What It Is

WordPress is what is known as a Content Management System (CMS). When implemented correctly, it allows non-technical marketers and staff to update website content. With more training and time, it can even allow such staff to modify website navigation, headers, footers, and more.

WordPress is open source, which means it is free for anyone to use. On its own, WordPress is not all that user friendly and doesn’t offer any options for managing multiple headers and footers across different pages. Nor does it offer a web form system that does much. There’s more, but my build approaches transform WordPress into a very user-friendly, expandable setup that requires no understanding of web code for office staff to deal with.

I build WordPress websites using the best components on the market today. These components come in the form of plugins and themes. A plugin is a module of code which instantly adds functionality to a WordPress website, such as providing layout tools for your web pages, sophisticated web forms, and more. A Theme provides the design basis for your website. These components often require annual paid licenses for updates.

WordPress and its components must constantly be updated to maintain the security of your website and component capability. This is a core requirement of owning a WordPress website, there are no exceptions. However, updates can sometimes cause problems among the best tested components, which is why I offer a service to handle that (see my SMASH service further below).

Ownership Costs

These costs vary by situation, but in general one of these options applies:

  1. You pay for the annual licensing costs for all components and perform system updates yourself. If you’re tech savvy, this is the way to go.
  2. I pay for the licensing costs and deal with all updates and issues based on a monthly subscription fee starting at $100.00/mo.
  3. You pay me a lower subscription rate to cover the cost of the licenses (you don’t have to deal with all the software companies and renewals) and in some cases the web hosting as well, but perform all updates yourself. If you run into trouble, I’m available at my discounted rate of $65/hr. Again, this is for the tech savvy.

My plugin and theme licensing costs are different as an agency than yours will be as a website owner. As a website owner of a smaller site, the annual licensing costs can go as high as $405.00. Larger websites can run as high as $900.00 (I cover this cost as described further down). Again, this has to do with the components I’ve chosen to build with. They provide the premium experience for me while building and securing the website, and for you as a client when updating website content.  Yes, there are cheaper ways to build a WordPress website, but they don’t offer the high level of ease-of-use that my approach offers or the design sophistication only possible with these premium components.

What SMASH Covers

Site Maintenance and Security Hardening (SMASH):

  1. Keeps your website components current while monitoring and adapting your security stance against hackers.
  2. SMASH Hosting combines security best-practices with a vetted web host as a combined monthly subscription service.
  3. This service covers the cost of your website’s licenses, handling all renewals and updates.
  4. Pricing is $100/mo. for simple websites, higher subscription rates for more complex websites. Payments can be on a monthly subscription by credit card, quarterly by check or some other combination that works best for you.

In summary, there are ongoing costs associated with a professionally built WordPress website. How those costs are absorbed depends on what’s best for your organization. While most plugins will run with expired licenses, the danger with old software is that this is what hackers focus on. Eventually, things can get so outdated that they have to replaced instead of updated when the time comes get things current.