- Jul 26, 2016
- 2,252
- 3,612
Today I decided to publish an interview with @Festinger that I did a while back but since I was away from the forum for some time now I couldn't publish it. I re-interviewed Festinger again on some questions as you know things change dramatically fast in our space and he was kind again to redo it.
Here you have the interview from @Festinger a person that I have known from the first days on the forum. He is a workaholic and stands behind his word all the time.
1. Could you please tell us a little bit about the journey and how you started in internet marketing/SEO?
It all started with a forum post. I still remember it very clearly, ‘Does anyone know if theme X is worth it?’ Someone was asking for a review of a theme that I was using for the past few weeks. It wasn’t a very expensive theme but maybe the guy didn’t have too much to invest and hence was asking for an opinion. I responded a little differently to him, instead of just sharing my opinion, I shared the theme files with them as well. But when I saw his response, it made my day! The joy he shared through his words made my heart melt and it felt like the best thing ever. (How silly we humans are? We always aim for the big things but get the most joy from the smallest little moments and remember them for a lifetime) I felt good, and I am a little selfish that way so I didn’t stop and kept doing it more often. And here we are today, I have a vault offering thousands of premium WordPress themes and plugins that probably cost like $500,000 for the price of a Starbucks coffee to my fellow digital pals.
2. Tell us a bit about your current projects, what are you working on?
People call me ‘their WordPress guy’. Everything I have ever done since I started was related to WordPress. Building some client sites on WP, offering speed boosts and bug fixes to improve WP sites and so on. One thing led to another and that’s how Festinger Vault was born! I like to call it ‘The Netflix of WordPress’ because that’s the goal I have in mind. Every theme or plugin you will ever need shall be there. And I’ll make that a reality soon!
3. What is one thing that most SEOs don't pay attention to WordPress, but they should as it is very important?
Your sites are like your wives. When you have multiple of them, it gets difficult to manage them. So, there’s one solution - KISS them all! Now, before this turns into a sex fantasy story, KISS here stands for Keep it simple, stupid! I see a lot of people downloading tons of SEO plugins, speed-boosting plugins, multiple image optimization plugins, a plugin for this and a plugin for that! Just because a plugin exists doesn’t mean you need to install it on your site. Download ONLY one of them and explore all its features! When I tell people to use a CDN and integrate Cloudflare, they start downloading multiple plugins when all of this plus a lot more can be done with just one WP Rocket. So, yes, KISS more often!
4. In your opinion what are the best WordPress themes for affiliate sites and why?
I have a weird love for Re-Hub, it has so many demos that you can almost achieve anything with it so that’s that. But if you want to really take it up a notch, with Divi and Elementor, you can go to the next level while keeping your site unique and fast at the same time.
5. What is the best SEO plugin in WordPress?
Tot Yoast. I might get a lot of flake for this but I am tired of using Yoast. It doesn’t do much, doesn’t rank my sites and just sits there doing nothing. These days, I have been using Rank Math SEO and it seems to be doing a better job!
6. What is the easiest way to optimize the speed of a website that is running on WordPress?
WP Rocket. Hands down! You might feel like I’m getting paid to put WP Rocket here so often and I wish I was but I am not, lol. Heck, you don’t even need to buy it as it’s available for free on my vault and here on the forum as well. It’s just that it does the job so well and takes care of everything so that you don’t have to worry about it.
7. How to make sure that your WordPress website won't be hacked?
There is a three-step solution that I use to make my sites safer. Depending on how serious you are and the amount of money you’re willing to spend, you can advance your steps. 1. Wordfence Free + Cloudflare - takes care of the majority of the petty dumb attacks. 2. Wordfence Pro + Cloudflare - takes care of the serious issues that might arrive. 3. Cloudflare + Sucuri Pro - If you’re serious and want to make your site bulletproof, this is what you need.
8. What are some books that have changed your mindset?
I am not an avid reader but to avoid mistakes, I like to learn from people who already have made them and fixed it. Recently, to overcome procrastination and achieve more every day, I read ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear and absolutely loved it! And then there are times when I think my vault is the best in the world and nobody comes close, in those moments, I pick up ‘Think like a monk’ by Jay Shetty. That keeps me on the ground reminding me every day that nothing in life is permanent, we’re all here to serve each other and that’s where the true happiness lies.
9. What’s been your biggest regret since starting out and your biggest lesson?
Biggest regret - Not scaling up soon enough. When I started with the vault, these plugins felt expensive and I would often shy away from buying them but when I realized the number of people they were helping and the total amount of money saved overall, there was no stopping. Today, I buy almost every plugin that gets requested without any second thoughts and the vault has close to 15000 items. Biggest lesson - Ignore the haters. A lot of people told me on the way that there are so many GPL sites out there. So many people share WordPress items for free on blogs and forums, there is no scope for something like this. But the smile of the first person whom I gave away the premium theme to kept me going. I still have his response saved and read it often whenever I feel low or something doesn’t work out.
10. Do you think WordPress will still be the most used platform for running a website in 1-3 years?
A big YES! So much so that I can even put my money on it. There have always been several free and paid platforms to create a site and there will always be. But nothing comes close to WordPress. The number of features it offers with the simplicity of use blows my mind!
Want a blog? WordPress.
Want a proper website? WordPress.
Want an E-Commerce site? WordPress.
Want a newspaper/media/journal site? WordPress.
Want an agency site to talk about your services? WordPress.
Want a platform to rant about how good/bad WordPress is? Again, WordPress.
Bonus Questions
Is there a CEO you're following/studying? Warren Buffett. His wordplay and wisdom keeps me thinking all the time and doesn’t let me sleep at night. The way he manages his finance and has grown them over the decades is nothing less than magical! The biggest lesson that I have learnt from him so far for a safer future, ‘It’s less about the money you make and more about the money you save!’
What is your favourite online tool that you use on a daily basis?
Skype. As much as people hate it, I use it so often to talk to my friends and my clients and my clients who became my friends. We often don’t realize the value of a tool that is so easily accessible until we lose it. I imagine sending emails for every message I have typed and my life feels like bliss! Communication is the key in every relationship of life, be it personal or business and doing it right is very important! How many hours do you sleep every night? 8 hours daily (minus the trash-talk with my girlfriend before we actually fall asleep)
What is a productivity tip that has done drastic changes to your growth?
I hate sounding like a guru and this is no secret but I feel a lot of people miss it out. For every long term goal, create 10 short term goals. You want to build the biggest affiliate site on the Internet? Divide it into ten short goals - Actually building a site. Adding 1000 articles. Building 5k links. Achieving 1 sec load time. Ranking 50 keywords and so on. And then work your ass off to achieve them. That’s how you keep track of progress and succeed! Just one long-term goal is often not enough to keep you motivated and grinding. Achieving smaller goals that bring constant joy will take you very far in life.
Here you have the interview from @Festinger a person that I have known from the first days on the forum. He is a workaholic and stands behind his word all the time.
1. Could you please tell us a little bit about the journey and how you started in internet marketing/SEO?
It all started with a forum post. I still remember it very clearly, ‘Does anyone know if theme X is worth it?’ Someone was asking for a review of a theme that I was using for the past few weeks. It wasn’t a very expensive theme but maybe the guy didn’t have too much to invest and hence was asking for an opinion. I responded a little differently to him, instead of just sharing my opinion, I shared the theme files with them as well. But when I saw his response, it made my day! The joy he shared through his words made my heart melt and it felt like the best thing ever. (How silly we humans are? We always aim for the big things but get the most joy from the smallest little moments and remember them for a lifetime) I felt good, and I am a little selfish that way so I didn’t stop and kept doing it more often. And here we are today, I have a vault offering thousands of premium WordPress themes and plugins that probably cost like $500,000 for the price of a Starbucks coffee to my fellow digital pals.
2. Tell us a bit about your current projects, what are you working on?
People call me ‘their WordPress guy’. Everything I have ever done since I started was related to WordPress. Building some client sites on WP, offering speed boosts and bug fixes to improve WP sites and so on. One thing led to another and that’s how Festinger Vault was born! I like to call it ‘The Netflix of WordPress’ because that’s the goal I have in mind. Every theme or plugin you will ever need shall be there. And I’ll make that a reality soon!
3. What is one thing that most SEOs don't pay attention to WordPress, but they should as it is very important?
Your sites are like your wives. When you have multiple of them, it gets difficult to manage them. So, there’s one solution - KISS them all! Now, before this turns into a sex fantasy story, KISS here stands for Keep it simple, stupid! I see a lot of people downloading tons of SEO plugins, speed-boosting plugins, multiple image optimization plugins, a plugin for this and a plugin for that! Just because a plugin exists doesn’t mean you need to install it on your site. Download ONLY one of them and explore all its features! When I tell people to use a CDN and integrate Cloudflare, they start downloading multiple plugins when all of this plus a lot more can be done with just one WP Rocket. So, yes, KISS more often!
4. In your opinion what are the best WordPress themes for affiliate sites and why?
I have a weird love for Re-Hub, it has so many demos that you can almost achieve anything with it so that’s that. But if you want to really take it up a notch, with Divi and Elementor, you can go to the next level while keeping your site unique and fast at the same time.
5. What is the best SEO plugin in WordPress?
Tot Yoast. I might get a lot of flake for this but I am tired of using Yoast. It doesn’t do much, doesn’t rank my sites and just sits there doing nothing. These days, I have been using Rank Math SEO and it seems to be doing a better job!
6. What is the easiest way to optimize the speed of a website that is running on WordPress?
WP Rocket. Hands down! You might feel like I’m getting paid to put WP Rocket here so often and I wish I was but I am not, lol. Heck, you don’t even need to buy it as it’s available for free on my vault and here on the forum as well. It’s just that it does the job so well and takes care of everything so that you don’t have to worry about it.
7. How to make sure that your WordPress website won't be hacked?
There is a three-step solution that I use to make my sites safer. Depending on how serious you are and the amount of money you’re willing to spend, you can advance your steps. 1. Wordfence Free + Cloudflare - takes care of the majority of the petty dumb attacks. 2. Wordfence Pro + Cloudflare - takes care of the serious issues that might arrive. 3. Cloudflare + Sucuri Pro - If you’re serious and want to make your site bulletproof, this is what you need.
8. What are some books that have changed your mindset?
I am not an avid reader but to avoid mistakes, I like to learn from people who already have made them and fixed it. Recently, to overcome procrastination and achieve more every day, I read ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear and absolutely loved it! And then there are times when I think my vault is the best in the world and nobody comes close, in those moments, I pick up ‘Think like a monk’ by Jay Shetty. That keeps me on the ground reminding me every day that nothing in life is permanent, we’re all here to serve each other and that’s where the true happiness lies.
9. What’s been your biggest regret since starting out and your biggest lesson?
Biggest regret - Not scaling up soon enough. When I started with the vault, these plugins felt expensive and I would often shy away from buying them but when I realized the number of people they were helping and the total amount of money saved overall, there was no stopping. Today, I buy almost every plugin that gets requested without any second thoughts and the vault has close to 15000 items. Biggest lesson - Ignore the haters. A lot of people told me on the way that there are so many GPL sites out there. So many people share WordPress items for free on blogs and forums, there is no scope for something like this. But the smile of the first person whom I gave away the premium theme to kept me going. I still have his response saved and read it often whenever I feel low or something doesn’t work out.
10. Do you think WordPress will still be the most used platform for running a website in 1-3 years?
A big YES! So much so that I can even put my money on it. There have always been several free and paid platforms to create a site and there will always be. But nothing comes close to WordPress. The number of features it offers with the simplicity of use blows my mind!
Want a blog? WordPress.
Want a proper website? WordPress.
Want an E-Commerce site? WordPress.
Want a newspaper/media/journal site? WordPress.
Want an agency site to talk about your services? WordPress.
Want a platform to rant about how good/bad WordPress is? Again, WordPress.
Bonus Questions
Is there a CEO you're following/studying? Warren Buffett. His wordplay and wisdom keeps me thinking all the time and doesn’t let me sleep at night. The way he manages his finance and has grown them over the decades is nothing less than magical! The biggest lesson that I have learnt from him so far for a safer future, ‘It’s less about the money you make and more about the money you save!’
What is your favourite online tool that you use on a daily basis?
Skype. As much as people hate it, I use it so often to talk to my friends and my clients and my clients who became my friends. We often don’t realize the value of a tool that is so easily accessible until we lose it. I imagine sending emails for every message I have typed and my life feels like bliss! Communication is the key in every relationship of life, be it personal or business and doing it right is very important! How many hours do you sleep every night? 8 hours daily (minus the trash-talk with my girlfriend before we actually fall asleep)
What is a productivity tip that has done drastic changes to your growth?
I hate sounding like a guru and this is no secret but I feel a lot of people miss it out. For every long term goal, create 10 short term goals. You want to build the biggest affiliate site on the Internet? Divide it into ten short goals - Actually building a site. Adding 1000 articles. Building 5k links. Achieving 1 sec load time. Ranking 50 keywords and so on. And then work your ass off to achieve them. That’s how you keep track of progress and succeed! Just one long-term goal is often not enough to keep you motivated and grinding. Achieving smaller goals that bring constant joy will take you very far in life.
