Cincinnati’s first WordCamp took place October 15th and 16th at the University of Cincinnati, and US Digital Partners played a big role.
What’s a WordCamp you ask? It’s a casual, locally-organized conference covering anything and everything related to WordPress. These informal events are put together by WordPress users. Attendees that range from casual users to core developers get together to share their knowledge and passion.
Since we use WordPress with many of our clients, USDP thought this was a perfect opportunity to be a sponsor of the inaugural WordCamp Cincinnati. Kayla Brighter and Sam Mustian held down the fort at our booth and were able to meet and interact with other WordPress and digital enthusiasts.
Four of our team members also presented in breakout sessions at WordCamp Cincinnati.
How to Win with WordPress
David Brecount kicked off the weekend with a presentation about business strategy for your website, and how you can win with WordPress. The main message? Clarity. David stressed the importance of having a clear message on your website. It might sound obvious, but you have only seven seconds to give your visitors a reason to stay longer. In those seven seconds, you must tell the user what you offer, why it’s better and how to get it. Forget all the complicated marketing mumbo jumbo – make your message so simple that a second grader can understand it. David wrapped up by explaining why WordPress is an excellent avenue for executing your strategy via a website.
Theming WordPress with Timber
Next, Lew Krehnbrink and Michael Whalen teamed up for a tech-focused session about Timber, a WordPress plugin. Their discussion was geared towards web developers who may be experiencing some of the same frustrations with productivity and organization that Lew and Michael had in the past. Without getting too technical, Timber helps you create fully-customized WordPress themes faster with more sustainable code. This makes life a lot easier for developers, whether they are a WordPress newbie or seasoned expert.
SEO in WordPress
Rounding out the day was Scott Volpenhein, who presented on search engine optimization (SEO) as it related to WordPress. Scott covered some tips for improving your ranking, and that list starts with keyword research. There’s a lot to SEO, but some of the easiest factors you have direct control over include your page title, page url, heading tags, copy, images and speed. Scott dove into each of these and talked about how you can utilize the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress to achieve better rankings. Everyone wants their site to show up first when someone does a Google search, right?
Our team loved being a part of the first WordCamp Cincinnati, and we can’t wait to see what the 2017 event has in store!
The post USDP at WordCamp Cincinnati appeared first on US Digital Partners.