WordPress Tools That Don’t Suck: Interview with Jeremy Wright of @23press

NOTE from Phil: A few years back I was writing a blog called Slacker Manager, about what life was like as a manager. It was on a blog network called b5 Media, and we had some really awesome folks in our network. The CEO of this company was a super smart guy by the name of Jeremy Wright. I got to know him a little bit online, and then I finally got to meet him in person at SOBCon, where I karaoke’d my butt off with him. He’s got a new company that makes awesome products that I’m using with many of my clients. I begged him to give my readers a discount, as well as answer a few questions about his company, and he obliged.

Phil: Tell us about your background?

Jeremy: Well, I’m a blogger at heart. I no longer have time, so I’m a Very Bad Blogger, but I started blogging in 2001-2002 and ended up founding what became one of the largest blog networks in the world. I was CEO, we raised a bunch of funding, grew really big and then I burnt out cause I forgot the whole “you’re only human” part!

I’ve spent the last few years juggling between agency life and startup life – helping startups grow quickly, and helping agencies transition to more digitally-focused models.

PG: And I know it’s not just you who else is on your team and what is their background?

JW: Terry Smith is our other Founder. I actually hired Terry at b5media (that blog network I mentioned earlier!) as a Junior Developer, and over the last few years he grew into the Lead Developer at b5, up until it was sold a few months ago.

We have a few other folk involved on the team, advisory board and investors that aren’t public (yet), but we’re looking forward to everyone saying hi soon!

PG: What is 23press?

JW: We were built on one simple premise: WordPress is a pain in the ass, and it really should be easier for regular humans to use. For us, this means we currently offer an end-to-end service, as well as a couple of products. The products are BackupPress (the best premium backups out there, including the ability to Undo any screw-ups you have! Think of it like TimeMachine for WordPress.

Our second product is Move That Blog. It’s a touch niche, but if you’ve ever had to move your blog from one host to another, it’s a massive pain! It can take 10-40 hours. We do it in close to one click for $10.

And the service is something we really love. Basically you dump all of the crap of WordPress on us, and we make it really, really sing. We’ll update templates, give you plugin suggestions, host the blog, optimize it, back it up, keep it secure… And our concierge service allows you to spend our Credits to get extra services like a new design, research, tool suggestions and other stuff for free!

JW: That’s easy! WordPress is a pain. It shouldn’t be. Every business that needs a website, or blogger that needs a blog, should be able to run their site/blog easily and not worry about all the backend crap. As Terry likes to say: we help our customers get back to blogging.

JW: If you’ve ever wanted a concierge or a butler for your blog, that’s us. We take care of absolutely everything, and all you have to do is look pretty.

JW: BackupPress really is awesome, and at $5/month, it’s a steal. Our upcoming Managed WordPress service (better name is pending, sorry) is in testing now but will be priced at $25/month so if you’re interested, drop me a line at Jeremy@23press.com.

PG: What’s next for 23press?

JW: The next really big step for us is that we want to work with people who are already providing WordPress services of some kind (designers, devs, consultants) so we can help them build a passive revenue stream. Basically we will be building out a full white label solution, so you can offer all of these services to your customers, charge them whatever you want, and we process the payment and send you a big cheque every month. So for designers that launch 4-5 new sites a month, by the end of the year you could be pocketing $3-4K/month for doing no work at all.

Jeremy: Hah, how could I not spread some love to your readers after all the karaoke and other stuff we’ve been through over the years?! For those who want to join us in our beta program for website hosting, we’ll give you 20% off at www.23press.com and we’ll get you moving!

YOUR TURN: There you go folks. 20% off of your hosting, thanks to one Mr. Jeremy Wright (and Terry too!). It just doesn’t get any better than that. Go getcha some, and if you’re not 100% satisfied, Jeremy and Terry will fix it and make it RAWK!