EDITS.WS

Author: BobWP

  • Personalization, the Future of eCommerce and WooCommerce

    In a podcast with Kenn Kelly from Never Settle, a WooCommerce agency, he was asked with all of the changes happening in the e-commerce industry, the different platforms, headless becoming a thing now, where does he envision the future of e-commerce going? And how does Woo fit into that?

    Kenn shared that subscription based businesses stood out to him. which we’ve been seeing happen for a long time. Amazon pressed that quite a few years ago. And a lot of people started realizing, it was like, “My toilet paper’s going to be on delivery.” And now everyone’s like, “Oh, this makes a lot of sense.” And people also see, “Oh, it’s a recurring revenue stream.” He thinks when it’s forced it doesn’t work. But he absolutely thinks that that segment of e-commerce is going to continue to really expand. And WooCommerce can do that out of the box, really powerful engine, there.

    One of the things that his agency sees where they get called into bigger projects are people wanting some sort of advanced subscriptions. So a client that Never Settle is launching right now, Bixbi Pet, they have all these incredible dog foods, and all organic, and all this stuff, and they’re in most PetSmarts across the country, and pretty large business. But their customers are on subscriptions for their dog food, and their dog treats, and cat food, and cat treats.

    But they wanted a really cool checkout engine for people to build their subscription. So his agency had a lot of customization in that, but where they found the most customization, where he thinks it’d be fun to see us as a community invest more into WooCommerce is my account experience. That’s the thing that he feels like has the most potential, not just in design and user interface.

    As an example, for these guys, they want their customers to come in and be able to just swap out what flavors they’re in. So they’re going to order three bags a month and they want to be able to go in and change those without changing the subscription. And that’s highly custom. That’s not something that you can do out of the box, or to set up an auto-rotation where they’re just surprised. They can just say, “Hey, of these six flavors, just rotate them for me.”

    And so they built that for them. And Kenn thinks not only are you going to see subscription businesses increase, but you’re going to see people really pressing into the customer experience of the subscription business. That’s the ones that they’ve seen really grow, is they really nurture those people. Clients see them as the goal behind their business and so they invest a lot into that experience.

    So it’s more and more personalization. It’s going to be leveraging AI, it’s going to be leveraging market automation tools, but less blanket offerings. They have something that’s written that says, “Hey, this person’s ordered 10 bags of cherry dog food,” which isn’t a real flavor, “and we’re releasing cherry treats. so we’re automatically going to present this offer to them to try it free for one month or something.” So I think personalization is one of the big things.

    The post Personalization, the Future of eCommerce and WooCommerce appeared first on BobWP.

  • Will You Be at WordCamp US?

    Just a little less than a month and it will be WCUS time!

    If you are going to be there, let’s connect. I’m flying back across the pond to see all my WordPressers stateside. And there is nothing I like better than a good WordCamp.

    I can be found in the hallway chats and the sponsor area. I may be doing some podcasting for Do the Woo, but if so, you will see me there either doing that or just plain WordCamping.

    I would suggest we set up a time to make sure we see each other, but I don’t do that. Scheduling ones time at a WordCamp is not a pleasant thing to do. Too much pressure on both sides of the table. If it’s meant to be, we will find each other.

    I will also be at contributor day so there’s that opportunity as well. Likely you will find me hanging mostly with the “community team”.

    What else? Who knows. That’s what makes WordCamps so much damn fun.

    The post Will You Be at WordCamp US? appeared first on BobWP.

  • Will You Be at WordCamp US?

    Just a little less than a month and it will be WCUS time!

    If you are going to be there, let’s connect. I’m flying back across the pond to see all my WordPressers stateside. And there is nothing I like better than a good WordCamp.

    I can be found in the hallway chats and the sponsor area. I may be doing some podcasting for Do the Woo, but if so, you will see me there either doing that or just plain WordCamping.

    I would suggest we set up a time to make sure we see each other, but I don’t do that. Scheduling ones time at a WordCamp is not a pleasant thing to do. Too much pressure on both sides of the table. If it’s meant to be, we will find each other.

    I will also be at contributor day so there’s that opportunity as well. Likely you will find me hanging mostly with the “community team”.

    What else? Who knows. That’s what makes WordCamps so much damn fun.

    The post Will You Be at WordCamp US? appeared first on BobWP.

  • What About Some Added WordPress and WooCommerce Tips?

    It has occurred to me that I have this site here and over on Do the Woo I have some massive content. When I say massive, I mean transcripts of podcasts where professionals have shared hundreds, if not thousands of tips.

    Each single show it filled with them.

    So, what to do? Oh, maybe I should start reposting them here. And by that, I mean with a bit of editing there could be some very useful, and short posts that will help most anyone who builds with WordPress or WooCommerce, no matter the level. Heck maybe even some nuggets for users.

    It’s like I’m going back in time LOL.

    Do you feel like I’m asking you for your thoughts. Well it so happens that I have opened comments here, and that should give you some indication that I am happy to hear from you.

    Will your thoughts drive me to where I should do this or not. Nope. Decision made and soon you will start seeing those tips with kudos to the proper peeps in the community.

    But don’t worry, I will still write about podcasting, blogging, community and other various topics that seem to always be on my mind.

    For the record, the key words here are tips. These are not going to be tutorials, product reviews or WordPress news. Simply nuggets from other smart peeps in the space.

    And why stop there? Maybe I will drop in some other things I think of along the way. Stuff I pick up in the community. Not really news, but maybe something I would like to highlight.

    Because, hey, over on Do the Woo I work hard to elevate the voices. Might as well do the same here.

    The post What About Some Added WordPress and WooCommerce Tips? appeared first on BobWP.

  • What About Some Added WordPress and WooCommerce Tips?

    It has occurred to me that I have this site here and over on Do the Woo I have some massive content. When I say massive, I mean transcripts of podcasts where professionals have shared hundreds, if not thousands of tips.

    Each single show it filled with them.

    So, what to do? Oh, maybe I should start reposting them here. And by that, I mean with a bit of editing there could be some very useful, and short posts that will help most anyone who builds with WordPress or WooCommerce, no matter the level. Heck maybe even some nuggets for users.

    It’s like I’m going back in time LOL.

    Do you feel like I’m asking you for your thoughts. Well it so happens that I have opened comments here, and that should give you some indication that I am happy to hear from you.

    Will your thoughts drive me to where I should do this or not. Nope. Decision made and soon you will start seeing those tips with kudos to the proper peeps in the community.

    But don’t worry, I will still write about podcasting, blogging, community and other various topics that seem to always be on my mind.

    And why stop there? Maybe I will drop in some other things I think of along the way. Stuff I pick up in the community. Not really news, but maybe something I would like to highlight.

    Because, hey, over on Do the Woo I work hard to elevate the voices. Might as well do the same here.

    The post What About Some Added WordPress and WooCommerce Tips? appeared first on BobWP.

  • Tumbling Around Tumblr

    A long time ago I explored Tumblr and found it kind of intriguing. But as time passed it obviously became less and less intriguing.

    Then Automattic Bought Tumblr

    Now this may seem like some weird cop out for some people that what influenced me to revisit Tumblr was the fact that it was acquired by Automattic.

    But hey, think about it. I have been using WordPress since 2006. In 2008 I can say that it was a big part of my stack with my current business and I was making money from it. By 2010 the brand BobWP evolved my business to be WordPress, all the time. Since then WordPress has been the core of my business and income. Plus it introduced me to a beautiful open source community.

    So why wouldn’t I become more interested in Tumblr when Automattic acquired it.

    Struggling to find my groove

    When I reopened my account there, or reopened, whichever it was, I had to take some time to ponder on what I was going to do there. Because Tumblr is unique.

    I remember talking to the COO of Tumblr at the State of the Word in NYC end of last year. Telling her that I was giving Tumblr the old college try and felt that I would eventually find my groove. Whatever that groove is.

    So unlike others who dive into a social platform new to them with vigor and unleashing the hidden secrets of their lives, I eased on into it.

    Now it’s part of my stack

    A bit ago I bought my blue check marks on Tumblr because I wanted to support the platform while acquiring the “dig” on traditional blue marks

    Shortly after that I blazed a post. Someone commented why they say it. Someone said the guy paid to do that. There was rumbling. Ha. I’ll likely do it again.

    A few days ago I have committed to being more active on Tumblr. What’s my strategy? Well, so far I cannot even explain it. Maybe I am still testing the waters. Or maybe I am reverting back to the days of being in my own groove. Time will tell.

    I also bought some more checkmarks, the rainbow ones.

    Then I purchased the ad-free subscription. Why? Because I never click on ads and figured it was a easy price to pay to again help support the cause.

    Best of all, I bought my custom domain, bobwp.blog for my Tumblr blog.

    I’m looking at gifts and how those work. Maybe when I start following more people, I will start sending some gifts.

    In other words, I am now tumbling my way in Tumblr.

    And if you want to follow my tumblings (not sure if I just made up that word or not), you can follow me here.

    The post Tumbling Around Tumblr appeared first on BobWP.

  • Tumbling Around Tumblr

    A long time ago I explored Tumblr and found it kind of intriguing. But as time passed it obviously became less and less intriguing.

    Then Automattic Bought Tumblr

    Now this may seem like some weird cop out for some people that what influenced me to revisit Tumblr was the fact that it was acquired by Automattic.

    But hey, think about it. I have been using WordPress since 2006. In 2008 I can say that it was a big part of my stack with my current business and I was making money from it. By 2010 the brand BobWP evolved my business to be WordPress, all the time. Since then WordPress has been the core of my business and income. Plus it introduced me to a beautiful open source community.

    So why wouldn’t I become more interested in Tumblr when Automattic acquired it.

    Struggling to find my groove

    When I reopened my account there, or reopened, whichever it was, I had to take some time to ponder on what I was going to do there. Because Tumblr is unique.

    I remember talking to the COO of Tumblr at the State of the Word in NYC end of last year. Telling her that I was giving Tumblr the old college try and felt that I would eventually find my groove. Whatever that groove is.

    So unlike others who dive into a social platform new to them with vigor and unleashing the hidden secrets of their lives, I eased on into it.

    Now it’s part of my stack

    A bit ago I bought my blue check marks on Tumblr because I wanted to support the platform while acquiring the “dig” on traditional blue marks

    Shortly after that I blazed a post. Someone commented why they say it. Someone said the guy paid to do that. There was rumbling. Ha. I’ll likely do it again.

    A few days ago I have committed to being more active on Tumblr. What’s my strategy? Well, so far I cannot even explain it. Maybe I am still testing the waters. Or maybe I am reverting back to the days of being in my own groove. Time will tell.

    I also bought some more checkmarks, the rainbow ones.

    Then I purchased the ad-free subscription. Why? Because I never click on ads and figured it was a easy price to pay to again help support the cause.

    Best of all, I bought my custom domain, bobwp.blog for my Tumblr blog.

    I’m looking at gifts and how those work. Maybe when I start following more people, I will start sending some gifts.

    In other words, I am now tumbling my way in Tumblr.

    And if you want to follow my tumblings (not sure if I just made up that word or not), you can follow me here.

    The post Tumbling Around Tumblr appeared first on BobWP.

  • Sharing is Caring. Elevating the Voices.

    There has been an interesting trend over the years. Not so obvious, but something I have experienced myself. And that is the fact that people are not sharing other content as much as they use to.

    Way back in the blogging days

    I remember 13 years plus going back in time. Everyone was creating content via a blog. You found interesting writers and as you grew your own social networks, it was easy to share content that you felt others had created and would be of interest to your readers and followers.

    Over time that has changed. And it’s not surprising. When people share content on a social platform, more often than not it’s their own. Or the conversations they drive on social are becoming more centric to themselves. On the flip site, there is very little external content shared.

    Then their are WordPress tutorial and media sites, who share the content of others on their site, which is select but also is cool and really their model. But most times they do not share other people’s content on social without driving them to their site first. Again, it’s the traditional model but I think there is room for exceptions.

    The same goes for newsletters. Plenty of sharing there, but you must subscribe. I do that but the things I share I have shared publicly on some social platform prior to the newsletter going out.

    Now I get this. I understand that we need to focus on our own businesses and ventures. We need to drive people to our sites and consume the content that in the end either makes them a new customer, client or someone who will help you generate advertising dollars. It’s the natural thing to do with you business.

    Others, who write more freely may tend to share other content, but again, in most of these cases it’s all about their content.

    I will admit this isn’t everyone, but I find those who share other content on the downslide.

    Quid pro quid

    As this trend grows, so does something that has been around forever, grow as well. You do me a favor, I’ll do you a favor.

    Even back in the blogging days people would often create “blogging buddies”. Those people who you traded sharing content with. Over the years as people grew their select “friends” this became obvious that the “buddy buddy system” was in play.

    I can recall several small cliques of WordPress people who blatantly only shared from their “special friends.”

    On the other hand, sharing has now become partnerships. You know those emails that ask you to share something of theirs (often using a backlink) and in turn they will share your content.

    And other’s come up with ideas of how to create these shared, smaller communities, but often they don’t walk the talk, and the concept fizzles out over time.

    Less and less people are doing it out of the goodness of their heart.

    Why care?

    You don’t have to. And I only write this as an observer. First off I am not making this a rant or a negative post. It’s just what is happening. But I feel I have always found a good balance between sharing my own content and sharing others.

    Recently, over on Do the Woo I realized that one of my “so-called super powers” is sharing. And I’ve bumped it up even more. Why? To help others find all this great content that I discovered, help keep them up-to-date on things I feel they should know, and most importantly, to elevate more voices in this ecosystem. All without simply writing a post with internal sharing.

    My criteria

    It’s not rocket science when it comes to me deciding what to share or not share. I want it to be good content that is helpful to those who follow me.

    What I don’t share is:

    Negative or content that is meant to mislead or stir things up.

    Or those tweets that have “call to actions” at the end of every thread they do. Sorry, not going to help you promote your newsletter over and over and over again.

    What’s the answer?

    For me I don’t care. I will share great content and never expect anything in return. I will also continue to share my own content. But I don’t want partnerships, or that “wink wink” syndrome that pushes out quid pro quid.

    Now there are people who do it, and I commend them. For the others, what you do is your choice. I’m not here to shame you or make you feel guilty. You do what works for you. But all I can say, is it hurts just a little bit when we transform ourselves into the “me” generation and sharing is no longer caring.

    Disclaimer: I know that social these days is viewed as a big shitshow. And I get it. A lot of the reasons may be that more and more people are less and less on social. But hey, there are still plenty who are active and a negative view of any social platform should not be the reason for not sharing.

    The post Sharing is Caring. Elevating the Voices. appeared first on BobWP.

  • Sharing is Caring. Elevating the Voices.

    There has been an interesting trend over the years. Not so obvious, but something I have experienced myself. And that is the fact that people are not sharing other content as much as they use to.

    Way back in the blogging days

    I remember 13 years plus going back in time. Everyone was creating content via a blog. You found interesting writers and as you grew your own social networks, it was easy to share content that you felt others had created and would be of interest to your readers and followers.

    Over time that has changed. And it’s not surprising. When people share content on a social platform, more often than not it’s their own. Or the conversations they drive on social are becoming more centric to themselves. On the flip site, there is very little external content shared.

    Then their are WordPress tutorial and media sites, who share the content of others on their site, which is select but also is cool and really their model. But most times they do not share other people’s content on social without driving them to their site first. Again, it’s the traditional model but I think there is room for exceptions.

    The same goes for newsletters. Plenty of sharing there, but you must subscribe. I do that but the things I share I have shared publicly on some social platform prior to the newsletter going out.

    Now I get this. I understand that we need to focus on our own businesses and ventures. We need to drive people to our sites and consume the content that in the end either makes them a new customer, client or someone who will help you generate advertising dollars. It’s the natural thing to do with you business.

    Others, who write more freely may tend to share other content, but again, in most of these cases it’s all about their content.

    I will admit this isn’t everyone, but I find those who share other content on the downslide.

    Quid pro quid

    As this trend grows, so does something that has been around forever, grow as well. You do me a favor, I’ll do you a favor.

    Even back in the blogging days people would often create “blogging buddies”. Those people who you traded sharing content with. Over the years as people grew their select “friends” this became obvious that the “buddy buddy system” was in play.

    I can recall several small cliques of WordPress people who blatantly only shared from their “special friends.”

    On the other hand, sharing has now become partnerships. You know those emails that ask you to share something of theirs (often using a backlink) and in turn they will share your content.

    And other’s come up with ideas of how to create these shared, smaller communities, but often they don’t walk the talk, and the concept fizzles out over time.

    Less and less people are doing it out of the goodness of their heart.

    Why care?

    You don’t have to. And I only write this as an observer. First off I am not making this a rant or a negative post. It’s just what is happening. But I feel I have always found a good balance between sharing my own content and sharing others.

    Recently, over on Do the Woo I realized that one of my “so-called super powers” is sharing. And I’ve bumped it up even more. Why? To help others find all this great content that I discovered, help keep them up-to-date on things I feel they should know, and most importantly, to elevate more voices in this ecosystem. All without simply writing a post with internal sharing.

    My criteria

    It’s not rocket science when it comes to me deciding what to share or not share. I want it to be good content that is helpful to those who follow me.

    What I don’t share is:

    Negative or content that is meant to mislead or stir things up.

    Or those tweets that have “call to actions” at the end of every thread they do. Sorry, not going to help you promote your newsletter over and over and over again.

    What’s the answer?

    For me I don’t care. I will share great content and never expect anything in return. I will also continue to share my own content. But I don’t want partnerships, or that “wink wink” syndrome that pushes out quid pro quid.

    Now there are people who do it, and I commend them. For the others, what you do is your choice. I’m not here to shame you or make you feel guilty. You do what works for you. But all I can say, is it hurts just a little bit when we transform ourselves into the “me” generation and sharing is no longer caring.

    Disclaimer: I know that social these days is viewed as a big shitshow. And I get it. A lot of the reasons may be that more and more people are less and less on social. But hey, there are still plenty who are active and a negative view of any social platform should not be the reason for not sharing.

    The post Sharing is Caring. Elevating the Voices. appeared first on BobWP.

  • WordCamp Europe 2023. Amazing.

    If I could put every experience I had, every conversation, and every laugh or hug here in this post, I would. But it would be a very long post and, of course, I would have discovered something I missed, or several things, thus even a longer post.

    This was my second WordCamp Europe, but my first living here in Porto, Portugal. That fact alone, and the love I am getting from the community here, would be worth a post in itself.

    The Community

    It’s never surprising when I hear from anyone talk their experience at a WordCamp, community and people are always in there, often being what they loved most. And for me there is never an exception. New friends. Connecting with old friends. And so much laughter, and yes, food.

    The Sponsors and the Venue

    The venue was fantastic. Although I must admit at first it was a bit overwhelming as the sponsors winded around different parts and hallways. Some of the small biz sponsors were concerned being off the beaten path, but that changed quickly, at least for the ones I talked to.

    Fact is I started going around to the booths, meeting people, saying hi to others and stopping for so many hugs and conversations, it took me 3 hours just to do that. On the second day, I spent an hour easily just with the Small Biz sponsors.

    Now I talk to a lot of WordPress businesses and I know there are always questions about sponsoring WordCamps and the value behind it. So I am going to share a great post from my friend Katie Keith from Barn2 Plugins, where she shares their first experience sponsoring. If you ever had questions about sponsoring, make sure and read it.

    If you missed any of the sessions, or were not able to make it, you can find all of them here from the livestream.

    As I said, there is a lot more I am still digesting and it will also settle in my brain just in time for WCUS. But I do want to thank the organizing team, the volunteers for their hard work in making it so amazing. And of course, the sponsors who make it possible.

    I leave you with this. Some great WordPress peeps. (and a few taken by others, plus my mug occasionally).

    WordCamp Europe 2023

    The post WordCamp Europe 2023. Amazing. appeared first on BobWP.