I’ve been fielding some questions on what is involved in setting up a WordPress website for my customers, so I have put together a little post of what exactly is involved and what it will cost you. Here are the brass tacks:

• Step 1: I will install and set up WordPress for you on a Club 1000 hosting package.
• Step 2: I will populate the WordPress database with the basic information you want to have on your pages. For instance, if you want to have three pages that contain Contact Information, About Us and Products, I will create those pages for you and put your own copy into them (I don’t write the copy for you, but if you want me to I will give you a quote).
• Step 3: A good starting point for WordPress users is to select a theme that most closely matches what you want the site to look like by visiting The WordPress themes Site. I will install and customise your theme so that it looks the way you want it to, with the links in the right place, the right fonts, colours, graphics, etc. There are many things I can do to make your theme totally unique, including the incorporation of any Flash Movies you have had made, Javascript menus, etc.
• Step 4: I will load up to three plug-ins for you and get them working. You just select the plug-ins you would like to use from The Plug-ins Directory. If you want photo galleries I will set up your first gallery for you (with about 20 images). If you want a shopping cart plug-in I will set this up for you and load your first 20 products.

Once these steps are completed your site will be ready to be shown to the world. If you have an existing domain name you would simply need to change the DNS at your registrar to that which is provided in your Club 1000 Welcome e-mail. If I have registered your domain name for you that would already have happened.

For these services, including the domain name, I charge a paltry US$650 (about R5,000). You are getting one of the world’s best Content Management Systems prepared for you and you’re also getting the best value hosting for one year thrown in too.

If you think you can do it on your own and you’d like to just ask me the odd question to get yourself going, the best thing to do is spend an hour or two with me in person or online using Skype or the regular phone. My rate for consulting on anything to do with web design is $50 (about R385) an hour.

Like this website? It’s made with WordPress and some CSS spit ‘n polish that I added to a free theme found in the WordPress themes site here.

If you see a theme you like in there, I can have your very own WordPress powered website up and running within 5 days of receiving R1,000 from you. Included in the R1,000 is:

• the setup cost of the site (including up to 5 WP themes of your own choice)
• your new domain name
• up to 5 email accounts on your domain name
• 12 months of pre-paid hosting
• 500MB of disk space
• 1GB bandwidth (traffic) per month

The second year you’ll pay a R700 renewal fee. I couldn’t be bothered with monthly debit orders, so I charge half the going rate for the full year in one upfront payment.

You can also pimp out your WP site with hundreds of very cool sidebar widgets or plug-ins that will put e-commerce, mp3 and video players, plus cool photo galleries right into your hands in a couple of clicks. I’ll show you how.

So what’s the difference between this and a regular website I would do? Well, with this deal you basically create your own website using the tools provided within WP. You create your own pages, set up your own galleries and pretty much put your own content where it needs to go. You are in complete control of your own site and can change things on your own. If you learn a bit of CSS and HTML you will also be able to tweak your themes to suite your own needs, things like changing colours and sizes of fonts, background graphics, layout, etc.

This is a pretty sweet deal.

Contact me now to order!