The Largest Event for Web Agencies & WordPress Pros is Back! 🎉

Atarim Web Summit 2023 Agenda

Explore our schedule of events and discover the thought-provoking talks and dynamic speakers who will be taking the stage. Brace yourself for a mind-blowing experience that will leave you inspired and energized.

Vito Peleg, Stephanie Hudson, and Andrew Palmer:

Your Hosts for the Week

Summit Intro

Kicking things off with a walkthrough of the upcoming week – Where you should be, what you should do, and how you can get the most out of our yearly celebrations!

Thibaud Guerin from Weglot & Dries Van Liefde from Buro86:

Agency Partnerships Manager at Weglot; Business Manager at Buro86

Unlocking success with multilingual projects: Tips from the Belgian agency Buro86

Are you currently struggling with projects targeting multilingual markets? Join us for a webinar hosted by Weglot, featuring Buro86, a leading web development agency based in Belgium. Discover how to unlock success with multilingual projects as Buro86 shares their tips and insights. From website and webshops development to SEO and email marketing, learn how Buro86 navigates the challenges of supporting their clients in a multilingual context and helps their clients thrive in global markets.

Marieke van de Rakt, Yoast | Devin Walker, GiveWP | Miriam Schwab, Strattic/Elementor | Saad Iqbal, WP Experts | Cory Miller, Post Status | Heather Wilde, theDifference | Vito Peleg, Atarim:

Changing Tides: How Industry Acquisitions & Investments are Shaping the Future of WordPress, and What It Means For Your Agency

The world of WordPress has seen significant changes in recent years, with a number of important acquisitions by industry giants. This panel discussion brings together industry experts to discuss the impact of these acquisitions on the future of WordPress and what it means for web design agencies. The panel will delve into the potential implications of these acquisitions on WordPress development, community, ecosystem, and market dynamics. Panelists will share insights on how businesses can adapt and thrive in the evolving landscape, including potential opportunities and challenges that may arise. Topics of discussion will include the implications of acquisitions on WordPress updates, plugins, themes, hosting, pricing, support, and user experience. The panel will also explore strategies that design agencies can utilize to stay informed, make informed decisions, and leverage the changing landscape to drive growth and success with WordPress. Join us for a thought-provoking discussion on the future of WordPress in light of industry acquisitions and how it may impact your business.

Christian Jaeger:

CEO, CloudFest

State of the Global Cloud Market—and Why Agencies Should Care

This year participants from CloudFest, the world’s largest cloud industry event, took part in a global market research survey, illuminating the broad perspectives of the world’s top internet infrastructure providers, on the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and core challenges of the Cloud in 2023. Trust and security are top concerns—for agencies as well, since your customers don’t understand the inner workings of the services you connect them with. By illuminating the insights of industry-leading service providers, this session will help web agencies refine their product offerings, drive more business and form more powerful partnerships as you help build the framework of the future.

Vito Peleg:

Co-Founder & CEO, Atarim

Atarim – Increasing Agency Productivity & Profitability

Are you an agency or freelancer struggling to keep up with the demands of client requests and project deadlines? Through this session learn how to gain back control of your business with our visual collaboration and workflow management platform. Vito will show you how to reduce up to 80% of the time it takes to do any type of website project work and increase your project profitability. He’ll also provide insight into how our platform has helped over 12,000 teams leverage our platform power and collaborate with over 1.2 million clients. Add to your calendar now and learn how to make collaborating with clients easy, dare we say, fun.

Talisha Lewallen:

Founder & President, CertifyWP Foundation and WPConnects

Credentials in WordPress / The Tech Space

In technology, and specifically WordPress, there are several certificate training courses a person can take to learn the basic knowledge they need to be successful. But how do we translate that into the workforce? When someone states they are a developer what does that actually mean? Does this person have baseline skills or 10+ years of experience? Establishing credentials in the WordPress space not only affirms a baseline of knowledge and education, but also gives standardized meaning to the words we use, such as “designer” and “developer.” In this session I will talk about the importance of credentials in the WordPress workforce, the primary differences between certificates and credentials, how individuals can use credentials to find employment, and how employers can use credentials to ensure their teams are well-prepared to meet the needs of the organization.

Ben Gabler:

Owner/CEO, Rocket.net

WordPress EDGEucation: Scaling and Securing your WordPress Content Globally.

You’ve heard the term “CDN” for years and maybe even this new term “edge” or “Cloudflare Enterprise”… but do you really know what it all means and how crucial it is for you and your customers?

Robert Windisch:

CIO, Inpsyde

Why You Should Be Closer to the WordPress Community

With over a decade in the WordPress community, I can attest that everyone who is earning money with WordPress should be active in the WordPress community. From the networking effects of knowing people to help you on your topic to having shortcuts when questions arise, the WordPress community network can give you an information advantage that others don’t see or have. How are others solving the same client requests that you are having? What feature in the next version of WordPress or a known plugin will make your life easier, and how can you influence the feature to fit more to your requirements? WordPress is an open community that uplifts everyone who is part of it. And the best point: You don’t need to know development to be a part of it.

Imran Siddiq:

Owner, Web Squadron

Proven Strategies to Boost Client Acquisition on LinkedIn!

Many professionals struggle to acquire new clients on LinkedIn due to various challenges. One common issue is a poorly optimised profile that fails to showcase their expertise and personality. Another challenge is finding the right content to share with their network and target audience. Engaging with their network and establishing authority within their industry can also be difficult. I’ll show you methods of boosting your profile, sharing tips of connecting and networking, and how to balance time between your business and social media. Almost 50% of our business clients come from LinkedIn; this is how and why.

Tim Kelsey:

MD, Pronto Marketing

Maximizing Your Sales with a Persuasive Web Audit

How do you turn a $200/month client into a $2,000/month client? With an audit that leaves them no logical choice except to sign up for your SEO and PPC services. In this talk, we’ll pull back the curtain on our internal process for creating our highest converting sales tool, our Google Essentials Audit. We’ll cover everything from what research tools to use, what data points to focus on, and how the audit fits into your sales funnel. And most importantly, we’ll show you how to present the audit to your prospects and clients in a way that drives them to sign up for your digital marketing services.

The Atarim Team, led by CEO Vito Peleg:

Daily Roundup – Day 1

Catch up on all you’ve learned, and anything you may have missed, from the day’s sessions, panels and networking events!

Nathan Wrigley:

WPBuilds

The WPBuilds Party

Let’s have an informal hangout where we chat about the expectations for the summit. What we’re looking forward to and where we think we can learn. Perhaps you’ll meet your accountability partner from this session, or just figure out your own pathway through the event. Whatever it is, let’s start your summit off by getting to know one another!

Amanda Gorman:

Director of Customer Success at GiveWP

Philanthropy in WordPress

Many folks utilize WordPress for philanthropic reasons. Let’s chat about our experiences working with nonprofits or folks looking to better our world and how WordPress can support these folks in reaching their goals.

Todd Jones:

Storyteller at Copyflight Media

Using Storytelling in Business

We will talk about how storytelling creates authenticity, trust, and connection and some practical ways to use it.

Robert Jacobi:

CEO at RobertJacobi.com

Partnering with Hosts

Let’s discuss needs, benefits, strategies, and successes when looking to partner with WordPress web hosting companies. I hope we can share what the expectations and issues are that managed hosts have for successful solutions.

Kathy Zant:

Director of Marketing at KadenceWP

The Block Party: Growing a Brand Through Community

Yeah, WordPress is all about blocks these days, but this party is going to be about building your brand by establishing community much like a local block party. Much of the success that has helped KadenceWP grow into a powerhouse brand is great product leadership, community, and telling good stories. In this interactive party, we’re going to talk a little bit about how Kadence cultivates community to grow brand loyalty, attract attention, and put a lucky volunteer in the hot seat to see how we can help a business grow through community. Might that business be yours? Show up and we’ll see who’s business we can help grow by identifying the community that’s just waiting for you to engage.

Sophia DeRosia:

Marketing/Sales Coordinator at WPConnects

Just For Hangin’ Out

Ah yes. The room. The room for hanging out. The room designed specifically for hanging out… Sophia’s chat room.

Kim Coleman:

Co-founder of Stranger Studios

WordPress e-Commerce and Niches

In this group discussion, we’ll highlight various types of e-commerce sites that are being built on WordPress and how you can leverage niches in your agency or freelancer work. The world of WordPress e-commerce is huge – from membership sites like communities or associations, to e-learning, digital downloads and even physical product stores. How can we use niches to get better fit clients, while building ‘recession proof’ efficiency in our teams.

Ronni K Gothard Christianse:

Founder, AesirX

Who Stole My Cookies?

In the era of increasing concerns about user privacy and data protection, the digital landscape has undergone significant changes. My talk “Who Stole My Cookie?” delves into the evolving world of cookie-less analytics and the impact of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) on online tracking. We will explore how businesses can adapt to these changes and develop innovative strategies to collect meaningful insights without infringing on user privacy. As the traditional methods of tracking user behavior through cookies become obsolete, it’s time to embrace new approaches that ensure compliance with GDPR while empowering businesses to make data-driven decisions for optimizing their digital marketing efforts.

Rob Cairns, Stunning Digital Marketing | Davinder Singh, WP Weekly Newsletter | Courtney Robertson, GoDaddy | Sima Parekh, 48in48 | Lee Jackson, Agency Trailblazer Podcast | Francisco Opazo, Led by Community | Sally Wadhwa, Dandelion Fuse Digital:

From Connections to Clients: Building Communities for Web Design Agency Growth

Building an engaged community around your web design agency can be an effective way to attract new clients, generate referrals, and establish yourself as an authority in your industry. But how, exactly, do you go about building a community, and what are the most effective strategies for doing so?  In this virtual panel, we’ll be joined by a group of experienced agency owners and business founders who have successfully built communities around their agencies. They’ll share their insights and strategies for building a community that can help grow your web design agency, and at the end of the session you’ll have the opportunity to ask your burning questions! 

Hans Skillrud:

Founder, Termageddon

Embracing website regulations to generate more recurring revenue.

Laws are being put in place impacting website owners worldwide. This can leave both web designers and website owners confused on what they can do to protect themselves while respecting the rights of their visitors. Failure to comply with applicable laws could result in fines or even lawsuits. In this presentation, we’ll cover what types of regulations we’re seeing the space, and what you can do as a web designer to educate your clients on these requirements, while potentially making a new recurring stream as well.

Johnny Flash:

CEO, Johnny Flash Productions

Hiring Rockstar Talent & Building a Great Team Culture

Running an agency can be tough. Finding, hiring and retaining rockstar team members can be even more difficult. In this practical session, Johnny will unpack his process for finding, vetting and hiring quality team members overseas and how they have successfully built a strong team culture in their agency.

Josepha Chomphosy, WordPress | Andrey Lipattsev, Google | Greg Karelitz, HubSpot | Lukas Hertig, WebPros | Soeren von Varchmin, CloudFest, CRO MariaDB Foundation | Maja Loncar, GoDaddy | Remkus Devries, Truer Than North | Alain Schlesser, XWP:

From CMS to Digital Powerhouse: The Expansive Power of WordPress and How It Can Reshape the Tech Landscape

We have a mouthwatering selection of leading experts talking on our panel about how the expansion of WordPress is affecting the wider technology landscape and what effect that has on web design agencies.  These industry leaders will explore how WordPress has transformed from what you could call a simple CMS to a digital powerhouse, disrupting the tech industry and creating new opportunities. Topics include WordPress’s impact on web development, digital marketing, accessibility, and more.  Join us to gain insights into the latest advancements in the WordPress ecosystem and strategies for staying ahead in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

James Giroux:

Founder, TeamWP

Rethinking Success: The Transformative Power of a People-First Culture in Your Agency

In an ever-evolving industry, agencies often prioritize technical expertise and tools over their most valuable asset – their people. This one-sided focus hinders true success and growth, leaving untapped potential on the table. By neglecting to prioritize people and their well-being, agencies risk stagnation, high turnover, and a lack of innovation. The consequences of ignoring the human element can be detrimental to an agency’s reputation and bottom line. In this talk, I will invite attendees to redefine success by embracing a people-first culture. I will share practical strategies for creating an inclusive work environment, establishing a team charter, and fostering continuous improvement. Attendees will learn how prioritizing people can transform their agency, unlocking its full potential and setting the stage for sustainable growth.
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Dimi Baitanciuc:

Founder, Brizy

Unlock More Revenue with a White Label Website Builder

I’ll start explaining what white labelling means in general to set the stage, and what white labelling is in particular for a website builder.

Thomas Fanelli:

CEO, Convesio

Tips and Tricks for Maximising Your Sites PageSpeed Score

During this session we start at the basics on how to use GTmetrix and talk about how to identify common issues like: Slow TTFB Slow Fully Loaded Time Low PageSpeed Scores Common Issues with Caching…And many more In this value-packed webinar, you’ll learn: The Basics – A quick introduction to GTmetrix and Google Lighthouse Understanding the key elements of Google Pagespeed Diagnosing and fixing common performance problems…And much more!

Oscar de la Hera Gomez:

Founder, Delasign

Designing and Building Modular Web Systems

A session that describes the challenges and benefits of designing and creating architecture and systems that use microservices, api, cloud, and headless cms’s. The session will also cover the value that business get from creating them.

Matt Pugh:

WHMCS Founder and WebPros Chief of Innovation

Supercharge Your Recurring Revenue with WHMCS

An increasing number of digital agencies are switching to WHMCS to benefit from its integrations, marketplace, hands-free automation, and ability to grow recurring revenues. WHMCS is the platform of choice for web hosting providers to grow their recurring revenue. Join this session to discover new opportunities with WHMCS and WebPros.

The Atarim Team, led by CEO Vito Peleg:

Daily Roundup – Day 2

Catch up on all you’ve learned, and anything you may have missed, from the day’s sessions, panels and networking events!

Hans Skillrud:

Founder at Termageddon

Growing Recurring Revenue as an Agency

Let’s have an open chat and share ideas on best ways to increase recurring revenue as a web design agency owner. We all know hosting and maintenance is required to ensure a website is working and secure, but how do we effectively communicate that to clients? What are agencies offering to their clients that other agencies aren’t considering? What should be the goals when reselling solutions to clients? Whether you want to join in just to listen, or are open to sharing your ideas, you are welcome!

Gianni Ponzi:

IQ Global

Security Chat – Let’s talk about monitoring website security at the domain level

Monitor unlimited domains, IPs, MX or NS servers with iQ Abuse Scan and Get Instant Notifications about Malicious ActivitiesGain peace of mind with iQ Abuse Scan Today

Talisha Lewallen:

Founder of CertifyWP

Credentials and Apprenticeship Programs

This is for anyone who wants to connect about the benefits of Credentials and apprenticeships. There are benefits to the community and companies alike with both Credentialing and Apprenticeship programs. This is a great space to freely discuss both topics and have a genuine discussion.

Amber Hinds:

CEO of Equalize Digital, Inc.

WordPress Accessibility Community Discussion

Join us for an open discussion on accessibility in WordPress. Already building accessible websites? Join us and share what works and lessons learned along the way. Never heard of accessibility or just getting started? Bring questions or just listen in to the conversation. We’ll discuss how to make the websites you build more accessible, how to sell accessibility, recommended tools (and tools to avoid), and more.

Robbie Adair:

CEO at OS Training & Media A-Team

Using AI for Web & Training Development

Let’s have a discussion around the ways you can use AI to speed up web and training development. And, we will discuss the pros and cons of using AI in the current environment and level of capabilities.

The Atarim Team, led by CEO Vito Peleg:

Daily Summit Kickoff – Day 3

Kicking things off with a walkthrough of the upcoming day – where you should be, what you should do, and how you can get the most out of our yearly celebrations!

Oded Ouaknine:

CCO, Duda

How to Get More Clients & Increase ARPU by Offering Multiple Site Building Experiences

Join Oded to learn how your agency can scale up customer acquisition and drive business growth by offering a range of website-building solutions. With a low entry barrier, you can help SMBs get an online presence quickly by leveraging DIY, while presenting DIFM upgrade flows that improve conversion rates.

Maciek Palmowski:

Development Advocate Analyst, Kinsta

Headless WordPress – Does this Approach Make Sense?

While reading numerous articles and listening to many companies, you can sometimes get the impression that headless is the only right way for WordPress. But is it really so? Or is it just another way for them to make money? During my talk, I will try to answer those questions.

Nick Diego, Automattic | Amitai Gat, Elementor | Simon Best, BaseKit | Russel Jeffery, Duda | Robby McCullough, Beaver Builder | Josh Ronk, Divi | Benjamin Intal, Stackable | Raitis Sevelis, Visual Composer | Dimi Baitanciuc, Brizy:

Building the Future: Exploring the Power of Next Generation Website & Page Builders

This panel will feature industry experts discussing the latest developments in page and website builder technology and how it is shaping the way websites are built by agencies, with leaders from Elementor, Beaver Builder, Divi, Stackable, Visual Composer, Duda and Automattic (Gutenberg) joining the discussion. Panelists will share their insights into the future of website building and how page builders are set to revolutionize the industry, making it easier to create beautiful, functional websites in less time and at a lower cost – increasing productivity and profitability for web design agencies. Attendees will walk away with a deeper understanding of page builder technology and how they can leverage it to enhance their agency’s development capabilities and improve client outcomes. The potential risks to agencies will also be addressed, in terms of DIYers versus agency work.

Ben Gabler, Rocket.net | Rajendra Zore, Runcloud | Jessica Frick, Pressable | Tom Fanelli, Convesio | Gianni Ponzi, iQ | Dorin Mihaila, WPEnergize:

Cracking the Code: How to Choose the Best Web Hosting for Your Business

“In today’s digital landscape, selecting the right web hosting provider is crucial for the success of any online business. This virtual panel discussion brings together industry experts to provide insights and guidance on how you can choose the hosting provider that best aligns with the business needs of both you and your clients. Topics include understanding business requirements, types of hosting, reliability, security, pricing, and customer support. After the panel, attendees will be left equipped with valuable insights to make informed decisions and ensure a smooth hosting experience for their business.

Jakob Trost:

CTO, GREYD

Patterns to the People!

How the Block Editor jeopardizes your agency workflow and how patterns might fix that… The Block & Site Editor make it possible to change anything on a website. That’s great! But it’s also a problem. In the past, web agencies were able to provide customers with flawless websites on which the customer could change only certain aspects and content. Now with the Block & Site Editor, customers can easily destroy their websites accidentally. Patterns not only speed up the website building process, but also provide a clear structure. Pursue this approach to the creation of dynamic patterns that separate content & design, and you’ll finally have a solution for this issue.

Kristina Romero:

Founder, WP Care Market

The Real Recurring Revenue Numbers for Web Agencies

How much should you be making in recurring revenue as a web agency? What are the main sources? How do you secure more? In this session, Kristina Romero founder of WP Care Market, The Recurring Revenue Retreat and author of The Revenue Relationship lays out the ABCs of recurring revenue productized-services and where your expectations and stretch goals should live.

Alex Panagis:

Founder & CEO, ScaleMath

The Role of AI in Content & SEO – Our Current View

Our view of AI and how it has already affected the world of content and SEO & stands to continue to affect it.

Michelle Frechette:

Director of Community Engagement, StellarWP

So You Want to Launch a Podcast

That’s what I thought to myself back in 2019 when I launched WPCoffeeTalk. I learned by doing. (Which means I learned by making a LOT of mistakes.) Since then I’ve launched a few more podcasts, guested on even more, and co-host a few, too. Launching a podcast is amazing, but there’s a lot you need to take into consideration, and a lot of questions to ask yourself when you get started. Join me for a session to learn what to do (and what not to do) when you decide it’s time to start podcasting.

Beth Livingston:

Founder & Director, The WP Project Manager's Academy

Redefining Success: How to Leverage Project Management as Your Competitive Edge in Business

The competition in the website and digital agency space is getting more fierce every day due to people looking for new careers during the pandemic, recent massive layoffs, and the threat of recession. Just performing the same old services just isn’t going to cut it anymore. You need a NEW Unique Value Proposition. In this session we will cover what clients REALLY care most about, especially when times are tough, and how you can position Project Management (getting done on time and within budget) as your UVP. This works even if you have few project management skills.

Amber Hinds:

Founder & CEO, Equalize Digital Accessibility Checker

Growing Revenue With Accessibility Services

As an agency owner or developer, you may have heard of website accessibility and that some websites are required by law to be built to be accessible for people with disabilities. Perhaps you’ve even built an accessible website – only to find that the development time and cost were much higher than expected. This presentation will discuss not only how to include accessibility in new website builds profitably, but also how accessibility can help you to rapidly grow revenue, both on projects and as part of recurring support plans. We’ll talk about pricing, sales language that converts clients, and tools that can help reduce costs. Leave with actionable ideas for how you can start building accessibility into your agency’s offerings right away.

The Atarim Team, led by CEO Vito Peleg:

Daily Roundup – Day 3

Catch up on all you’ve learned, and anything you may have missed, from the day’s sessions, panels and networking events!

James Laws:

CEO at Saturday Drive

The Caldera & Ninja Forms Party

Join James Laws who has experience starting, growing, and maintaining healthy work cultures. He has led non-profits, religious organizations, and multi-million dollar businesses. His experience and research has led him to believe that most organizational issues stem from misaligned culture, not individuals. His goal is to help organizations understand how important getting culture right is to their success. – CEO of a multi-million dollar business with products in the digital and retail space.– 20+ years of leadership experience, with a focus on why organizations behave the way they do.– On a mission to help organizations build healthy cultures so that they can thrive, even in hard times.– Public speaker with over two decades of experience teaching audiences ranging from small groups to large auditoriums.

The Atarim Team, led by CEO Vito Peleg:

Daily Summit Kickoff – Day 4

Kicking things off with a walkthrough of the upcoming day – where you should be, what you should do, and how you can get the most out of our yearly celebrations!

Paul Charlton, WP Tuts | Imran Siddiq, Web Squadron | Jeffery Dalrymple, LytBox | Jamie Marsland, PootlePress | Kori Ashton, Press Happi:

Beyond Viral Videos: Maximizing YouTube for Agency Growth & What Comes Next

As the second most popular search engine in the world and with over 2 billion monthly active users, YouTube has immense potential as a platform for agencies looking to scale their business. However, many have yet to fully harness the power of YouTube. In this virtual panel, we’ll be joined by a group of experts who have successfully utilized YouTube to scale their businesses. They’ll share their insights and strategies for using YouTube effectively and discuss whether it is an underused resource for scaling agencies.

James Welbes:

Owner, Apex Branding & Design

The Business of Freelancing

If you’re a freelancer, you’re a business owner. Period. Freelancing isn’t the first step towards business ownership. The idea that freelancing isn’t a real business is the #1 reason freelancers fail at freelancing and go back to their corporate jobs. If you want to succeed and prosper as a freelancer, you have to change your mindset. You have to learn now only how to do your craft and do it well, but also how to operate and grow a business. In this presentation I’ll help budding freelancers turn their side hustle into their full time job.

Jono Alderson:

Head of SEO, Yoast

Marketing to Machines

As marketers and advertisers, we spend time and energy crafting our content, ads and messaging. We try to convince people to believe our stories, prefer our brands, click our listings, engage, and convert. But people are only part of our audience. Increasingly, they’re not even the most significant part. Maybe they’re not even the most important part. Because to reach those people – to gain access to an audience and a market – we need to first convince systems, search engines, and social sites that our brands and our content are a good fit. We need to market to machines. Schema.org gives us access to a rich language for doing that, but barely anybody’s going beyond the basics. They’re chasing rich snippets and fancy search results but missing the bigger picture. You’ll need to level up your structured data game, to access tomorrow’s markets. You’ll need to understand how to visualize connected data, build sophisticated entity graphs, and think like a search engine.

Vikas Singhal:

Founder, InstaWP

Create additional revenue stream by productizing your designs

In this session, we will show how agencies can add additional set of revenue streams by monetizing designs and website stack. These ready made stacks can be sold to clients for an instant website buying experience. Think about offering a shopify-isc service by everyone. You can connect your hosting to offer pre-made hosting plans bundled with ready made templates. Imagination is the only limit.

Akshat Choudhary:

Founder, WP Remote

From Frustration to Innovation: How We Rewrote Our Entire Dashboard by Using Only AI

In this talk, I will share our experience of using Github Copilot to rewrite our entire dashboard. At first, we had high expectations from the AI-powered coding assistant, but soon realized that it had its limitations. We hit several roadblocks, including context-specific prompts and input size limitations. However, we persisted and eventually found a breakthrough that transformed our dashboard development process.