Several years ago, I started this business to provide website project and graphic design services to other businesses. The demand for graphic design and website creation services is significant and we were able to find projects right away.
However, the business model had some challenges. This article talks about our journey so far and the direction I hope this business will take in the future.
The Story of This Business So Far…
I started Web Developers Etc several years ago. In the past, I had outsourced a lot of website and graphic design work and built a nice network of contractors. I figured that I could offer those services and let my people handle the work.
Finding steady predictable work and providing cash flow was a big challenge at the start. Upwork provided a good starting place for finding people looking for such projects and even provided a few regular clients. Eventually, I came up with a system for getting clients more predictably and even sold a freelancing course.
Another big downside was that the hours were unpredictable. My team often worked in the evenings and weekends as it was sometimes necessary to get projects completed in a timely fashion or communicate with clients.
After some time and some thinking, I decided that I wanted to do something different with this business. If you look around the site, you’ll probably notice that we’ve rebranded to focus on web hosting and maintenance services, focused mostly on WordPress.
Most web hosts aren’t specifically catered to WordPress and I’ve noticed that many WordPress users don’t regularly update their sites, leaving them vulnerable to hackers and malware. Also, some WordPress users didn’t know how to manage their sites or want to be bothered with it.
The maintenance services we provide are aimed at eliminating these hassles for the busy business owner. For us, hosting and maintenance will provide a predictable monthly income.
Why I Decided to Keep this Domain
I thought a lot about whether I should register a new domain name for web maintenance or just rebrand this one. This domain name suggests web development services and I’ve kept the link to those services in the footer. I may take on some web projects, but only if the price makes sense as website projects take a lot of time.
A new domain with neutral name would have allowed the business to pivot more easily. I want the flexibility to adapt because sometimes when running a business, you discover other opportunities along the way.
The plus side of just using the same domain is that the links from previous sites will help with SEO as well as the domain age. Not that I’ve done much SEO on this site, but I’m sure every bit still helps.
In the future, I may also expand to focus on more services and at that point, the business name would make perfect sense.
Site Changes
Compared to the previous site, this site is designed to be much simpler with a clearer call to action. The previous site had too many pages and was too cluttered. Following the example of several SAAS companies, this site is clean and simple.
I’ll be creating some blog posts in the future about some of the tools I used to get set up as quickly as possible and set up the payment system.
This Blog
I’ve decided to reboot the blog as well, which I will use to market this business. In the blog, I will be sharing the growth journey of Web Developers Etc plus lessons I’ve learned from my other businesses and growing my other blog, Small Business Ideas Blog.
I plan on focusing more time on this blog as it will require a lot of work. I’m hoping to grow this blog a lot faster than my previous blog and make it a destination for business and marketing content.
Lots of people are blogging, but few are sharing what they do to grow their business as they go along. I’m hoping this blog format will help other business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs to start or grow their own businesses.
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