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How Ben Fox Is Making a Fortune In The WordPress World

Updated on March 4, 2020

6 Min Read

I love to help people and I love to do it through the things that I have learned. I put my vigorous efforts to return what I learn. The role of a community manager allows me to do in great lengths.

At Cloudways, we try to many experiments and we share the successful ones with our readers. There are many in the industry working with the aim to spread free knowledge. WP Beginner is one of those projects started to support the WordPress community.

WordPress sets a trend to release a new version right after every 4 months.

We talked with Benjamin (Ben) Fox who is working with the same motto to promote the education. Ben is the co-founder of WP University and Sidekick. These two projects has a vision to promote education and support the WordPress community. It is for both the beginners and advanced users of WP. Ben discussed his views about the upcoming version of WordPress and the security issues. I hope you’ll enjoy reading this interview.

Ben Fox Interview

Cloudways: I come to know that you got a check of $300 for your first project. What’s the story behind? How did you find WordPress?

Ben Fox: Ha! It’s one of my favourite stories because it’s really when I started with WordPress.

I had just lost my job a few weeks earlier and walked into a tech meetup hoping to make some contacts. I overheard a few people talking about building a new website and how they were going to outsource it to an overseas agency. Being myself, I stepped in and politely suggested that I could build them a site for the same amount and then asked what they were going to spend (classic mistake which I quickly learned not to repeat).

After about 20 minutes, I had a check in my hand for $300.00. I headed home to build them a website. The only problem was: I had never built a site before.

After about 15 minutes on Google, I found wpbeginner.com and the rest is history.

18 months later when Bart and I formed our new company, FlowPress (For the Love of WordPress) we set one of our priorities to give back to the community that had given us our start. That’s how WPUniversity.com was born and why we continue to maintain it along with 30 WordPress Basics Walkthroughs for Sidekick for free.

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Cloudways: You have been using WordPress for a long time now. When did you realize that it was the right choice for you?

Ben Fox: I’ve been using WordPress for just over 3 years now. From the first moment I realized that I could switch themes and add plugins, I knew it was the right thing for me.

I always loved Lego.

Cloudways: WordPress has now become the premium choice for bloggers and developers. What do you think about the vital role WordPress has played for both of them?

Ben Fox: Wow, big question.

In my opinion, WordPress has done for bloggers what colored paints did for artists. Before WordPress, you could blog but if you didn’t have any coding skills you were stuck with very simple, vanilla look and feel. Publishing your words to Blogger was easy(ish) but design, functionality and monetization were very difficult.

Enter WordPress. A free system that has given bloggers space to grow their audience with easy-to-install plugins and attract readers with creative themes and frameworks that don’t cost thousands. Products like Make, iThemes Builder, and Genesis are great examples of that.

I’m not a developer, so I can’t speak directly to the code but I can say that from a business point of view. WordPress has increased efficiencies and exploded the boundaries of what you can do for a client and still keep a site manageable.

Cloudways: The release of new version, WordPress 4.0, is just around the corner. What will we miss from the older versions of WordPress?

Ben Fox: I’m going to defer our in-house WordPress version expert and Director of Communications Andy McIlwain for this one.

He says: “Nothing, really. 4.0 is adding some great new features without taking anything away from what users are familiar with. Take the Media Library, for example. Yes, the Media Grid is the sexy new thing, but you can still use the traditional list view if that’s your preference.

Users who are gluttons for punishment may miss the old, painful plugin browsing experience; however, I think they’re the exception rather than the norm.”

Cloudways: There are a lot of WordPress groups and communities that are active on social media sites, like Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, etc. How do you see the current trends? Are these communities really helpful?

Ben Fox: I love the community aspect of WordPress and these networks and the dedicated people that run them. The likes of Matt Cromwell from AWP and Matt Mederios for WordPress Entrepreneurs are serving to enhance that.

I belong to the Advanced WordPress Group on Facebook plus 5 others as well as the WordPress for Entrepreneurs group on Google+. I think they are very helpful. These groups keep our community connected and strong. Of course, they’re a great place to find resources and answers to questions.

Cloudways: WordCamp, the flagship WordPress event, has become a norm for many regions, these days. Have you attended any? Share your experience. Are these events good enough to promote the cause of WordPress?

Ben Fox: I’ve been to 7 WordCamps plus Pressnomics over the last two years and have come away from everyone with at least two new learnings and more than a few new friends and contacts.

I think you’re asking the wrong question. WordCamps, in my opinion, aren’t about promoting the cause of WordPress. It’s about bringing people together, showcasing local talent, sharing knowledge, and sharing experiences. If anything, promotion of WordPress is just a byproduct of WordCamps.

That said, I do think that WordPress is evolving and there is a need for non-WordCamp events. Awesome conferences with specific focuses like Pressnomics, PrestigeConf, and even the upcoming WooCommerce Conference all serve an important purpose for our community that WordCamps don’t. This business engine is an inevitable by-product of WordPress and the GPL system. It is maturing. These events are enabling conversations on topics not meant for WordCamps.

Cloudways: You have developed WP University and Sidekick. What enticed you to take up these projects? Are you satisfied with the progress of the two projects?

Ben Fox: I’ll answer your second question first. No, I’m not satisfied with our pace.

I don’t think an entrepreneur is wired to be satisfied—and that’s a good thing. It’s in our DNA to look for solutions to problems and continually improve. In this case, I think we could be moving a bit faster and that will come with time.

WPUniversity.com comes from the desire of giving back to the WordPress community. I was able to get a start with WordPress because of awesome free resources like wpbeginner.com. My team and I want to make sure that we help in paying forward.

SIDEKICK.pro comes from our observation that there is something inefficient about asking users to step out-of-the-flow to learn to use a new platform. Education and support should happen in “on-text” for peak effectiveness. Bart and I wanted to find a way to make the on-boarding and support experience better while reducing costs. Sidekick achieves that.

Cloudways: Few important features of WordPress 4.0 include Language Selection, Plugins Selection Modal, and Media Library UI. Which one do you like the most in the upcoming version?

Ben Fox: The new Plugin Selection modal is my favorite. The Plugin area has been long overdue for an overhaul and the Core team has done a great job.

Cloudways: WordPress sites have been vulnerable to some serious security threats: DDoS attacks, brute force attacks, etc. In your opinion, how can we better tackle these issues?

Ben Fox: Anytime a piece of software is dominant it becomes a target. That’s one of the reasons Apple was able to skate around viruses and malware for so long. WordPress powers 23% of the net and most of its users are bloggers and business owners that don’t have the time or know-how to properly manage their security. So, of course, it’s going to be a target.

Automattic’s recent pickup of Brute Force Protect is a good sign in my opinion. It’s acknowledgement from the top that we can and will do more to protect the WordPress ecosystem.

As a community, there a few things we can do. First we can make sure someone is managing our security. If that’s not (possible), you then choose hire-a-service, like Maintainn or WP Site Care, to take care of it for you. Trust me, the upfront investment is nothing compared to what it will cost to recover from a hack.

Here are a few security tips I’ve picked up over time:

  1. STOP USING “ADMIN” AS YOUR LOGIN! Please. Stop.
  2. Run the latest version of WordPress
  3. If you run JetPack, use Brute Force Protect.
  4. Go to sucuri.net right now and do a site scan, then sign-up to have them to monitor your site.
  5. Use a host that is serious about security.
  6. Keep your plugins and themes up-to-date and delete plugins you don’t use. Deactivating them isn’t enough.
  7. Limit the number of people that have Admin access to your site. Not everyone needs admin rights.
  8. Change your passwords regularly and use a product like 1Password to store them.
  9. Use common sense.

You can follow Ben Fox (@benjaminefox) on Twitter.

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Waseem Abbas

Waseem Abbas was WordPress Community Manager at Cloudways. He loves to help people with their WordPress worries. He is a self-proclaimed "food explorer".

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