176 Our Biggest Website Mistakes

Our WordPress panel shares the biggest mistakes they have made on website projects. If you've done one website or a thousand, chances are you will identify with at least one thing on this list. We talk not only about our botch-ups, but how our processes changed afterwards as a result. There's something for everyone in this episode.

Our WordPress panel this week:

David Hayes: from WPShout

Sallie Goetsch: from WP Fangirl

Jackie D'Elia: from Jackie D'Elia Design

Lee Jackson: from Angled Crown

John Locke: from Lockedown SEO

Jonathan Denwood: from WP-Tonic.com

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Our episode this week is sponsored by LiquidWeb. Liquid Web is offering a 33% discount for your first 6 months of managed WordPress hosting.

Head over to https://LiquidWeb.com/wordpress and use the code WPTONIC33 at checkout for your discount.

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Table of Contents for Episode 176

0:00 Podcast intros.

3:18 WordPress News Story #1: Jetpack Introduces Theme Installation from WordPress.com, Sparks Controversy with Alternative Marketplace for Free Themes

https://wptavern.com/jetpack-introduces-theme-installation-from-wordpress-com-sparks-controversy-with-alternative-marketplace-for-free-themes

17:38 WordPress News Story #2: WooCommerce 3.0.0 Scheduled for Release April 4th

https://wptavern.com/woocommerce-3-0-0-scheduled-for-release-april-4th

26:56 Main Topic: Our Biggest Website Mistakes

27:06 Lee's classic mistake: not backing up a Multisite before updating it. Also, making assumptions about a client's expectations.

32:12 David looks at the two classes of website mistakes. How he edited a plugin in production without having FTP access. Another story about not having a restorable backup. Also, have a clear-cut business plan before you invest thousands of hours of time.

36:49 Why Jackie is obsessed with backups, and the story behind it. Don't change DNS records without having a screenshot of the old records. FTP-ing files to the wrong site.

43:01 Sallie's horror story about MX records and email forwarding. Many mistakes are around communication or discovery.

46:16 Always check out prospects before you allow them to be a client. Some scams that get run on web designers. Not all hosting panels handle DNS records the same way. Migrations are tricky.

54:05 Jonathan has some great stories about some nightmare projects. How to do research on potential clients.

59:20 John learned some lessons early on about scope, stakeholders, communication, and doing too much for too little.

1:04:27 Everyone needs their stupidly low priced website to learn their lesson. Think about what value you are providing, and how much you actually need to stay in business.

1:06:57 Jonathan has an interesting client who tried to lowball him on price.Don't lowball yourself on price. Realize your value.

1:14:48 Podcast outros

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Links mentioned during the show:

Semantic Versioning 2.0.0

http://semver.org/

9 WordPress Experts Share Their Biggest Website Mistakes

https://wpmastery.xyz/9-wordpress-experts-share-biggest-website-mistakes/

An Easier Way to Create a Website Spec

https://angledcrown.com/website-specification/

How to create an intro packet (and why you should!)

https://erinflynn.com/intro-packet/