Welcome to Genesis Office Hours, Episode 14! Apologies in advance for some rough patches in the audio due to connectivity issues. Instead of my typical show notes detailing every question asked, I’ve changed up the format to highlight key discussion points. As usual, I’ve included links mentioned during the show at the end of the point.
Like the new format? Hate it? I welcome your opinion.
Cheers!
Guests
Chris Ford, Owner of Creativity Included. Chris is an amazing designer and loves working with small startups to shape their brand identity.
Jason Hobbs, Owner of GenesisGoodies.com. Jason has extensive marketing experience and is always looking for ways to serve the needs of Genesis WordPress users with his line of products.
Key Takeaways
How do you promote yourself in your marketing material without sounding like a used car salesman? Focus on the customer and their problem and sell yourself as the best solution to this problem (Act like an expert, not a commodity). Be authentic – who you are in your copy is who you need to be when you meet customers in person and it’s much less stressful if you’re just who you are.
When developing a custom theme for a client, do you start with an existing child theme or with the Genesis Sample Theme? Start with whatever child theme bests matches the look and functionality you need. If you’re building a lot of custom themes, consider creating your own starter theme. Check out Genesis starter themes on Github.
Before you begin wire-framing… Back up and think about user experience (UX). Figure out what problems you’re solving for a user and what their pain points are. Consider what makes them choose your product over a competitor’s. Distill this down to a desired user experience and then you’re ready to begin wire-framing. Check out Chris Ford’s article on The Back Side of User Experience Design.
When is Genesis 2.1 coming out? (wink, wink). The Genesis 2.1 beta is already out (download the Genesis Beta Tester plugin if you want to try to break it in a development environment.
What’s the panel’s opinion on SEO plugins? The WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast is the best free option on the market. The red/yellow/green light “nag” is a great visual for determining how well you’ve optimized your content for a selected keyword. Scribe is also an amazing SEO and content marketing tool, but it’s a little pricey for the individual writer (Both Rainmaker and Synthesis WordPress Hosting include Scribe).
Links discussed during the show:
- Dynamik Skins meant to style out (and run on top of) the Dynamik Website Builder theme.
- Aesop Story Engine – Relatively new WordPress plugin by Nick Haskins designed with the story-teller in mind. Check out some showcase sites here.
- AgentPress Pro is here at last! (And don’t forget the Winning Agent Pro theme by yours truly)
- How To Add A Split Sidebar in Genesis – tutorial by Gary Jones
- WordPress.tv – catch recorded sessions from WordCamps
- Reaktiv Ratings – Ratings plugin for WordPress
- Jason Tucker at wpmedia.pro – Great resource for anyone working with audio and podcasting.
- Want to know more about Rainmaker? Listen to Genesis Office Hours #12 with Brian Gardner.
- This Is Not A Design Trends in 2014 Post – thoughts on design trends by Chris Ford
- Jason’s favorite plugin -> Genesis Extender and Easy Digital Downloads
- Chris’ favorite plugin -> CoSchedule – Social media editorial calendar for WordPress