November 18, 201015 yr Hi, As most of you know, WordPress and it's plugins update on a regular basis. So if I did a WP site for a client, could I ask them if they want me to 'maintain' the website and update anything that needs updating. And/Or making a DB backup each month too? I was thinking of charging a monthly fee for this. Say £5 a month?? What do you think of this idea? Do you already offer this? Huw
November 18, 201015 yr You can use a plugin to take a DB backup at a scheduled time and then have it emailed to you. I do that anyway on my Wordpress sites just in case something goes wrong. I tend not to update the versions of Wordpress even though I probably should, unless I'm doing something on the site anyway. But yeah, offering a maintenance agreement would be a good way to go. Charge what you feel comfortable with and how long you think it might take you to do each month.
November 18, 201015 yr Author I use the db backup plugin for my sites currently. I thought that it might take me 15-30mins per site to update plugins. Anything over £5 per month might be off putting to the client??
November 19, 201015 yr Author How many plugins do you have on an average site? On average, 3-5. Plus WP upgrades every month or so.
November 19, 201015 yr Author Honestly, that's really nothing. Although I'd charge a client more than £5. Personally, I'd be charging an 'admin fee' of ~ £25 to make it worthwhile to me. The importance of updating WP and it's plugins could mean that a security bug has been missed out if not updated. Which I think is very important to the client. And will save me LOADS of bad press and hassle later down the line if their site is infected in some way. 3-5 might not be many, but multiply that over 5, 10 even 20+ sites and thats a days work! Are you saying I should not charge for this service or charge them around £25 a month? Cheers
November 26, 201015 yr Are you talking about updating a plugin which takes few seconds? That even a chimp can do. What about rise your standard tariff with $10-$20 and put extra features like free maintenance for the entire year.
November 26, 201015 yr You can use a plugin to take a DB backup at a scheduled time and then have it emailed to you. I do that anyway on my Wordpress sites just in case something goes wrong. I tend not to update the versions of Wordpress even though I probably should, unless I'm doing something on the site anyway. But yeah, offering a maintenance agreement would be a good way to go. Charge what you feel comfortable with and how long you think it might take you to do each month. What is that plugin name? Cheers
November 26, 201015 yr Author What is that plugin name? Cheers http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-db-backup/ I know a chimp may take 5mins to update a plugin, but multiply that by say 10 websites, then maybe there are 2-3 plugins on each site need updating. Plus WordPress itself needs updating from time to time, which is a bigger job. I may go with your idea of chargin a yearly maintenance fee
December 2, 201015 yr Author You've totally missed the point here, yes to someone in the industry updating a plugin is donkey work. Some people not in the know, simply don't want the hassle, have no time to do and paying someone a minimal fee to 'look after things' makes sense / is very attractive. Towards the start of each month I always have a morning booked out for me performing very basic updates to roughly 10 sites (including one wordpress site), Granted, it's mind numbing work, but all the clients own their own business and have little time. As an example, throughout the month a client sends me short news posts and docuemnts that they wish to add to their website. They have a simple news admin area to posts. It takes me about 30 mins to 2 hours depending on how many items/atatchements they send me. I charge this out at £90 per month - it's bugger all to the client as they are loaded and very busy. I was in the process of showing them how to use their admin system with uses ckeditor, but he just said he doesn't have the time to do this, can I do it for him. If you've ever done as sort of freelancing, it's smnall regular jobs like this that will keep you running. You have given me confidence now to go ahead and offer this service. Cheers
December 5, 201015 yr Check out the new Exit Pop-Up Wordpress Survey at http://www.brandography.com/products . Very easy plugin to use
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