At RooSites we have been working with non profit organizations for over 25 years. We make a point of discounting all web design and development services for nonprofits. That may not be the smartest business decision in the world, but there’s something to be said about helping other people.
This is not just a tagline from our nonprofit page. We always say we like to help those who help others. Why you ask? In truth, it just feels good to do something nice for people. I always have loved this quote from Einstein, and really take it to heart. As someone who works seven days a week, I don’t always have the time to volunteer or help charities in the way I would like to. But being a web designer, I have the ability to help those entities.
“It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it.”
Albert Einstein
Unfortunately, there are companies out there who take advantage of nonprofits. I recently had one of the worst experiences I’ve had in a long time. I had a client years ago that we built their initial nonprofit website. As the nonprofit is helping people based outside of the US, they decided to move the website to that specific country.
They recently decided to bring the website back to us. The way we do things, migrating a wordpress website can be very simple. But in this case, the company had taken such advantage of these poor people and not kept anything up-to-date. There were 15+ updates which had been ignored for years! Amazingly the site hadn’t been hacked yet, but it was only a matter of time. We discounted our work 50%, as I felt so bad for these people. They are trying to do a nice thing in the world, yet there are unscrupulous companies who don’t really care.
As I said in my opening, I find working with non-profits its own reward. I feel like I am making a difference in the world when I help those who truly are making an impact!
I have been very fortunate over the years to work with some great nonprofits. All are typically staffed by people who truly care about the cause and not about the money. They really rub off on you, and make you want to do more. I recently had a client who is putting on an event and needed a quick website built. We donated the entire cost of the development, so that every dime they raised in this event goes right to the people who need it most.
Sadly, just like there are unscrupulous companies taking advantage of nonprofits, there are also some fake nonprofits out there. Before we do work for a nonprofit we do our due diligence and make sure they are legitimate. This article gives you methods for determining the legitimacy of nonprofits. As an example, we recently had a call with a company, and when I asked for their credentials, they said they would get back to me. I had looked up their company name and found that they were not listed as a legitimate nonprofit in the eyes of the law. I passed on the project, as the worst thing you can do is help somebody steal money meant to help others.
Helping those who help others is extremely rewarding. You get back far more than you put in. If you know of a non-profit in need of help, please have them contact us.
To explain: Shortcodes in WordPress allow you to add various functionality into posts, pages, and widgets without actually writing any code. Hence the name, Shortcode. Many WordPress plugins and some themes use shortcodes to add different elements such as buttons, text blocks, pricing grids, event calendars, rows and columns, icons and many other things into your WordPress website.
In this example, we generate a text block:
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I am text block. Click edit button to change this text. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut elit tellus, luctus nec ullamcorper mattis, pulvinar dapibus leo.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
What should happen is the plug-in translates this and put a block of text on your webpage inside a column, inside a row. But if the plug-in is disabled or broken, you just see the actual code on your page. In this instance, every single page was filled with the short codes. Any website management company should’ve been able to fix this, unless you just aren’t doing your job as was the case in this particular issue.
When they told me they had a Managed WordPress hosting plan, I assumed that this meant the company not only keeps your website WordPress core version, theme and plug-ins up-to-date but also troubleshoot whenever there is a problem. Wow was I wrong!! Once I logged in, I could see exactly what the issue was and fixed it very quickly. The team at this Managed WordPress company had disabled all the plug-ins. The site had an issue, so instead of investigating and figuring out which plug-in had a problem, they just deactivated every single one. This is website management 101. I honestly couldn’t believe what this company was passing off as “managed”.
(You will notice I did not mention the name of this company, it is one of the biggest players in the market. My goal isn’t to destroy any companies’ reputation, but if you’d like to find out which, I would be happy to let you know.)
What is the answer for small businesses, who don’t have a huge budget but need someone to manage their WordPress implementation?
Remember, just because something is cheaper doesn’t mean it’s better, and most of the time cheaper is NOT better and sadly can be far worse. Take the law firm we just assisted. For weeks their site wasn’t displaying properly and it was definitely costing them business. So while they may have only been paying a small amount each month for their Managed WordPress account, if you figure it out a basic support plan from a website management company like RooSites as an example, they would have made much more money in the long run. This is a firm that bills out at hundreds of dollars an hour, and downtime is not acceptable! In this day and age, losing any business due to a website that doesn’t display is inexcusable. The customer/client you lose may make the difference and having a good year or a less than stellar one. So having a good website management is not a luxury, it is a necessity.
WordPress is the top Content Management System in the world, and is the leader in the marketplace. But, it can be very confusing, and a simple update to your WordPress core, your themes or plugins can break your whole site. So you need to make sure you have a website management company that is prepared for any pitfall. No legitimate company will tell you that it’s easy and that they haven’t had similar problems. It comes down to how they handle the issues when they arise. When a company leaves you with your website not displaying, that is inexcusable. It’s one thing if they were just selling you hosting, but by calling it managed WordPress you assume all your problems would be taken care of when and if they happen.
Hopefully this blog post has given you enough information to go forward and make a wise choice for your hosting and website management needs. We would be happy to assist you, and if we can’t, we will definitely recommend a solution. We have been doing this since 1996 and realize that we can’t help every single company that comes our way. But, our reputation is built on being helpful, so we always try to help small businesses find a solution that works for them. I can tell you, this is also a good business model as we have helped companies find solutions and as a reward we get tons of referrals from companies we work with now and have worked with in the past.
Contact us today, you will be glad you did!
