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We look at a number of tools and services that we use on a daily basis. These are services that make a big difference in how we run our businesses. We move at speed and cover a lot of ground in this pre-Christmas show! Summary: We talk about our favorite web tools of 2016. Covered: tools for productivity, project management, accounting, invoicing, social media, content management, and content creation.   Episode 152 Table of Contents 0:00 Podcast intros. 1:37 What we use for video conferencing. 4:50 Our choice for video hosting. 8:32 John's choice for invoicing software. 10:56 Jonathan's choice for invoicing software. 11:44 An alternative for external email addresses. 13:54 Jonathan's choice for a CRM. 16:44 A tool John uses for local SEO citations. 20:09 Jonathan has a pick for SEO keyword research. 21:04 Another pick for email outreach. 23:00 A tool we are using for project management internally. 24:54 John's tools for migrating websites. 27:20 Jonathan's choices for site backups. 29:28 Two cautionary tales of why you want to have a reliable plan for website backups. 34:54 John's advice for getting blog posts written. 36:53 Jonathan has some picks for spell-checking and editing. 37:55 Our mutual pick for capturing screenshots. 38:34 Some more picks we have for cloud storage and productivity. 39:40 Podcast outros. ===================   Links mentioned during the show: Zoom https://zoom.us/ Go To Meeting https://www.gotomeeting.com/ Wistia https://wistia.com/ FreshBooks https://www.freshbooks.com/ Zoho Invoice https://www.zoho.com/us/invoice/ Harvest (Time Tracking) https://www.getharvest.com/ Zoho Mail https://www.zoho.com/mail/ G Suite (formerly Google Apps for Business) https://gsuite.google.com/ Agile CRM https://www.agilecrm.com/ Drip - Email Marketing Automation https://www.drip.co/ Active Campaign http://www.activecampaign.com/ Moz Local https://moz.com/local Yext (DON'T use this) http://www.yext.com/ Get Found (Go Daddy) https://www.godaddy.com/products/business-marketing.aspx Moz Whiteboard Friday https://moz.com/blog/category/whiteboard-friday Rand Fishkin on Twitter https://twitter.com/randfish Distilled on Twitter https://twitter.com/distilled Wil Reynolds on Twitter https://twitter.com/wilreynolds SEMrush https://www.semrush.com/ Majestic (SEO Tools) https://majestic.com/ Raven Tools https://raventools.com/ KWFinder https://kwfinder.com/ Mailshake https://mailshake.com/ Teamwork - Cloud Productivity Software https://www.teamwork.com/ Basecamp https://basecamp.com/ WP Engine Automated Migration https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-site-migrate/ WP Migrate DB Pro https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/ BlogVault https://blogvault.net/ UpDraftPlus https://updraftplus.com/ BackupBuddy https://ithemes.com/BackupBuddy/ WP Site Care https://www.wpsitecare.com/ Maintainn https://maintainn.com/ Slack https://slack.com/ Grammarly https://www.grammarly.com/ Awesome Screenshot https://www.awesomescreenshot.com/ Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/home Google Drive https://www.google.com/drive/   ===================   Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/152-favorite-web-tools-2016/   ===================   Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2   ===================   WP-Tonic is a WordPress support service, and publisher of a weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development, web design, and online marketing.

We have an insightful and enjoyable interview with Josh Pollock, the co-founder of Caldera Forms. We cover a lot of stuff in this conversation. Josh tells us how he got started in WordPress development, and his philosophy for running a commercial plugin shop in the WordPress ecosystem. Josh also talks with us about Caldera Forms, product stories, and the future of WordPress. Caldera Forms: https://calderaforms.com/ Josh Pollock on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Josh412 Josh's site: https://joshpress.net/   Episode 151 Table of Contents 0:00 Podcast intros 1:32 Josh's web development origin story. 3:57 Do you need a computer science degree to be a successful WordPress entrepreneur? 4:53 What made Josh decide to strike out on his own as an entrepreneur? 7:17 Why did Josh decide to target contact forms as a product category? 11:06 How important is storytelling in product marketing? 15:13 Finding your target market and target customers. 19:32 How did Josh figure out what he wanted to be different about Caldera Forms from other forms plugins? 24:36 What will the future of the WordPress admin look like? As WordPress integrates more JavaScript, what JS libraries would Josh recommend? Does Josh have more philosophical advice for learning modern front-end development? 29:40 Will the REST API attract talent to WordPress from other corners of the web? 34:16 Josh has thoughts on frameworks and page building tools. 39:57 An intriguing idea for making WordPress leaner and more adaptable. Josh tells us what dependency clashes currently keep it from happening at the present moment. 42:54 Podcast outros.   ===================   Links mentioned during the show: Exceed Expectations With the REST API https://joshpress.net/rest-api/   ===================   Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/151-josh-pollock-caldera-forms/   ===================   Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2 ===================   WP-Tonic is a WordPress support company, and the publisher of a weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

For our 150th episode, we discuss a busy week in WordPress news and our main topic, the best starter themes and theme frameworks for WordPress development. Our panel this week: Carrie Forde https://carrieforde.com/ Kim Shivler https://whiteglovewebtraining.com/ Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/ Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/ John Locke Lockedown SEO ============   Episode 150 Table of Contents 0:00 Podcast Intros 2:06 WordPress News Story #1: State of the Word 2016: Mullenweg Pushes Calypso as Future of WordPress’ Interface, Proposes Major Changes to Release Cycle https://wptavern.com/state-of-the-word-2016-mullenweg-pushes-calypso-as-future-of-wordpress-interface-proposes-major-changes-to-release-cycle 11:21 WordPress News Story #2: Pantheon’s $100K WordCamp US Sponsorship Revoked the Night Before the Event https://wptavern.com/pantheons-100k-wordcamp-us-sponsorship-revoked-the-night-before-the-event 25:53 WordPress News Story #3: GoDaddy Acquires WP Curve: What This Means For Customers Of The WordPress Services Provider http://www.techtimes.com/articles/187902/20161206/godaddy-acquires-wp-curve-what-this-means-for-customers-of-the-wordpress-services-provider.htm 38:45 What are the pros and cons of developing with a theme framework? 46:39 What are the learning curves of working with a theme framework? 52:32 Some of the other theme frameworks that aren't named Genesis. 1:03:58 Why do many agencies lean so heavily on ThemeForest themes instead of building custom themes using a theme framework? What are the considerations that go into this business model? 1:09:38 How long does it actually take to develop a basic theme framework? 1:11:39 More theme frameworks we've seen people using for building WordPress themes. 1:13:18 The trouble with "Swiss army knife" themes. 1:17:33 A quick discussion about ecommerce sites. 1:23:20 Thanks to the rest of the panel members not here today. 1:24:40 Podcast outros.   ============   Links mentioned during the show: Siteground: PHP 7 available on all servers https://www.siteground.com/blog/php7-available-on-all-siteground-servers/ CNN: Google will soon call out websites for not being secure http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/08/technology/google-chrome-flag-non-secure-sites/ The Value of Sponsoring a WordCamp from a Business’ Perspective https://wptavern.com/the-value-of-sponsoring-a-wordcamp-from-a-business-perspective WP Curve joins GoDaddy https://wpcurve.com/wp-curve-joins-godaddy/ What is a WordPress theme anyway? — Draft podcast https://poststatus.com/wordpress-theme-anyway-draft-podcast/ Underscores - A Starter theme for WordPress http://underscores.me/ Alcatraz - A framework for creating awesome, flexible WordPress themes https://github.com/carrieforde/Alcatraz Genesis Framework by StudioPress http://my.studiopress.com/themes/genesis/ Divi by Elegant Themes https://www.elegantthemes.com/gallery/divi/ Hybrid Core: A WordPress Theme Framework http://themehybrid.com/hybrid-core DIYthemes - Thesis http://diythemes.com/ Visual Composer https://vc.wpbakery.com/ Cherry Framework https://www.templatemonster.com/properties/features/cherry-framework/ Carrie Forde's talk on Atomic Design - WordCamp Sacramento 2016 https://2016.sacramento.wordcamp.org/speaker/carrie-forde/ Bootstrap http://getbootstrap.com/ Foundation by Zurb http://foundation.zurb.com/ Roots.io (Sage starter theme) https://roots.io/sage/   ============   Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/150-frameworks-starter-themes-for-wordpress/   ============   Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2   ============   WP-Tonic is a WordPress support company, and also the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress business podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

We talk with front end architect/designer Carrie Forde about atomic design and front-end development for WordPress. Carrie's Forde day job is as a front-end developer at the highly-respected WebDevStudios. Carrie Forde on Twitter: https://twitter.com/carrieforde Carrie's site: https://carrieforde.com/   Table of Contents for Episode 149 0:00 Podcast intros. 1:22 Carrie's origin story. 3:44 What Carrie's work typical work day looks like right now. 4:56 How difficult is it to break into front-end development in today's environment? 7:20 Carrie tells us about her Alcatraz framework for WordPress that she developed. 9:05 What are style tiles? And what is Carrie's style tiles plugin for WordPress? 12:27 Carries teaches us about atomic design and the benefits of using it in UI design. 17:10 More resources for learning about Atomic Design. 19:38 What the WordPress community can do to make themes more accessible? 21:43 A habit to develop when creating WordPress themes to make them translatable. 22:48 What inspired Carrie to build the Alcatraz framework and what ideas in Genesis she wanted to improve on. 25:06 Carries philosophy on creating themes and making them developer friendly. 27:23 What goes into a CSS refactoring project. 28:56 Where does a CSS refactoring project make sense? 30:33 What is Carrie's preferred naming or organizational convention for writing CSS? 31:48 What are some great resources for learning JavaScript? 34:31 Are there any trends in CSS and front development that Carrie sees becoming prominent in 2017? 36:10 Any resources that Carries recommends for learning front-end development?   ===================   Links mentioned during the show: WebDev Studios https://webdevstudios.com/ Mighty Minnow https://www.mightyminnow.com/ Alcatraz - A framework for creating awesome, flexible WordPress themes http://alcatraztheme.com/ https://github.com/carrieforde/Alcatraz Style Tiles (Samantha Warren) http://styletil.es/ Style Tiles and How They Work (A List Apart) http://alistapart.com/article/style-tiles-and-how-they-work Faster Design Decisions with Style Tiles (An Event Apart) https://vimeo.com/115992327 WordPress Style Tiles (Carrie Forde plugin) https://github.com/carrieforde/WordPress-Style-Tiles Creating Themes with Atomic Design (WC Sac 2016) https://speakerdeck.com/carrieforde/creating-themes-with-atomic-design Atomic Design Methodology http://atomicdesign.bradfrost.com/chapter-2/ Atomic Design: The Book http://bradfrost.com/blog/post/atomic-design-book/ PatternLab.io http://patternlab.io/ Strengths Finder 2.0 https://www.amazon.com/StrengthsFinder-2-0-Tom-Rath/dp/159562015X BEM - Block Element Modifier http://getbem.com/introduction/ ITCSS - Scalable, Maintainable CSS Architecture https://www.xfive.co/blog/itcss-scalable-maintainable-css-architecture/ SMACSS - Scalable and Modular Architecture for CSS https://smacss.com/ JavaScript Is Sexy http://javascriptissexy.com/how-to-learn-javascript-properly/ JavaScript for WP https://javascriptforwp.com/ Treehouse https://teamtreehouse.com/ CSS Grid (MDN) https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_Grid_Layout ES6 for Everyone (Wes Bos course) https://es6.io/   ===================   Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/149-carrie-forde-front-end-architect/   ===================   Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2   ===================   WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and also publishers of a twice weekly business-focused WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

Our weekly Saturday round-table focuses on the processes we use to intake clients, design and develop websites, test and launch, and have ongoing relationships. What are the tools they use? And what are the internal processes that the panel have developed to help them manage projects? The panel this week: Lee Jackson https://trailblazer.fm Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/ John Locke Lockedown SEO Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/   Episode 148 Table of Contents: 0:00 Podcast Intros 1:13 WordPress News Story #1: Flywheel Acquires WordPress Local Development Tool Pressmatic https://wptavern.com/flywheel-acquires-wordpress-local-development-tool-pressmatic 9:42 WordPress Story #3: PDF Image Previews Among the Improvements to Media in WordPress 4.7 https://wptavern.com/pdf-image-previews-among-the-improvements-to-media-in-wordpress-4-7 19:55 WordCamp 2016 2 to 4th of December 2016 https://2016.us.wordcamp.org/ 23:10 The processes for the various stages of web projects. 23:58 Our processes for getting clients to sign on the line that is dotted. 38:35 What does your client onboarding process look like? 51:49 What does the creative phase of the project look like? What comes first, middle, and last? Content first or design first? 1:10:02 Podcast outros ===================   Links mentioned during the show: Announcement: Leadpages Has Acquired Drip https://www.leadpages.net/blog/drip-acquisition/ WP Media Folder - Media manager with folders https://www.joomunited.com/wordpress-products/wp-media-folder Mike Monteiro: F*ck You, Pay Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVkLVRt6c1U WPBuilds Episode 3: Clients from heaven (not) https://wpbuilds.com/2016/12/02/episode-3-clients-from-heaven-not/ WP Innovator: Our WordPress Website Build Process https://trailblazer.fm/building-process/ How to Write a Book: The Secret to a Super Fast First Draft http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/tv/how-to-write-a-book-fast-first-draft/ Seanwes Episode 13: You Design the Content http://seanwes.com/podcast/013-you-design-the-content/ Freedcamp https://freedcamp.com Pocketcasts https://www.shiftyjelly.com/pocketcasts/ Browserstack https://www.browserstack.com/ Heering - The Original Cherry Liqueur http://www.heering.com/ ===================   Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/148-web-design-processes-client-projects/   ===================   Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2   ===================   WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and also publishers of a twice weekly business-focused WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

Two of the founders of Beaver Builder: Justin Busa and Robby McCullough, share the history of the company and their future plans. There is a lot to learn about launching product in this great conversation. Beaver Builder: https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/   Episode 147 Table of Contents 0:00 Podcast Intros 1:43 The origin story of Beaver Builder and how the founders met. 3:32 What were the challenges moving from client services to a product company? 5:32 How do you know when you're at the tipping point with your product? How scary is it to pull the trigger and go all in? 8:20 Was Beaver Builder being targeted at agencies from the start? How did you market Beaver Builder in the early days? 10:21 What did you do to get the product in front of people at first? 13:35 Were you surprised when you saw third-party developers building products for Beaver Builder? 15:18 Are you in close communication with third-party developers? How do you plan your roadmap for the product? 17:01 What are the challenges of building a consistent community around a product? 20:16 When it comes to the moderators in your Facebook group, do you have certain people that you rely on to help you out with the community? 22:17 Were there any web technologies that came out that allowed you to build Beaver Builder? What conditions created the perfect storm that allowed you to create Beaver Builder at the time you did? 25:49 When did you realize your target audience wasn't who you thought it was at first? 29:15 How does product support look as compared to client support? How did you grow your support structure as time went on? 33:31 When planning a new release of Beaver Builder, how much testing do you do against popular plugins? What does your testing process look like? 37:21 As WordPress expands its market share, will more people use page builders? Will the purist developer push back against page builders remain or diffuse over time? 43:51 Podcast outros ======================   Links mentioned during the show: Beaver Builder Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/wpbeaverbuilder/ Upwork https://www.upwork.com/   ======================   Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/147-wp-tonic-justin-busa-and-robby-mccullough-of-beaver-builder/   ======================   Be sure to leave a detailed review for WP-Tonic on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2   ===================   WP-Tonic is the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the most successful people in WordPress development, business, and online marketing.

We have a great round table show with special guest Lee Jackson of the WP Innovator podcast. We talk all about the tools that we use daily to help us run our businesses. We look at a number of different categories from invoicing to project management tools.   The panel this week: Lee Jackson https://trailblazer.fm Jackie D'Elia https://jackiedelia.com/ Jonathan Denwood https://www.wp-tonic.com/ Sallie Goetsch https://www.wpfangirl.com/ John Locke Lockedown SEO   ====================== Episode 146 Table of contents:   0:00 Podcast intros 1:43 WordPress News Story #1: Elementor Pro – Things Have Changed http://snifflevalve.com/elementor-pro-things-have-changed/ 15:11 Our picks for accounting and invoicing. 24:51 What do we use for writing proposals? 34:49 What are our choices for CRMs? 40:42 What are we using for project management software? 59:00 What do we use for time tracking? What tasks do we actually track time for?   ====================== Links Mentioned in WP-Tonic: Episode 146 Visual Builders Elementor https://elementor.com/   Beaver Builder https://www.wpbeaverbuilder.com/   Invoicing and Accounting Free Agent https://www.freeagent.com/   ClearBooks https://www.clearbooks.co.uk/   Harvest https://www.getharvest.com/   WP-Invoice https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-invoice/   FreshBooks https://www.freshbooks.com/   Zoho https://www.zoho.com/invoice/   QuickBooks Online https://quickbooks.intuit.com/online/ https://www.quicken.com/personal-finance/quicken-home-business-2017   Wave Accounting https://www.waveapps.com/   Sprout Invoices https://sproutapps.co/sprout-invoices/   Contracts and Proposals Contract Killer https://gist.github.com/malarkey/4031110   WP Elevation http://www.wpelevation.com/   UK contracts http://simply-docs.co.uk/Home   Forming a LLC http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/form-llc-how-to-organize-llc-30287.html   CRMs Active Campaign http://www.activecampaign.com/   Agile CRM https://www.agilecrm.com/   Contactually http://www.contactually.com/   Project Management and team communication iTask 3 https://www.itaskx.com/en/index.aspx   Freedcamp https://freedcamp.com/   Teamwork https://www.teamwork.com/ https://www.teamworkdesk.com/   Asana https://asana.com/   Google Apps for Work (G Suite) https://gsuite.google.com/index.html   Basecamp https://basecamp.com/   Slack https://slack.com/   Trello https://trello.com/   Wunderlist https://www.wunderlist.com/   Zoom https://zoom.us/ Time Tracking Toggl https://toggl.com/   Social Media Management Edgar https://meetedgar.com   SociPress http://socipress.com/   Client Research Charlie App https://charlieapp.com/   Mailshake https://mailshake.com/   Hunter.io https://hunter.io/search   SEO / Keyword research   app.KWfinder.com https://app.kwfinder.com/   SERPs keyword rank checker https://serps.com/tools/rank-checker/   Ahrefs https://ahrefs.com/   Content Creation/Proofreading Grammarly https://www.grammarly.com/   Bear APP https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bear-beautiful-writing-app/id1091189122?mt=12 http://www.bear-writer.com/   Client website management   CMS Commander https://cmscommander.com/wp   Manage WP https://managewp.com/   Main WP https://mainwp.com/   Website backups BlogVault https://blogvault.net/   Duplicator https://wordpress.org/plugins/duplicator/   WordPress theme development ACF http://www.advancedcustomfields.com/   Migrate DB Pro https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/   ===============   Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/146-web-agency-tools/   ===================   Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wordpress-wp-tonic-jonathan/id893083124   ===================   WP-Tonic is the publisher of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the most successful people in WordPress development, business, and online marketing.

This Week We fun and insightful Interview with Lee Jackson host of the WP Innovator podcast & the owner of a highly successful WordPress development agency that exclusively only works with other digital agencies.   You can find Lee at his website: http://leejacksondev.com/ . Be sure to check out his podcast at: http://leejacksondev.com/podcast/ .   Table of Contents for Episode 145 0:00 Podcast intros 1:15 Lee Jackson Dev is an agency for print and design agencies. How does Lee find those perfect clients? 3:50 What is the big advantage for design-focused agencies to bringing in Lee's agency as a trusted partner? 6:20 What is one of the most surprising things that Lee has found partner agencies want him to do? 7:45 What are the big differences between a freelancer and a bona fide agency when it comes handling a client brief? 9:55 How did Lee earn the trust to be in client meetings with partner agencies (who own the client relationships)? 12:04 Is there ever a reluctance with agencies to have a subcontracting or partner agency come into the client meetings? 13:23 Bobbins and biscuits. 13:58 Why are many web agencies not that great at writing briefs? 17:46 What to do when the client doesn't want to invest in a brief. How Lee writes user stories into his briefs, and making it part of the technical specs. 21:53 The origin story of Lee Jackson Dev. 24:54 How does the role of an agency founder /owner change as the agency grows? 27:21 What does Lee's agency hiring process look like? 29:30 What are the most common mistakes when it comes to project management in web agencies? 31:42 The biggest financial mistake that agencies make in web design projects. 32:21 One huge mistake (opportunity?) for web agencies when they hand off the design to the developers. 34:03 Why underbidding hurts web design projects so much. How a Statement of Work helps prevent scope creep. 38:15 How does Lee feel about paid discovery? What about the tender process? (Similar to RFP). 40:57 The tendering process leads to chronic underbidding. 41:42 Podcast outros   =================== Find bonus content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/145-lee-jackson-wp-innovator/ ===================   Subscribe to WP-Tonic on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2 =================== WP-Tonic is both a WordPress maintenance and support service, and also publishers of a twice weekly WordPress podcast where we talk with some of the brightest minds in WordPress development and online marketing.

AJ Morris of Liquid Web joins our Saturday panel as we discuss the qualities of high-end WordPress hosting. We find out what differentiates a high end managed WordPress host from the average hosting companies that cost a few bucks a month. Why is it important to have a quality web host? What are you looking for in web hosting for your WordPress website? We'll answer these questions and many more.   Our panel this week:   AJ Morris of Liquid Web (@ajmorris on Twitter) Jackie D'Elia of Jackie D'Elia Design (@jdelia) Jonathan Denwood of WP-Tonic (@jonathandenwood) John Locke of Lockedown Design (@Lockedown_)   Episode 144 Table of Contents 0:00 Podcast Intros 1:50 WordPress News Story #1: Nashville to Host WordCamp US 2017-2018 https://wptavern.com/nashville-to-host-wordcamp-us-2017-2018   10:03 The .blog Bait & Switch http://chrisschidle.com/the-dot-blog-bait-and-switch/   18:23 Upvato Backup Service Confirms Files Are Lost, Plans to Relaunch on New Provider https://wptavern.com/upvato-backup-service-confirms-files-are-lost-plans-to-relaunch-on-new-provider   25:31 Main Topic: Qualities of High End WordPress Hosting 25:44 What is the advantage of having a managed WordPress host vs having just regular web hosting? 27:30 What are the differences between an inexpensive web host and a quality web hosting company? 29:55 How do you try to convince people to improve their web hosting? 32:58 Some interesting user stats that Liquid Web found when they did due diligence, and some great features that Liquid Web offers. 36:07 Why WP Engine has been the market leader in WordPress hosting so far, and what Liquid Web is doing to compete with them. 37:47 A few words about SSL and WordPress hosting. 41:00 Some hosting companies that let you manage several client sites from one panel, and some common problems web developers face when it comes to getting clients to the right hosting package. 48:01 How will HTTP/2 affect server configurations in the next year or two? 50:26 Page speed is important. How do customers evaluate hosting speed stats and different benchmark studies? 57:01 What security practices make you feel better when you are choosing a web host? What does the hosting landscape look like right now? 1:01:12 What are the unique challenges that come with providing hosting to web agencies? 1:05:05 The importance of technical support in web hosting. 1:08:20 Podcast outros ======================== Recommended WordPress hosting companies mentioned during the show: Liquid Web https://www.liquidweb.com/wordpress/   WP Engine https://wpengine.com/   Flywheel https://getflywheel.com/   Kinsta https://kinsta.com/   Siteground https://www.siteground.com/   Pagely https://pagely.com/   Other Links Mentioned During the Show:   Let's Encrypt https://letsencrypt.org/   Comodo SSL https://ssl.comodo.com/   GT Metrix https://gtmetrix.com/   Brief History of HTTP/2 https://hpbn.co/http2/   InMotion Hosting http://www.inmotionhosting.com/   Liquid Web Intelisys Case Study https://www.liquidweb.com/about/featured-clients/case-studies/intelisys.html   ======================   Be sure to leave us a review and subscribe to the WP-Tonic WordPress podcast on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2

In this powerful interview, Gordan Orlic of Web Factory Ltd discusses becoming an elite plugin author on CodeCanyon and why he's leaving the platform, and moving everything to his own website. Gordan pulls no punches as he talks about making the transition from getting traffic on a marketplace like CodeCanyon to setting up shop on your own. Find Gordan at http://www.webfactoryltd.com/  Follow Gordan on Twitter on https://twitter.com/webfactoryltd   Episode 143 Table of Contents 0:00 Podcast Intros 2:30 How did Gordan get into web development and get into building WordPress plugins? 4:00 How did Gordan make the transition from client work to selling products? 7:46 Niching down helps you make more money in the long run. 10:19 Positioning and white-label plugins: ideas are garbage, having a working prototype is more valuable. 13:36 What are the pros and cons of being on Envato vs starting a plugin shop on your own? 22:22 Why is Envato still recovering and changing course from decisions they made five years ago? 31:24 The one thing on Envato that confuses nearly every customer. 35:02 CodeCanyon is a great place to start, but you can't build a brand there. 36:30 The reason Gordan is leaving Envato and is in the process of moving his plugins to his own website. 40:09 The thing you must accept if you piggyback on another successful platform or plugin. 42:01 Podcast outros 46:07 YouTube bonus content begins. 46:08 Gordan talks about his plugin Security Ninja, what it does and who it is for.   Security Ninja https://wordpress.org/plugins/security-ninja/   56:40 What is making it tougher for plugin authors to make money on Envato right now? 1:02:45 The one thing that sucks about marketplaces. There are many upsides, but this one thing can hurt you long-term.   =================== Find additional content for this episode on the WP-Tonic website: https://www.wp-tonic.com/podcast/143-gordan-orlic-wordpress-plugins/   ===================   Follow WP-Tonic on iTunes and be sure to leave us a review! itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/wp-tonic-wordpress-podcast/id893083124?mt=2