{"id":8671,"date":"2015-04-15T14:00:41","date_gmt":"2015-04-15T19:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/?p=8671"},"modified":"2024-01-03T00:13:13","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T06:13:13","slug":"finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/","title":{"rendered":"Finely Tuned Consultant – Carrie Dils"},"content":{"rendered":"

At WP Engine, we\u2019re passionate about helping our customers learn and grow. In keeping with that ethos, we proudly present \u201c<\/i>Finely Tuned Consultant<\/i><\/a>,\u201d a series of interviews with some of the brightest talents in tech, marketing, and (naturally) WordPress.<\/i><\/p>\n

In this edition of Finely Tuned Consultant, we speak with Fort Worth-based developer Carrie Dils. Her site, (<\/i>carriedils.com<\/i>) features numerous tutorials on WordPress and the Genesis framework. Dils also hosts a podcast called <\/i>OfficeHours<\/i><\/a> in which she and her guests discuss how to put WordPress to work for your business. Read on to hear Dils talk about the importance of accessibility in her theme, Utility Pro, and why she makes sure every client gets a \u201cget run over by a bus\u201d document.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Carrie<\/a>How did you get started with WordPress?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was already doing web development and had taken a little time out career-wise. I was working for Starbucks when my manager told me about WordPress. I was talking about redoing a client site that I built in the early 2000s in Classic ASP. It was just awful, but I built this CMS by hand. Calling it a CMS might be a little generous, but there were frontend forms and you could get in touch with the database and pull data dynamically, so I\u2019ll let that count. Anyhow, I was talking about this site and my boss talked to me about WordPress and he said, \u201cit just does that. That\u2019s all built in.\u201d I was kind of floored at the ease with which you could replicate something that had taken so long to do.<\/p>\n

So I started diving into WordPress. I\u2019m a self learner, so I just started getting my hands on whatever tutorials I could get. I signed up for Lynda.com<\/a> and watched Morten\u2019s course on WordPress<\/a> and that was the end.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about the Genesis Framework. What is it and why should a layperson like me give a hoot?<\/strong><\/p>\n

A layperson like you…I don\u2019t know that you necessarily should give a hoot other than about some of the core features of Genesis<\/a>. From a client perspective it\u2019s very secure, it\u2019s well-built, well-designed code and it\u2019s created in such a way that it\u2019s good for SEO. That doesn\u2019t mean it does all your homework for you, but it\u2019s a great starting place. And there\u2019s so much already built into the framework that as a developer, I can reuse. So when I need to create a site for you, instead of paying two times in development for me to build from scratch every time, I\u2019m able to take a really solid platform and then build your custom bit out on that.<\/p>\n

There is a great deal of content on your site including tutorials and information about how to do cool things with WordPress and Genesis. Why is it important to you to provide all of this information and why aren\u2019t you charging for it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I first started that blog on my existing site, I was learning WordPress and learning Genesis as I was blogging it. So the tutorials were really just me trying to take what I learned and then package it and tell somebody about it. If you can teach someone else what you know, it proves you know it.<\/p>\n

I did that for a long time and got such positive feedback from it. I guess that\u2019s why I continue to do it. I know that it\u2019s helpful to people and there were other people doing a similar kind of concept when I got started that helped me ramp up more quickly. I like being able to play that role for others.<\/p>\n

Why I don\u2019t charge for it? That\u2019s a great question! There\u2019s been a couple of people in the space that recently went to a paywall. My philosophy is multi-pronged: first, I have a lot of affiliate programs that I do. I\u2019ve actually done an experiment and removed banners from my site. I haven\u2019t run any banners on my site this year. I talk about a topic and if an affiliate link is appropriate, I\u2019ll throw that in there. So the site generates pretty decent affiliate income. So that helps cover my time investment in writing the articles. Secondly, I guess last summer or about a year ago, I got the opportunity to come on board with Lynda.com and start teaching some Genesis courses with them. Of course they paid me to do that. I felt like that opportunity would not have been available if I hadn\u2019t been doing what I was doing. So no, it\u2019s not directly monetized, but I feel like it\u2019s led to good authority in my space and has paid off in indirect ways.<\/p>\n

You make a point on your site to mention that you don\u2019t abandon clients. Point in fact, you seek to empower them to manage their WordPress sites on their own. Why is that important to you? Have you run into any challenges making sure that happens?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had so many people\u2014more than I can even keep track of\u2014who come to me and say, \u201cUgh! My developer just screwed me over\u201d or \u201c they were a feather in the wind and I have not heard from them.\u201d All these scenarios. I\u2019ve been around for a very long time. I\u2019m not a fly-by-night developer. So communicating that is one thing that has been important. And as far as empowering them to do that themselves, I want them\u2014and maybe this sort of dovetails with the previous point\u2014I want them to feel empowered because when they do, and they know that they don\u2019t have to be nickle and dimed every time they have to do something, I think they end up spending more money with me because they know that I\u2019m not going to screw \u2018em over basically.<\/p>\n

I send everyone a full list of passwords depending on what I have access to. I put everything in a neat little document. I sort of call it my \u201cget run over by a bus\u201d document. The bottom line is I want people to feel like they can move on from me and not be stuck.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about your theme, Utility Pro. Why is it important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a badass theme if I do say so myself. It\u2019s important to me that it\u2019s accessible. It meets accessibility requirements. And what that means is there\u2019s actually a governing body that puts a stamp on this is accessible and this is inaccessible. It was important to me to hit that category because it\u2019s very underserved. So, for instance, people that use screen readers or some other sort of assisted technology, it may be a pretty narrow market, but I really don\u2019t think so. I think it\u2019s an underserved population. Coupled with that, there are quite a few countries making it a legal requirement for any site doing business online, their site has to meet certain accessibility standards. So I saw this was an opportunity in those markets to offer a solution where really there was none\u2014at least in the Genesis world. And if you expand it to the larger WordPress world at the time I started that theme, I think there were only eight or 10 accessibility ready themes. So I\u2019m really proud of what I did there and I consulted with quite a few folks that helped make it. I could not have done it on my own. And I\u2019m excited about what that represents.<\/p>\n

The other thing I would say about it is that it\u2019s translation ready. This had never really entered my radar of being important until one day when I was talking with a Hebrew developer I met through my podcast. He was telling me about the challenges of working with Genesis. Hebrew reads right-to-left versus, you know, left-to-right like English does. And he was just telling me about the issues\u2014what it took to have a theme translate when there are English words and also flip it to that right-to-left orientation. I was just floored! Say that you gave us the exact same project and we had the exact same skill level. It might take him five hours longer to do a project just because of this extra work. So it was important to me as well to make the theme very friendly to anyone developing in another language, including those right-to-left languages. So there are some bells and whistles. My hope is that any other developer could pick it up and expand on it to make it their own. I\u2019m trying to bill it as the perfect starter theme.<\/p>\n

What are you currently working on that excites you the most?<\/strong><\/p>\n

What excites me the most is continuing the [Utility Pro] project. So I released the theme and I\u2019m trying something new in the WordPress world, which is I\u2019m not selling the theme, I\u2019m selling support for the theme. Of course I don\u2019t have the theme released for free on Github or anything, but when you purchase the theme you get an annual license. That license covers your support so you can use the theme 100 times but if you buy a one-time license then one site gets support. I have a developer tier where the theme comes packaged with some pretty nifty developer tools, but I won\u2019t bore you with the technical details of that. I\u2019m very excited about continuing to beef up that developer version and continue to add things there. And then also, hopefully, to spin off a couple more themes off of that.<\/p>\n

I know there are some people making money off themes, I\u2019m not one of them. I have probably 500 development hours in Utility Pro and that doesn\u2019t count the other time I\u2019ve paid other people to audit it and do X,Y, and Z. Even though sales were encouraging right out of the gate, it\u2019ll take me a while just to break even on it. Like, maybe a long time! [laughs]. So I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ll continue wholeheartedly down the theme development path. I mean I don\u2019t want to be a theme shop or anything, but this particular theme, I\u2019m excited to be working on it and perhaps offer some ancillary services around it. For instance, the theme itself is accessible, but the second someone uses a theme and writes content or does certain things in their content that aren\u2019t accessible, well, all of a sudden it\u2019s not an accessible site anymore. And people don\u2019t know what those things are. It\u2019s still a very new topic, but people are eager to learn. I think I\u2019d like to provide some education in that space about how, once you\u2019re working with an accessible theme, you can continue to make sure your content is accessible. I\u2019ve done that in some degree just in tutorials on my site. There might be some consulting services available there.<\/p>\n

What is the WordPress community in Fort Worth like? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Growing. We have a meet up. Dallas\/Fort Worth is frickin\u2019 sprawling. There has historically been some really strong meetups in Dallas but not so much representation on the Fort Worth side. In the past few years, we\u2019ve been beefing up our Fort Worth meetup. We maybe have 200 people that are part of it and then average 20 people to a particular meeting. I would say it\u2019s small, but it\u2019s passionate and growing. This past Fall, we hosted a WordCamp, WordCamp DFW, even though it happened in Fort Worth. That was the first WordCamp DFW. There was a WordCamp Dallas maybe four or five years ago. I think it\u2019s exciting. We may be small in number, but we\u2019ve had a very enthusiastic response from people to keep doing more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At WP Engine, we\u2019re passionate about helping our customers learn and grow. In keeping with that ethos, we proudly present \u201cFinely Tuned Consultant,\u201d a series of interviews with some of the brightest talents in tech, marketing, and (naturally) WordPress. In this edition of Finely Tuned Consultant, we speak with Fort Worth-based developer Carrie Dils. Her…<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":6104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[411],"tags":[395],"class_list":["post-8671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finely-tuned-expert","tag-carrie-dils"],"yoast_head":"\nFinely Tuned Consultant - Carrie Dils | WP Engine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fort Worth developer, Carrie Dils, discusses the Genesis framework and what she calls her "get run over by a bus document" in this Finely Tuned Consultant.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finely Tuned Consultant - Carrie Dils | WP Engine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Fort Worth developer, Carrie Dils, discusses the Genesis framework and what she calls her "get run over by a bus document" in this Finely Tuned Consultant.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"WP Engine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpengine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-15T19:00:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-03T06:13:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screen-Shot-2014-07-22-at-2.26.33-PM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"708\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"290\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathan McNamara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@wpengine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@wpengine\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonathan McNamara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"9 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/\",\"name\":\"Finely Tuned Consultant - Carrie Dils | WP Engine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-15T19:00:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-03T06:13:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#\/schema\/person\/d2e2835b4694a34209587c449627c0e1\"},\"description\":\"Fort Worth developer, Carrie Dils, discusses the Genesis framework and what she calls her \\\"get run over by a bus document\\\" in this Finely Tuned Consultant.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Finely Tuned Consultant – Carrie Dils\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/\",\"name\":\"WP Engine\",\"description\":\"Managed Hosting for WordPress\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#\/schema\/person\/d2e2835b4694a34209587c449627c0e1\",\"name\":\"Jonathan McNamara\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d54f9bea52a1cc851f46efb4aff32617845c0f78682978506f30ee373283ec4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d54f9bea52a1cc851f46efb4aff32617845c0f78682978506f30ee373283ec4?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jonathan McNamara\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Finely Tuned Consultant - Carrie Dils | WP Engine","description":"Fort Worth developer, Carrie Dils, discusses the Genesis framework and what she calls her \"get run over by a bus document\" in this Finely Tuned Consultant.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Finely Tuned Consultant - Carrie Dils | WP Engine","og_description":"Fort Worth developer, Carrie Dils, discusses the Genesis framework and what she calls her \"get run over by a bus document\" in this Finely Tuned Consultant.","og_url":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/","og_site_name":"WP Engine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wpengine","article_published_time":"2015-04-15T19:00:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-03T06:13:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":708,"height":290,"url":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Screen-Shot-2014-07-22-at-2.26.33-PM.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Jonathan McNamara","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@wpengine","twitter_site":"@wpengine","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jonathan McNamara","Est. reading time":"9 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/","url":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/","name":"Finely Tuned Consultant - Carrie Dils | WP Engine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-04-15T19:00:41+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-03T06:13:13+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#\/schema\/person\/d2e2835b4694a34209587c449627c0e1"},"description":"Fort Worth developer, Carrie Dils, discusses the Genesis framework and what she calls her \"get run over by a bus document\" in this Finely Tuned Consultant.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/finely-tuned-consultant-carrie-dils\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Finely Tuned Consultant – Carrie Dils"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#website","url":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/","name":"WP Engine","description":"Managed Hosting for WordPress","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#\/schema\/person\/d2e2835b4694a34209587c449627c0e1","name":"Jonathan McNamara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d54f9bea52a1cc851f46efb4aff32617845c0f78682978506f30ee373283ec4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9d54f9bea52a1cc851f46efb4aff32617845c0f78682978506f30ee373283ec4?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jonathan McNamara"}}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpengine.com\/case-studies\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}