Do you need a custom WordPress site?

It’s common for small businesses to have a website budget under $3,000 or so. They either don’t have a site yet, or have the equivalent of a ‘96 Ford Taurus: running, but not necessarily making any lasting impressions.

These small businesses want a better site, but don’t need a BMW or Mercedes. Rather, they need something beautiful and reliable, and that has a maintenance plan and hassle-free warranty. If a breakdown does happen, they want to know it’s going to be taken care of. Later on, it can be customized or upgraded to something high-end, when you’re confident in the direction of your business and have the revenue to justify it.

Evermore is specifically engineered to be that car in between the one that just gets you where you need to go and the luxurious car of your dreams. Think of it more as a new Subaru: modern, versatile, and incredibly reliable for as long as you need it.

Questions to Ask

So, if you’re that small business owner, how do you know if you need a fully custom site or if something like Evermore is the right decision for you?

Take a moment to answer a few questions:

• Are you an established business? (Why do you ask?)
  8-9 out of 10 businesses fail. So, unless your business is in the website business, you won’t want to over-allocate financial and human resources to it. And most successful startups don’t end up doing exactly what they set out to do, so why invest so much in something so specific? Evermore gets you something beautiful, robust, and quality with the flexibility to easily upgrade to the “luxury car” when you team up with an agency for something totally custom.
• Have you invested, or do you have a plan to invest, in real branding, something more than just a logo? (Why do you ask?)
  A classic mistake I see is when businesses want to invest in their website before their own branding collateral. This leads you into a two-choice checkmate: you can scrap the expensive website design when you do your branding or let your website design to drive your brand. Ugh! I cringe when I see this, because it is a horrible waste of time and resources. Don’t put the cart before the horse!
• Have you spent any real effort developing content or a content strategy in the past? (Why do you ask?)
  Another classic mistake is designing for content when the business has never really created content. It’s almost impossible to get it right! Get into the fortune-telling business if you think you can know the best content strategy before you start creating any.
• Do you have well-reasoned, specific goals you want to accomplish with your site? (Why do you ask?)
  If you don’t know what a win looks like for your site, why would you invest in it? You need to have well-reasoned goals that you want your site to accomplish. Your site isn’t just a business card or brochure. When done well, it can do work for you 24/7.
• Can you easily handle a budget of more than $3,000, knowing it could easily turn into a $5,000 project or more? (Why do you ask?)
  If you don’t have the budget, don’t go the custom route. You wouldn’t expect to build a custom car with a specific budget if you’d never worked on custom cars. In fact, you’d pretty much assume you’d blow the budget, even with a great mechanic. There are too many unknowns, and many businesses end up sacrificing to keep it within budget.
• Do you have someone reliable to manage site issues and content for you? (Why do you ask?)
  If you don’t have a solid plan for how you’re going to manage the site, in terms of maintenance and updating content, do yourself a favor and just wait. Wait until you know what you are doing so you don’t run out of resources, because you allocated everything up front without a plan. It’s too easy to overestimate the time you can dedicate to this sort of thing.
• Are you willing to spend over $100 per month in site “maintenance”? (Why do you ask?)
  Most agencies are going to charge over $100 a month to “maintain” your site. What’s actually included in that cost varies wildly, too. Evermore’s monthly fee (starting at $50) not only includes hosting, access to a growing list of pre-vetted plugins, and timely answers to your common WordPress questions, but it also includes all the maintenance you need to keep your site up-to-date and secure. This is truly the most valuable deal available.

If you answered “yes” to most of these questions, you may be ready for the custom, “luxury car” site.

If you answered “no” to most of these questions, Evermore may be the perfect solution for you. We provide the most value for your situation anywhere (yes, it’s a big claim!) and it’s a smart move, because you’re never locked in by a contract, nor are there cancellation fees.

Even better, when your business grows and you’re ready for that Mercedes or BMW, we’ll hand over your entire site (files and data) so you can pass it along to your new designer, developer, or agency—or host it yourself. That means you save money on that project, too, because you don’t have to rebuild anything, or port over content.

Maybe you’ve heard stories of businesses having a hard time moving forward with their site because it’s being held hostage by a freelancer who’s unresponsive—you can avoid that entirely with Evermore.

That’s engineered, zero-hassle simplicity built right into what we do, because we want you to be successful.

We’ll Be Your Guide

When the time comes for that big upgrade, if you don’t know who to trust, we’ll help you find someone great! We’re deeply invested in the WordPress community, so we can leverage that for your advantage and connect you to the right folks. It’s the best way to ensure your success.

Remember, you don’t have to jump from a beater of a car to a BMW. You need big value without sacrificing what’s important for your business, and Evermore is built to do just that. Why not take a look at our plans?

No matter what kind of car you drive or want, I’m happy to help you personally. Send me an email and I’ll get you moving in the right direction.