The Future of Building Websites w/ Adam Preiser of WPCrafter

so we’re live broadcasting from Tel Aviv
from the elementary offices and we have
started the live webinar on the topic of
the future of website building and I
have the most special guest was with me
today you might recognize him he’s been
called a lot of names Lord Varys isn’t
called dr. evil he’s known as Adam WP
crafter the one the only
Adam Preiser everybody also known as you
left one out that bald guy on YouTube I
think I get that one the most but
definitely thanks for having me here and
actually hosting me this week it’s been
a it’s our great first webinar and it’s
exciting yeah so how’s the trimming
until now oh my gosh the food has been
fabulous but oh my goodness there are so
many people that work here at the
element or office I’ve met so many
people and I’m still working on
pronouncing everybody’s name properly
not everyone has an easy name like Ben
but it’s been it’s been a great time
definitely a great time well we have a
great webinar where we’re going to talk
about a lot of topics so it’s gonna be
condensed but I want to wait to allow
other people to join the stream now how
many people are already inside subscribe
and all of you subscribe to our oh I
think we’re breaking YouTube like this
is like a wordpress related youtube
record which is awesome so I want to
talk a bit about how this webinar is
going to work it’s not going to be the
same webinar that you’re used to so
basically we’re actually going to have a
discussion about what the future of
people building websites will look like
so have a discussion will have some
questions then we’re going to we’ve
gotten some questions from our Facebook
community that we’re going to answer
hopefully and allow you a short Q&A at
the end where you’ll be able to post
questions on the topics we’ll discuss
maybe on different topics and I want to
take a moment and discuss why this
subject of the future of website
building so you know Elementary is a
very innovative company and we try to
know the the the latest releases those
things that are upcoming in our industry
and this is why we want to share some of
the knowledge that we’ve gathered and I
think Adam is the perfect person to talk
to because you’re you know you’re what I
would call like tech savvy you know all
the new gadgets I teach I try to keep my
thumb on the pulse of everything that’s
going on so that’s a good way putting it
so you actually were one of the first
adopters of Elementor so that’s that’s
true so I I saw something there early on
and I think I’ve told the story actually
many times about that it was mainly
because you emailed me and said you got
to check this great thing out but of
course I mean it was hard to avoid such
an amazing tool yeah so I think this is
why this is such an important topic and
yes you know we’re living in such a
strange time where AI keeps developing
at an enormous rate and you have
technology like a open aig pt2 have you
heard about it
yes it’s like robots building text and
people reading that text don’t recognize
that it was written by robot yeah that’s
very meta
right the layers have layers robots
making robots yeah and I I’ve read a few
things like Forrester projects 73% of
all cubicle jobs will be automated by
you have self-driving cars you have all
this technology of AI and I guess the
average website builder web designer
marketer it has it’s it’s kind of
intimidating for them well yeah well
actually in every industry there’s
technological shifts where you have
these situations where technology gets
better and it might eliminate positions
jobs role
tasks that people would normally do so
I’m sure it’s a yeah a question in a lot
of our users Minds is will I be replaced
is it man versus machine or is it
machine for men for web creators so what
are your thoughts on that topic Adam
well I gotta say that it actually
happens in every industry where
technology eliminates positions but it
also can open up bigger opportunities so
I’m on the team it’s man with machine
that machine is never going to be able
to fully replace what a human being is
able to do but it can propel you way or
put you some one renovating and you know
an architect or Internet interior
designer I mean they’re not going to be
replaced just because there’s an engine
to find nice furniture exactly you need
the right fit and for a business the the
role of the website is just becoming
more and more important mm-hmm and you
know because there’s a lot to a website
there’s the text on the page there’s the
imagery the feeling that you’re trying
to create for the person that goes and
visits that website and a machine is
never going to be able to create that
human experience you’ll always need
someone to do that a human well of
course there is going to be a lot that
you know that automation can can help
the web creator but I think there’s
still you know a long way to go inva and
we see more and more professionals rely
on tools but still in our industry it’s
there you see a lot of developers still
using custom code you think this is
going to change and we’re gonna have a
standard someday that’s it’s an
interesting topic because when you when
you look at certain things such as this
concept of page building tools right
that
they’ve they’ve really come a long way
in two years but I remember there was
just not that long ago where it was like
a taboo when this started I think
Elementor is one of the in the early
days of Elementor and there’s other
tools out there as well it was like
there’s this taboo you’re using a page
building tool it’s not this or that and
so I think you’re always gonna have
those diehard people that are gonna
stick to what they feel comfortable with
custom coding but as time continues to
progress there is the standardization we
we actually now see it we’re just in in
technology advances so quick so just a
few years ago you would hear that taboo
I don’t hear anyone say oh you built a
website with the page builders who you
don’t hear that anymore it’s more like
oh of course you did you know and you
actually see this in so many different
industries that they’re initially
there’s this reluctance and resistance
to it but then it becomes the acceptable
standard yeah well let me just give a
little example when I got married
there’s a long time ago I I
that’s when online dating just started
and it was like you’ve found your spouse
on the internet or you’re trying to get
date on the internet you can’t just go
up to someone and like ask them out or
something like that there was this big
taboo to use the app and now everyone
use it you think really move this this
industry forward but and then that goes
with the whole man versus machine or man
with machine concept right
the man versus machine is that person
that wants to hand code and hold on to
that you know in this resistance to it
but you can get so much done so much
faster and you can go so much further
when you are using one of these standard
tools exactly think of the music
industry in the 60s they relied heavily
on you know instruments like analog
instruments and today you see the music
industry changing and you know with
computers you can create sounds that
that no instrument can make so I think
that’s the perfect combination you know
when that started it was very taboo yeah
I think I forget the guys
was it mozi or something like that
anyways the first musician that started
that trend he was like there was so much
criticism that that person got but now
it’s the standard to to make different
music through and ladies it was like
avant-garde BAM yes it’s like Evo and
these kind of bands but no like it’s
it’s yeah it’s the most popular bands on
on Spotify so if we look at the the next
level like the after the standard is set
and you know editing is done and people
use tools what do you think the next
step will look like in web design like
how will you like what kind of benefit
will we gain from computers well I well
I would love a world that the your your
movie your website tool builds most of
your website for you Alex I like looking
for that a push-button
website right you push the button and
you get the website totally made for you
but the web builder still needs to learn
skills so they can use that technology
to go forward the skills of copywriting
and the words to make people feel an
emotion photography all of these
different concepts conversion how to
persuade convert and sell so there’s all
these things that you are skills that
very easy but with that it becomes a
commodity right your expertise if you
become an expert in writing words that
persuade people and creating a feeling
now you’re you’re able to take what the
tool makes you capable of building fast
but you’re able to do more amazing
things I think that really depends on
the kind of expertise you have I mean
yes if you’re a marketer and you just
want you know the design to be quickly
done then of course you’ll use a
template but I think it’s like if you’re
an artist you’ll create the illustration
not use the the ready-made gift so I
think in terms of what professional
designers can do they can actually gain
feedback insights if they make a mistake
they can you know the the the tool can
let them know it this this heading is
skewed point zero one the non designer
that would be amazing to write though
you you you choose this color for your
button oh you might not want to choose
that color you might want to go with
this other color it will fit your design
better but but I think this only has to
do with the current look and feel of
websites and this brings me to the next
question and I’ll give a short intro so
if you think about it
today’s generation experiences
personalized web yes so you know people
born in 2000 the youngsters were already
past that yeah but the people that are
that have been born to the Internet age
they have only experienced personalized
website if you think of YouTube feeds
you know spotify netflix the most
visited websites are offering
personalized experience you would only
expect them in five years to think this
will be the standard so how how do you
think this will pan out in terms of you
know the small-time freelancer the small
business how will they be able to
provide such an experience well you know
one of the funniest things is I was I’m
a big sci-fi movie fan right and so
there was a movie out I think it’s late
it’s a futuristic movie and there’s this
scene where the person’s walking at
train station and there’s all these like
like panels video panels talking to the
individual each individual individually
in a personalized way but what ends up
happening is you see these like
futuristic movies and Technology
actually ends up catching up to it like
with our eyes
and our iPads and all this kind of stuff
that we have right now and that is
actually probably what our future is
especially when it comes to websites and
on your website with personalization
there’s all sorts of criteria but when
you can have a website that speaks to
the person that’s on the website at that
moment it’s gonna create an amazing
experience a delightful experience for
the website visitor and it could be just
as simple is like for an example if it’s
a business where let’s just say a
plumbing website a plumber I like to use
the plumbing example and the store is
closed I mean they’re there the business
is closed
but someone has an emergency and it’s
after hours and then they go to the
website and there’s a different message
because the website’s personalized to
know that it’s after hours
Oh after hours call we’ve got your back
give us a call we’re here for you
emergency situation we’ve got you you
know there’s all these personalization
options
yeah plus if their client there our
plumber who services businesses and
private people they can offer different
messages per like persona and you know
it can be either gender age you know
there’s so many criteria education of
where they are all these different
criterias time of day and actually if
you think about it you need someone to
kind of manage and set it up if you have
if nowadays you have SEO professionals
and writers and there’s no reason you
won’t have like experienced experts or I
don’t know what their title will be but
but that’s what the tools are enabling
you to do to provide a richer experience
to your customers if you’re a web
designer or if you’re building it
yourself a richer experience for your
own website these tools are making you
so that you’re able to do that but even
then that’s where that’s where this
whole man versus machine concept has
come into play you needed a man to man
or woman okay you need a person to
to be able to know these how to apply
personalization to create personalized
experiences for people that are visiting
these various websites that you can set
up yeah it’s actually going to create
jobs yes really create opportunities for
people to become experts in certain
niches so this leads me to the next
question what skill do you think those
people should have like what do people
need to invest today in order to have
the kind of the the the the know-how of
of the future well you know I actually
because of my youtube channel and I’ve
read all the comments I hear the
concerns that people have they because
I’ll make a lot of tutorial videos say
on Elementor and I’m basically showing
someone how to make a website but then
the guy that makes a website for a
living goes there says why are you
showing someone how they like do what I
how I make a living so I mean that’s
like a very valid feeling as the tools
get better and easier to use more people
are able to to to use these tools to
make themselves a website but as a web
creator there’s other expertise that you
need to add to your tool chest that have
a value that you can’t even put a price
tag on such as copywriting that’s the
process of taking the putting words on
the website that will be succinct unlike
me when I make videos I’m not the most
thing but but it’ll be succinct and
invoke some kind of a reaction or a
response out of the person copywriting
that’s a perfect example so there’s all
these kinds of expertise is that people
can add to themselves to add value
beyond just I’m dragging a block here
and I’m right there
so what’s funny that it actually okay
we’re being told that we are sorry about
the lag the webinar will be available on
our channel at the end so yes if you’re
experiencing a lag
on YouTube will have the webinar on on
the website after we’re finished here
yeah so I remembered a quote by Jeff
Bezos I don’t remember the exact quote
but basically was he what he was saying
what was that if you invest in things
that stay persistent then he will win so
he thought that like people will always
want lower prices so that’s what he
double down on and Amazon that’s how
they grew that that was his focus and I
think it’s the same thing when you don’t
focus on kind of what’s trendy because
some of those skills those technical
skills as you say they will go away that
brings you back to you know books that
you that were written maybe in the the
copywriting and all the the skills of
the past can can actually come back well
actually I say I end up saying this all
the time that in life everything goes
full circle and that’s probably it
coming full circle right you know now
those skills are really the skills that
matter you know the skills of
copywriting persuasion and stuff like
that I’d to that that as technology
progresses and all those you know
groundbreaking technology happens you
need to have the skill of learning
actually that’s a major skill that you
need to have because the industry
constantly changes you need to be able
to adapt and change what what do you do
it’s so true we have to well when we all
are born and were raised by our parents
we end up going to school and you have
to learn how to learn but then you enter
real life and you could get away from
learning but as a web creator you have
to relearn how to learn and be a
constant learner you know and that’s how
you expand your skills that’s how become
you become more valuable and if you’re a
web creator creating your own website or
a marketer or something along those
lines you still need to learn so that
you can expand what you’re capable
doing with your own website but also in
the when your web creator for other
people yeah
plus I think that again we talked about
expertise this is going to be very
crucial because people won’t need
generalized you know professionals
they’re going to need the people who are
experts at a certain thing certain
issues and and experts are irreplaceable
you can’t low price someone’s going to
come in and low it’s not even pricing
you mean a factor when you’re an expert
you are the expert and people will
always seek out an expert and an expert
with those tools can you know do amazing
things like think of how many people you
needed to create a show or a webinar
like this one and then how we’re able to
to do it from our real offices which is
cool so the last thing if you’re a web
creator and you’re creating websites for
someone else you got to remember what
they want
no one wants just a website they think
they might want a website but what they
want is more business or more exposure
or to be perceived in a different way
it’s not really the website that they
want that’s just gonna get them there
but they really need that web creator
that expert to get them there to use the
website as the tool exactly if you think
let’s get back to that that plumber I
mean he doesn’t he can’t just you know
think up of a website like he needs to
find exactly what he does that will make
him above the competition and like yeah
and that’s true to any business so so I
agree that that will still be become
still be relevant in the future mmm-hmm
so let’s sum up I think that we have a
bright future ahead oh yes III think
that we’re on the right track here as
you know I mean as a professional web
greater I think it’s going to evolve
expand
become much more significant than what
it is today even though today it’s it’s
still pretty important and and the tools
as they get better they’re gonna allow
you to do the most well they’re already
allowing you to do incredible things
like Elementor allows you to do some
incredible things some personalization a
lot of the tools that you’re building
but these tools just get better and
better and better and allow you to do
more and more and more yeah what was
that you said the other day that go
twenty-five years ago we didn’t have
this or that and it was just like a
shock to the system I forget what you
said to me well 25 years ago we didn’t
have the Internet oh yeah right that
maybe that was it we didn’t have the
internet and then oh and anyone can
think of just like 12 years ago we
didn’t have smartphones and now
everybody has one in their pocket and
it’s totally changed everything the
technology just moves fast is the point
that I’m trying to make the time it
takes for users to adopt new technology
becomes shorter and shorter so think
about it it took like I don’t know how
many years until mobile phones got in
like five years something like that and
Elementor just three and a half years
old which is kind of now mind-boggling
to think about it is when you think of
the impact it’s already having in such a
short period of time so I think this is
a good time to transition to some of the
questions the audience had and the first
question is about the future of
WordPress that’s that’s a good question
what do you think well I think that
WordPress is gonna Konami ously it’s
going to continue to grow it’s going to
continue to be the first choice for a
lot of people because people like to
choose to use the tool that the people
that they know we’re using so it’s just
this organic thing that’s going to grow
but it’s going to evolve to be easier to
use the more that tools like Elementor
make it easier to use you know there’s
definitely a lot of room for growth for
it but I think that there’s such a huge
segment of people that don’t have
website still that the growth
just gonna still continue to be like I
agree and I think we’re going to see
more I hope we’re going to see more
companies that think of the business of
creating websites and not just I mean
it’s going to evolve in that direction
yeah more oriented towards you know
sales and and businesses I think that’s
that’s something to look forward to
we haven’t a topic regarding gets me in
headless CMS so that yeah so let us know
Gatsby is like one of the hottest things
happening right now essentially it’s
static site creation so right now when
you create a WordPress website
yeah it’s dependent upon a database so
every time someone visits your website
this process happens which is the Bob
the speed bottleneck right where it has
to go and get the data out of a database
and that’s what causes that’s the
biggest thing that might cause a little
bit of a delay that speed and it’s a
hosting issue but Gatsby and having a
static website is the process of you
build your website and it will you can
create a static version that eliminates
the database if so it’s almost like hand
coding hand coding is typically not
going back and forth to a database most
the time and so when someone visits the
site they’re getting this static version
there’s no accessing the database but
there’s also additional benefits of it
there’s no login so there’s no security
there’s there’s not like the security
vulnerabilities that sometimes pop up
here and there so the exciting thing
about it is if you have those kind of a
brochure type websites what can end up
happening is when you have the static
version just the speed is through the
roof there’s the speed is through the
roof because you’re eliminating the
bottlenecks it’s actually pretty
exciting right now you can you can kind
of get there but it’s very technical but
the exciting thing is it’s on a lot of
hosting companies where our radars a lot
of different companies radars and I
would like to see in the next 12 to 24
months and to get super easy
to deploy a static site what I think
again if we come back to personalization
some parts of the site do stay static
but of course yes the parts that do
change those won’t include that the
technology but actually there’s lots of
ways to implement personalization
there’s platforms that will implement it
dynamically through like a little you
just put a little line of code and you
can create the different variations and
so can flow through that so you can
actually have both that’s interesting
yeah how we didn’t talk about a question
that was raised is about voice and how
do you think Elementor will will fit in
that’s that’s a good question I think
yeah it actually kind of ties in to
search engine optimization right because
voice is the future of how people are
going to interact with their technology
and we’re actually already doing it now
I don’t have my Apple watch and I lost
the charger their technology and we’re
actually already doing it now I don’t
have my Apple watch in I lost the
charger but I I talked to my watch now
all the time I’ll be driving the car and
I’m like hey Suri oops I’m sorry if you
have an Apple device I just activated it
but I’ve liked talking to it all the
time find this near me or I’m asking all
these questions in it so a phone that’s
funny
anyways yeah voice search is is very
intriguing right now and it really is
going to end up boiling down to search
engine optimization so though the
actually elemento already does a lot to
enable this it boils down to something
called schema and schema is what you can
add to your website to make Google or
Apple in this case our Alexa
structure and with schema then it’s
going to happen automatically with these
and there’s lots of different schema
types too like an event schema type so
it helps them understand event
information and all that so scheme is
really the key to that that’s cool maybe
we have you have a question from the
audience
another question someone asked what will
be Elementor pros focus on the next year
and how will Adam participate maybe
people people think your visit here is
like something else going on you’re
going to be the new employee so you know
actually I can’t say that it’s expects
I’m so exciting seeing what you guys are
doing here obviously I’ve seen some
additional things but it’s exciting to
see the laser focus that you have and
everyone that I’ve interacted with this
just laser focus on the future of web
building and being a web builder and how
you guys are gonna do it I’ve heard like
some of the vision of certain things and
it’s like oh my gosh my mind is spinning
like I why didn’t I think of that and
it’s just so forward-thinking
forward-thinking like you know we almost
some of it you got to wait for the
technology to catch up to it you know so
definitely exciting future for Elementor
in 2020 of course some writing things
but yeah we can’t share can’t share a
lot but I think that discussing the the
topics of the future and watching the
trends that gives an idea of what what
things that are to come like what we
expect of course we want to expect an
easier faster and more reliable way to
you know produce websites without having
to deal with bugs and and issues then we
have a question from their audience all
right we do
from Karen and Karen asks how does Adam
stay up to date actually Karen I was
asked that question by you guys yeah I
try to keep my finger like they say keep
my finger on the pulse of what
everything that’s going on but the way
that that happens for me is when I
published a video on YouTube there’s the
comments section and I get to see what
people are asking and so I can a lot of
times what ends up happening hey Adam
have you checked out this thing have you
checked out that thingy and actually
that like exposes me to two new products
and a new solution relieve you so what I
think necessarily the the ones that are
most known like when people discover
like people discover your content yeah
they get hooked and then I believe in
that I don’t believe in like following
like a hundred sites but if you find
someone that you that you like connect
with then that’s that’s something you
should you should maintain yes we have
another question by the way
and it’s from Lamont so Lamont says
thank you
from homeless to web designer oh yeah
and that’s that’s actually that’s a
great story I mean I would I would
listen to it so that reminds me of
anyone that’s on the webinar right now
if you could put in the comments section
if you found out about Elementor maybe
through my youtube channel or me or
through a tutorial if you could write in
there yes I found out about Elementor
through Adam at WP crafter if you can
put that in there now it’s it’s a small
bet that we have so we should definitely
but have to share that later from
homeless to web designer that deadline
you know what that’s impactful but isn’t
that at the end of the day what it’s all
about is and that’s what I love about
Elementor because you were the first
ones and the only ones to create a tool
that is free to use that has the
potential to completely change your
economic situation
which is your life and your family’s
life and I actually see that a lot
comments like that a lot
where here’s a tool that that is free to
use you can learn how to use it and you
can end up having a whole career out of
it that can drastically change the
trajectory of your life but if that
didn’t exist it was so much harder
before it was so out of reach for people
I think that that’s a father die had
today that your channels name is WP
crafter and I think the idea of craft is
very important because that’s that’s
part of what I think Elementor did in
some ways give people the the the
feeling that they have a craft to own
and like building websites is a craft
they can they can specialize in and and
offer value to businesses yeah and in
that process their entire life changes
for the better for the better and I hear
these stories all the time yeah so
alright do we have another question we
do I believe let’s see what we got here
it says I think we actually are gonna
wrap this up and so if you did ask a
question and we weren’t able to answer
it we thank you for joining us on yeah
we will publish the video on our channel
so don’t worry you’ll have the whole the
whole session of secrets that we
discussed and yeah let’s let’s wrap it
up I’d like to thank everyone who joined
us and thank you Adam for for being here
and talking to me no it’s it’s been
great it’s been a great experience so
thank you for joining us
bye bye bye hi