Member Spotlight: Derek Ashauer

Derek Ashauer is the lead developer of Conversion Bridge, his latest WordPress product that represents the culmination of his extensive experience in web design, development, and digital marketing.

His journey in this field began in 2000 with the founding of AshWebStudio, a side gig that became his full time freelance, 1-man agency business in 2007. He quickly adopted WordPress as a great solution to help build client projects and has custom built hundreds since.

In 2013, he wanted to diversify his income streams with a product and started with Sunshine Photo Cart, a WordPress e-commerce plugin specifically built for the unique needs of photographers. This venture was inspired by the needs of a client for an affordable solution to sell photos on her own website. Sunshine Photo Cart has grown and evolved from a side project into a comprehensive e-commerce platform plugin with 20+ add-ons serving thousands of photographers world wide.

In 2021, he wanted to make the plunge into products full time and created his plugin brand, WP Sunshine. Every new product, such as Confetti and Address Autocomplete Anything, has been the result of his work with clients for over 15 years and building their unique requests into products that others could use.

Now, with Conversion Bridge, he leverages all his experiences and insights to solve another problem he was having: the desire to move himself and clients off GA4 to a modern, privacy-first analytics platform. However, conversion tracking is a key component of any successful online business and there simply was no available options that worked out of the box for most WordPress plugins + alternative analytics platforms. Conversion Bridge offers 1-click integrations for nearly 50 WordPress plugins and 17 analytics + ad platforms.

What do you enjoy most about working in WordPress?

My favorite thing about working with WordPress is that most problems are already solved – it’s just a matter of putting things together.

When working on client projects, there is almost always an existing plugin (or small code snippet) which solves the problem my client has. In fact, sometimes the challenge is there are too many options to choose from. If it’s not a perfect solution from the plugin, the freedom to add custom code to get it exactly as needed is always available. I have been able to offer highly custom sites for clients at a fraction of non-WordPress based competing bids and clients were extremely happy with the end result I created. The fact that it works for both small brochure sites up to highly complex custom projects means I am only learning one CMS and can be significantly more effective and efficient for my clients.

As a plugin developer the benefits are similar: most of the things I would need to build are already solved. Authentication, database structure, admin page layouts being already defined allows me to move on to the meat of what I am trying to create and worry less about the low level stuff. I can ship new plugin products much faster than had I tried to build a SaaS. Being a part of the massive WordPress ecosystem also makes it easier to gain new customers.

What do you love most about your Post Status membership?

Connections with other business professionals are the best asset of Post Status. Everyone there is trying to build a business and there is a lot of mutually beneficial things we can all do for one another. Having a direct line to smart, kind, helpful people has allowed me to make connections which help me grow my product business. These are top WordPress people who not only give me feedback on the product but also have a massive influence to spread the word to others. I’ve learned a lot about the nuances and peculiarities of being in the WordPress space which helps me build a stronger business.

What business/web/WordPress advice do you have for others in our industry?

Taking that first step to connect with others in the WordPress community felt daunting, but it’s absolutely been worth it. I’ve found that being open to reaching out has brought me huge rewards. The community is incredibly supportive with people who are always ready to lend a hand or offer advice. A better community benefits everyone involved in it and I have felt that from the WordPress community. Don’t be afraid to dive in and make those connections – you’ll be amazed at the positive impact it can have on your journey with WordPress.