I am not a “WordPress Guru”

WordPress Guru?

This may seem an odd post but I’d like to get this off my chest….

I am often invited into a conversation or asked to give a talk about WordPress and website strategy etc – giving practical tips on how businesses can improve their websites and get more value out of them etc. As part of this, I sometimes get introduced as a “WordPress Guru“, which makes me a tad uncomfortable. Yes, I obviously know a heck of a lot about WordPress but hey, come on! Guru?! Let’s be reasonable here!

Potted History

The thing is, whilst I have a 2:1 degree in computing, have worked for Amex, Speedwing Logica (who were part of British Airways), and have spent years as a freelance programmer & web developer etc – I no longer do that aspect of the work. My role now is much more about strategy; looking at the higher level of what a WordPress site should/could do so that it adds the most value to a business. I have a highly talented team to do the implementation.

The Glass Mountains Team

The work my company produces is the net sum of all the Glass Mountaineers involved, whether that’s Tim or Ciaran on the design site, or Ben, Alex, and Simon on the development side. Or Stu and Tim H on the Google Analytics/Google Tag Manager front. I tend to be the public visible face of the company. Together, we are the WordPress Guru. I’ve been lucky to work with some very smart people, e.g. the fantastic Sarah who went on to work for Automattic.

WordPress?

In truth, the WordPress word is also a bit of a misnomer as well, yes 90% of our work is pretty much WordPress. but we also bespoke PHP apps, and we have produced static, bespoke designed HTML templates for clients to integrate with their own systems. We also do a lot of integration work with things CRMs (e.g. Infusionsoft, Active Campaign), and bespoke API work – after all, rarely does a WordPress site sit in isolation, it needs to be plumbed into an overall marketing strategy.

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That being said, WordPress is a fairly known phrase and a fairly friendly one at that. And, as it does cover the bulk of our work, Saying “WordPress” seems a good starting point.

So whilst “WordPress Guru” doesn’t sit that well with me, feel free to carry on using it, though you may hear me audibly cringe ;)

If you want to use something different, feel free to pick any of the following:

  • Website Wrangler
  • Daring Digital Do-gooder
  • Website Overload of Planet Earth
  • Pan-Galactic Mega-Being of all things WordPress related
  • ….etc etc

 

Thank you for listening

 

Joel

p.s. the ‘guru’ in the image is from Unsplash by Frank Holleman. Frank has some really lovely photos there.

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