 Thanks Ingrid, is that can you hear me? Yes? Okay, great. Good morning. I'm Katie Tilden when I looked at the speaker list for word com But what sorry for word? To feeling a little intimidated are technical experts wordpress experts lots of people who really know their wordpress stuff and me I'm a writer Sorry, okay. Yeah, I'm a writer a communicator a content creator a strategist a business owner a wordpress expert No, but that's why I'm here to share my story today. I'm here purely as a user So how does wordpress fit into my work? Let's start at the beginning my beginning So let me go back to the beginning of my wordpress adventure. It was back in 2010 I loved writing enough to spending a lot of time writing for others I wanted my own space my own place to write about the things I wanted to write about I Was starting to see the emergence of blogging and bloggers and I must admit I wanted in So I decided to start my own blog the purple notepad as you'll see through my slides I do like purple. I did a little research to find out what other people were doing I tapped into my friends who knew a little bit more about this space that I did or quite a bit more And then I took the plunge with wordpress So I started in May 2010 and I kept the blog running until about December 2013 So it did cover some big moments in my life more of a as I said a personal Blog about me and what I was doing in my life, but it was very much learning on the go Go to work in my full-time job in government communications. I'd come home Gone and I'd sort of play around here and have lots of fun doing it When I look back now, I can see how basic it is, but it's all I needed It was a place to put my blog posts. I had a menu. I could add images. I even got to advertising I thought I was making it pretty big and I loved every moment. It's a space for me to learn Explore play and do it all on my own terms And I could always find resources and tips on how to do what I needed to do So I'd Google something or YouTube I'd watch go and I'd muddle my way through So tapping into the collective wordpress knowledge available really did help me enormously And I saw it as a learning and development tool I was having fun while learning at the same time and that's one of the reasons why I've always loved WordPress and why I think it's valued by so many people so fast forward a Couple of years To 2015 I'm a little older a little wiser and I decided to start my own strategic communications and content writing business I needed a professional platform for my site and I knew exactly what it would be I've evolved so have my needs and so has WordPress. It has the perfect platform for what I need I was so excited to get back into WordPress. It had been a few years I missed being able to log in and have a play in my own little space And it was a chance for me to take my business and my platform to the next level So when people say why WordPress might say well, why not WordPress? It's the leading website platform in the world and for good reason Power is more than a third of the web. It's a platform for White House gov for Reuters for the New Yorker So we're in pretty good company It's allowed me to use my strengths on a platform where I feel comfortable. It's user-friendly. It's reliable It's logical. It's trustworthy and you can get a website started in minutes I don't consider myself to be technically savvy I've said that from the outset, but I've been working with content management systems for a little while and WordPress is really up there. It's easy. I just have always loved spending time in the back end of my website So another testament to what's word to WordPress is its community as we see here today I'm this is the first time I've been to a WordPress or a WordCamp event and I love it. It's fantastic I'm really excited to be here to learn about to learn more about WordPress to see people who are passionate about a content management system and The difference it makes to giving people Businesses, causes, a platform, a foundation, a voice, a safe and secure place online So as I said, why I love WordPress. It's a safe, reliable and secure platform During my time working in other content management systems always did what I needed to do and got out Probably a little bit terrified I'd knock something over while I was in the back end and the whole website would come crashing down It's a totally different experience in WordPress for me. Yeah, sure I know I can't get into trouble with the boss if I break the whole thing because I am the boss But the back end of my website is a place I feel comfortable, happy and at ease. I'm quite happy pottering around there and having a go Lots of business owners, bloggers and others who venture into the online space want a website that offers a great user experience It's easy to use, is easily navigated, looks great, tells a story and does what it's meant to do whether that's to inform, to engage, to educate, convert or sell Most of all, they want a site and a platform that's reliable and trustworthy and WordPress delivers that and more It looks and behaves professionally. As I mentioned earlier, it's used as a platform by some huge names in the online world And once you're on WordPress, you can choose from an array of themes to give you the look and the feel that you want It's a basic and fundamental question Why do you need a website? Whether it's to sell a product or share your story, to service, inform or educate Whatever it is you're doing, you are sharing a story, your story You're connecting with your customer, your reader, your community and that's what WordPress allows you to do In an environment that's heavily dominated by social channels, having your own space, your own place on the internet is really important WordPress gives you that digital foundation for your business or your blog or whatever it is you're creating a website for With WordPress as your digital foundation, you can build your website and your business You can add your content, add your images, your video, you can add a sign up for any newsletter You can grow your community You can build a mailing list to connect with your followers on social media You have the platform to grow as your business grows WordPress has enabled me to play happily in my own little Sam Pit Giving me enough space to explore safely without kicking up too much sand and making a complete mess of my Sam Pit I'm continually evolving and so is WordPress with me It offers all that I need as I move through the different stages of my business So I started to sprouts in August 2016 and the idea of starting a website can be really terrifying for many business owners And I was I admit I obviously played around with WordPress before but this felt a whole lot more serious. I Knew how I wanted my website to function how I wanted to and what I wanted it to say I knew that if I hired a website to develop developer to take care of the technical aspects I could take care of the content I drew up how I wanted my website designed to look yep with pencil and paper. It's pretty high-tech My website isn't perfect. I think is a creative. I'm always thinking of ways to improve it Ways to make it look better function better read better But I'm proud of where it is at the moment It represents me and it's a brilliant tool in my business kit It's my little corner of the internet where I can inform and reach my customers It's a place they can come to to learn about me and my services a place They can read my blogs a place They can sign up to receive my e-newsletters and become a part of my community a Place they can follow and reach out to me on social media. It's my digital foundation It allows me to be part of the digital and online world and build my business My website is living and breathing content. I think most websites are and I've come a long way as a business owner And a wordpress user in knowledge experience and confidence So why wordpress can work for you? Your business doesn't stand still. It's constantly growing and evolving Wordpress has the ability to grow and evolve with your business and customer needs There's nothing wrong with starting simple. Then as you and your business grow so too. Can your website? I firmly believe every business needs a website your potential customers want to learn more about you find out about your Services see what you look like see what runs you have on the board They want a chance to get to know you and build a relationship Wordpress gives you a cost-effective and simple way to start I encourage businesses to invest in a web developer a copywriter Professional images and branding at a minimum, but you can start simply with wordpress You can keep you can then keep coming back to your website to add those different elements as you grow. I Love that there are lots of plugins and tools I think Tony said that some people use too many But I think if you find the right amount of plugins and tools then the you can make that balance work But before you go in adding all of those tools make sure that you're adding ones that are going to be beneficial and helpful to your customers and Help you deliver the service that you want to deliver So as Tony talked a little bit about for Yoast the search engine optimization tool In wordpress. I always recommend working with a professional SEO copywriter I'm one of those but using Yoast is a big help in checking your content, especially as you move forward with your content strategy The open source environment of wordpress is one of the reasons such an amazing community is filled with experts knowledge and valuable Resources and what exists online and in person here today Wordpress has been my website buddy as I've navigated my way through the online and digital world It's enabled me to tap into the community and their resources. I Just want to touch on learning opportunity I think sometimes when we fiddle around in the back end, we don't see it as valuable time or Yeah, valuable time spent, but I really see it as an important learning opportunity and I think I encourage People to build it into their learning And development as part of their business so set aside time set aside a budget invest in us a course or something To start that journey with you And I've that's something I've built into my business That time to learn about how wordpress is working and how I can make it work for me and don't view it as wasted time because you're still learning and Finally my wordpress tips Don't be afraid to tinker as I've said I love that no matter what I want to do or tinker with on my side That there's someone out there who's probably already done it So if I Google it or YouTube or tap into the wordpress resources I can find someone who's done it and usually find a step-by-step way through it But if I've got off but this time's I've realized when I'm out of my depth and it's time to get a professional in so know your limits Know when you've hit that that time when you've spent eight hours doing something that would take a professional one So know the value of your own time and invest in that And find a wordpress developer. I'm looking for one. I had a chat to Tony, but yeah I'm looking for one who can help me with some of the technical challenges. I come across Back up your website regularly. I think Tony said weekly. I'm up to monthly. I've got to get better at that At least I know if I'm playing or tinkering around in the back end and it all goes wrong I've got the backup of my website to restore it because that's one of my worst fears Losing my website trust the platform Wordpress has an incredible reputation as we see here today. Trust it know when you sign up to a wordpress site You're getting a fantastic product with service resources and community as well As I said a few minutes ago consider wordpress as part of your learning and development if you're in business build it into your Plans invest in you and your skills your website is a huge part of your business so make sure that you invest accordingly and Finally, I'm going to say add a blog. I promise that's easy I really enjoy the process of crafting a blog adding the content to my site playing around in the back end with the template Adding images videos and getting it just how I like it. It's really easy once you know how I could outsource the uploading of my Blog to my virtual assistant, but like I said, I really do enjoy that process Blogs are important part of the content marketing strategy, but a lot of business owners are put off by the thought of writing and maintaining a blog Don't be and have you considered outsourcing the writing of your blogs. I can help with your content creation Thank you for joining me this morning I really hope that whether you're at the start of your wordpress adventure or well on your way You've been able to take something away from today's presentation and if anyone has any questions I've got a few minutes to do that Okay, we've got some questions now to make it easier because we are live streaming if you'd like to pop down for us Thank you. Hi. Thanks for your presentation Given that you're a service-based business in terms of your lead generation How much time would you put into your website versus social media? I think it's really important to have valuable content on your website So I invest time in writing a regular blog. I now write one monthly And then I so I draft that I play around with the ideas I put that on my website and then I use that as one of the I guess main bits of content that I will put on my social But then I've also now because I've got quite a library of blogs. I've gone back to pull out all my yet to pull out bits like one-liners that I can turn into Quotes or other images that I can use across social media So you've invested all that time in building up a library of content and that I guess could be blogs or it could be other pages on your website so don't think that they're just done and dusted go back and invest the time in pulling valuable bits of information out little gems that you can then share because a lot of that content Okay, it's depending on what your business is but a lot of that content is timeless So yeah, I kind of put the focus into developing that main bit of content But then I've now I've got that library I'm going back and tapping into it and using that across my social So I'm not stuck for content because there's nothing worse than you. Oh, what am I going to post? Yeah One more question we can have one more question before the caffeine hit kicks in any more questions for Katie Okay, well, I'd like you to please join me in thanking Katie for sharing her journey