WordPress is an amazing system that’s not just for blogs/blogging. The plugin range is growing every single day and there’s countless themes available out there that simply blow your mind.

To learn more about what makes WordPress so awesome and how you can also get into WordPress design, I talked to Bronson Quick, co-founder of Sennza.

JAAVED: you’re obviously in love with wordpress, how did you get into it all and what makes you choose wordpress over other platforms like drupal and joomla?

BRONSON: After working in web design for a few years I went through a similar process as most web developers do. I first started coding sites in Dreamweaver using Dreamweaver templates then still found it difficult to actually update the content on websites. I wanted the client to be able to update the content themselves so I decided to code my own content management system (CMS). This process was time consuming so I looked at the open source alternatives out there at the time. I tried Joomla and Modx and found they were too cluttered and too complex for clients to get their heads around even after training sessions. I also worked with some proprietary CMS at some agencies but these lacked in features and were getting dated. Even more importantly, those CMS were lacking in features that were required for SEO which was an ongoing concern.

The transition to WordPress came at a time where I was working on Queensland Government sites for an agency and we were using Joomla. Joomla was great because of the team I was working with but it was still too cluttered for clients. I ended up working on WordPress sites after hours and loved the speed that I could take a Photoshop design and turn it into a WordPress theme. Then of course I became aware of the thousands of plugins that can be used on WordPress.org to extend the functionality of WordPress and lastly, and probably most importantly, when I gave clients a username and password to login into their WordPress site they could often login and update their site before I even completed initial training with them.


JAAVED: some people refuse to label WordPress as a CMS because they consider it merely a blogging tool on steroids.. what do you say to that?

BRONSON: To that I simply respond by directing to my recent 5 minute talk at Brisbane Ignite: http://www.sennza.com.au/2011/06/ignite-brisbane-wordpress-is-not-just-for-blogs-dammit/ and the original blog post titled “WordPress Is Not Just For Blogs Dammit!” http://www.sennza.com.au/2010/06/wordpress-is-not-just-for-blogs-dammit/
JAAVED: Now wordpress has a heap of plugins that let you do just about anything.. which ones could you absolutely not live without?

BRONSON:

My top five would be:
1) Backup Buddy http://pluginbuddy.com/purchase/backupbuddy/ This is amazing for backups and also amazing for site migration.
2) Gravity Forms: http://www.gravityforms.com/ This plugin is a must have for easy to easily create and manage forms in WordPress
3) Akismet: This comes bundled with WordPress and it’s the best way to manage spam. Set it up with an API key and it’ll work it’s magic in the background
4) All In One SEO Pack:http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/  A great plugin for SEO
5) Last but not least. VaultPress! http://vaultpress.com/ I always like backups of backups. VaultPress takes real time backups of your site and stores several copies of that backup all around the world. It can also perform realtime scans of your WordPress core files…so it’s like antivirus for your website!


JAAVED: For those who are starting out with wordpress design and want to tinker around, where would you recommend they go to for the best advice?

BRONSON: The WordPress.org support forums are great: http://wordpress.org/support/ WordPress Meetup groups are great: http://wordpress.meetup.com/ and http://wordpress.tv/ is a great place for videos from WordPress Meetups and WordCamps around the world.


JAAVED: last question (for now): with the rise of many premium theme sites, are there any which you prefer (and why) or do you opt to work from scratch with the default theme for your own customised design?

BRONSON: Usually this is determined purely by the clients budget. At the moment for clients with a limited budget will get them to choose a theme from either Elegant Themes or Woo Themes. We are going to moving away from that approach now at sennza as part of our rebranding that is currently in development.

If we are designing a custom site from a Photoshop design I start with a modified version of the Twenty Ten theme which used to be the default WordPress theme but as of yesterday there is a new theme called Twenty Eleven that I will be stripping back to use as a starting point for future themes.

JAAVED: Awesome, thanks for your pro tips Bronson. You clearly love WordPress!

BRONSON: Love it? Mate, I’d marry it!

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Jaaved Khatree is a Senior SEO Strategist and Digital Marketer at DEJAN SEO, a Brisbane SEO Company.

Bronson Quick is the co-founder of Sennza, a Brisbane WordPress Design Company.