Just over a year ago, I moved into WeWork Gas Tower in Downtown Los Angeles. WeWork, a Silicon Valley-based company with 140+ coworking workspaces across the globe, is well-known within the LA entrepreneur community as having the most “premium” office space experience compared to all the other options out there.
So what’s all the hubbub about and how does it stand up after a year? Continue reading “A year at WeWork Gas Tower: A review of the Downtown LA coworking space”
Update: August 18, 2017
When Chrome 62 is released in October, Chrome will show a “Not Secure” warning anytime someone starts typing into a form field that’s on a non-https page. In addition, the browser (that just so happens to have the most marketshare!) will show a “Not Secure” warning immediately upon opening a non-https page in Incognito Mode.
In other words, it’s crunch time if you still have not secured your website with SSL so it shows “https” in the URL bar.
This also means that eCommerce sites shouldn’t just use SSL for the cart/checkout/thank you pages. All pages should be running within the SSL’s environment.
Not sure if your site is using SSL? Enter your homepage here: https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/. You should get a grade of A if it’s installed correctly.
Need a new host that makes it easy to set up SSL? Check out the details about WP Engine below. Continue reading “Chrome will soon mark all non-SSL sites as “Not Secure” [updated: last chance]”
This year’s WordCamp LAX will be September 29th – October 1st, and I’ll be there as a speaker!
My talk is entitled: “Setting up a CRM you’ll actually use”:
You’ve probably set up a CRM (Customer Relationship Management system) for your company before, but stopped using it after day one. It ends up feeling like more work with little value.
With marketing automation tools, you can set up a CRM that you’ll actually want to use. Automatically find out how your customers found you, what pages on your website they’ve visited, and how they’ve interacted with you in the past. All of this information can turn you into a stellar and empowered salesperson.
Just a couple of months ago, I presented “Inbound Marketing: Beyond the Newsletter Signup Form” at WordCamp OC. That talk is available to view on WordPress.tv.
Tickets for #WCLAX will be available soon – subscribe to get notified when they’re released on the site’s sidebar. Will you be there? Let me know which talk you’re excited about below!
Starting an eCommerce company seems easy on the surface. Slap together a quick website, uploading the product photos, set prices, and launch. Or even better: create a quick marketplace website in a particular niche that allows other people to sell products and you don’t even have to worry about inventory or support! Right?
As they say, “if it sounds too good to be true, it is.” Continue reading “Starting an eCommerce company? Here are common pitfalls. [WP eCommerce Show Podcast]”
Hosting: every website needs it. When we start working with a new client, choosing a hosting provider is one important decisions that we make. For us, that decision is almost always to work with WP Engine.
But, the question that usually follows that is, “Why?”
Personally, I have attempted nearly every hosting situation possible for clients: shared hosting, VPS hosting with cPanel, Amazon Web Services with cPanel, Digital Ocean, you name it. Once I discovered WP Engine a few years back, I never looked back. Continue reading “Why we host with WP Engine”
Another month, another LA WordPress Meetup! As the organizer, it’s been awesome to see the community grow since the first DTLA meetup earlier this year. We’re seeing 20-30 attendees regularly, and we already outgrew our first venue.
Our July meetup will be at Headquarters at 6th & Spring. Join us for networking, learning, and a presentation from Arsen Rabinovich from TopHatRank.com LLC:
Ever wondered why your website is not getting the love it deserves from Google? Join us for this actionable presentation that will cover multiple real-life scenarios and drill into step-by-step instructions on how to use free data from Google to evaluate your website’s performance in search engines and beyond.
Be sure to RSVP through Meetup.com to receive the security code for entrance. See you July 31st!
Looking to improve your website to get more leads or purchases?
Here’s your chance to get professional website and eCommerce feedback – for free – with a live “consult-a-thon.”
If you’re able to attend our in-person DTLA session, submit your website to [email protected], and we’ll provide lessons and takeaways for some of the submitted sites during this session:
WeWork Gas Tower
555 W 5th St Floor 35
Los Angeles CA 90013
(Recommended parking location is Pershing Square)
Please RSVP through the Facebook Event.
Scott Buscemi, founder of Lumen Foundry, has been working with eCommerce clients for 9 years. His expertise in user interface, user experience, and WordPress/WooCommerce means he can spot areas of concern for low-converting sites.
Ready to start selling digital goods with WordPress? Or is it time to super-charge your existing Easy Digital Downloads coupon?
Today until Friday (7/14), EDD is offering 20% off extension purchases and license upgrades with a special discount code. Continue reading “Summer steal: get 20% off Easy Digital Downloads extensions [update: expired]”
When I was just 15 years old, a family friend asked me if I could build a new website for his band. I had never done anything more than tweak my Myspace profile HTML a bit, but… I said yes! Along the way, I learned the basics of HTML/CSS, FTP, project management, client management, and so on.
Eventually, I launched my first website for the band HoneyBoy Dupree. Yesterday, I found out that the website is still accessible on the web!
Continue reading “Throwback Thursday: the first website I ever built is (somehow) still online”
Hey, it’s Scott.
Earlier this year, I founded Lumen Foundry with Peter Malick. Our services included inbound marketing, blogging, email marketing, marketing automation setup, web+eCommerce development, conversion optimization, and many other offerings related to inbound.
After a few months, we found ourselves working two separate mini-companies: one for inbound and another for web development. Complementary, but quite separate.
As a result, we’ve decided to part ways. Peter is now the CEO of Inbound AV, and I’m now the head of Lumen Foundry. It’s all amicable and friendly – there are even some clients that we’ll still help together 🙂
Continue reading “Going solo: returning to eCommerce development roots”