What? You Don’t Use WordPress to Tell Stories? You Lose.

Stories and WordPress
WordPress is just for blogging. Right? Wrong.
In business, facts – not stories – sell your product, service,
or point-of-view. Right? Double-wrong. Our minds are
wired to process stories, not facts. WordPress is a
POWERHOUSE storytelling engine. Don’t use it? You lose
– customers and business.
First, we’ll explore why short stories – not “death-by-
Powerpoint” bullets – engage your buyer, capture their
attention, and convince them to buy your product,
service, or point-of-view.
Second, we’ll drill into how I used WordPress to build
a storytelling engine – and you can too. Want more sales?
Forget the website, build a storySite™.

1. My name is Doug Foster
2. My business is the Idea Mechanics
3. We help people sell
4. Think of the words Tell, Show, Try
5. We help people ...
6. Tell their story
7. Prove what they said is true - like a demonstration
8. Create “try-before-you-buy” experiences
9. Our core approach to selling: Tell, Show, Try

Stories
Demonstrations

Experiences

We help people sell

1. But today we’re going to talk about 2 things
2. First we’ll talk about stories
3. Our talk about stories is not technical, it’s kinda “right-brain”

Why use stories? Your story storySites Wrap

1. Second we’ll talk about WordPress
2. It’ll be more technical, but not deep. Kinda “left-brain”.
3. During Q&A or after the session we can drill down if you want
4. But I’d like to keep it high-level during the talk.
5. If you take away ONE thought ...
6. I want to convince you that ...
7. WordPress is a storytelling engine


1.This is Lilly
2. Lilly is a junior at Athens high school in Raleigh
3. My daughters went to Athens
4. I’ve been on the Business Alliance for over 16 years
5. Last month we interviewed kids for the Cary Youth Leadership program
6. I interviewed Lilly
7. Lilly’s resume didn’t sell me
8. Lilly’s grades didn’t sell me
9. Lilly told me a story.
10. She described herself and how she overcame adversity
11. She described why she wanted into the program and what she would do
12. Lilly sold me.
13. It was a personal, emotional, & engaging story
14. It wasn’t a long story. It was a short story.


1.That’s point #1 of 3 points I want to make about stories

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2. Short stories CAN sell

Short stories can sell


1. This is a WW2 bomber - a B-25 Mitchell
2. The date was November 7th,1945
3. 66 days after Japan surrendered aboard the USS Missouri (Sept 2)
4. Wingspan is 68’, length is 53’
5. The B-25 had a pair of supercharged, Curtis Wright R-2600 radial engines
6. Each engine: 14 cylinders, total displacement of 2600 cubic inches, 1750 hp
7. Cruising speed for a B-25 was about 230 mph, max around 300 mph
8. A B-25‘s range is 1200 miles, ceiling height is 25,000 ft.


1. This is Mt. Fuji - highest mountain in Japan at 12,389 ft
2. Mt. Fuji is about 60 miles south-west of Tokyo
3. Classiﬁed as an active volcano,
4. Last erupted on December 16, 1707
5. Crater is 820 feet deep with a 1,600 foot diameter


1.This is the story
2. It starts at Atsugi Aerodrome in Tokyo
3. Dad was a Crew Chief for General Whitehead’s personal B-25
4. This day (2) pilots came out of the ofﬁcers club ...
5. As Dad said they were “well oiled”
6. They told Dad to grab his gear, going for a ride
7. Crossed Tokyo bay at 50’ ...
8. buzzed a bridge at < 50 ft.
9. Lots of prop wash off a B-25


1. ... and headed for Fuji.
2. Climbed up to the rim, then dove inside
3. Dad still remembers the wingtips being below the rim
4. then they nosed up, climbed the rim, then rolled it to the left
5. they dropped nearly 10,000 feet in an instant back to the tree line


1. So B-25’s are NOT supposed to roll
2. I asked Dad “What were you thinking?”
3. He said “I was glad to be alive!”
4. Then I asked Dad “What were they thinking?”
5. They said “That’s was fun! Let’s roll her right.”
6. They climbed, did it again, this time to the right
7. Dropped 10,000 ft in a 60 degree slide
8. The torque from the engines kept it from rolling
9. So let me ask you a QUESTION: What was the date? (11/7/45)
10. QUESTION: What was the displacement of a CW engine? (2600)


1. That’s the second point - Point #2 - about stories

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2. Facts make a story believable,
3. but we remember the story, not the facts

We forget facts,
we remember stories


1. Anyone read Dan Roam’s book “The Back of the Napkin?”
2. It is excellent
3. It explains how our brain works
Low brain
4. A thought starts in the LOW brain (WHO, WHAT, how much, ...)
5. And ends up in the HIGH brain at WHY
6. We think in story: who, what, when, where ... and why

High brain

1. That’s my third point - #3 - about stories

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2. Our brains are wired for stories
3. As a child: “Tell me a story”
4. As an adult: stories are for children

Our brains are wired
for stories


1. Let’s recap: 3 great things about stories

We remember stories
We’re wired for stories


1. Let me also give you a TIP about stories
2. This is the iPod Nano
3. Does anyone remember when it was introduced?
4. September 7, 2005. That’s beside the point :-)
5. Does anyone remember how it was introduced?

Tip

1.Oh, and one more thing ...
2. The Nano introduction was memorable

Tip

1. If you believe my 3 reasons for using stories ...
2. Alway have a few stories in your pocket

Always keep a few good
stories in your pocket

Tip

1.This October I was in Jonesborough, Tenn

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2. 39th National Storytelling Festival
3. No 2 speakers were the same. No 2 stories the same.
4. People want to know YOUR story
5. So don’t tell someone else’s story, tell your own story.
6. 5 STEPS TO GET YOUR STARTED TELLING STORIES
7. First you need to Find your story ...
8. It will help you understand WHO you are.

Find your story

1. Second step: Write it.

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2. Forget form, think content.
3. What is your VALUE?
4. How are YOU different?
5. LHH SOAR approach: Situation, Obstacles, Action, Results
6. Find the essence of your story
7. Mine? We help people sell
8. It took me years to ﬁnd it.

Write it

1. Third step: Prove it

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2. When you tell your story ...
3. First thing people ask is “Prove it”
4. Facts I gave you made Dad’s story believable
5. But his ﬂight log (TRUST me) is proof - it makes it real

Prove it

1. Our sales approach is called Convince Me

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2. A sales cycle has 4 phases (explain)
3. We focus on the second phase
4. Tell, Show, Try are the key steps
5. Wrap in plan and satisfy
6. Google both words ...
7. Out of about 65 million hits, we’re #5 on the ﬁrst page
8. Point #4: Make your story convincing.

Find
Convince Me!
Foster Plan the trip
Educate
Tell your story
Show proof
Try it
Close Satisfy completely

Make it convincing

1. My last point - #5

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2. I took this photo on the island of Capri
3. Look at the expressions on their faces
4. I’m sure the guy in the middle is in the middle of a story
5. A story is not a story unless it’s told.
6. Tell your story

Tell it

1. Recap
2. HOW DO YOU START TELLING STORIES?
3. 5 steps: (read the slide)

Find it
Write it
Prove it
Make it convincing
Tell it


1.My son-in-law Kevin, in Venice, on his birthday
2. I love this quote. BASIC physics.
3. The world is full of stories; go ﬁnd them

“The universe is made of stories,
not atoms” – Muriel Rukeyser
Tip

1. Time to shift gears a bit
2. We’re going to talk about WordPress
3. Let’s talk left-brain for a while


1. BREIFLY
2. I’d like to give you 10 things I learned ...

Ten things I learned
building a product


1. ... building my storySite: theideamechanic.com
2. it’s NOT really a website
3. it a platform for telling stories


1. Lesson #1:

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2. I chose Hostgator
3. Choice: Shared -> VPS -> dedicated
4. product is good, their customer service ROCKS!
5. cost is +/- $100/year
6.You CAN run a storySite on shared hosting
7. would a dedicated or virtual server be better? maybe
8. 1 click WordPress install (most have this)
9. (warning - 1 click is NOT enough but it gets you started)
10. Techie: I minify, zip, and cache the code
11. Deliver html pages, but they’re built “dynamically”


1. Lesson #2:

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2. You need both a sandbox (test) and battleﬁeld (production)
3. Play in the sandbox until you like what you’ve built
4. I create a .test subdomain
5. Then move it to production
6. I use BackupBuddy plugin to backed/copy the site


1. WordPress started as a blogging platform

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2. It has become a full-blown CMS engine
3. Great examples
4. UNC-CH Reese news - multi-site WP
5. http://wordpress.org/showcase/


1. 4th thing: TONS of resources

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2. I belong to 2 local RTP Meetup groups
3. CODEX docs are terse but good
4. 2 BILLION hits on “wordpress”
5. SO much is available


1. Understand WP back-end and front-end

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2. Backend starts with a host running MySQL, PHP, and Apache
3. This is the core of the performance engine


1. WP uses front-end THEMEs to style GUI “presentation”

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2. Thousands of free and paid themes available
3. I use a theme called THESIS. A framework. I love it.
4. I build my storySites on top of Thesis
5. I add my own PHP code for logic, CSS code for styling, and Javascript for interactivity (including
Javascript framework libraries like jQuery)
6. plugins too - like sliders from Slidervilla


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1. Speaking of plugins
2. The 7th lesson I learned
3. Leverage other people’s code
4. Good and bad: not all plugins are “Commercial” quality
5. I spent ALOT of time selecting, testing, (and debugging) my storySite plugins


1. At number 8 – Analytics

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2. Yes, Google Analytics is free
3. At $60/yr for 10 sites ...
4. I chose Clicky Analytics.
5. I like the detail and the simplicity.


1. 2 SEO types: onsite, offsite

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2. Thesis theme has GREAT on-site SEO
3. Plugins like “All in one SEO Pack” (Semper Fi) are excellent
4. Also, I create sitemaps and ping the search engines automatically


1. A keyword phrase we focus on: “help people sell”

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2. ... was #1 and #2 out of 620 million hits. Not bad.


1. ofﬂoad media (videos, photos, audio, slides, ...)

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2. THEIR bandwidth and horsepower
3. THEIR SEO
4. Your content
5. Google is indexing Twitter and other social media,
6. Get your keywords out through off-site channels


1. And here’s the last point - #10

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2. Good news: you now have a powerful engine
3. Bad news: you need to feed the monster
4. Jot down ideas,
5. Making a scheduled, regular attempt to update
6. Don’t forget why you did all this work.
7. Tell stories.
8. Remember: a story is not a story unless it’s told.
9. Tell them


1. I learned alot
2. Hopefully you can gain from my pain :-)

Self-hosted WordPress
Test / Production sides
Full blown CMS engine
Lots of resources
Back/front-end tools
Plugins, Analytics, SEO
Feed the monster


1. Last TIP for the day
2. BackupBuddy plugin from iThemes
3. Migrate on the slide?
4. I move copies of production into the sandbox.
5. Incredibly powerful tool

Tip

1. Hopefully you have a new perspective
2. We’re wired, Short Stories that Sell, WP is an engine

We’re wired for stories
WordPress is an engine


1.Questions?

Thank you!

What? You Don’t Use WordPress to Tell Stories? You Lose.

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