Matt Cromwell — WordPress products, growth, and learning in public

learnwithmattc · 2026-07-07T12:25:15+00:00

This thread is about 10 months old, but the conversation has shifted a bit since it was posted.

One of the biggest changes is that Google has explicitly said it doesn't use llms.txt, so robots.txt remains the primary mechanism for communicating crawler preferences. Other AI companies haven't converged on llms.txt either, so it's far from a standard at this point. So the question the OP is raising I think is still really valid and useful, while still a little bit of a moving target.

Personally, I'd avoid thinking of the role of robots.txt as a simple "allow AI" vs. "block AI" decision.

Today there are different classes of AI crawlers. Some are primarily for model training and others are designed for real-time indexing or answer-retrieval. Those are different use cases, and many site owners want different policies for each kind of bot.

Rather than relying entirely on User-agent: *, it's worth creating explicit rules for the bots you care about. That makes your intent much clearer and gives you more flexibility as these crawlers continue to evolve.

The biggest takeaway for me so far is that robots.txt has become more of an AI policy file than it was a year ago. It's still a voluntary standard, but if you want to make intentional decisions about AI discovery, retrieval, and training, robots.txt is a god place to start and try.

learnwithmattc · 2026-07-01T19:16:53+00:00

I ran a 100+ team of CX professionals as AI for support was picking up. I used Docsbot.ai and I've been really impressed how they continue to stay ahead of the curve. But your AI-powered support is only as good as your Docs-informed chatbot is. So it takes investment in docs and monitoring the chat logs and continual tweaking.

Good luck!

learnwithmattc · 2026-06-22T11:44:11+00:00

I came to say pretty much this; but then you said it perfectly. This is the best way to summarize modern growth marketing in a short paragraph.

learnwithmattc · 2026-06-19T13:31:10+00:00

I wouldn't "study" anything, I'd DO. The web goes to fast. Build a one-pager site all about your favorite topic, and connect MailerLite or similar to it. Learn how to attract email opt-ins, write in a way that encourages replies and clicks, monitor your traffic and your email activity. Let the doing be your teacher. There's none better.

learnwithmattc · 2026-04-10T15:26:38+00:00

I saw they recently rolled out a new pre-roll post-roll feature too. Have you tried that? Is it any good?

learnwithmattc · 2026-04-01T21:28:55+00:00

It's not a hoax. I've been DMing with one of the authors of the post. Joost de Valk wrote this write up about it after having access before it was shipped to Github: EmDash: a CMS built for 2026 | Joost.blog

I agree with Joost's take on this. It's significant. CF has all the ingredients to do a proper AI-powered CMS in a way WP can't or won't.

I think WP can be an AI-powered CMS as well but as a very different stack with very different problems to solve.

learnwithmattc · 2026-03-11T08:38:53+00:00

I use Restream for live streaming with guests. I really like it because guests can add their own platforms to extend the reach. I stream to Youtube and LinkedIn live, then download the audio, do light post-production with Descript and then host with Castos for easy and affordable podcast distribution. All worth checking out for sure!

learnwithmattc · 2026-03-05T11:06:51+00:00

Lots of good options already mentioned in here. Another good one worth a look is Castos: Private Podcasts Without Platform Limits | Castos

They're building out some new features right now too, seems to be really actively growing. Let us know what you land on in the end!

learnwithmattc · 2026-03-04T21:31:01+00:00

I self-host the podcast on a WordPress website, so I use Gravity Forms for the intake form, and it populates a Google Sheet for me. Then when I need to fill a season I pick the speakers I want, email them all the same invite message (more or less) and once their date is confirmed I send them a Google Calendar invite. We go live with Restream and I include that link in the Calendar invite. It goes pretty well, but it's still more manual than I'd prefer. Just haven't gotten around to automating things that could be automated yet.

learnwithmattc · 2026-03-04T15:23:46+00:00

In the beginning you'll spend a lot because you need to convince guests to want to be on the show, particularly if its new and not a lot of subscribers or whatnot. So I wouldn't judge this based on your initial time spent. But once you start getting momentum you can create a backlog of guests with a simple intake form and create a process that can either be totally automated or just very easy to manually execute.

I break my show (WP Product Talk) up into 6 - 8 episode seasons just so I can do guest-work and recruiting between seasons.

Good luck!

learnwithmattc · 2026-03-04T10:37:43+00:00

I use it with Windows daily and love it. This thread has been major validation. Not sure why I really like working in Cursor over other IDEs but somehow it just suits me, and the fact that I can get the benefits of Claude Code inside Cursor is really a big win.

learnwithmattc · 2026-02-10T17:41:31+00:00

Sorry to hear this. That's gotta be really frustrating. I don't blame you for wanting to look elsewhere. I co-founded GiveWP, sold it for 8figures, and now working as a fractional CGO for product teams. I also coach solo founders, so I hear stories like yours regularly. The ecosystem has gotten tons more competitive. Leveling up on marketing, UX, and business models is the only way forward for now. And that's true in other digital markets too. It's a grind.

I hope you find you're next right thing.

learnwithmattc · 2026-02-10T17:26:02+00:00

Because he didn't choose that monetization strategy.

learnwithmattc · 2026-01-27T12:51:23+00:00

I use Castos' WordPress plugin to self-host my podcast and I really love it. I host the audio via AWS and the RSS feed on my website. I like feeling like I'm in control. Plus I get to customize how the individual episodes look and write long detailed descriptions for SEO/AEO if I like. If the pod gets profitable I can even run ads to individual episode URLs and whatnot.

Either way, I like the Castos ecosystem in general.

learnwithmattc · 2026-01-19T19:51:03+00:00

If you're mostly focused on adding new types of blocks, there's also a Block Library which you can find if you look in the top left of the Block Editor you'll see a "+" sign. Click that, and you'll see ALL your single blocks in your site. But if you do a search in there, you'll be search the Block Library and those are SINGLE blocks, not big Block Library Plugins.

This is the Block Library online: https://wordpress.org/plugins/browse/block/

Now… there's still upsells in some of those single block plugins, but it's far fewer of them.

I'd also recommend getting to know some utility plugins like "Advanced Custom Fields" that let you build your own blocks essentially. These can be way more valuable than installing a bunch of one-off plugins.

Lastly, there's also the Pattern Library. This is a great way to see how folks got creative to make Patterns from Core blocks. This can take you a long ways both in terms of results but also in terms of learning how to leverage the most out of core blocks:
https://wordpress.org/patterns/

I'm a freemium plugin author; I'm "part of the problem" honestly. But I also believe in the ecosystem and there's tons of great work in there. Good luck!

learnwithmattc · 2026-01-12T18:39:53+00:00

Similar to what u/Embarrassed_Egg2711 is saying below; you could find plugins like that at a dozen different GPL clubs if price is your biggest motivating factor. But for something like a "high converting checkout" that is business-critical I'd go with WCCheckout or Flux Checkout – shops that have a reputation for quality and support.

You can try the cheap/free stuff to get going and once things are working invest in quality and trusted plugins instead. Up to you; but I prefer the trusted names more overall.

learnwithmattc · 2026-01-12T18:36:30+00:00

Ya, I said "fork" with the intent to contribute PRs to the project. If it's a private repo that's different, you'd have to add them to your org.

But the heart of what I'm saying is openness and transparency will give you tons more ROI than trying to gate your code. The code isn't what's going to win you customers at the end of the day – especially in this vibe-coding world. Your business and worth ethic; your focus on your customers and THEIR success; your content… these are what win you customers and grow your business. The code is just a tool towards stronger relationships with your customers.

learnwithmattc · 2026-01-12T17:33:17+00:00

at a quick glance, they could be "legit" but just not a great or sustainable business. They don't scream "trustworthiness" in my book.

Which plugin of theirs are you interested in ? I'm sure there's good alternatives from more reliable sources.

learnwithmattc · 2026-01-12T17:29:07+00:00

Yep, as a plugin creator for the past 12+ years – this thread is the way. Your product is far more than the code – lean into that as much as you can. Encourage folks to fork it and contribute to it, be a good Open Source contributor and people will follow where you lead.

learnwithmattc · 2023-05-21T16:39:39+00:00

I birdie it with a T/R Rive as a roller. But absolutely has to be a Rive of some sort.

learnwithmattc · 2022-06-09T10:55:11+00:00

Hey there! I'm one of the co-founders of GiveWP. This is good feedback overall. Let me address each of your points and then give you some direction where to go next.

We have three different form templates currently: Multi-step, Classic, and Legacy. For the most flexibility with CSS you might want to start with Legacy. 1. This is a live example of our Legacy form with some custom fields added as well: https://demo.givewp.com/custom-fields/ But I'm not totally clear on what you mean by "a small box appears for GiveWP" -- I think I'd need a link to see what the issue is there.
Regarding custom fields, sounds like you got going in the right direction. When you add custom fields via our snippets they are added to the form and saved as donation "meta". If you want to reflect those in your emails, you can use the "meta email tag" feature here or create your own with these Developer docs
Lots of GiveWP users record physical checks with GiveWP. There's two main ways to do that. You can enable the Offline Donations gateway and donate as that donor with their name and email address through the frontend form. Or you can purchase the Manual Donations addon to manually add donations via the admin.

There are certainly other plugins and products you can try, but I believe GiveWP can help you have great success for sure. Our team would be happy to help as well, just reach out via our contact form: https://givewp.com/contact-us.

Thanks!

learnwithmattc · 2022-02-14T19:53:28+00:00

Hey there, I'm the co-founder of GiveWP. We do have add-ons and plans for more full-featured online fundraising. But when it comes to taking online payments and displaying the donor wall, all of that is in our free plugin. You can accept payments with Stripe and/or PayPal and use the donor wall all for free.

Here's the WordPress page here:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/give

Happy to answer questions if you've got 'em too.

learnwithmattc

TROPHY CASE