Mika will be joining us for the eCommerce for Site Owners session, which you can watch LIVE on April 10, 11 and 12. Mika will be teaching us about setting up an Easy Digital Downloads shop and sharing from her personal experience of running an ebook store.
Where can we find you on the internet?
Personally: http://ipstenu.org
WordPressily: http://halfelf.org
Everywhere I am, I’m ipstenu 🙂 It means Epstein.
When and how did you get started with WordPress?
Around 2007, seriously. Before that, I used WP 1.5 and played with it, but 2.1.2 was the first version I seriously used for more than just blogging. Basically I’d broken my old script, and needed a way to cross-post to livejournal.
What resources do you turn to when you want to learn something new?
I usually learn something new out of necessity. I need to do something, I can’t, I learn. I’m very haptic, though, so I learn by doing and breaking and blowing up. I call it the Ms. Frizzle style of learning, because I know I’ll make mistakes, but I feel like I understand everything better in the end. I read a lot of examples too. I’m the person who thinks the “Hello World” examples are perfect.
What is your favorite WordPress feature/aspect?
Extendability! I love that the basic system works, and I can add what I want. When I started using WP, I had been using MediaWiki and a couple other systems. I was always turning things off because I didn’t need them or want the overhead. The lean and mean WordPress install was magical.
What is the most significant thing you’ve learned since creating an ecommerce shop?
People WILL pay for products, even if you offer them a free option. And they’ll pay more often than they would if you give it away and let them pay later. Basically people are way more honest than DRM seems to think.
What is the one tip you would give anyone considering to add ecommerce to their site?
SSL is for everyone, even if it’s hard. You make your mark by being trustworthy, and HTTPS means (generally) you’re safe. Except for the Heartbleed thing. I’ll talk about that in my session!
What advice do you have for others looking to become WordPress experts?
Have fun. I never set out to being an expert, I just wanted to write and post news. I became an expert in the things I did because I’m good at them. But you don’t HAVE to code like Helen to be a WordPress expert. Find what you’re good at and enjoy, embrace it.
What is one interesting non-WordPress-related fact about yourself?
I’m a member of the SCA – Society for Creative Anachronism – which means I spend my weekends playing pretend with my friends and it’s totally awesome.
Thanks Mika!
If you want to see Mika present on using Easy Digital Downloads, get your event ticket today!