Bennie Mellies is a WordPress/Marketing guy from Holland, Groningen who totally loves internet, WordPress, design, marketing and reggae. Bit of a strange combination maybe. But for Bennie it’s the perfect fit. Enjoy the interview and feel free to leave any questions you may have in the comments section below the post.
You are the proud owner of different websites & business concepts (BennieMellies.com, Benn-i-Productions.com, Reggaefy.com, Riddimify.com, Reggaebeatify.com, WPWerk.nl). What is your true forté?
What I love to do most is building assets. Every domain name and website can be seen as an asset. But also every beat I produce is a digital asset. While building assets you meet new people and you expand your network.
Being an entrepreneur is hard enough, so you have to be creative and experiment a lot. That’s why I am not limited to my website but try new services, websites and monitor startups and competitors seeking opportunities. I like to experiment with these to offer my customers and visitors the best value and showcase my expertise.
I am active on different platforms, varying from internet and affiliate marketing to WordPress, blogging, music, expert platforms, marketplaces and social media.
How did you come up with the idea of starting WordPress courses? Tell us a bit more about it. How do you explain the meaning of WordPress from the teacher’s perspective?
As I’m very much into WordPress I thought it would be helpful to make a page dedicated to WordPress courses. Because there are so many courses and sources nowadays. Why not bundle all this info into one page?
A lot of people still think that building a website is rocket science. But nowadays it’s getting easier and understandable. With more and more helpful tools like visual designers etc.
Presently there is hardly anyone who hasn’t heard about WordPress, many of us are WP users. Do you remember your first experience with the platform? What were your impressions?
No correct. When you realize that 22% of all websites are built with WordPress – there’s no getting around that. My first impressions were around 2000, I immediately loved WordPress, because I played around with PhpNuke and other platforms. What I loved about WordPress was the easiness.
What features did WordPress lack at that time? How did you manage to find solutions? Any resources you turned to?
I always use the WordPress forums, since I’m also active with support and helping other myself. I can also suggest to other people, when you want to become an authority you have to give, give, give…. Next to the wordpress forums, I use google when it comes to specific things. And since I’m an entrepreneur, I always try to bundle the most common things into a new website.
List the most typical mistakes that newbie developers make when they start building their sites with WordPress. What would be your piece of advice for those who are only getting started but have big dreams?
Start with the basics! Like removing the “Hello post” or the standard “Just another WordPress site” or the admin login. Hackers use these default settings as vulnerabilities. Work hard, make awesome articles and content and keep heading on the road you choose.
What does WordPress do that no other platform does? If WordPress doesn’t exist – what CMS would you turn to?
Flexibility, easiness, integrations and full control for users. If WordPress wouldn’t exist I would develop something similar. Since I don’t have other platforms to turn to..
Have you converted sites to WordPress by yourselves? What are the main migration issues of switching to WordPress?
Yes, multiple.You have to think about everything, including your databases, etc. In most of the times, people don’t have the technical skills for these migration issues.
Do you think that keeping the same design is an important part of migration from one platform to another?
Yes absolutely. People put a lot of work in their websites/blogs/shops. And they always get a little nervous when migrating.
What is your view on automated way of website migration? Do you have an experience of using online converters?
Yes, I use a lot of different tools for this.
What’s next for you – any plans, projects undertakings? Give us the behind the scenes exclusive – something you haven’t announced yet anywhere else.
Yes, thanks for the opportunity. It’s funny, ‘cos im working on a platform where people can turn to when experiencing WordPress problems, issues and fixes or errors. At the moment I already attracted more than 20 different WordPress professionals internationally. So when people experiencing problems they can turn to WPFIXME.com for a cheap solution. We work per fix with our WordPress Ninja’s.
Im also working on a WPError platform, where all WP errors are noted and the solutions. There is nothing like this at the moment. And I think it will come in handy. And next to this im working on several other business concepts.
What are your words to end our conversation here and any message or suggestion to the WordPress lovers?
Thanks for having me and just choose WordPress, you won’t regret it.
Many thanks to Bennie for taking the time to share his experiences and thoughts with us. Keep reading our ongoing Experts Interview Series to catch the discussions with many other knowledgeable people in the WordPress industry.
P.S. Left with a strong desire to switch to WordPress? Consider aisite automated migration service to perform the conversion as easy and convenient as possible. Find more detailed information here and try your Demo Migration with no delay.
