Free digital campaigning and WordPress webinars
Digital campaign strategy
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Scale your work and create change by using digital tools and the internet
This session explores how to use digital tools and the internet to scale your campaign and create change in the real world. It covers digital strategy and how to apply digital technology in the context of organising people to create change.
The workshop will also showcase popular tools used by Australian campaigners, as well as approaches to learning digital skills.
As part of the National Sustainable Living Festival 2021
Tiffany
- Acknowledgment of country
- Intro to Tiffany and Tiff role
- Intro to Glenn
Glenn
Acknowledgment of country in context to internet
- Servers > mining
- Servers > land
- Servers > electricity inc nuclear power, coal, fosil fuels and dams
- Wires and towers > across lands and oceans
- Skys > satellites 42,000 just from one company – EIon Musk’s SpaceX
Intro to workshop
- Aimed at Beginners
- Aimed at Small groups
- Break at 7:00 for 10 minutes
- Zoom meeting format > mute | show us your face
- Questions > message to Tiffany look for question breaks and send question before then
Making Websites work
- started with design
- code to work
but results?
- Summary of 32 free webinars actionskills.co/learn/
- So a overview of approach.. a gist > focus on a minimal group of tools
- And then questions
Strategy Strategy Strategy
Theory of Change (Change Model)
- Pray
- Divine order
- Join a tech startup, get rich and fly to mars
- Organise people to take planned actions
Campaign Strategy (Community Organising Strategy)
*unless you are lucky, campaigns are won with smart strategy and hard work
- thechangeagency.org
- australianprogress.org.au – Slack
- aidanricketts.com
- plantowin.net.au
- changemakerspodcast.org
- commonslibrary.org
Basic gist
- Systems thinking
- Deploying resources to weak points
- Grow resources
= organising people
Digital Strategy
- Supports the Campaign Strategy
- Maybe the primary tool
- Maybe managing administration
- Easily blow money, resources, time, missed opportunities
- If no campaign strategy to base your digital strategy > go back a step (trojan horse if no buy in)
Pathways // User Journey // Sales funnel
how people go from strangers to participation
Pathways with numbers – Example
– \ 1000 // – reach people on social
– \ 200 // – visit your site
– \ 50 // – sign up to newsletter
– \ 20 // – read newsletter
– \ 4 // – click to register for an event
– \ 1 // – come to the event
Pathways with numbers – Example 2
– \ 1000 // – reach people on social
– \ 200 // – visit your site
– \ 50 // – sign up as an action supporter
– \ 20 // – read action email
– \ 4 // – click to register for the action
– \ 1 // – send in a government submission
Pathways to Close Pine Gap
– \ 5000 // – reach people on social + street posters + flyers
– \ 200 // – come to an info event in Melbourne
– \ 50 // – sign up to organising communications
– \ 20 // – come to an organising event in Melbourne
– \ 4 // – join a organising group or affinity group
– \ 1 // – come to the event
Pathways and the central node concept
Questions
Tech Skills
- Skills Strategy – Tech is not magic, it needs people to run it
- Upskilling
- Outsourcing
Tech Stack
- Collection of digital tools
- All in one tool?
- Glue them together
Minimum Tech Stack
- CRM
- tag
- newsletter ability (maybe sms/post)
- donations
- events
- Website
- Financial (credit card transaction)
- Collaborative documents
- Social media accounts
- Basic reporting
- Video Communications
More advanced
- Zapier – syncs data between software
- Social media scheduling/content management/calendar
- Reporting
- Accounting
- Compliance
Recommended or popular software
- CRM – (Many NFP and commercial CRM’s ) ActionNetwork | Raisely | NationBuilder
- Website
- self managed: wordpress.org | CRM
- managed: wordpress.com | Squarespace | Weebly | Wix (check for hidden costs)
- Financial – Stripe (Paypal is clunky)
- Email – (do you need @domain) Google (free for NFP) | Protonmail (secure) | self hosted
- Collaborative documents – Google (free for NFP) | Nextcloud (secure – requires management)
- Basic reporting –
- website – google analytics | self hosted or managed
- social media – social media accounts themselves
- Video Communications – Zoom | Jitsi
- Password mangement
Questions
Joining it together
- Setup password manager
- Buy hosting | Serversaurus | Ventra IP – see Website Tech
- Register domain and “Delegate” – see Website Tech
- Create email accounts with your host
- Install WordPress with your host (one click install or pre-installed)
- Basic setup or WordPress
- Setup ActionNetwork (CRM)
- Add your Stripe Details (you have previously setup account and supplied nessasary paperwork)
- Setup a donation form and email form
- Embed these into your website
- Confirm statics are working on your host
- Setup social media accounts
- Setup Google drive
More Secure Options
Questions
Tech Briefing // planning
- Website
- Information Design
- Technical requirements
- CRM
- Data mangement
- What details?
- Tagging
View the runsheet
An amazing Melbourne based sculptor. Support artists as they are doing it tough ATM and they make life so much richer.
Digital Strategy 101 introduction
- Using definitions loosely to weave a story
- Basic take on specialised fields and heavily funded application.
- Digital a subset of organisational strategy
- Trojan Horse
- Planning on how to use digital to support the campaign strategy.
- Resources are limited
- Detail is in context.. but think about it
- Fighting for attention (google design ethicist)
Why
★ Defining digital goals
- Sounds simple
- Most plans are not clear
- The reference for all strategy, debate spend and focus
- Swiss army knife vs bread knife
Exercise: Define your goals
This will give us examples to discuss on what appropriate goals should look like
Who
✩ Target Audience(s)
- Who do you want to talk to
- Swiss army knife communications – vague vs targeted
- 54 YO male who lives in the city vs 14 YO alt gender who lives in regional Australia
- Desires > fears > subcultures > language > FB targeting > social media platforms
✩ Current Audience
- Who do you currently talk to vs target
✩ Network mapping
- Use a wall or software such as mindmeister or spreadsheet. Links use diigo.com
- Influencers
- Nodes – influence flow
- Communities
- Organisations
- Allies
- Platforms
- Offline
- Targets
- Personal and my community – David Pocock
- Competitors
- Council example
★ Character personas
- Its all about the people – Humanise data
- Some other definitions: Vincent Xia | Xtensio
- What keeps them up at night > desires > fears
- Funded research vs educated guessing + testing
Exercise: Create one target persona
How – Creating the Journey
✩ Campaign Phases/streams
- Garden – prep – seedlings – growth – harvest – annuals/perenials
- ICAN – Launch 2009 | 2011 | 2019 | Now | Now – local
- ActionSkills- soft launch, brand, build content, trickle some work > major launch
✩ Service design
- Service design is the activity of planning and organizing people, infrastructure, communication and material components of a service in order to improve its quality and the interaction between the service provider and its customers. Wikipedia
- Planning components of a service to improve quality of interaction
- Digital Service Design – infrastructure (assets > website, blog, social media etc), communication (publishing/conversations) and material (content)
- Digital a subset of organisational strategy > offline may be key
- Old fashioned service
✩ User journey and pathways
- Homework – deconstruct service design in your life. Question how you are behaving and feeling.
- Supermarket – Fresh food people – milk at the back, opposite ends – impuse buy – lighting – nag factor
- Macdonalds – Service example > Future Restaurant | Sprintvalley
- Websites – sitemaps > landing pages > functionality > graphic design > imagery/copy > platforms
✩ Central Node Concept
View the runsheet
✩ Introduction
What:
- talking to your audience strategically
- framing – target audience
- manipulating how people feel and respond
Why:
- resonate / connect / trust / bond
- recognise / familiar
- influence people to act
What:
- psychology + graphic design + copy writing + etc
- complexities > analogy: film director
- people differences > reader vs visual vs motion
✩ Psychology + propaganda
- Public relations | adverting | propoganda = psychological
manipulation - The Century of the Self – history of Psychological marketing | smoking | nazi
- All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace | HyperNormalisation
- Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
- Ogilvy on Advertising
- The people who think they are not malleable are the easiest. Car yard example
Psychological sales
- (user journey) Gym membership sale
- motivation + objections + scarcity/pressure
- interview > tour – (reenforce motivations + factoids) > close
- 2 options + scarcity (overcome objects)
umm ethics? church example
✩ Copy Writing
- The art of writing
- When in doubt > character personas + brand personas
- Search optimised sales copy
✩ Graphic design intro
- Eye the most important evolutionary tool (arguably)
- Language + system we learn as well as written/verbal language
- Essentials of Visual Communication
- Art vs design = overlap / emotion system/language / art doesn’t need a point / design does
- Body language
- Colour psychology + sun room | prisons | functionality
- Typography – Personality (or none) + legibility
- Photos – style + quality + subject + treatment – An image tells a 1000 words
- Illustration / art – ACD example
- Layout – reading like language | basic header
- Texture / Sound / etc
★ 10 minute break ★
tshirt exercise | feelings to why
✩ Brand personality
Intro
- what is a brand
- is a brand a person?
- social status and personal identity
What
- definitions – voice
- elements/attributes
- graphic style/language
- style guide |Vennage | 99designs | hubspot
- personal brand > Steve Jobs, Nicole Kidman, Mark Suckerberg
✩ Developing a brand personality
- Internal – not a mission statement – brief for creatives
- Adjective words | dvize brief doc | Actionskills BP
- Description sentence
- Can a graphic designer or copywriter use this?
Story telling
- Traditional Human knowledge transfer
- Being human – emotion vs data is boring (to most)
Frameworks
- Conflict Drama triangle : Victim, Villain or Hero? | Leard FLAC
- Hero’s journey | Starwars
Briefing creatives
find one that fits your brand personality (and budget)
discuss:
- your brand style/personality work
- their folio > what resonates + costs
- their creative process
- the actions you want to influence
- the intended feelings of your user
- the technical needs | system
- timelines/budgets
- don’t play the budget game (caps are helpful) | trust their folio
process:
- balance direction vs freedom > learn how they work fast
- if not working – be straight > they may be guessing from crap briefing
- trust their folio
- minimalism and elegant simplicity takes time
CRM’s and databases
View the runsheet
An amazing Melbourne based sculpter/image maker. Support artists as they are doing it tough atm and they make life so much richer.
Questions via the Q+A tab
Comments via the comments Chat
★ Central Node Concept
- Central node diagram
- Google + search
- 8 connections
- Social media
✩ Intro to social media platforms
- Content + Conversation (people + algorithm + AI)
- Resources are limited
- Conversation vs broadcast
- Automation vs custom publishing
- Pay to use
- You don’t own it
- No experts – learning – opportunities for savvy –
- Early adaptor vs cheap paint
- Track
✩ Choosing your social media platforms
- What platforms do your audience use
- How do they use their platforms – insta party example
- How do influencers use it – Gary Vee – James Tuckerman (commercial sources for NFP) DMA – Semipermanent
- Marigold example – recipes pinterest
- What works for your content
- Keen vollunteers and/or access to influencers
- Social Media Statistics for Australia
- Sensis Social Media Report
✩ ✩ ★ 10 minute break ★ ✩ ✩
✩Assets Plan – Tech Stack
- Tech Stack
- Working in volunteer teams/consensus/skills
- Renegade and DIY assets
- FLAC
✩ Website planning – Brief
- Do not continue without a brief – don’t brief without clear goals (strategy)
- Lost in communication
- Complexities and blowouts
- Visiting a doctor vs Remember it is called a brief
- Technical (functionality)
- Style (design, communication)
- Dvize brief
✩ Prototyping
- (the user journey)
- Live on Divi (WordPress and Divi theme)
- Faster tech and solo lead + responsive
- Examples on desktop
✩ Agile
- Go fast – it is not final
- Test and refine
✩ Defining ongoing roles and tasks
- Boundaries + mental health
- Plan to scale (conversation / content)
- Recruit vollies or funding for paid positions
- Identify gaps for prioritisation
- FLAC PDF / FOE
✩ Building online community
- Culture – guidelines – roles
- Community manager(s)
- Seeding
- Manage trolls – policy – flac example
- Empowering brand advocates
View the runsheet
We explore all the aspects you need to consider when choosing and implementing a database.
Sharing their wealth of knowledge and experience, I will be joined by :
- Bess Murphy – Community Engagement Coordinator – Cairns and Far North Environment Centre
- Phil Evans – Development Coordinator – Friends of the Earth Australia
★ What is a CRM
- Customer/Client/Constituent Relationship Management (CRM) system
- Facilitation and communication
- Specialised sub-sets > eg donor management
★ Why use a CRM
- scale
- proven effectiveness
- user expectations
- competition
★ Digital Strategy
- Sub set of campaign strategy – theory of change
- What do you want people to do?
- How are you going to support them to do this?
- The role of data in facilitation and communication
★ People
- Volunteers
- Action Takers
- Donors
- Sponsors
- Event attendees
- Members
- Media
★ Pathways / user journeys
- More on User pathways in our User pathways and planning our tech stack Webinar
- Central node concept
- Data capture
- Data on social media
- Data at in person events
- The petition method
- Communication
- Next step in their journey
★ Tech Intro
- no perfect tool
- some are really good at some things
- simple vs complex
- lock-in
- the nature of CRM
- technical
- out of the box vs customisations
★ CRM technical approaches
- cloud
- off the shelf
- customisation
- hybrid / integration on various apps
★ Tech Briefing – why
- briefing vs trial vs referrals
- its in the details
- break down complexity
- sophisticated compromise
★ Tech Briefing – intro
- Functionality brief
- must do
- like to do
- nice to have
- Consult people in org will use it
- Budget
- Research – shortlist
- Ask for advise – find people who use the tools
- Ease of use
- Training and support
★ Costs
- understand their pricing models
- monthly fees
- communications – email – sms
- customisations
- website
- integrations
- training
- growth
★ Data planning
- Personalisation
- Empowerment
- Problems you need a CRM to solve.
- How are we using the data
- Communicate – rally – call to act
- What data do we need
- Segmenting data
- Data growth
- Do yo have the resources to use segmentation?
- Data audit > import
- Data hygiene > management > cleaning
★ Data Rules
- Consent
- Transparency
- Privacy
- Ethics
- Australian Law
★ Data use and abuse
- IBM and the Nazis
- External privacy policies (of the tools you are using)
- Where are the databases? and their laws?
- Government / court / business access
- What info are you collecting
- Inappropriate segmenting – eg radical
- Who in org controls it
- Who has internal access (to what) – varied permissions
- Access agreements
- User/peoples right to access/delete
★ Website integration
- CRM website
- External website
- External tools > data import
★ Donations
- Process payments
- credit cards
- subscriptions
- other payments cash/bank transfer
- Record keeping
- Receipts / compliance
- Retention / appreciation
- Members
- Volunteer donation drives
- Merch > snail mail
★ Email + SMS campaigns
- Automation
- Newsletters
- Take action
★ Events
- Bookings
- Free / paid
- Managing RSVP
★ Data reporting
- Understand trends
- understand donors and actiontakers
- goals
- testing approaches
- compliance
★ Integration support
- Zapier
- Manual data migration
- Callhub and things like that
★ CRM Company
- ethics
- viability
- development
- support
★ Internal Resistance to CRM technology
- Too busy
- Bad cost analysis
- Scared of scale
- Don’t understand efficiency
- Control issues
- Don’t want change
- Ego – centre
View the runsheet
✩ Intro
- Introduction to Divi and page builders. What is it and why it is a big deal.
- shift in production methods
- cost
- client participation
- testing and experimentation – A/B testing
- wpbakery
- Elementor
- others
- Some examples –
✩ Getting started
- Good for development
- Uses standard template structure
- Works well with CPT, CT, Custom Fields – see next level WordPress
- Works well with WooCommerce and other plugins
- CSS works well
- well documented
- not needed support
- Cons of Divi
- free but not
- not quite there yet
- learning curve
- migration of content > code structure
- lock in – plugin version
- buggy on slow connections
- lacking style library items
- 3rd party plugins average
- ad blockers can affect global editor
- Divi licensing
- opensource
- pricing
- updates – support
- Installing Divi – standard theme
- Divi Child Themes
✩ Divi Fundamentals
- Default vs Divi Builder
- future planning
- Creating a Divi Page
- frontend editing / backend
✩ Building a page
- Bottom Tools
- Sections, rows, columns
- Exploring Modules
- Module settings
- The power of images – upskill.coach
- Hover and mobile states
✩ Global Design Settings
- Divi Options
- Divi theme Customiser
- Divi theme builder
✩ Divi Library
- Creating reusable design elements
- Using site wide Sections, rows, columns and Modules
- Migrating whole divi pages and layouts
✩ Divi Layouts
- Finding Divi Layouts
- Installing layouts
✩ Elegant plugins
- BLOOM – Email Opt-in Plugin
- MONARCH – Social Share & Follow Plugin
- WP-PageNavi – better archive navigation – eg
✩ Advanced design
- Introduction to CSS
- Targeting
- Over-riding
- .style {display: none; }
✩ Close
Digital marketing
View the runsheet
✩ Introduction
- Digital methods to get in front of people
- Strategy Strategy Strategy
- ActionSkills pathways
- 1st step in the user journey > database > communicate > email/sms
- Multiple touchpoints
- Content is king, queen and princess | Visual
- Learn your community, their mediums and culture
✩ Approaches
- Search – organic / paid – people are looking
- Social media – organic / paid
- Facebook – pages/groups – heavily targeted – weak leads
- Influencer –
- New skool (+ micro influencers) instagram, sites, bloggers, newsletters
- Old school (Murdoch/celebrity)
- Content Marketing
- Production > Red Bull
- User content
- Content syndication / ebooks
- In game
- Sponsorship
- Merchandise
- Affiliate (NFP distributed fundraising)
- Ad placement / PPC
✩ Research
- Mainstream vs Activist > ActionSkills niche
- Newletter email > follow their process
- Netchange
- Commons Library
- Conferences: FWD | Connectingup
- Net101
- Google digital marketing
- Noob guide (2011) Infographic | PDF
- Notsofreakyuniversity
- Digitalmarketer
★★ 10 minute break ★★
✩ Benefits, not (and) Features
- What can this do for the person (user/customer/activist)
- Results > fancy marketing strategy vs get more donations
- Feel, empower, fears/dreams, social status and personal identity
- Gym Example
- Apple vs Microsoft
- see images
★ Sales Funnel
Pathways with numbers – Example
– \ 1000 // – reach people on social
– \ 200 // – visit your site
– \ 50 // – sign up to newsletter
– \ 20 // – read newsletter
– \ 4 // – click to register for an event
– \ 1 // – come to the event
- Volume + conversion
- CRM – client relationship manger – Organising people with databases | NFP CRM‘s
- Opt in gift / Lead magnet (examples + noob etc)
- NFP adaption > emotions / empowerment / social status (petition/email action)
- NFP adaption 2 > How to guides / merch / educational resources
- Automation
- Re-marketing (action takers/donors)
- Cost Per Acquisition
✩ Data and improvement planning
- Measure everything, then use it. Summaries for team.
- Track > test > refine
- Ultimate metric > your goal
- Refine personas and improve service design
- Google/facebook ect analytics
- Traffic volume / pages? / bounce rate / traffic source
- A/B testing – FB/Google/Website – no experts
- Heat mapping – click journey
- Measuring offline – custom pages/coupons
✩ Closing
✩ Q+A
View the runsheet
✩ What is search Marketing
- Why search matters
- vision for the internet
- hot lead
- Limits
- Dark arts – specialists + cowboys
- Sandbox
- How competitive? Diamond rings vs Coburg soccer club
- Organic and paid search – $10,000 adwords (via connectingup)
- Other search
- yahoo/bing/Baidu/yandex/privacy
- youtube
- voice
- Humans vs robots
✩ How search engines work
- Indexing
- Moz
- Link backs
- The best page on the internet
- AI and the death of SEO
✩ Selecting target keywords
- what is your target searching for?
- no searches vs irrelevant
- short tail vs long tail (questions)
- guess, testing and compiling a list
- google keyword planner
- ahrefs.com
✩ For every Keyword
- Page/post
- quality, optimised content
- Search result title, description
- Call to action
★★ 10 minute break ★★
✩ Optimising copy – Semantic markup
- No extra work if done from the start
- Basic html > view source (+css +javascript)
- h1, h2, h3 + paragraphs + lists
- WordPress editor classic /blocks
- Seamonkey
- Rubbish code
- Cross platform/future proof/disability/voice
✩ Optimising copy – TL;DR
- Long form is dead – scan to read
- Short paragraphs
- Headings, sub headings
- Lists
✩ Optimising – Other
- images
- page speed
- cross platform – responsive design
✩ Overview of Yoast SEO (WordPress)
- Robots on
- Automated testing of SEO principles
- Guide only
- Social optimisation | FB cache
✩ Search console and analytics
- XML Sitemaps = google babyfood
- request indexing
View the runsheet
✩ Introduction
- What is content – types? (see below)
- What types of content areas are relevant to you?
- system thinking – content prodcution, distribution and
mangement system - Imagery next webinar
✩ Why is content and content strategy important
- underpins all marketing
- connection with audience
- drive growth
- most people hate ads
- pathways and sales funnels
- take control of the narrative
- expensive/time consuming
- neilpatel – what-is-content-marketing
✩ Content strategy introduction
- What makes you unique?
- Strategic communication – style, personality and positioning
- Personal connection
- What stories are relevant
- Fears/dreams/painpoint/solution
- Interaction and audience time – community
✩ Audience/personas
- what content do they want
- how do they want to consume it – format / platform
- User persona – Sources of Information
✩ Mapping content to user journey
example
- Awareness
- Research
- Consideration
- Buy
example
- image
✩ Content management – publishing hierarchies?
- checks and balances – brand reputation – legal issues
- editor/review/legals
- consensus/collective
- guidelines/framework
- black/white = no/go
- grey = second approval
- controversial = consensus
- hashtags = independence > hijacking
✩ Content management – guidelines
- brand personality
- templates
- rules
- Social Media Guide for non-action days
✩ ✩ ★ 10 minute break ★ ✩ ✩
✩ Content production – how
- budget > time / money
- software/hardware/phones/internet/passwords
- workflow
- training
- templates
- location
- styleguide + assets (logos/fonts)
- content mangement – internal / external
✩ Content production – who
- outsource
- specialist staff
- you/brand ambasador
- everyone is a rockstar
- staff
- vollunteers/supporters
- spot
- invite
- nuture
- content campaigns/hashtags
✩ Content production – doing
- Content brainstorming
- Stories
- Content production bursts
- Content parties / hackathons / tarkine in motion
✩ Content production – quality
- brand persona
- platform
- cost
- mixing it up (fancy sales content/ low fi insta stories
✩ Media management systems for events
✩ Existing content
- Audit
- Partners – network mapping
- Libraries – tourism
- Build a library – content mangement – internal / external
- Used by date (mangement) vs timeless
✩ Repurposing content
- Content optimisation
- Video
- Podcast
- Transcribed >https://www.rev.com/
- Webpage > snippets on webpages
- Refined > ebook
- Click bait pdf – top ten / teps / hacks / cheat sheet
- Infographic
- Memes
✩ Content Calendar
- Software –
- Scheduling + Automation
- Key times
- events
- campaign milestones
- mainstream dates (easter etc)
- Realtime responses to whats happening
✩ Syndicating Content
- using other peoples high traffic channels/platforms
- producing content for their channels
✩ Copywriting
- Seducing people to act
- Seducing people to read/absorb more
- TL;DR
✩ Semantic Markup
- Formating for 1000’s of devices and screens
- Future proofing formating
- Optimising for google
- see video Google and search marketing > time: 53:30
✩ Data
- is this working?
- tracking response
- A/B testing
- cost per acquisition/goal
✩ Content Examples
- webpages
- blogs
- comments
- webinars
- ebooks
- photos
- infographics
- apps
- games
- videos
- quizes
- videos
- art
- presentations
- slideshows
- podcasts
- songs
- interview
- montage
- editorial
- review
- mashup
- meme
- story
- how-to
- lists
- tips
- opinion
- research
- experiences
- information
- case study
- charts/graphs
- FAQ
- guides
- templates
- quotes
- polls
- phone call
- chat
- live video
- events
- product descriptions
View the runsheet
✩ Introduction
- Content marketing
- underpins all marketing
- connection with audience
✩ Why are images important
- Eye the most important evolutionary tool (arguably)
- Visual cortex dedicated to visual stimuli
- is a language + system – An image tells a 1000 words –
- body and facial language
- Graphic design and visual arts – library – Essentials of Visual Communication
- Storytelling, emotion, aesthetic
- Quick comprehension
✩ Image strategy
- Brand personality – Strategic communications
- Choose imagery that fits your message.
- Storytelling + emotion – strategic communications
✩ Image style guide
- written guide + library
- style – elusive
- quality – Professional vs amateur – camera/lenses/lighting/resolution/
- treatment- grading – filters
- content/subject – who what why
- illustration
✩ Images on websites
- Avoid Carousels, Sliders, Tabs and Accordions
- Use Images to Illustrate Concepts – show how/show context
- Have A Point Of Focus
- Only Use Relevant Images
- Contrast
- Emphasise The Call To Action
- Guide Them with Directional Cues
- Persuasive Factors of Hero Shot Images
✩ People
- Show Real People
- Fake Stock people
- Use faces as visual cues
- Diversity – representation – gender
- Attractiveness Bias – Face-ism Ratio – Baby-Face Bias – Images Of Faces | Women and Mass Media
- upsetting images – animal australia
- Emotions > happy vs green steel
- Dress + characters – fezza’s to the back
- review ngo sites
✩ Legals + Licensing media
- I have no legal qualifications or experience. no legal advise.
- Copyright – permission to use – default to artist – corporate takeover – 75yrs
- Rights Managed – pay again
- Royalty free – pay once + reuse
- Creative commons
- Public domain
- Getting caught/how big/profiting/cease and desist
- Respect artists
- Respect people – models – consent and release forms / legal vs respect
- Repurposing intent
- Respect children
- Respect cultural beliefs + appropriation | Image and identity | Indigenous Copyright | NITV
- Culturejam – how to make trouble and influence people | nswmining vs miningnsw
✩ Sourcing Images
- Content production – how – who – doing – quality – Kings and Queens of Content Strategy
- Stock
✩ Stock photography
- cons – seen before / cheezy / American / repurposed by others / not fitting / fake
- pros – end result / cost / quick / volume
- Sourcing free images
- Sourcing low budget images
- Images reflecting diversity
✩ Image research process
- brief + style guide
- budget
- samples
- shortlist
- select
✩ Directing Image production
- brief + style guide
- budget
- references
- Briefing creatives – strategic communications
✩ Intro to Producing images and video
- Mobile phone production Kit = selfie stick / microphone
- Plus = tripod + phone adaptor / battery pack / usb hub / more phones / battery lighting
- Events – More is more + training helps
- Lighting – dusk/dawn – warm/cool
- Framing – Story – Landscape, lighting, sunglasses, expression, backdrop
- Keep it still / slow – brace yourself
- Resolution – large / small
- Shortlist for library / use
✩ Preparing images for web – minimum
- auto vs manual (psd)
- platform + size – speed
- crop
- resize – find guide to size
- compress once (fb butcher)
- save for web format – gif – animated gif / png / jpg
✩ Preparing images for web –better
- edit
- reduce content
- colour correct
- filter
- less is more / re-editing / degrading
- Lynda – linkedin learning
✩ Image editors
- Photoshop | Lightroom | Connectingup
- Gimp
- Canva | NFP
- $100-$200 editor
- Free image editors
WordPress
View the runsheet
✩ What is WordPress
- Blog > Content Management System > Swiss army knife
- Open Source – free beer and freedom
- Automattic + community
✩ Important Concepts
- Technology minimalism – KISS
- Software as a service
- Technology responsibilities
- Don’t get distracted by graphic design
- Freemium business model
✩ The two approaches
- WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
- Comparing Pros and cons
✩ Is WordPress too much for you?
- Software as a service
- Simple Drag n Drop + templates – Wix | Weebly | Squarespace
- Specialist – Bigcommerce | Shopify | Medium | Mailchimp | Nationbuilder | Behance.net
✩ Is WordPress not good enough for you?
- Developers – Best practice > specific use
- Developers – Custom building
- Developers – Love complexity > have skills
- Developers – dependancy / who will manage upgrades
- Developers – can be siloed
- Is the criticism justified?
✩ Cons of WordPress
- Targeted > hacking > spam
- requires additional security
- Becoming more complex
- Lot of bad advise / suppliers (naive complexity) / themes /plugins
- code bloat / conflicts
✩ Why use WordPress
- flexibility and control
- manage costs
- scale > support /application / services
- respected and used by big players
- uses common languages and is well supported
- diverse and quality plugins > themes
- templating language
- cheap to build (if done right)
- can scale
- still reasonably simple – if kept simple
- drag and drop plugins
- central hub
✩ Installing WordPress
- Pre-installed
- Click a button
- Manual Installation
- Download / upload / uncompress
- Database username/password/permissions
- Visit the Url> follow prompts
✩ WordPress Tour
- WordPress Settings
- Posts vs Pages
- Categories, tags, authors
- Media Library
- Comments and spam
- Managing website editors, authors and contributors
- Introduction to themes
- Theme customiser
- Theme editor
- Introduction to plugins
- Widgets
- Menus
- Tools
View the runsheet
✩ Introduction to Plugins
- Increase functionality
- Minimal and Hidden
- Full featured repurpose of site > Australian map
- Next session – recommended plugins and case examples
✩ Plugin basics
- WordPress Repository
- Installing a plugin > using WordPress Repository
- Installing a paid plugin > + licence
- Upgrading plugins and themes
✩ Access Models
- Opensource > free beer + freedom
- Free > donation > WordPress Repository
- Paid > Opensource > pay for access + updates + support
- Membership/bundles
- Per site per year / multiple sites per year
- On-off payment
- Freemium > spectrum of useful eg elementor
- Free core + paid plugins eg WooCommerce
✩ Selecting Plugins
- Brief + budget eg calendar, appointment, booking
- Research – top ten WordPress plugins, best WordPress plugins + year (free if requirement)
- Review blogs + shortlist > patterns + functionality matching brief
- Refine short list free
- WordPress Repository
- Updates
- Active installations
- Support
- How many developers
- Install and test
- Refine short list paid
- review business model > cost and viability
- refund policy or trial
- review documentation + support
- review sales info
- Purchase, download and install
✩ Plugin configuration – where are your settings
- own menu item
- settings >
- tools >
- plugins > page
✩ Plugin settings/data
- database
- disable – data retained
- delete – data deleted (best practice)
- migration of settings > json
✩ Introduction to themes
- graphic design + layout (columns, fonts colours)
- HTML + CSS + Javascript + PHP + WordPress templating
- Interface with the WordPress core and plugins > car analogy
- Theme functionality (included) vs plugins
- Theme functionality with required or optional plugins
✩ Where to find themes
- WordPress repository – free / freemium
- Foundry (higher quality) – eg Elegant | bluchic | graphpaperpress | more
- Marketplace – eg themeforest
✩ Theme approaches
- code bloat
- default wordpress – the twenties
- custom coded + base theme
- off the shelf
- mix off the shelf + custom coded
- page builder theme or page builder + specialist theme
✩ Off the shelf
- minimal
- more functionality or aesthetic by one group
- content licensing? bluchic
- mashup
- a million bells and whistles
- less optimal plugins | wpbakery
- pay extra for the good ones
- re-licencing – linked/slower updates
- example top sales |ekko
✩ Page + theme builders
✩ How to select a theme
- Page builder vs high performance vs off the shelf
- page builders + templates
- refer to how to select a plugin
- brief
- strategy > user journey > brand personality
- what does your content look like
- how are you displaying and managing content
- additional considerations
- do not be detracted by the pretty photos
- specialist focus for keywords – musician, artist, medical centre (mix it up)
- responsive > mobile
- support for specific plugins? eg Woocommerce
- be careful of bad freemium
- long term viability – updates – business model?
✩ Introduction to child themes
-
- best practice for any code customisations on existing themes (templates/functions)
- except if theme has settings or CCS override
- separates development from theme codebase
- allows upgrades and easier management
✩ Complete apps
- mashup is not so bad (if supported)
- low cost rapid prototyping
- listable
- graphpaperpress | sell-media | wp repository (freemium)
✩ Keeping themes tidy
- twenty twenty as default
- twenty twenty + one theme + child
- updating
✩ Manually controlling plugins and themes
- installing
- disabling
- deleting
View the runsheet
✩ Intro
- Introduction to Divi and page builders. What is it and why it is a big deal.
- shift in production methods
- cost
- client participation
- testing and experimentation – A/B testing
- wpbakery
- Elementor
- others
- Some examples –
✩ Getting started
- Good for development
- Uses standard template structure
- Works well with CPT, CT, Custom Fields – see next level WordPress
- Works well with WooCommerce and other plugins
- CSS works well
- well documented
- not needed support
- Cons of Divi
- free but not
- not quite there yet
- learning curve
- migration of content > code structure
- lock in – plugin version
- buggy on slow connections
- lacking style library items
- 3rd party plugins average
- ad blockers can affect global editor
- Divi licensing
- opensource
- pricing
- updates – support
- Installing Divi – standard theme
- Divi Child Themes
✩ Divi Fundamentals
- Default vs Divi Builder
- future planning
- Creating a Divi Page
- frontend editing / backend
✩ Building a page
- Bottom Tools
- Sections, rows, columns
- Exploring Modules
- Module settings
- The power of images – upskill.coach
- Hover and mobile states
✩ Global Design Settings
- Divi Options
- Divi theme Customiser
- Divi theme builder
✩ Divi Library
- Creating reusable design elements
- Using site wide Sections, rows, columns and Modules
- Migrating whole divi pages and layouts
✩ Divi Layouts
- Finding Divi Layouts
- Installing layouts
✩ Elegant plugins
- BLOOM – Email Opt-in Plugin
- MONARCH – Social Share & Follow Plugin
- WP-PageNavi – better archive navigation – eg
✩ Advanced design
- Introduction to CSS
- Targeting
- Over-riding
- .style {display: none; }
✩ Close
View the runsheet
✩ Intro
- Plugins I am using from my research and experience
- basic > WordPress templating
- tech brief
- less is more
- server cpu > scanners (virus/links) > external services
✩ Will not cover
Covered in Managing your WordPress Tech
- updates
- backups
- migrations
- security
- caching
Covered in Google and search marketing
- Yoast SEO
Covered in WordPress Plugins and Themes
- How to choose plugins
- How to manage plugins
✩ Jetpack
- intro – wordpress.com
- WP commercialisation
- security/backups – performance – features
- wordpress.com account
- switch stuff off
✩ Drag and drop page builders
- One step to the future
- wpbakery – visual composer
- Divi – covering in Using Divi – drag and drop page builder
- Elementor
- others
and
- Classic Editor
- Blocks
✩ Email Forms
vs email address
- Preventing spam
- Email Address Encoder
Benefits
- User experience
- Notifications/responders
- Intergrations
Issues
- Fail rate – Must be tested
- Can be hijacked by spammers – captcha
- Human spam – limited
Recommended features
- Email to database if fail
- Captcha
- Integrations
- Visual builder
Plugins
- Some examples
- Gravity forms
Advanced
- Server level block
- Verify sender email address – DKIM | SFP
- Replace WP email system
- Sendgrid + WP Mail SMTP – more info
✩ External Integrations
Software as a service
- CRM
- Booking forms
- Menus
- Analytics
Embed codes
- script
- editor
- classic editor issues
- iframe
- widget
- html head
- divi
- plugin
- template
Oembed
- youtube
- oembed
Plugins
- specific plugin
- contact form
- integration plugin
CRM
- Mailchimp –
- ActionNetwork – script or plugin for shortcode – edit styling
- NationBuilder – Importer for Gravity Forms and NationBuilder – gravity forms
- Zapier
✩ Useful plugins
- Duplicate Page
- Publishing help
- Image Galleries
- keep media default
- JetPack Carousel
- sliders suck
- image compressors – prepare images before publishing ShortPixel
- Broken Link Checker – bad for servers – use external service or switch on only while using
- TablePress
- 301 redirection | .htaccess | Redirection | Simple 301 Redirects
- Google Analytics
- Better Search Replace
- Yoast SEO for social media | Facebook debugger
- Buddypress + bbPress
- Members only
✩ WooCommerce
- Intro
- simple transaction (form) vs shopping cart
- strict with security
- payment transactors | stripe | credit cards and regular payments
- plugins (extensions) eg
- Aus post
- Donations (upsell – better to use CRM)
- Subscriptions
- Invoices
- powers other plugins
- brief | user journey
✩ Libraries and advanced content management
- commons library
- marigold health foods
- WP templating
Custom post types
- guide
- Woocommerce > product
- Jetpack > portfolio > testimonials
- code vs plugin > Custom Post Type UI
Custom Taxonomies
- Taxonomies > science of categorisation
- Categories and tags
- Commerce example > colours > sizes
Search
- Live search > SearchWP Live Ajax Search
- Relevanssi Premium
- Search filtering FacetWP
Custom Fields
- New fields in post editor
- Advanced custom fields
- Frontend data requires templating
Other post additions
Extras
✩ Mapping
australianmap.net
- Google maps API
- MapPress Maps for WordPress – freemium
Marigold storefinder
- Map Search filtering – FacetWP + ACF
- Show CPT / Tax –List Custom Taxonomy Widget
View the runsheet
✩ Intro
- You are responsible – you still have some house keeping
- fast, secure, accessible with a plan B
- managed WP service – managed hosting
- software as a service WordPress.com see webinars/wordpress-fundamentals
✩ Disaster planning
✩ Secure your site
- Hacking spam
- BAD PASSWORDS
- same passwords: haveibeenpwned.com
- upper/lower/number/special/long
- guide
- password managers
- UPDATES
- update cycle
- update cycle
- Update lots of sites
- SSL
- 2FA – two-factor authentication
Scripts
-
- rubbish + random scripts on server – old version of sites – un-secured backups
- unused plugins
- plugins/themes not updated
- careful of plugins that give file/upload permissions
Security plugins
- scanning eg virus
- securi – seperate
- tour ithemes security
- Wordfence
- Jetpack / vaultpress
- more info
✩ Backups and Migration
- backup plan/system
- data in 3 places > offsite
- managing backup data:
- same server – data
- download
- external – service / AWS/ Google/ Dropbox
- backup approaches:
- server performance
- automated
- daily
- schedule
- incremental
- manual
- migration
- restore process
- test
Recommended
- freemium
- updraft plus – comparison
- BackupBuddy – no free version
- wpmanage –
- jetpack –
✩ Testing your site works as planned
Manually test user journey
special attention to important things:
- donation > refund
- signups
- email forms
- important links
Cross browser and device testing
- custom vs default theme
- browser stats
- everyone in team check on mobile + desktop
- don’t trust page editors
- Cross browser and devise testing
✩ Accessibility testing
Why
- Inclusive world for all – will the (r)evolution include everyone?
- Disability Discrimination Act 1992
- Australian government agencies are required to meet WCAG 2.0 Level AA, which includes Level A.
- SEO – voice control
Basic practice
W3C Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI)
No vision
- semantic code – search optimisation webinar
- descriptive links
- click here for more information on ActionSkills
- more information on ActionSkills
- descriptive images – alt text
Vision impaired
- size
- contrast
- spacing
- obvious links
- default underlined blue
- visited underlined purple
- image maps
- is cool design causing issues?
Hand Co-ordination
- navigate with opposite hand
- drop downs – sub drop downs
- link surface area
- shortcuts – tab
More detail:
- manually testing / auditing / certification
- WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool
- Contrast checker
✩ Faster Faster Faster
Why
- User
- Increase user pathway goal success
- Brand reputation
- Slow internet
- Mobile
- Search rank
Main elements that affect speed
- Website theme / code
- Size of media
- images
- fonts
- css
- js
- Number of files loading at once
- Server process
- software
- scanning
- backups
- cron
- updates
- Hosting – webinars/basics-website-tech
- Caching + CDN
Testing website and media
✩ Caching
What
- Webinars/basics-website-tech
- Copy of page without software processes
- Optimisation such as compressing and combining files
Approaches
- WordPress side
- Server side
- host technologies
- litespeed
- External distributed caching
WordPress cache plugins
research from 12/3/20
- WP fastest cache
- designbombs.com/top-wordpress-caching-plugins-compared
- recommended: cache-enabler
- they are making this product to promote their CDN serrers. I research CDNs and this is recommended and pricing looks good.
- wpblog.com/wprocket-w3tc-wpfastestcache-benchmarks
- recommended: hummingbird-performance
- this is selling a https://premium.wpmudev.org/ which is a bit spammy in the back end
- https://athemes.com/performance/best-wordpress-caching-plugins/
- recommended: https://wp-rocket.me/pricing/
- paid plugin
CDN – Content Distribution Network
- reduce server load + data
- multiple download streams
- youtube | jetpack
✩ What to do when things go wrong
- Example disaster plan
- plugin | themes
- switch off to isolate issue
- manually disable a plugin
Security
View the runsheet
Protecting yourself, loved ones and collaborators
This workshop is aimed at all people who use phones and computers including people who “are bad at tech”.
The content is based on research, working with security experts and on the ground experience working with community activists and people who believe government and corporations do not have the right to spy on people by default.
We will cover both personal privacy and also remote collaboration.
Webinar is based on this guide:
Digital Security for Everyone – This guide is designed for beginners and non-technical people with the aim of increasing security across our whole community.
Part One – Surveillance systems in Australia in 2020 and why should we care?
Introductory discussion on what we know about the systems, why people don’t care about this and explore mis-truths about the surveillance systems that target everyday people by default.
Part Two – Digital Security Concepts
Concepts to consider when sorting out your digital privacy and security.
Part Three – tools
Demonstration of tools to help protect yourself, loved ones and collaborators. These recommendations are based on using these tools on the ground in organising and protest, as well as flirting with our lovers.
Extract of the webinar chat
From J### To Glenn : In the 1980s VicPol spied on activist groups, and individuals, as well as infiltrating groups and changing their decision making. I was one of the 240 approx. pple that a file was made on. it was horrible
From S###: Spying on #ExxonKnew campaign
What’s the name of the anon SIM provider?
shop.ncryptcellular.com.au/product-category/simcards
From J### : One ofhter replacement for Slack: Rocket.chat
From J### : Jitsi is good. And if stability is an issue, set up your own instance locally
From S### : Zoom is talking about now giving encryption to free customers but you will have to give them ID (possibly phone number).
From J### : disroot.org for file sharing (Nextcloud) share.riseup.net also good for file sharing (50MB limit)
From S### : Proton mail does the same – reporting warrants
From J### : Also another shared colab pad: pad.riseup.net
From M### : I’ve heard that zoom and Jitsi chats are more encrypted than the video conferencing, ie end to end
From J### : Yep, Jitsi is good jitsi.org/security
From J### : jitsi.org/blog/e2ee
From S### : I like Authy for 2FA
Website technology
View the runsheet
Background Image by A Blanck Canvas – A Melbourne based studio, producing of large scale puppets and art installations.
Webinar is based on this guide
Website Tech – We demystify how to setup a domains, hosting, websites and email. View the Guide
Outline
- What is a domain?
- How to choose a domain
- How to register a domain
- What is hosting?
- How to choose the best host
- Hosting – basic client tools
- How to get a domain working with your website
- Email and the different approaches
- Hosting – setting up email
- DNS Name records
- Caching and Content Delivery Networks
- Disaster planning
- FTP – introduction
- Code editors – introduction