Author: Christopher Stratman

Sponsor Spotlight

Please check out our sponsors – without their help we would not be having WordCamp Waukesha.

 

https://alchemyst.io/

Need a form on your website? Want it to look a certain way or do something without all of that crazy coding? Check out Alchemyst. It allows you to build your form with good old html. Don’t know html? No problem, they have a tool to build the form. I am looking forward to giving Alchemyst a test-drive on my next project!   They’ll be joining us at WordCamp Waukesha so you can check them out.

 

https://www.a2hosting.com/

These guys Rock! Good hosting, based in Michigan. All the usual hosting packages – including a really good cPanel based reseller system with WHM Control Panel. Great support etc etc. And oh yeah – did I tell you that their support team is awesome, because it is!   A2 will be at WordCamp Waukesha – stop by, say hi!

 

https://www.godaddy.com/pro?pc=urlargs

Not only does GoDaddy do domains right, now they make our lives easier with GoDaddy Pro! Manage all of your client’s products from your sign-on, earn discounts and credit for your clients purchases – and – they have integrated ManageWP into their system (manage back-ups, plug-in updates, uptime monitoring etc etc). you can read more about the Manage WP integration here.

 

Waukesha County Technical College

https://www.wctc.edu/

A big thank you to our hosts! Great facility, good food (and a good school). We have met a few of their students as they have been joining us at our Milwaukee WordPress MeetUps.
Thinking about going back to school? Check out WCTC!

Sponsor Highlight – Myers Communications Group

‘They’ say Video is going to be king of the interwebs. Between Funny or Die or all of the cat videos consumed in our house, ‘I’ say it already is.

How will you stand out from the run of the mill stuff that is inundating YouTube and Vimeo? By working with professional video people who know how to make professional videos.

“Myers Communications Group specializes in compelling, strategic video productions that connect with your audience. Whether it’s celebrating your organization’s history, capturing a live event or explaining a complex technical process, we’ll bring your story to life in a way that is personal, memorable and convincing.”

You can watch the Myers Group in action as they help film our speakers at the conference!

http://myersgroup.net/index.php/home

Sponsor Highlight – Heartland Payment Systems

Special thank you to our sponsors – with out their help, WordCamp Waukesha would not be possible.

Heartland Payment Systems

Need to accept payments on your website and/or mobile device? Check out Heartland Payment Systems.

They process payments at attractive rates for PayPal and all the major credit cards including American Express and ApplePay.

Impressive sales team eager to help you get up and running quickly.

These guys have a handy-dandy plug-in from their own company SecureSubmit to make it easy to add it to your site!

Check them out at https://www.heartlandpaymentsystems.com/

Sponsor Highlight – BoldGrid

Special thank you to our sponsors – with out their help, WordCamp Waukesha would not be possible.

Check it out – BoldGrid gives you a site to start with written content and unique images that match your category. You have something to start with and can customize from there.

Drag and Drop page modifications make changing things around from the front end a breeze. Change your colors easily and universally (it even suggests color pallets – no more bland, same old, same old colors here). There is a built in library of stock imagery to get you going, start with what they offer and modify as you go.

You are not stuck in the gilded cage of other site systems.  BoldGrid is all powered by and built on WordPress so you have all of the customizability and room to grow that WordPress brings to the table. Dig that crazy plug-in that gives you the edge over your competitors? No problem – this is WordPress so you can use it!

Now for the latest scoop on the future of BoldGrid from Mike Demo – “Early in February we will be releasing BoldGrid 1.4 which will include our new enhanced SEO Plugin among other key feature improvements. This update will also include our new user Launch Survey which improves the on-boarding process to help you create your website even faster and easier than ever. Also beginning in early February you will have free trial access to BoldGrid by way of our website. Head over to www.boldgrid.com to request a free trial of BoldGrid and see just how easy it is for yourself!”

Mike and BoldGrid will be at WordCamp Waukesha so you can learn more!

Sponsor Highlight – WooCommerce

Special thank you to our sponsors – with out their help, WordCamp Waukesha would not be possible. (and Special thank you to John Wiedemann for the article!!!)

WooCommerce

When looking for an ecommerce solution for WordPress, there isn’t just one answer for which one to use.  Your needs will determine which solution is the best for a particular product.

One of the solutions that should always be included in the mix is WooCommerce.

WooCommerce, self-billed as the best ecommerce platform for WordPress, is one of the most popular eccomerce solutions used by developers.  Being popular means that others are using it, developing tools for it and there is a large community that probably are dealing with the same issues that you are going to deal with.

Ecommerce isn’t easy and the importance of doing it right is key to success.  WooCommerce’s base package is free and as a plugin will fit right in to most WordPress themes.  If you need more than the base package, there are many extensions that are either free or purchased that can customize your online store the way you would like.  You can create your own customized extensions as well if you are a developer or know of one to work with.  The flexibility of WooCommerce is almost endless.

Check out Woocommerce at https://woocommerce.com/

Sponsor Highlight – JetPack

Special thank you to our sponsors – with out their help, WordCamp Waukesha would not be possible.

 

JetPack is a core plugin that self-hosted WordPress site should have loaded.
The basic plugin is free with a supercharged premium version available for $39 a year. The basic version includes tools to optimize and monitor your site for SEO and traffic.  Security is enhanced as well with brute force protection, malicious code scanning and backup tools.

The premium version includes all of the basic versions tools plus daily backups, unlimited storage, one-click restores, spam filtering.and fast dedicated priority support.

JetPack makes it easy to enhance your site’s optimization, monitor your improvements in traffic and keep the bad guys away from your site to increase uptime and decrease the amount of work you need to do.

Learn more about JetPack by visiting their website at https://jetpack.com/ or talk to fellow WordPress aficionados at WordCamp Waukesha on January 27th.

 

Special thank you to John Wiedemann for the article!!!

Sponsor Highlight – Bluehost

Special thank you to our sponsors – with out their help, WordCamp Waukesha would not be possible.

Bluehost is a good old hosting company out of Utah offering:

  • Good pricing
  • 1-click WordPress
  • 24/7 support
  • a money back guarantee

They even have an affiliate program so you can make money while you sleep!

Next up Cloud Hosting – check it out!

And, oh yeah…did I mention 24/7 support?

https://www.bluehost.com/

Sticker Giant

Check Out Our Friends At Sticker Giant For Quality Custom Stickers
If you are ever in the need of custom die-cut stickers, make sure you go to StickerGiant.com and check out what they have to offer.
First of all – Sticker Giant is a huge supporter of Wordcamp and…  their stickers are easy to order and are just fantastic.
If you already have the artwork for the sticker you are looking for, just go to their website hit the Get Started button and follow the steps to get shapes, custom die cut, sheets or even device sized stickers. It is a simple and quick process.
Otherwise, contact Sticker Giant and their friendly staff will work with you to get the finished product you are looking for.
Sticker Giant is also great at communicating the latest status of your order.
How do we know about all of this?  Well, this is where we got our stickers for the Wordcamp Waukesha 2017 event.  They look great and Sticker Giant will continue to be our go-to company for custom stickers.

Tickets and TShirts

Hey Everybody!!!!

We are getting down to the wire. WordCamp time is almost here.

If you are on the fence about attending (and would like a spiffy WordCamp Waukesha T-Shirt, please purchase your ticket by tomorrow (Friday the 20th) at noon so we get an accurate T-Shirt and size count. If you do not, there are no guarantees that we will have enough in your size.

Thank you!