The present generation is adapting to technological trends very quickly. Devesh Sharma is one such example. He is a 20-year-old blogger and developer who runs an excellent informational blog on WordPress, named wpkube.com.
Devesh is an inspiration for newbies using WordPress. He is on his way to become a WordPress celebrity. (I think he’s already one!) In this interview, Devesh shares many interesting tidbits about the WordPress industry.
Happy reading!
Cloudways: You are a 20-year-old blogger and WordPress (WP) fanatic. Being so young in the WP industry, what are the challenges you face in using WordPress?
Devesh Sharma: I think the biggest challenge that I and many other developers face is that there are so many people labeling themselves as “experts” who are jumping on board as they see a great money potential. So, it is hard for customers to differentiate the good developers from the bad ones.
Another challenge that I face is keeping a balance between my work and studies. I am not really good at managing time. I am currently doing my under graduation, so it is really hard for me to manage a lot at the same time.
Cloudways: What’s your definition of success?
Devesh Sharma: For me, it’s when I will be able to make some real impact on the other people’s life. Although, in the beginning I had a different view of success, it mostly involved earning a huge chunk of money. 😀
Cloudways: If WordPress didn’t exist today, what CMS would you be using right now?
Devesh Sharma: I would probably be using Joomla, because that was the CMS I tried before finally settling with WordPress.
Cloudways: This is great to know: What is your favorite off-the-shelf plugin and theme for WordPress?
Devesh Sharma: Genesis Framework. I have been using it for more than 12 months now and never had any problems. It provides secure, robust, and search engine optimized framework that allows you to build websites with ease.
Before that I was using Thesis Theme, but I switched to Genesis when they released the Drag and Drop Framework.
I am a big fan of Yoast’s website and its WordPress SEO plugin.
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Cloudways: What is your advice to anyone who is thinking about developing a theme or plugin?
Devesh Sharma: Developing a theme and plugin is an easy job, but marketing them is not. So before you start thinking about developing a plugin or theme, have a strategy. Ask yourself these questions:
- Is the plugin or theme going to be free or paid?
- Is there any similar type of product already available in the industry? You can search on marketplaces like ThemeForest, WordPress.org directory, Mojo Themes, etc.
- Do you have enough time to properly handle the sales and support?
If you don’t want to go through the process of setting up the site and promoting your products, then you can use marketplaces such as CodeCanyon and ThemeForest to sell your products.
Cloudways: What are your views about social communities of WordPress at Facebook and LinkedIn?
Devesh Sharma: I am not much active on LinkedIn, so I don’t know about that. But there are many active groups on Facebook such as All About WordPress and Advanced WordPress.
Both of these communities are not saturated by spammers and you will rarely find any spammy content. These communities have real experts and helpful people who are always happy to help new WordPress users.
Cloudways: What’s the most important advice you can give to an entrepreneur just starting out in WP business? Any message you would like to share with new WordPress users?
Devesh Sharma: Starting a business in WordPress is easy compared to others because:
- It doesn’t require much capital and you can easily get a website and hosting under $100.
- There are so many awesome individuals in the WordPress community, who will help you and answer your questions.
- There are a lot of great, free resources available to help you get started.
For WP newbies, I would recommend that they join forums, sites, and private groups. Also, help other users. They should really spend sometime inside the WP communities.
You can follow Devesh Sherma (@devesh) on Twitter.
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".
