Delivering a WordPress Website

So picture this: you have been working on a site for a client for months. Maybe you are the designer, the developer, the content specialist. Either way, this site has been top of mind for you for a long time. You have invested a lot of energy and time into the site and you're really proud of it! Now it's time to hand it over to your client.

And within weeks, it's broken! Layouts don't look right. New content doesn't match the content you provided. Plugins aren't working the way they should. Maybe the client even got brave and changed the theme entirely!

This was one of my worst nightmares when I consistently designed and built websites for clients. I would spend so much time on a site I loved, only for the client to take over and "ruin" my work.

Until I learned how to effectively deliver a WordPress site, this happened more often than I'd like to admit. And I don't want it to happen to you! So here's how I like to deliver a WordPress website so that everyone can feel confident in it's longevity.

First, a disclaimer.

There is no way to guarantee a client won't change a site in a way you don't like. Unless you shackle their hands and write it into the contract that they won't make changes... but that's not the way to go about it. The client should be able to add new content and have the site grow along with them.

You can follow all the things I'm about to explain and a client can still decide to make changes. Or a new member to their team may decide they could do things better. Either way, be prepared for the chance that when you go back to visit a site you previously launched, it may look different. Once it's launched and paid for, the site technical is theirs to do whatever they want with. At the end of the day, you've got to be okay with that.

Tip: When you're done with a site, take a ton of screenshots! Record how the site looks on the day of launch when you're most happy with it. Maybe even take a video recording of yourself walking through the site. That way if something happens, you'll still have evidence of this site to put into a portfolio.

Schedule a Hand-Off Call

Around the time of launch, preferably the week before or after, schedule a call with your client. This Hand-Off Call should include anyone on their team who will be accessing the website in the future. That could be in-house developers, content managers, social media managers, etc.

On that call, touch on the following basic and fairly universal concepts:

• Logging in and accessing lost passwords
• A brief tour of the back end of the site
• Explanation of who has what user role (more on that in a minute)
• Show how things like new pages and posts can be added quickly
• Show parts of the site that are best left alone, like Custom CSS sections, theme settings, and plugin and theme pages
• How to perform safe updates
• Walking through how to take a backup and restore a backup

Properly Utilize and Explain User Roles

As you create user accounts on the site, utilize user roles appropriately. If you're unfamiliar with user roles, refer to the awesome reference below provided by the folks at WP Engine.

Remember that you should really only have one (maybe two) administrator roles. Explain to the client that admins have full and complete access. When more people have more access, there are more vulnerable points to the site's security. Everyone on the team should only have the access they need.

This prevents folks from logging in and changing things they shouldn't. Or accidentally breaking things unintentionally. When people know what they can and cannot do with their access, they can feel more confident in what they can do. Which is a win-win for everyone.

Utilize Templates and Reusable Elements

If you're using a page builder or theme for your WordPress site, be smart about using templates and themes.

Know up front how the client intends to use the site in the future. If they will be adding new content to the site regularly, you want to empower them with ways to effectively add that new content. You want to prevent any instance in which they will need to guess how to add or change basic things. Chances are, they'll end up fumbling around and publishing something that is either messy, or just doesn't match what's already there.

A great example could be a Team page. Your client is a growing business. They're hiring often. So they want to be able to add new members to their team page. As you build out that page to begin with, utilize a template. The client should be able to either add the template or copy/paste your existing module. Then they can pop in a new photo, job title, and bio. Instead of them thinking they need to try to create the section from scratch, build those types of sections in ways that easy to replicate.

Most, if not all, page builders have modules like these. If you're using the Block Editor, reusable patterns are a great way to incorporate this kind of feature.

Offer Training

I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to train your client on how to use their website. Training is different from a hand-off call. How? A hand-off call should contain the same touch points for every client you have. You should be showing the same basic things and giving the same basic information.

Training should be specific to this client and this site. Customize a training session to how they intend on using the site, who intends on doing what, and how unique elements of a site work. For example, if this is an ecommerce site, a large portion of training should be about how that element works and how to troubleshoot.

In my experience, clients can be hesitant to take time to train. Chances are they've been waiting a long time for this site and are exited to launch and move on. Here are some tips on how to get them to prioritize and get the most out of this portion of the experience:

• Include mention of training from the very beginning of the project. It should be mentioned in your proposal or bid, in your SOW or contract, and as a step within whatever project management tool you use. They can deny it if they want; you can't make them attend. But emphasize that this is an important step and not just a free addon. It's part of what they're paying you for.
• Speaking of - bake the cost of the training into your project. As your price out a project, keep in mind the time it will take for you to appropriately train the team and make sure you're getting compensated for that.
• Establish early who should be at that training session. If necessary, meet more than once to train all the people who need to use this site.
• Record all training sessions and provide them to the client afterwards. Some plugins even allow you to embed videos in the WordPress dashboard which can be great for quick reference.
• Provide a summarized written version of what you're training on. Some people need to see things played out, some need to read it. Meet people where they are.
• Build time for questions into training sessions! Folks ask things you may never have thought of yourself. And if they walk away from the session feeling like they got all their questions answered, they will feel more empowered to take action in the future.

In addition to the baked-in training at the end of the project, up-sell training sessions. Let the client know that for a specific fee, they can always book a training session with you in the future. That way they can schedule annual refreshers or train new folks as they join the team.

What steps do you take to ensure a client can grow with a site while keeping it looking and functioning the way it should? What tips, steps, or ideas have I missed? Please comment and let me know!