Last Saturday I was fortunate enough to attended WordCamp SLC. I attended my first WordCamp in 2007, before I even set up my first WordPress site. WordPress has come a long way since then. And I have come along way since then.
WordCamp was so full of great data I decided to split the information up into several posts. Let’s start with the opening keynote speaker and the “State of The Word 2011″.
Pete Davies started WordCamp SLC with an overview of WordPress and the 2011 survey. You can see the more on the survey in this video with WordPress founder and Automattic co-founder Matt Mullenweg. WordPress has come from…What is happening now…What is in the future.
State Of The Word 2011
Note: This video was a little touchy, I started it…stopped it until it was fully loaded and then it played correctly.
Outline of First Ever WordPress Survey
- Survey 18,000 people from around the world responded
- 53% of these respondents were developers, about 9500 people
- Building websites for themselves and others
- Some non profit and some for profit
- 36% of these were self employed, about 3300 people
- 170000 sites have been built by respondents, an average of about 25 per developer
What is the best thing about WordPress?
Photo from Matt Mullenweg WordCamp Slide-show
Photo from Matt Mullenweg WordCamp Slide-show
Users also love WordPress 20% said “Ease of use” or “Easy to use.”
Community – The Second Reason People Love WordPress
- Community of Developers helping each other
- It works -Devlopers additional functionatilty and answers
- Community at WordPress Forums
Most frustrating?
Photo from Matt Mullenweg WordCamp Slide-show
- Plugins not working
- Security with plugins
- Finding Plugins
- There are over 15000 plugins are in the WordPress Repository
- New policy: If a Theme or a Plugin has not been updated in the last two years – bye-bye. They will not be removed but they will not be included in your search of WordPress.org and with in your dashboard.
How Is WordPress being used?
- 92% use WordPress as a Content Management System (CMS)
- As a blog and Content Management System (CMS) – 31%
- As a CMS – 61
- As a blog only – 8%
Income From WordPress
- Developers are charging from $5.00 per hr. to $2000.00 pr hr., with an average of $50.00 per hr. and a median of $58.00 per hr.
- Over half make a meaningful living and 2,800 make a full time living
WordPress Is Taking Over
- In the first 2 days of the 3.2 WordPress release there were 500,000 downloads
- There have been 200 million plugin downloads
- 14.7% of all Websites on the net are on WordPress
- Since the first of the year, 22% of new active domains are built on WordPress
(A Representative from Blue Host Gave This Info)
- Blue Host has hosted 86,600 new sites in the last 30 days
- 60% of them are on WordPress
My Take
Ease of Use – I will second that! To all of you that might feel like you are struggling I say stick with it! For all that WordPress can do, it is worth any stops you find along the way. This is the easiest format to learn. And there is plenty of help.
WP101.com has and excellent set of WordPress Tutorial videos. I always include these videos in my clients packages.
Need Help? I would be glad to help you get started. I know what it is like to learn something new…someone helped me to get a jump start and I can help you.
Community – Right from the get go I knew I wanted my site to be on WordPress. I Googled “WordPress Geeks Utah” and found Joseph Scott of Automattic and his local geek club. My journey has gone from Newbie, to setting up WordPress sites for others.
WordPressJunkies.com - WordPress lovers community.
Salt Lake City Local WordPress Club: WPSLC.com
You will find the WordPress Codex and the WordPress Forum ideal communities to start with. Ask questions and answer questions for others.
Themes - The new 2011 default theme is a great theme the average WordPress user will love. If you plan on choosing a Free WordPress Theme I suggest using the themes in the WordPress Theme Repository. They have met the WordPress criteria for clean coding.
More on Themes coming up…yeah! New stuff happening.
Plugins – You do not need over 1500 plugins! You just need the plugins that will enhance and make your site more secure.
More on this in a future post from my WordCamp experience.
WordCamp – Find and attend a WordCamp in your area. Why should you attend WordCamp? infographic.
Thanks to Joseph Scott of Automattic and the local sponsors that made WordCamp SLC possible.
Sheila
P.S. Have you attended a WordCamp? What would help you use WordPress better?
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Thanks so much for this. I love your idea about including the WP tutorials with your new clients! I’m definitely going to attend the next Word Camp that comes near me
Holly Kile recently posted..Your To Do List is Not Your Goal List
Holly,
The video tutorials are so great. They make it so easy for anyone to get around in WordPress.
Good for you. The camps have been well worth it.
Hi! This video tutorial is great it can be beneficial to be around in WordPress
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