Like many freelance musicians, instead of a single job my employment history is more of a portfolio career.
I have been interested in technology and the web for a long time, and I’ve had a variety of freelance jobs in website creation, design, and content creation since 2004. Since 2016 I have been specializing in helping musicians and small businesses establish and improve their websites and overall online presence.
This has involved building websites, maintaining existing websites, and teaching business owners how to manage their own sites.
Already Have a Website?
If you have an existing WordPress site, one of the most important things you need to do is to actively maintain it. While WordPress is my preferred choice for all sorts of sites, it does come with the need to have regular maintenance check-ups.
My WordPress Maintenance Plans are designed to keep your site running smoothly and protected from malicious actors. The Hosted package adds hosting on a private server for optimum performance, and my Premier package includes more monthly work time for sites that are updated on a monthly or weekly basis.
Good:
Better:
Best:
Essential
WordPress Maintenance Plan
My standard maintenance plan.
This plan is perfect if you already have your own website hosting and simply want to make sure that your site stays secure and up-to-date.
The free hour of work each month can cover minor page content updates.
- Weekly plugin and site updates.
- Emergency updates (usually within 24 hours) if vulnerable plugins are discovered on your site
- Monthly site backups.
- Monthly site analytics (if desired).
- Up to 1 hour of free work every month.
- Additional time is available at a 50% discount.
Hosted
WordPress Maintenance Plan
Everything from my Basic WordPress Maintenance Plan, plus I’ll host your site on a private server and manage all the technical aspects of hosting your website.
The private server ensures optimum performance since I personally manage all the sites and software that run. While you can find cheap hosting, you won’t get VPS-level performance at this price!
- 1 year of hosting on a dedicated VPS server.
- Weekly plugin and site updates.
- Emergency updates (usually within 24 hours) if vulnerable plugins are discovered on your site
- Monthly site backups.
- Monthly site analytics (if desired).
- Up to 1 hour of free work every month.
- Additional time is available at a 50% discount.
Premier
WordPress Maintenance Plan
My most comprehensive WordPress plan.
It’s also my best value if you need to add content to your site every week or month.
This plan includes everything in the “Plus” package (1 year of managed hosting, weekly updates, monthly backups, and analytics) and up to 5 free work hours every month.
- 1 year of hosting on a dedicated VPS server.
- Weekly plugin and site updates.
- Emergency updates (usually within 24 hours) if vulnerable plugins are discovered on your site
- Monthly site backups.
- Monthly site analytics (if desired).
- Up to 5 hours of free work every month.
- Additional time is available at a 50% discount.
Need a Website?
Do I Really Need A Website?
The short answer is – yes. A website lets you connect with your customers and helps them develop trust in your services and reputation.
For a more in-depth answer, you can read this short article that gives the four biggest reasons why you need a website today.
No matter whether you want a simple single-page site or something more complex, I have a variety of options that can meet just about any need and budget.
Basic Site
Basic Site
+ Hosting
Custom Site
(+ Hosting)
Standard Website
This is a simple 3-5 page website that is ideal for a musician, or a band, as well as a great starting point for a small business or restaurant.
This site will include a front page, an about/biography page, a contact page, and up to 2 optional pages depending on your needs. If you need additional pages, they can be easily added yourself, or I can do it for a bit extra.
- Choose one of my theme options to start – fonts, colors, and images can be changed!
- Send me the text for each section (and any images you have) and I will add them to your selected site template.
- Once your site is finished, I can either upload it to the host of your choice, or I can send you the completed site with instructions to install it on your WordPress host of choice.
Standard Website + Hosting
The same custom-designed options as my Standard Website package, with the addition of managed hosting on a private server for the fastest site response!
This plan also includes everything from my Hosted WordPress Maintenance Plan package (for a 40% discount).
- Choose one of my theme options, with the freedom to change fonts, colors, and images.
- This site package includes 1 year of hosting on a dedicated VPS server, along with weekly updates, monthly backups, and monthly analytics.
- Up to 1 free hour of work every month.
Custom-Designed Website (Hosting Optional)
If you need something special for your project or business, we can work together to design the perfect site.
I can create design options for you, or you can send me examples of what you like (even napkin drawings). This site package can include as many pages as you need, and with optional hosting (either my Hosted or Premier WordPress Maintenance Plans).
Contact me for additional details, pricing, and a project timeline.
- Create a custom site from your mockup or example sites, or we can come up with a site design together.
- This site can include as many pages as you need – create a blog, a gallery, a work portfolio, a member area, etc.
- I can also include hosting – either my Plus or Premier plans – along with a discount.
A La Carte Services
Maybe you don’t need a full-service package for your website, but just a bit of “sprucing up”. If that’s the case, you can take a look at some of my a la carte website options.
Web Site Refresh
WordPress websites are incredibly powerful, but they also require regular maintenance. If you don’t keep your site up-to-date, not only will it slow down, but it can also be dangerous to your customers and your business.
This service includes:
- Updating all themes and plugins.
- Creating a current backup of the site.
- Securing the site against hackers and malware.
- Installing a spam filter for comments and contact forms.
- Optimizing image sizes.
- Site speed optimizations.
- Removing unused plugins and themes (if desired).
- Bonus: 1 year of my Basic WordPress Maintenance Plan for free. (A $250 value!)
HTTPS Upgrade
HTTPS is a requirement for every website these days.
Whether or not you deal with customers’ credit cards or payment information, HTTPS sends an important signal to your users and search engines.
I will upgrade your site with an SSL certificate to get the secure “padlock” icon in all major browsers.
Password Manager Setup
While not strictly website-related, I’ve seen and heard of so many people with insufficient password security, that this is becoming more and more important.
I can help you choose, download, install, and setup a password manager. Depending on your location, this can either be in-person or over a Zoom call.
I can also give you information on the best way to transfer passwords from your web browser(s) to this password manager, and how to use the password manager to generate stronger, almost unbreakable, passwords going forward.
Keep in mind that while there are free password managers (that are excellent), there are also paid services (that are also excellent). This price does not include a password manager subscription.
WordPress Training
First-time WordPress users are often intimidated by the thought of being a “webmaster”. However, WordPress is relatively easy to use even if you have little (or no) experience with websites.
If you have specific questions about your site or want more general information about how to run a site safely, I’m happy to help. As a professional musician and teacher, I’m comfortable explaining complicated concepts so that they are easily understood.
I schedule these phone calls in 30-minute increments. The price is per half-hour.
Updating PHP
PHP is one of the core languages that WordPress is built upon, so it’s important to ensure you’re using the correct version.
Using an old or out-of-date version of PHP can make your site slow and vulnerable to attacks.
If you’re getting warnings about using an out-of-date version of PHP, I will upgrade your site to use the most current version.
General Website Work
If you need something done that doesn’t fit into one of these above categories, I can still probably help you fix or improve your WordPress site.
Some examples of things I’ve done for clients in a one-off fashion include: creating and adding new website pages, redesigning your homepage, creating custom content taxonomies and page layouts, fixing database issues, improving SEO performance, and more.
Price below is my hourly rate.
Discounts
I offer 25% discounts to the following types of institutions or groups:
- Nonprofit organizations
- Educational institutions
- Musicians or musical groups/bands
Website Resources
A collection of useful tools and online resources for building your own website and managing your digital presence.
Images
- Canva: Create graphics for your website for free.
- ConvertAColor: There are four standard ways that websites display color, each with pros and cons. This site can switch between all four.
- Pexels: A site with a variety of free (and paid) images to use on your website.https://www.canva.com/
- TinyPNG: An online app that will shrink your images without a noticeable loss in quality. Save your user’s bandwidth and your own storage space!
- Unsplash: Another site with a variety of free images for use on your website.
Mailing List
- MailChimp: A wonderful option for those just getting started with newsletters. This service allows up to 10,000 emails sent per month for free.
Social Media
Search Engine Optimization
- Google Trends: Examine the search volume over time and by geographic area for almost any search term you can think of.
- Moz Beginner’s Guide to SEO: A good look at what SEO means (and how to start doing it).
- Yoast SEO Plugin: An excellent all-around SEO plugin for WordPress.
Site Utilities
- Cloudflare: A content delivery network that can protect your site against DDoS attacks and improve site speed.
- Divi: A versatile WordPress theme that allows you to create complex visual layouts with a drag-and-drop editor easily.
- Elementor: Another WordPress theme that allows drag-and-drop layout creation.
- Hover: A reputable domain registrar. Excellent customer support and no hidden charges.
- InMotion Hosting: If you’re looking for an easy-to-setup “DIY” host, InMotion is my choice. Much better than services like GoDaddy or Hostgator!
- Linode: If you want to run your own server, Linode is the best way to do it. My personal favorite web host!
- NameCheap: Another excellent domain registrar. The “killer feature” for NameCheap is the ability to set up administrators for your domain while maintaining control of the ownership.
- WordFence: A solid all-in-one WordPress security plugin. While it won’t handle all your security needs, it will keep you informed and alert you if anything goes wrong with your site.
I also often blog about web and technology topics, such as website security, privacy, and different ways to make your website the most effective tool for your business. You can see some of my most recent posts below, and the complete archives are available here.
Finale’s Unforseen Farewell
Locked Out of WordPress Dashboard – Database Editing Not Working
Android Presents Users With A Fitness-Tracker Quandry
Amazon Is Full of Flash Drives That Will Eat Your Data
