Episode 62: Custom Content, Managing Expectations and EDD 2.6 Imports

We would like to thank today’s sponsor, Network Solutions. Their product, Secure WordPress, is a managed hosting platform with an emphasis on security. The program keeps plugins updated, performs daily backups, provides malware scanning and removal, and comes with expert tech support, which is available 24/7. You can find more information at getnetsol.com/applyfilters.

In today’s podcast, we talk about what’s new for Brad and Pippin, and we also talk about some topics relating to hiring and project management.

Brad’s Update

Brad just got back from Bacon Biz, a very small conference on business education held in Philadelphia. The speakers were great and he learned a lot. One major takeaway is that he should be promoting his product more to already-subscribed members right on his web page, instead of including the “subscribe” link. He will be using Drip to customize these pages based on whether the reader is already a customer.

He also found out that Datahawk is not trademarkable, as the name is too close to that of another company’s product. The name is changing, and it will be announced in a blog post soon. In other news, he is still in the hiring process for a web developer.

Pippin’s Update

Pippin pushed out the beta version of EDD 2.6. He talks about the major new features of the update, which include a new importer, multiple-email support, and support for processing refunds. He’s hoping to speed up the release cycle for new versions to once every three to four months, instead of once every six months, and is making progress toward that goal.

Some of the topics discussed include:

The importance of managing expectations when it comes to both clients and hiring new team members.

Pippin discusses his milestone strategy to optimize his project management.

How Brad and Pippin use GitHub to handle and track issues and feature requests as they come up.

Links and Resources

Bacon Biz

Drip

Double Your Freelancing Rate

WooCommerce

Blog post on beta 1

Apply Filters on Twitter

If you’re enjoying the show we sure would appreciate a Review in iTunes. Thanks!

Transcript

INTRO: Welcome to Apply Filters, the podcast all about WordPress development. Now here’s your hosts, Pippin Williamson and Brad Touesnard.

PIPPIN: Welcome back to Episode 62 of Apply Filters. Today, Brad and I go over some of the recent things that we’ve been working on, some recent developments, projects, et cetera. But first, a word from our sponsors.

BRAD: I registered my first ever domain name in 1999, 17 years ago. Back then there was one place to register domain names, a company called Network Solutions. Many of you probably already know this, but did you know that Network Solutions also has a WordPress hosting platform? They do.

It’s called Secure WordPress. It’s a managed WordPress hosting platform with an emphasis on security. They automatically keep WordPress core and your themes and plugins up to date. They have daily backups. They provide malware scanning and removal. And, they put your site behind a data center class firewall to protect against zero day hacks and DDoS attacks.

They have expert tech support available 24/7 via chat and phone. Network Solutions takes care of keeping your site locked down and up to date, so you can focus on your business. Visit GetNetSol.com/ApplyFilters today to get started today. And now back to the show.

PIPPIN: Okay, Brad. What have you been up to?

BRAD: Well, last week I just got back from BaconBiz, which is a conference for–

PIPPIN: If you eat a lot of bacon?

BRAD: No, it’s bacon as in “bring home the bacon.”

PIPPIN: Ah, that makes sense.

BRAD: It’s a business conference, and “conference” is not a really good word for it because it’s only 60 people. It’s a very small conference. It was in Philadelphia.

It was just great. Because it was a small conference, you kind of got to know everybody. They had really great