Matt Medeiros is continuing with Season 6 by interviewing guests as he connects with them in the community. In this episode, Matt interviews David Hayes from WPShout, a premier source for WordPress learning. David along with his partner Fred Meyer also run an agency called PressUp. It is a boutique web consultancy that partners with businesses to create custom websites and interactive experiences. The two publish in-depth weekly WordPress tutorials, WPShout, as well as provide curated links to other cool stuff around the WordPress world. Matt and David share their experiences on how you balance the agency work and the marketing of your brand.
Listen to this episode:
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What you will learn from this Episode:
- David Hayes along with his partner Fred Meyer run their business with strikingly good balance. They have a new course out along with publishing a weekly newsletter. (2:37)
- PressUp has not had to specialize in a particular industry niche. Enough leads come in through the business as technical requests.(4:23)
- WPShout is a WordPress content site that is balanced with the agency and published on Tuesdays. (9:36)
- David is able to execute on everyday tasks very well with balancing the agency business. (10:32)
- You need to set a goal for the business so that you don’t find yourself chugging along and going in many directions. (12:05)
- Many WordPress businesses start out as hobbyists working in the web sphere without the strategy and goals needed to run a business. (12:44)
- You can follow the success of lead people in the WordPress ecosystem to find a need or market that they need to have served. (19:05)
- Pro-Tip: Find the customers before you start the business. Make sure the people need what you are developing or selling. (21:45)
- Even though you may have the initial product market fit, there may be a Pivot in that product that can extend the life of your audience. (22:10)
- WPShout started out by trying to sell advertising to their audience in a boutique way. (22:47)
- Don’t be afraid to have many test runs to get that home run. (33:05)
- If you are a developer, it is essential that you reach outside the WordPress community. (34:34)
- People who find early success may not understand the amount of work that goes into a business. (36:45)
Courses from WPShout:
- Marketing is important for any product that you are trying to sell. (Ex: Up and Running was released in 2015) (24:36)
- You can find a topic that does not have understandable content to help users learn about it. This is the reason why WordPress Security with Confidence was launched. (26:40)
- There are two tiers for WordPress Security with Confidence – User $147.00 and Developer $297.00. (28:29)
- Site speed and GIT may be the next topics on WPShout/courses. (30:16)
The Future of WordPress:
- The marketing of WordPress is still disappointing. They don’t have celebrity advertising like WIX and Squarespace. (39:30)
- The WordPress.com and WordPress.org distinction exists for people inside the community. (40:36)
- People outside of the community struggle with the idea of how to pilot WordPress. (41:42)
- WordPress.org does not make sense to many people outside of the industry. It is still very much a developer tool. (43:15)
- WordPress.com is more aggressively marketing against WIX and Squarespace. (43:44)
- The average consumer is looking to say “I just spent an hour and now I have a website”. (45:28)
- Consultants have the success data for WordPress site creation. They should be contacted for that information. (47:24)
- There is a huge need going forward for WordPress to compete with Squarespace or WIX. (50:15)
Episode Resources:
PressUP
WPShout
Scott Bollinger on PostStatus
Syed Balkhi
Medivate
Insight Timer
Headspace
Up and Running
WordPress Security with Confidence
PostStatus
The MattReport
Startups for the Rest of Us
A16Z Podcast
Stratechery Podcast
Gutenberg
Jetpack
To Stay in Touch with David Hayes:
WPShout on YouTube
David on Twitter
David on Facebook
To stay connected with the Matt Report, head on over to mattreport.com/subscribe.
If you like the show, please leave a 5 Star review over on the Matt Report on iTunes.
Be sure to check out Matt’s new offering at UserFeedbackVideos.com. It is like having a co-founder for $59.00.
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