The Kadence Beat

Join Katy Boykin and Ben Ritner in this special episode as they welcome the newest member of the Kadence Marketing Team, Nicola Tweed! Get to know Nicola's fascinating journey into web design, from her early days with dial-up internet in South Africa to becoming a successful freelance web designer and a long-time Kadence user. Nicola shares invaluable insights on building a freelance business, tackling challenges like pricing, imposter syndrome, and most importantly, managing scope creep with clients. Discover her simple yet effective strategies for client communication and content gathering, and learn why she believes in a holistic approach to website development. This episode is packed with practical advice for aspiring and current freelancers, offering a unique perspective from someone who has navigated the ever-evolving landscape of web design. Find out why Nicola is so excited to bring her passion for creating helpful tutorials to the Kadence community, and get a sneak peek at the exciting content she'll be producing!

Getting started with WordPress shouldn't feel like a maze of decisions. In this episode, Hannah, Katy, and Ben talk about how StellarSites aims to bring the simplicity of SaaS platforms to the power of WordPress, removing the typical barriers like hosting setup, plugin overload, and performance headaches. We explore what makes StellarSites different, how it's built with beginners and freelancers in mind, and why a fully integrated experience (with tools like Kadence, Solid Security, and even AI-assisted setup) can finally make WordPress feel easy.

In Episode 41 of The Kadence Beat we sit down with Lauren from Restored316 to talk about her journey into web design and entrepreneurship. She shares how she turned her passion for design into a thriving business, her approach to crafting beautiful and functional themes, and tips for those looking to do the same. Whether you're a designer, an entrepreneur, or just love a good success story, this episode is packed with insights and inspiration!

In this episode, Ben, Katy, and Hannah dive into the latest business and marketing trends to help you stay ahead in 2025. They share insights on outdated business practices to leave behind, underrated marketing strategies, and the growing role of AI in productivity and content creation. Plus, get an exclusive look at the Kadence 2025 roadmap, including updates on global styles, full site editing, Shop Kit, and WooCommerce. Whether you're an entrepreneur, marketer, or business owner, this episode is packed with actionable insights to help you grow your business and continue to create powerful and effective websites.

In this episode, the Kadence team reflects on 2024's highlights, including major product launches, personal milestones, and exciting updates. Plus, a look ahead at what's coming in 2025!

In episode 38 of the Kadence Beat podcast, Katy and Ben chat with Drew Griswold, Director of Outbound Marketing for Stellar WP. Drew shares his journey from running a retail business to mastering digital ads. He discusses key tips for online advertising, setting effective goals, and choosing the right platforms like Facebook and Google. Drew also offers practical advice for small businesses looking to start and optimize their ad campaigns while emphasizing the importance of data and testing. If you're running a small business, you definitely want to tune in!

The Kadence website just got an SEO audit done by Ellipsis. In this episode, Ben, Katy, and Hannah talk about what we found on the report and what we've been doing to improve our SEO. There are lots of nuggets of wisdom we share regarding SEO, website speed optimization and more. You don't want to miss this episode.

We got the band back together for a special episode of The Kadence Beat, and it felt like we didn't even miss a beat! In this episode, learn about everything coming on the Kadence roadmap, including improvements to Kadence AI, Kadence White Label, Advanced Navigation and Headers, and Kadence AI Pages. Kathy Zant joins us to discuss what she's been up to at Motivation Code. We talk a bit about various personality tests and how advances in AI uncover what fulfills you in your own stories.

New tools for WordPress, like Kadence, are making it increasingly easy for anyone to build more effective websites without ever touching a line of code. And yet, it's still critical to make strategic design decisions towards a goal of engaging your audience rather than driving them away. It's easy to take an effective strategy and apply it in ways that don't work well. We look at a few examples that don't work while also providing some key examples that work spectacularly. When do you use a slider? How can you best use animation? What about popups? This is an episode about key strategies that help your website make meaningful impacts in building your brand online. And, of course, we also take a look at new features in Kadence, the Kadence Marketplace, the upcoming Kadence Amplify event, and more.

Jake Pfohl has been one of the most active members of the Kadence community since the early days of Kadence as an innovator in building effective websites with blocks. Jake started his blog, StartBlogging101.com and evolved into a full library of design solutions with StartBloggingBlocks.com. In this episode of The Kadence Beat, Hannah and Ben talk to Jake about how he got started blogging and his evolution towards providing solutions to help other bloggers do more with WordPress and Kadence. Jake, Ben and Hannah talk about the challenges of getting started, how sharing your expertise makes awesome content, and where they are focusing their learning now.

Kadence is so much more than a theme. With a suite of plugins that help anyone create more effective WordPress websites, Kadence also provides opportunity for empowerment for developers looking to create additional streams of income. In this episode, Kathy and Hannah are joined by Maestro Stevens, a WordPress developer who has created a set of impressive design libraries that can help anyone create more effective sites with Kadence Blocks.

With the era of new no-code tools including those found in the Kadence suite of solutions, we discuss the question of what makes someone a WordPress developer. We also talk about some ways to get started in WordPress, how to set yourself up for success, and ways to stick with problems in order to really solidify your learning. We also talk about the Kadence Power User Course and the upcoming teardown event with The Good on Nov 10th. Ben, Hannah, and Kathy also share some of their thoughts on productivity techniques to get the most out of each day.

In this episode, the Kadence team takes a look at a recent algorithm change that Google released that they are calling the Helpful Content Update. This new change is targeted towards elevating "people-first content" in Google's search engine result pages. Once you’ve got the fundamentals of the technology in place with WordPress and Kadence, how do you give Google, and your customers, what they’re really after? What exactly is helpful content and how can this new algorithm change actually help guide you towards creating more effective websites?

The Kadence team is entirely remote and works from home, the beach, coffee shops and various locations around the world. Remote work is a big part of freelancing, agency work, and many in the WordPress community have found ways to do remote work right. Ben, Hannah, and Kathy talk about their own unique remote work styles and what works for them, and how our remote work philosophy has actually helped create a unique community helping WordPress users create more effective sites. In this episode, we left in some of our "bloopers" as they were perfect illustrations of some of remote works challenges, and benefits. We hope this episode makes you laugh as much as it made us laugh.

In this episode, we talk about Ben's experience at WordCamp US in San Diego, California, and how building a personal brand is good for both entrepreneurs as well as employees. But just how do you go about building a reputation and a personal brand? We determine that being of service to others and helping others learn and solve problems in your niche of expertise is the fastest way to build authority and a reputation that serves you for years to come.

Whether you're just starting a business or you're looking to improve your business' marketing, naming and branding your business can make or break your efforts to grow revenue. In this episode of The Kadence Beat, we look at the challenges of naming a business, coming up with logos, color schemes, and of course why this is all so important. A strong brand is critical to so much of marketing, but how do you establish that strength? We talk a little about how Kadence was named and the story we have to our brand, as well as some iterations of other brands we've worked with. We also talk a little about StoryBrand and why their philosophy works so well for marketing.

We all need a little help getting things done on our WordPress sites sometimes. Maybe that involves hiring a designer, a developer, or maybe you want to hire someone to handle it all for you. In this discussion about best practices for hiring WordPress help, the team talks about everything from deciding when you need help to scoping a project, and the importance of putting your focus on the end user of the site, messaging, and communication. Ben and Hannah also talk a little about their family trip to the Madison Range in Montana while Kathy sweats it out in the Texas heat wave.

In this episode, the team talks about how they got into WordPress, coding, and technology, and they ask some deeper questions about the difference between technical and non-technical people. Is WordPress too technical for some people? Can agency and freelancers can help their clients succeed by encouraging them to try to break their sites? How does curiosity and confidence develop a mindset of success in technology? We also discuss what sets Kadence Support apart from other WordPress providers and why we have to go the extra mile for our customers. We also talk about what’s happening with Kadence Shop Kit, Kadence Blocks, and the entire Kadence solution online documentation.

WordPress is an amazing tool for sharing your content with the world, but it can't do everything. (Yet?) In this episode, the Kadence team talks about some of the tools we use to make publishing with WordPress better, easier and faster. We not only discuss tools to help you create content, but how to determine what kind of content your audience wants to consume. From social media to copywriting, design, stock photos and project management, we've tried dozens of tools to help make publishing compelling content easier.

Kadence Shop Kit 2.0 is currently in beta, and it promises to change how WooCommerce sites engage with their audiences. With new methods of providing shoppers engaging experiences with products, we expect to see a new wave of innovation in the eCommerce space. In this episode, we talk about the benefits WooCommerce has over other cloud based commerce services and how Shop Kit aims to expand that. The team also goes deep on a shared passion: coffee.

Every new design starts somewhere, and tools like Figma, Invision, Axure, or Adobe XD provide designers with innovative ways to create visual representations of web design. However, in the WordPress world, innovations in the block editor make creating designs natively, in the space closest to implementation, even easier. In this episode we get real about web design in WordPress. These tools can be helpful, but it's critical to remain focused on the most important components of creating effective designs in WordPress. Unique content, an understanding of your customer, and effective communication through the design of your site is the best recipe for success.

There's nothing more frustrating than building a beautiful site that no one visits. At Kadence, we're committed to helping our customers build beautiful sites that are effective, and attracting website traffic is a huge part of that. In today's episode, we talk about attracting traffic to your site through everything from social media and influencers to effective SEO strategies. We also talk about the importance of authenticity in marketing, and why your advertising dollars might be better spent elsewhere.

Marketers use popups because they are so effective at gaining a user's attention, however, they can create a user experience nightmare if implemented wrong. We review some of the best ways that popups, modals, and even slide-ins and banners can be used effectively in a way that supports your business objectives while being useful and supportive to your site visitors. We also review some thoughts about what marketers should give away versus what they should charge for when creating a customer relationship, as well as what's upcoming with Kadence products.

personal and get them on your email list. In this episode, we talk about email marketing strategies, both from the perspective of site owners and digital marketers, but also as consumers. We discuss ways to connect with audiences in the inbox as well as how to get them to invite you into their most personal communication medium. We also review updates to Kadence Conversions and what's coming in the new version of Kadence Blocks.

Most website owners attempt to create user experiences that they would want to experience themselves, but sometimes business and/or marketing goals create experiences that drive users insane. In today's episode, Hannah, Ben and Kathy bring their grievances to The Kadence Beat, but also provide some alternative solutions that could potentially help site owners avoid pitfalls of user experience decisions while still meeting their business and marketing objectives. We also review what's next with Kadence Blocks including Meta Box support, a Show More block, and more.

Building a passionate community around your brand is a powerful part of growing your business, but it can seem daunting in the beginning and isn't without pitfalls. Hannah and Ben talk about the early days of Kadence and how a Facebook group helped support the brand's growth. We also answer a listener's question about dynamic content: what it is, when and how to use it with WordPress and Kadence.

An effective website creates an immersive experience that audiences want to revisit. What are the secrets to creating experiences that uplift your brand and sell your products? This week, Hannah, Ben, and Kathy review three sites that make impressions and unpack why these experiences worked for them. There are definitely some lessons that all site owners can learn from. We also discuss the new Kadence Google Maps Block, the WordPress performance team's new feature plugin, the Gutenberg plugin's multi-block selection capabilities and updates in WooCommerce 6.3.

Everyone's looking for the best content for their home page that engages their target audience and converts them into customers. On this episode of The Kadence Beat, we look at how to find the right content that turns site visitors into your customers on your home page by using a midwifery practice as an example. What questions do you answer, who is your target market, and how do you effectively get them to take the next step with your business. We also look at some of the latest WordPress news and what to expect in upcoming Kadence releases.

This week Ben, Hannah, and Kathy discuss the fixes in WordPress 5.9.1, the usefulness of WordPress multisite installations, how the evolution of web development requires freelancers to evolve with the needs of the market, and a security update pushed out by the WordPress team to patch a vulnerability in UpdraftPlus. We also talk about the flexibility of using Kadence plugins without necessarily using the Kadence Theme, updates forthcoming in Kadence Blocks, a number of events the Kadence team is participating in, and the critical importance of having a strategy before developing a new website.

Welcome to episode 1 of our new podcast, The Kadence Beat. This podcast will cover topics related to WordPress, blocks, and most importantly thoughts on creating effective websites. In this initial episode, meet Ben Ritner, the founder of Kadence, Hannah Ritner who drives customer success for Kadence when she's not bringing new people into the world as a midwife, and Kadence marketing manager Kathy Zant. We review our goals for The Kadence Beat, what to expect with WordPress full-site editing, WooCommerce 6.3, how a German court found Google Fonts to present a GDPR issue. We also review the Lottie animation and Count up blocks, a new integration with the Restrict Content plugin, and our thoughts on the most important part of a website.