Website creation software WordPress first launched to the public in 2003. Since then, it’s become the world’s largest self-hosted blogging tool, powering more than 60 million websites. As of February 2017, 27.5% of the top 10 million websites in the world have been built using WordPress.
With such impressive growth, it’s no wonder that conferences and events dedicated to WordPress are now becoming regular features across the globe.
I was fortunate to attend WordCamp London 2017, a WordPress conference which took place over three days (17-19 March) at the London Metropolitan University.
With more than 40 lectures, and speakers from around the world, there was tons of valuable information to absorb.
Whether you are a blogger, web designer/developer or simply considering using WordPress in the near future, here’s an eclectic mix of tips and advice that I picked up at the event.
1. Set clear goals and boundaries at the start of all projects.
2. Turn loss of a client into a potential win. Do this by impressing them with your handover, and also impressing the person you are handing over to.
3. You have a responsibility to ‘care for the people in your data.’
4. Only keep data that you need.
5. Prepare communications for incidents such as your site being hacked.
6. When designing your website, remember: ‘You are NOT the user’.
7. Users need to find content before they can read or use it.
8. Try to give your visitors the same navigation experience on all platforms.
9. Avoid information overload: Keep your content short, simple and essential.
10. Design your site with all users in mind. (For example, 2.7 million people in the UK are affected by colour blindness.)
11. Fully justified text is harder to read than left-aligned text, due to varying gaps between words. This can particularly affect dyslexics.
12. Google Chrome plugin ‘Wave’ can analyse your site for accessibility issues.
13. Let your content shine! Don’t let your site be cluttered and confusing.
14. Find your niche.
15. Security matters – so, keep your site and plugins up-to-date.
16. Creativity: Stay fresh by ensuring you’re not wearing yourself out with too many projects.
17. Ideas can take longer to come up with than their actual application.
18. Put easy to read, clear formatted posts and pages ahead of trying to make your site artistic-looking.
19. Nobody actually needs websites. Instead, they need clients, information, solutions, etc.
20. New AI-related professions include… Conversation Writers.
21. Change is inevitable. We can either ignore it or face it head on. Change is also opportunity.
Hopefully, some of the above points resonate with you – or at least give you food for thought. I personally gained lots of information and inspiration from the event.
If you want to know more about WordPress, then, please head over to their official website. And if you are interesting in learning more about WordCamp London 2017, then, check out this site.
WordPress is a superb tool. So, if you’re considering setting up a website for your business or creative endeavour, I’d highly recommend going down the WordPress route.
Special thanks to Pradeep Singh for kindly giving me permission to use some of his photos from the event.
