FAQs

If you’ve done the math, you’ve probably spotted that the individual elements when added together amount to quite a lot, so how do we package that into such an epic price?

It’s simple really, we’ve invested a lot in the initial research and work to develop our services. That being done, there are many parts that are now replicable for us, meaning we can provide them at incredibly affordable rates, but still deliver bucket loads of value to you!

We choose to use WordPress for a number of reasons, but mainly for its versatility. You can build any kind of website with it, customise it as much as you want, add as much functionality as you need and you’ll never outgrow it.

There’s a reason that it powers almost 1 in 3 websites across the globe…. nuff said.

For more info, check out this article where we compare the most popular platforms.

First, let’s clarify the difference between niche and ideal client (or target market) as they’re often confused:

Your niche is the product or service you specialise in and provide to your ideal client.

Your ideal client is the specific group of people you serve.

Importance of narrowing down your niche:

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is not niching down enough; trying to serve everyone, instead of THE one. They speak to a massive crowd rather than a specific group of people who would best benefit from their service (and therefore buy it more readily!)

Consider it this way: If you have a serious health concern with your skin, would you rather see your General Practitioner (GP) or a dermatologist (skin specialist)?

And what level of expertise and value would you expect, and be happy to pay for from this service?

In your business do you want to be a generalist or specialist?

If you haven’t “niched down” already, our guide will help you do that.

Importance of knowing your ideal client:

In order to attract the right visitors to your website, our questionnaire helps to identify your ideal customer. Knowing this from the start will guide your content so that it creates a connection with your audience in a meaningful way.

Knowing your ideal client helps to make all your marketing efforts super-specific and targeted, boosting your conversion rates and ROI.

It’s incredibly difficult to come up with the written copy for your website with nothing but a blank canvas to start with. This can often be a source of stress, frustration, and leads to really slowing down the website building process… We want to avoid that!

We have invested hours of work & research to develop a step-by-step system that removes overwhelm and makes this process as seamless as possible.

One of our major selling points is that we create websites that convert. A large contributing factor in that is the quality of the copy, so while it is optional, we strongly recommend adding proofreading or copywriting to your package to enhance your content.

We’ve created an online knowledge base so you too can become a WordPress super nerd! Well maybe you don’t have to become a nerd, but you can learn how to do the day to tasks of your website yourself.

We love empowering our clients to be able to do as much as they want in-house so they can get it done immediately. Naturally, we are available though if you prefer to outsource this work, but for those who are keen to learn and want to manage as much of their site as they can… you’ll love our knowledge base.

Our Business Builders area contains additional tools and resources to boost your business further and really level up your digital marketing game. These include resources to learn about lead magnets, how to optimise your blog posts, and so much more! Check out the business builders page to see for yourself what is available.

Plus, if you have an active Website Maintenance Plan, you will be upgraded to a VIP member and receive a 10% discount for all other business builder products & services.

We limit the number of clients we take on each month to ensure prompt turn-around times, which are usually within 30 days or less once all content for the site is provided.

This also depends on you and on how prompt you are in doing your end of the work and supplying what we need. We have a super tight process though that helps guide you every step of the way.

All proofing (copywriting, design, lead magnets etc.), require the client to respond with any feedback and/or change requests within a one-week period to avoid delays in the client’s and other websites currently being developed by Rivmedia being published.

If the client fails to provide any feedback and/or change requests during this time, the proof will be considered complete and handed over to the client as-is. The client can request more revisions later if needed for an additional fee.

Just as we value your time, we value our own also, so while our process might seem strict, it’s there so we can stay on top of what is needed to remain on schedule and get your website up and running ASAP.

Once people come to your website, what then? Too many times I see people pouring loads of time and money into paid campaigns to drive traffic to their website, only for nothing to eventuate. Getting people to your website is just the first step, the second is to convert them into prospects and one of the easiest and effective ways to do that is with a lead magnet.

A lead magnet is a marketing tool that generates leads by offering a resource in exchange for a prospect’s contact information. They generally come in the form of digital, downloadable content, such as a free PDF checklist, report, eBook, etc.

They allow prospects to get an idea of how you can help them without any risk or exchange of money; it begins their journey with you from prospect to customer. When effective, you can establish yourself as an expert in your industry, with the ultimate goal being to position your business as the go-to business your ideal client needs to solve their problem. It’s a vital element in your digital marketing campaign.

What we do:

We provide a guide to help you determine what kind of lead magnet would be valuable to your target market, and steps to help you create its content. Once that is done, you can choose to either create and integrate the lead magnet yourself, or we can assist you with its creation and set-up.

We can all write, right?

Just as design & functionality is vital when building your website, your written copy is equally as important in creating a connection with your audience and converting visitors into customers.

Investing in professional copywriting can help achieve the following:

• Captivate and engage your audience
• Convey your message succinctly and in a meaningful way
• Help with SEO and google rankings
• Differentiate your site from your competitors
• Make you look professional by ensuring quality grammar and no mistakes
• Save you a LOT of time and hair loss

One of our major selling points is that we create websites that convert. A large contributing factor in that is the quality of the copy, so while it is optional, we strongly recommend adding proofreading or copywriting to your package to enhance your content.

Plus, one of our other main goals is to remove the stress out of building a website. Writing copy can be taxing and time-consuming, another reason we recommend leaving it to the pros.

Definitions:

Proofreading: You provide content that is then edited. Our proofreaders won’t alter the meaning of the text. Rather, they’ll optimise the copy to convey its message with accuracy and clarity.

Pricing starts from $75 / 1000 words

Copywriting: You answer some initial questions for the brief for the content to be written for you. A copywriter will write search engine optimised content that produces measurable results.

Pricing starts from $150 / 1000 words

Not a problem! What we love about WordPress is that it is eternally flexible, virtually anything you can imagine can be added on. Below are some of the main additional features:

Portfolios: A portfolio page can be included as one of your pages in a full website package, but we do limit the portfolio items to a maximum of 6 to start with. More can be added for an additional fee which we can quote.

Galleries: We’ll include an image gallery on a single page design as part of the package with a limitation of up to 20 images (which is best for site speed and user experience). For a full website package, you can include an image gallery also within the page of your choice with the same image limitations above. If you want a dedicated gallery page (for example for photographers, artists, home builders etc.) with multiple galleries within it that are categorised, we’ll remove professional copywriting for this page (unlikely to be needed anyway) and replace it to create up to 6 gallery categories with each including up to 20 images.

Additional pages: More pages can be added for $220 each; this cost is for design only, the written copy can either be supplied by the client or we can provide a quote for professional copywriting.

eCommerce: A single product or a full online store can be added for $295 and up, depending on what kind of shop is necessary, features, number of products, etc.

If you’re interested in other features such as LMS, memberships areas, you name it, just let us know and we can talk about it.

You may already have this covered, but if not, we don’t include domain registration and hosting by default. Many developers will purchase your domain and hosting for you as part of their package; as it is your website though, we personally prefer that your domain/hosting is registered in your name rather than ours.

We are more than happy to recommend Ventraip as they are Australian-based and have fantastic customer service. We will of course provide you with full instructions on how to set everything up, but rest assured it’s very easy!

We’ve actually written an article about this if you would like more information: Your website is your most important online asset… isn’t it?

However, if you still prefer that we manage it for you, we are more than happy to help. Hosting packages managed by us start from $165/year and include:

– 5GB SSD Cloud Storage
– Unlimited Premium Bandwidth
– 200% CPU Allowance
– 2GB Memory Allowance
– Hourly Acronis Backups
– FREE Comodo SSL Certificate

This suits many websites, but larger packages are available upon request.

The base package includes unlimited support for 30 days after your website is published. After that, our service does not end there. We also provide ongoing support via:

• Website Maintenance
• Website Tech Support
• Website Training

Plus, all of our VIP members (those on a maintenance plan with us) enjoy 10% off all of these services (exc. maintenance plans themselves).

Need more help, or just have a question? No problem, get in touch anytime and we’ll work it out.

It’s pretty simple, the first payment for your website package is made upon booking with the subsequent payments made on the same date the following months until paid in full.

Payment Processing: We accept Visa & Mastercard (processed through Stripe) and monthly payments are automatically charged. Receipts are sent to your email.

Our websites come with in-site SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), we always follow best practice guidelines and all possible efforts are undertaken to set-up your SEO as effectively as possible, but no guarantees can be made for your website’s ranking.

There are numerous other factors outside the website build that effect this also, such as content marketing, social media marketing, google my business, and so on.

How Google ranks your site is constantly evolving and changing so I would be very wary of anyone who does guarantee “top of page 1 results.”

Shorter, non-techy answer – Updating & maintaining your website is important for functionality, security, and performance, i.e. performing at its best.

Think of it like your car. You get it serviced regularly so it runs well and is reliable. If you skip a service or two (maybe even more) your car still might keep going for you, but if it doesn’t, it’s almost always at the worst possible time and can cause immeasurable damage and avoidable costs.

For many businesses, your website is a vital, if not the most important element of your business. Are you willing to risk it breaking down?

Nerdy answer – WordPress is built on what is called open source technology where the source code used to create it is freely available for the public to view, edit, and redistribute. For this reason, regular updates are required in order to improve functionality, resolve any bug fixes, and help to secure any vulnerabilities to possible security and hacking threats.

Furthermore, your database (where all your site’s information & settings are stored) can build up a collection of unneeded data over time such as post revisions, spam comments, trash, transient options, orphaned metadata, and so on. So maintaining & optimising your database means faster backups, easier restorations, and improved speed & performance. Essentially it’s like giving your website a spring clean.

Finally, shit happens (excuse the french!). With great hosting and a solid setup, your website crashing or getting hacked is unlikely, but it can and has happened. Being on a maintenance plan minimises your risk and in the unlikely event that it does happen, our backup system will ensure that everything is restored with minimal damage.

Consider this, if having a reliable car was essential to your business, would you not bother to ever get your car serviced, and leave the keys lying around for anyone to take? Of course not! Because you would be greatly increasing your chances of a breakdown or your car being stolen.

It’s the same for your website, without regular maintenance & updates, you increase your chances of poor performance and security risks.

People often underestimate the cost of a website being hacked or going down. For example, say your website is hacked, user privacy is breached, or inappropriate content is placed over yours? What will the cost be to repair or completely rebuild your website? What will your loss of income be while the site is down? And more importantly, what will the damage to your reputation cost you?

Our maintenance plans are monthly because that is the minimum time period that we recommend for website maintenance. In some cases, there may be some wiggle room depending on the complexity of your site, amount of content and traffic. But essentially, the longer a site is left, the greater the risk becomes, it’s that simple.

So, it comes down to how much you are willing to risk?

Website maintenance is very much a preventative service, just like looking after your car. There’s definitely a tonne of other ways that are much more fun or glamorous to invest your money, but just ask anyone who has ever lost their site or been hacked before how much value they place on website maintenance.

Of course you can! These tasks can be a steep learning curve for most though. However, if you’re a tech-savvy person who is willing to invest the time to learn how to perform the required tasks properly, as well as handle any unforeseen issues that may arise, then I don’t see any problem.

If the above doesn’t sound like you though, the DIY approach can be more time consuming than you realise and can sometimes lead to disastrous outcomes. There’s a reason WordPress Maintenance services are offered by so many businesses, some even specialise in this service alone.

So, if you don’t feel confident that you are capable of performing maintenance tasks yourself, that’s where our maintenance plans come in handy. Knowing that your site is being professionally updated & maintained is a small price to pay for peace of mind. Plus, isn’t your time better invested elsewhere anyway?

In the unlikely event that malware is detected on your website, we will make this a priority fix and get your website back in tip-top shop ASAP.

Often we will know about the issue before you do, and if possible have it all sorted before you even notice.

While we cannot 100% guarantee your website will not be hacked, we can promise to sort the mess out with the highest priority before it affects your business; including restoration of your site thanks to our regular back-ups.

Payment methods: We accept Visa & Mastercard (processed through Stripe).

Payment Processing: The first payment will be processed upon checkout. The following payment dates will be on the same day each month. Should any payments fail (lack of funds, tech issues etc.) the subscription will re-commence from whatever date the renewal is successfully processed.

Failed payments: Failed payments will be retried automatically 5 times over 7 days. At this point, if your payment has still failed to process unfortunately your maintenance package will be cancelled and no further work will be performed.

All work is paid for upfront and the work is performed within 1-4 business days after your subscription payment has been successfully processed.

We have no lock-in contracts so you can upgrade, downgrade or cancel your subscription plan at any time, just log in to your My Account area, and within the “My Subscriptions” tab you can manage your subscription/s from there. Or, feel free to contact me and I can take care of it for you.

Plan switching: If you upgrade or downgrade your subscription plan, you will need to checkout again as you did the first time. Payment will be adjusted in the subsequent renewals.

Cancellations: We only want you to stick with the plan if you’re truly benefiting from the service, that’s why we have a lock-in contract. If you cancel before your subscription renews then your subscription will cease and no further work on your website will be carried out. There are no refunds if you cancel after your subscription has already been renewed.

Should you decide to cancel, please don’t hesitate to sign-up again if you need us in the future.

This includes updating your WordPress core, plugins & theme/s when new releases become available as well as a compatibility check.

Please Note:

• We will only update plugins that are compatible with your installed version of WordPress
• We will only perform theme updates if a child theme in place
• As mentioned we will do a compatibility check but it is your responsibility to inform us if you notice that your website is not working properly after updates are performed. Should this occur we will restore your website to how it was before the update (no extra charge).

If further work outside the scope of your maintenance package is required this will be discussed and agreed to by both parties before any additional work is commenced.

Over time, your database (where all your site information & settings are stored) can build up a collection of unneeded data such as post revisions, spam comments, trash, transient options, orphaned metadata, and so on. So maintaining & optimising your database means faster backups, easier restorations, and improved speed & performance.

Essentially it’s like giving your website a spring clean.

Security & malware scanning: We check your website for any malware (software created for malicious purposes by website hackers) and we make sure facilities are in place to reduce vulnerabilities & help prevent issues. Should we happen to find any issues, you will be notified immediately to discuss and resolve them.

We ensure facilities are in place to automatically back-up your site at regular intervals, giving you peace of mind that your site and content are fully protected.

Back-ups are stored on our remote storage so as not to take up valuable space on your server (website hosting). We store 3 sets of backups at a time.

Please note: While all precautions are taken to safeguard these back-ups sets we do not guarantee their safety and therefore strongly urge all customers to download and store them periodically.

We log and email all details of the updates and changes we have made to your site. This means you will have a complete history of all the work that has been completed for you.

When necessary we will also include any notes for anything of vital importance.

In addition to performing a full backup monthly (which includes your database, themes, plugins, and uploads), the professional and ultimate plans also include fortnightly and weekly extra backups of the database.

The database is where all of the necessary website data is stored; posts, pages, comments, configuration settings, and so on. So, for sites with additional functionality and activity, the extra database backups ensure minimal impact should you encounter any losses of data, errors, mistakes, etc.

Many of the plugins available in WordPress are free, but there is a number of premium plugins that come at a cost as they offer more functionality & features. Payments are generally on a recurring annual subscription or sometimes just a once-off.

As a WordPress designer we often use premium plugins on various sites and therefore have our own developer versions of them. So instead of purchasing these yourself, you can save hundreds of dollars by simply accessing them through us.

Here’s just a few examples to demonstrate how quickly the cost of premium plugins can add up:

• Online forms: Gravity Forms + Bacic Add-ons – Valued at $59US/year
• Page Builder: WPBakery Page Builder for WordPress – Valued at $64US/year
• eCommerce extension: WooCommerce Subscriptions – Valued at $199US/year