Today is America’s birthday and (more important) WPBeginner’s birthday, which turns 6 today. It’s crazy to think that WPBeginner is six years old, but it’s true!
This year’s celebration is going to be a little different. Instead of doing mega giveaways and building 3 schools, I want to take a step back and reflect on this journey, share some key milestones, and what lies ahead.
WPBeginner Story
I was 16 years old when I first discovered WordPress in 2006. It didn’t take me long to fall in love with the platform.
In 2009 (at age 19), I launched WPBeginner with a mission to make WordPress easy by providing cutting-edge helpful WordPress tutorials that are easy to understand for small businesses, bloggers, and non-techy website owners.
Since then, WPBeginner has become one of the largest free WordPress resource site in the industry.
Read the new and updated About Page of WPBeginner.
United Nations Award
In November, I was recognized as the top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by United Nations. This was super COOL!
Soliloquy and Envira
In August 2014, through a merger / acquisition deal, I became partner in two top notch WordPress plugins: Soliloquy (Fastest WordPress slider plugin) and Envira Gallery (The best gallery plugin).
This was very exciting as I love both of those plugins. I wrote more about this partnership on my personal blog.
WPBeginner’s YouTube Experiment
Last year, we finally decided to focus on WPBeginner’s YouTube channel and put our production in high gear.
The results were phenomenal. We passed 1.6 million total video views and we’re at almost 19,000 subscribers!
We have a total of 394 WordPress video tutorials, and we’re creating a new video 5 days a week (Mon – Friday).
While these stats are great, it’s no where near my other List25 YouTube channel which is in the top 1% of all YouTube channels ranked #675. We have almost 1.6 million subscribers there and 300 million video views.
It would be really awesome if WPBeginner channel can pass 100,000 subscribers before our 7th birthday. But for that I’ll need a lot of help.
Will you help me? Please Subscribe to Our YouTube channel.
WordPress as a SaaS (OptinMonster)
In 2013, we launched OptinMonster which quickly became the industry-standard for WordPress lead generation plugins. In April, we pushed the limits once again by transforming it into a full software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform.
Which means OptinMonster now works on all websites not just WordPress. The cool part is that we’re using WordPress as our application framework.
Aside from our awesome team that worked on it, a lot of credit has to be given to our technology partners: Pagely (best enterprise WordPress hosting) and MaxCDN (best CDN for WordPress).
SyedBalkhi.com
Thanks to many of you, I decided to relaunch my personal blog at SyedBalkhi.com where I will be blogging regularly and sharing my insights on building businesses online.
Since WPBeginner is strictly focused on WordPress, I will be using my personal blog to talk about tips on improving your blogs, getting more traffic, social media tips, general business advice, and some personal stories as well.
I’d love it if you guys join me there 
My favorite on WPBeginner
Over the years, my responsibilities have definitely changed. While I may not write every single article or record any videos, I’m still the guy who reviews everything and press the publish button (daily). We have written tons of awesome articles last year, but here are some of my personal favorite:
- How to Resize and Make Images Larger without Losing Quality
- Beginner’s Guide to WordPress User Roles and Permissions
- When Should You Change Your Web Hosting (7 Key Indicators)
- 14 Tips for Mastering the WordPress Visual Editor
- 25 Most Useful WordPress Widgets for Your Site
- Thinking of Starting a WordPress Web Design Business – Here 7 Things You Must Do
- 9 Most Useful .htaccess Tricks for WordPress
What’s Coming Next?
If I start sharing all my notes, we’d be here for a few days. Every day, I get awesome emails from you (WPBeginner readers) with suggestions on things we can do to improve. There are so many things that I’d like to do, but here are some key ones:
WPBeginner Redesign
The last complete redesign we did was in June 2012. Although we’ve made tons of improvements, it is starting to feel a bit dated (and YES I know that it’s still not mobile-responsive).
There hasn’t been a single day this year where I haven’t received an email or comment about the site not being responsive. The reality is that 91% of WPBeginner users are on desktop. The other 3% are on tablets. Both of those screen sizes are large enough for our site. However there are 6% of users who visit the site using mobile, and their experience is less than pleasant.
I’ve already started working on the first sketches of the redesign, and it’s looking great.
Mega Tutorials & eBooks
WordPress has grown so much since I first started WPBeginner. There are now complex topics like memberships, eCommerce, etc that simply cannot be covered in one article.
I’ve long ignored those complex topics because I personally don’t like the concept of “series” posts.
However this site is not about me, it’s about YOU. After talking with several readers over emails and in-person, I think we have come up with a solution that works. I’m calling these Mega Tutorials which will be available in both Web & eBook formats.
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.
Yours Truly,
Syed Balkhi
Founder of WPBeginner
P.S. We’re hiring a full-time (remote work) content person with great communication skills and expertise in WordPress. If you or someone you know would be interested in being part of WPBeginner, then please send us an email with your resume.
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!
Nawaf
I would like to congratulate all the wpbeginner team and would like to thank you for posting this awesome articles.i made my first wordpress site with the help of wpbeginner.
Thanks once again
Luis Carlos Pando
I’ve learned a lot about the WordPress platform thanks to your site, It has helped me build a career developing websites using WordPress in my current job.
Thank you for putting out the best WordPress site on the web!
Cheers from Chihuahua, Mexico.
Editorial Staff
Thank you for the very kind words Luis
Admin
Julie Evans
I discovered WPBeginner two years ago when I had to teach myself WordPress to replace a very outdated church website. Even though I have limited technical skills, I was able to create a more professional-looking website for the church without it having to pay for professional website design services. WPBeginner was a major help, and is my go-to resource for any questions or technical assistance that I may need. Happy Birthday!
Sangeeth
Happy Birthday WPbeginner
Loads of love <3
kayode
Big congrats to you my dearest guy!!!
I am very happy to let you know you are already producing another WordPress expert here in Nigeria.
You are just too much.
Have a prosperous years ahead.
Carla C.
Congrats and thanks Syed and team!
Editorial Staff
Thank you Carla
Admin
Ayman Aboulnasr
Hi Syed,
Just wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday to WPBeginner.
May all your thoughtful wishes for this awesome website come true so soon
All the best.
Editorial Staff
Thanks Ayman – much appreciated
Admin
Jay Castillo
Congratulations Syed and happy birthday to WPBeginner! A lot of improvements on my blog are from here which is why I always look forward to your emails.
And when I search for something that I need to fix, I almost always end up here… haha! And I find what I am looking for, especially Genesis theme related.
Thanks and wishing you all the best!
Editorial Staff
Thanks for the very kind words Jay. I really appreciate it — and always great to have long-time readers like you supporting us
Admin
Linda Fisher
Happy Birthday and many more to come!
Syed and team, you have saved my skin so many times, and also offered a view into rich new possibilities for our 5 international web sites–3 which are now rebuilt on WP platform, with the other 2 in process. Whatever I’m struggling with as I work, your posts seem to come at just the right time to provide the solutions. The gracious spirit of kindness and lightness is evident. I know I know I probably speak for many who would be truly sad if WPBeginner stopped appearing in our mailboxes. May it be a great year for you and the team.
Editorial Staff
Thank you so for such kind words Linda. This is what serves as our motivation, and there is no stopping any time soon (only more exciting stuff to come). We appreciate your support.
Admin
elad
best WP blog never
sangeetha menon
Thats awesome Syed! All the best to WPBeginner for all the future endeavors.
Your personal touch to this site is what makes it awesome! Keep doing the excellent work !!
Editorial Staff
Thank you Sangeetha
Admin
Wahsidin Tjandra
Happy Birthday WpBeginner, i love so much on all your information, so easy to understand and really hit the point, good job
Editorial Staff
Thanks Wahsidin
Admin
Tracy Thrower Conyers
Happy birthday!! You are one of the few newsletters that I still let land in my inbox every day. Keep up the great work!
Editorial Staff
Thanks Tracy for your support, and truly honored to be one of the few newsletters still in your inbox
Admin
Kate_H
Happy Birthday WPbeginner!
Whilst I admit to not always agreeing with your best plugins posts I have found a lot of valuable information on you site.
Your site is always my first stop if I need to refresh myself on how to do something WP related and if and only if your site doesn’t help then I turn to Google…
Keep up the good work and congratulations again on turning 6!
Sacha
I just want to say thank you for teaching everyone so much about WordPress. And the fact that you do this all for free is just incredible. Happy birthday WPBeginner!
Eileen Bednarz
Happy birthday! What an inspiring story. I’m already subscribed to your e-mails and YouTube channel. Now I want to check out the personal blog.
Congratulations on your well-deserved success and a personal thanks for all the WP help I’ve gotten from your articles and plug-ins.
Editorial Staff
Thanks Eileen
I look forward to having you on my personal blog.
-Syed
Admin
Mike Sacco
Happy Birthday WPBeginner. Thank you for being such a life-saver so many times! You’ve taught us so much.
Editorial Staff
Thanks for the kind words Mike
Admin
M Imran
Hi, Just want to say “Happy Birthday”
Editorial Staff
Thanks Imran
Admin
Marius
Happy birthday and thank you for sharing all that information.
Keep up the good work.
Editorial Staff
Thanks Marius
Admin
Ahmad Awais
Well, this is really great! Thank you Syed for all your work through WPB. Happy Birthday WPB!
Editorial Staff
Thanks buddy
Admin
Rahul Dubey
Hi Syed Sir and WPBeginner team,
It’s quite pleasant to know that “WPBeginner – The Largest Free WordPress Resource” turns 6 today. My heartiest felicitation on WpBeginner’s birthday and let me thank you for bringing all these useful tutorials.
Thanks !
Editorial Staff
Thank you Rahul
Admin
Abhisek Padhi
Happy Birthday WPBEGINNER ! May god bless you and empower you to carry on your noble work of enlightening wordpress users with quality tutorials and posts.
Editorial Staff
Thanks Abhisek
Admin