Managed hosting isn’t that sexy (I’ll admit it, because I used to work in managed WordPress hosting), but you’d be surprised at the types of technical solutions and implementations that our clients bring to our attention. There’s not a one-size-fits-all solution for any website, and so we leverage our relationships to find the right solutions unique to our clients’ needs. Our goal is to provide reliable options with great partners, who would also make great partners for our customers at the end of the day.

So when WP Engine announced their second annual Summit, we jumped at the opportunity to attend. We went last year and valued the networking with fellow agencies, brands, and the opportunities to have face-to-face time with the WP Engine team. We knew attending this year would benefit both WDS and our clients. The theme for this year was ‘Breakthrough,’ which gave us the chance to discuss how to win the next generation, debate the next technologies, and learn how to leverage upcoming WordPress trends to create a breakthrough for our business.

The WP Engine Summit was held at their headquarters in Austin, Texas, which also happens to be where I live, but I was joined by our COO, Lisa Sabin-Wilson, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Jodie Riccelli, Director of Business Development, who flew in from Philadelphia.

The event itself was extremely well-run and thought out. The speakers and topics focused on the future of the web and how we as agencies can begin to dissect some of the data being collected and apply it to breaking through the noise and leveraging it to drive our business towards achieving our goals.

There was a talk by Jason Dorsey, a Millennial and a member of Generation Z (Gen-Z), who founded the Center for Generational Kinetics. He spoke on the future of digital trends, including the necessity of engaging, attracting, and winning over the Millennial and Gen-Z audience. He shared stats from a study commissioned by WP Engine and the Center for Generational Kinetics that highlighted some interesting numbers. For example, 90% of the world’s data was created in the last 12 months, which means that as content creation and dissemination increases in frequency, brands and businesses need to be prepared to react to and address that challenge.

Another great highlight was by WP Engine founder and CTO, Jason Cohen. He was calling out that most enterprise brands (53% of them, actually) use multiple content management systems (CMS) to execute their digital goals. That part wasn’t too shocking, considering that WordPress is still one of the leaders up against Adobe Experience Manager and Sitecore.

What was surprising were the reasons why these brands were using multiple CMS platforms in the first place:

• Quicker time to market
• Ease of use
• Agility when it comes to incorporating WordPress into that stack

As a marketer, you’re going to use multiple tools to get the job done; that’s inevitable. But being able to confidently identify ‘why WordPress,’ whether you’re an agency, freelancer, or brand in the space is going to set you up for success.

Lots of the talks touched on Gutenberg, which launches with WordPress core 5.0 on November 19. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s a new editing experience for WordPress that’s intended to is to make creating and editing content much more user-friendly and help raise the bar and lower the learning curve when it comes to launching content on WordPress. It’s a major shift in the WordPress platform, and anyone who is on WordPress needs to be familiar with it and understand how it will impact their business.

Overall, there were great conversations being had at the WP Engine Summit. We walked away with invaluable knowledge not only about our industry but about the digital market as a whole. And as always, had a great time connecting with everyone who attended, including each other!

Did you attend WP Engine Summit 2018? What were your takeaways? We invite you to share them with us in the comments below.

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Classified generally as individuals born between 1980 and early 2000s, Millennials are not only utilizing the internet the most, but they’re known for expecting transparency, personalized experiences, and a deeper social impact from brands with whom they engage. The big question is, is your website built to speak to them? And if not, how are you going to build a website to attract Millennials and engage with them in an authentic way? Think about the statistics below to orient you to the way a Millennial thinks and operates.

Millennial Stats

• They touch their smartphones 45 times a day.
• They spend about 25 hours per week online.
• They are far less likely to buy something because it’s convenient, something many companies capitalize on. Rather, they’re focused on value.
• Eighty-four percent of them say that user-generated content has some influence on what they buy.
• Worldwide, 69% of Millennials want businesses to better facilitate customers getting involved in social issues.
• User-generated content is a great way to push Millennials further down the conversion funnel, especially since they trust it 50% more than any other type of media.

Thanks to technology and the internet itself, you don’t have to embark on this journey alone. And no matter the type of business you’re operating, being mindful of these statistics and how to make them make sense for you is going to be key. So let’s unpack them a little bit to get to a few tips you can implement when it comes to using your website to attract Millennials.

Millennials Use Their Phones (A LOT!)

Gone are the days of the dial-up. Businesses used to get away with a static page with oversized graphics, crazy fonts, and hidden calls to action. And they could, because internet access was a luxury once upon a time. But fast forward to 2018, and everyone seems to have access to the internet. Furthermore, they’re spending more of that time online via their phones.

In 2017, mobile traffic surpassed desktop traffic for the first time, and we’re not going back. You now not only need to think of the desktop visualization and experience of your website but also how that information is going to be translated to a mobile experience. Do your users see the most important information first? How easy is it for them to navigate your site on their phone? If you’re an eCommerce store, how quickly does your site load and what is the checkout process like?

A quick user test by loading your website onto a mobile device (our recommendation is to check both Android and Apple devices) can help point out blind spots and give you good direction. Analyze the responsiveness of your website. An experienced developer will know how to help you get a responsive website that helps cater your desktop site to mobile within one design. Additionally, you may need to check with your web host about the speed of your site specifically when it comes to mobile. Google has a mobile speed test that can help provide a quick analysis of how your mobile site is performing.

Millennials Want Personalized & Authentic Content

Your brand needs to evoke emotions within Millennial customers. They don’t care how long you’ve been in business but care more about the story your brand tells. Partnering your marketing efforts with user-generated content that speaks authentically to your end user is the way to win their hearts.

Brands who have done a great job at implementing this are Aerie and REI. Aerie uses the body positivity movement to build positive brand equity by using “regular women” in their marketing, leaving consumers to feel as though they can relate to the brand. They see themselves in the ads. Aerie has even gone so far to incorporate popular Instagram users and bloggers into their campaigns and website content, an effort know as influencer marketing, which further establishes that the brand knows its target demographic.

Millennials don’t want to hear why you, the brand, think you’re a good brand. They’re more likely to trust a peer who has experience with you. Activating and partnering with those types of people (influencers) and then incorporating those partnerships into your content will set you apart.

The other great brand that I love referencing is REI. If you love the outdoors, chances are you love REI. But again, the brand stands for so much more than recreational equipment. It’s a movement. The REI lifestyle is about actually getting out into nature, exploring, and then encouraging consumers to share their stories with the world.

On the REI website, you’ll find their hashtag #optoutside being leveraged, whether they’re encouraging a site visitor to tell their story, or they’re showcasing photos from their Instagram profite, utilizing the hashtag. Their added success has been displayed based on how they listen and incorporate their consumer into the online experience.

Ask yourself:

• What is the motivation behind my brand?
• What am I trying to evoke within my consumer?

Then, try to do things that put the consumer front-and-center in all of your content. Help them see themselves there. Answering these questions can help guide you to a great space for authentic content creation, which you can then feature on your site. I always like to remind myself and our team that people like to do business with people. Shoot straight, be authentic, and focus on telling a great story.

One More Thing…

When it comes to social media, you know what is best for your brand. Don’t feel persuaded to use a specific social media platform just because that’s a popular channel for Millennials. There is something to say for being true to your brand, and if having a Twitter profile doesn’t make sense, then there is no need to invest in something for the sake of investing in it. But I do encourage you to think of the totality of your brand. What Millennials see on social media should be reflective of what they see on your website. The experience you offer to someone when they engage with your brand should be consistent and thought of holistically, as opposed to fragments.

I think this is even more crucial for brick-and-mortar stores to be mindful of and keep in mind. Every interaction someone has with your brand is either bringing them closer or pushing them further from doing business with you. Practice going to your website as a consumer, or even perform informal user testing. Have your grandparents go through your site, your parents, and your teenage daughter or son. It will give you a good gauge into things you may be missing from your site and what your user is probably also looking out for, whether it’s identifying where a button should be or pointing out a particular color that is too hard on the eyes.

The great thing is that a website is dynamic. So if your site isn’t there now, it doesn’t mean it can’t be. And thankfully, we have some expertise when it comes to building not only highly performant and secure websites but also beautifully thought out and designed ones too. Please check out our portfolio to see our work, and feel free to reach out even if you have questions about this blog. We’d love to discuss this with you!

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Needless to say, media websites are a big part of our world. So when Women in Media was announced, it piqued our interest as an event where we could gain current knowledge about what challenges typical content creators and media sites are facing as the landscapes for both media and technology continue to change. I attended with our COO, Lisa Sabin Wilson, and together we soaked up all the information presented and took advantage of the opportunities to speak with women who work in media and learn about the needs of their media websites.

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Please note: no one solution is perfect for every type of client. It’s why we have a few hosts in particular that we choose to work with depending on the project. But as a customer, you should know that you have options, too, whether your concerns are financial, performance, or purely based on up-time monitoring and support.

Support

One of the most critical things to consider is support for your website. The purpose of your website and its goals, whether it’s just for informational purposes or fuels your business, will affect how much support you need. For example, available support hours and type of support offered will vary from host to host and could even vary plan to plan. So, if your business is purely digital and your team is distributed across the nation or even the globe, then ensuring you have access to human support 24/7 is probably critical. You don’t want to be left out in the cold when trying to get a hold of someone at 3 a.m. should your site go down.

Alternatively, maybe hours of support isn’t your concern, but rather how you communicate. Some hosts offer chat support, while others offer a ticket-based service, which operates a little bit slower, like emailing back and forth. There may even be options for phone support, but that varies from host to host. If those are things that are important to you, you should find a host that will support you in the way that you need it the most.

SLA

In the same vein as support, a service level agreement (SLA), is going to indicate what type of guarantee you receive from your host to stay online. Often times, it fluctuates from host to host; so you need to ensure that your SLA covers what is most important to you. Be mindful of whether or not the SLA covers network availability, is an infrastructure guarantee, or if it’s on the hardware. It’s possible that the SLA could cover all, or just some of those. But again, it’s important for you to know what type of SLA your host operates under, so you know what is and isn’t covered by the agreement.

Technology

Most often than not, your hosting provider is purchasing their technology (aka infrastructure) from someone else. In the case of purchasing hosting directly from Rackspace or Amazon Web Services, for example, you’re purchasing directly from the source. However, most managed hosting companies are just reselling infrastructure with their own tools and optimizations built on top of it. This is totally acceptable. That’s the trade-off when you go direct to the infrastructure; you don’t generally get as many tools or platform-specific (WordPress) support. But certain technologies provide certain features that will vary depending on the type of service you need.

Let’s say that you need highly scalable architecture, ensuring that the technology behind your host (aside from SLA, customer support, etc.) is able to sustain the amount of traffic and load that your site requires from their technology. Most hosts these days disclose who their technology provider is, but if they don’t, it doesn’t hurt to ask. From there, you can better identify what type of infrastructure will be powering your site.

Performance

This goes hand-in-hand with the technology but also includes the unique optimizations that your host might build on top of that tech infrastructure. For example, a lot of the hosts that we partner with have their own mix for performance and optimization, which is why they’ve become so successful as brands.

It’s no secret that SEO is important for your site to succeed, and the easier it is for someone to get to your site and get the information they need, whether it’s a human or a bot, is going to net you better rankings. Fast sites historically perform better. So if having a good user experience and ranking higher on Google is a concern for you, then looking into the performance of the host is going to be of major importance.

There are also statistics that prove that the longer it takes for your site to load, the more likely someone is going to abandon your site and get their information elsewhere. And with hundreds of thousands of sites sharing similar content, we’re conditioned to getting information as quickly as possible. If you want to keep readers and visitors on your site, looking for a highly performant host is critical.

Backup

Backups are pretty standard these days, but be mindful of how long those backups exist and how easy it is for you to access them. Just because your host is taking a backup doesn’t mean it will be helpful for you if you need to implement it, which plays into the support angle. When you need to retrieve a backup, it’s usually at a critical point. It’s one thing to know you have a backup, but another thing to actually restore a backup.

Backups come in handy for a number of cases—just keeping a running copy of your site if you have to revert for any reason, especially when WordPress and plugin updates are released. Some hosts even remind you to perform a backup before every update you make to your site. Imagine drafting a bunch of blog posts only to find that a WordPress update broke your site! If you hadn’t made a backup, you would have lost all of those draft blog posts. Backups are there to do just that: backup your site and act as a safety net. So finding a host whose backup policy works for you, or even just being more mindful of what type of backup support you need, can set you up for success.

Dev Tools

Depending on what type of site you’re operating, you may or may not care about developer tools. But if you have a team of devs, or even a singular developer, the tools that a hosting provider offers can make a difference.

Staging sites, analytic tools to help you understand how your site and content are performing, or even things like more complex things like GIT integration can affect development workflow. Some hosts can be pretty restrictive with code reviews or force you to use their workflow. We try to recommend hosts that we’ve had great experiences with ourselves, so we’re not throwing you into the deep end with anything unverified.

Control Panel

One of the most underrated but simplest things to keep in mind is the control panel. Again, its importance depends on how much time you plan to actually spend on your site, but the experience could be dramatically different if you have only one website versus managing 10. How easy is it to get support, to the resources that you need, to access the tools, or even have the visibility over the performance of your accounts?

Having a control panel is like having the best navigation system for your car. A basic one will get you from point A to point B, but a souped-up one is going to give you more insight, more knowledge, and more tools to do more with your site.

To reiterate, there are a lot of variables to consider, which means that no one host is a perfect for no one client. Thankfully, our team works with the best of the best to provide you a great recommendation based on your needs. Consider what we outlined, think about your unique site needs and whether or not your current hosting solution is supporting you in the way in which you prefer to be supported. If it isn’t, our team is always happy to help talk you through options and point you in the right direction. Contact us today.

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As a marketer in the digital experience space, I am always curious to learn about new technology trends. With the advancement of the world wide web, we’re becoming more connected and powerful by the minute. And as these trends begin to form, questions arise:

• How can we interact with new technologies?
• How can we incorporate them into our lives?
• And, how can we use new technologies to enhance our experience with life itself?

WordPress is built on open-source, which truly means, if you dream it, you can build it. The future is now, and the ability to design and develop the digital experience of your dreams is here. Consumers are beginning to expect more and more personalized experiences. Brands want to own and retain creative rights to their content. And consumers want everything right now instantaneously.

One of the topics at SXSW that first caught my attention was around the big digital and social media brands (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) and the content that is displayed on them and to whom. It’s a hot topic because as brands continue to turn to these platforms to market, the results continue to vary as companies like Facebook and Instagram have made it continuously difficult to get your content in front of your audience authentically.

As a consumer, but also a marketer, I truly experience this from both ends of the situation. You have brands struggling to cut through and speak to the right consumer and instead are having to turn to alternative measures to engage with their audience.

Another aspect of this is on the subject of democracy of the internet. Lots of big supporters of the open web were at SXSW, such as representatives from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Golden Frog. They often touched on the subject any chance they got, comparing what large commercial ISPs, like Comcast, AT&T, and Verizon, are doing by already beginning to throttle certain types of content to what we’ve already begun to see happen through social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

All of this just means to me that we’re going to continuously need to keep fighting for the right to own, create, and distribute our own content. It’s why WordPress is as powerful as it is, and why, to me, it’s the only place I trust my content on the internet.

So on one hand, we’re fighting for our right to publish, and see what content we want. And on the other hand, we have the introduction of new tech like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) creating new technology categories that we have to account for when crafting digital experiences.

Almost everyone could describe to you the type of way in which they’d like to receive and engage with content, but very few can actually recreate and tell you how to execute that type of experience. And I think that’s where digital agencies like ours are uniquely positioned to interpret these new types of policies and technologies that are filtering into our space and help craft compelling and unique ways to approach the situation.

If you find yourself struggling to customize how content is displayed, experienced, and consumed on your website, know that you’re not alone. From big to small, brands everywhere are developing new strategies to overcome these challenges. Contact us for assistance to help you with yours.

The post The Democracy of the Internet and Other Takeaways from SXSW appeared first on WebDevStudios.

Led by an amazing group of organizers, their passion for WordPress runs very deep and it comes out in the way in which their event was presented. I’m extremely proud of every single person on the WordCamp Phoenix organizing team, but especially Raquel Landefeld from a fellow agency, Mode Effect, who held the lead organizer position.  

This was my fourth time attending WordCamp Phoenix, but my first time speaking at it. I was invited to give my talk on “Eat, Blog, Love: How I Stopped Waiting and Started Doing.” I’ve spoken at over 12 camps in my tenure within the WordPress community, but this was only the second time I’ve given this particular talk (my first if you consider that I lost my original slides and had to create new ones for WCPHX).

The talk is centered around how I built my food blog, Dine With Shayda, on the WordPress platform, and how I use simple life tricks I’ve picked up along the way to create compelling content, market myself, and create a consistent flow of motivation to get things done. It’s part marketing, part strategy, part self-help.

For me, this was one of my most well-received presentations, which ended with a group of people hanging around for well after my talk picking my brain. One of the most popular questions asked of me was:

“When you’re starting out, should you focus on a content calendar or schedule for publishing content?”

To be honest, for my blog, I don’t have a content calendar per se. My rule is to focus on consistency, not necessarily quality. In other words, don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

My single goal is to create as much content as possible, whether it’s my blog or social media channels, etc. Of course, you want a plan for how to distribute that content once it’s created, but don’t get hung up in trying to write X amount of posts with X amount of words. The minimum content requirement for SEO is 300-500 words. Focus on doing that type of post as many times as you can! Another great question:

“What tools should bloggers use to create and edit content?”

A lot of people assume that you need to invest a lot of money upfront to start anything, that you need the best equipment, like a fancy camera or editing software. Of course, those tools are extremely helpful and once you’ve proven that your content can convert, absolutely make the investment.

But fun fact: I use my iPhone to edit all my photos still, and I’ve upgraded to a Nikon DSLR, but nothing beats my iPhone. My tip is to invest in learning how to create compelling content over buying new toys. Figure out your aesthetic and become an expert at executing that through your content.

This was also a special WordCamp for me because, as a new hire at WebDevStudios and because we work remotely and we don’t always get to meet each other right away upon joining the company, I had the pleasure of meeting Shannon MacMillan and Aubrey Portwood, who are both Arizona residents and involved in the local WordPress community. They’re both two of our amazing developers and it was fun being able to meet some of my team members to help put faces to names, which I will say, is extremely important working in a distributed company!

With over 500 attendees, WordCamp Phoenix was one of the larger camps I have attended, but it never felt that big or overwhelming. The speakers were a nice mix of technical and business. They had workshops which covered plugin development, starting a WooCommerce store, and discovering your unique brand voice.

And if it’s fair to say, my favorite things about the camps are the people. I’ve become quite spoiled because I know how awesome WordCamps are. But if you’ve never attended or have only attended locally, I encourage you to go to more! The people that show up are friends old and new, business partners, vendors, potential hires, and some of the most genuine people you’ll ever meet. Being able to connect digitally through WordPress is amazing, but making time for in-person relationships is key. I like to remind myself that people like to do business with people, so any chance you get to connect with others in your industry on a human level, do it.

Big thanks again to the WordCamp Phoenix team for having us, we really appreciated it. Thank you to Raquel Landefeld, Carol Stambaugh, Betsey Cohen, Matthew Clancy, Justin Tucker, Andrea Self, David Ryan, Leslie Pico, and Corey Jenkins. Thank you to the volunteers who helped run registration, check in speakers, introduce speakers, support the happiness bar, and all the other ways in which you helped make WCPHX flawless. And to the sponsors, without your support, WordCamps wouldn’t be possible and for that, we thank you.

Keep up with where WDS will be next. Visit the Events section of our WDS Gives Back page.

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Working at a WordPress agency requires us to be on top of the trends happening in our direct space as well as be cognizant of the direction the web as a whole is going. I try to keep our team ahead of the curve by taking advantage of in-person events that provide opportunities to obtain new knowledge, putting us on the cutting edge, as well as make key relationships that could help us grow the business.

I consider these to be the top digital and WordPress events for 2018 because either I’ve attended them myself in the past and/or our team is planning on attending this year. Think I missed one of your must-attend events? Comment below!

WordCamps
Dates and locations vary.

Considered the pinnacle of WordPress events, WordCamps are community organized, allowing each local WordPress community to make their event unique and tailored toward their specific city and culture. For example, if you work in the music industry or media industry (or your target clients do), WordCamp Los Angeles might be a prime one for you to check out in order to connect with that type of experience. At these events, you’ll find freelancers, agencies, marketers, IT professionals, and a whole range of other experts—all of whom have questions to ask or a desire to share their expertise with others. You can learn more about WordCamps and see their full schedule of events at Central.WordCamp.org. 

Pro Tip: Attending WordCamp Europe or US is like attending the mega version of local WordCamps. They are the main annual events, respectively.

WooConf
Both date and location are TBD.

This event is dedicated solely to WooCommerce, one of the top eCommerce platforms on the market today, and the one that integrates seamlessly with WordPress (whose parent company Automattic acquired in 2015). At this event, expect to hear from their team about new features, as well as hear success stories from top developers and store owners using the platform. Generally, agencies that do a lot of eCommerce business, as well as their development teams, will be in attendance. Store owners who operate their stores or would like to operate WooCommerce stores should check it out. And for brands, it’s a great place to find developers or an agency to work with on their next eCommerce project. 

Social Media Marketing World
February 28-March 2, San Diego, CA

Social media is no longer just a buzz word, and out of all the events that touch on social media, none quite compare to the greatness of Social Media Marketing World. You’ll hear from leading experts like Gary Vaynerchuk and Guy Kawasaki, experience workshops, and walk away with actionable results that you can apply to your business immediately. Social media isn’t going away anytime soon, and if you’re marketing your business at any level, leveraging social media correctly can unlock a wealth of opportunities for your business. Out of all the social media events, this is the one to attend if you want to hone in and learn as much as you can, plus have the opportunity to connect with leaders in the social media space.

SXSW
March 9-18, Austin, TX

What started out as a humble music festival has now expanded to cover technology, health and wellness, education, film, as well as music. SXSW has been responsible for helping boost many notable brands today like Twitter, Foursquare, and Meerkat, which opened up live streaming on social media platforms. The who’s who of the music and film industries show up. If you’re lucky, you’ll catch a secret show somewhere amazing. And in total, over 150,000+ attendees descend upon Austin from all over the world. Yes, it can be chaos to manage, but lots of major brands attend, making it prime for the networking.

IRCE
June 5-8, Chicago, IL

Internet Retailers Conference & Exhibition (IRCE) is a premier eCommerce event. Depending on what you’re doing with eCommerce, IRCE could be invaluable for you. Expect to find vendors with whom you could partner, as well as brands who operate successful eCommerce and retail stores to be in attendance, sharing tips and tricks. With over 130 sessions, there is bound to be something for everyone who is in the eCommerce space.

Adobe Conferences (Summit and Max)
Adobe Summit: March 25-29, Las Vegas, NV; Adobe Max: October 15-17, Los Angeles, CA

Adobe offers two events: Adobe Summit, which is targeted at digital marketing, and Adobe Max which is targeted at creatives. What makes these events stand out is the production element. Every single detail of the event is thought out and you truly feel inspired and creative while you’re there. The exhibition hall isn’t overcrowded. The talks are high-quality, and the type of attendees it attracts is pretty targeted. Thinking how accessible and respected Adobe products are, the brands that leverage these tools end up sending their teams to these events, which makes for a great opportunity to network with brands like Coca-Cola, Disney, and Canon. It’s truly an event aimed at digital creatives and I think lives up to its expectation.

MozCon
July 9-11, Seattle, WA

Operated by Moz, the company who creates smart marketing tools for SEO, this brand knows a thing or two about creating great content. MozCon has become known for providing state of the art information as well as experiences for conference attendees that make connecting in person super easy. You’ll hear from leading brands as well as digital marketing experts. Because of the brand that Moz has built, their conference is usually one not to miss.

Inbound
September 4-7, Boston, MA

Geared for the sales and marketing side of the house, Inbound is operated by Hubspot. The event’s purpose is to provide the inspiration, education, and connections you need to grow and transform your business. I’ve followed along with Hubspot’s growth as a company and think that their expertise shines when it comes to Inbound. They gather all the right people who are at the top of their game to share insight and inspiration, and sometimes that’s the magic you need to take your business to the next level.

Content Marketing World
September 4-7, Cleveland, OH

They say content is king, and as such, Content Marketing World always provides juicy insight into the world of content. As the largest event of its kind, this event aims to inspire you to do your own epic content marketing and network with some of the brightest in the business! In a world where pretty much everything is at your fingertips thanks to the internet, creating engaging content that resonates with your audience and grows your business is on everybody’s mind as an imperative element to be considered.

BlogHer
Exact day in August TBD, New York City, NY

BlogHer is often described as a movement to empower women to find their voices digitally. It’s the type of event that content creators can use to connect with brands, but also for brands to really learn from and connect with the content creators. They have a main event, but also will host smaller niche events focused on health or food, so depending on your industry, it might make sense for you to look into one of those. The type of attendee ranges anywhere from someone interested in starting a blog to seasoned six figure making bloggers. If you’re a brand looking to connect with that audience, it’s a great event to participate as a sponsor. Sponsors get a lot of great face-time with the attendees, versus having a presence in a huge exhibit hall where you’re just one of many booths.

Circles Conference
September 19-21, Dallas, TX

This event is geared for designers, tech junkies, and makers. I always find that events centered around design usually net out to be the most beautiful, but aside from the amazing graphics and presentation of the event, Circles Conference actually draws together visionaries from the design world. While it’s a relatively new conference, only founded in 2014, it still attracts an inspiring group of attendees and speakers who only have highly positive things to say about the conference. It’s one that’s on my radar for this year to finally attend.

The post Top Digital and WordPress Events to Put on Your Calendar for 2018 appeared first on WebDevStudios.