Wow, it’s the seventh fourth. Still feels crazy to think that WPBeginner is 7 years old, and I have been using WordPress for the last 10 years of my life.
Like every year, I want to do a quick recap of all the major things that are happening in my life and in my business.
WPBeginner Story
I started using WordPress when I was 16 years old and started WPBeginner at age 19 with a single mission: make WordPress easy for beginners.
Since then, WPBeginner has become one of the largest free WordPress resource site in the world.
For those of you who’re new, you can read the full WPBeginner story on our about page.
Personal Updates
2016 is a HUUGEE year for me personally because a lot of things are changing.
My wife (Amanda) just finished her PhD in Clinical Psychology last week, and we are now moved into our new house in West Palm Beach.
We are expecting our first baby (November 2016).
Here’s my most recent profile picture, and if you’re interested, you can check out my personal blog.
WPBeginner Updates
Thanks to you all, WPBeginner has grown consistently (year over year). We have been working hard to keep adding new tutorials while making sure our older tutorials stay up to date.
There have been a few notable changes that I think you’d like to know:
1. WP.org to WordPress
At this time last year, if you had typed the domain wp.org, then you would have been redirected to WPBeginner. Earliest last month, we donated the two letter domain name to the WordPress foundation.
See the full blog post to read more details.
2. WPBeginner YouTube
Last year when I was writing this post, the WPBeginner YouTube channel had a little under 19k subscribers and had 1.6 million video views with a total of 394 video tutorials.
We changed our strategy a little bit. Instead of producing a new video every week day, we’re now releasing a video once a week. This has helped us produce better videos (as proven by engagement).
Right now we have 492 total video tutorials that have been viewed a total of 4.4 million times. We are also at 37,000 subscribers strong.
If you haven’t subscribed, then it would be really awesome if you do.
3. Firewall and Speed
We started using the Sucuri firewall, and it’s been an amazing experience. Within the first 3 months, they helped us block over 450,000 attacks. Not to mention, it also helped speed up our website and reduce server load.
If you’re serious about your website, then I highly recommend it. Read the full Sucuri Review.
WPForms and MonsterInsights
We added two new products to our suite this year.
WPForms, the most beginner friendly contact form plugin for WordPress. We launched it in March and have already passed 50,000 downloads. It’s growing fast because I personally believe it’s the best solution in the market.
In this year’s WPBeginner survey, a lot of you wanted us to build an analytics solution for WordPress that’s easy to use. Keeping that in mind, we acquired the popular Google Analytics by Yoast plugin and renamed it to MonsterInsights.
This plugin has over 11 million downloads, but I don’t want you to download it YET. Quite frankly, I’m embarrassed of the plugin’s current state. That’s why we are revamping the entire plugin to make it more user friendly, so it can actually help you grow your business.
Although part of me want you to download it, so when we do release our revamp update beginning of September, you can truly appreciate the improvements.
OptinMonster (Powerhouse)
OptinMonster is our biggest product. It helps you grow your email list by converting abandoning website visitors into subscribers and customers.
This year, we made OptinMonster even more powerful than it was.
You can now do Yes / No campaigns, Dynamic Text Replacement, Content Locking, Onsite retargeting and advanced conditional logic.
Just watch the video below and see how powerful it is:
Envira Gallery Growth
Last October, we redesigned Envira Gallery website and instantly doubled our sales (case study).
After that, we created a completely new gallery workflow to make it easier for users to use all the new features that we added.
The combination of these two things have catalyzed Envira’s growth. We now have over 420,000 downloads.
I’m extremely proud of the Envira team, and super excited for the future.
Soliloquy – A New Beginning
Soliloquy WordPress Slider is our oldest product, and it’s been the most stable.
But compared to all of our other products, Soliloquy looked a bit dated. That’s why last month, we revamped Soliloquy (both website and the plugin).
I’m going to gather some more data before I post another case study on how the redesign affects our sales.
But do check out the updates, the new site design looks super slick. We also launched a Featured Content addon, WooCommerce Addon, Schedule addon, and more.
Thank You Everyone
I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported us in this journey. I really do appreciate all of your retweets, personal emails, content suggestions, and the in-person hugs / interactions at the events.
You all are AMAZING and without you, there is no WPBeginner.
I look forward to another solid year ahead of us.
Syed Balkhi
Founder of WPBeginner
P.S. We’re hiring a full-time (remote work) WordPress Plugin Developer. If you or someone you know would be interested in being part of our team, then please apply here.
Syed Balkhi
Hey WPBeginner readers,
Did you know you can win exciting prizes by commenting on WPBeginner?
Every month, our top blog commenters will win HUGE rewards, including premium WordPress plugin licenses and cash prizes.
You can get more details about the contest from here.
Start sharing your thoughts below to stand a chance to win!
TeslaThemes
Hope it is never to late to say CONGRATS ON THE ANNIVERSARY
and THANK YOU for your support!
Cheers,
Eugeniu
Editorial Staff
Thanks Eugeniu
Admin
Nick Throlson
Happy 4th and it’s amazing how time flys by nothing but success for you and the family and the wp beginner will continue to be the hottest place for Wordpress information.
Editorial Staff
Thanks buddy
Admin
Ahmad Awais
So, proud of you Syed bro and the team! Keep setting the bar high!
Editorial Staff
Thank you Ahmad
Admin
Charles Akpan Udoh
Syed Congrats,
Keep up the good work you’re doing.
Fernando Tellado
Happy birthday guys!
It’s hard to maintain the flow in a blog and 7 years of WordPress is a great achievement!
My WordPress blog (ayudawp.com) is going to 10 years and I know the gorgeous effort that need to write every day
Editorial Staff
Thanks Fernando
Admin
Praveen Kumar
Great work by you Syed.
Congrats for the upcoming member in your family. All the Best.
Verdi
Congratulations! Have been landing on WPB for years now when looking something up on Google. It’s only now that I discover you also make plugins. I’m going to check them out now.
Editorial Staff
Thanks Verdi
Admin
Linton Kerr
Congratulations on your 7th anniversary as well as the personal milestones. Thanks for the wealth of knowledge that you share so freely rather than being greedy. What you have done is to make friends who will eventually become costumers – no pressure.
Editorial Staff
Thank you Linton – yup that’s the goal
Admin
Larry
Great job you are doing….has helped me immensely….thanks!
Editorial Staff
Thank you Larry
Admin
Connie
Syed,
Thanks for all the tips. I enjoy getting your newsletters. You’ve done amazingly well for yourself at such an early age.
Please congratulate your wife Amanda for the completion of her PhD. I see she’s published several research papers of interest.
Wishing you the best,
Connie
Editorial Staff
I will definitely let her know Connie.
Thanks for the kind words.
Admin
R.Bhavesh
Having a new member in the family changes the life. You are going to have lots of happy moments this year.
7 years is a long time and you’ve certainly done impressive growth. Congratulations Syed on the amazing year you’ve had.
Wishing you more and more success and happiness ahead.
Editorial Staff
Thanks Bhavesh. I appreciate you my friend.
Admin
Gurmeet Singh
Great Going Syed!!!!!
WpBeginner has always helped me to resolve every single issue I ever face while using WordPress.
Most probably, when I search some problem or issue I face with my WordPress blogs, I get at least a result in the search of yours blog. This is something, you achieve with your blog over the seven years and I really appreciate it!
Editorial Staff
Thank you for your continuous support Gurmeet.
Admin
Istiak Rayhan
Great! I
Keep up the good works.
Editorial Staff
Thank you Istiak
Admin
Harsh Agrawal
Syed You are doing great.
Congrats for the new upcoming member in your family. Keep cruising.
Editorial Staff
Thanks Harsh. I appreciate it buddy.
Admin
Andrey Z
Thank you! I’m glad I signed up for our newsletter. Keep it up!
Editorial Staff
Thanks for your support Andrey
Admin