The Business/Freelance Track Focuses on Facets of Web Traffic

wordcloud of business and marketing terms from the talk titles and descriptions
For WordCamp Philly 2018, the talks tackle aspects of what business owners are interested in: traffic. How to plan for it, how to drive it, how to measure it, how to serve it. We’ll have talks on preparation and feature selection for your audience; project management; the security of email marketing; sites for non-profits; and Google Analytics and driving traffic to your site.

The sessions and speakers for the Business/Freelance track are:

Converting Brand New Website Visitors into Paying Customers

Presented by Joe Howard in Business/Freelance.

Getting more traffic to your website is always a good feeling. But what are you supposed to do once you’re getting enough traffic but aren’t yet winning new customers? I’ll go over some best practices of what to do (and what not to do) in order to slowly turn new visitors into paying customers.

This talk will help freelancers, agency owners and anybody selling products or services on WordPress gain their own financial independence.

Email Is Insecure, but You Don’t Have to Be

Presented by Nikki Kriss in Business/Freelance.

While email is inexpensive and has a high ROI, it is also the most insecure marketing channel. Learn the best practices to send email securely that will help you protect your customer’s data, your data, your reputation, and ensure more of your emails get read by the right people at the right time.

In this session, you’ll learn what customer data is safe to send via email, how to tell email clients (like gmail) that you are who you say you are, the basics of segmentation and automation, and be able to apply those things immediately in your email marketing efforts.

How to Improve Your Google Analytics Skills

Presented by Pam Aungst in Business/Freelance.

Getting actionable insights out of Google Analytics requires data to be accurate, comprehensive, and segmented in a way that can answer questions. Take your Google Analytics knowledge to the next level in this intermediate session that covers beyond-basic tactics including:event and conversion tracking, custom reports, custom segments, custom dashboards, secondary dimensions, filters, referral spam, self-referral issues, and cross-domain tracking.

Leveraging WordPress to Build Communities

Presented by Diane Varner in Business/Freelance.

Inbound strategies require thinking through the right plugins, information architecture and template for your audience. The talk with walk through the importance of customer-centric focus with both design and content in building a digital community.

Managing Your WordPress Projects

Presented by Donna Botti in Business/Freelance.

You may have started your business because you valued the freedom and independence, but do you find your time is not your own? Clients who don’t meet their deadlines; software, themes and plugins that change the way they work (or break) on their schedule not yours; and generally fighting the fire of the day mean you won’t be as successful as you want.

In this talk learn some tips to make your WordPress design and development projects, and your business in general, run more smoothly so you can pursue what matters to you. The platforms, tools and processes you use and how you structure a project can make a difference. Regain your independence!

Using Data & Research For Website Planning

Presented by Chris Berkley in Business/Freelance.

In the spirit of independence, I’ll briefly discuss Philadelphia’s advanced city planning, and show the value of planning ahead and how it relates to WordPress. I will then discuss how WordPress users of all skill levels can use data from Google Analytics and other sources to plan their site design and content strategy for optimal SEO success.

This includes: building an SEO-friendly site hierarchy with URL structures, using existing Google Analytics data to plan content strategy, and how to use data to navigate a site redesign or migration.

WordPress For Non-Profits: Website Best Practices, Collecting Donations, Increasing Exposure Online

Presented by Charles Johnston in Business/Freelance.

WordPress web design takes a different approach when creating websites for nonprofit organizations rather than a brick and mortar or eCommerce business. It is more than just driving traffic to a site but getting the visitor to buy into the story that the nonprofit is telling. Picture the ASPCA commercials we all have seen on TV, then convert that into pictures and words. Stories that pull at the heartstrings open the wallets for donations. Providing secure portals to accept not only one-time donations but also subscription based, monthly reoccurring is key. By designing a website that creates emotion and engagement as well as a place to share the stories of the nonprofit. In turn donations and exposure will increase for the organization as well as their digital reputation.

In this presentation I will discuss plugins that I have found that work well for donation-based model websites. I will also share ways to create a user experience that increased donations and awareness. Proper theme selection, seo, plugins all enhance the way we not only tell the nonprofits story but also build brand awareness and in turn a sense of comfort with the donor that they are supporting a cause whose story resonates with them. Whether it be animal welfare, orphans, trafficking, no matter the cause a properly designed site can provide donor dollars and exposure that the organization would likely not have otherwise.

Find Out More

Visit the Schedule page to see all the tracks and talks lined up for WordCamp Philly 2018. Then head over to the Ticket page to get your tickets for the event.

WordCamp Philly is over. Check out the next edition!