In this episode of WordCast Conversations we talk to Robin Cangie of Robinoula about the future of social web marketing and advertising strategies.
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WordCast Conversations 22: Scott Kingsley Clark, Creator of Pods CMS WordPress Plugin
In this episode of WordCast Conversations we talk to Scott Kingsley Clark, well-known around the WordPress Community for his innovative development of the Pods WordPress Plugin. The Pods CMS WordPress Plugin turns WordPress into a drag-and-drop, modular framework ideal for magazines, corporations, schools, and businesses wanting micro-control over their layout and structure, enhanced even more with its optional Pods UI for added control over the interface.
We talk about Pods, WordCamps, more WordPress Plugins, and about the importance of giving back to the WordPress Community in this fascinating behind the scenes interview with an innovative WordPress developer.
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WordCast Conversations 21: Konstantin Kovshenin, WordPress Developer
In this episode of WordCast Conversations we talk to Konstantin Kovshenin, a web developer from Moscow, Russia and Chief Technical Officer at Frumatic. A WordPress fan and web developer for over five years, he thrives within the code of the web, but he’s also fascinated by the social web, the marketing, mashups, and social network development. Living in Moscow, Russia, he brings with him a unique perspective on not just programming but the social web experience from the far east.
Kym Huynh talks with Konstantin Kovshenin about his work with robotics and his passion for WordPress, WordPress Plugins, APIs, and the WordPress Community he hopes to ignite in Russia.
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WordCast Conversations 20: Brett and Kate McKay, Founders of The Art of Manliness
In this episode of WordCast Conversations we talk to Brett and Kate McKay about The Art of Manliness.
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Show Notes
The Art of Manliness is a unique blog. Its focus is on men’s interests and lifestyles, yet they have a tremendous female audience. According to founders and authors, Brett and Kate McKay, since beginning the site in 2008, they’ve heard many times from their male fans that the women in their lives introduced them to the site saying, “Honey, you might want to learn a thing or two on the art of manliness.” or “This is how it is supposed to be done.”
With almost a million subscribers, Brett and Kate McKay have revolutionized the male magazine genre with their innovative approach to their blog, offering timeless content such as 100 Must Read Books: The Man’s Essential Library, Learn How to Shave Like Your Grandpa, How to Tie a Tie, How to Start a Fire Without Matches, and How to Ask a Girl Out. Their goal is to not be the next GQ or hot men’s mag but to service a useful purpose in helping men be better husbands, better fathers, and better men. Read more…
WordCast Conversations 19: Stephen Baker, Author of Final Jeopardy Man Vs. Machine
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Baker’s book takes us through the history and development of the computer that eventually became “Watson,” potentially the most important computer technology in the history of artificial intelligence development and research. The book is a fascinating tour through the offices and lives of the people at IBM, the research team brought together to build a smarter, not just better, computer. Read more…
WordCast Conversations 18: Anthony Cole, Organizer of WordCamp Melbourne
In this episode of WordCast Conversations, Kym Huynh talks with WordCamp Melbourne 2011 organizer Anthony Cole about the February 26-27 event in Melbourne, Australia, as well as his work within the WordPress Community.
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Cole considers himself half American, half Kiwi, born in California in the heart of Silicon Valley, and living in Dunedin, New Zealand, and Sydney, and now in Melbourne, in the land of down under.
As a coder, hacker, and admitted geek, his fascination with WordPress began seven years ago when he was 13 years old, loving the easy to use interface, but also the code flexibility of the publishing platform. He always loved to dive into the code. In 2010, Cole submitted his first patch to the WordPress core. Read more…
WordCast Conversations 17: Giovanni Gallucci, Founder of Learn Social Media
| Giovanni Gallucci calls himself a “recovering .NET programmer turned tech evangelist and Internet Markeing Consultant.” He works with major corporate companies to provide training on SEO and social media, and recently launched Learn Social Media, a premium membership video show about the professional ins and outs of social media. He admits never imagined that he would have his life surrounded by social media, video, podcasting – it is something that naturally arises organically. You can’t live without it, but you need to learn how to use it.
In this interview on WordCast Conversations, we talk with Giovanni Gallucci about today’s social media and how brick-and-mortar companies can utilise social media to help achieve business success. We also delve into the personal life of Giovanni Gallucci, how he got to where he is today, and the Twitter bum-fight between himself and John Pozadzides, CEO of Woopra and Livid Lobster which caused a huge stir on Twitter. Read more…
WordCast Conversations 16: WordCamp Developers
WordCamp: Developers is the first WordCamp exclusively for developers and will be May 5, 2011, in Vancouver, Canada. WordCast Conversations interviews one of the organizers of this unique event.
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Episode 16
Lorelle VanFossen talks to Morten Rand-Hendriksen of Design is Philosophy and Pink & Yellow Media, one of the leaders of the Vancouver WordPress Meetup Group in Vancouver, BC, about producing WordCamp Developers.
Organized by fellow WordPress Meetup team members, Vanessa Chu, Kulpreet Singh, and Anny Chih, Morten talks about how the idea of a WordCamp and WordPress event especially for developers came together, the topics under consideration, the Open Source Week in Vancouver leading up to the event, and how he sees the future of WordPress development for WordPress core, Themes, and Plugins.
The speaker topics expected to be covered during the day long WordPress event include HTML5, CSS3, jQuery, AJAX, information architecture, advanced WordPress Theme and Plugin development, mobile, ecommerce, content aggregation, blog networks, social sites (BuddyPress), user management, mulitmedia integration, security, and more.
We also talked about a book by our favorite sponsor, Audible.com, called iWoz: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Along the Way by Steve Wozniak and Gina Smith, taking a step back and 20/20 view of the impact of “the other Steve” Wozniak, inventor of today’s personal computer look and feel, and founder of Apple, in light of the recent medical leave by Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs.
Morten Rand-Hendriksen is also the author of WordPress 3 Tutorials | Essential Training on Lynda.com, Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Expression Web 2 in 24 Hours
WordCast Conversations 15: SOBCon Colorado 2010
This week’s episode features Lorelle VanFossen talking with Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker, founders of the online business conference, Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference (SOBCon). This year, in addition to their regular Chicago-based sell-out event, they bring you SOBCon Colorado 2010 in Bloomfield, Colorado (near Denver), on September 17-18.
Episode 15
Liz Strauss is world renown as a brand strategist and social web community builder with more than 20 years in the print, software and online publishing industry. She is a frequent keynote speaker at universities, corporations, and conferences and teaches a Master’s Level class at the CityU School of Publishing. Among the A-Lists on the web, she is usually found in the top 50 most influential marketers and bloggers in the world.She is also one of the few people in the world honored with a WordPress Plugin named for them, the Liz Strauss Comment Counter by Ozh, honoring her passion for online interaction on her blog, Successful and Outstanding Bloggers.
Terry Starbucker spreads “realistic optimism” through a philosophy he calls “Half-Fullism” on his popular blog, Ramblings from a Glass Half Full. He is a leadership expert and with over 25 years in corporate leadership roles in the service industry.
When others on Liz’s blog began talking about getting together and meeting, Terry was one of the first to leave a comment that inspired the process to move forward which eventually became Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference (SOBCon). Today, SOBCon which has gained the partnership of companies such as Intuit, IZEA, ReveNews, Walmart, Colgate, Allstate, and Klondike Frozen Treats, as well as the attention of BusinessWeek, the Chicago Sun-Times, the Chicago Tribune, and the Innovation Initiative of the Kellogg School of Business. Heading into their fifth year, the three day event in Colorado has helped develop some of the brightest stars in the blogging, social media, web publishing, and online business industries.
In this podcast, Liz, Terry, and Lorelle talk about the history and future of SOBCon, how it works, case studies from attendees, how the mastermind format changes the dynamics for learning and networking, and the topics at the upcoming event in Colorado featuring Erika Napoletano, Shelly Kramer, Alexis Neely, Carol Roth, Dave Taylor, Jonathan Fields, John Cushman, Jyl Johnson Pattee, Sally Hogshead, and Sonia Simone.
To sum up the SOBCon experience, Liz described it as:
Imagine instead of working at your business, which is what you do every day, you has a weekend to work on your business. That you could do that with a team of people who are also working on their business at the very same time, and you put that team of people, say four or five people in a room of 150 of the best minds and resources to help you. So if you reach out for support or a question, like do you have the right model for your business, they are right there to help with input or figure out why your model isn’t working…and together you learn what might work better for the business you have.
| As a friend of Lorelle and WordCast register now for SOBCon Colorado and use the special discount code: Lorelle100 and get $100 OFF the event ticket! |
As two experts in relationships and community building on the web, they also share their top tips for building community and how to increase your comments, which is a preview of the TweetChat August 19, 2010, at 1PM ET on Twitter. Hosted by @ambercleveland and @heidithorne, you can follow the SOBCon TweetChat on how to get more comments on your site and build your community by following the #sobcon hashtag. All are welcome to join the fun.
A few days ago, many of the speakers at the upcoming SOBCon Colorado participated in SOBCon Colorado Webinar hosted by Chris Garrett. Below are two videos featuring SOBCon highlights and some lessons learned by participants and speakers.
Liz and Terry announced a special offer for WordCast and Lorelle fans. Just for knowing Lorelle, you can get $100 off the price of admission to SOBCon Colorado with the special discount code: Lorelle100. This is for a limited time only!
You can also take advantage of early bird registration for USD $200 off if you register by December 16 for SOBCon 2011 in Chicago on April 28-May 2, 2011.
Episode Note: This episode features free royalty free music from Dan-O called “Rapid Arc.”
WordPress Conversations 15: Andrea Rennick, Founder of WPMU Tutorials
Andrea Rennick of WPMU Tutorials is the our guest this week on WordCast Conversations.
Episode 15
One of the early experts and specialists in WordPressMU, now merged into WordPress 3.0, Andrea’s work has lead to the development of a lot of WordPressMU documentation, help in the forums, and the best articles and tutorials on the subject. She’s intimately involved in the merger, working closely with Donncha O’Caoimh, the lead developers on the project, leading the way in the future development of WordPress.
Andrea is a stay-at-home mom and home schooler. She and her husband, Ron, wanted to create a home schooling network, Homeschooljournal.net, and was attracted to WordPressMU, moving from the corporate world to home life, supported by their Ron and Andrea freelance web development business and A Typical Life dot Net, her personal blog network. With little documentation and few experts in the forums to help, she found a niche to help herself as well as others.
Ron Rennick, Andrea Rennick and Matt Mullenweg
She wrote the definitive article on the WordPress Codex, for the multiple user version, Create A Network, and talked about how to change from a single hosted WordPress version to the Blog Network version, migrating from the old version of WordPressMU to the new updated version, and how to move between the two versions.
Other topics included:
- Changes in the names of features.
- Changes in WordPress Themes to accommodate MU verses single. Most will work without any problem, however some customizations will need to be changed such as custom functions not updated with MU aware calls for multiple blogs, blog specific tables, custom header functions now built-in and not needed, and more. Estimated 98% of all Themes should work in WordPress 3.0 networks.
- Problems with Tim Thumb script call outs in Themes for displaying thumbnails, and how the built-in post thumbnails replaces it.
- In WordPress 3.0, each WordPress Theme is installed once and shared by multiple blogs. A change in the Theme impacts all the Themes in the network. This is why there are WordPress Widgets and custom features to allow blog-specific changes to the Theme to individualize them.
- Theme Frameworks are ideal with blog networks, adding Child Themes to customize the CSS on the network Themes. It makes it easy to update across the network rather than individual blogs.
- BuddyPress on the network adds even more social interaction and sharing of content. The BuddyPress Template Pack and information on the BuddyPress Template Tags makes it even easier to add customization to the BuddyPress layer.
- You can WordPressMU blogs within WordPressMU blogs – a scary thought.
- The hardest part of adapting to WordPressMU will be rethinking how to blog in a network and scale the administration.
- Examples of WordPress 3.0 blog networks include:
- Family blogs with a blog for each family member to keep in touch and share on the same domain (can be private not public).
- For developers managing multiple customer sites. Domain Mapping allows multiple blogs run on a single underlying domain with different domain names allows easy management and maintenance of multiple blogs that appear to be individual.
- Subdomains make a site look larger with more diverse content. The user experience site makes it look like a single larger CMS site with a similar Theme throughout the entire network, while it’s really a multiple user site with content provided by departments.
- Magazine Site example to separate content between different departments.
- Schools with different departments or classes with their own blogs.
Andrea has a variety of WordPressMU related Plugins, including the premium Multi-Site WordPress Plugin which allows non-programmers to easily create additional sites in a WordPressMU installation, including the main blog and site options for child blogs, and Remove /blog plugin which removes the default “example.com/blog” from the installation. Her work with WordPressMU blog networks is so much in demand, she currently has no openings to take on additional work until late fall. Congrats, Andrea!
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