Building your WordPress website will be a collaborative process. You know all about your products and services, and the people that you want to connect with. I bring a strong background in marketing, online technology tools, and especially in WordPress, so I can make your great idea come to life online.
Review my website packages to get an idea of the features you can incorporate at the various budget levels. Start simple, and add on as your business grows.
Once you have determined your budget range, we will prepare your Plan. Then you choose your starter theme and decide how you want to organize your site’s content. I will then lay out your site’s design and add all the techy functions you need. Your finished site will be secure from hackers and incorporate all the features you need to help you get the word out about your great idea.
Now that we have put your plan in place, the time has come to take your great idea online and create a website that gives your visitors a great first impression and keeps them coming back.
You want to focus on growing your business and you don’t have a lot of time to waste with fussy, complicated technology. You want the best of both worlds — a website that is both powerful AND simple to manage.
Say hello to WordPress!
WordPress is one of the world’s easiest and most powerful website content management systems (or CMS) for some very good reasons:
- No scary code to learn
- No special software to install on your computer
- No fancy formatting to worry about
All you need to manage your website is an internet connection and your favorite browser. You can use your computer, tablet, or even a smartphone to access the back end of your site. Create a new page, post a news update, or add a product to your online store – from your dedicated workspace or while wandering across the globe. You can even update your blog by writing an email. The possibilities are endless!
Video Tutorials
Take a minute to view a great introduction on how to use WordPress from the WordPress 101 tutorial course, a 20-part video series that guides you step-by-step through the basics of using this simple yet powerful content management system.
You can purchase the full suite of 63 courses online at WP101 for a very reasonable fee. Learn all the WordPress basics in about an hour, or get geeky and dive into the Yoast SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or WooCommerce (for online stores) courses to max out your WordPress knowhow.
WordPress – Infinite possibilities
Millions of users agree that WordPress is the simplest and most versatile website Content Management System (CMS) available today.
You are in good company. According to this Wikipedia article, “WordPress was used by more than 23.3% of the top 10 million websites as of January 2015. WordPress is the most popular blogging system in use on the Web, at more than 60 million websites.”
WordPress is completely free to use, and we will use it to create a beautiful, dynamic and mobile responsive website for your business or project. Whether you are creating a simple blog or a full-featured business website, WordPress gives us access to a huge inventory of tools and resources we can access to make your site shine!
Want to see what is possible with WordPress? Tour the WordPress showcase for inspiration and explore how organizations as diverse as The Walt Disney Company, The Jane Goodall Institute, and the band Sigur Rós are using WordPress to share their stories with the world.
Now this is the fun part!
Your website should reflect your personality as well as your product or service. Choosing a starter themes is the first step, customizing it to fit your brand and adding all the features that will help you grow your business is where I come in.
As a web developer, I have invested in premium services that add value for my clients. A cornerstone of my toolkit is Studiopress – a dedicated team that builds WordPress themes powered by their Genesis Framework. To quote Studiopress …
“IT’S PROBABLY EASIEST TO THINK OF:
WordPress as the engine of your car
Genesis as the frame and body
StudioPress themes as the paint job”
As a long term Pro Plus Package Studiopress client, I can give you access to any of their beautiful, secure, SEO-optimized, mobile responsive themes.
To view a demo of any theme, hover over the image for that theme, click on the “See details and pricing” button, then click on the “Live Demo” link.
Keep in mind that the samples shown on their site have been filled with demo content and images, and that most of the layout can be changed. Some of the sites on my Portfolio page have a link to the original theme demo, giving you a “before and after” view of how a site can be customized. For example, both A Cuppa Tea and Wellness Ecuador sites were built using the Fun theme. As you can see, the level of customization is up to you.
Starting your design from a theme template kick starts your project and is the most cost effective way to get online fast. However, if none of these starter themes meets your needs, I can create a design for you from scratch using the Starter Pro theme for Genesis.
The hardest part is choosing which beautiful theme you want to start your site with!
Selecting a unique domain name and finding a reliable hosting provider are critical first steps in the process of creating a secure, full-featured and fast-loading website.
If you already have a website, it’s also critical to periodically re-evaluate hosting options, particularly if you need to add new functions and features, revamp the design, or make your website mobile responsive and easy to read and navigate on devices such as tablets and mobile phones.
I can help you determine which hosting provider would best meet your needs and ensure that you get the best value for your dollar. The more secure and dependable your provider, the safer and more reliable your website will be. A provider with excellent customer support is even better.
Below are two hosting providers that are perfect for a smaller business that is just starting out.
SiteGround – Engineered for speed, built for security, crafted for WordPress.
SiteGround offers feature-rich managed WordPress hosting with premium support. They have 3 affordable hosting plans that offer different features. If you are selling products online or need super-fast speeds for an image-rich site, one of their plans will suit your business’s requirements.
The following features are included with all plans:
- Free Domain
- WP Auto-Updater – automatically updates your WordPress version
- 4 Server Locations
- 99.9% Uptime
- Free CloudFlare CDN – A Content Delivery Network that helps your site run faster
- Free SSLs – (Secure Sockets Layer) is the standard security technology that ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral. SSL is required if you want to sell product and services and accept payment online.
- Free Daily Backup
- 24/7 WP Support
- Free Email Accounts
- Unmetered Traffic
GoDaddy Managed WordPress Hosting — A small business solution
GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress Hosting provides an environment that is optimized specifically for WordPress.
The following options depend on which plan you select:
- Free domain name with an annual plan
- Automatic nightly backups
- Automatic WordPress software updates.
- Microsoft Office 365 Email free for the first year (optional)
- One-click transfer of your existing site while I build your new website in a hidden development area, with no down time!
- Daily backups with 1-click restore
Once we have your domain registered and your hosting purchased and configured, I will install WordPress on your chosen hosting provider’s servers. I will then install and customize your site’s theme, and configure all the WordPress Plugins you need to make your site secure and rich in features and functions.
You can leave all that techie stuff to me – that’s my role in our partnership.
