Divi Chat

Divi is constantly having useful new features added to it so this week we discuss some of our favorites from recent months and how they've helped our workflows.

 

Hosts Present:

David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB

Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler

Jason Champagne – Elegant Themes / FB / @elegantthemes

Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac

Resources:

25 “Hidden” Divi Features to Boost Productivity and Design -- (YouTube video version)

Divi Sneak Peeks

Divi Feature Releases & Updates

Elegant Themes YouTube channel with all kinds of Divi updates and tutorials on using the new features

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vIsRsLqbQo

Last week we discussed our best and worst web design jobs — okay we mostly just talked about the bad lol! We mentioned things that clients do that make our job more difficult and frustrating, but we realized we weren’t being entirely fair.

How are clients supposed to know how to act or what to ask? Or even what to expect if they’ve never worked with a web designer before? It can be a scary process, especially when you have a budget you need to stick to and you have no idea who to trust.

So this week as a follow-up topic we’ll be sharing some tips for clients!

 

Hosts Present:

Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Stephanie Hudson – Sweet Tea Media / FB / @EnjoySweetTea

Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler

Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb

Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac

Resources Mentioned:

How a Web Design Goes Straight to Hell

Some things you may want to ask about when looking to hire a web designer/developer:

is there a contract? if not, why not?

how much is the deposit?

will I be trained to edit my site if I need to?

what exactly am I getting for the cost? (it should be clearly outlined what all is included for your $$)

will I need maintenance, and if so will you do it?

how much is maintenance?

if it's not going as I hoped and I want to terminate the project early what are my options, and will I get any money back? (sometimes referred to as a "kill clause")

where is my site being hosted and do I have access?

where is my domain registered and do I have access? (in case you haven't purchased one already)

do I have to write the content?

do I have to provide/buy photos?

do I have to buy special software/plugins or are those included?

are any plugins subscription-based? (recurring charges)

is it a custom site? (custom is often referred to as "bespoke")

*We interchange the terms designer and developer quite a bit. Technically there is a difference but for the purpose of this episode we generally mean a person/company that builds websites.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPD4Unmokso

Let's face it, some web design projects end up sucking Whether it's because you and the client don't get along, you have a problem with scope creep, or any number of reasons it can be quite frustrating. This week we have a casual chat of some of our best and worst jobs, although we mostly only get to the terrible experiences lol

 

Hosts Present:

David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB

Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler

Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb

Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukLbvZHhUHU

This week we discuss ways to attract more customers and increase revenue for your ecommerce sites.

 

Hosts Present:

David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Tammy Grant - Sunflower Creatives / FB / @yourblogplace

Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler

Resources Mentioned:

Answer the Public - Keyword Search

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHibrHOpgIk

Most of us do remote work already, that's one of the biggest advantages of our industry is to be able to work pretty much from anywhere, so long as you have a decent internet connection.

A lot of us end up working with other people or companies so the dynamics of scheduling, deadlines, and other things can get a bit tricky once teams start to grow. Some of us know exactly what struggles there can be so we'll be discussing them.

 

Hosts Present:

Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB

Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler

Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac

Resources Mentioned:

Basecamp Project Management

Asana Project Management

Upwork for hiring

Divi Freelancers for Hire FB Group

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vINYxm9JK1o

The Divi Builder continues to become better and better with more and more design tools that make the need for custom CSS less and less. However, there are still times when custom CSS is necessary for your Divi website. What makes things confusing is there isn't just one place to put custom CSS. There's several different places to put CSS and they all have their pros and cons.

From the custom CSS file in your Divi Child Theme, to Divi Theme Options custom CSS box, to the Divi Builder page CSS box, there's a lot of places to put custom CSS!

To make things even more confusing, you can even place custom CSS in the advanced tab of Divi Modules, although you must add the CSS styles to the existing CSS classes.

In this episode of Divi Chat, the gang talks about all these different places in Divi to put your custom CSS, and they reveal which option they like and why!

 

Hosts Present:

David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Geno Quiroz - Monterey Premier / FB / @montereypremier

Tim Strifler - Divi Life / Divi Child Themes

Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb

Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac

Resources Mentioned:

WPBeginner

W3Schools

Google Chrome Inspect Element Tutorial for Divi

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu47nwXDnmc

Working from home can be a big change from a “regular” job, and getting into a consistent self-disciplined routine may prove challenging. We’ll discuss things we’ve learned and tips and tricks to keep our projects - and sanity - on track.

 

Hosts Present:

Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB

Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb

Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPyXPcYVao

Page builders are awesome for building websites, but what if you're a blogger and want to use a page builder for your blog posts? There are several reasons why you might want to use a page builder for your blog, one of the main ones being the layout and styling functionality you can add to your single post layouts.

All of us have either used Divi for our own blog or have set up a blog for a client so we'll discuss our experiences and some pros and cons to using a page builder for your blog posts.

 

Hosts Present:

David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB

Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler

Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb

Nathan B. Weller – Elegant Themes / FB / @elegantthemes

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC1cS79ypvY

Today we're talking web design pricing and how to prepare yourself for raising your rates, whether that be to build a site or for maintenance plans. It's usually a scary thing to do, especially the first time, so we'll share what we've learned and how we prepared our clients for price hikes.

 

Hosts Present:

David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB

Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler

Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb

Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac

Resources Mentioned:

5 Pricing Model Options for Your Divi Web Design Business

The Design Space - Work by Melissa Love

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHAx__DlDnY

Getting involved with like-minded people is incredibly beneficial for your business, and it's fun! Something that brought us Divi Chatters all together was attending Meetups and WordCamps. Connecting online is great of course, but connecting face-to-face and on a more personal level is something you can't really beat, and can lead to some great business ventures as we've all found out.

If you're interested in starting up a local Divi or WordPress Meetup we've got all the information you need to do it in this week's episode! :D

 

Hosts Present:

David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Nathan B. Weller – Elegant Themes / FB / @elegantthemes

Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc

Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler

Resources:

Official Divi Nation Meetup Network

The Divi Nation Event Organizer Handbook

Make WordPress Communities (on WordPress.org)

Laura Hartwig: How To Start A WordPress Meetup In Your Town (And Why You Should)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H99QdwCqjrA&t=1s