![Charles Costa](https://uploads.sitepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/144823719012094926_10156116047125591_1196962122313933926_o-96x96.jpg)
Charles Costa is a content strategist and product marketer based out of Silicon Valley. Feel free to learn more at CharlesCosta.net.
Charles's articles
![Your Next Marketing Strategy Depends on Complex Data Analytics](https://uploads.sitepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/1494920144data.jpg)
Charles Costa looks at the rise of data-driven marketing, and what you need to know to take advantage of it without being overwhelmed by vanity metrics.
![The 3 SaaS Metrics That Matter (& How to Improve Them)](https://uploads.sitepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/1493005981metrics.jpg)
It's easy to get bogged down with meaningless business metrics. Charles Costa looks at the three you need to watch if you're starting a SaaS business.
Publishing your own eBooks can seem daunting, however WordPress' versatility makes eBook creation easy by using existing content and off-the-shelf plugins.
![The Future of Doxing in a World of Facial Recognition](https://uploads.sitepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/1473217564facialrecognition.jpg)
Charles Costa looks at the implications facial recognition may have on the doxing attacks of the future.
![6 Easy Ways to Leverage Social Search in WordPress](https://uploads.sitepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/14692426781467907333Social-Media.png)
Charles Costa explains why you shouldn't ignore social search when developing or running a WordPress site, especially since it’s quite easy to implement.
![The 4 Unique Design Challenges of IoT](https://uploads.sitepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1469243835battery.jpg)
Designing for IoT – the Internet of Things – offers great opportunities, but also a new range of challenges. Charles Costa walks you though the big 4.
![8 Things You Shouldn’t Do at Your Investor Meeting](https://uploads.sitepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/1464614361late.jpg)
Charles Costa looks at some common mistakes to avoid when meeting with a potential investor for your startup.
SitePoint author Charles Costa and community manager Casey Sheldon talk about some of the best ways to get a new community off the ground.
![The Trick to Building Habit-Forming Products](https://uploads.sitepoint.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/1469287252habit.jpg)
Facebook, Angry Birds, 2048. What is it that makes a product addictive? Charles talks about the thinking behind habit forming products.
We all know what an experience is – but how do you measure one? Google's 'HEART Framework' breaks down ux design into easier to understand components.
Charles Costa looks at the dangers presented by social engineering, and offers practical tips for protecting yourself and your business from attack.
Charles Costa has some thought provoking ideas on ways to make your prototyping less painful.
I will show you a simple way to make sure that the themes you download are clean and you no longer have to fear the hidden malware.
Changing the default WordPress configuration permissions is one of the simplest ways to harden your WordPress website. I teach you how without plugins!
Charles Costa looks at the user experience and ethical issues behind programming the coming wave of self-driving cars.
There are plenty of plugins to backup your WordPress site, yet the best way to ensure your backup works is... to do it manually! I'll show you how in 5mins.
Using data for lean UX development can save you money and enable your teams to focus on being productive rather than constantly reinventing the wheel.
We can track clicks and cursors but that doesn't tell us the whole story of what our users are actually interested in. Charles walks us through eyetracking.
Though the hardware behind virtual reality is starting to match the hype, there are still roadblocks ahead. Charles Costa looks at the future of VR.
In this article, Charles Costa provides a summary of the top plugins in use by the top 500K sites using WordPress, broken down by category.
Do you find yourself doing the same project over and over again? Why not create a product then - or rather a SaaS company? It could be easy passive income.
In this article, Charles Costa shows you the various ways WordPress can integrate with external SMTP services to increase reliability when sending email.
WordPress hosts are a dime a dozen, and unfortunately even for a technically savvy person, it can be difficult to differentiate between a reputable host.
Heatmaps are an important part of how your understand your users -- and your UX.
Charles Costa summarizes his thoughts from CES on how app developers can become involved with the future of the automotive industry.
Review Signal has published an extensive report discussing WordPress hosting benchmarks. In this article we've highlighted the key points and highlights.
Bitcoin's popularity seems to be going from strength to strength and the currency sure has its advantages, but should you accept Bitcoin as payment?
Now CES is well and truly over, Charles Costa takes a moment to reflect on the trends that emerged for wearble application developers.
Charles Costa shows us 5 tips to improve your app marketplace ranking and gain those crucial views and downloads.
Unless you pick the brains of your users during product development you're going to be flying blind. Charles explains how to properly interview your users.