Wordcamp is a conference dedicated to all topics related to WordPress

Here are details from Joseph Scott, the organizer:

WordCamp Utah 2010 will be held August 28th at University of Utah, in the Skaggs Biology Building. This is a great opportunity to spend a day with local WordPress developers, users, and fans of all kinds! Presentations will cover a range of topics, with two tracks running throughout the day.

Just getting started or looking for a little help with your WordPress questions? We’ll have a Genius Bar where you get some help. Already a WordPress whiz? Come volunteer at Genius Bar! Contact us (http://2010.utah.wordcamp.org/contact/ ) and we’ll put you on the list.

And finally, at WordCamp Utah 2010 we’ll get an answer to that question you’ve always wondered about, Will WordPress Blend? http://2010.utah.wordcamp.org/2010/07/15/will-it-blend/

If you are interested in sponsoring, presenting, or helping make everything run smoothly please let us know -
http://2010.utah.wordcamp.org/contact/ – we are still looking for help with video recording in both rooms so if you know someone who can help in that area we’d really like to hear from you.

The vital details:

URL: http://2010.utah.wordcamp.org/
Registration: http://wordcamputah2010.eventbrite.com/ ($20 + Eventbrite fee)
Twitter: http://twitter.com/wordcamputah
Hash Tag: #wcut

Blog Sponsors

• Webworks ePublisher
• Scriptorium
• Help Generator help authoring software
• Southern Polytechnic: Information Design and Communication
• Simplified English
• MindTouch
• Madcap Software
• Dr.Explain
• Adobe Technical Communication Suite
• Congree

Strategy and Purpose

Ash says, You need a strategy with search engine optimization (SEO); otherwise you’re just pinging content all over the place. Everyone has an agenda, a strategy, or a reason – or should. If you don’t have a reason, you should shut your blog down and walk away.

(He later took some criticism for this comment.)

Links

• Include internal links to your content so search engines can better find your posts.
• User permalinks in your titles.
• Include a XML sitemap on your blog.
• Include a call to action in posts (e.g., remind users to take the next step, such as to buy your book).

Content

• You don’t need a ton of content on your posts (300 to 700 words is fine), but avoid posts shorter than that. You can’t create a call to action based on a single paragraph. If you run out of words, cover the journalistic Who-What-When-Why-Where.
• Ensure keyword density in your posts. Use keywords in your title and content. (He didn’t mention much about placement, but I’d say definitely include keywords in the title and first paragraph.)
• Focus your posts on how to solve a problem.
• Hone your copywriting skills. You need to lead a reader down a path gracefully.

Search Engine Marketing

• Create link bait with your content (make it enticing for others to link back to you).
• Keep linkbacks varied. Google is suspicious about linkbacks that all have the same anchor text.
• The more linkbacks you have, the greater SEO.
• Add comments on other blogs.
• Partner with other bloggers, such as by going to events such as Wordcamp.
• Write guest posts (this can introduce you to a new audience).
• Add your URL to blog directories.
• Send your latest post links across Twitter. (Ash uses Twitter to follow links more than Google Reader.)

Recommended Plugins

• Akismet, All in One SEO Pack, Comment Luv, Contextual Related Posts, DoFollow, Easy Inline SWF, Easy Tube, FeedBurner, FeedSmith, flickrRSS, Google Analytics, Google XML Sitemaps, Keyword Luv, Make Clickable, Rewtweet, SEO Post Link, ShareThis, Subscribe to Comments, Twitter Tools, What Would Seth Godin Do, WordPress Mobile Edition, WP Auto Tagger, SEO slugs

Tips

• Avoid static links that are spread across every page of your site, such as a blogroll. Google looks at these types of links suspiciously. Put your blogroll on just one page. (This is the first time I’ve heard this advice.)
• Avoid duplicate content. The content duplicated between your category archives and your single posts is undesirable. Ash recommends using excerpts or titles on your category page instead.
• Avoid thinking instead of doing. Don’t sit around contemplating hypotheticals all day.

Ash asked people to submit questions via Twitter. Interesting social phenomenon — he received tons of questions, but people felt free to heckle him playfully with tweets.

Preparing Your Podcast

• Capture extensive metadata in the ID3 tags of your audio file. This helps increase the visibility.
• Give your podcast files a human readable name (not something like nar0081008.mp3).
• Host your own podcast files. This allows you to reap the benefits of the search engine karma that comes to your site. Bandwidth usually isn’t an issue.
• Listen to your own podcast before publishing it.

Blogging Your Podcast

• Use WordPress to publish your podcasts — it makes it incredibly easy.
• Write attention grabbing titles.
• Add a link in the text area of your audio or video file (so users can download it).
• Add a description of the podcast to let users know what it’s about.
• Announce your new podcasts on social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook, and FriendFeed.

Essential Blog Theme Elements

• Choose an uncluttered, simple theme.
• Make it easy to subscribe. Put the RSS buttons in a prominent location above the fold.
• Choose a theme that allows you to organize your podcasts into their own area.

RSS and SEO

• Create an RSS feed just for your podcasts.
• Give readers the ability to play the audio or video.
• Make sure you publish your podcast on iTunes (and link to your iTunes page from your blog).
• Document highlights and time indicators in your podcast.
• Use a transcription service to produce the texts of your audio and video.
• Make sure your title is highly descriptive and SEO-rich.
• Gather stats from Google Analytics, Woopra, web server stats, Podtrac.

Recommended Plugins

• One Pixel Out Audio Player
• PodPress
• All In One SEO Pack
• WordPress.com Stats
• Woopra
• Google Analytics
• FeedBurner for WordPress
• WP Super Cache

My Notes

Nice presentation, Thom. I’d add one thing, though. Because the iPod has total market domination for MP3 devices, getting into iTunes is essential. iTunes requires certain specification tags to be included in your podcast feed. I use Feedburner’s podcasting options to automatically insert these iTunes tags.

The PodPress plugin also inserts the iTunes specifications, but since PodPress sometimes breaks with new releases of WordPress, I don’t recommend PodPress. I wasn’t always an iPod user, but since switching from the iRiver to the iPod Nano last month, I’m a total convert. iPods are the way to go.

During some preliminary technical issues …

Jane says, “I can feel the nerdiness vibes increase ….” And then checks her blog and sees that she just won another bloggy award.

Someone twitters that he doesn’t know a single person at Wordcamp. Guy next to me searches Twitter and finds his tweet. I follow him. Then Jane points out that the guy who sent the tweet is sitting right next to me. Same table. Holy smokes.

Technical issues solved, Matt gets into his presentation.

WordPress Stats

Matt mentioned some stats about WordPress:

• 2.8 million downloads of WordPress in 2007; 11 million downloads in 2008
• 11 new releases of WordPress.org this year
• Bloggers write the equivalent of “an English Wikipedia and a half” per month on WordPress.com blogs alone
• 230 million unique people viewed posts on WordPress.com blogs
• WordCamps have increased — 14 so far this year, 4 happening today, 10 upcoming. In places all over the world: China, South Africa, Philippines.
• 5 billion spam comments caught by Akismet in the last year

There’s a new type of spam sneaking through: (1) spam that is praising/flattering; (2) spam that copies your other comments, but changes the URL; (3) spam that comes from third-world spam sweat shops. Akismet’s challenge is to identify spam even when bloggers approve the comments.

New WordPress Developments Accomplished This Year

• The iPhone WordPress App. 100,000 installs of the iPhone app so far. Very popular in San Francisco, not so much in China.
• WordPress Theme Directory. The central repository filters out shady themes that have hidden sponsor links and other backdoor practices.
• WordPress Zeitgeist. More blogs than they thought: 5.6 million WordPress.com blogs, even more with WordPress.org and WordPress multi-user blogs.
  
• PHP 5. High adoption of PHP 5; WordPress may make it a standard.
  
• Intelligent tails/Better plugin stats. WordPress developers will look at the popularity of plugins and track usage to plan for future inclusions in the core.
  

Top 10 WordPress Plugins

1. Akismet
2. All-in-one-seo pack
3. Google-sitemap generator
4. Next-gen gallery
5. Stats plugins
6. Wp-db-backup
7. Caching plugins
8. WP Automatic Upgrade
9. WP-polls
10. 10. cforms (contact forms)

The average blog has 4.96 activate plugins. Plugins allow users to create a unique, customized blog. Other blogging platforms have more features than WordPress, but they can’t complete with the 3,000+ plugins that WordPress provides through its community.

Planned Features for WordPress 2.7

• Dashboard Redesign. The new design is based on usability eye-tracking tests. Expandable/collapsible navigation on the left.
• Drag and Drop arrangements. You can drag around the various components on the Write page. Ability to hide and show the components you want.
• Sticky posts. Ability to keep a post pinned to the top of your home page.
• Single Insert Media button. The upload media button automatically figures out what type of media you’re uploading.
• Quick Inline Editing. Ability to edit posts without fully refreshing the page. Ajax technology.
• Comments API. Update and moderate comments from your mobile device (rather than just write and edit posts).
• Dashboard comment replies. Reply to comments directly from the Dashboard.
• Threaded comments. Ability to thread comment conversations automatically, or allow users to thread their comments (insert replies below the relevant comment rather than at the end). Threading helps the conversation make sense.
• Keyboard Shortcuts. Similar to the abundance of shortcuts in Google Reader.
• Automatic plugin install in browser. Ability to install new plugins directly from within your blog, rather than FTPing them. They’ll attempt to do this with themes too. This is WordPress’ attempt to seamlessly integrate the strength of its community.

WordPress 2.7 will be available in November.

What’s After WordPress 2.7?

• Automatic upgrades. You’ll have the ability to update directly from within your blog.
• Web host updating. When a new release is available, WordPress wants to ensure all web hosts have the latest version.
• Security. The list of federal agencies using WordPress is extensive (includes Homeland Security, FBI, NSA, military divisions, Treasury, etc.). WordPress wants to ensure the platform is secure (even with all the vulnerability from plugins).
• Media. WordPress will do more with videos, slideshows, photos, and other media.
• WordPress as Hub. WordPress wants to incorporate all the activity you do online. For example, when you post to Twitter, Facebook, or Flickr, it should show it on your blog (or be included in your blog’s database).
• BackPress. Integrate the frameworks of other platforms more seamlessly into WordPress to allow sharing or transferring of information (BBpress, BuddyPress, etc.).
  
• Fashion + Tattoos. More WordPress apparel.
  
• Year of Themes. More and better themes (similar to Prologue), as well as themes with integrated plugins. Matt says, “Themes are where the action is.”
  
• Screencasts. WordPress hired a help author (I believe), who is creating 40-50 screencasts. They plan to integrate the screencasts throughout the WordPress interface.
  
• WordPress TV. Broadcasts of the Wordcamp sessions that take place throughout the world.
  

See Matt’s blog at http://ma.tt

Joseph Scott, one of the WordPress developers employed by Automattic, organized the event and is taking charge of the upcoming Wordcamp, which looks like it will be in September to avoid competition with other conferences (Blog World, Open Source, and New Media Expo).

Wordcamp Dallas a Success

By the way, Charles Stricklin of the WordPress Podcast just put on a Wordcamp in Dallas, and you can check out the latest videos on his site to see what Wordcamp is like (also read his notes on how to put on a Wordcamp, Part 1 and Part 2). Personally, I’ve never been. But I have attended Podcamp.

My Lesson Learned Tonight: Simplicity, Simplicity

Now, on to the point. After discussion about sponsors, sessions, venues, registration, etc., discussion shifted to more casual topics, and I asked Joseph for some advice on the upcoming WordPress session I’m giving at Doc Train.

The title of my presentation is From Novice to Geek: Getting Started with WordPress. “Geek” is a pretty generous term considering that I only have 60 minutes, and I won’t have a computer lab.

Joseph said I should focus on the tasks people will most commonly perform on a daily basis. People need to know how to write posts and pages, and how to deal with comments. I don’t need to get into how to tweak specific CSS styles, how to modify the loop or alter PHP tag parameters, or do anything advanced.

Lessons from an Immunization Study

In fact, one blogger from Twelve Horses mentioned a study about immunizations. Apparently a researcher found that the less information you give people about immunizations, the more likely they are to show up for immunizations. In contrast, inundate them with info, and they rarely appear.

I don’t want to scare people with talk about MySQL databases, PHP scripting, or anything like that. I will keep it simple.

Quick Reference Guides Are Like Chocolate to Users

Joseph said people will also benefit from a handout that contains brief, concise instructions — for example, the simple steps to writing a post.

It’s not necessary to be thorough with info about trackbacks, comments and pings, custom fields, and tags below the post. Or to explain how to timestamp the publication or change the slug (URL) of the post.

He even recommended tools like Windows Live Writer so that people can author in an environment they feel comfortable in.

Keep it S-I-M-P-L-E

Keep it simple, concise, and brief. Don’t go into all the detail that is possible. Doing so will only intimidate people and make them hesitant to move forward with blogging.

The same approach could be said of any software application. Users want brief, concise instructions to help them get started. Almost all help documentation should probably have at least two deliverables: the 200 page searchable reference guide, and the 10 page quick start guide.

The Progression of Learning

Once people get the basics down, they start clicking a bit more and exploring the program. They may begin checking out the tabs under Design, and look at the code of the theme files.

But in the first hour, they need the basics. Here’s how you log in. Here’s how you publish a post. Here’s how you insert an image. Here’s how you respond to a comment. Here’s how you create some categories and pages.

Maybe I’ll have a follow up WordPress session for anyone with advanced-type questions. (I’m already holding a podcast meetup, so one on WordPress would just be ad hoc.)

WordPress and the Tech Writer Audience

One blogger advised me that I must know my audience. Some people apparently show up at SXSW conferences thinking they’re giving an introduction to a technology, and the audience consists of PHP hackers who want to go straight to the advanced techniques.

But my experience with technical writers is that, while learning technology is their job during the day, it’s not often their hobby at home. The less difficult, the better.

WordPress Needs Technical Writers, Not Just Plugin/Theme Developers

While I’m on the topic of WordPress …. you know, I think WordPress could really benefit from the talents of technical writers. There is no WordPress Getting Started Guide that appears on the home page. No online help integrated in the application.

The WordPress Codex, while thorough, is not something the beginner turns to happily. The Codex rivals the complete works of Shakespeare in length. Nobody reads it cover to cover; they search it, and hope it’s up to date. And it keeps growing, and growing.

Thoughts on Meetups and the STC

I realized tonight something critical: the blogger’s casual dinner format works. Every month the bloggers get together at a nearby restaurant and chat for a couple of hours.

Contrast that with the STC, where we feel we need an official presentation, someone to come in and lecture to everyone for an hour or more. Not enough networking takes place at STC meetings, maybe 10 to 15 minutes.

The STC needs a new model. We don’t need more interesting presentation topics delivered on a monthly basis. Everyone has his or her own tools and methods and problems. It’s rare that you attend an STC presentation that actually addresses an immediate need you have.

On the other hand, casual networking, such as with the blogger dinner, allows this flexibility. You can exchange info with others who have similar interests. You can get right to the core of any problems or questions you have, and build camaraderie and friendship in a community of other like-minded professionals. Food is the magic ingredient of conversation. We need regular social dinners!