WP Product Talk

In the upcoming episode of WP Product Talk titled "Why Email Marketing Sucks and How to Make It Not Suck," we welcome Adrian Tobey from Groundhogg. Adrian will share his candid insights on the common pitfalls of email marketing and provide practical solutions to improve engagement and effectiveness.

Co-hosts Zack Katz and Amber Hinds will guide the discussion, exploring innovative strategies to revitalize your email marketing efforts and turn it into a powerful tool for your WordPress business. Don’t miss this chance to transform your approach to email marketing!

In this episode of WP Product Talk, we’re diving deep into the power of partnerships in the WordPress product ecosystem. Join host Zack Katz as he chats with Jason Coleman, both experienced WordPress product business owners who have successfully navigated the complex world of collaboration. They'll share their firsthand insights on how strategic partnerships can elevate your product, open new opportunities, and solve challenges you can't tackle alone.

In this episode, we explore the concept of personal branding and its significance for WordPress professionals. Our guest, Chris Lema, is synonymous with WordPress and Personal Branding. He will share practical strategies for building a strong personal brand that resonates with your audience, enhances your credibility, and drives your business forward.

Co-hosts Katie Keith and Matt Cromwell will guide the discussion, offering insights on how to effectively integrate personal branding into your WordPress strategy. Tune in to discover actionable tips that can help you stand out in the competitive WordPress landscape.

Join us for the latest episode of WP Product Talk, "How to Create HYPE for Your Next Product Launch," with our guest, Kevin Geary. Kevin is launching a new offering right now called Etch, and his pre-launch tactics are really interesting and compelling. Kevin even self-proclaims this as "The Biggest WordPress Product Announcement of the Last 20 Years."

Co-hosts Katie Keith and Matt Cromwell will discuss with Kevin how to effectively build anticipation and engage your audience. They will cover strategies for timing your promotional activities, leveraging social media, and maintaining interest through the launch period and beyond. This episode offers actionable advice on creating a compelling narrative and ensuring your product launch captures attention.

Tune in to gain valuable insights into making your next product launch a success.

Join Matt Cromwell and Amber Hinds for a critical two-part discussion on WordPress market share position.

Joost de Valk (Yoast SEO, Emilia Capital) and Noel Tock (Human Made) examine the WordPress market share. Is it really declining? How do we measure it? We'll delve into factors such as changes in the overall market landscape, emerging competitors, and evolving user preferences. Analyzing both raw data and underlying trends, we'll discuss whether WordPress' apparent stabilization signifies a peak or a new phase of sustained growth.

Miriam Schwab (Strattic, Elementor) and Rich Tabor (Automattic) explore solutions. What can product businesses do to adapt to a declining WordPress market share? How can digital marketing strategies be leveraged effectively? What role does enhancing customer experiences play? Can utilizing AI and big data analytics uncover new business opportunities? How important is fostering customer loyalty? Should product offerings be innovated regularly? How can user engagement be optimized? By exploring these questions, we'll uncover strategies to help WordPress businesses not only maintain but also increase their market share, ensuring long-term growth and success.

Here's some resources for you to read in advance:

We had a great conversation and the live chat was really lively! Thanks everyone for being there.

The WP Minute was there, and they did a great write-up of the episode.

The folks at Search Engine Journal also did a nice write-up.

The Repository newsletter did some excellent follow-up commentary about the Marketing Consortium idea that we discussed as well.

Alex Standiford (WPPT Guest) was there live, asked some great questions, then posted this great follow-up about the importance of focusing on why people choose WordPress in the first place, and it's not because of features!

Like every episode, we wrapped it up with asking each person what their best advice is for product businesses listening to this conversation. Here's a quick summary:

Join co-hosts Katie Keith and Zack Katz as they dive into the world of WordPress product distribution with special guest Vova Feldman, founder of Freemius. In this episode, they explore the pros and cons of listing WordPress products on marketplaces. Vova shares his expertise on navigating the complex landscape of product sales, offering insights on when to go solo and when marketplace distribution might be the right choice for your WordPress plugin or theme.

Some links mentioned during the show:

In this episode of WP Product Talk, we’re diving into an issue that more and more product owners have been struggling with over the past 9 months: how to tackle declines in your SEO.

It has been a volatile period for SEO, with seemingly-constant Google algorithm updates which have led to unpredictable ups and downs in many website owners' search rankings.

But all is not lost! Join co-hosts Katie Keith and Zack Katz as they talk to WordPress and marketing expert Patrick Rauland about how to diagnose and tackle marketing problems. He'll be sharing real-life examples on how he has done this in his own work, with actionable advice on how WordPress product owners can do the same.

What really hit home for me was Patrick Rauland’s story about Xero Shoes — the way his team spent months fixing hundreds of “paper cut” SEO issues (broken links, weird headings, hidden H1s) and saw almost no improvement. The turnaround only came when they stopped obsessing over technical checklists and started thinking like their users.

Patrick’s lightbulb moment came from a simple Google search — realizing that customers searching “barefoot shoes” weren’t looking for a deep guide; they just wanted to see the product: color, shape, price, and a quick sense of what it is. Once Xero Shoes added a product block right on the homepage (with structured product metadata), they instantly jumped back to the #1 ranking.

Takeaway for product owners: Stop treating SEO as a mechanical game of fixes. Step back and ask: “What is the user really trying to accomplish with this search?” Then make it ridiculously easy for them to get that answer — whether that means showing product info sooner, summarizing key features above the fold, or making your calls to action clearer. Google rewards user satisfaction, not just “clean” websites.

Zack Katz’s segment was a wake-up call — even with years of high-quality, original, human-written content at Gravity Kit, their organic search traffic dropped by over 50%. The message was clear: You can do everything right and still lose visibility when Google’s algorithms shift.

What was smart about Zack’s response — and what Katie Keith backed up with her Barn2 experience — was diversification. Zack started testing PPC again (despite his ethical reservations about Google Ads), explored Pinterest, and doubled down on YouTube. Katie added that her company’s YouTube channel has become a stabilizing force: as blog traffic dipped, video traffic filled the gap.

Takeaway for product owners: Don’t rely on Google alone to feed your business. Every healthy company needs at least two strong, independent channels — one that’s working now, and another that’s being actively built. That could mean video, newsletters, communities, marketplaces, or even affiliate partnerships — anything that keeps your business visible even when search rankings fluctuate.

The conversation about “E-E-A-T” — Expertise, Experience, Authority, and Trust — was another big moment. Katie shared how Barn2 completely reworked their author pages to prove real credibility: bios, author photos, social links, press mentions, and quotes from recognized experts. Patrick reinforced that Google wants to trust the sources it ranks, especially after so much AI-generated content has flooded the web.

Patrick’s advice was super practical: start with your author pages. They’re built into WordPress, they’re easy to improve, and they signal real people behind your content. Link to your real profiles, show credentials, list the tools you use, and reference third-party validation (like Trustpilot or G2). In other words: make it obvious that your content comes from an expert who’s been there.

Takeaway for product owners: SEO today isn’t just about keywords or backlinks — it’s about proving you’re legitimate. Make your authors visible, your brand trustworthy, and your expertise tangible across the web. Google — and your potential customers — will reward that authenticity.

Join co-hosts Matt Cromwell and Amber Hinds as they welcome Mike McAlister, founder of Four Eyes Studio and creator of the innovative Ollie theme for WordPress. In this episode, Mike shares insights on enhancing product experiences within the WordPress ecosystem. Discover strategies for designing user-centric themes and plugins, and learn how Mike's approach with Ollie is pushing the boundaries of WordPress development.

If you have a WordPress product, there’s no reason to think beyond plugins, right?

Not so fast. In today’s world, where website owners increasingly demand more from their sites and stretch the boundaries of what can be done within WordPress, you should think outside the plugin and theme box, too. Would your product benefit from a companion web or mobile app? Should your plugin not be a plugin at all but an app instead? Find out in this episode of WP Product Talk, hosted by Amber Hinds, Matt Cromwell, and guest Colin Daniels of FooEvents.

Join us for a forthcoming episode of WP Product Talk titled "How to Expand Your Reach with Affiliate Marketing," featuring Alex Standiford, founder of Siren Affiliates. Alex brings his extensive experience in affiliate marketing strategies that can significantly expand the reach and impact of your WordPress product.

Throughout the episode, co-hosts Katie Keith and Amber Hinds will explore with Alex the key aspects of setting up and optimizing an affiliate program. They’ll discuss best practices for recruiting and maintaining effective affiliate relationships, techniques for tracking and enhancing affiliate performance, and the overall impact of affiliate marketing on business growth.