then create engaging content about those topics.</p>\n<p>You can also use those insights to update and keep existing posts relevant; or to create new posts with detailed information on the problems your target audience is trying to solve.</p>\n<h3>Go Through Your Blog Comments</h3>\n<p>Your blog comments can be extremely helpful to you in a number of ways.</p>\n<p>First of all, they provide you with great insight into what readers think of the content you have written. This may include positive or negative feedback on the style and clarity of your writing, questions for more information on areas you can expand on, wide-spread problems being discussed and/or solutions to those problems.</p>\n<p>Note them down and come up with post ideas to help your readers.</p>\n<p>If your readers take the time to report a problem they are having, or to give you feedback, you need to listen. It usually means that it&#8217;s a significant challenge they, and other users, are facing.</p>\n<h3>Sift Through Your FAQs</h3>\n<p>You can actively engage with your readers by answering their most frequently asked questions in blog posts. This will show readers that you have carefully considered their responses to your content, and also helps other readers who may also have similar questions.</p>\n<p>And as a nice bonus, you may attract some more visitors that wouldn&#8217;t have found your WordPress site otherwise.</p>\n<h2>Use Social Media</h2>\n<p>Social media channels are arguably the best place to source inspiration. Take <a href=\"https://www.buzzfeed.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BuzzFeed</a> for example. They constantly browse the web for fun ideas &#8211; typically small trends or trending topics in niche areas &#8211; and make them more mainstream.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3026\" style=\"max-width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"wp-image-3026\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/twitter-trends.jpg\" alt=\"At the time of writing, Twitter show us, for example, that growth hacking and content marketing tips are trending among bloggers.\" width=\"500\" height=\"380\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/twitter-trends.jpg 754w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/twitter-trends-300x228.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/twitter-trends-328x250.jpg 328w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/twitter-trends-100x76.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/twitter-trends-150x114.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/twitter-trends-200x152.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/twitter-trends-450x343.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/twitter-trends-600x457.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">At the time of writing, Twitter show us that growth hacking and content marketing tips are now trending among bloggers.</p></div>\n<p>You can also use social media to stay on top of industry trends; and to monitor the new keywords created by these trends. Use tools like <a href=\"https://www.google.com/trends/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Trends</a>, Twitter Trends, <a href=\"https://www.reddit.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reddit</a>, etc. to keep up with the conversation and take it to your blog.</p>\n<h2><b>Questionnaires </b>and Polls</h2>\n<p>Another useful way to engage with readers is to put out short surveys or polls on your blog, social media or your mailing list. Ask them any questions they may have or for their opinion on certain topics that you covered. This is also a fantastic way to keep them engaged with your content.</p>\n<p>Make it clear to your mailing list that you welcome questions. One way to do this is to offer some sort of incentive: perhaps a product discount, a coupon, or free mentoring to anyone who is willing to give a short interview. Interviewing in particular is a great way to find out a host of questions or issues your audience may have with your topic or industry that may never have even crossed your mind. This strategy may seem daunting, but is an effective way of coming up with content that is higher quality and more relevant to your audience.</p>\n<h2>Recycle and Transform</h2>\n<p>The fastest way for you to generate content ideas is by reading through existing content and expanding and improving on it. This means looking though what your competitors are writing about, and using that as a beacon to light your own blog posts. It is about taking already existing material, not copying it, but using it as a starting point for your own inspiration.</p>\n<p>An important thing to consistently keep in mind when expanding and improving existing material is to not limit yourself to the original piece; to consider what else readers would benefit from knowing. Perhaps you could make the piece more personal and relatable by referencing your personal experiences.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3639\" style=\"max-width: 515px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"wp-image-3639\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot.png\" alt=\"Using Feedly, you can quickly find out what your competitors are writing about and use their content as a source of inspiration for your own.\" width=\"505\" height=\"369\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot.png 1280w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-300x219.png 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-768x561.png 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-1024x748.png 1024w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-342x250.png 342w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-100x73.png 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-150x110.png 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-200x146.png 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-450x329.png 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-600x438.png 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/feedly-screenshot-900x657.png 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 505px) 100vw, 505px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Using Feedly, you can quickly find out what your competitors are writing about and use their content as a source of inspiration for your own.</p></div>\n<p>So how can you discover other content in your niche? Use tools such as <a href=\"https://feedly.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Feedly</a> which shows you a list of publications that have been produced about a certain topic. Once you create an account, you can simply enter in specific keywords, URLs, or browse through existing categories.</p>\n<h2>Read Every Day</h2>\n<p>Reading every day actually means reading something relevant to your niche every single day. By doing so, you will find that over time, not only will your knowledge of the subject matter improve substantially, but that new sources of inspiration will spring up as well.</p>\n<p>Reading content written by others in your field and the comments left behind by their users is also a good way to find inspiration. When reading through other peoples content, you may notice that similar problems keep cropping up but have remained unanswered. You can subsequently try to answer those questions in depth and address those issues in your own blog.</p>\n<p>Visit popular blogs and websites, and observe the different ways in which they operate. Pay close attention to their writing style, and the topics that they are covering. You will slowly begin to pick up fresh ideas, and gain exposure to different viewpoints.</p>\n<p>Reading stimulates the brain, thus making it that much easier for you to generate great content ideas.</p>\n<h2>How to Tackle Writer’s Block</h2>\n<p>So you&#8217;ve found inspiration and are now struggling with writer&#8217;s block. One of the best techniques to overcome it is simply to write! Write something down every single day, no matter how small, or jumbled. The point is to get all your ideas down on paper, which you can later revise and expand on.</p>\n<p>Keep your work well organized, and easy to refer back to. You can use online note applications such as <a href=\"http://evernote.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Evernote</a> or Google Docs to keep your work backed up and easily accessible.</p>\n<p>Having something to start with makes that blank page much less intimidating.</p>\n<h2>In a Nutshell</h2>\n<p>Once you get started using these tips and tricks, you will find that generating good content ideas is not as difficult as it may have initially seemed. So we hope this post has helped you to find inspiration for your next engaging blog post. The truth is, you really never know when your next source of inspiration may strike, so best of luck to you!</p>\n<p>Do you have any special tricks to come up with great content ideas? Share them with your fellow readers below in the comment section!</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:36:\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\";a:1:{s:10:\"commentRss\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-come-up-with-great-content-ideas/feed/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:38:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\";a:1:{s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2:\"17\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:3;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:51:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n		\n		\n				\n			\n		\n		\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:5:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"How to Build a Landing Page in WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:64:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-build-a-wordpress-landing-page/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-build-a-wordpress-landing-page/#comments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Fri, 07 Jul 2017 13:00:33 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:4:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Blog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"landing pages\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:17:\"WordPress plugins\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:16:\"WordPress themes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://semperplugins.com/?p=3441/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:419:\"What a lot of people don&#8217;t know is that you can build great landing pages for your WordPress site without having to break the bank by hiring services from lead generation and marketing companies. You can even create a landing<span class=\"ellipsis\">&#8230;</span><div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-build-a-wordpress-landing-page/\">Read more &#8250;</a></div><!-- end of .read-more -->\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Arnaud Broes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14082:\"<p><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3668 aligncenter\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/how-to-build-a-landing-page-featured.jpg\" alt=\"You can either build a WordPress landing page yourself using a customized page template or by installing a specialized landing page builder plugin.\" width=\"850\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/how-to-build-a-landing-page-featured.jpg 850w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/how-to-build-a-landing-page-featured-300x88.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/how-to-build-a-landing-page-featured-768x226.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/how-to-build-a-landing-page-featured-100x29.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/how-to-build-a-landing-page-featured-150x44.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/how-to-build-a-landing-page-featured-200x59.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/how-to-build-a-landing-page-featured-450x132.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/how-to-build-a-landing-page-featured-600x176.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" /></p>\n<p>What a lot of people don&#8217;t know is that you can build great landing pages for your WordPress site without having to break the bank by hiring services from lead generation and marketing companies.</p>\n<p>You can even <strong>create a landing page yourself in less than 10 minutes</strong>. We’ll show you how.</p>\n<p>First things first, let&#8217;s cover the basics of landing pages.</p>\n<h2>Why Should I Build a Landing Page?</h2>\n<p>Because they convert. A landing page is essentially the entry point to your site. A great landing page will <strong>grab a visitor’s attention and persuade them to take a desired action</strong>: perhaps you want them to sign up for your email list, download a brochure, buy a product, etc. Whatever the goal, a good landing page is always focused towards that goal.</p>\n<p>Just to make sure that you understand, let’s look at the difference between a landing page and the homepage of a site: <strong>a landing page is focused on a specific goal or objective</strong> while your main homepage has a broad objective. The aim of a landing page is to take your visitors through a specific marketing journey while the main homepage allows visitors to decide on their own journey through your site.</p>\n<p>Anyone can tell you that you don&#8217;t really need a landing page to get a visitor to take a specific action. You can actually make them take the desired action on your homepage.</p>\n<p>BUT, <strong>with a good landing page you will achieve a higher conversion rate</strong> because it is very specific in its goal. A homepage has a lot of information and elements that may distract a user from taking the desired action.</p>\n<p>So, are you ready to build one? Here are several ways to build landing pages in WordPress.</p>\n<h2>Building a Custom Page</h2>\n<p>Building a custom page within WordPress is the old-fashioned approach. You would simply just build a custom page template on any theme you have; and do whatever you need to in the template.</p>\n<p>The easiest way to build a custom page template in WordPress is to copy the default page PHP template and edit CSS and HTML components to get the desired design or structure.</p>\n<h2>Using Plugins to Build Landing Pages</h2>\n<p>Plugins are the best way to go if you do not want to worry about dealing with code.</p>\n<p>Unfortunately, there aren’t many free landing page builder plugins out there. And the few free ones often have in-plugin purchases or limited features. There is, however, one free plugin that has all the features you need to build a functional landing page in WordPress. It’s among the top landing page plugins (see below).</p>\n<h3>WordPress Landing Pages</h3>\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/plugins/landing-pages/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WordPress Landing Pages</a> is an easy-to-use plugin that has <strong>all the basic features you need to build a functional landing page</strong>. It has a fair selection of templates, allows you to split test (a/b testing) your landing pages, as well as to track and measure conversions.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3482\" style=\"max-width: 723px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"wp-image-3482\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages.png\" alt=\"The WordPress Landing Pages plugin is fully integrated in the Theme Builder and allows you to quickly customize any elements you like.\" width=\"713\" height=\"373\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages.png 1920w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-300x157.png 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-768x402.png 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-1024x537.png 1024w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-477x250.png 477w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-100x52.png 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-150x79.png 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-200x105.png 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-450x236.png 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-600x314.png 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-900x472.png 900w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/wordpress-landing-pages-1200x630.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The WordPress Landing Pages plugin is fully integrated in the Theme Builder and allows you to quickly customize any elements you like.</p></div>\n<p>All in all, it is a good option if you are on a budget and don’t want to invest in a more functional landing page plugin at the moment.</p>\n<h3>Thrive Landing Pages</h3>\n<p><a href=\"https://thrivethemes.com/landingpages/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Thrive Landing Pages</a> has a drag &amp; drop editor that makes it extremely easy to create and edit landing pages. It<strong> comes with over 140 templates</strong> (some themed) for you to choose from. The great thing about the plugin is that the landing pages are combined in sets to provide a consistent user experience. That means that the opt-in page, &#8220;thank you&#8221; page and confirmation pages in a particular set have the same feel and don’t provide random experiences.</p>\n<h3>Leadpages</h3>\n<p>Leadpages is actually an online landing page builder &#8211; we’ll be addressing it more thoroughly down below &#8211; with a plugin for WordPress. It has a centralized editor and your <strong>landing pages are hosted on Leadpages servers</strong>. The best thing about Leadpages is that you can easily and quickly create or publish a landing page. All you need to do is choose a template, customize it (through the drag &amp; drop page builder) and add it to your site.</p>\n<h3>Beaver Builder</h3>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beaver Builder</a> is simply a drag &amp; drop page theme builder (another option covered below) that also comes as a plugin. You can easily and quickly create custom layouts and designs &#8211; you have around 30 landing pages to choose from.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3483\" style=\"max-width: 734px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"wp-image-3483\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder.jpg\" alt=\"You can try out the Beaver Builder plugin for yourself at http://demo.wpbeaverbuilder.com/.\" width=\"724\" height=\"361\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder.jpg 1917w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-300x150.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-768x383.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-1024x511.jpg 1024w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-501x250.jpg 501w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-100x50.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-150x75.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-200x100.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-450x225.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-600x300.jpg 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/beaver-builder-900x449.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">You can try out the Beaver Builder plugin for yourself at <a href=\"http://demo.wpbeaverbuilder.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">demo.wpbeaverbuilder.com</a>.</p></div>\n<p>The great thing about Beaver Builder is that <strong>you can use your WordPress widgets to add more functionality</strong> and bring elements in from your site to your landing pages.</p>\n<h3>OptimizePress</h3>\n<p>You’ve probably heard of <a href=\"https://www.optimizepress.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">OptimizePress</a> before &#8211; it has been <strong>one of the most popular plugins</strong> to build landing pages for quite some time. That’s because it offers a wide range of templates and a powerful drag &amp; drop editor to quickly create the landing page you need. Note: the size of the plugin is quite large (29MB).</p>\n<h2>Theme Builders</h2>\n<p>As we mentioned earlier, <strong>most WordPress themes are quite restrictive when it comes to design and structure</strong>. For example, you can customize the primary content block of a page in most themes but you cannot amend the design of anything outside the block. So, if you aim to create a landing page from a theme page template, you would just end up with a new page with the same design as your website &#8211; the opposite of a landing page. Unless you build a custom page template (mentioned earlier) or use advanced theme builders.</p>\n<p>What advanced theme builders offer are drag and drop builders. They essentially enable you to customize every and any design aspect of any page. The interface is also very easy to use.<br />\nThere are plenty of great drag &amp; drop theme builders available. A few off the top of my head: <a href=\"https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Divi</a>, <a href=\"https://wpexplorer-themes.com/total/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Total</a>, Beaver Builder (its plugin version is recommended above) and <a href=\"http://demo.qodeinteractive.com/strata/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strata</a>.</p>\n<p>If you need a variety of landing page templates, it is highly recommended you use this method instead of creating custom theme templates. It will save you time and make your work much easier.</p>\n<h2>Leadpages</h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://www.leadpages.net/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Leadpages is known for creating stunning and functional landing pages</a>. It offers dozens of integrations to help make your WordPress landing page user friendly and attractive. The downside is that it isn’t free: plans start at $36.99 per month.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3484\" style=\"max-width: 743px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"wp-image-3484\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages.jpg\" alt=\"Leadpages has more than a hundred of templates to choose from that can be added to your site within minutes.\" width=\"733\" height=\"362\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages.jpg 1877w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-300x148.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-768x379.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-1024x506.jpg 1024w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-506x250.jpg 506w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-100x49.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-150x74.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-200x99.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-450x222.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-600x296.jpg 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/leadpages-900x444.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 733px) 100vw, 733px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Leadpages has more than a hundred of templates to choose from that can be added to your site within minutes.</p></div>\n<p>What you get is <strong>144+ well-designed templates</strong>, a simple editor that enables you to create and <strong>publish a stunning landing page in 10 minutes</strong> or less and the ability to split test your landing pages.</p>\n<p>It’s not a stretch to say that Leadpages is the most popular landing page option. It is actually hard to find a popular blog online that doesn’t use it. Two of the many reasons for it’s popularity is that you do not need to be a designer to use it and all their templates have been tested as effective and high converting templates.</p>\n<p>The price may be worth it to you if you want to save time, as the platform is incredibly easy to use.</p>\n<h2>Wrapping Up</h2>\n<p>Although WordPress may not be designed to handle landing pages, you can easily create one using either the old-fashioned method of building a custom page template or by using a plugin. Above we mentioned some of the best plugins you can use to build highly functional and attractive landing pages, developer or not.</p>\n<p>Choose the method that works best for your business and start collecting, cultivating and converting leads!</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:36:\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\";a:1:{s:10:\"commentRss\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:69:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-build-a-wordpress-landing-page/feed/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:38:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\";a:1:{s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2:\"30\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:4;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:51:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n		\n		\n				\n			\n		\n		\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:5:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:52:\"WordPress Will Require Users to Have HTTPS This Year\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:64:\"https://semperplugins.com/wordpress-requires-sites-to-use-https/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:73:\"https://semperplugins.com/wordpress-requires-sites-to-use-https/#comments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 06 Jun 2017 18:32:54 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:4:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"Security\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"WordPress News\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:5:\"HTTPS\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"WordPress security\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://semperplugins.com/?p=3129/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:471:\"WordPress founder, Matt Mullenweg, recently announced that the software will require all hosts to have HTTPS for certain WordPress features to function. Don’t panic just yet. If you already have HTTPS, this shouldn’t affect you. But if you’re still using HTTP, you’ll need<span class=\"ellipsis\">&#8230;</span><div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/wordpress-requires-sites-to-use-https/\">Read more &#8250;</a></div><!-- end of .read-more -->\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Arnaud Broes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12969:\"<p><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3666 aligncenter\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordpress-requires-https-featured.jpg\" alt=\"HTTPS will not only be an important ranking factor in the future for search machines, but also required for both existing and new WordPress installations.\" width=\"850\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordpress-requires-https-featured.jpg 850w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordpress-requires-https-featured-300x88.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordpress-requires-https-featured-768x226.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordpress-requires-https-featured-100x29.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordpress-requires-https-featured-150x44.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordpress-requires-https-featured-200x59.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordpress-requires-https-featured-450x132.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/wordpress-requires-https-featured-600x176.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" /></p>\n<p>WordPress founder, Matt Mullenweg, <a href=\"https://wordpress.org/news/2016/12/moving-toward-ssl/\">recently announced that the software will require all hosts to have HTTPS for certain WordPress features</a> to function.</p>\n<p>Don’t panic just yet. If you already have HTTPS, this shouldn’t affect you. <strong>But if you’re still using HTTP, you’ll need to upgrade soon.</strong> The good news is that the transition is not as difficult as you think it is and the benefits outweigh the assumed disadvantages.</p>\n<p>This article will go over what the WordPress HTTPS mandate means for you as a site owner; the advantages; as well as how to upgrade to HTTPS if you haven’t already done so.</p>\n<h2>What is HTTPS?</h2>\n<p>HTTPS adds a security layer to HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). <strong>HTTPS essentially encrypts data</strong> (using SSL or TSL) that is communicated between servers and clients until it reaches the intended recipient.</p>\n<p>This<strong> prevents cybercriminals from accessing sensitive user information</strong> and also reduces the risk of tapping and modification of sensitive data. Although HTTPS is not completely foolproof, it undoubtedly has major security advantages.</p>\n<p>HTTPS sites can be easily identified, as they have a locked padlock icon located on the link bar in most common browsers.</p>\n<h2>Why is WordPress Pushing HTTPS?</h2>\n<p>There&#8217;s mainly two reasons for this, so let&#8217;s quickly dive into them.</p>\n<h3>Google Prefers It</h3>\n<p>It is no secret that greater encryption and cyber security has made the Internet a safer place for users. As usual, a Google update signaled the necessity of HTTPS for user experience, SEO and internet security.</p>\n<p>In 2014, Google suggested that <strong>enabling HTTPS on your site could result in higher search rankings</strong>. Although it still isn’t the only important factor in raising your site rankings, you shouldn’t underestimate its value. For example, if two sites are equal in all ways, but one site has HTTPS, that site would get a boost in rankings.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3342\" style=\"max-width: 511px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"wp-image-3342\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock.png\" alt=\"Chrome will display a green padlock in the link bar when a site is using HTTPS, assuring users it\'s using the latest security protocol.\" width=\"501\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock.png 1138w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-300x130.png 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-768x333.png 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-1024x444.png 1024w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-577x250.png 577w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-100x43.png 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-150x65.png 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-200x87.png 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-450x195.png 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-600x260.png 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-green-padlock-900x390.png 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 501px) 100vw, 501px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chrome will display a green padlock in the link bar when a site is using HTTPS, assuring users it&#8217;s using the latest security protocol.</p></div>\n<p>In January of this year, Google released version 56 of Google Chrome. This new release brought about some changes, notably with how Google Chrome treats HTTPS vs. HTTP sites. The browser now clearly identifies sites that are not operating HTTPS on their systems. For example, <strong>a “Not Secure” message now appears on pages without HTTPS that try to collect passwords or sensitive information</strong>. You can expect that, eventually, all pages not using HTTPS will clearly be labeled as having insecure connections.</p>\n<p>We can reasonably assume that Google’s preference for HTTPS has been a contributing factor for the changes implemented by WordPress.</p>\n<h3>Users Prefer HTTPS Too</h3>\n<p>A secure connection can make all the difference from a user&#8217;s perspective. Users see HTTPS as a positive signal that you are taking your site security seriously, for their benefit. So, having <strong>HTTPS could mean more traffic and longer usage times</strong> on your site.</p>\n<p>HTTPS is particularly important if you are operating an e-commerce site. Simply seeing the padlock icon could make users more comfortable in entering their payment details and other personal information. Particularly with the new Chrome update (mentioned earlier) which shows a “Not Secure” label on e-commerce sites or sites that require a user login or credit card information, but don’t have HTTPS.</p>\n<p>Both Google and user preference should be enough reason for you to upgrade your site to HTTPS. It is simply necessary to ensure watertight security for your users and to protect your online business reputation.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3343\" style=\"max-width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\" wp-image-3343\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure.png\" alt=\"Sites that require users to login or enter credit card information are now displayed as &quot;Not secure&quot; in Chrome when they haven\'t switched to HTTPS yet.\" width=\"500\" height=\"196\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure.png 1600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-300x118.png 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-768x301.png 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-1024x401.png 1024w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-638x250.png 638w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-100x39.png 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-150x59.png 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-200x78.png 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-450x176.png 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-600x235.png 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/https-not-secure-900x353.png 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sites that require users to login or enter credit card information are now displayed as &#8220;Not secure&#8221; in Chrome when they haven&#8217;t switched to HTTPS yet.</p></div>\n<p>Remember when JavaScript was first introduced and quickly embraced by users and webmasters? Looking back, we can see now that JavaScript was essential for smoother and better user experience. HTTPS similarly, presents a number of unique advantages for user experience and security that we should all quickly embrace.</p>\n<p>We know that you may be overwhelmed switching from HTTP to HTTPS. After all, change does takes time to get used to, but in this instance, you may need to quickly get on board. At this point, <strong>the advantages of HTTPS have greatly outnumbered the disadvantages</strong>. Plus, upgrading to HTTPS is no longer the costly, time consuming, and difficult process that it once was. In fact, getting an SSL certificate in 2017 is fast, sometimes free, and quite easy to implement.</p>\n<h2>How to Get HTTPS</h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://wordpress.org/hosting/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WordPress hosting partners</a> should now provide an SSL certificate for all accounts. (It is required that they all do so as early as the first quarter of this year.)</p>\n<p>Your hosting provider may already provide a free SSL certificate, so check with them first before you make any third-party purchase. If they do not offer a free one, you could ask them if they sell third party SSL certificates. Once purchased, you can ask your provider to install the certificate for you on your server.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3344\" style=\"max-width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\" wp-image-3344\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lets-encrypt-sponsors.png\" alt=\"Dozens of major companies are already backing Lets Encrypt, including Automattic (known for WooCommerce, Jetpack, Akismet and WordPress.com)\" width=\"500\" height=\"395\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lets-encrypt-sponsors.png 546w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lets-encrypt-sponsors-300x237.png 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lets-encrypt-sponsors-317x250.png 317w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lets-encrypt-sponsors-100x79.png 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lets-encrypt-sponsors-150x118.png 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lets-encrypt-sponsors-200x158.png 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/lets-encrypt-sponsors-450x355.png 450w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dozens of major companies are already backing Lets Encrypt, including Automattic (known for WooCommerce, Akismet and WordPress.com)</p></div>\n<p>Another option is to explore the free alternatives, independent of your hosting provider. There are projects such as “Let’s Encrypt” which have now made it easy and quick to <a href=\"https://letsencrypt.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">secure a free HTTPS certificate for your website</a>.</p>\n<p>Let’s Encrypt is an authorized open Certificate Authority with millions of active certificates in place. There are other comparable projects out there that can help by guiding you step-by-step through the installation process or who have been authorized to deliver certificates.</p>\n<p>Remember that SSL certificates upgrade the website, but not the content itself. That means that the content on your page will also need to be updated so as to avoid 404 errors. Google may interpret the error as a mismatch in the security level of your site. The only way to avoid this is by encrypting the content of your website to match your SSL certificate.</p>\n<p>To track and resolve any 404 errors on your site, you may want to use a specialised plugin such as Redirection to do so.</p>\n<h2>What if You Just Don’t Want to Upgrade to HTTPS?</h2>\n<p>You could see a number of things happening to your site over time if you do not upgrade to HTTPS. The first may be facing the consequences set out by Google, i.e: <strong>lower rankings </strong>and having your users staring at a “Not Secure” warning when they try to access your site via Google Chrome.</p>\n<p>The second is that you could <strong>struggle with WordPress updates and lose some or all functionality</strong> on specific WordPress plugins.</p>\n<p>Third, your site may be <strong>an easier target for hacking</strong>.</p>\n<p>Those are three consequences that require you to seriously reconsider if you really want to take the risk of not upgrading to HTTPS.</p>\n<h2>Wrapping Up</h2>\n<p>Let’s put it this way: you will simply have nothing to lose by adopting HTTPS. Yet, if you do not use HTTPS, you could risk leaving your site in the “dark ages” of the Internet.</p>\n<p>But then again, if you’re a WordPress site owner, you have no choice. Take the plunge and let us know how it worked out for you!</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:36:\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\";a:1:{s:10:\"commentRss\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:69:\"https://semperplugins.com/wordpress-requires-sites-to-use-https/feed/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:38:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\";a:1:{s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2:\"53\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:5;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:51:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n		\n		\n				\n			\n		\n		\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:5:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:44:\"All in One SEO Pack at WordCamp Raleigh 2017\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"https://semperplugins.com/all-in-one-seo-pack-at-wordcamp-raleigh-2017/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:80:\"https://semperplugins.com/all-in-one-seo-pack-at-wordcamp-raleigh-2017/#comments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Tue, 30 May 2017 15:42:28 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:4:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19:\"All in One SEO Pack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Blog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:16:\"WordCamp Raleigh\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"WordPress SEO\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://semperplugins.com/?p=3426/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:417:\"Last month, the team from All in One SEO Pack were in attendance at WordCamp Raleigh 2017.  We were not only there are organizers of the event but also as sponsors and speakers. If you didn&#8217;t get a chance to attend<span class=\"ellipsis\">&#8230;</span><div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/all-in-one-seo-pack-at-wordcamp-raleigh-2017/\">Read more &#8250;</a></div><!-- end of .read-more -->\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"Steve Mortiboy\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:3680:\"<p>Last month, the team from All in One SEO Pack were in attendance at <a href=\"https://2017.raleigh.wordcamp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WordCamp Raleigh 2017</a>.  We were not only there are organizers of the event but also as sponsors and speakers.</p>\n<p>If you didn&#8217;t get a chance to attend WordCamp Raleigh then here&#8217;s a recap of the event.</p>\n<p>WordCamp Raleigh is a conference all about WordPress.  The event has been held each year since 2010.  This year was the best attended yet, with over 300 attendees.  This year we had four tracks &#8211; Beginner, Business, Power User and Developer. We also added workshops in addition to the tracks.  There were three workshops &#8211; Beginners Guide to WordPress, WordPress REST API and Beginners Guide to WordPress SEO.  All three were extremely popular.</p>\n<h2>Local SEO presentation by Steve Mortiboy</h2>\n<p>I spoke on the topic of Local SEO &#8211; How to get your business listed on Google&#8217;s local search results.  Here are my slides from this presentation:</p>\n<p><iframe src=\"https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/embed_code/key/4Ssk3Lm2vq2l18\" width=\"427\" height=\"356\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"border:1px solid #CCC; border-width:1px; margin-bottom:5px; max-width: 100%;\" allowfullscreen> </iframe> </p>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:5px\"> <strong> <a href=\"https://www.slideshare.net/dismort/local-seo-getting-your-local-business-on-google\" title=\"Local SEO - Getting your local business on google\" target=\"_blank\">Local SEO &#8211; Getting your local business on google</a> </strong> from <strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https://www.slideshare.net/dismort\">Steve Mortiboy</a></strong> </div>\n<p>Here is the video from my presentation on WordPress.tv:</p>\n<p><iframe width=\'605\' height=\'340\' src=\'https://videopress.com/embed/u6Rx29m9?hd=0\' frameborder=\'0\' allowfullscreen></iframe><script src=\'https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1435166243\'></script></p>\n<h2>Social Meta Optimization by Tony Zeoli</h2>\n<p>In addition to my session, Tony Zeoli also gave a presentation on Social Meta Optimization where he used All in One SEO Pack to demonstrate how you can improve you social media presence.  You can find more about Tony&#8217;s presentation on his <a href=\"https://tonyzeoli.com/2017/05/28/social-meta-optimization-presentation-at-wordcamp-raleigh-2017/2062/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website</a>.  The video from his presentation is also on WordPress.tv here:</p>\n<p><iframe width=\'605\' height=\'340\' src=\'https://videopress.com/embed/rG2jN5os?hd=0\' frameborder=\'0\' allowfullscreen></iframe><script src=\'https://v0.wordpress.com/js/next/videopress-iframe.js?m=1435166243\'></script></p>\n<h2>Beginners Guide to SEO by Tony Zeoli</h2>\n<p>Finally, Tony Zeoli also presented the Beginners Guide to WordPress SEO workshop which was held on the Sunday at WordCamp Raleigh.  This workshop was not recorded on video but you can find a write by Tony and links to his slides on his <a href=\"https://tonyzeoli.com/2017/05/20/wordcamp-raleigh-2017-wordpress-seo-for-beginners-workshop/1998/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website</a>.</p>\n<p>If you didn&#8217;t get a chance to attend WordCamp Raleigh this year, keep a watch on the <a href=\"https://2017.raleigh.wordcamp.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">website</a> for announcements regarding WordCamp Raleigh 2018.  Or you can find a WordCamp in your city or country by checking out the central <a href=\"https://central.wordcamp.org/schedule/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WordCamp schedule</a>.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:36:\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\";a:1:{s:10:\"commentRss\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:76:\"https://semperplugins.com/all-in-one-seo-pack-at-wordcamp-raleigh-2017/feed/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:38:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\";a:1:{s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1:\"4\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:6;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:45:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n		\n		\n				\n			\n		\n		\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:5:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"Important Sections of Google Analytics Explained\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:75:\"https://semperplugins.com/important-sections-of-google-analytics-explained/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:84:\"https://semperplugins.com/important-sections-of-google-analytics-explained/#comments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Wed, 24 May 2017 15:00:49 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Blog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:16:\"google analytics\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"http://semperplugins.com/?p=2298\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:443:\"Google Analytics (GA) is one of the most powerful, effective and comprehensive platforms to track and analyze your site traffic and marketing efforts. But a lot of businesses find it intimidating and challenging to use. If you’re one of those<span class=\"ellipsis\">&#8230;</span><div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/important-sections-of-google-analytics-explained/\">Read more &#8250;</a></div><!-- end of .read-more -->\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Arnaud Broes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13749:\"<p><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3381 aligncenter\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"851\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured.jpg 851w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured-300x88.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured-768x227.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured-848x250.jpg 848w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured-100x29.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured-150x44.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured-200x59.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured-450x133.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/important-sections-of-google-analytics-featured-600x177.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 851px) 100vw, 851px\" /></p>\n<p>Google Analytics (GA) is <strong>one of the most powerful, effective and comprehensive platforms</strong> to track and analyze your site traffic and marketing efforts. But a lot of businesses find it intimidating and challenging to use. If you’re one of those businesses, this article is for you.</p>\n<p>Although GA can be quite overwhelming, getting useful data to work with is not as difficult as you think it is. Understanding how to get some basic information from the platform can give you pretty good insight into how your website is working for your business.</p>\n<p>This article will give you a basic understanding of the four key sections that contain actionable data:</p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">1. Audience<br />\n2. Behavior<br />\n3. Acquisition<br />\n4. Conversions</p>\n<p>Let’s get started.</p>\n<h2><strong>An Introduction to Google Analytics</strong></h2>\n<p>You probably have a Google Analytics account and most likely have it connected to your website. If you don’t, and you’re thinking of signing up, <a href=\"https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1008015?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">use this guide on how to get started</a>. Once you’re up and running, you’ll have to wait a few days to get data to analyze.</p>\n<p>The first thing you’ll notice when you open the platform is GA’s (somewhat confusing) layout and menu system. It uses a top navigation for account level features and information; and a side navigation for combing through your analytics data.</p>\n<p>The Reporting section’s side navigation (which is where you can view your web analytics) is broken down into the following sections:</p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Real-Time:</strong> Shows what is happening on your site right now. So you’ll see the current visitor count on your website, what pages they’re browsing and for how long</li>\n<li><strong>Audience:</strong> Gives detailed information about your website visitors</li>\n<li><strong>Acquisition:</strong> Shows how your visitors are arriving to your site. It gives you a breakdown (by channel) of how visitors are getting to your site</li>\n<li><strong>Behavior:</strong> Shows you how visitors are interacting with your site</li>\n<li><strong>Conversions:</strong> Provides conversion data for your various business goals and activities</li>\n</ul>\n<p>As you can see, Audience, Acquisition, Behavior and Conversions tabs contain the <strong>actionable data you can use to optimize your site and grow your business.</strong></p>\n<p>So let’s help you get a basic understanding of those tabs.</p>\n<h2><strong>Audience</strong></h2>\n<p>To view your audience insights, click on Audience &gt; Overview on the left hand menu of the analytics dashboard.</p>\n<p>As you will see from the Audience Overview data, Google Analytics gives you detailed insights into your audience: from location, to page views to device type to language and more.</p>\n<p>This information is invaluable in allowing you to tailor your site<strong> to better suit the needs of your visitors and effectively grant them an easier viewing experience</strong>.</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3405\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section.jpg 1621w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-300x128.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-768x327.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-1024x436.jpg 1024w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-587x250.jpg 587w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-100x43.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-150x64.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-200x85.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-450x192.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-600x255.jpg 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-audience-section-900x383.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" /></a></p>\n<p>There is however some terminology you first need to understand in order to accurately analyze your Audience data:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>A <strong>Session</strong> refers to a single fixed period of time that a visitor takes action(s) on your site. So if a visitor views 3 pages on your site over a 3-minute period and then exits your site, it’ll be recorded as a single session and three pageviews</li>\n<li>As you may have gleaned from above, a <strong>Pageview</strong> is recorded whenever a visitor views a page on your site</li>\n<li>A <strong>New Visitor</strong> is any user that is visiting your site for the first time. They will be classified as a <strong>Returning Visitor</strong> on their second and subsequent visits</li>\n<li>A <strong>User</strong> is any computer or device that Google classifies as a unique visitor in accessing your site. So let’s say a user views your site on both their computer and tablet. Google will record that as two users. Even if a user accesses your site from two different browsers on the same computer, Google will record it as two users</li>\n<li><strong>Pages/Session</strong> is the average number of pageviews per session</li>\n</ul>\n<p>It is recommended that you spend some time understanding these definitions before you begin analyzing the comprehensive audience data.</p>\n<h2><strong>Behavior</strong></h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3407\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section.jpg 1621w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-300x143.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-768x367.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-1024x489.jpg 1024w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-524x250.jpg 524w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-100x48.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-150x72.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-200x95.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-450x215.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-600x286.jpg 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-behaviour-section-900x430.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" /></a></p>\n<p>The Behavior section gives you <strong>invaluable data on how your users are interacting with your site.</strong> You can track how long an average user stays on a specific page, the hours and days you receive the most traffic, bounce rates (the percentage of visitors who exit your site after viewing only one page), your site speed, and much more detailed and useful metrics.</p>\n<p>Spend some time exploring and familiarizing yourself with this section. It contains everything you need to know to optimize your site and user experience, and also to manage your blog or content pages.</p>\n<h2><strong>Acquisition</strong></h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section.jpg\"><img class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3409\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"297\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section.jpg 1609w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-300x149.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-768x380.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-1024x507.jpg 1024w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-505x250.jpg 505w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-100x50.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-150x74.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-200x99.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-450x223.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-600x297.jpg 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/google-analytics-acquisition-section-900x446.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" /></a></p>\n<p>The Acquisition section is pretty straightforward: it contains <strong>data on how your site acquires traffic</strong>. It records the following traffic channels: organic (search and direct), paid, referral, email and social. It also gives you important insights into the performance of your marketing campaigns.</p>\n<p>What you should really be looking at within the Acquisition section is Goals. Goals are what you hope visitors accomplish when or after using your site. They are summarized in the Overview of this section but aren’t presented or broken down in detail. That’s where the Conversions section comes in.</p>\n<h2><strong>Conversions</strong></h2>\n<p>Conversion tracking is arguably the most important functionality in Google Analytics. After all, the ultimate goal of any web analytics software/tool is <strong>to help you determine and increase the success of your website and business</strong>.</p>\n<p>To make the most out of Google Analytics, you need to understand and identify your key performance indicators (KPIs) and set them up as Goals. Goals could range from video views, newsletter signups, purchases and more.</p>\n<p>Carefully think about how you measure the success of your business before setting up your Goals in GA. An accurate setup will enable you to more effectively analyze your website traffic data.</p>\n<h2>Using All in One SEO Pack with Google Analytics</h2>\n<p>By now you should have already discovered that Google Analytics is a great tool to track your visitors behaviour. If you are using WordPress for your site and have decided to venture into the statistics, <a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/all-in-one-seo-pack-pro-version/\">we recommend you use our All in One SEO Pack plugin</a>.</p>\n<p>It offers a simple way to integrate Google Analytics on your site without having to risk breaking your site or messing with code. The whole process is very simple and is described <a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/documentation/setting-up-google-analytics/\">here</a>.</p>\n<p>But that&#8217;s not all it has to offer: there are also various other advanced settings such as tracking multiple domains, adding additional domains, enhanced e-commerce, tracking outbound links, excluding WordPress user roles from tracking and many more.</p>\n<h2><strong>Wrapping Up</strong></h2>\n<p>A basic overview of those four actionable sections should ease the challenge of collecting relevant data for your business. However, getting invaluable data from Google Analytics requires work, time and patience. Stay tuned for an article that delves deeper into extracting and accurately analyzing data in Google Analytics.</p>\n<p>For now, you can take a look at some of the tutorials in the <a href=\"https://analyticsacademy.withgoogle.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google Analytics Academy</a>.</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:36:\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\";a:1:{s:10:\"commentRss\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:80:\"https://semperplugins.com/important-sections-of-google-analytics-explained/feed/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:38:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\";a:1:{s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2:\"16\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:7;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:51:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n		\n\n		\n		\n				\n			\n		\n		\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:5:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:33:\"How Social Media Impacts Your SEO\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:55:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-social-media-impacts-seo/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:64:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-social-media-impacts-seo/#comments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 15 May 2017 16:00:29 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:4:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:19:\"All in One SEO Pack\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:8:\"SEO Tips\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:10:\"social SEO\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:3;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"WordPress SEO\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"http://semperplugins.com/?p=2893\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:404:\"Social media has evolved quite rapidly in the years it has been around. From BBS (Bulletin Board) to Friendster, Diaspora, Myspace and onto Facebook. But when we think of social media today, we arguably only have 3 or 4 large<span class=\"ellipsis\">&#8230;</span><div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/how-social-media-impacts-seo/\">Read more &#8250;</a></div><!-- end of .read-more -->\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Arnaud Broes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:11768:\"<p><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3275 aligncenter\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"851\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured.jpg 851w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured-300x88.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured-768x227.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured-848x250.jpg 848w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured-100x29.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured-150x44.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured-200x59.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured-450x133.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-social-media-impacts-seo-featured-600x177.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 851px) 100vw, 851px\" /></p>\n<p>Social media has evolved quite rapidly in the years it has been around. From BBS (Bulletin Board) to Friendster, Diaspora, Myspace and onto Facebook. But when we think of social media today, we arguably only have 3 or 4 large networks in mind: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.</p>\n<p>Nowadays, those four platforms have become essential to every marketer’s strategy and are used to effectively get your brand in front of your target audience; but do they <em>directly</em> impact your SEO and search ranking? No, they currently do not.</p>\n<p>However, that doesn&#8217;t mean that social media marketing and SEO do not affect each other in a variety of different ways. They are both inbound strategies that aim to attract your audience or customers to your brand. They are also both organic ways to attract your audience with unique quality content.</p>\n<p>Perhaps the best way to describe the relationship between SEO and social media is to say that they are co-dependent. Effective social media campaigns will help improve your site ranking, and good SEO will inevitably boost your social clout. This is what we refer to as social SEO: <strong>the use of social media to boost your search engine rankings</strong>.</p>\n<p>This post will demystify the relationship between social media and SEO; and show you how you can make social SEO work for your WordPress site.</p>\n<h2>How Important is Social SEO?</h2>\n<p>You can certainly rank your website well without focusing much on social SEO. You can’t, however, rank your website by focusing solely on social SEO. But that shouldn’t make you dismiss the whole idea too soon.</p>\n<p>An active and strong social media presence makes it easier and faster to rank your site as search engines attribute <strong>authority</strong> based on tweets, shares, likes and Google +1s. Your social media presence also puts your content in front of a larger audience, some of whom will link your content on their own sites, creating valuable organic <strong>backlinks</strong> which contribute to your PageRank.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3276\" style=\"max-width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"wp-image-3276\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph.png\" alt=\"According to a recent study, Social Media Marketing even surpassed the impact of regular SEO in 2016, considering that market is already rather saturated. Time to hop on the bandwagon!\" width=\"620\" height=\"359\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph.png 981w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph-300x174.png 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph-768x445.png 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph-432x250.png 432w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph-100x58.png 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph-150x87.png 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph-200x116.png 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph-450x261.png 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph-600x347.png 600w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/social-media-marketing-graph-900x521.png 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">According to a recent study, Social Media Marketing even surpassed the impact of regular SEO in 2016, considering that market is already rather saturated. Time to hop on the bandwagon! Source: smartinsights.com/managing-digital-marketing/marketing-innovation/marketing-trends-2016/</p></div>\n<p>That is not to say that social SEO will eventually replace regular SEO, but we cannot ignore the fact that social signals are slowly becoming an integral part of search engine algorithms. Even though they have nothing on backlinks – and probably won’t, at least not in the near future – <strong>social links</strong> are still quite important. But <em>how much</em> effect or weight do they have on your rankings, particularly your ranking for target keywords?</p>\n<p>Well, search engines have not yet made that information public. We just have to work with the definitive information that social signals do (indirectly) impact your site rankings and will continue to do so.</p>\n<h2>When Should I Focus on Social SEO?</h2>\n<p>If you are in an industry where your competitors are heavily focusing on both SEO and social SEO, and you want to rank well for your industry keywords, you have no other option but to do the same. Backlinks coupled with social signals will boost your rankings much more than backlinks alone, so you will lag behind your competition if you are only focused on building the latter. And if they aren’t focused on social SEO, <strong>you should jump on the opportunity to get one step ahead of your competitors</strong>.</p>\n<p>Although social media does not directly impact your site rankings on Google, social networks are dominating the internet and will arguably dictate the future of the internet. You should invest properly in social media as it could soon <em>directly</em> impact your site’s rankings on search engines.</p>\n<h2>How to Effectively Implement Social SEO</h2>\n<p>How can you increase your site rankings with good social SEO? Here are a few summarized tips:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create a business page on the “main” social networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, etc.</li>\n<li>Be active on those channels and engage your followers and subscribers</li>\n<li>Create shareable, engaging and unique content</li>\n<li>Make it as easy as possible for people to share your content</li>\n<li>Share your content, and that of other influencers in your field on your social channels</li>\n</ul>\n<p><strong>The more active you are on social media, the more awareness you are bringing to your brand</strong>, the more your social following grows, and the higher the chance that your content is being shared across a broader network. It’s a snowball effect: the more followers you have, the more engagement you’ll get and the easier it will become to grow your community.</p>\n<p>A bigger community means that more people are viewing your content and the higher the chance that the content will be shared. This increases the number of backlinks to your site which will impact your search rankings for the better.</p>\n<p>Also, the more engagement you have on your social channels, the higher the chance that people will look for your brand on Google or other search engines via branded searches – which help your site rank for non-branded keywords that are relevant to your brand.</p>\n<p>You do have to consider that <strong>the above scenarios are based on the assumption that you are producing quality and unique content</strong>. If you are creating bad content, you won’t get anywhere. Users will not interact with your brand if you’re not offering them value or good entertainment. If you want your content shared and widely distributed, you need to put in the time to create quality and valuable content your audience will enjoy.</p>\n<p>In summary, the following social signals will increase your search engine rankings for the keywords you’re targeting:</p>\n<ul>\n<li>Your social network followers</li>\n<li>The likes, shares, retweets, Google +1s your website gets</li>\n<li>Mentions by other authority or influencers in your field</li>\n<li>Positive reviews on your business’ Google+ page</li>\n</ul>\n<h2>Using All in One SEO Pack for Social Meta</h2>\n<p><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/all-in-one-seo-pack-pro-version/?loc=sp_navmenu\">Our All in One SEO Pack plugin comes with a Social Meta module</a> to help you get going with social marketing. This feature allows you to add Open Graph meta tags to enrich your posts by creating a rich snippet. Let’s briefly go over how Open Graph meta tags work and how they specifically help you with social SEO.</p>\n<p>Basically, every web page on any site can be shared on social media channels. However, the way that shared page is displayed on social media may be very different. Websites that aren’t optimized with Open Graph meta tags won’t be as easily interpreted by Facebook, Twitter and the like and will, most of the time, show up as a blank link with a small description underneath.</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3278\" style=\"max-width: 516px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3278\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/rich-social-snippet.png\" alt=\"Would you be more inclined to click on a blank link or on a rich snippet such as this?\" width=\"506\" height=\"495\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Would you be more inclined to click on a blank link or on a rich snippet such as this?</p></div>\n<p>However, adding Open Graph meta tags to a page on your site enriches the snippet and enables Facebook and other social media networks to display your content in the way you want to present it when it is shared. This is where All in One SEO Pack comes into action. For a full overview of all Open Graph and social meta features, please visit our <a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/documentation/social-meta-module/\">documentation section</a>.</p>\n<p>There is no concrete evidence that Open Graph meta tags are important for search engines, but they do enable you to create presentable good looking posts on social media (instead of a bland-looking post). This significantly increases your organic traffic from social media to your WordPress site. Studies have shown that <strong>traffic increases 100%-200% if a post looks great</strong> vs. a blank link that doesn’t really mean much to social media users.</p>\n<h2>Wrapping It Up</h2>\n<p>Overall, a solid social media strategy, in conjunction with good SEO practices, will increase organic traffic to your site. Solely focusing on SEO may not cut it any longer if you want to be a step ahead of your competition. Revising your strategy to incorporate social SEO will inevitably boost your organic traffic and could very well increase your search engine rankings in the near future.</p>\n<p>Do you currently have a social SEO strategy that’s working for you? Have you been using the social SEO module of our All in One SEO Pack plugin? Let us know in the comments below!</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:36:\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\";a:1:{s:10:\"commentRss\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:60:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-social-media-impacts-seo/feed/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:38:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\";a:1:{s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:1:\"8\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:8;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:48:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n		\n\n		\n		\n				\n			\n		\n		\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:5:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:39:\"How to Build an Email List in WordPress\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:66:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-build-an-email-list-in-wordpress/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:75:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-build-an-email-list-in-wordpress/#comments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Mon, 01 May 2017 14:00:18 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:3:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Blog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:15:\"email marketing\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:2;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:14:\"subscribe2html\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:32:\"http://semperplugins.com/?p=2904\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:423:\"How many of you have prioritized pageviews over email marketing? We all have at some point. After all, pageviews equals more ad revenue…right? Well, having a good email list is more valuable and can bring in more pageviews than you<span class=\"ellipsis\">&#8230;</span><div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-build-an-email-list-in-wordpress/\">Read more &#8250;</a></div><!-- end of .read-more -->\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:12:\"Arnaud Broes\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9582:\"<p><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3258 aligncenter\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"851\" height=\"251\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured.jpg 851w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured-300x88.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured-768x227.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured-848x250.jpg 848w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured-100x29.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured-150x44.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured-200x59.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured-450x133.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/how-to-build-an-email-list-featured-600x177.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 851px) 100vw, 851px\" /></p>\n<p>How many of you have prioritized pageviews over email marketing? We all have at some point. After all, pageviews equals more ad revenue…right? Well, having a good email list is more valuable and can bring in more pageviews than you get using traditional methods.</p>\n<p>So how do you build an email list in WordPress?</p>\n<p>You always hear the same advice: create great content and people will subscribe, or have an opt-in form on your blog. Those methods are tried and tested but there are other more creative and effective ways to implement them and speed up the growth of your email list.</p>\n<p>We’re talking content upgrades, high-value opt-in forms and social proof.</p>\n<p>Let’s first start off with the basics before we dive into those three methods and how to effectively employ them.</p>\n<h2>The Basics</h2>\n<h3>What is an Email List?</h3>\n<p>An email list is a list of email addresses of your existing and prospective customers who have signed up or subscribed via your WordPress site to get updates, newsletters, special offers or announcements.</p>\n<h3>Why You Should Build an Email List</h3>\n<p>Email consistently outperforms social media across the board. It gets a higher view rate than Facebook or Twitter; 50-100 times the click rates of Facebook or Twitter; and is more cost-effective than any other marketing and social channel. Why? Because email is more intimate and private.</p>\n<p>If those stats haven’t convinced you yet, here are three other really good reasons:</p>\n<p><strong>#1.</strong> Your emails are guaranteed to reach the inboxes of each and every one of the active contacts on your email list. The email stays in their inbox until they take an action. Compare that to Facebook or Twitter, where your statuses and posts may not be seen by your followers because of algorithms and the inherent nature of those social networks. Bottom line: people check their emails more thoroughly than they do their social timelines</p>\n<p><strong>#2.</strong> Email is more secure and more flexible. You own your email list. You however, have very limited control and no ownership of your Twitter and Facebook account data. Furthermore, your social accounts could get hacked or suspended for whatever reason; or the platform could cease to exist or become less popular (think Myspace) etc. Whereas you own your email list and can communicate with your customers and prospects on your own terms.</p>\n<p><strong>#3.</strong> Email has more specific targeting. You can send information or announcements on product specific or geo-specific services to specific contacts that match some particular criteria.</p>\n<p>That’s not to say that you should neglect your social networks. Social is great for user engagement so don’t give up on social just yet. Email will just bring you more visitors and conversions.</p>\n<p>So how can you get started today?</p>\n<p>Well, there are quite a few WordPress email marketing plugins at your disposal. Most of them require you to use them in conjunction with email marketing service providers and only help you to create signup forms on your site. They don’t go much further than that. A few however do. <a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/subscribe2-html/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">One of those is Subscribe2 HTML</a>.</p>\n<h2>Subscribe2 HTML</h2>\n<p>Subscribe2HTML plugin is arguably one of the most comprehensive and reliable email marketing plugins for WordPress. It gives you the option of sending emails on a per-post basis or periodically in a newsletter format.</p>\n<p>It manages your email lists in a straightforward way. For example, you don’t need to log in to compose an email every time before sending one. This comes in handy when you need to send out timely post updates – a great feature for high traffic blogs.</p>\n<p>There are two subscription options for Subscribe2 HTML: Registered Subscribers and Public Subscribers. Registered Subscribers are users who have subscribed to your blog and are consequently required to log-in to your site to manage their subscriptions. They can opt to receive either plain text or HTML emails. You can send them post notifications by category; and they can choose whether they want just the excerpt or the full post. (If they don’t make a choice, they will get the full post when they select the plain text option).</p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3261\" style=\"max-width: 391px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img class=\" wp-image-3261\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2.png\" alt=\"Suscribe2HTML is full of features and can be configured in any way you like.\" width=\"381\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2.png 610w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2-248x300.png 248w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2-206x250.png 206w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2-100x121.png 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2-150x182.png 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2-200x242.png 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2-300x363.png 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2-450x545.png 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/subscribe2-600x727.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 381px) 100vw, 381px\" /><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Suscribe2HTML is full of features and can be configured in any way you like.</p></div>\n<p>Public Subscribers can sign up through an online form. However, their subscription only starts when they confirm the subscription request via email. They do not get to choose between an excerpt or plain text version of an email.</p>\n<p>As an admin, you can subscribe or unsubscribe users and send emails to all verified subscribers. You also have a selection of email templates to choose from.</p>\n<p>There are additional options and settings available, like choosing the frequency of your emails and the time of day to send them. The plugin is all about automation to save you valuable time.</p>\n<h2>3 Effective strategies to Grow Your Email List</h2>\n<h3>Content</h3>\n<p>Consistently creating great content is the advice you always hear and read about when looking for ways to increase traffic to your blog and to grow your email list. That’s all good and true, but have you heard of a content upgrade? It’s a simple and highly effective strategy to grow your email list.</p>\n<p>How it works:</p>\n<ol>\n<li>Write an engaging blog post.</li>\n<li>Create a more in-depth version of the post.</li>\n<li>Give readers the option to read the upgraded content in return for their email address.</li>\n</ol>\n<p>This strategy works on the basis that your readers are already interested in the blog post since they clicked on it. So, a content upgrade plays on that interest by offering more. It’s simple, straightforward and highly effective.</p>\n<h3>Opt-In Forms</h3>\n<p>Like you’ve heard over and over again (and seen on many high-traffic sites), opt-in forms are the way to go when growing your email list. It’s worth mentioning again in this post. Whether you’re offering an eBook, white paper or free software, opt-in forms will increase your email subscriptions.</p>\n<p>The key is not to offer as many incentives as you can. The most efficient strategy is to pick a high-value incentive and place it in appropriate areas of your site (the sidebar, pop-ups, blog post, footer, etc.). This strategy is especially great for small businesses that don’t have the time or the manpower to produce upgraded content for every blog post.</p>\n<h3>Social Proof</h3>\n<p>A majority of online users rely on ratings, popularity and reviews in making purchasing decisions. Social proof is very important and shouldn’t be underestimated.</p>\n<p>That being said, you should focus on your numbers. Add up all your followers and subscribers on all channels and put the total out there. The bigger the number, the more impressive.</p>\n<p>In fact, various research studies have shown that social proof has more impact on behavior than financial, environmental and personal incentives.</p>\n<p>Would you also like to be included in our email list? Go to <a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/\">our homepage</a> and enter your email address to subscribe!</p>\n\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:36:\"http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/\";a:1:{s:10:\"commentRss\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:71:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-build-an-email-list-in-wordpress/feed/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:38:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/\";a:1:{s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:2:\"14\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}}}i:9;a:6:{s:4:\"data\";s:45:\"\n		\n		\n		\n		\n		\n				\n		\n\n		\n		\n				\n			\n		\n		\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";s:5:\"child\";a:5:{s:0:\"\";a:7:{s:5:\"title\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:40:\"9 Steps to Clean Your WordPress Database\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"link\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:63:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-clean-your-wordpress-database/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"comments\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:72:\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-clean-your-wordpress-database/#comments\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:7:\"pubDate\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:31:\"Thu, 06 Apr 2017 13:00:25 +0000\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:8:\"category\";a:2:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:4:\"Blog\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}i:1;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:18:\"WordPress database\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:4:\"guid\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:34:\"https://semperplugins.com/?p=3225/\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:1:{s:0:\"\";a:1:{s:11:\"isPermaLink\";s:5:\"false\";}}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}s:11:\"description\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:422:\"Is your WordPress database a mess? Have you been complaining about it since time immemorial? Well, then your WordPress site might be as bloated as you were after that marvelous Thanksgiving dinner at your mom’s. If your site has been<span class=\"ellipsis\">&#8230;</span><div class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/how-to-clean-your-wordpress-database/\">Read more &#8250;</a></div><!-- end of .read-more -->\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:32:\"http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/\";a:1:{s:7:\"creator\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:13:\"Derek Iwasiuk\";s:7:\"attribs\";a:0:{}s:8:\"xml_base\";s:0:\"\";s:17:\"xml_base_explicit\";b:0;s:8:\"xml_lang\";s:0:\"\";}}}s:40:\"http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/\";a:1:{s:7:\"encoded\";a:1:{i:0;a:5:{s:4:\"data\";s:9209:\"<p><img class=\"size-full wp-image-3232 aligncenter\" src=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/clean-up-your-wordpress-database.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"850\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/clean-up-your-wordpress-database.jpg 850w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/clean-up-your-wordpress-database-300x88.jpg 300w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/clean-up-your-wordpress-database-768x226.jpg 768w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/clean-up-your-wordpress-database-100x29.jpg 100w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/clean-up-your-wordpress-database-150x44.jpg 150w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/clean-up-your-wordpress-database-200x59.jpg 200w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/clean-up-your-wordpress-database-450x132.jpg 450w, https://semperplugins.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/clean-up-your-wordpress-database-600x176.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" /></p>\n<p>Is your WordPress database a mess? Have you been complaining about it since time immemorial? Well, then your WordPress site might be as bloated as you were after that marvelous Thanksgiving dinner at your mom’s. If your site has been live for a while now, <strong>chances are that its database has acquired quite a bit of garbage and is demanding a spring clean</strong>.</p>\n<p>The trick to maintaining a database is to clean it regularly to prevent the accumulation of unnecessary data. However, we are guessing that you have been skimping on the cleaning bit, which is why you are here today. Therefore, without wasting time, we will tell you how to clean up that database in a few easy steps.</p>\n<h2><strong>#1. Basic Ground Rules</strong></h2>\n<p>Before you take on the massive task of spring-cleaning, you must ensure that your valuables are safe and sound. Losing a single system file can mess up your website entirely and can cause you to lose thousands of dollars in revenue.</p>\n<p>So start by creating copies of important files and create a backup of your entire website. You should definitely<a href=\"https://ithemes.com/purchase/backupbuddy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> check out Backupbuddy from our friends at iThemes</a>. It&#8217;s a great plugin that allows you to schedule automatic full or database-only backups, and we highly recommend it.</p>\n<h2><strong>#2. Screen Through the Clutter</strong></h2>\n<p>Do you remember how yard sales used to work before Craigslist and eBay came along? Just like separating the valuables from trash, you need to pick out the plugins you use and the ones you don’t.</p>\n<p>You can easily get started by going through your complete list of plugins in your WordPress dashboard. Go to your admin panel and click on Plugins. Next, go to Installed Plugins and click on Inactive at the top of the screen.</p>\n<p>Eliminating unused plugins should easily free up a couple of bytes and is the first step towards cleaning up your WordPress database.</p>\n<h2><strong>#3. Time For a Purge </strong></h2>\n<p>This might sound very ominous (esp. to the ones familiar with the popular movie franchise), but it is the best way to free up space. After deleting all unused plugins you should start cleaning out post data.</p>\n<p>If you have been using WordPress from a while, you might not be as surprised to know that all your post data is being stored in your website database. You can find it all in the wp_postmeta table, and you can run this query to get rid of all superfluous data:</p>\n<blockquote><p>DELETE FROM wp_postmeta WHERE meta_key = &#8216;your-meta-key</p></blockquote>\n<p>Always remember to replace the last part with the value that has to be cleared out.</p>\n<h2>#4. <strong>Take Care of Spam</strong></h2>\n<p>Spam is no longer restricted to your inbox. If you look through your database carefully, you will find tons of spam comments as well. These include promotional features and unscrupulous backlinks that other sites use to eat their way into your SEO. Monitoring comments is an essential practice that is currently underrated.</p>\n<p>The easiest way to manage spam comments on your site is to execute this query:</p>\n<blockquote><p>DELETE FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_approved = &#8216;spam&#8217;;</p></blockquote>\n<p>If you are currently <a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/wordpress-multisite/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">using a multi-site installation of WordPress</a>, you may like to try the following query:</p>\n<blockquote><p>DELETE FROM wp_#_comments WHERE comment_approved = &#8216;spam&#8217;;</p></blockquote>\n<h2>#5. <strong>What About Comments Waiting on Moderation?</strong></h2>\n<p>As a WordPress website/blog admin, you have the power to delete all comments that are awaiting moderation. This eliminates the need of unnecessarily going through each and every spam comment that you haven’t yet moderated.</p>\n<p>Just a word of advice: go through the list once to approve all genuine comments before running this query:</p>\n<blockquote><p>DELETE FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_approved = &#8216;0&#8217;;</p></blockquote>\n<h2><strong>#6. Taking Care of Unused Tags</strong></h2>\n<p>This has happened to almost all of us. When we were new at blogging, we created a few hundred tags thinking we would use them from time to time. And now that we post regularly, we hardly ever change tags. We use the most common ones and stick to those.</p>\n<p>Don’t be surprised if you have completely forgotten about a score of tags that you exist on your website database (thanks to your wild imaginative powers). Fortunately, we have a query that will take care of all unused tags, but be sure to check the ones that you do use before running this query:</p>\n<blockquote><p>DELETE FROM wp_terms wt<br />\nINNER JOIN wp_term taxonomy wtt ON wt.term_id = wtt.term_id WHERE wtt.taxonomy = &#8216;post_tag&#8217; and wtt.count = 0;</p></blockquote>\n<p>Check out some of our earlier posts if you are unsure about <a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/categories-and-tags/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the differences between categories &amp; tags and how to use them</a>.</p>\n<h2>#7. <strong>Bid Farewell to Pingbacks</strong></h2>\n<p>If you are currently using a setting that has turned off the option of accepting pingbacks, then you may want to use the following code. This will remove every pingback ever made to your website from your database.</p>\n<blockquote><p>DELETE FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_type = &#8216;pingback&#8217;;</p></blockquote>\n<p>Again, if you are currently <a href=\"https://semperplugins.com/wordpress-multisite/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">using a multisite installation</a>, you may try using the next one. just remember to replace # with your current site id.</p>\n<blockquote><p>DELETE FROM wp_#_comments WHERE comment_type = &#8216;pingback&#8217;;</p></blockquote>\n<h2><strong>#8. No more Post Revisions</strong></h2>\n<p>Post revisions are indeed necessary for blogs, but once you see the space they take up on your database, you won’t think twice about bidding them farewell. They grow fast and exponentially. You can clear them out at one go using the next query:</p>\n<blockquote><p>DELETE a, b, c FROM wp_posts a LEFT JOIN wp_term_relationships b ON (a.ID = b.object_id)<br />\nLEFT JOIN wp_postmeta c ON (a.ID = c.post_id) WHERE a.post_type = &#8216;revision&#8217;</p></blockquote>\n<p>You can even chose to disable all post revisions for your website using the following SQL code:</p>\n<blockquote><p>define(&#8216;WP_POST_REVISIONS&#8217;), false);</p></blockquote>\n<h2>#9. Getting Rid of Trackbacks</h2>\n<p>Your final step should be getting rid of all old trackbacks. To make sure that nothing goes wrong, double check so that all your pingbacks and trackbacks have been disabled before trying the next SQL code:</p>\n<blockquote><p>DELETE FROM wp_comments WHERE comment_type = &#8216;trackback&#8217;;</p></blockquote>\n<p>For multisite users, the next query should be more profitable. You can use this one to clean out all your trackbacks at one go. 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