We build all of our websites on the WordPress, self-hosted platform (not WordPress.com). There are myriad reasons for this decision, but the main reasons are:

WordPress is easy for the client to administer and you own 100% of the content
WordPress is open source software, so it is free and updated regularly
WordPress powers over 30% of all websites in the word, including HuffingtonPost, WashingtonPost, etc.
It allows you near infinite customization capabilities
WordPress is great for search engine optimization

Since we build in WordPress, the platform on which we build could be called a ‘template’. Additionally, we use the most popular theme for WordPress. The theme is the base coding set that drives the look, feel, and functionality of the website. However, due to our use of these software tools, we can create websites that look nothing like one another, so the days of the standard ‘template’ site looking like a cookie-cutter of another site are over.

This question always catches people. The registration of your domain is completely separate from your email servers and your website servers. If you have your domain registered with GoDaddy, and you want to have a website, you will need to have a hosting account, because the hosting account is computer where your website data sits. That can be with GoDaddy, or with someone else. We highly recommend that you use our hosting, as we have partnered up with the #1 WordPress hosting provider (WPEngine) and we provide a higher grade of service that you can get directly from them at a lower price (due to our volume).

Website care plans are highly recommended. Just as with any software, there are updated and security patches that need to be installed on a regular basis. If you have a Windows-based computer, this is happening near daily with your software in the background. That’s how our service runs – we do this all in the background without your interaction. With our Website Hosting, Plugin and Care plan, we not only keep your entire website up-to-date and secure, we act as your ‘on-call’ tech support people to make whatever changes you may need made to your website.

Upon final payment for website design, you are the 100% owner of all of the content on your website.

One of our founding principles when we started our company was to be sure that nobody was ‘held hostage’ by their tech support folks. We have heard too many horror stories of how people lost their website or had their websites ‘held hostage’ until they paid exorbitant fees to get them released from their web provider. You will get full access to the back-end of your website, with administrator privileges, so that you can do whatever you wish with your site. We will also have a comprehensive training center on our website with 40+ “How to …’ videos showing you how to edit and work with your website.

You are the 100% owner of your website and all of its content. If you find that you want to move your site to another hosting provider, you are perfectly capable of copying the entire WordPress installation onto another server. However, we only provide Care Plans for sites that are on our servers because we know that they are the fastest and most secure and cause the least number of headaches.

Since you will have 100% access to your website, you do not have to contact us. However, many clients don’t want to have to learn how to do the ‘tech stuff’ and love the peace of mind that a professional is handling their site, so they retain us monthly with one of our Care Packages.