Show 153 – WordPress, iTeq & Twitter (fixed audio file)

We are back after a few months off!

We decided to take some time off after Andrew and Valerie had Twin girls. Bob told Andrew he is crazy if he thinks he can do the Bunker Project with two newborns and toddler. After the first few months, Andrew can say that Bob was definitely right. He recommended we take some time off until the dust settles and now we are back… but Bob is sick tonight so he is sitting this one out.

Twitter Mavens in attendance:

@paultherockgod Paul

@bsainsbury Bonnie Sainsbury

@terrythelocksmith Terry from Mr. Locksmith

@bc_insurancegal Margaret Reynolds

@itech Neil Kilburne

@twisted_majic James Karg

@tsquared Troy Tyrell

Bonnie says she is an avid reader of Brother And Twins and she recommends everyone read it. She particularly liked the latest post on Questions Mothers of Twins Hate to Hear.

Terry the locksmith’s son just had twin girls too. Cool!

James does a decent impression of Bob. James said the Bunker project is four years old… wow!

Today’s Bunker Topic is WordPress.

Why shouldn’t you use WordPress?

Bonnie said there is overhead associated with WordPress and that everyone thinks they are a web designer once they get started with WordPress.

If you are blogging you should be writing content and not wasting time creating headers and tweaking themes.

Andrew asks Bonnie if she recommends people who are susceptible to the distractions of WordPress to use Squarespace or Blogger.com

Bonnie says no but she does recommend Medium because it ONLY for blogging.

Andrew brings up a benefit of using a hosted service like Square Space or Medium your site won’t crash if you get a ton of traffic (mentioned by Oprah) like it will on a shared hosting account.

Bonnie recommends Medium because they advertise each other's blogs within the Medium community. So by being on Medium, you benefit from the community in Medium.

Andrew asks Bonnie if she likes the Minimalist feel of Medium. She feels more like a blogger on Medium and a marketer on WordPress.

Paul the Rock God says if you're on WordPress you can own your site vs.. not owning it on other platforms. Andrew says that you can pay a small fee to use your own domain on Blogger or WordPress.com and if you leave you can export all your data.

Bonnie said on Medium, Ghost or Svtle you can spend less time there creating shorter posts and get more exposure. Andrew mentions that is what Mike Elgin is doing but he is using Google Plus.

Ghost is trying to solve the complexity of WordPress but is opening the platform to developers to create widgets and plugins and themes. Isn’t it going to become WordPress?

Plug In vs. Widget?

Paul the Rock God asks what the difference between a plug-in and a widget is?

Bonnie said that a plug-in is a script that allows you to add functionality to a website without having to code it yourself. And a plug-in is a box that displays something in a meaningful way.

Neil gives us a more technical explanation for a plug-in. He says that a lot of the terminology is just marketing rubbish.

Neil says that nothing matters except what you want to put on your site. Whatever you do will automatically update on your website.

Terry said that if it is a business you hire someone to build your WordPress site for you and don’t worry about what a plug-in or widget is. If is a hobby fart around with plugins.

iTeq Global

Neil says that all the plugins in WordPress are a waste of time.