Kim Shivler
whiteglovewebtraining.com | @KimShivler
Kim Shivler, M.Ed. has worked as a writer, instructor, developer and serial entrepreneur for over 20 years. Her business experience includes computer network and database administration, technical training and writing, project management, web development, and work as an aesthetician and spa owner. She also worked for large corporations including Tivoli, an IBM company, where she was part of the worldwide technical sales and marketing team.
Kim learned HTML in 1995 building help files as a UNIX system administrator and opened her first web development company in 1996. Since then, Kim has worked as a business owner and employee in a variety of fields including a few years as part of an IBM worldwide team. Between 2008 and 2012, she worked with a variety of Content Management Systems and ran an online membership site for skincare professionals using Drupal. In 2012, Kim found WordPress and never looked back at any other CMS. She has been creating online courses in WordPress since 2013 and currently combines her background in education, years of business experience, and WordPress experience to teach others how to build membership websites, online courses, their first WordPress site, and full-blown learning platforms.
As a writer, Kim has worked in a variety of fields including software documentation and instruction, manuals for aesthetic and medical devices, and general health articles.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and Master of Education degree in secondary English education from the University of Florida.
WordCamp Session Title
Launching Membership Websites — The Nitty Gritty Business of a Successful Launch
Why Is This Important?
A membership website can be a nice source of income for entrepreneurs and businesses wanting to create and deliver premium content to their audience. Frequently when people come to me for help building a site, or they are having a site built and I’m consulting on the project strategy, the focus they bring only concerns the technology. Questions like the following are common:
- What plugin should I use?
- How do I connect this to my email system?
- How do I accept payments?
And while each of the above questions is important, as are many other questions concerning the technical piece of a membership website, what is often overlooked is the launch. How do you create a successful launch? What do you need to prepare for in terms of customer support, training, and managing new members? What testing should always be done prior to launching, and where can you expect things to need correction?
Since most businesses and entrepreneurs build a membership website as part of their business, not as an exercise in testing a new technology, understanding how to make their launch a success is often critical to the overall success of the project.
While supporting a good-sized site launch earlier this year, I captured the information and broke down what went well, what could have gone better, and things I should have done to better prepare the client for the actual days leading up to and following taking their site live. Sharing this along with lessons learned from my work on many other membership sites, will help others insure that their site launches are a success.
How Did You Discover WordPress?
I first heard about WordPress on a podcast. I have been developing in HTML since 1995. We were hand-coding help files for a UNIX network using VI (Yep, the text editor. Half a name for half an editor, according to my other half — an eMacs guy). In 2007, I started experimenting with Content Management Systems and after burning through Joomla, E107, Mambo, and XOOPS, I used Drupal for several years. I ran a few membership and magazine sites on Drupal and then did some contract work helping another Developer and Project Manager create a Drupal Portal for his teams to track projects using a Scrum methodology.
During this time others started asking me for development work, and I wanted something easier for my non-techie companies to maintain. I heard about WordPress on a podcast, and in 2012 started using it and haven’t looked back since.
How Do You Use WordPress?
I teach and coach people to build WordPress websites, membership sites, online training courses and training platforms using WordPress. On the WordPress intro side, my work is split between supporting entrepreneurs who had a site built and now want to blog and update it on their own and teaching those who want a side-hustle how to build a basic site for their own business. My online course training includes teaching how to create the content along with how to use Learning Management Systems and create learning platforms including membership sites.
As a sales coach for entrepreneurs, I teach them how to use the above platforms and their content to establish themselves as experts in their fields to make sales come easier.
How Has WordPress Impacted You?
My overall role in the world is as a teacher, encourager, and sales channel problem solver for my customers. WordPress has provided me the ability to create a business helping entrepreneurs and small businesses build and/or maintain their websites, and to create membership sites and online learning platforms in order to build their own businesses.
When I started working with HTML in the mid-90’s, this wouldn’t have been possible. Because of WordPress, which allows much to be done without digging into code, I can help those less technical create and/or maintain their own sites. I get such a thrill out of helping someone non-technical understand how to work with the technology and build a business. Some of my students are in their 70’s.
What Do You Do When Not Working?
I love to garden and try to grow as many of my organic vegetables as possible in containers on and around my back porch. I also love cooking and kitchen gadgets and hanging out with my three cats. Two of the cats like to help me when I teach online.
What Is Your Favorite Candy?
Dark chocolate with almonds.