listen up

So it’s the new year, and you are working on a new site. Maybe it’s for your company, or maybe it’s something you are working on for a client and you are shaping the content and creative for them. We all know WordPress is amazing, powers 50% of the websites out there today, and offers a very deep resource pool of free or low cost add ons.
Fast forward a few months, and you are all done. But it’s not the dream project you had envisioned. The journey to this point was long, and had a lot of bumps in the road. The theme needed more work to customize than you thought,. You now have a ton of plugins, widgets, and options to round out the gaps in the theme. The comments to the developers support forum took 2 weeks to get a sub par reply. Now moving the site from staging to production is a daunting task.
We hear stories like this almost daily. That $59 theme is now all the sudden getting more expensive with the hours you put into it, and the lost ROI with launch delays. All those bells and whistles from the feature list now look more like a long list of things to manage instead of great benefits.

Enter the WordPress strategic partner.

 
Let’s tell a different story here. You have an idea for a new site, and even some great examples of the end goal. Working closely with the admin team, designers, and project managers, together we craft the needs, features, user experiences, timeline and budget. As the designs go through the wireframe process, and later full design comps, our development team is reviewing & discussing options. Options and ideas to achieve the designed goal, outlining potential hurdles that may arise with the feature, timeline, budget, or end administration of content.
Together we go through several rounds of this. Finally landing on an amazing stack of designs that work across multiple devices sizes, with clarity on expected functions, content management, and performance. Our team dives into the code. Using our 11+ years of experience with CMS tools, we craft a custom WordPress theme that meets the goals and objectives planned, with a very specific task of making the design and the administration work together with unity and grace. No goofy plugins, widgets, short codes, or worse, code in the editor panel.
You are now left with a site custom built to meet the exact specifications, features and planned outcome of the site, and a design that matches up perfectly to an administration experience. This eliminates the need for manuals, training sessions, or guesswork. Our quality assurance process has checked the site on a wide array of physical tablets, smart phones and laptops for the ultimate test in compatibility, as well as optimized the site for speed and SEO. Fast forward 3 years, and the site is still running great. Maybe a few plugin updates here and there, but nothing that risks crashing the site, since we coded in the critical functions, leaving a few plugins to handle auxiliary things less critical to the site.

What to look for in a strategic WordPress partner?

 
With any long term project, relationship is key. We have had some of our clients over 10 years with many sites together because relationships win. When you have a partner, you have someone to call when things aren’t working right. You learn to get comfortable with details like finances and project risks. It’s a 2 way street. Our partners pay our invoices in a timely fashion, know what is critical versus important, they know that good work takes a little time, and they know to listen to our advice. Not in negative, don’t challenge our opinion, but in a respectful, purposeful, intentional way. The best partners are on a journey, together.
Look for agencies that have credibility, i.e. have they been actively developing for WordPress for a few years, and know how to make custom themes. Look to chat with long term clients. We are always more than happy to have a potential client call up a partner for a reference. Finally notice what they ask about you. Do they care about your bigger business goals and how they fit in, are they happy to share resources and ideas to help you get there?

What about the costs?

 
Can’t beat around this bush. You get what you pay for and good works costs time and money. But if you are looking for a partner to go to the next level in your business, know that it’s going to take some time, effort, and funding. We do our best to always be upfront, and clear with how much something costs. If that’s too high, say so, and share what you can work within. A good partner will help find solutions.

How does a strategic WordPress partner work with agencies?

 
Working with an agency who finds and manages the client relationship is tricky. We know that these relationships can go two ways. The first way, the developers are behind the scenes, white labeled, and never talking to the client. These are tricky, there ends up being a “telephone game” of communication, where the developer and client never talk, leaving designers and project managers in the middle to translate. Sometimes this leads to a mess when it comes to technical discussions. Additionally, this can leave clients feeling a lack of trust if (more like when) they figure out the developers are not staff, damaging all relationships along the way.
On the opposite end, sits the strategic partner. With transparency, we work together to craft a proposal, project features, and it’s well known that Factor1 is your WordPress strategic partner for this project. Shaping the conversation from the beginning that you are the branding and design experts, and we are the WordPress experts needed to launch this critical project. We work mainly behind the scenes, but when things get hard, or ready to launch, the client, your team, and our teams can comfortable jump on a call with no concerns about who is who.