With a skill set as wide as mine, why did I start a business doing something as mundane as WordPress maintenance?
Well…
For many years, I have been selling my time. First as a content writer and web designer, then as a marketing freelancer, with several others in between.
However, there is a problem with selling your services: You can only scale it that far.
Not to mention that due to the advancements in AI, much of what I used to do has become redundant, and the rest is probably on its way out too.
So, I started looking for something else. Something unlikely to be replaced by AI in the foreseeable future.
After doing some research, I found there is a solid demand for WordPress website maintenance services. In fact, for this term and related search terms, there are more than 8,000 searches per month on Google.
Of course, having done periodic maintenance services for clients who refused to commit, I have witnessed (and rebuilt) several hacked websites, and fixed a few websites that broke during automatic updates.
The need is real.
For someone with the basic knowledge of how it works, it is relatively simple to do – but it is tedious. Many people simply don’t have the time or inclination to sit down for half an hour or more to run manual updates, check that everything is working correctly, and then create new backups – and download them.
(not to mention troubleshooting and implementing fixes if anything breaks, which can be hair raising if you lack the knowledge to deal with it)
You know the old expression of “what the eyes don’t see…”
Maintaining a website is – for many small business owners – one of those things that the eyes don’t see. They only worry when something breaks, or the website is hacked.
But there are smart small business owners out there who believe in preventive maintenance.
After all, even if your website is hacked or breaks, it can be restored in a matter of half an hour or less (depending on its size) – if you have proper backups in place.
And what’s in it for me?
For starters, more predictable income. yes, I need more clients than I needed as a marketing freelancer. But I would much rather have 50 people paying me $27 per month, every month, than have a few high paying clients who are not committed to staying the course.
Side note: I live in South Africa – so I need roughly half the money that someone in the US would need for the same standard of living. That also explains why my fees are about half of what reputable US companies charge.
Plus, if I can manage to grow it big enough, it is something that can be outsourced at a reasonable fee.
At the end of the day, it just makes business sense.