Anyone who has read Smashing Magazine, ProBlogDesign, and WPHacks has read articles by Jean-Baptiste Jung. He was also highly talked about in mid 2009 when he created a Digg-like website with the WordPress core called WPVote. This was without altering the core and not bridging in platforms like Pligg.
Jean-Baptiste is really busy and just seeing all the websites he blogs for, I was really lucky to catch up with him via email for an interview. Here was the interview…. hope you enjoy!
ME: When did you step into using WordPress and what did you think about it when you first started using it? (Was it easy to learn?)
JEAN-BAPTISTE: I started using WordPress with version 2.1, in 2006. I felt in love at the first time because it was very powerful and very simple to use and learn at the same time.
ME: I noticed you have written at quite a few places, so I guess, for our reader’s knowledge, how many places do you write at, where (the URL) and how in the world do you have the time?!? (lol)
JEAN-BAPTISTE: First, I got a few blogs:
– CatsWhoCode.com which is a blog about web development.
– WPRecipes.com which is all about WordPress “hacks” and tips.
– CatsWhoBlog.com, my most recent blog, which is all about blogging tips and make money online tricks. I launched it 3 months ago and already have 1000+ rss readers so I guess people love this new blog.
I also guest post occasionally, on several places likes Smashing Magazine and the BuySellAds blog.
How I have the time? That simple – I’m just not afraid to work. I don’t know what a week end is. You know, when you have a dream (Mine is to live free with no boss) you have to work hard for it. Many people can succeed but they don’t work enough to do it.
ME: Now, I know how you created WPVote.com and it was great that you made such a site so bloggers can submit their WordPress-related articles… what motivated you to create such a site? What is the future of WPVote.com?
JEAN-BAPTISTE: WPVote was a good idea I think, but sadly it never really reached any success. Maybe it was due to my lack of promotion. I finally sold the site one or two months ago to Ben Gillbanks, a WordPress fanatic from the UK. You better watch out because I’m sure that Ben is going to do great things with WPVote.
ME: Obviously you are successful with the sites you run, all having decent rankings/ stats, so for those who use WordPress as bloggers, what advice can you give on how to promote their material?
JEAN-BAPTISTE: I run a blog CatsWhoBlog, where I give lots of advice to promote your material, so my best tip for now is just “go read it” 😉
ME: You wrote a WordPress-related book called WordPress 2.7 Cookbook? Can you tell a little bit about the book? What motivated you to write this book? Did you have any help?
JEAN-BAPTISTE: It was a great experience and I’m happy that I wrote a book. The book is like WPRecipes. It contains something like 100 recipes to let you do anything with your WordPress blog. I haven’t sold a lot of copies – sadly (Something like 600/700 right now), but I got a lot of positive reviews by people who bought it. Now, I’d really love to write a book with my blogging tips.
ME: In your opinion, why should people who are looking around for a CMS should choose WordPress? Is there anything you think that WordPress might not be able to handle as of yet?
JEAN-BAPTISTE: I’d say, go test WordPress and then test another CMS such as Drupal. Drupal is very powerful, but it is not that easy to learn, especially for someone who haven’t a background in IT. A WordPress site can easily be created for a non-developer client, he’ll quickly learn how to use it.
ME: What kind of features do you hope WordPress might have in the future?
JEAN-BAPTISTE: I really think WordPress is great as it is now. What I’d like is that they release LESS upgrades! I have a lot of blogs, and upgrading them every 2 weeks is a bit boring. 😉
Jean-Baptiste Jung is a blogger, web designer, and web developer from the French speaking-side of Belgium. You can find him at any of the sites mentioned in the interview or Jean-Baptiste on Twitter – @catswhocode.
Nice interview, got to know too many things about you, I regularly visit all your blogs but I never know anything about you. Going to visit WPvote now 🙂
Very good interview with very insightful tips! Thanks Nile!