WordPress is powerful, for sure, with it’s flexibility, plugins, easy content publishing, not to mention the price (free). If a site is to grow, there will be needs along the way. One of my WordPress sites had a major issue that I couldn’t fix. That is when I contacted today’s expert. Watch the video or read the summary below.
Conversation with My WordPress Expert. Plugins, Speed, and More
Checkout this skype interview that I had with WordPress Expert Brian Layman.
Can’t see the video? Find it here. Prefer to read the summary, scroll down.
Summary of Conversation:
Although Brian lives in Northeast Ohio, he is a loyal Pittsburgh Steeler fan (we’ll forgive him for that!).
Brian and I first met at Blogworld 2010 (more here).
WordPress site I manage was constantly getting frozen. Site had reached the limits of the hosting plan, slow in loading pages, maxing out server resources, had to reboot daily, or multiple times daily.
Brian came to the rescue, fixed the site, and ultimately moved to his managed hosting solution.
Decent hosts for Beginners Getting Started Blogging with WordPress
Recommended Free WordPress Plugins
- Akismet – Anti-spam tool for blogs. Found here.
- WordPress SEO – From Joost Yoast, every possible SEO setting one could want, found here.
- W3 Total Cache – High End Plugin to load site from memory instead of hard disk, increasing site performance substantially. Use with caution. Download it here.
Recommended Paid WordPress Plugins
- Backup Buddy – Backup tool from the folks at iThemes. Having backups is part of the solution; the other component is restoring the backup (what to do with that backup file?).
- Gravity Forms – By Rocketgenious. Powerful form based plugins that stores the data in the WordPress administrative console, different from other email-only based solutions. Does integrate with captcha solutions to ward off spammers.
How to Know When to Move to a More Robust Host (Managed)
- No magic number, the measurement tools are so diverse. A better model is to look at it as a business, how important is the site to you or your livelihood.
- Is $30 a month a good amount to invest on your WordPress blog?
- As flexible and powerful WordPress is, software does have conflicts, and resolving conflicts can take time.
“Hire people who play at what you work at.” – John Assaraf
What’s the Future of the WordPress Publishing Platform?
- Continue to mature as a publishing environment.
- More integrated publishing tools in the editors, better handling of media, etc.
- Less focused on blogging and a diary, and more about creating separate standalone pages for businesses.
More about Brian Layman and His Services
Brian has been working with WordPress since Ver. 1.2 in 2004. His company is eHermits Inc, provides managed WordPress hosting. He’s a WordPress core contributor and develops custom plugins. His specialties include database management and server administration – including Amazon AWS.
Brian has worked with b5media, Borland International, RedRover, Rhett and Link Inc. as well as Darren “Problogger” Rowse in delivering custom solutions. He speaks regularly at conventions and on WordPress related podcasts. He’s also working with the team at WebDevStudios.
You can find Brian most easily here.
Thoughts? Questions for Brian? Chime in below.
Image Credit: Emmealcubo
Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
Twitter
Skype
Hi, my name is Travis Campbell, I operate this site. One way I can extend what I've learned marketing online over the years is by writing about it here... and helping you along the way.
Blogging