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When many people get into building WordPress sites for clients, they see their work as essentially a series of one-off design projects. They come into a situation and either build a new site completely or do a redesign of an old site.

In truth, however, there’s probably a lot more work to be done with WordPress by offering other services to potential clients.

Some of those services might easily be folded into a larger project, but they can also be broken out into separate services and offered on an a la carte basis.

Not always, but in general, we could probably divide these other services into two basic categories: ongoing services and one-time services.

And so below we’ll go over some services you offer to clients a la carte.

 

Ongoing Services

 

Webhosting

Doing your own private web hosting is something that a lot of independent providers offer. While you need to be comfortable with such things, if you’ve run your sites long enough, there’s really no reason why you aren't able to be running someone else’s.

Of course, there’s a lot to consider when taking up something like this, but it basically can boil down to simply getting a web hosting package that can handle the sites and traffic, and then keeping on top of things.

 

SEO

google-seo There are a lot of different parts to SEO, of course. And these days good SEO is as much about content creation, strategy, and marketing as anything else. But even if you didn’t want to get deeply involved in “creating content,” there are a lot of services you could offer. Many of these can be stand-alone on their own, of course.

Improve site speed – install caching plugin, reduce image sizes, etc.

Structure Site – make sure the site’s content is structured logically

Install SEO Plugin – install a good SEO plugin and configure it

Content Critique – critique content and give the client a blueprint for future content (optimize titles, URLs, descriptions, subheads, links, related content, etc.)

Analytics – install a good stats program like Google Analytics, analyze stats for SEO opportunities (which pages are strong, which are weak, which types of posts get good on-page time, where is traffic coming from, analyze trends, etc.)

Content Strategy/Keyword Research – do keyword research for clients, look at their competition for them, help them plan a way forward with their content based on your research

Offsite SEO – of course, there’s a lot involved in offsite SEO (essentially getting links and mentions from reputable sites); that’s getting pretty far away from WordPress itself, but if you have experience and enjoy it, then it’s always a possibility

 

Maintenance

Offer services such as the following:

  • Updating themes and plugins
  • Performing backups
  • Checking for broken links
  • Security monitoring

 

Editing/Preparing Posts

Some people are surprised at the amount of work it takes to get a post looking its best with the proper formatting, images, etc. Many also need editing of their posts. You might offer both. Let the client get their ideas down into text, and then you could be the one to make it presentable.

Involved in the above could be image/graphics work: image procurement, image resizing and reduction of file size, etc.

 

Social Media Management

twitter-social-media Not exactly related to WordPress, but in some cases, you may know a lot more about social media than your client.

 

Advertising Management

Similar to social media management above. It’s not really WordPress, but you may know a lot more than your client, or at least you can figure it out.

 

One-Time Services

 

Some of these services might be somewhat ongoing, but in general, they’re thought of as being done and then left alone.

Adding Functionality

Adding functionality essentially means installing and configuring plugins. But clients don’t want “plugins.” They want functionality.

They want to add things such as calendars, appointment boxes, eCommerce, sliders, galleries, maps, etc.

 

Site Migration

Offer to move a site from one host to another, from one domain to another, or just from one folder to another.

 

Email Service Setup

mailchimp Email services like MailChimp, Aweber, GetResponse, etc. are pretty standard these days. That said, they are not always so easy for someone who isn’t used to doing this type of stuff.

Along with Email Setup can be Newsletter and Autoresponder configuration/design. This could be one of those areas where it actually becomes an ongoing service. Your client gives you their email content, and then they trust you to make it look nice and get it sent out to where it’s supposed to go.

 

Optin Service

Related to the Email Setup above is the idea of opting in for some type of free giveaway. Of course, all that needs to be set up.

An ebook or a report or whatever needs to be created. Then it needs to be set up so that it’s downloaded when someone gives their address, etc.

 

Landing Page Creation

Possibly related to the two services above is landing page creation. A good landing page can make a world of difference either in sales or for opt-ins.

 

Site/Theme Related On-Offs

Sometimes people don’t want a whole site built, but they might want things similar to site development such as the following:

  • Get hosting from a provider
  • Install WordPress
  • Install theme
  • Set up the theme as in its demo
  • Customize theme by changing colors, fonts, etc.
  • Create a multisite install

 

What’s Easy for You May Be Hard for Others

The one main thing to remember here is that things that seem easy for you may be super difficult for others. And so you can (and should) get paid for doing them.

If you let your potential clients know you offer these other services, then you’re more likely to see people opting for them.