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The WP Minute brings you news about WordPress in under 5 minutes -- every week! Follow The WP Minute for the WordPress headlines before you get lost in the headlines. Hosted by Matt Medeiros, host of The Matt Report podcast.
Eric Karkovack (00:00)
Hi everyone and welcome to another episode of the WP Minute. I'm your host, Eric Karkovac. Today's episode features a segment from my interview with Cami McNamara. Cami is a freelance web designer and author of the Web Designer Habits newsletter. She provides great advice for web professionals. Check out the entire interview over on our WP Minute Plus podcast. Visit thewpminute.com to learn more.
Eric Karkovack (00:30)
I congratulate you on being able to maintain your client base and continue growing it through the pandemic, through all that, because I think when you create that personal relationship with the client, right, they value what you do and they trust your advice. think that is kind of the key to getting them to come back, even when they're going through a rough time. I applaud you for it.
Cami MacNamara (00:44)
Mm-hmm.
Eric Karkovack (00:55)
understanding that and giving them a chance to kind of come back and get through that tough time and then continue with you.
Cami MacNamara (01:05)
Yeah, even when a client,
when a client does, let's say a client gets a new provider and this will happen sometimes because I only offer web design. I'm not offering ⁓ search engine optimization packages. And a lot of times a client will move on, hire an SEO company and then that company will want to redesign their website. And I can't tell you how many times a client has done that. And I always make a backup.
Client's website when they leave me throw it into Dropbox and keep it in case they ever want to come back and sure enough You know half the time two years later. They're like, can't this is not working Can we come back and it's like sure, you know So that does happen all the time. I really do think it's the the personal relationship and you know, I still pick up the phone if somebody calls me ⁓
Eric Karkovack (01:40)
Yeah.
Cami MacNamara (02:01)
you know, I try to run the business like I am part of their team without being their employee. So I think that's key as well.
Eric Karkovack (02:11)
Yeah, that's, ⁓ picking up the phone. I dread doing it, but I still do it when the phone rings.
Cami MacNamara (02:17)
Yeah, I do too. Now I don't
do it for unknown numbers, but I try to get my clients names in there. And when they do call me, ⁓ texting is a big black hole. So they've kind of learned not to do that because then they don't end up on my task list and a few things like that. But I think people really appreciate that in this day and time because they just don't they don't get that level of service, especially from, you know, tech.
Eric Karkovack (02:23)
Yes.
Cami MacNamara (02:45)
things that they subscribe to or they're, know, more and more it's all ticketing and ⁓ the average business owner and my clientele just doesn't have time for that.
Eric Karkovack (02:57)
Yeah, that's a good point. even like with some of larger agencies, I you know, I've gotten clients because their agency wouldn't look at their problem for a week. So, you know, what are they supposed to do in the meantime? If something's broken, you know, well, I'll get back to it next week. Well, I'm losing sales, I'm losing conversions. You know, it's a...
Cami MacNamara (03:09)
Right?
Right.
Eric Karkovack (03:19)
So that personal touch, I think even with everything we do with AI these days, yeah, the personal touch is what's going to set all of us apart, I think. And if you can continue to do that, then you're going to survive ⁓ the great bot uprising of 2026.
Cami MacNamara (03:34)
Yes, it's true.
And if you're harnessing it to help you with I use it a lot to help run my business. I use it for coding errors. I, you know, just I use it to, you know, help me figure out using Zapier, things like that. So it definitely is something to take advantage of now. You know, it might be different later.
Eric Karkovack (03:58)
Yeah, mean the coding aspect of it, I mean it has helped me tremendously. I get things done so much faster. I have a faster start on my projects, which I think gives me more time to work with clients and actually do some of the things that I read in the Web Designer Habits newsletter that you send out every week. Which I encourage everybody to look at this. It's webdesignerhabits.com,
Cami MacNamara (04:04)
Yeah.
⁓ thank you.
Yes,
you can sign up right there and I'll hit your inbox with just one tiny tip for the week. It's something that they're all usually easy to do. Some are bigger tasks than others, but ⁓ they are things I practice. And part of having the newsletter is helping me manage my own business and reminding myself every week of all these habits that I really need to.
hone in on to have a good work day. think so much of what we think about as web designers is being a designer and being good at coding and all the things that go along with that. But if you're a freelancer running your own business and you are struggling day in and day out to just make it through the day, having a small little habit that can help you make it easier is something that I really take to heart myself.
Eric Karkovack (05:02)
Yes.