With our Case Study series we speak to customers and find out how using WPZOOM products has enhanced their business. It’s always fascinating to hear unique stories and the great products and services customers produce. Today we’re in conversation with IT professional James Flores.
James has been using WordPress since 2005 and hails from Albury, Australia.
Thanks for taking the time, James!
Let’s get straight to the case study.
How did you hear of us, and what was your first impression?
I found out about WPZOOM through the an organic Google search. I’ve dealt with a handful of other theme sites like Envato, ThemesKingdom and Template Monster but to me, WPZOOM just got straight to the point.
The themes are very well documented, simple and functional and the support is better than any other support service I’ve used.
Most of your recent projects have been built with WPZOOM themes. Have you found there’s anything special in our themes, and how our designs match your customers’ needs?
A selection of James’ recent work.
The beauty of WPZOOM themes is that they have basically thought of every possible use case for a website. When I select a theme I match it to my customer’s needs first and then customise it to suit the branding of the customer. WPZOOM themes make it very easy to customise and brand because of the excellent documentation and support.
The themes also include an area where you can style the colours yourself, but sometimes I like getting into the nitty gritty and modifying the CSS myself.
[You can see James’ portfolio here.]
How did you get into WordPress? Is WordPress the only platform that you use to built sites for your customers?
I used to have a personal blog which was a very early version of WordPress, probably back in 2005. WordPress has come a long way since then. Whilst I have tried other CMS’, like Joomla, the community support and extensive plugin library simply cannot be beaten. WordPress is the only platform that I use to build for customers.
Which WordPress plugins would you recommend for fellow developers?
James uses MainWP to manage his and his clients’ sites.
I have a stock standard plugin list that I install on my client sites:
- Jetpack – for custom css and contact form.
- Maintenance – while in development, I always put my sites into maintenance mode so search engines don’t cache draft data.
- Yoast SEO – a simple but functional SEO plugin.
- One-Click Child Theme – for extra customisations to themes.
- Wordfence Security – a set and forget plugin for WordPress security and alerts.
- MainWP Child – I manage all my client sites from a centralised dashboard.
[We’ve got some more plugin recommendations here!]
What do your customers think about WordPress and our themes? Do they find the themes easy to use, or prefer you to sort everything for them?
My customers usually come to me with a preferred template but I insist that they choose one from WPZOOM. I state that the support is excellent and direct them to the WPZOOM gallery for inspiration for their site. I’ve had several horror experiences with other poorly designed templates that I will find it hard to trust anyone else if WPZOOM didn’t exist.
What is your favorite WPZOOM theme and why?
James is a fan of OriginMag’s three column layout.
I have a soft spot for OriginMag. It’s very clean and I prefer the 3 column layout. I’m really not good with copywriting (which is why I prefer customers to outsource this aspect of design) – the 3 column layout and well placed “white space” means there is less area to fill with content :)
What’s your favourite thing about being a WPZOOM customer?
I’d say that all my dealings with WPZOOM have been a pleasure. They also provide a 14 day money back guarantee which I don’t think will be necessary anyway! Again, I have never had any problem that support couldn’t help me with.
Finally – any friendly tips for people new to the world of WordPress?
Start by designing a website/blog of your own in an area that you’re interested in. This will inspire you to post new content regularly and make changes as your site evolves. Make sure the purpose of your website is something you’re passionate about so it will inspire you to make it the best it can be.
Following your passions is tremendous advice. Thanks again for taking the time to chat to us, James, and we hope to continue serving you. You can see more of James’ work here.
This interview has been edited for clarity and readability.