Some clients are very tech savvy, some are not. Some know that a logo doesn’t come with a website build, others think they get social media marketing, a logo, a website, and built-in customers from the get-go. Bottom line is it’s up to us to inform them of all the details, the scope, the process — everything involved, and when we don’t communicate that well enough it can cause issues. Today we’ll discuss what we’ve learned and any tips we can share to keep it smooth sailing when communicating wi...
Feb 20, 2019•1 hr 2 min
This week on DC we’re discussing marketing strategies for your Divi products, like courses, plugins, child themes, etc. We’ve been in the “Divi biz” for a while so we’ll share our marketing tips. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB Tim Strifler - Divi Plugins / Divi Child Themes / Divi Layouts Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb https://youtu.be/M3Uh3GFjE8o...
Feb 14, 2019•1 hr 4 min
How to get remote and/or local clients, this is something we discussed early on in our DC days on one of our first episodes. Back then we had silly graphics to play with in Google hangouts lol, you can view it here. Enough time has gone by for a topic revisit we think so this week we’ll be discussing how we find clients, both remote and local. Be interesting to see what’s changed (or not changed) and what we’ve learned along the way. Hosts Present: Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspe...
Feb 07, 2019•1 hr 2 min
This week we’ll be discussing our steps for creating a Divi website. There are a lot of steps someone can go through but we think we can narrow it down to a pretty good overview on the basic steps applicable to most sites. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Tim Strifler - Divi Life / Divi Child Theme Guide Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb Resources Mentioned: Loom Adobe Photoshop Ado...
Jan 31, 2019•1 hr 1 min
This week we'll be discussing the dreaded scope creep and ways to avoid it. What’s scope creep you ask? It’s when a client starts to ask for additional work that is “out of scope”, work that was *not* part of the agreed upon job in the beginning. Sometimes it can come in the form of seemingly simple change requests, and small requests can start to snowball into entirely new features. It’s very easy to jump to the conclusion that your client is trying to take advantage of you but that’s not alway...
Jan 25, 2019•1 hr 1 min
We're back for our first episode of 2019!! Woohoo!! We decided our first topic should be about the latest updates, both with WordPress and Divi. WordPress 5.0 was released just before the end of 2018 and Divi was updated as well with a slew of new features, and the new WP editor - dubbed Gutenberg - has been the talk of the community for some time. Nothing too technical in this chat, just a general overview of any hiccups we've come across plus any tips we can share on working in your Divi site ...
Jan 17, 2019•57 min
There’s a lot to cover when it comes to Google Analytics so we’re going to be touching on some basics of GA and data tracking. It's not as scary as it seems to add to your site and you definitely SHOULD add it to your site. Hosts Present: Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb Resources Mentioned: Google Analytics 2018 Beginners Tutorial How to Set Up Google Analytics in Divi (without a plugin) How to Make Your...
Dec 20, 2018•56 min
As 2018 comes to a close we thought we'd take a look back on some lessons we've learned, what we've achieved, what changes we went through (good and bad), what we've enjoyed most (and least!), and touch on our plans for the future and share any advice we can give to our amazing listeners. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios /...
Dec 13, 2018•1 hr 6 min
While Divi isn’t technically a framework for all intents and purposes it kind of is, it’s certainly as powerful as one anyway, so this week we’ll be discussing some reasons it may be beneficial to choose and stick with one WordPress theme framework such as Divi. Hosts Present: Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Tammy Grant - Sunflower Creatives / FB / @yourblogplace Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac https:...
Dec 05, 2018•57 min
Email configuration can be confusing. How do you set it up? Should you have email accounts set up through your hosting or something like GSuite? Are non-domain email addresses frowned upon? So many questions regarding email when you're starting out, and while we're no experts we've certainly had to tackle questions like these ourselves. We'll share what we've learned and how we set up email for ourselves as well as our clients. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengro...
Nov 29, 2018•1 hr 6 min
There are tons of places to learn Divi (and WordPress) so we're sharing some of the best sources we know of, and Black Friday is soon so be sure to look for some deals! Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc SJ James – divi.space / FB / @sociallysteve Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac Courses by Divi Community Members: WPGears - Divi Business ...
Nov 22, 2018•50 min
How do you know when you're ready to make your part-time side hustle your full-time career? Do you wait until you have a certain number of clients or certain amount of income coming in? What about security and stability? If you have a family to support it can be even scarier taking the leap into entrepreneurship. Of course we don't have all the answers, but we all did it ourselves and can share our stories and how we decided when it was the right time for us. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspe...
Nov 15, 2018•53 min
This week we discuss handing off websites to clients. Do they all get admin access? Do we use any role editor plugins? What about training, do they need to be taught how to update blog posts or pages? Questions like these come up so we share our best practices for handing over the reigns. Hosts Present: Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb Resources Mentioned: Loom Updraft Plus Admin Menu Editor P...
Nov 09, 2018•54 min
This week we discuss rejection and negative feedback. Sometimes clients may not like your proposed design, or maybe you don't even get to the design because they've rejected the quote. Negative feedback in general can be difficult to deal with, especially when first starting out, and today we chat about our experiences and what we do to not let it get to us on a personal level. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB Jerry Simmons - ...
Oct 31, 2018•56 min
This week we celebrate our 100th episode YAAAAYYYY!!! Nick Roach — founder of Elegant Themes — was kind enough to join us for a casual chat about Divi and how far it's come. He also mentions a possible future Divi update that hasn't been shared on the ET blog or anywhere else, so be sure to watch! Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Nick Roach – Elegant Themes / FB / @elegantthemes Tim Strifler - Divi ...
Oct 24, 2018•1 hr 7 min
On today’s Divi Chat we’re discussing redesigning your own site — how often should you read design it? What/how does it help you learn about your own business? Should you hire someone else to do it? Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac Resources Mentioned: Hotjar Crazy Egg https://www.youtube.com/watch...
Oct 18, 2018•47 min
When is it more important to design for mobile first over desktop? Is it always? This week we'll discuss designing for mobile and tools we use for testing and how we approach the desktop/mobile question. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Stephanie Hudson – Sweet Tea Media / FB / @EnjoySweetTea Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac Resources: StatCounter - Device Market Share Worldwide Browser...
Oct 04, 2018•1 hr
Staying balanced and healthy doing web design is our topic on DC this week! We’ll share routines and tips that help us stay sane as web designers. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb Nathan B. Weller – Elegant Themes / FB / @elegantthemes Resources Mentioned: Iris - eye protection Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and ...
Sep 27, 2018•1 hr 4 min
Divi comes with access to literally hundreds of gorgeous layouts designed by Kenny Sing and his team! The layouts look great of course, but what happens when you start to customize them? If you've been using the layouts you know that sometimes the layout you love most simply doesn't work with your content (or your client's content). In this case it can be helpful to know some tips ahead of time before you pull your hair out! Additionally, there are other beautiful 3rd party Divi Layouts that can...
Sep 20, 2018•56 min
Divi is constantly having useful new features added to it so this week we discuss some of our favorites from recent months and how they've helped our workflows. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Jason Champagne – Elegant Themes / FB / @elegantthemes Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac Resources: 25 “Hidden” Divi Features to Boost Productivity and Design -- (YouT...
Sep 12, 2018•1 hr 1 min
Last week we discussed our best and worst web design jobs — okay we mostly just talked about the bad lol! We mentioned things that clients do that make our job more difficult and frustrating, but we realized we weren’t being entirely fair. How are clients supposed to know how to act or what to ask? Or even what to expect if they’ve never worked with a web designer before? It can be a scary process, especially when you have a budget you need to stick to and you have no idea who to trust. So this ...
Sep 06, 2018•55 min
Let's face it, some web design projects end up sucking Whether it's because you and the client don't get along, you have a problem with scope creep, or any number of reasons it can be quite frustrating. This week we have a casual chat of some of our best and worst jobs, although we mostly only get to the terrible experiences lol Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Sarah Oates - Endure ...
Aug 29, 2018•1 hr
This week we discuss ways to attract more customers and increase revenue for your ecommerce sites. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Tammy Grant - Sunflower Creatives / FB / @yourblogplace Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Resources Mentioned: Answer the Public - Keyword Search https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHibrHOpgIk
Aug 22, 2018•54 min
Most of us do remote work already, that's one of the biggest advantages of our industry is to be able to work pretty much from anywhere, so long as you have a decent internet connection. A lot of us end up working with other people or companies so the dynamics of scheduling, deadlines, and other things can get a bit tricky once teams start to grow. Some of us know exactly what struggles there can be so we'll be discussing them. Hosts Present: Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrove...
Aug 16, 2018•57 min
The Divi Builder continues to become better and better with more and more design tools that make the need for custom CSS less and less. However, there are still times when custom CSS is necessary for your Divi website. What makes things confusing is there isn't just one place to put custom CSS. There's several different places to put CSS and they all have their pros and cons. From the custom CSS file in your Divi Child Theme, to Divi Theme Options custom CSS box, to the Divi Builder page CSS box...
Aug 08, 2018•1 hr 1 min
Working from home can be a big change from a “regular” job, and getting into a consistent self-disciplined routine may prove challenging. We’ll discuss things we’ve learned and tips and tricks to keep our projects - and sanity - on track. Hosts Present: Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB Sarah Oates - Endure Web Studios / FB / @endureweb Leslie Bernal - A Girl and Her Mac / FB / @agirlandhermac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlPyXPcYVao...
Aug 02, 2018•1 hr 1 min
Page builders are awesome for building websites, but what if you're a blogger and want to use a page builder for your blog posts? There are several reasons why you might want to use a page builder for your blog, one of the main ones being the layout and styling functionality you can add to your single post layouts. All of us have either used Divi for our own blog or have set up a blog for a client so we'll discuss our experiences and some pros and cons to using a page builder for your blog posts...
Jul 25, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Today we're talking web design pricing and how to prepare yourself for raising your rates, whether that be to build a site or for maintenance plans. It's usually a scary thing to do, especially the first time, so we'll share what we've learned and how we prepared our clients for price hikes. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc Josh Hall - JoshHall.co / FB Tim Strifler - Divi Life / FB / @timstrifler Sa...
Jul 19, 2018•56 min
Getting involved with like-minded people is incredibly beneficial for your business, and it's fun! Something that brought us Divi Chatters all together was attending Meetups and WordCamps. Connecting online is great of course, but connecting face-to-face and on a more personal level is something you can't really beat, and can lead to some great business ventures as we've all found out. If you're interested in starting up a local Divi or WordPress Meetup we've got all the information you need to ...
Jul 12, 2018•53 min
Video marketing is something we've discussed on Divi Chat before, and our last episode on social media tools even started to segue into the topic, so we've decided to go with the flow and dedicate this week's discussion to it since there's obviously a lot of interest in video marketing and its benefits for your business. Hosts Present: David Blackmon - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengrovellc John Wooten – Artillery Media / FB / @ArtilleryMedia Cory Jenkins - Aspen Grove Studios / FB / @aspengr...
Jul 05, 2018•1 hr 7 min
