Author Archives: Jen Swisher

Thank you to our Silver sponsors

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We’re thrilled that the following sponsors had become our Silver level Sponsors. Please make sure to check them out and follow them.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy’s mission is to radically shift the global economy toward small businesses by empowering people to easily start, confidently grow and successfully run their own ventures. With more than 12 million customers worldwide and 57 million domain names under management, GoDaddy gives small business owners the tools to name their idea, build a beautiful online presence, attract customers and manage their business.

Spry Digital

Spry Digital is a nimble interactive agency in St. Louis. We craft big ideas into custom digital products that drive your business. You need more than a website. You need an extension of your brand in the digital world. We get that. That’s what we do. From pegging opportunities to building solutions and tracking results, when you work with us, you get a partner that goes the distance. When you need a wingman, we provide friendly and helpful support for the things that we build. The result is cool things that work and happy clients.

Pantheon

Pantheon puts the power of the Internet in the hands of developers and DevOps teams, delivering rock solid hosting along with the most complete platform for professional website creation. We’ve built the world’s best website management platform—one that gives web teams all of the developer tools, hosting, scaling, performance, workflow, and automation they need to build the best websites in the world. Pantheon powers 150,000 websites, serving billions of page views per month.
For more information, visit www.pantheon.io.

Thank you to our Bronze sponsors

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We really appreciate all of our sponsors. Every little bit helps. Please check out our Bronze level sponsors:

 

WPML

WPML turns WordPress websites multilingual. It works with caching, SEO and E-Commerce plugins, and allows the building of complete multilingual sites. WPML powers simple blogs as well as corporate and enterprise sites.

WPML allows users to translate everything in the site, including content, menus, widgets and even theme and plugin texts. WPML powers over 500,000 commercial websites from all over the world.

More information about going multilingual can be found at WPML.org

We are looking for talent. If you are a smart programmer you are welcome to contact us here: http://wpml.org/home/were-hiring/.

DreamHost

Since 1997 DreamHost has helped individuals, small businesses, entrepreneurs and developers the world over bring their dreams to life on the Internet. From domain registrations to traditional web hosting and highly-optimized managed WordPress hosting, more than 400,000 customers trust DreamHost to be their online home. DreamHost supports the WordPress project and community with dedicated resources and a passionate team. Packed with excellent value, DreamHost is a great place to launch a blog, website, or online application into the stratosphere! Learn more at www.DreamHost.com

SiteLock

Currently protecting more than one million WordPress sites, SiteLock delivers a patented 360-degree website security solution to find, fix and prevent malware and other threats from affecting websites and their visitors. Services include automatic malware scanning and removal, an advanced web application firewall, static application security testing, PCI compliance and website acceleration powered by a global CDN. SiteLock offers phone, email and chat support, 24/7/365. With SiteLock, you can focus on what’s most important—your business, your passion, your word.

SiteGround

SiteGround, with over 12 years in the business, provides managed WordPress hosting that does not miss a thing! Their servers, available in 4 different data centers across the world, are optimized for ultimate WordPress speed and security and they provide many goodies for the WordPress fans – automatic updates for the core WordPress and its plugins, WordPress SuperCacher for ultimate speed acceleration, staging tool for the coders and unique WordPress autoinstaller for the starting users – all crafted in-house by the SiteGround team. And still they do not forget the importance of the good old standard hosting features like the domain name registration, the email service, control panel and the reasonable pricing. They also have a support team that is not only available 24/7 by phone, chat and ticketing, but consists of WordPress enthusiasts who will help you with specific WordPress issues. SiteGround has been actively involved with the community speaking, supporting and attending various WordCamps around the world and by sponsoring WordCamp St. Louis, they want to further contribute to the amazing WordPress community.

ThemeFurnace

ThemeFurnace is a WordPress Theme company founded in 2012 by Oli Dale of Kooc Media, it currently offers over 20 themes for just $49 and also offers a 8 free themes which you can download from the official WordPress directory and test out. The site has recently been expanded to offer a number of WordPress Deals and also a comprehensive blog which features handy guides such as the Best WordPress Hosting, How to Move from Blogger to WordPress and More.

Blondish.net

Blondish.net is run by Nile Flores, a WordPress Designer and Developer from the St. Louis metro east, that is dedicated to building WordPress websites that convert. That means that Nile makes sure she delivers a website that works in gaining that subscriber, commentator, or buyer. Aside from being a business, Blondish.net covers topics like blogging, WordPress, SEO, social media, and web design in order to help you rock your website out like a rockstar!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/blondishnet

Beanstalk Web Solutions

Beanstalk Web Solutions is a web development and digital marketing agency located in downtown Webster Groves, Missouri. Beanstalk specializes in web design, internet marketing, and coding projects like mobile apps and web apps.

Kinsta

Kinsta is the fastest growing WordPress host on the market providing managed WordPress hosting services for enterprises, for high traffic sites and large ecommerce shops. Over the past 4 years they’ve landed billion dollar enterprises, some of the hottest startups, & key players in the WordPress community. They are the first managed host exclusively powered by Google Cloud, which many studies show is faster & cheaper than AWS. I

n addition, by utilizing the container technology rather than the VPS model, they are the very best in performance and scalability. The use of Nginx, MariaDB, PHP 7.1, & HHVM magnify this even further. Developer tools like SSH, staging, & WP-CLI are standard on all plans.

Matchbox Design Group

Matchbox Design Group is a full-service St. Louis digital marketing agency that specializes in branding, web design, web development, content strategy, and SEO/SEM. Since 2006, we have been providing engaging digital services for a wide range of local and national clients.

We specialize in building web solutions using the WordPress platform. Through great service and attention to detail, our team continues to deliver outstanding results for our clients. Learn more about us and our latest job openings at matchboxdesigngroup.com.

Get WP Training

Get WP Training is set to provide workshops to help WordPress users in the St. Louis area. Our 8-hour workshops will cover basic WordPress, like getting your own web host and installing WordPress, know each area of WordPress, creating your first post, recommended plugins, and much more. Classes will start soon. Interested? Then come by the site and sign up for our newsletter, to get updated on when our next workshop will be.

Thank you to our Gold sponsors

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We really appreciated all the support we got from our sponsors. Our Gold level sponsors have gone above and beyond, by sponsoring us at our highest sponsor level. Please make sure to check them out below.

BoldGrid

BoldGrid is a website builder powered by WordPress. It is a free set of WordPress plugins, themes, and other content that allows site creation and management similar to non-WordPress website builders. By placing WordPress more in line with DIY site builder solutions on the market, our mission is not only to make WordPress more accessible and easy for beginners to utilize, but also automate and streamline typical WordPress tasks to provide a fast, creator-friendly platform that even web professionals will appreciate.

Experience WordPress as a website builder, including: free pre-built themes, drag and drop editing, integrated image banks, simplified photo editing, built-in staging, automated backups, and so much more.

BoldGrid will have you creating professional looking WordPress sites in minutes!

www.boldgrid.com

WooCommerce

37% of all online stores are powered by WooCommerce. Built on WordPress, WooCommerce is a fully customizable, open source eCommerce solution.

Whether you’re selling a few handcrafted items to a niche market, taking an existing business online, or going global with an enterprise level eCommerce business – WooCommerce will get you set up and selling fast and scale securely as you grow. Plus your content will be forever yours and customizable down to the finest button color.

Developed and supported by a distributed team, WooCommerce is powered by Automattic, the creators of WordPress.com.

Jetpack

Jetpack is a free WordPress plugin that simplifies managing your sites. This single plugin enables Photon (a global CDN for images), uptime monitoring, brute force protection, traffic-boosting tools, single sign on, multiple-site management, and automatic or bulk plugin updates. Additionally Jetpack includes several features that help you customize the look and feel of your site without installing other tools. More information can be found at jetpack.com.

Bluehost

Bluehost has been a WordPress partner since 2005 and powers over 1 million WordPress sites worldwide. Their objective is to help customers, whether novice or pro, create a thriving online presence at an affordable price. With a team of in-house tech experts available 24/7, Bluehost dedicates time and resources to providing the best support and services in the industry. Join millions of other site owners and see what Bluehost can do for you and your online presence.

 

WCSTL Speaker Interview: Nile Flores

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Nile Flores will be presenting Creating A WordPress Website That Works From the Start. Nile lives in Centralia, Illinois, but is from Belleville, Illinois.

Here’s Nile’s interview. ( Note from Jen Swisher (lead organizer): Please note that every speaker got the same questions, and Nile has done them all, but since it’s strange for Nile to interview herself, I have stepped in.)

JEN SWISHER: What was it about WordPress that got you to start using it?
NILE FLORES: I started hobby blogging a little over 15 years ago. So, the very abridge edition of how I got into WordPress, is that first, I tried manual blogging, and then got into b2 cafelog. b2 cafelog was the blog platform that WordPress was forked from. When WordPress was officially released, I was on the first version. However, what attracted me to it was how it was so easy to blog. Eventually I loved it when WordPress added features like being able to create pages, and custom menus. I’ve seen it all and it’s always wow-ing me. 
JEN SWISHER: What motivates you to give back to WordPress and its community?
NILE FLORES: I love helping people. I’ve been doing that for years. It’s like the quote from the Disney movie Robots, “See a need, fill a need!” There are a lot of people that are struggling to learn. Not everyone has Master level Google Fu, and not everyone has a lot of money. I tried to help fill a need by blogging and publishing tutorials, or contributing to WordPress- related support forums or groups. And then there’s WordCamp. I tell you that nothing makes you feel better than being able to help someone, and then get to meet them at WordCamp.
I also love meeting others in the St. Louis community. I’ve had a lot of support from them and I’m full of gratitude for it.
JEN SWISHER: How many WordCamps have you been to, and what was your best 1 or 2 experiences that you had when attending WordCamp?
NILE FLORES: Oh, goodness. I’ve got to count a lot for this. I’ve been attending WordCamps across the U.S. since 2009. I’ve been to 35 WordCamps. Of them, I’ve spoken at 30, been on a virtual panel for 1, and the rest, I was only an attendee or volunteer. 

My fondest memory is WordCamp Nashville 2015. I was invited as a backup speaker because they weren’t sure if they’d have someone back out. Somehow they kept having speakers back out, due to conflicting schedules. It happens! They invited me back to speak in 2016, on the same topic I submitted the previous year.

Another great memory was getting to meet people like Matt Mullenweg, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, and Brian Gardner, back in WordCamp Chicago 2009. I really felt like a fan girl, and even blogged about it too! (lol)
JEN SWISHER: What is your number 1 tip for WordPress users?
NILE FLORES: Google is your friend. If you don’t know, find out. It could be posting a question in your Local Meetup, some WordPress group on Facebook, the WordPress support Forum, WordPress Stack Exchange, or Google Search. There’s always an answer somewhere. However, if you can’t find the answer, or figure it out, don’t panic. Just hire someone to help you fix it.
JEN SWISHER: What is your favorite feature in WordPress?
NILE FLORES: The content editor. This is what sold me when I took up be cafelog, and continues to be my favorite thing in WordPress, because I love writing (and blogging.) The best thing about this, is that you can go back and edit your post or page any time.
JEN SWISHER: What are your 3 most favorite WordPress plugins?
NILE FLORES:
  1. Yoast SEO – If you don’t have it, you should. This plugin has a lot of great tools to help any WordPress website owner.
  2. Gravity Forms – I love it. I know that it’s a premium plugin, but with the developer license, I’ve really enjoyed being able to create forms easily and even customize them.
  3. W3 Total Cache – I admit that this is a beast of a plugin, but after using it for so long, I’ve mastered it quite well. It’s helped optimize my site.
JEN SWISHER: What is your favorite WordPress theme?
NILE FLORES: I’m a fan of the Genesis theme framework from StudioPress. I don’t really have a favorite child theme as I keep customizing them. I am using the child theme, Wellness Pro, for my theme.
If you’d like to meet Nile, or sit in on her presentation, you will want to buy a ticket. See you at WordCamp St. Louis!

WCSTL Afterparty Announcement

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WordCamp’s over, now what do you do? CELEBRATE!! Come to the Regional Arts Commission building (6128 Delmar Blvd.) for an evening with your fellow attendees.

The afterparty will start at 6p.m. and go until 9p.m. There will be opportunities to chat with fellow attendees, snacks, drinks, and more!

Bring Your Brews!

We’ll have soda, water, and beer, but if you are a brewer and want to share, feel free to bring some along!

Call for Sponsors

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One day. One place.
350 highly engaged WordPress people who really do want to see how you can help them.

The St. Louis WordPress community is WordPress users, designers, and developers:

  • Business owners.
  • Marketers.
  • Web designers and developers.
  • Computer users.
  • Web hosts.
  • Even a few of the people who help make WordPress itself.

On March 18, they’re coming together to talk about WordPress.  To share tips and tricks. And to see what’s new.

Which is where you come in.

At WordCamp St. Louis – or any WordCamp, really – the emphasis is on local.

Local speakers. Local participants. Local businesses. Local designers and developers.

So if you’re a local business, or you do business in the region (Yes, Cardinal Nation counts!) and you want to get in front of folks who care enough about the Web and WordPress to come to WordCamp on a Saturday, you want to be here too.

Because there’s no better way to start a relationship than to meet someone face-to-face.

Sponsorship Packages

Check out the packages below. One of them is sure to fit your needs – and give you just the icebreaking exposure you need to start a few meaningful conversations with folks you can really help.

Platinum = $2000
  • 4 tickets to WordCamp St. Louis and the speaker-sponsor dinner on Friday night.
  • Your logo on digital communications <strong>and</strong> printed materials
  • A dedicated table in the common area, where you can give live demos or hand out your favorite swag.
  • dedicated sponsor post on the sponsors page with a company blurb of your choice
  • official tweet announcing your support
  • sidebar logo link
Gold = $1000
  • 3 tickets to WordCamp St. Louis
  • logo on digital communications
  • dedicated table in common space
  • dedicated sponsor post on the sponsors page with a company blurb of your choice
  • official tweet announcing your support
  • sidebar logo link
Silver = $500
  • 2 tickets to WordCamp St. Louis
  • space on shared swag table
  • official tweet announcing your support
  • sidebar logo link
Bronze = $150
  • 2 tickets to WordCamp St. Louis
  • space on shared swag
  • sidebar logo link
Scholarship = $60
  • You’ll get 1 ticket and 1 ticket will be contributed to our scholarship fund that helps us provide tickets to those who might not otherwise be able to attend
  • We’ll recognize you in a blog post and announce your support via social media

In-kind

  • contact us to work something out. We’re flexible!

Become a Sponsor today!









Welcome to WordCamp St. Louis

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WordCamp St. Louis is happening  March 18th!

We’ll be at Washington University‘s Danforth Campus. We will once again be in the Laboratory Sciences Building on the North Side of campus. To get directions, check out the Location page.

Subscribe using the form in the footer to stay up to date on the most recent news. We’ll keep you posted on all the details over the coming weeks, including speaker submissions, ticket sales and more!