Sessions

We’d like to thank everyone that submitted a talk to the very first WordCamp Montclair… the first WordCamp in New Jersey! Below you will find the wide range of talks we’ve selected. This is sure to be a conference you should not miss — get your ticket now!

Killer Keywords: How to Write Content for Both Humans and Search Engines

Presented by Pam Aungst

Your website content has two audiences: Human readers and search engines. Writing content that appeals to both is something that all writers and website owners should know how to do. Whether you’re a professional copywriter or a small business owner who writes for your own website, knowing how to write content that satisfies both of these audiences is an essential (and profitable!) skill. This presentation will teach you exactly how to do that, using modern-day approaches to semantic and contextual keyword optimization.

WordPress Multisite WAAS

Presented by Tevye Brown

Website development and hosting are getting more and more competitive. Website services like Wix and Squarespace are putting downward pressure at the lower end of the market. The key to competing in this space is lowering the cost of delivery. Using WordPress, a page builder, a good website host, a few plugins and some elbow grease you can put together a website saas service (WAAS) the dramatically decreases the amount of time it takes to build, deploy and maintain a website. This talk will walk through the WAAS I’ve built using WordPress, Beaver Builder and PODS that allows me to create a new niche website in only a few hours.

When a Post is Not a Post

Presented by Steve Bruner

When Post Types were introduced in WordPress, it changed the way we segment content. WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, The Events Calendar and more, all use WordPress Post Types to manage your data. However, they are not posts. They don’t look like posts or act like posts. Entering data when creating a product or an event is different than the default “add new post” page. In this session, we’ll show you how to create advanced user interfaces like those you find in some of the most popular plugins available:

Modify post statuses to better fit your post type
Hide default WordPress features when they don’t make sense
Create advanced fields with validation and sanitization
Break up your fields into tabbed sections for a better user experience
Include inline help so your users have answers when they need them

How to Build a Hands-Off Content & Membership Site

Presented by Naomi C Bush

Do you need a simple membership site where users can submit their own content? Easily display that content? Come join me to talk about how you can use a tool you already have to automate collecting and displaying user-submitted content, and allow your users to manage their own membership. It’ll be fun!

How to Start Podcasting with WordPress

Presented by Joe Casabona

Seth Godin has said that podcasting is the new blogging. Luckily, we can podcast just as easily with WordPress as we can blog. In this talk, you will learn everything you need to know about the basics of podcasting, as well as how to start publishing episodes.

Having My Website Hacked Was the Best Thing That Could Have Happened to Me

Presented by Laura Byrne Cristiano

I bet your website hacking wasn’t covered on MTV. Mine was. After lifting myself up from the depths of embarrassment, I took security seriously and resurrected my site. More importantly, though, I re-evaluated my blogging philosophy and learned life lessons that went beyond have a strong password. The session will cover practical security tips that anyone (especially beginners) should take, and what to do if you find yourself in an unfortunate situation. Most importantly, it will cover how true success lies in cooperation and collaboration, and by not letting others define you by your online perceived persona.

One theme to rule them all: Using one theme to manage a network

Presented by Andres Escobar

How to manage a network using one theme as the framework. Decide what is core vs modular technologies.

Quickly Get More Sales & Revenues the Easy Way

Presented by Jennifer Glass

Ask any business owner what they need most in their business and they’re likely to say they need “leads” or “sales.” In this presentation, Jennifer Glass, CEO of Business Growth Strategies International, LLC and BGSIAcademy.com will show you how you can generate more leads, sales and revenue in your business whenever you need them!

Utilizing various partnerships, tools and more, Ms. Glass will have you leaving the presentation with actionable nuggets to help you quickly get more sales and revenues in your business today, tomorrow and for months/years to come!”

Modern PHP: What, Why, and How?

Presented by Aaron Jorbin & Alexis Kulash

What can you do to improve your site’s security and performance instantly? It’s not clickbait — it’s updating to a modern PHP version. Keeping PHP up-to-date with the latest version pays off enormously with increases in performance, security, and better overall compatibility. It’s not always instant, especially for larger sites, but we’ll cover the benefits and importance of updating, planning for an update, testing for issues, and dive into some modern PHP features and functionality.

Getting Gutenberg To Do What You Need It To Do

Presented by Bud Kraus

No need to feel stuck using the 40 blocks that come with the new page editor out of the box. Gutenberg Plugins – a new type of WordPress plugin – gives you an opportunity to use all types of new blocks for your content. These blocks let you add new UIs to your content such as adjustable columns, pricing tables, a table of contents, a clock countdown and many others. See how five Gutenberg plugins will make creating WordPress easier and a lot of fun.

A Beginner’s WordPress Toolbox

Presented by Stephen Kriso

The goal of this presentation is to educate the wannabe entrepreneur on the methods to start a business and build it using WordPress and other Internet marketing tools. The intent is to drive home the idea that publishing quality content and making solid connections through face to face, social media, and email marketing is the new approach to building a customer base. Again, all of this can be achieved successfully through WordPress focused strategies.

How To: Event Tracking WPFlow Plugin

Presented by Becky Livingston

Have you ever wondered how many people are clicking on a submit button, entering a shopping cart-but not buying, accessing your directions, or watching a video? The WPFlow Google Analytics event tracking plugin can help you do just that.

In this session you’ll learn about even tracking; how to implement it; and what it will tell you in your analytics report. Stop guessing and start knowing where the successful parts of your site are and how to maximize them.

Add a Subscription Solution to your website with Gravity Forms and Stripe

Presented by Michael Loewenberg

We’ll set up a Gravity Form with a Stripe Feed to allow your website visitors to sign up for a recurring subscription program. We’ll cover setting up the form and creating custom notification emails for new subscriptions, subsequent recurring payments and for when payments fail. We’ll also talk about paid and free trials and how to notify specific people when certain subscriptions are started.

How To Rank In the SERPs (AKA Google) Using WordPress

Presented by Derick Michael

In our fast-paced, media-driven world, SEO trends and algorithms are ever-changing and constantly fluctuating. To ensure you are ranking where you want to, is it imperative that you keep up with these changes and stay ahead of the trends.

In this presentation, Derick will outline key SEO strategies to outperform your competitors with topics that cover how to curate and create effective content, as well as how to utilize plugins, SEO software, backlink strategies and more.

What Does a $100,000 WordPress Website Look Like?

Presented by Victor Ramirez

I used to build websites and tried to sell add-on services to increase revenue. After dozens of sites I finally was able to understand how to add value to a website without having to add marketing or other services. I built almost 10 websites valued at over $100,000 each. Many people asked me how I did this and what I included. They’re surprised to learn it wasn’t just code.I’ll cover case studies as a teaser – MakerBot.com, TodayTix.com, Wibbitz.com.

From speaking to hundreds of biz owners I have created a blueprint for building sites for small biz that have $100k in value (that they have not even thought of). I will share the blueprint in a non-technical & technical way. Examples include: Website feedback loops, ticket tracking, advanced CRM integration, API integrations, & More.

CSS Is A Programming Language

Presented by Lara Schenck

CSS can be a source of deep frustration for developers, both new and experienced. Over time, this has resulted in a portion of the web community with a fundamental misunderstanding of CSS – not only of how to write it well, but of what CSS is in the first place: a domain-specific, declarative programming language.

Familiar programming concepts are all over our style-sheets…but you must learn how to see them! This talk will examine the overlaps between CSS and traditional programming concepts – such as conditional logic, algorithms, and OOP – to help us better understand CSS.

Stop thinking short term; Think long term

Presented by Howard Spaeth

This seminar will focus on how to change your thinking from thinking short term and go for the long term goal. How can you support you or your family on a small $500 dollar website that is a one time gig? There are options that can make a difference in how you sell to help with longer contracts and longevity.

There will be those clients who you do not want to deal with on a long term basis but the money might be great, so why would you want to give that up? This is also something that we will discuss from personal experience.

WordPress with Healthcare Clients: Pearls and Pitfalls

Presented by David A. Wank

In this talk I’d like to talk about how our team exclusively leverages WordPress for our healthcare clients., and how others can build upon our agency model. We’ve built 50+ WP sites with a combination of existing themes, and now use our own baseline setup based on bootstrap and the WP Codex.

I’d like to discuss the unique challenges designers and developers face when working with healthcare clients including HIPAA considerations, the problem of having a to build for a broad demographic that also has a wide array of technology know-how. and how to manage clients who have very little time to dedicate to their own projects.

Let’s Build Our First Plugin!

Presented by David Wolfpaw

If you’ve ever wanted to build your own plugin for WordPress, this is the session for you. We’re going to start from scratch and work our way up.

First, we’ll take a look at the basic requirements of a plugin. Next we’ll take our example plugin idea and break it into the various components and steps that we’ll need. We’ll code up the plugin together and install it on our sites, debugging any problems that arise. Finally, we’ll look at ways that we could further extend our plugin.

This tutorial assumes some HTML and CSS knowledge, but you don’t already need to be familiar with writing PHP or JavaScript.

We all have stories to tell

Presented by Scott Wyden Kivowitz

Everyone has difficulties in their lives. Roadblocks that can prevent dreams from happening. The trick is to break those barriers and to climb over them to reach your goals. I have a story, and you have a story. In this session, you will hear about some significant hurdles that one person had to go through and see living proof that goals can be achieved. Passion and strength are within us all. Listen to my story and see how I incorporate it into my photography, my business and my life in general. Learn ways that cope with the struggle and defy the odds. Then think about your stories and how you can do the same. What’s your story?