Our 2016 finale is here, which includes our assistant Erin’s last hurrah with your hosts! What have we learned in business, tech and life? Did we reach the goals we set last year? What’s in store for 2017? All this, plus the results of all ours guests' Rapidfire Questions. Happy holidays! See you next year!

Noah Bersohn and Peter Compernolle from One Design Company join the show to discuss the nuances of shipping and fulfillment in ecommerce development. They share how they managed all the moving parts for two unique client projects, including business rules, tribal knowledge and user experience, not to mention the actual dev. They emphasize their Discovery process, which includes rapid prototyping to validate before diving into full-scale development. They also discuss the ecommerce frameworks and CMSs they use (and prefer), and how to strategically decide when to move from out-of-the-box to plugins or custom dev.

Working on your business is as important as the work your business does! Marketing Mentor Ilise Benun joins us on the show to explain the three marketing buckets your firm should utilize, how to shift your mindset to speak to your target audience, and specific tips on how to execute her advice! We also chat measurement and success, plus, listen to real-world examples how Bright Umbrella markets today!

Web expert Rachel Andrew joins the show to explain the what, why and how of secure site content. We each share real-world client examples, including login-protected member portals and ecommerce builds. Rachel specifically details how Perch CMS supports subscription-based content using a paywall in Perch Shop. She also explains the core server requirements for secure content and how HTTPS may become the default for all sites. And she gives us an intro to HTTP/2 and where HTTPS fits in with this new performance-focused protocol.

Eric Gillin shares the phased, practical approach to rehauling Epicurious' site that allowed them to launch in an accelerated amount of time. He explains how he prioritized business goals, got developer buy-in and what's most important to a home cook. Plus: how to parse criticism for a highly-trafficked site, their upcoming mobile app and what the future holds for food and digital.

Special guest Stephanie Morillo joins the show to explain copywriting and how it impacts user experience on the web. She shares examples of copy, as compared to content, and details how critical it is for connecting with your audience and supporting your brand. Stephanie talks about where copywriting fits into the project process, as well as the importance of collaboration with stakeholders. She also shares great resources to help improve your copywriting and be consistent with copy on your site.

J Cornelius, President of Nine Labs, stops by the show to explain the value of paid, focused discovery engagements! We discuss different ways they can be executed, what they include, why they're important, the sales process and how starting small benefits both you and your client's business.

Lea and Emily discuss real-world client sites they've optimized for better performance, speed and stability! One involved fixing an emergency situation and another was a thoughtful long-overdue rebuild. We discuss ways we isolated issues in EE as well as front-end, how we navigated budget and resource constraints, and why investing in a fast site pays dividends with staff, conversions, and more!

Special guest Lewis Francis, Director of Quality Assurance at Threespot, joins the show to teach us the basics about QA. He details the difference between quality assurance and quality control, as well as where QA fits into the project cycle (hint: the entire thing). Lewis explains how budget can dictate the scope of QA, but also what should be part of any QA process. And he shares some of his favorite QA tools and resources, from automated full-site validation to front-end testing to issue tracking.

How do you test your design assumptions? UX expert Matthew Oliphant stops by the show to explain how data can help inform critical business decisions as well as design and development. We chat about testing practices, how to evaluate information, and how data affects the entire life cycle of a web project.