WordPress is a powerful open source content management system (CMS) used to build stunning Websites.

The most recent figures indicated that there are over 70 million WordPress sites around the world. It is free to use, deploy, and upgrade and has thousands of plugins and templates providing both power a flexibility while reducing the cost and deployment time of a new site.

The developers at Net Solutions have years of experience developing client sites with WordPress and accumulated knowledge and resources to deploy high quality websites.


Why should I use WordPress?

Features

  • Corporate Informative Website
  • ECommerce Website
  • Membership Website etc
  • Community Website etc
  • Photographic Website
  • Portfolio Website

WordPress is perfect for Business Websites. It’s Open Source with room for expansion and is highly customisable, once only available in expensive enterprise. There is a reason why it has become so popular and taken over the market share, because it meets the demand of many users with its flexible framework to allow designers and developers to create and modify layouts and applications without the need of a huge budget.

The robust features have attracted many of the top brands including but not limited to: Time Magazine, Google, Facebook, Sony, Disney, LinkedIn, The New York Times, CNN, eBay, and more.

WordPress is open source which means it is free to use and the code is open for everyone to use. It is supported by a large group of volunteers majority of whom are WordPress consultants with active interest in growing and maintaining WordPress. You won't be locked in to using a proprietary system with no room to grow.

If you want someone experienced to set up your WordPress site, then our talented staff members are happy to help you get started. Our team have extensive WordPress experience, and we have custom developed many plugins and themes in order to meet unique demand of our clients.

We do our best to evaluate your needs and make an initial estimate of the time and materials required. It's important to note that we only use local resources, so all of our development is performed by experienced software engineers in Australia. Not everybody works this way and many outsource the work to low cost countries. If budget is your primary deciding factor, then we are probably not right for you. If you are looking for quality and local experience, then read on

Net Solutions will be able to provide Maintenance and ongoing Support, Training and Development if you need it. We can also provide advice on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) so that you can rank well on Google

How much will my WordPress site cost?

Depending on your requirements, the costs range anywhere $3,000 to $30,000. Our building process can be broken down to three (3) areas of cost, the Design, Copy and Development.

    If you have a pre-conceived idea of how you want your website to look, a mock-up, a sketch or or are looking at other sites as a reference, it is likely that you will require a custom website design. Custom website design requires a graphic designer to produce a specification in the form of a Prototype or Wireframe of your site ready to forward to a developer:

    1. Site specifications, screen width, margin and padding

    2. Prototype and Layout for each page, for each device, i.e. Mobile, Tablet and Desktop

    3. Typography specification and mapping

    4. Headers and Footers for each common device ie. mobile, tablet and desktop

    5. Buttons, Forms, Menus and Widget Prototypes for each common device ie. mobile, tablet and desktop

    6. All images in highest resolution, preferably in SVG format

    Optionally if are working with a third party such as a Digital Marketing Agency or Design Company who will produce the design, then they must supply the information above before we can commence the development.

    In some cases clients are satisfied with using a pre-designed theme. The benefit of using a pre-designed theme is that it provides ready to go templates and you reduce the overall build time and significantly reduces the costs. The disadvantages are that if you do change your mind and want to change or modify parts of the design or layout, then this will add additional design and development costs to put those changes in place. These include but are not limited to:

    1. Changes to overall layout, logo placement, fonts, colours and widgets

    2. Changes to Header and Footer layout and styling

    3. Changes to Forms and Buttons

    4. Features and Functions

    5. Responsiveness and view on Mobiles and Tablets

      1. So while we can modify pre-designed themes, please understand that this work is billed separately per hour, and will increase the lead time.

    Clear communication is the key to effective copy. We use professional copy-writers avoiding hyperbole and fancy words, putting the reader first by writing in a natural way. Typical costs are an average of $500 per page. Copywriting needs to be produced and delivered before development on your site can be started. The process is often performed in collaboration with the designer to produce the required images, fonts, graphics and videos.

    If you are able to supply your own copy or a third party will be supplying it, then the overall costs can be significantly reduced. If you will be supplying your own copy please take note of the the following:

    1. All copy to be supplied in clear text per page with paragraphs

    2. All content headings to be mapped to typography

    3. All images to be in high resolution, preferably in SVG format

    4. Your copy will largely determine the traffic, google rankings and success of your site. If you are not sure, get a second opinion on your copy.

    All content must be supplied before the development work can be commenced.




    Our Development Process in more detail

    1Business Requirements

    The project starts with a detailed understanding the business requirements, gathering data and analysis, It sounds like common sense, but surprisingly, it's an area that is given far too little attention. Many projects start with the barest headline list of requirements, only to find later the customer's needs have not been adequately understood.

    Once the business requirements are understood a clear scope of works is produced. Our developers will identify whats plugins and widgets are required. Plugins and widgets may need to be sourced, customised or developed from scratch. This typically includes, but is not limited to:

    • Membership Subscriptions
    • Appointments & Calendars
    • Contact and Order Forms
    • Shopping Carts and ECommerce
    • Social Integration
    • Bulletin Boards & Forums
    • Chat Support
    • Media Gallery

    We generally use commercial plugins which may be subject to recurring license fee's.

    2Design

    The web design phase of the project transforms visual concepts and ideas to prototypes. The prototypes specify the appearance and layout of all the pages, including specifications for the headers, footers, colors, fonts, images and media used throughout the site.

    This activity is performed by a web designer and/or a graphic artist. If the client opts to use their own web designer its important they use tools such as Adobe XD or Skecth. These tools provide the specifications our developers require including:

    1. Site specifications, screen width, margin and padding.
    2. Prototype for each page, for each device, i.e. Mobile, Tablet and Desktop
    3. Typography mapping.
    4. Header and Footer, menu and widget Prototype for each responsive mode, ie. mobile, tablet and desktop
    5. All images in highest resolution, preferably in SVG format

    This activity is a collaborative process which typically takes anywhere from 4 weeks to 4 months to produce.

    Pre Designed Layouts

    The design process can be fast-tracked by opting to use a pre-designed theme. Pre-designed themes are commonly used to reduce design time and costs by purchasing off-the-shelf designs. While they do give you some flexibility in changing the layouts, but the bulk of the layouts are rigid. If you wish to use a pre-designed theme there is always a demo made available so you can verify and approve any themes that may be suitable for your site. Once approved and agreed by you, our developers will work with your chosen theme.

    3Copy

    Copy is just as important as Design. In order to connect with your target audience, attract new visitors, gain traffic and/or leads, you need to have well written and original content on your Website.

    The benefit of having a professional copywriter is that with their experience, professional copywriters will research and develop a consistent and reliable brand for your site. They will work with the designer so that your pages are not image-heavy or light on copy.

    Pre Supplied Content

    If you have your own copywriter or have the skills to develop your own content, we can work with that. In such a case, all content needs to supplied subject to the following conditions:

    1. Must be supplied in clear text (.txt) for each page.
    2. All content headings and paragraphs to be mapped to typography.
    3. All images in highest resolution, preferably in SVG format
    4. All content to be final and ready for publishing.
    5. All content must be supplied before the development work can start.
    4Development

    The development starts once the design and the content has been completed. We setup a staging URL on a development server where we perform all our work. You can view the progress of the development on the staging URL.

    Layouts

    If you are using a custom design the initial work starts with building your theme header, footer, widget area, menus, colours and fonts. Then we work on the layouts for all your pages.This activity takes time as we work though each page testing responsiveness on Desktops, Mobiles and Tablets.

    For pre-designed sites this process is not as extensive.

    Plugins and Features

    We will install and/or develop the necessary plugins and widgets as required. This takes time as each plugin and widget must work with one another and sometimes they don't all play nicely with each other. We go through some vigorous testing to make sure they work as expected.

    For more complex sites, this activity extends to integrating with third party sites such as payment gateways, shipping gateways, mail subscriptions sites, social networking sites, google analytics, google search console, facebook pixel, and third party API's.

    Content

    Finally, we populate your pages with the supplied content, editing and cropping images as required.

    5Handover

    We migrate the development site to our production server and your new website is now live!. We install the post production plugins and make the final configuration changes so that your site is visible on the internet on your domain.

    Our relationship does not end when we ‘go live’. There are many other factors to consider

    Training

    Your WordPress site is very powerful and if you struggle we are able to provide WordPress training for your staff as required.

    Maintaining your site

    Maintaining your site is critical to ensure your security and protect it from vulnerabilities and hackers. Just like any software you need to perform regular tasks such as software updates, database optimisation, daily offsite backups etc. Please see our WordPress Maintenance services

    Marketing

    You’ve just launched your new website, so how can you make sure it’s easy for Google and other search engines to discover and drive traffic to their site?

    Today’s consumers rely on search engines to help them find practically everything so your target audience is likely searching for products or services like yours. You will benefit from having a highly effective SEO strategy for improving your site’s rankings in search engine results.