Quick Project Info
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Client - JQX Studios (Mark F)
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Industry / Niche - Music · Media · Blogging
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Services Provided -
- WordPress Setup & Theme Customization (Mow Blog)
- Custom Popup for Newsletter (Hostinger Email Marketing)
- Contact Form 7 integration with mailing list
- Category/Tag Architecture & Author Profiles
- Homepage Layout: Featured + Latest + Editor’s Picks
- Performance & Caching Basics
- SEO Essentials (schema, meta, clean URLs)
- Client Training (Loom videos) & Handover Docs
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Tools / Tech Used -
WordPress
Mow Blog Theme
Contact Form 7
Hostinger Email Marketing
Hostinger
Cloudflare (optional) -
Completion Date - August–September 2025 (phase 1)
Project Overview
Build a modern, fast, and editorially flexible blog for JQX Studios using the Mow Blog theme—fully customized to match brand tone, content cadence, and growth goals. Central to the brief: a frictionless newsletter popup integrated with Hostinger Email Marketing via Contact Form 7, plus a clean content structure for categories, tags, and authors.
- Polished reading experience on mobile & desktop.
- Newsletter capture with minimal friction (popup & inline forms).
- Editor-friendly CMS with reusable blocks/sections.
Key Challenge
- Retain the theme’s speed while heavily customizing layouts.
- Seamless CF7 ⇄ Hostinger Email Marketing connection (list, tags).
- Consistent taxonomy & author system for future scaling.
Our Solution
- Theme & Styling: Installed Mow Blog and built a child theme for safe overrides (typography, spacing, cards, dark accents).
- Layout System: Composed a homepage with Featured grid, Latest posts feed, and Editor’s Picks—each controllable via WP.
- Newsletter Popup: Built a custom popup tied to Contact Form 7; submissions are auto-sent to Hostinger Email Marketing (list + tag).
- Inline Opt-ins: Added inline CF7 forms under posts & in sidebar; all mapped to the same mailing list.
- Taxonomy & Authors: Organized categories/tags and set up author bios with social links and avatars.
- Performance & SEO: Lightweight CSS/JS, page cache, image compression, schema/meta defaults.
- Enablement: Loom videos for posting workflow, using blocks, and viewing subscriber growth.
Result: a fast, clean blog with flexible sections and a growth-ready email capture system.
Key Features Implemented
Editorial Homepage
Featured, Latest, and hand-picked Editor’s Picks—fully manageable in WP.
Custom Newsletter Popup
CF7 form integrated with Hostinger Email Marketing (list + tagging) and inline opt-ins.
Clean Taxonomy
Logical categories & tags for navigation, SEO, and future content clusters.
Performance First
Lean assets, cache hygiene, and optimized images for quick page loads.
Client Training
Loom guides for publishing, featuring posts, and monitoring subscribers.
Results / Outcome
- Editor can update homepage sections without developers.
- Subscriber growth pipes directly into Hostinger lists with tagging.
- Performance & readability upgrades improved time-on-page.
Client Note
“Loved the customizations and the email capture flow. Super clean and easy for our team—coming back for another project soon.”
★★★★★
Our Role
- Lead WordPress Developer & Project Manager
- Theme customization & child theme development
- Newsletter popup & CF7 → Hostinger integration
Key Learnings
- Child-theme overrides preserve update safety while enabling deep UI changes.
- CF7 + Hostinger Email Marketing provides a reliable, tag-ready opt-in flow.
- Clear taxonomy and authoring standards speed up editorial operations.
Want a fast, flexible blog? Let’s build it.
Editorial layouts, newsletter growth, and SEO baked in—without bloat.