WP Review

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The WordPress space is cheap! But that shouldn’t let you keep your prices down.

Is that a fair assessment? Maybe I’m being too harsh, but anecdotally it’s true. I suffer from not charging enough, in part due to being in the WordPress space too long. And I know other freelancers who have the same feelings. But that’s why I’m grateful that I have good mentors in my life. And pricing what you’re worth – that’s what we’re going to talk about today. 

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For many in the WordPress space, when an idea strikes it’s easy to drop what you’re doing and spend a couple of days building a prototype or MVP. But if you’re actually going to try to build a business off of this idea, should you whimsically work on it and release it to the world? I would argue no. In fact, crafting a story is more important than crafting a product at first.

Brought to you by GoDaddy Pro . Get all of the show notes, and a written to be read article over at https://wp-review.castos.com/43.

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In part one of this series, I talked about the importance of understanding your customer through a somewhat drawn-out example using baby clothes. But the point remains!  Today I want to tell you two other stories about my experience with prepared vs. unprepared people in different industries. You see, being prepared is the next step in understanding your customers. Knowing, and anticipating, their needs will help you get more clients.

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In a bit of serendipity, the same week I finished recording my next LinkedIn Learning course, Troubleshooting and Repairing Your WordPress Website, Patchstack has published its State of WordPress Security in 2021 white paper . I’ll go through some of the highlights from the white paper, and give you my analysis.

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Welcome to Building a Better Business: Part One. This series will be 3 parts, all designed to help you build and launch a better product, service or business. Part One is all about understanding your customers. I’m excited to share it with you, so let’s get into it! 

Brought to you by GoDaddy Pro .  Get all of the show notes, and a written to be read article over at https://wp-review.castos.com/40

In 2022, we’re at an inflection point for WordPress — one even bigger than Gutenberg and 5.0. WordPress has been marching steadily on, to become a good no-code solution for people who have some technical proficiency. And Full Site Editing is likely going to speed that along…once it matures a little. So you might be wondering…how can you be a WordPress freelancer in 2022? That’s the question I intend to answer today.

Brought to you by GoDaddy Pro. Get all of the show notes, and a written to be read article over at https://wp-review.castos.com/39

A topic that’s come up for me multiple times over the last six months iswhether or not speakers should be paid. I had a debate with Nathan Wrigley about it at the end of last year. That debate was based on an article I wrote back in October called, “We need to talk about speakers and virtual events.” But beyond paying speakers, we need to treat them with decency. We need to value their time and not treat them like they are just here to serve us and our cause. And that’s what we’re talking about today.

Brought to you by GoDaddy Pro. Get all of the show notes, and a written to be read article over at https://wp-review.castos.com/38

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After 2021 ended with a call from Matt Mullenweg to contribute more to open source (specifically WordPress), 2022 began with a less rosy picture of the open source space. Some of the biggest names in tech met at the White House to discuss how to identify critical open source projects. surreptitiously missing from this meeting was representation for WordPress. But that’s because we need to answer an important question: Who?

Brought to you by GoDaddy Pro. Get all of the show notes, and a written to be read article over at https://wp-review.castos.com/37

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When WordPress 5.0 and the block editor came out, though it was off to a rocky start, the value proposition was clear: THIS is a better experience for content creation than the Classic Editor. After all, that experience was largely unchanged for 15 years. But now that 5.9 is out, we need to ask: is the value proposition for Full Site Editing as clear?

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After being delayed for more than a month, WordPress 5.9 is here as the first major release of 2022, and it’s a big one that ushers in the era of Full Site Editing. There’s also a new theme, a Block Patterns directory, and lots of features, so let’s dive in!

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