First, we would like to thank our sponsor today, which is Secure WordPress, the WP hosting platform of Network Solutions. With Secure WordPress, you can feel confident that your plugins are up to date, that you won’t have to deal with malware, and that your site is locked down for the ultimate in security. This means you can concentrate on your work and your business without worry. You can check out the product at getnetsol.com/applyfilters.

We get a lot of questions about development and about business in general, so today Brad and Pippin are doing a roundup where we answer our listeners’ questions. The questions came in via Twitter, and we try to get to as many as we can. Some of the topics you’ll hear about include:

Singleton vs. no singleton: When and why should they be used? First, a singleton is a structure where a class can have only one instance of it in its memory at one time. Brad and Pippin agree that there is not a right or wrong way that will apply to every scenario, but there are some instances where you clearly will need a singleton or to avoid having a singleton.

Page builders for WordPress 4.5: Are they similar to custom post types for WordPress 2.9? Pippin says he sees the similarity, because currently, page builders are a bit rough, but they’re ready to open the door to the natural progression of development, much as the custom post types did when they were new. Brad also talks about some of the differences.

How well WordPress fits into the larger PHP ecosystem: Brad says that many people who don’t use WordPress see it as still being a CMS or even a blogging platform. Pippin points out that since WordPress powers 30% of the Web, it’s a big part of the PHP ecosystem.

The most effective online marketing methods: Brad has a concrete answer, but Pippin doesn’t, and he explains why it’s so difficult to determine which of his marketing strategies has been the most effective.

Premium vs Freemium: Which is better? Pippin says that neither is a perfect fit for every product, but if he had to choose just one, he’d choose Premium. Brad, on the other hand, prefers Freemium much of the time — but not all of the time. Both explain why they feel the way they do.

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Transcript

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

BRAD: Welcome to Episode 63. This time Pippin and I will be answering questions from our audience on Twitter, but first a word from our sponsors.

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: All right. Let’s jump right in. These are questions that we solicited from Twitter that listeners were kind enough to submit. There are some development questions. There are some business questions and a few miscellaneous. We’re going to do our best to get to all of them, but any question that doesn’t get answered, we will move on