Verdi Heinz, a passionate and experienced Community Manager at Elementor, has dedicated years to fostering collaboration and innovation within the WordPress community. He is also a co-founder of Code Snippets and owner of Ver3.
In an exclusive interview for Crocoblock, Verdi shares his journey, insights on building an active community, and the strategies that have helped Elementor become a leading platform in the market.
From the early days of grassroots growth to leveraging advanced tools like AI, Verdi offers valuable lessons for anyone looking to create meaningful connections within their own communities.
Table of Contents
- The Beginnings of the Elementor Community
- From Early Days to the Future
- Crocoblock 🤝 Elementor
- Balancing Work and Life
- Final Thoughts
The Beginnings of the Elementor Community
1. What was your community like at the very beginning? Which strategies have you used for growing it up, or was it developed organically without any steps involved?
At the very beginning, about 8 years ago, we were a small group of people who had just found out about this exciting new beta called Elementor. I joined the group to learn more about it and discovered that everyone there was actively helping each other, even though we were also direct competitors. It was this open-source mindset that I fell in love with.
I started teaching everything I learned by simply helping others find solutions and reach their goals, and they did the same for me.
Our community’s growth was partly organic and partly pure engagement. After a few months, we started introducing recurring posts designed to create interactivity, such as “Showoff Showoff,” “Meetup Monday,” Polls, Interviews, etc. All this happened before we became an official community with a more concrete strategy.
2. What was the most valuable factor in becoming a community manager at Elementor? And how do you see the role of the community manager impacting the community processes?
The most valuable factor in becoming a community manager at Elementor was my genuine passion for fostering collaboration and helping others. From the early days, I was inspired by the open-source mindset of our community, where everyone shared knowledge and supported one another, even as direct competitors. This spirit motivated me to contribute more actively and ultimately take on the role of community manager.
I see the role of the community manager as pivotal in shaping community processes. By facilitating open communication, encouraging engagement, and creating initiatives that bring people together, a community manager can significantly impact the community’s growth and cohesion. It’s about empowering members to share, learn, and inspire each other, which strengthens the community as a whole.
3. Do you remember how it was to be a community manager at the very beginning compared to now (Elementor is now a major player in the market)? What is the main difference?
Absolutely. Back then, our community was small and close-knit, and I could engage personally with almost every member. We were all discovering Elementor together, sharing insights, and helping each other overcome challenges in real time. The interactions were highly personal, and the sense of camaraderie was strong.
Now, with Elementor being a major player in the market, the main difference is the scale and diversity of the community. Managing such a large and varied group requires more structured processes and strategic initiatives to ensure everyone feels included and supported. While we have fewer one-on-one interactions with every member, we’ve developed programs and events to foster engagement and maintain that collaborative spirit. Our Community Leader Program has many leaders, such as Moderators, Regional Moderators in specific languages (join our Discord to chat in 18 languages; more are to come), and Meetup Organizers who directly interact with people daily.
To this day, I still contact a few people every week for video calls so I can hear firsthand what they are thinking, what they care about, and most definitely, what they’d like to see improved. It does not include the weekly Moderators Meetup, Monthly Leaders Meetup, WordCamps, and special events. Those are both interesting and rewarding in their own way.
From Early Days to the Future
1. How has the vibe and atmosphere of your community changed over time? Do you think those changes are related to the growth of the community, and if so, what do you think has influenced it?
The vibe and atmosphere of our community have evolved significantly over time. Initially, it was a small, close-knit group with a strong sense of camaraderie. As we’ve grown, the community has become more diverse and vibrant. These changes are directly related to our growth; the influx of new members has brought fresh perspectives and energy. Influencing factors include the increasing popularity of Elementor and our efforts to foster engagement through interactive initiatives and events.
2. You have significant experience in community management. What about the most joyful moment and the most challenging one?
Actually, the most joyful ones are the most challenging ones. A Community Member can be upset for any number of reasons, up to the point that they become very emotional and vocal. Even when very angry, I still feel they care. Why come to our group to express your feelings, right? We take time for these people as much as possible, often resulting in them becoming ambassadors themselves. In fact, we even ended up hiring people based on their strong opinions.
3. How do you see the future of the WordPress community? Are there any technologies or user preferences that you’re particularly excited about?
For WordPress as a whole, I cannot speak. As for the Elementor Community, we’ve added a Discord Server this year with many things previously not possible. We now have all our news messages in 18 languages, each in regional channels, maintained by people from the relevant country or culture. Soon, we’ll have 20, and we won’t stop there! In fact, if you’re reading this and you feel your country or language should be on the list as well, please DM me!
Like most of WordPress, 2025 will be more focused on the Asian Market. African countries will also finally get the love they deserve, and we intend to add more platforms for our community members to help each other grow and learn. We could create our own platform, but for now, we feel we need to go where people are already—make it easy for them. WhatsApp and maybe even WeChat could be next.
4. What do you think about AI and its role in the further community trends? Do you expect it to impact community interactions a lot?
Yes, we’ve already updated our Community Guidelines to declare if an AI writes your content. Side note: some of my answers to you are restructured by an AI simply to remove typos and such. Most of us do not use it to ‘hallucinate’ answers. There is little value in that.
More interesting is the introduction of Ella Mentor. Ella is a highly trained AI Customer Experience Engineer. She trained on nearly 5000 pages of our websites, our developer documentation, WordPress, Woo, etc. She has learned even the codebase of a list of open-source plugins and, finally, a very extensive Tone of Voice training, so she sounds like any of us. Go to our Discord and ask her anything about Elementor or WordPress in any language. I’m sure she will surprise you.
Beyond that, there is much more to say, but this is already getting quite long. Please keep track of our updates to stay in the loop.
5. What could you advise our readers considering the specifics of building an active community around the product? Which steps or insights could be the most valuable?
I advise focusing on fostering genuine engagement from the very beginning. Encourage open communication and collaboration among your users, and create spaces where they can share experiences and help each other. Implement interactive initiatives like recurring themed posts or events to stimulate participation and build a sense of community.
Listening to your community is crucial, as well as incorporating their feedback into your product development to show that their input matters. Lastly, as your community grows, strive to maintain its original spirit by adapting your strategies to meet evolving needs while preserving the core values that bring everyone together.
Crocoblock 🤝 Elementor
1. What do you like the most in Crocoblock as dynamic plugins for Elementor page builder?
Crocoblock seems to have the same core values as we do. A warm community, above and beyond support, very human leadership, and products that meet a quality standard. I’m very fond of JetEngine and use it for almost all my projects.
2. How do you see the relationship between Elementor and Crocoblock evolving in the future?
Well, we’ve been dating for a while. Maybe we should get married? Kidding aside, I really do love our warm relationship and hope we can continuously keep growing it like you would any long-lasting friendship.
Balancing Work and Life
1. What are your secret tips for staying energized and avoiding burnout?
Time Blocks!
I completely agree that simply knowing the part of the project you are responsible for isn’t enough. In practice, managing your time often proves to be an even more critical skill – one that should be developed just like building muscles in the gym.
“Because at some point in life, you will discover that there is nothing worth more than time.” (Verdi Heinz)
I believe it’s possible to work even on weekends without feeling burned out if you closely follow a time-blocking system. This system involves allocating specific blocks for work, rest, family, and hobbies.
However, it’s not just about following the plan. It’s also essential to review it after a set period. You need to analyze what went well and what didn’t align with your initial expectations. If everything runs smoothly, repeating those successful strategies makes sense. If not, you must identify the reasons behind the challenges and adjust accordingly.
There’s no real so-called ‘work-life balance.’ Instead, there’s simply life. It’s all interconnected.
Overall, I believe the time-blocking approach is excellent for eliminating context-switching. It allows you to dedicate focused time to specific tasks, whether analytical work, phone calls, or creating presentations.
3. Do you have a favorite quote that reflects your personal brand, or maybe you’d like to share some advice with our readers? We’d love to hear it!
Yes, I actually have a lot of them. See a few of my favorite ones on my website. I have not updated it in a few years, so please forgive the ancient design. One of my favorites is “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” If you can achieve this, then you’ll walk through life much happier.
4. Do you have any advice for those who read us and are inspired by your activity?
Just one word, and I’d love for you to apply it to your work, your coworkers, your friend, your partner in life, and, of course, to any community member, customer, and user… Listen. Stop broadcasting for a minute and actually listen to what people want to say, what they need, and why they came in the first place. Listen to every opportunity you get, and you’ll be wiser about it.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Verdi Heinz exemplifies what it means to build a thriving community through passion, genuine connection, and innovative strategies. His journey with Elementor highlights the power of collaboration, adaptability, and the importance of truly listening to your audience.
