How to Support Yourself By Chris Lauzon
About The Presenter I am a Happiness Engineer for Automattic Director of Happiness at WP Engine Worked in support for different ecommerce providers Functioned as a consultant for different businesses wanting to launch a website (for News, Blogs, and/or online stores) You can follow me at @squirex2 on twitter
QUICK POLL
Qualities of Success An Idea A ton of patience A ton of research A little bit of luck A plan for when things go wrong
Wait, things go wrong?
WordPress has a lot of stuff WordPress is open source! Lots and lots of themes! Lots and lots of plugins! Lots and options for web hosting! Lots of people with ideas, reviews, and opinions Um, like OMG
Key things to remember When building the site for the first time, it s best to start simple. Shortcuts are often necessary. Pre-built themes and plugins are shortcuts. Your site MUST change. Your site will, at some point, not be available (due to outage, major internet event, or something even crazier) The more features, the more complex your site is (and more expensive) The more traffic, the more complex your site will be (and more expensive) Ignorance is NEVER bliss You always pay for what you get.
Themes Not every theme is created equal. It is important to look up reviews on any theme you consider using (if premium). Free themes should be pulled from WordPress.org. Most themes are not created with plugins in mind. Themes need to be updated (if not custom). If a theme is custom, you will need to maintain a relationship with your developer. A theme should work on every device that supports a internet browser. Every design feature should work on every device that supports a internet browser. Theme frameworks are cool, but complex, and may not scale for high traffic sites
Plugins Not all plugins are created equal Plugins need to be upgraded at all times, no excuses Plugins should be found on WordPress.org Do not install a single plugin on your site without reviewing it heavily (WordPress.org reviews are the best) Most plugins are not built to scale Custom plugins need to be maintained, so you need to have a relationship with a developer
Hosting There are so many hosting providers that allow you to use WordPress, it s super cray cray. There s a ton of reviews on hosting (but never trust a review where there s a affiliate link on it). The more complicated the WordPress site, the more complicated the hosting needs are. A Managed Host is restrictive: understand what they are before you pay for anything. A managed host will also generally have better uptime.
Preparing for the worst How to manage your accounts (hosting, premium plugins, and themes). Security plugins and practices (Security is more important than convenience). Domain Registration/Private Registration How do you backup your site? Hosting Provider Backups Plugin Backups
Preparing for the worst Establish a regular maintenance schedule Once a week do a regular check to make sure the important aspects of your site are working Are your backups working? Any errors reported on your site in the past 7 days? Is your theme up to date? Are your plugins up to date? Is your WordPress site up to date?
Preparing for the worst Trouble shooting strategy What is the error? (White screen of death? 500 error? Google it!) If it s a WordPress based error develop a process for elimination possible issues: Disable plugins one at a time, switch the theme to a default theme, set the site back to a previous version. If a hosting issue: Check the status blog of your hosting provider (or check their twitter). If a major event, just hang in there.
Preparing for the worst How do you communicate to your users? Social networking platforms (like Twitter and Facebook) Setup a status blog? Newsletter, email subscriptions ecommerce tip: Good time to tempt people with a coupon
How to use Support Resources You are responsible for your own site. A Good Plugin Developer, or a good Theme Developer, is always looking for feedback and want to know when something isn t working. If the developer reacts negatively to feedback, don t use their products. A hosting provider is not responsible for the choices you have made for your site, and they are not your Mom and Dad. They are your landlord. I do not put too much faith in hosting providers who promise to do feature/code review for you unless they charge for it. WordPress has a huge community of helpers.
Questions?