WORDPRESS MAINTENANCE & UPGRADES
For over 10 years, we’ve been developing, managing, updating and moderating WordPress-based websites. One thing we’ve learned along the way, similar to ANY website and ANY content management system, keeping the foundation integrity solid requires minimal, but constant love and care = AKA maintenance.As part of our one-off or monthly retainers, we offer the following services as part of our WordPress management agreements:
- Back-up core files that make your website work! (WordPress natively via FTP as well as the MySQL database via hosting cPanel)
- Upgrade WordPress to the latest version
- Upgrade all plugins to their latest version
- Update security protocols to today’s standards
If clients desire a MIGRATION / TRANSFER of their website from an old outdated theme, we do offer several affordable solutions to utilizing your existing content and images while allow you to UPGRADE your website to a more responsive theme. Responsive theme means that your site will automatically shrink/reformat by itself when visitors are on mobile or tablet devices WITHOUT needing a different break-out website. 🙂 Here are some of the steps in the process:
- Provide you with 1-3 sample DEMO website themes for you preview BEFORE purchasing.
- By visiting the demo sites, you can see the “look and feel” and user experience of the site
- You can also preview the site’s dozens of functionality enhancements (FOR FREE) giving you some creative brainstorming to IMPROVE your website and take it to the next level when budget permits!
- There is a one-time fee of $58 for the framework from ThemeForest.net
- We agree to choose a theme that supports mobile and tablet devices FIRST and then looks pretty on desktop!!
- Upon approval, we install the theme.
- We migrate and transfer all content from the old site to the new site (which is pretty seamless)
- We will typically develop a new home page but can certainly do something similar to your existing home page; every theme is different. The latest WordPress theme technology has changed dramatically offering so much more.
- Will get a theme that supports a slideshow using the Revolution Slider plugin, today’s benchmark!
- All in all – site themes use a framework called WP Bakery or Visual Page Composer that launch templates for the site – so creating NEW pages in future will be quite easy. However, it does take someone like me a good 1.5 hrs minimum per page on the site to set it up. Home pages take 4-5-6 hours to get set-up.
- As added value, we typically take a small quantity of text-based updates (2-4 pages), however we try to EMPOWER you by providing WORDPRESS TRAINING again to educate you on how to manage updates yourself easily and without costly updates from freelancers like us!
BENEFITS of WORDPRESS
- With someone motivated internally, we teach you how to manage this site internally, which is ALWAYS our intention.
- The primary benefit of WP is the easy of use in publishing / managing your own pages without someone like me chiming in!
- The second benefit is for SEO…Search Engine Optimization…. please google “Real Estate Publicity” and tell me who is #1. 🙂
FINANCIALS
We typically do a 50% deposit upfront followed up with either a 25% at the progress 60-70% marker and the balance upon completion of the project (the launch). We’re open to work with you and your budget.
OTHER COSTS FOR YOU NEW USERS
Buying your first domain and paying for hosting are critical but inexpensive pieces of “owning” your website. We work with either MDDhosting.com or GoDaddy. Domains cost $13 per year and are renewably EACH year. Hosting typically costs around $60.00 for the year and is also renewably year to year. 🙂 Yes, there are deals to buying MORE upfront, but I find that giving you an affordable start-up cost is better than locking you in to a 3-5 year deal with a company that can change over time!
