Woo Builder Bites

BobWP:
Hey, Bob, WP here. and I want to talk about podcasting specifically. Do the Woo. Now, bear with me for a moment. If you’ve been following me for a while, whether it’s here@dothewoo.io or on my old site, bob wp.com, you likely know that I’m always innovating, do ideas with content. It’s been an interesting long road, probably, geez, over a decade, probably more like about 13, 14 years, and it’s had me interweaving between all these various mediums. Now, when do the Woo started in 2016?
After several episodes, I branched it out into a wider spectrum and called it the WP E-Commerce Show. Then a couple years later, do the Woo was calling me back into the fold, heard its little voice, so I picked it up again and ran two podcasts simultaneously. When that podcast show hit 200, the WP E-Commerce Show, I called it quits on that one, and pulled my attention back into this podcast full force. Well, one thing led to another, and after our first four episodes, I realized I didn’t want to do it a alone. So Brad Williams joined me as a co-host, and over time, the podcast has grown, the site is focused on builders, and now I have 13 amazing hosts that bring you two episodes every week. Now, probably wondering where’s this going? Why the podcast history? Well, I want to take a step because I have a point here that I’m leading up to.
So what the podcast series looks like right now, I’ve spent the last year or so introducing a variety of content with two specific end goals, creating a variety of topics via various mediums for whole Google Builders Builders, and continuing to discover creative ways to elevate the cool builders we have in this ecosystem with some changes coming over the next few weeks, which ultimately gives more options for the builders out there, you listeners, to be part of this community. There was one piece that I’ve been chewing on for several months, been going back and forth on this idea of adding some new episodes to the existing lineup. Yes, some more episodes, but again, bear with me because there’s a method behind this madness. Now, let’s look at where we are right now, and I want to kind of share the lineup because sometimes I think we have such a variety of topics and co-hosts that you don’t really ever add.
A single point might be able to wrap your brain around exactly the different, what I call series. In this podcast twice a month, the two of the shows, Brad Williamson, myself, and in the other show, Jonathan Wold and Anna Maria du Talk with Woo Builders. Now, these shows have kept to the original format of us giving you the chance to meet other builders in this space and learn from them. This was the impetus of Do the Woo and Somewhat in a similar format. We have an episode with Ronald Dizzle and Marcus Burnett, where they bring you a guest each month directly from woocommerce.com. This gives you the opportunity to learn more about what happens behind the scenes of Woo. It also gives everyone a glimpse into the day-to-day work that team members are involved with while sharing insights and challenges along the way. And this pretty much came from the idea that a lot of people are saying we never hear from the people behind the scenes of WooCommerce.
Well, we brought that to you for that particular reason. Now, another episode that we have each month is Woo Round Table, which is monthly and is with host Ronald Dizzle and panelist Robbie Adair, Robert Jacoby, and Tammy Lister. Now, they seek out an interesting topic both in WooCommerce and the bigger e-commerce space and in a round table style give their insights and thoughts. In addition, we have Woo Biz Chats Now that’s hosted by Robbie Adra and Robert Jacoby, and they sit down monthly with builders and focus specifically on the business side of running a Woo agency shopper company. Now, we’ve introduced three newer topical series. One is W Dev chat developers, Zach Steppe, Carl Alexander, and Til Cruz dive into some extremely geek filled conversations around Woo performance. Occasionally they have a guest. Other times it’s just the three of them. But this is Serious developer talk.
So if you’re a developer, you really need to check into this one. The second in that newer series is Wu Builder Stories with hosts, Abba and Ana, Maria Radu. They have fun learning the stories behind the builders, learning about their successes and challenges while sharing with others how they can start their own Woo Builder story. And the last in the new series, woo Visions is a break from the traditional then and now with host Ronald Dizzle and Kathy Zant. We are talking with the visionaries, those who live for the future and are involved with building cool and innovative ideas around both WooCommerce and e-commerce. Often these gifts are not totally immersed in Woo, maybe just a foot in it. And then lastly, I do every Friday, woo bits with a review of the week and some commentary from yours truly. So that’s where the podcast is at this point.
Lot of history there, a lot of then and now. So what comes next? What’s the next podcast journey? Woo, builder Bites. This is the whole point of this, and I wanted to lead up with that history, and maybe it might be good because you’ll get a better grasp of exactly what we have going on here.
It really played out like this. The conduit for this idea was twofold. Pretty simple though. How can I elevate Woo builders even more? And how can I provide an optional shorter episode for listeners? Now, a thought occurred to me somewhere along the way. It was simply this, A podcast by Woo, builders for Woo Builders. Now, in theory, you could say that’s what we’re doing here already, and you’d be right, but if we take that same thought literally, well, that is what is next, a podcast by Woo Builders for Woo Builders. This is going to open the opportunity for builders to take the mic and do their own show while elevating their knowledge. It can be done by a monologue style show, a conversation between a couple of builders or joining me as a co-host. The topics are focused more on business tips in the Woo space building sites and building products.
The big key here is two part one, the episodes will be five to 15 minutes with 15 minutes be the max, and I want to make each episode actionable. What I’m not looking for is marketing or sales reps coming in to give their spiel. I want to talk to builders about their own experiences and share something that is actionable and useful. It’s also not an opportunity for an ad. In other words, you won’t be talking about your product or service for the duration. So with that in mind, here’s a few more things I want to tell you about it before I sign off here. These are not going to be on a specific schedule. I’ll publish them as I get them to open slots. So you’ll just see them interspersed between the regular shows you’ve been listening to, no deadlines or long-term commitments. For anyone that does this, it’s really a chance just to, Hey, I’ve thought about podcasting, or I have something I want to share that opportunity.
But if anyone is interested in being a regular contributor to due to, woo, there’s a link on the site in the show notes where you can get that. And this is one of those kind of new things coming, opening it up a bit more to regular contributors. This is in beta, and a lot of you will get that. Yes, I’ll be experimenting with how this all plays out. And for some of those that may submit an idea for this, well, not everyone will make the cut. I mean, because I’m going to be totally honest with you there, and I’m looking for specific kinds of content. But on the other hand, it will give you a chance, especially as a developer, to share your experiences and knowledge. And on a side note, just for those that have more thoughts on things going on in the Woo space, I will accept editorial and opinion posts as well with some parameters, of course.
So the gates are open. Hey, that’s it. If you are interested in this, you can submit your first idea over on the site. Do the woo.io, just find this post, and you’ll find the link in the show notes. Or perhaps you are thinking of being a contributor. Well, you can let us know that as well. And guess what? This is almost a perfect example of the length of podcast maximum. That will be done with this new format though. We’ll see how it goes. So I thank you for listening to today’s show. So that is it. Moving ahead, a few other things coming out and help me build this community. And I certainly do want to elevate some voices that are out there that have not had a chance to speak their minds or share their knowledge. Until the next time, keep on doing the woo woo.