Tell us about your career – how did you get started and what are you doing now?
I started with WordPress during my sophomore year of high school, beginning with basic HTML/CSS and gradually moving into FTP and DNS. My first major project was revamping a website for a realtor, which introduced me to WordPress. From there, I continued working with websites while in college, where I also explored app development, IT management, and various tech-related fields. After college, I decided to focus exclusively on WordPress and went full-time with ClikIT.
Today, ClikIT manages and has built over 200 websites, ranging from small businesses just starting out to VC-backed SaaS startups powered by WordPress, with tens of thousands of lines of custom code.
What do you specialize in? What’s your superpower?
While ClikIT does all things WordPress, I’d say my specialty is ideation. Since I was a young kid, I’ve always had ideas for all sorts of entrepreneurial ventures. I’ve carried this mindset throughout my life, both in business and personally. If there’s a problem that needs solving, I can solve it.
My superpower is mind reading. I can take even the most basic instructions from clients, understand what they’re looking for, and clarify things that are completely ambiguous, translating them into actionable steps for our developers.
Tell us about work you are particularly proud of
Recently, we launched our Secure Forms plugin, which we successfully built, audited, and got approved on the WordPress.org repository within just 5 months. I’m proud of my team and myself, from designing the features for the MVP to creating a custom user onboarding flow with Freemius checkout, ensuring customers can easily set up the plugin, and establishing a secure RDS environment in AWS. It was a significant effort.
Uniquely, our team earned HIPAA certification, and we had a third-party auditor review our code.
What’s your favorite brand and why?
My favorite brand is Apple. I always aim to follow Apple’s approach to user experience when building websites or developing our custom plugins. If something requires a manual to use, it’s too difficult. I tell my team often “Think about the user, and imagine if a 5 year old was using this”.
How about your favorite campaign or ad?
Hmm, this is a tough one, so I’ll give two examples, and both are Super Bowl ads. One was for Coinbase, where they had a QR code bouncing around the screen. No context, nothing. It made everyone curious, so they scanned it, and the stunt added $1 billion to their market cap over the next few days I think.
The other one was Tubi, where they simulated the Super Bowl during the ad and made it look like someone was changing the app on their TV to Tubi. It gave everyone a good laugh & was memorable.
Can you tell us about a current campaign you are running, or have run recently?
Our marketing has always been organic. I’ve run ads on Google and Facebook, but I didn’t know what I was doing, so they performed poorly. We don’t have a single successful campaign. However, our blogging campaign on our site over the past 12 months has been extremely impactful, and we’ve defied all Google algorithm updates.
What’s your favorite Marketing tool these days, and why?
Today, we’re focused on heavy keyword research using SEMrush, writing helpful & genuine blogs for our ClikIT site, and supporting the community, including WP BizDev.
We also conduct organic outreach to business owners with the help of Apollo.
There’s no shortcut to SEO. Simply placing a few H1 tags correctly won’t instantly get you to #1 on Google. Content marketing – blog posts, knowledge base articles, and free tools are all great for SEO & lead generation.
Who do you follow for inspiration?
I follow Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. Steve Jobs is a great source of inspiration for creating greatness and offers many insightful quotes. Elon Musk excels in driving current innovation and pushing the boundaries of what humanity can achieve.
To conclude, can you share a tip that can help WordPress businesses grow?
Be consistent. Consistency is key. Figure out a way to be ridiculously consistent with your customers, your quality, and everything you do and you’ll be better & outlast than your competition.
Follow Cole Fraser & GravityWiz
- Business website: clikitnow.com
- Twitter/X Company Account: @BlakeWhittle7
- LinkedIn Profile: www.linkedin.com/in/blakewhittle
- Facebook Profile: https://www.facebook.com/blake.whittle/
- Instagram: @whittlebla
