Prestige Conference was built for the business side of WordPress: agency owners, product makers and freelancers who wanted to grow. The 2016 edition took place in Minneapolis on May 24 and 25, and our founder Brian Messenlehner was on the program with a session titled Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket!
The business of WordPress
Most WordPress talks are about code. This one was about revenue. The session covered how a WordPress company can increase and stabilize revenue through diversification, using real examples of complementary brands Brian had helped build alongside a services agency.
The argument was straightforward. A pure services business rides the ups and downs of its client pipeline. Adding products and recurring services that share the same expertise smooths out those swings, and each line of business can feed the others. A client who comes in for a website might need an app. A product customer might need custom development.
Lessons we still apply
AlphaWeb is built on that same idea, from the client's side of the table:
- Recurring care plans and managed hosting keep sites healthy between projects, so there is no scramble when something breaks.
- AppPresser lets clients extend their site into iOS and Android apps without a second vendor.
- Custom development, migrations and integrations are handled by the same team that hosts and supports the site.
For clients, that means one accountable partner for the full life of a WordPress platform, rather than a designer, a developer, a host and an app shop who all point at each other when something goes wrong.
Keep on Pressin
PrestigeConf also included a book giveaway and signing for Building Web Apps with WordPress, the O'Reilly book Brian co-authored with Jason Coleman. The inscription in the photo above, Keep on Pressin!, became something of a signature line at events. It is a good motto for anyone building a business on WordPress: the platform keeps evolving, and the people who keep learning keep winning.
The value of business focused events
Business conferences like PrestigeConf are where you hear about the hard parts that never make it into a tutorial: pricing, hiring, cash flow, and saying no to the wrong projects. Those conversations shaped how we scope projects today. We would rather spend time up front defining success, budget and long term ownership than rush into a build that does not fit the client's business.
If you are looking for a WordPress partner who thinks about your business and not just your code, AlphaWeb is ready to help.
At a glance
- Event: Prestige Conference 2016
- Dates: May 24 and 25, 2016
- Location: Minneapolis
- Session: Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket!
- Also: Building Web Apps with WordPress giveaway and signing
Related: PressNomics 4: The Business of WordPress in Tempe, Arizona, PressNomics 6: The Business of WordPress in Tucson and Jersey Shore Tech Panel: How to Launch Better Products.
Have a question about this event or a project like the ones mentioned here? Reach out to AlphaWeb and Brian will be glad to talk it through. We are always happy to compare notes on WordPress, mobile apps and migrations.
