When my client and friend asked me to come onto his podcast, I was eager to accept. Not just because Pete’s a great person, but because I’ve always been very open about my life and I’m happy to share it with others. Life is messy and life is hard. For some of us, that messiness can present some significant hurdles. But hurdles and life’s complexities don’t have to stand in the way of success. I found that out early in my career and I always welcome a chance to remind others of this as ... Read More
Community Involvement Articles and Posts
Articles and blog posts discussing Web Savvy Marketing's activity in the local and WordPress community.
Web Savvy Marketing Celebrates a Birthday and 10 Years of Success!
In the summer of 2009, I founded Web Savvy Marketing. I've often joked about being the accidental entrepreneur, because I didn't plan on ever working for myself, running an agency, or doing anything I've done over the last ten years. I grew up as the ward of the state of Michigan, very poor, and in a small rural town. As I was graduating high school, I knew I needed to figure out my life, because post-graduation I didn't really have a place to live. I never had career aspirations or any lofty ... Read More
A Look Back at 2017
I feel like 2017 was flown by in an instant. It doesn't seem like much time has passed since I sat down to write about 2016's year in review. The funny part is while I feel as though it's been an uneventful year, it was anything but quiet. I look back at the activity list of 2017 and I realize, a lot did happen. I was just too mixed up in the craziness to recall any of it. I like busy. I'm not one to sit all day and watch TV or spend time curled up with a good book. And honestly, I haven't ... Read More
The Founders Origin Stories of ZenFounder
I recently had the honor of joining Sherry Walling on the ZenFounder podcast. Sherry and her husband, Rob Walling, have been running a seven part series on entrepreneurs and the stories behind their products and services. What I find so special about these stories is that people - even very public people - are so much more than you would ever realize. The online world and in particular, social media, has given us humans this fake premiss of separation. From nasty tweets to completely ... Read More
Run an e-Commerce Store? Then Join Me for Life Off Summit
Lift Off Summit is the perfect education event for e-commerce store owners. This five day event will feature 21 speakers and cover topics ranging from SEO to affiliate management. Why Should You Attend the Lift Off Summit? Great Speakers - This online event has some of the best names in the e-commerce and marketing world. Many of them have online courses, write books, or perform their own multi-day workshops on their respective subject areas. Free Admission - Watch 4-5 live interviews each ... Read More
A Look Back at 2016
As I sit down to write this year end wrap up, I initially think that we've had a limited year. But as I reflect on activity, I realize that initial impression is my imposter syndrome talking and in actuality we've had a really active and good year at Web Savvy Marketing. I am our hardest critic and my realization is just another reminder of this fact. The 2016 CY has been very good and I need to celebrate our accomplishments and put my imposter syndrome back where it belongs. I'm always ... Read More
WordCamp Ann Arbor’s WordCamp WarmUp
This last week I had the pleasure of attending WordCamp Ann Arbor and organizing the WordCamp WarmUp event. I spent Thursday through Sunday in Ann Arbor and the time flew by quicker then I thought was possible. Thursday started with an airport run to pick up some iThemes folks then we were off to WordCamp WarmUp that evening. My Friday included two business panels and one SEO lunch. The speaker dinner was that evening, but I was a little too pooped to attend. Saturday continued with me ... Read More
A Visit to the StudioPress.FM Podcast
I recently had the pleasure of recording a podcast episode of StudioPress.fm with Brian Gardner and Lauren Mancke. This is a brand new podcast series from the Copyblogger team and I was fortunate enough to be their first guest. I'm not sure how that happened, but I'll admit I jumped at the chance when asked. The podcast covered a wide range of topics ranging from website design and SEO to my struggles in running an agency. Here is a full list of topics we chatted about: My path to ... Read More
Join Me for WordCamp Ann Arbor and a Special WordCamp WarmUp
WordCamp Ann Arbor is coming this fall and tickets are now on sale. This year I'll be speaking and I'll also be leading a special event prior to camp called WordCamp WarmUp. WordCamp Ann Arbor The main event is taking place October 14th and 15th. I'll be presenting a session called WordPress, SEO, and You on Saturday at 10:15am. If you are in the area, I'd love for you to join me. But I'm not alone. There are so many really great speakers this year. And I'm fortunate enough to call many of ... Read More
Saying Goodbye to Chris Cree
Our Backstory I founded Web Savvy Marketing over seven years ago and at that time I had planned on working solely as an SEO consultant. I quickly realized most companies had horrible HTML websites that they could not modify or improve with SEO. Due to this I was forced to push the agency into website development and the WordPress community. While I had worked on websites in the past, I had not actually done so in a development setting and with a database that needed to migrate to a live URL. ... Read More
From McDonald’s Worker to Small Business Owner
If you asked a WordPress developer about the path they took in launching their career, you'll certainly hear a wide range of stories, backgrounds, and life experiences. I suspect mine would be just as colorful as any other developer, although I didn't realize this until Troy Dean went quiet during a recent interview. This month I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Troy Dean on this very popular WP Elevation Podcast. Troy started the episode by asking me about the career aspirations I ... Read More
Congratulations Emmett Helsel!
he Web Savvy Marketing team would like to congratulate Emmett Helsel, our scholarship winner for 2015. Emmett is an upcoming graduate of Grayling High School and will be attending Saginaw Valley State University in the fall to pursue a career in biology and health sciences. I started this scholarship a few years ago, because I wanted to give back to the village that raised me. My hometown is in northern Michigan and it is rather small in comparison to the city where I now live in. In this ... Read More
WordCamp Videos That Inspire
If you’ve ever been to a WordCamp, you’ll know there are a lot of good presentations that cover a wide range of topics. If you’ve never been to a WordCamp, you simply don’t know what you are missing. Before I went to my first WordCamp, I assumed the talks would be focused on code. I don’t code, so the idea of sitting through 45 minutes of PHP, CSS, Java, and API babble frightened me. I thought it would bore me to death. But I was wrong! WordCamps Offer More Than Code There is so much ... Read More
WSM Becomes a WBE Certified Web Design Agency
I’m pleased to announce that Web Savvy Marketing is now a WBE certified web agency. WSM was formally certified as a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) by the National Women Business Owners Corporation. NWBOC was the first national certifier of Women Business Enterprises. Over 700 public and private sector individuals participated in establishing the Standards and Procedures of this rigid certification review. The Reason WBE Certification is Important For Web Savvy becoming WBE certified ... Read More
Grayling Strong and Viking Tough
Persevere through all things. This was something my Grandmother taught me early on in life and it is something that has followed me into adulthood. In both my personal and my business life, I’ve learned the lesson of powering through, being tough, and staying strong. I learned the value of being Grayling Strong and Viking Tough. In the spring of 2013 my Facebook feed was filled with heartbreaking comments about my hometown’s golf team. That fateful day, my small hometown lost a golf coach ... Read More
Crowd Favorite Partners with Web Savvy Marketing
I’m very excited to announce a new partnership between Web Savvy Marketing and Crowd Favorite. I’ve had the pleasure of spending a great deal of time with the Crowd Favorite folks this last year and I’ve discovered the two companies have a significant amount in common. So much so, that we all wanted to work a little closer together. A Little Bit About the Crowd Favorite Team Crowd Favorite is an international firm that delivers professional services in design and engineering to Fortune 500 ... Read More
Turn Your WordPress Website Into a Traffic Driving Machine
Did you build a website and no one came? Did you have grand hopes of internet fame, only to find creating and promoting your website or blog was much more challenging than you ever imagined? If your website (or blog) isn't bringing in visitors like it should, grab a cup of coffee and watch my WordCamp Grand Rapids presentation. In this educational session I walk through the ten top changes you can make to your WordPress website to begin driving traffic and converting visitors. In the ... Read More
A Chat About eCommerce Plugins and Themes
Today I had the pleasure of joining Carrie Dils on her weekly podcast series Genesis Office Hours. Carrie invited me on to talk about the launch of our new WordPress eCommerce theme. We were joined by Cory Miller, Justin Sainton, and Daniel Espinoza. The four of us represented the theme and plugin developers associated with our new Jessica theme. Carrie as kind enough to ask us on the show when she heard the new theme would be styled to run three different eCommerce plugins. That is kind of ... Read More
A Visit to the WP Round Table
This week I had the pleasure of appearing as a guest on the WP Round Table. Kellen, Kyle, and Jason spent an hour with me in a question and answer format that explored my background, our business, and my place in the WordPress community. The podcast covers the firm's creation, our customers, our services and products, and my background in accounting. Yes, I really did major in accounting in college. And yes, I don't know what I was thinking when I made that decision. We chatted about ... Read More
We’re Sponsoring WordCamp Ann Arbor 2014
WordCamp Ann Arbor is Coming on October 4th! Fall is WordCamp season and this means WordCamp events are happening all around the world. In fact, the are multiple WordCamps scheduled the exact same day as Ann Arbor's camp. This is the first time Ann Arbor will have a WordCamp and I'm very excited. I've been a small part of the organizing committee, Debbie is a volunteer for the day, Web Savvy is a sponsor, and I'll be speaking at the event. I'll be on stage at 11:00am on Saturday to give a ... Read More
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