secrets of wordpress success - blueglass la

Presentation Overview

What Really Matters

ContentDesignSpeed*SEO

Content

Ditch The Buttons

Content

Ditch The Buttons• Focus on sharing options where your visitors are active• Code them straight in the theme whenever possible

– URL encoded links and titles– Proper image sizes

• If you don’t set them, you’re relying on the site to guess

– Excerpts

ContentTest, Test Test

Content

Test, Test Test• Don’t assume the site knows what you want.• Keep up with changes to specific site changes

– Example: Facebook recently changed the minimum size for thumbnails from 150px squares to 200px squares

• Compare button code to “bookmarklets”• Pass the correct data

– Facebook URL linter– https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug

Design

Ditch The Clutter• Multiple calls to action confuse the visitor• Say goodbye to Web 2.uhhgg• Mo’ pieces, Mo’ problems

Design

Sidebar & Footers• Are they helping?• Are they relevant?• Do they maintain the expected flow or interrupt it?

Design

Readability• Is your site actually READABLE by human beings?

– Font sizes / line height– Forget the fold, find the flow– Tests:

• Zoom in and out• Load different OS, as fonts will render differently• Load browsers you don’t use (yes I mean IE)

Design

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle• Ditch images whenever possible• Replace old methods with CSS3 and HTML where apparent• Use sprites and a CDN• If you don’t need it, don’t load it

Design

Mobile• Not everyone needs a good mobile site, but NO ONE can

afford a bad mobile site– Mobile “splash” pages– Immediate information

• Compare analytics to ensure you’re providing the best experience for your visitors

• Responsive Design tests– http://mattkersley.com/responsive/– http://www.benjaminkeen.com/misc/bricss/

Speed

Foundations• A cheap host will cost you more in lost traffic than you

could ever save• Use CDNs for image heavy sites• Set up caching

– W3 Total Cache• Consider a WordPress specific host

– Most will have built-in controls and services to handle issues

Speed

Plugins• Do A/B testing on new plugins

– Is the plugin benefit worth the performance hit?• Look for ‘single serving’ plugins whenever possible• Move simple functions from plugins to theme whenever

possible• Check for poorly coded plugins

– Multiple javascript calls– Items loading on every page, regardless of whether or

not it’s needed