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Running Your Service Business on WordPress

19 March 2017 By David Wolfpaw Leave a Comment

This weekend I shared a presentation at WordCamp Atlanta on running your service business, using WordPress as the backend. Whether you want to sell services, run a membership site, want to sell ebooks, or offer code or other digital products for sale, WordPress can help you.

Have a Process

If you build and maintain websites like me, you’ll need to have some sort of process to keep organized. For instance, I use the Genesis Framework from StudioPress. I have a set of code that I can reuse and understand deeply, which allows me to solve problems more efficiently. As a bonus, I’ve created a base child theme that I use to start new sites, and I’ve put it on Github, so you can download it for free.

I also have a base of reliable plugins that I can use and know inside and out. All sites need some form of backup, some security, and since I manage multiple sites, a remote management tool. The iThemes suite fits my needs for most of these tools. I also regularly use some plugins like Yoast SEO and Gravity Forms, which allows me to have a repeatable process when setting them up. That saves time and gets things done for my clients faster!

Manage your Projects Successfully

I try to make it easy on my clients to send support tickets. They can submit from a form on my site (my preferred method, as it can give me more details), send me an email, or use Trello. I use Trello internally, but give clients the option to sign in if they so choose. This allows them to track progress and add comments. I use forms on my sites to gather information, manage invoices and estimates, and scope out work for clients.

Were I to try to manage this on my own, something would inevitably fall through the cracks. Having automated systems and reminders built in allows me to focus more on the problem solving of fixing website errors, not the problem of printing, signing, and faxing contracts.

Use Your Site to Market Your Business

Your WordPress site is a great way to build your brand and market your business. Start with some blog posts about what you do. Add a newsletter signup form so you can let subscribers know when you have sales. Create landing pages for those sales, and track engagement on them. Most themes have ways to do all of these things easily, and if not there’s always a plugin or ten.

Start Small

There are a lot of ways that you can increase and improve business with your website. You can easily become overwhelmed, as I’ve been, in trying to do everything that someone suggests to you at once. Instead, choose one task that you can implement today and try it. If you can improve one thing every day, a year from now you’ll have a totally transformed business.

[slideshare id=73287735&doc=wcatl2017-runningyourservicebusinessonwordpress-170318192705]

Why Hire an Agency When You Can Hire In-House?

12 December 2016 By David Wolfpaw Leave a Comment

I’ve been supporting websites professionally for over a decade, and in that time have worked in a variety of situations:

  • Being the single cog at the machine that is a client services agency
  • Being the point of contact between a client and a team
  • Working with a clients’ in-house teams on a specific area of expertise
  • Being the leader of a small team working on a client project
  • Being the sole provider of services for clients

Each of these is a different way of working and involves different processes. What isn’t different is communication. Having a team that you can communicate with before any problems arise with your website is vital. You may not think that you need ongoing maintenance, but if you don’t have an internal team, it is a must to ensure that your business runs smoothly and that you don’t lose money.

So Why Use An Agency When I Can Hire In-House?

If you hire an in-house employee, you’re getting the skill set of that one employee. They may be great, but can they do everything? I’ve learned what areas are not my strong suit (You don’t want me designing your logo, trust me!), along with which areas I shine in. I then supplement those weak areas with trusted colleagues who complement my skills.

So let’s say you decide to use an agency for a WordPress maintenance retainer. What employee roles are you filling for one monthly fee?

  • Developer: Good developers are worth their weight in gold, but their hourly rates can quickly consume an entire project budget.
  • Designer: Great designers are always in high demand. Well designed assets show that your company means business, and can help you stand out from your competition.
  • Market Strategist: You make the decisions in your company, and you want the most reliable data to back up your decision making. Having analytics and marketing reports made for you can save time and trouble.
  • Account Manager: Regular reporting is crucial to the success of any company. In addition to ongoing support and maintenance, make sure you have reports in place for your website. Your account manager can keep track of updates, any changes that may affect you, and the state of your website overall.

These are just a few of the roles that any business needs for their web presence. Can you afford to support an employee for each of those mission-critical roles? It’s ok if you can’t, as there are a number of options to get the value of an employee without the worry of having to pay for their downtime between tasks.

The choice between hiring in-house or hiring a website development and maintenance company isn’t always so clear. But when it is, the savings associated with outsourcing these tasks to a trusted team cannot be denied.

You’re on your way to a stress-free website!

We’ll follow up to schedule an initial site audit and website support goals consultation at a time convenient to you.

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