![\"Jared](\"https:\/\/2016.cincinnati.wordcamp.org\/files\/2016\/09\/C11edited1.jpg\")
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People attend WordCamps\u00a0for a variety of reasons. In the case of Jared Banz, when he attended his first WordCamp in March, 2016, it was at the urging of a colleague, Dustin Hartzler<\/a>, who happened to be a WordCamp volunteer and a WordPress expert.<\/p>\n Jared attended WordCamp Dayton within a month of opening his own digital marketing agency, SumoLeap<\/a>. Jared decided to leap right into the fray and present a session on Local SEO, which is the art of helping local businesses rank in the top search engine results.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a marketer, Jared focused on attending marketing-related sessions. These sessions provided ample opportunities for him to learn how companies are effectively using and managing content with WordPress. Jared said he \u201cparticularly enjoyed Nathan Weller\u2019s talk<\/a> on how they grew Elegant Theme\u2019s blog to over a million monthly readers. (Nathan) provided very practical suggestions for managing content and recycling content to keep users engaged.\u201d<\/p>\n Although there are many insights gained at the WordCamp, Jared indicated that \u201cPerhaps the most important WordPress learning for me was on WordPress maintenance and contracts. Hearing other developers talk through their maintenance processes was extremely helpful for me as I was able to bring their key points to my developer and talk through best practices for our clients.\u201d<\/p>\n Jared also thought there were ample opportunities to network at WordCamp. He did stress the importance of capitalizing on these networking opportunities by proactively interacting with others.<\/p>\n In addition to obtaining key insights for business optimization available via WordPress, Jared\u2019s business also benefited from his attendance. Not only did he find a developer to collaborate with on several projects, he also picked up a new client.<\/p>\n You, too, can benefit from attending WordCamp. Register today<\/a> to ensure participation. We anticipate this event will sell out.<\/p>\n Post submitted by Marce Epstein of OhioGhostWriter <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People attend WordCamps\u00a0for a variety of reasons. In the case of Jared Banz, when he attended his first WordCamp in March, 2016, it was at the urging of a colleague, Dustin Hartzler, who happened to be a WordCamp volunteer and … Continue reading Reflections of a WordCamp Newbie<\/span>