All posts by sarahwnyc

About sarahwnyc

Sarah Wefald is a senior product manager, focusing on end-to-end B2B SaaS solutions for state & local government, finance, and education industries. She is also the founder and principal of Mother Blackbird, a digital solutions agency. Sarah has led a number of sessions on topics like WordPress development, as well as product and project management. Additionally, Sarah volunteers for Orange County WordPress, sharing knowledge, guidance and opportunities to those exploring careers in tech. Sarah attended Mount Holyoke College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.

Session Spotlight: Selling WordPress products with Scott Bolinger

Join us on Saturday, June 6 at 10:40 AM for Scott Bolinger’s presentation on selling WordPress products.

Scott has been focused on selling WordPress products for nearly 5 years. He started out selling themes, then started to do more with mobile, founding a company to create mobile apps out of WordPress sites, and last year, sales grew marketdly. Recently, he released a SaaS product that has had a steep learning curve, which has shown him some of the tougher sides of the business. Join him and learn about the ups and downs of selling WordPress products.

Session Spotlight: Plugin Vulnerabilities – How to Secure Your Code with Dave Jesch

Learn how to secure your plugin code with Dave Jesch at 10:40 AM on June 6th in the Salt Creek Trail track.

Prevention is the key to plugin vulnerabilities. Learn what to look for in your own code to help safeguard from potential issues. A step-by-step guide will be provided on how to avoid vulnerabilities and make your code more secure. With the generosity of popular plugin authors, we will review some recent vulnerabilities found, share how they fixed the problems and discuss the best methods for getting the word out about your plugin once it’s been securely updated. Yes, there will be code.

Session Spotlight: Blurred Lines – A Workflow for Responsive Projects with Natalie MacLees

Join Natalie MacLees in the Trabuco Trail track at 9:50 AM on June 6th for her talk Blurred Lines: A Workflow for Responsive Sites.

Responsive design is so much more than a flexible grid and a few media queries. A responsive web site project requires a whole new approach to the way we think about web sites – and involves a serious blurring of the boundaries between design and development. In this talk, Natalie will cover some new workflows and how designers and developers can better collaborate in a responsive world.

Session Spotlight: SEO Simplified with William Bay

Let William Bay show you the ropes of Search Engine Optimization at 9:50 AM in the Salt Creek Trail track on Saturday, June 6th.

William Bay has trained many small business owners on how to get their websites ranked on search engines without overwhelming them with information.

What you’ll learn in this presentation is:

  • How Google determines to display the pages it does.
  • How best to set up your WordPress site to maximize the chances of getting ranked.
  • Show you how to choose the right keyword, and introduce you to competitive analysis.
  • Walk through using the WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin on a Page and Post to set you up for rankings.
  • And discuss links and why they’re important. Also why some links are very bad.

You’ll come out of this presentation with a clear understanding of what you need to do to get your pages ranking higher than they have in the past. And you’ll find that you didn’t need that magic wand to do it after all.

Sponsor Spotlight: Diesel Brew

Diesel BrewWe’re proudly powered by WordPress, yes, but we’re really powered by caffeine. We’re extremely grateful that our caffeine will be provided by Diesel Brew at this year’s WordCamp.

Diesel Brew is cold brewed for 14 hours in brewing tanks. After brewing, they filter twice and then bottle in glass and aluminum 12oz bottles, 64oz Growlers (called Large Marge) and also offer 5 gallon kegs (Diesel Brew Tankers) for home and office service. After brewing the grounds are pressed then the diesel brew is filtered and bottled. They do not yet offer IV bags.

Sample their wares at WordCamp and check them out here.