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Launch your website!

WordPress Coaching and Care

Launch your website!

WordPress Coaching and Care

minion-builders

Build a New Website

Investing in a new website?
Build it right the first time

Our team has years of experience, not only in website construction, but marketing, branding, and business development to guide you in the right direction.

falcon9

Re-launch a Website

Current site not meeting your needs?
We'll redesign it

We use best practices & best-of-class tools that are designed for today's mobile devices and desktops.

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WP Developer Resources

We've solved sticky problems.
We love to share our discoveries

We spend a lot of time keeping abreast of new technology and solving problems with themes, plugins, security, and performance.

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We Can Build a New Website for You

Amish barn raising
A successful project takes a good plan, the right tools, & teamwork

Ready for YOUR new website?

Tell Me More

If you would like a free consultation regarding your project
please fill out this form

If you need immediate assistance, send me the form because I might not be able to take a phone call or text message at the moment.
But try that as well...
510.842.7438

-- Pieter Hartsook


User Friendly

We design websites so clients can change the content themselves.

Mobile Friendly

Responsive web-design works for desktops and smart phones.

Easy To Maintain

Page-builder layout makes it easy to add or edit content.

Quick Turnaround

Our tools let us build a new site in weeks -- not months.

These are the kind of websites we've built...

Marketing

Your website is an extension of your brand on the internet. We design sites to effectively communicate your market advantages to your audience and help you be discovered.

Most people today will look you up on the internet before doing business with you. First impressions count... Make sure you know what your most important messages are, and to whom you want to communicate, and we will help you make sure that it's measurably effective.

Portfolios

Artist, craftsperson, consultant, maker-in-residence -- we'll help you showcase the products of your imagination. Let the world discover your talents. 

Photo galleries, slideshows, video and audio playlists are all easy to do with modern website tools. You can upload your content to your own website, or connect it to your accounts like YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Slideshare to stream your hosted content to your own website.

e-Commerce

Whether you're selling anvils or artichokes, or just digital pictures of them, you will need a way to create and manage your product listings and enable your customers to find the product they want.

You also need to provide a painless and secure checkout and payment process, and arrange  for physical or digital delivery. 

There are several good options you can add to your WordPress site to add e-commerce capabilities. Picking the right one, and configuring it, including the connections to payment processors is not trivial. Our team has the experience to help you navigate the twists and turns to get you set up and start selling.

Podcasts

Some demographics prefer to listen to content rather than look at it. If you can write a blog posts, you can record your thoughts or interviews and distribute through iTunes and other podcast syndication sites.

You also can include those recordings on your own website. If you have something important to say, maybe you should also say it with audio (or video...).

Web Design

To keep costs down we often use pre-built page designs provided by the theme and plugin developers as a starting point for our page layouts. But if you want a bespoke look, we can create a unique design for you.

Our WordPress Website Coach team includes traditional graphic and visual artists, user experience (UX) designers, storyboarding and branding, search engine optimization (SEO), and analytics experts to make sure your website delivers the results you expect.

Membership

Sometimes you want to communicate with only a select few. We can set up a website with registration (paid or free) that will show some content to the general public and other content only to your members.

We can make sure your premium content is only available to your registered members. Combined with newsletter mailing lists it's a powerful combination.

What kind of website can we make for you?

Let's talk about it

    If you would like a free consultation regarding your project

    please fill out this form

    If you need immediate assistance, send me the form because I might not be able to take a phone call or text message at the moment.
    But try that as well...
    510.842.7438

    -- Pieter Hartsook

    Your Name (required)

    Your Email (required)

    Your Phone

    Your current website

    Contact me by

    emailphone

    I'm interested in:

    New WebsiteRe-launch existing siteTrouble-shooting WordPress siteWordPress coaching/trainingSite migration/new hostingOther...

    How soon do you need help?

    It's an emergency, I need help right awayI wish it were already doneIn the next few weeksIn a month or soIt depends...

    Anything else you'd like to add?

    Portfolio

    Our Latest Project

    Marletta Law - Workers' Compensation Lawyers

    The office's previous website, although a WordPress site, had a theme and plugins that were several years out of date. As a result, the site was not responsive (didn't work well on mobile) and the pages were just a jumble of plugin shortcodes, making it impossible to edit.

    But the graphic design was nice. We kept many of the design elements, but replaced the broken theme with Genesis and used Beaver Builder page-builder plugin to do the layout -- replicating the look and functionality of the original design.

    To make the site more modern and mobile-friendly we consolidated several of the interior pages into rows on the homepage, with menu and button navigation between the sections.

    We customized the website for mobile users. If you're going to a workers' comp lawyer website on your cell phone, probably the most important thing you are looking for is their phone number. Beaver Builder provided us the option for mobile devices easily hiding the initial row at the top of the homepage with the large graphic and company logo.  On mobile devices, that gets replaced with a large red box with the phone number.

    Slide the bar to see the difference between desktop and mobile devices  below.

    Desktop Mobile
    Build a Better Website with our help 1

    More from WordPress Website Coach portfolio

    click tiles for details

    Business Development Consulting

    Business Value Group - relaunch website using Beaver Builder theme and plugin. Goal was a re-brand and simplification of the previous website.

    visit site
    Health Education

    Learning in Action - relaunch website using Impreza theme and Visual Composer plugin. Detailed services pages, filtered access to articles, newsletters, and blog posts. Integration with MailChimp and Calendar for workshops and retreats.

    visit site
    Entrepreneur

    Private Trustee Services - New website using Impreza theme and Visual Composer plugin. Detailed services section, embedded video, 3-fold brochure and slide deck matching website design and content.

    visit site
    Market Research Services

    Merrill Research - relaunch website using Impreza theme and Visual Composer plugin

    - detailed Services page
    - Case Studies portfolio pages
    - automated Research Report sales, with stamped digital downloads

    visit site
    Craftsman

    Master Roofing Company - a new website for a contractor with nearly 40 years experience in and around the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Using Genesis and Beaver Builder

    we were able to go from request to site launch in

    • - under 3 weeks and
    • - for less that $600
    Read About the Project
    Multisite Portal

    Moving Moment Portal - New WordPress Multisite. 6 websites with Impreza theme & Visual Composer.

    - consistent navigation across all 6 sites
    - updates are handled only once for all sites
    - calendar events can be shared across sites
    - distinctive styling for each site

    visit site
    Artist

    The Art of Montclair - New website using Genesis theme and Beaver Builder plugin.

    - simple one-page responsive site design
    - easy to maintain link list
    - easy to change background image

    visit site
    Elementary School

    Ross Valley Charter School - New website using Beaver Builder theme and plugin.

    - fast deployment to meet deadlines
    - bi-lingual content
    - video and pdf embeds
    - calendar
    - easy for volunteers to create new content

    visit site
    Wholesaler

    Healthy Avocado - New website using Avada theme and Avada's page-builder plugin. This produce wholesaler uploads weekly shipments statistics and information about his suppliers for his customers.

    visit site
    Organization Business Directory

    Western Construction Consultants - re-launch html website using WordPress Impreza theme and Visual Composer plugin. Modernize design.

    - filterable, searchable directory database
    - subscribable calendar of events

    visit site
    Healthcare Podcast

    Healthcare Pittstop - New website, podcast/blog using Avada theme and plugin and Blubrry podcasting syndication services.

    - Simple layout to make archives accessible
    - audio & transcriptions on blog, audio-only via podcasting subscriptions

    visit site
    Neighborhood Blog

    The Localhub Blog - New website using Impreza theme and Visual Composer plugin. Source for original reviews and advice, curated news and social events. Blog posts are filtered into topical sections on the homepage making it easier to follow.

    visit site

    Is it time to redo your old website?

    Rule #1: If it works, don't fix it...

    Rule #2: If it's NOT working, then NOW is the time to fix it!

     

    • If your business or market has changed and your site has not kept up - you need to update the content (adding pages and posts, not necessarily changing the theme or styling).
    • If your old site doesn't work well on mobile devices - you need to update to a more modern theme.
    • If your old site is looking, well old, - you might be able to restyle your content using your current theme, but sometimes it's cheaper and easier to just switch to a more modern theme.

    Keep it going. We will develop the new site in parallel at a temporary URL. When the new site is at least as good as the old site, we can make the switch.

    We will also want to have access to the old content to copy it over to the new website.

    WordPress uses a combination of PHP code, MySQL database, and a webserver like Apache or Nginx. It is much more consumptive of hosting resources than old html websites. Also, since WordPress is such a popular hosting environment it's become a target for malware and hackers. -- So you should consider switching your hosting for the new website to a provider that specializes in WordPress hosting. These companies and hosting plans are not much more expensive than the traditional shared hosting, but the difference in performance, security, and support is night and day.

    We can recommend hosting companies and suitable WordPress hosting plans depending on your specific requirements.

    If your old site was WordPress then exporting/importing of your content (text and images, categories, tags, users) is usually pretty simple. If your old site is html or some other web development platform, it is more trouble. You may wind up just copy and pasting from the pages on the old site into new WordPress pages to get started.

    WordPress keeps its pages of text in the database and the associated images in the /uploads folder. The WordPress theme is what puts these together and arranges them on the page. You can switch themes and not lose your main page content.

    The theme you pick is really a set of tools your website developer uses to achieve a particular look and set of functionality. Sometimes a particular theme will match almost exactly the functionality and look that you want for your site. If it really is a good match, then that might be the way to go. But you may have a hard time making just one or two seemingly "simple" changes that the theme developer did not include in the theme options.

    An alternative to a purpose-built theme is to use a generalized theme with additional plugins that are flexible enough to create any combination of design and functionality. This approach avoids the functional and design lock-in you encounter with purpose-built themes and ensures the longevity of the site as your needs evolve over time.

    What's the difference between building a new website and re-launching?

    When you re-launch you have the advantage of already having a collection of pre-existing content, and the experience and feedback from running your old site. You have gained the advantage of hindsight that only comes from experience. Knowing what NOT to do can be as important as knowing what you might do.

    So you have a headstart and a clearer vision of your goal than someone without that experience.

    Your needs evolved, but so did technology

    While you were running your old site, your business changed. It grew or contracted, you had a new mix of products and services, and your target market shifted too. With older website technology it may have been too costly to keep up.

    Website development tools have been evolving. We are now in an era comparable to the time when desktop publishing appeared. With WordPress comprising almost one-third of all the websites in the world, there is large and robust ecosystem of add-ons that extend and enhance the basic WordPress platform.

    One of these technologies is the page-builder plugin. This technology enables us to layout a dynamic website page design with a simple intuitive drag-and-drop interface similar to how desktop publishing provided page layout tools. This lets us copy an old design, or create a new one much more easily than the older tools. These new tools are also responsive, automatically adapting the page design for mobile devices.

    Knowledge Sharing: Community-Based LearningHow do you do that?Watch Out!There's a plugin for that...

    How Do You Do That?!

    WordPress sites are actually a collection of components from different vendors that must all work in harmony to get the functionality and appearance you want. If one is slightly off-key it can cause havoc with the rest of the site. WordPress Website Coach has experience using dozens of these components on many client sites. We know what combinations of parts work well together and which ones are more problematic.

    Getting your site to look and work exactly the way you want often requires some customization of these components. We've done that and want to share some of our tips and tricks with you.

    For example would you like to know our Seven questions to improve your website design?

    Talk to Us

      If you would like a free consultation regarding your project

      please fill out this form

      If you need immediate assistance, send me the form because I might not be able to take a phone call or text message at the moment.
      But try that as well...
      510.842.7438

      -- Pieter Hartsook

      Your Name (required)

      Your Email (required)

      Your Phone

      Your current website

      Contact me by

      emailphone

      I'm interested in:

      New WebsiteRe-launch existing siteTrouble-shooting WordPress siteWordPress coaching/trainingSite migration/new hostingOther...

      How soon do you need help?

      It's an emergency, I need help right awayI wish it were already doneIn the next few weeksIn a month or soIt depends...

      Anything else you'd like to add?

      If you need help customizing your WordPress site -- talk to us.

      We have experience in PHP, MySQL, CSS, and Javascript that underlies your WordPress website.

      Sometimes you can find a "purpose-built" theme that exactly meets your functional and stylistic requirements. This can save you a lot of time and cost creating the website for your business. But, be careful...

      Most of the highly targeted themes are very difficult to modify outside of the range of settings the theme developer provides. Even something you would think was a simple change might require many hours of custom coding and testing to achieve.

      Often times it is more efficient to use a general purpose theme that is well supported and highly configurable that can serve as a basis for almost any set of design and functional requirements. This is the approach we use most of the time...

      Our preferred platform is the Genesis Framework for the theme and Beaver Builder plugin to manage the page layout.

      It's 2017, every site URL these days should start with https:// instead of http://. There are several reasons for adding that SSL Certificate:

      1. With SSL, your viewer's interactions with your website are encrypted, you may not be collecting credit card info, but forms often have names, addresses, phone number, etc. that nobody wants shared with the guy at the next table at Starbucks.
      2. The encrypted pages from your site actually load faster than the unencrypted ones.
      3. Google will down-rank your SEO if you don't have an SSL cert.
      4. Browsers are increasingly alerting viewers if they are trying to load an "unsecure page". You do not want visitors to your site to wonder if viewing your pages is safe.
      5. If you are doing e-commerce on your site, you will be required to have an SSL Certificate.

      There are several levels of SSL Certificates. The lowest level is a "domain-level" certificate. Issuing this certificate can be automated. Basically, a program checks to see if an email address associated with your domain, is also associated with your website hosting account. If it is, you get an SSL cert for your website and you can do e-commerce, your visitors see the Secure lock, and https://  shows up in their browser.

      Many web hosting vendors are now providing domain-level SSL Certificates for free with your account, and it takes only a few clicks and a minute or two to set it up. If your hosting vendor doesn't do this, it's time to switch hosting vendors!

      Google provides free analytics accounts. While there are other website statistics services, Google Analytics is easy to add to your site and will over time provide you a wealth of information about what visitors find interesting on your site. It will also tell you for example, what percent of your visits come from mobile devices. That's good information to have when you're thinking about a site redesign to make it more mobile-friendly.

      Look at the page-source for any one of your pages and search for "UA-" That's the prefix for Google Analytics tracking number for your account. If you see something like UA-12345678-1, that's it. You have Google Analytics installed. Just log in to your Google account to view the website traffic reports.

      It all depends... We can build a simple several-page website from scratch in 8-10 hours if you have your content ready to go.

       

      1. What do you want to accomplish with your site? A one-page "brochure" site with your business details and contact information is much easier than an e-commerce or membership site.
      2. How much content (text, images, video, audio, etc.) do you already have? Is it already on a WordPress website, in electronic documents that your can copy and paste, or do you have to create the content from scratch?
      3. Do you already have a design in mind for your site? Do you have a marketing and art department that can provide detailed wireframes for all the pages with specifications for colors, fonts, etc? If not we have visual and User Experience (UX) designers that can meet with you to develop a design for you.
      4. Would you be happy using pre-existing professionally designed layouts for your web pages? That can save loads of time and cost by replacing the stock text and images with your own. Maybe a pre-built coffee shop layout would work just fine for your coffee shop.
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