Choose a professionally built WordPress website only if you have specific functionality requirements or design needs that a do-it-yourself web builder cannot offer as reliably, intuitively, or as affordably. I’ll hit the major differences as I see them based on building websites since 2001, and building with WordPress since 2009.

I’ve been implementing secure websites with built-in Content Management Systems (CMS) since 2004. I started using Adobe Contribute®, and eventually embraced WordPress™ over Joomla™ and Drupal™ for one very important reason: the ability to modify the back end to improve end-user friendliness. No CMS provides an out-of-the box user-friendly environment quite like is advertised, or…

Before we get to flying cars and space tourism, I would really like to see the WordPress ecosphere consider separating release candidates into Feature Updates and Security Updates whenever possible.

Any self-hosted website you own will have maintenance costs. It requires consideration from the start about how you are going to keep all its components updated and its security stance relevant to the types of threats public-facing websites experience. Some of my clients have IT people for this, and some do not. The cost for such services varies according to the website’s complexity and the problems encountered during maintenance.

Dependencies between WordPress core, plugins, custom code, or other components will always add complexity to the WordPress ownership experience. Complexity adds cost.

The hardest part of selling your products or services online is probably choosing the best ecommerce platform for your website. This right platform can reduce costs, minimize development time, and increase the ROI of your business. After doing extensive research, we found five reasons why choosing WooCommerce for your website will give you the best…

Workflow diagrams map use cases into a coherent visual story, providing far more context than mere bullet points in text. The trick is to keep the diagram simple, and this requires evaluating what the reader brings to the table. One person’s “simple” can be another’s “confusing”. Too much information can be a bad thing when…

This video provides a quick overview of the workflow map I use to guide my support desk tasks at FlexTech Media. I only cover the critical path in this video, and not some of the other paths  you can clearly see in the screenshot of my map, which you can also download by right-clicking on…

“I looked into creating a secure, searchable PDF file archive for your researchers,” I said sitting across from my expectant client. It was the winter of 2013 and my client had paid me well to evaluate the landscape of options. “The other options come in at around $8,000.00 if they are a dime. This plug-in is from a company called SearchWP, and it will work within your current website after some configuration. It runs about $80.00 a year.”