Admittedly the article is really dry and rather technical in many places, but hey, it was a case study on something fairly obscure in the grand scheme of the world. For Practically Dutch, it reaffirms our own belief that we know WordPress incredibly well and are truly WordPress Experts.

Here is a link to the full wordpress case study at Microsft.

If you are in a rush, here are the highlights:

A couple years back, my host, AppliedI, told me I could run PHP on Windows. With IIS and other technologies that all happen on the server side, applications like WordPress were now available for me to blend with my already existing .NET web applications. With this knowledge in hand, I started deploying WordPress blogs on every client web site. Some of those first examples are still (sadly) running.

Once I saw what WordPress was – a content management system – I immediately saw the possibilities this platform offered: easy publishing and putting the client back in the driver seat – right where they belong. Under the right conditions, with the right product line, I think WordPress makes a great front-end engine for eCommerce.

Warning – Really boring content ahead!

A great example is 2jane.com The challenge – put a new face on 2jane.com and use a legacy .NET cart tied to existing distribution and accounting systems and do it on a limited budget.  The solution – Practically Dutch put a custom WordPress ecommerce theme on the same server as the .NET shopping cart and ran them side by side. The design is seamless and the custom experience is too.

We were able to provide a significantly more robust publishing system with better SEO and kept everything running smoothly.  With WordPress on the front side, the site can now handle more traffic with less stress on the cart – resulting in better conversions when traffic is spiking. It isn’t a perfect system but we think it is a unique and creative one.

By the way, if you click the link to appliedi and make a purchase, I will receive a commission.

Practically Dutch featured in Microsoft Case Study is a post from: Practically Dutch

“Seth Sobotka is often one of the reasons I sleep well at night. I know that if he is on a task it is getting done and done well. There is no ego with Seth – he is not afraid to ask questions and admit when he is does not understand something. Once he get clarification he’s on the job. If he lived on the west coast I would make sure he would be in our offices at this very moment.” Michael Weiss, CEO, imagistic

“Seth is an extremely talented Web strategist/developer who operates at the lead of Internet technologies and development. His core programming skills, attention to specifications, business rules, best practices and client needs are a perfect blend for getting the job done right, on time and within budget. Of the numerous projects we worked on together he has never come up short, late or with sub-standard results. Seth is one of the few people I can set free on a project, knowing full well he will exceed my and everybody’s expectations.” – Robert Sullivan, PMP

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“Well…. I’ve compiled the analytics, and bad news:  There’s not much we can do for them that they’re not already doing!

They’ve already got a blog, RSS feeds, Facebook page, Twitter account, even social bookmarking tags on their blogs pages.  They have TONs of backlinks, including links from .edu and .gov sources… a Wikipedia page, listings on the DMOZ and Yahoo Directories.  Looks like they went onto Hubspot for a website grader ranking way back on May 1, 2008, and have followed all their advice. “

JP English – Omni Portals

“I just read through the whole report.  There are a few things we could look at doing, but it’s nice to know we’re on the right track.  We have worked a lot with Seth over the years to get the site optimized and I attribute a lot of the good performance to his efforts.“

Brad Baxter - Litter-Robot

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Brad Baxter hired Seth as a Web Site Development and SEO in 2004

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“Seth is a very passionate and committed associate. His is always keeping up to date on current trends and best practices and incorporates this into his work. He is flexible and fair with requests and budgets. We have worked on tons of projects together and look forward to continuing our collaboration.”

Mark LeRoy hired Seth as a Web Development & Technology Consultant in 2000, and hired Seth more than once

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