The Kadence Beat covers WordPress, blocks, and strategies for effective websites. Hosted by Ben Ritner, Hannah Ritner, and Kathy Zant, The Kadence Beat launches at the perfect time. As the WordPress block editor becomes more mainstream and site owners look to do more with WordPress, the beta of full-site editing lands in WordPress administrative dashboards around the world. Making sense of these developments and finding what works towards the goal of effective websites is a big part of The Kadence Beat.
Meet Ben Ritner, Founder of Kadence, Hannah Ritner, Customer Success Manager, and Kathy Zant, Director of Marketing.
We record The Kadence Beat weekly, and show links are below.
Episode 25: Cultivating Mindset and Motivation Through Challenges
When we’re just starting a project, we often have to provide our own motivation to keep moving when challenges arise. In this episode, Ben, Hannah, and Kathy talk about how they work through challenges, set goals, and achieve more through mindset, surrounding themselves with supportive people, and keeping their “why” in mind through difficult times and setbacks. Ben also gives us some timetables for the release of Kadence Blocks 3.0, and some advice on updating any major WordPress software release. Hannah is in Mexico for this recording, providing its own challenges for our recording.
Episode 24: Trust-Based Marketing in the Era of Social Media
Humans are social creatures and we rely on the advice of trusted influences in our life to make purchasing decisions more than we often realize. In this episode, we check in with Ben on updates on Kadence development, and we review examples of trust based marketing with some ideas on how small WooCommerce store owners and even WordPress agencies and freelancers can leverage trust-based marketing to grow their businesses.
Episode 23: How to Leverage Customer Support Excellence to Build Your Brand
In episode 23 to kick of 2023 of the Kadence Beat, we take a look at how exemplary customer support affects our perception of a brand, whether it is an airline, fast food, or clothing company. We talk about Kadence’s philosophy on customer support and how it began from an empathetic perspective when founder Ben Ritner started the company. Everyone at Kadence does support, and we talk about how customer interaction informs both our devs and our marketing team to be more effective in meeting market needs.
Episode 22: Celebrating Kadence & the Kadence Community with Adam Preiser
The Kadence Community on Facebook is poised to hit 10,000 members any day now. In this video-only episode, Adam Preiser joins Ben, Hannah, and Kathy to talk about the early days of Kadence and how Ben and Adam met at WordCamp US in St. Louis, the growth of Kadence as well as Adam’s projects at SureCart, SureMembers and more. Join us in this video only podcast where we celebrated everything Kadence at the end of 2022.
Episode 21: Start Blogging & See Where Building with Blocks Can Take You with Jake Pfohl
Jake Pfohl has been one of the most active members of the Kadence community since the early days of Kadence as an innovator in building effective websites with blocks. Jake started his blog, StartBlogging101.com and evolved into a full library of design solutions with StartBloggingBlocks.com. In this episode of The Kadence Beat, Hannah and Ben talk to Jake about how he got started blogging and his evolution towards providing solutions to help other bloggers do more with WordPress and Kadence. Jake, Ben and Hannah talk about the challenges of getting started, how sharing your expertise makes awesome content, and where they are focusing their learning now.
Episode 20: The Kadence Community and Influence with Maestro Stevens
Kadence is so much more than a theme. With a suite of plugins that help anyone create more effective WordPress websites, Kadence also provides opportunity for empowerment for developers looking to create additional streams of income. In this episode, Kathy and Hannah are joined by Maestro Stevens, a WordPress developer who has created a set of impressive design libraries that can help anyone create more effective sites with Kadence Blocks. In addition to audio, this is a video podcast. Watch on YouTube.
Episode 19: What Makes Someone a WordPress Developer
With the era of new no-code tools including those found in the Kadence suite of solutions, we discuss the question of what makes someone a WordPress developer. We also talk about some ways to get started in WordPress, how to set yourself up for success, and ways to stick with problems in order to really solidify your learning. We also talk about the Kadence Power User Course and the upcoming teardown event with The Good on Nov 10th. Ben, Hannah, and Kathy also share some of their thoughts on productivity techniques to get the most out of each day.
Episode 18: How to Easily Win with Google’s Helpful Content Update
In this episode, the Kadence team takes a look at a recent algorithm change that Google released that they are calling the Helpful Content Update. This new change is targeted towards elevating “people-first content” in Google’s search engine result pages. Once you’ve got the fundamentals of the technology in place with WordPress and Kadence, how do you give Google, and your customers, what they’re really after? What exactly is helpful content and how can this new algorithm change actually help guide you towards creating more effective websites?
Episode 17: The Benefits and Challenges of Remote Work
The Kadence team is entirely remote and works from home, the beach, coffee shops and various locations around the world. Remote work is a big part of freelancing, agency work, and many in the WordPress community have found ways to do remote work right. Ben, Hannah, and Kathy talk about their own unique remote work styles and what works for them, and how our remote work philosophy has actually helped create a unique community helping WordPress users create more effective sites. In this episode, we left in some of our “bloopers” as they were perfect illustrations of some of remote works challenges, and benefits. We hope this episode makes you laugh as much as it made us laugh.
Episode 16: Building a Personal Brand by Being of Service to Others
In this episode, we talk about Ben’s experience at WordCamp US in San Diego, California, and how building a personal brand is good for both entrepreneurs as well as employees. But just how do you go about building a reputation and a personal brand? We determine that being of service to others and helping others learn and solve problems in your niche of expertise is the fastest way to build authority and a reputation that serves you for years to come.
Episode 15: Finding your Beat: Brand Building Fundamentals
Whether you’re just starting a business or you’re looking to improve your business’ marketing, naming and branding your business can make or break your efforts to grow revenue. In this episode of The Kadence Beat, we look at the challenges of naming a business, coming up with logos, color schemes, and of course why this is all so important. A strong brand is critical to so much of marketing, but how do you establish that strength? We talk a little about how Kadence was named and the story we have to our brand, as well as some iterations of other brands we’ve worked with. We also talk a little about StoryBrand and why their philosophy works so well for marketing.
Episode 14: Best Practices in Hiring Help for WordPress
We all need a little help getting things done on our WordPress sites sometimes. Maybe that involves hiring a designer, a developer, or maybe you want to hire someone to handle it all for you. In this discussion about best practices for hiring WordPress help, the team talks about everything from deciding when you need help to scoping a project, and the importance of putting your focus on the end user of the site, messaging, and communication. Ben and Hannah also talk a little about their family trip to the Madison Range in Montana while Kathy sweats it out in the Texas heat wave.
Episode 13: Demystifying WordPress Tech: Where can curiosity take you?
In this episode, the team talks about how they got into WordPress, coding, and technology, and they ask some deeper questions about the difference between technical and non-technical people. Is WordPress too technical for some people? Can agency and freelancers can help their clients succeed by encouraging them to try to break their sites? How does curiosity and confidence develop a mindset of success in technology? We also discuss what sets Kadence Support apart from other WordPress providers and why we have to go the extra mile for our customers. We also talk about what’s happening with Kadence Shop Kit, Kadence Blocks, and the entire Kadence solution online documentation.
Episode 12: Resources to Make Publishing with WordPress Better, Easier & Faster
WordPress is an amazing tool for sharing your content with the world, but it can’t do everything. (Yet?) In this episode, the Kadence team talks about some of the tools we use to make publishing with WordPress better, easier and faster. We not only discuss tools to help you create content, but how to determine what kind of content your audience wants to consume. From social media to copywriting, design, stock photos and project management, we’ve tried dozens of tools to help make publishing compelling content easier.
Episode 11: How Shop Kit Provides the Foundation for WooCommerce Innovation
Kadence Shop Kit 2.0 is currently in beta, and it promises to change how WooCommerce sites engage with their audiences. With new methods of providing shoppers engaging experiences with products, we expect to see a new wave of innovation in the eCommerce space. In this episode, we talk about the benefits WooCommerce has over other cloud based commerce services and how Shop Kit aims to expand that. The team also goes deep on a shared passion: coffee.
Episode 10: Building Design Prototypes in WordPress with Kadence
Every new design starts somewhere, and tools like Figma, Invision, Axure, or Adobe XD provide designers with innovative ways to create visual representations of web design. However, in the WordPress world, innovations in the block editor make creating designs natively, in the space closest to implementation, even easier. In this episode we get real about web design in WordPress. These tools can be helpful, but it’s critical to remain focused on the most important components of creating effective designs in WordPress. Unique content, an understanding of your customer, and effective communication through the design of your site is the best recipe for success.
Episode 9: Attracting Website Traffic: Don’t be a Rainbow in the Dark
There’s nothing more frustrating than building a beautiful site that no one visits. At Kadence, we’re committed to helping our customers build beautiful sites that are effective, and attracting website traffic is a huge part of that. In today’s episode, we talk about attracting traffic to your site through everything from social media and influencers to effective SEO strategies. We also talk about the importance of authenticity in marketing, and why your advertising dollars might be better spent elsewhere.
Episode 8: Effectively Using Popups as a Part of the Customer Journey
Marketers use popups because they are so effective at gaining a user’s attention, however, they can create a user experience nightmare if implemented wrong. We review some of the best ways that popups, modals, and even slide-ins and banners can be used effectively in a way that supports your business objectives while being useful and supportive to your site visitors. We also review some thoughts about what marketers should give away versus what they should charge for when creating a customer relationship, as well as what’s upcoming with Kadence products.
Episode 7: The Money is in the List: Using Email Effectively
Once you’ve encouraged your site visitors to interact with your brand, it’s time to get a little more personal and get them on your email list. In this episode, we talk about email marketing strategies, both from the perspective of site owners and digital marketers, but also as consumers. We discuss ways to connect with audiences in the inbox as well as how to get them to invite you into their most personal communication medium. We also review updates to Kadence Conversions and what’s coming in the new version of Kadence Blocks.
Episode 6: Website User Experiences That Drive Users Insane
Most website owners attempt to create user experiences that they would want to experience themselves, but sometimes business and/or marketing goals create experiences that drive users insane. In today’s episode, Hannah, Ben and Kathy bring their grievances to The Kadence Beat, but also provide some alternative solutions that could potentially help site owners avoid pitfalls of user experience decisions while still meeting their business and marketing objectives. We also review what’s next with Kadence Blocks including Meta Box support, a Show More block, and more.
Episode 5: Building a Passionate Community Around Your Brand
Building a passionate community around your brand is a powerful part of growing your business, but it can seem daunting in the beginning and isn’t without pitfalls. Hannah and Ben talk about the early days of Kadence and how a Facebook group helped support the brand’s growth. We also answer a listener’s question about dynamic content: what it is, when and how to use it with WordPress and Kadence.
Episode 4: How 3 Sites Create Unforgettable Experiences
An effective website creates an immersive experience that audiences want to revisit. What are the secrets to creating experiences that uplift your brand and sell your products? This week, Hannah, Ben, and Kathy review three sites that make impressions and unpack why these experiences worked for them. There are definitely some lessons that all site owners can learn from. We also discuss the new Kadence Google Maps Block, the WordPress performance team’s new feature plugin, the Gutenberg plugin’s multi-block selection capabilities and updates in WooCommerce 6.3.
Episode 3: Designing the Perfect Home Page
Everyone’s looking for the best content for their home page that engages their target audience and converts them into customers. On this episode of The Kadence Beat, we look at how to find the right content that turns site visitors into your customers on your home page by using a midwifery practice as an example. What questions do you answer, who is your target market, and how do you effectively get them to take the next step with your business. We also look at some of the latest WordPress news and what to expect in upcoming Kadence releases.
Episode 2: Multi-use Multisites and Evolving as a WordPress Freelancer
This week Ben, Hannah, and Kathy discuss the fixes in WordPress 5.9.1, the usefulness of WordPress multisite installations, how the evolution of web development requires freelancers to evolve with the needs of the market, and a security update pushed out by the WordPress team to patch a vulnerability in UpdraftPlus. We also talk about the flexibility of using Kadence plugins without necessarily using the Kadence Theme, updates forthcoming in Kadence Blocks, and the critical importance of having a strategy before developing a new website.
Episode 1: Our Mission to Help People Create Effective Websites
Welcome to episode 1 of our new podcast, The Kadence Beat. We review our goals for The Kadence Beat, what to expect with WordPress full-site editing, WooCommerce 6.3, how a German court found Google Fonts to present a GDPR issue. We also review the Lottie animation and Count up blocks, a new integration with the Restrict Content plugin, and our thoughts on the most important part of a website.
