We’ve used many content management systems (CMS’s) since we started the company in 2007. First it was a CMS called ezyAdmin. This served us fine for a while, but any custom built CMS is only as good as it’s development team and development speed, and we found the iterations just weren’t coming fast enough.
In 2009 we turned to Business Catalyst as a CMS. In 2010 it was acquired by Adobe and we all thought great things were going to happen with a global powerhouse like this behind them. But iterations with them were slow too. I even got to meet the founder of Business Catalyst in 2013 and tell him so!
Which is why we started looking to WordPress in 2012. WordPress started off life as a blogging platform but has now developed into one of the world’s most popular (and free) CMS’s.
Some reports suggest as many as 60% of the world’s website now use this system.
So what is WordPress?
WordPress is an open source platform, meaning it is developed by a community of developers
around the world.
To get started you will need to buy hosting and you may need some assistance in installing it if you
are not techie enough to do it yourself.
Having said that however, some technical ability will be required to do this, so don’t take this option on if you are not of the ‘technical’ variety or if you don’t have quite a bit of spare time on your hands.
WordPress also has a variety of available modules (known as plug-ins) that you can integrate with your website, including: calendars, photo galleries, interactive maps, SEO assistance and many more. Some of these will install without a bother, others can be, well, troublesome!
If you don’t know enough about WordPress to get by, you could hire a team (like us) to establish a basic website that you can then build upom, or an entire website including copywriting and optimisation, for which you will pay them an agreed rate, depending on the agreed brief.
Your WordPress development options with us
OPTION 1: Website in a Day
Because we have hundreds of wordpress websites we have managed to fine-tune the process of a wordpress website build into an eight hour period (9am – 5pm). Working on Skype, alongside both a creative strategist/content uploader and an experienced and cutting-edge website developer, you will be amazed at what can be achieved in such a short space of time.
Read more about our ‘Website in a Day’ package here.
OPTION 2: Standard website build
If you would prefer for the website to build in a standard 4-6 week period, we can also accommodate this. Because the project stretches over 4-6 weeks, the fee for this project is higher due to a higher level of project management, though the inclusions are basically the same.
Read more about our standard WordPress builds here.
Both of the above packages include a training and handover sesson where we show you the ropes on how to manage your new website.
But what if you want to do it yourself?
Don’t worry! We can accommodate this request too!
Our sister company The Training Collective runs hands-on and interactive WordPress training courses in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and other locations around the country.
We call these trainings BYO Laptop, as you are required to bring your laptop so you work live on your website and keywords on the day, and leave having actually achieved something.
If you’re ready to better understand how to use your existing WordPress website we’d love you to join us at one of these upcoming sessions.
No matter how familiar you are with WordPress and what you’re trying to do as you can see from the options above, we can help! We hope to hear from you soon.
Do you already use WordPress? What do you think of it? Did you get a little help with the set up in the beginning? Have you had training in it? How have you found this?