Greetings – welcome to the website of Starrlight Media. I’ve been building websites on a part time basis for about 15 years. The last 5 or 6 years primarily with WordPress sites. (I’m also a professional cat photographer as Starrlight Photography).
Services:
Currently, I’m only building and supporting new websites on wordpress.com. I’ve written a blog post on the reasons for this if you’re interested. I’m not a WordPress “developer” (only a bit of experience with CSS coding and child themes) and although I’ve built wordpress.org sites (and still maintain one), I prefer the wordpress.com platform for both clients and myself, which provides less “backend” maintenance for security and updates. Most of my previous working lives were in customer support, and I enjoy the teaching and support side as much as the creative side. I’m very happy for you, the client, to take over doing updates of your site, at any level you’re comfortable with. Some clients will update design and content of pages as well as making blog posts. Other clients will only make blog posts, which are extremely easy on wordpress.com. There is even an option to do “posts by email”, meaning you can create a new post on your blog/website just by sending an email with attached or embedded photos – no need to log in to the site. I’m currently in the process of creating user-friendly instruction sheets to help my clients edit their sites if they wish.
Most of the sites I build are for folks in the cat fancy, hobby breeders, etc, and a breeder directory. I’m not technically a graphic artist but do create simple logos and graphics and am experienced with photo editing. I also have a lot of experience with organizing and presenting information in a clear and concise manner.
Pricing:
Charges for services are typically $30/hour. Building a new site, using a wordpress.com theme with “basic customization” to design and navigation (included with the theme) will be on average around $500. A typical site might consist of a blog/news page, possibly a “static” home page, an “About” page, “Contact” page, plus an additional 3-4 content pages. Social media links, etc included. Additional customization with CSS coding for design, extensive photo editing, or content writing would be additional cost. Some basic training and assistance on learning to edit the site is included but I’m also available for remote or possibly in-person tutoring. There is almost no maintenance needed on the “backend” for wordpress.com sites so after initial set up I only charge, on an hourly basis, for requested content and design updates. No updates – no charges.
I do not host sites but have my client sign up for a wordpress.com account where the website is hosted. There are 4 plans available at wordpress.com, including a free plan. The free plan will include a wordpress url (address) for example “starrlightmedia.wordpress.com” and WP may put small ads on your site (although I have a couple free sites and have not seen any ads). If you want to use a custom domain (either new one or existing), you’ll need to get at least the personal plan which is about $36/year. Any of the paid plans include support from the amazingly helpful folks at WordPress. For a site that needs additional customization not included with the theme, you’d need at least the premium plan for the CSS coding feature. For information on pricing see wordpress.com/pricing/
Feel free to check out the “Examples” page and contact me if any questions.
Thanks for your interest! – Diana
