I’ve been running my business for almost 5 years now. I’ve learned a little about WordPress businesses and the community since then. Do you recognise any of these?
WordCamp – talking to random people for hours about image compression
We all love a good WordCamp. The chance to nerd out and talk about themes, plugins, content, custom post types and content marketing.
Hours. Hours of my life talking about plugins
The reason most of us love WordPress is because of the community. The fact that there’s a bunch of people who also love using WordPress? It makes things much more interesting and easier.
Security blanket plugins – the ones you always run back to.
For me, the standard install is OptinMonster, Beaver Builder, OptimizePress, SumoMo, Advanced Custom Fields and Disqus. Theme is usually Beaver Builder or Genesis with a child theme.
Although I personally don’t use Yoast, I get why people use it
We get used to our setup and what works for our customers. In fact, it’s really important that you have standard installs. It makes support and trouble shooting way easier.
“I edited the website and uninstalled a bunch of stuff I didn’t think I needed. Now the site doesn’t work. Fix it”
I love everything about running a WordPress business, the only thing that upsets me are the customers.
Every damn time
I’ve worked with big, high-tech corporations and companies as well as small micro businesses. Both are as bad as each other. “I didn’t think I needed it. So I uninstalled the plugin”
Yes, of course we protect access and have backups. But it still means you’re to blame when something goes wrong.
I measure success and happiness with page load speeds.
There’s just something really satisfying with improving page speed loads a small bit.
It’s the small things that count
I preach about updates. I don’t always update.
Look. My customers are on maintenance and update plans. We have a team working on our sites all the time. But the truth is that sometimes I just can’t be arsed to update.
Do as I say, not as I do
Having said that, I don’t tell customers to update their own plugins. But it is preached. And we don’t do it ourselves.
Buying new plugins, tools and themes – THIS one is DEFINITELY going to work!
I’ve written about shiny object syndrome before. When you’re talking to colleagues or friends about new tools or they talk to you about a plugin they use and you HAVE to buy it.
A slightly darker black
Or even when you just buy and collect plugins and themes, because you never know, you might need a plugin that alters page margins by 3% automatically.
Customers saying “It’s only a website, how much could it cost? $500?”
Rule 1 of starting a WordPress business. Don’t listen to people who say “that sounds expensive”.
Everyone has a cousin or nephew who can do a website for $500. But they’re never going to increase their budget. Ignore them. Move on.
I’ve written 15 blog posts in 2 days. But I won’t publish anything again for the next 5 months.
The scourge of an internet business. I honestly think that part of this is down to the types of characters attracted to WordPress businesses. We can be a little…manic depressive (I’m not making this into a psych post. It’s just we all suffer from hyper productivity one minute and total lack of interest the next).
The way to combat this is two-fold. One, have a process that you can repeat. Even if you’re not motivated. Two, accept that you need to be disciplined enough to follow it through. There are some days that I super do not want to write. I usually cheat on those days and do easy list posts (lol).
We’re an odd bunch
Are any of these you? Do you recognise any of these? What have we missed? Let me know in the comments below.
