Lucy Beer of WebTrainingWheels.com provides WordPress training & help in Los Angeles, California and online. She is also an online marketing consulting to small businesses and solopreneurs.
I recently had the opportunity to interview her about her experiences working with WordPress, how she trains people and business to use WordPress and how she has managed to become an expert in her field.
Luc asks: Lucy, how long have you been working with WordPress? Why did you choose WordPress or did WordPress choose you?
Lucy Beer says: I’ve been using WordPress since early 2004. Like many others, I started out on Blogger, but quickly outgrew it, even with my little non-business hobby blogs. It was just too limiting. I’m not sure how I even found out about WordPress, but once I started using it I was hooked and I’ve never looked back! I found it very empowering, and although there is a lot to learn, I like the process of discovery and finding ways to make WordPress do just what I need it to. I also love the feeling of community that has developed around WP.
Luc asks: What is your approach in training people and businesses to use WordPress?
Lucy Beer says: Basically what I’m finding is that while I learned WordPress by relentless Googling and experimenting with my sites, most people do not want to put in that kind of time! A lot of people just learn better when someone shows them how to do it, one-on-one or in-person. So my approach is very personal and non-techie. People are often excited by the prospect of having their own website, but also intimidated by the technology, so I see my role as removing the fear factor and giving people an empowering tool they can use for whatever their mission is. I try and be patient and understanding, keep the ‘jargon’ to a minimum and just make the whole process as friendly and easy as possible. Since I’m also a marketing consultant I also focus on ways that clients can get the most out of their site from a marketing perspective.
Luc asks: I see that you’ve presented at WordCamp. How were you first approached to present there?
Lucy Beer says: Actually I think I approached them! I took the plunge and submitted myself as a speaker. It was a bit last minute but they offered me a slot. Hopefully there will be more opportunities to come!
Luc asks: Do you have some favorite WordPress themes, plugins or resources that you like to recommend to people and what are they?
Lucy Beer says: Oy, that’s a huge question! I don’t have favorite themes in particular because the needs of each site and business tend to vary. However, for pretty solid free themes I really like WPShower.com, and while I haven’t used them yet I think the free ones that Site5 offers look pretty professional. I just started checking out some themes from Themify.me and they have fairly extensive customization options. Themeforest has some great looking themes, but it’s like shopping at Ross (a notoriously unorganized store here in the US) – you have to be prepared to dig through the racks to find the gems. (hint hint, Themeforest, please make it easier to browse!) . I tend to keep an eye on design-related sites like Smashing Magazine to find info on new themes. I’m actually not a fan of the WordPress theme directory and rarely find anything there. As for plugins, I’m always finding new ones but I don’t use a particular resource for that – I tend to discover ones on a case by case basis depending on my needs, or those of a client – then I just play with them until I find the one that does what I need. I do like the MailChimp plugin because I just love their service and the fact that I can use them to power RSS blog updates via email, as well as regular newsletters. For overall WordPress info, particularly related to SEO, I highly recommend reading just about everything on Yoast.com!
Luc asks: Lucy, what would you tell small to mid sized businesses looking to utilize WordPress to run their online businesses?
Lucy Beer says: Many people are still surprised to find out that WordPress is a full CMS, and not just a blogging platform. So for some businesses that are looking to add-on a blog to their site, they may want to consider moving their whole site onto WordPress .You can do almost anything with WordPress so it will meet the needs of most businesses. I would also say that for businesses who have a strong brand identity, it’s definitely worthwhile investing in having a customized theme created for you that will make your site stand out. Also if you’re new to WordPress, I’d recommend getting good WP advice at the outset, so that you can make sure to set up your site the right way from the beginning, and not deal with, for example, having to change your permalink structure months down the road, or learning the hard way about site security and backups. For many businesses it can be a money-saving move to go to WordPress, not only because you can control so much of it yourself rather than being at the mercy of a web designer to make content updates, but also because of the huge support system. There’s lots of free online information via WordPress.org, Google, the LinkedIn groups, and there’s lots of talented WordPress developers and designers available for hire.
