The Ultimate Guide for Building and Maintaining a Wordpress Website That Every Client Wishes They Were Given When Starting a Website (so we wrote it!). With evolving technology, a website is not like a static brochure but more like a living organism. It requires updating and attention to keep it in good working order - and secure! And we're not just talking look and feel. We all know sites get outdated every 2 years. Upgrading look and feel can be as easy as refreshing CSS code. If it's built right the first time. This is about building with the right platform in mind. Being well positioned to handle the 4 types of updates that exist in the WordPress world: 1 - WordPress Core Updates 2 - Server / Hosting updates (especially with recent PHP7 introduced) 3 - Theme updates (since over 90%+ use themes. TIP: always customise with child theme) 4 - Plugin updates Scott Groves International's digital department specialises in best practice advice for startups, small business, government departments and major franchises. With a strong background in direct sales and marketing, the focus is on the "human side" of being online. This website creation guide is ideal for people looking for a checklist of everything they need to have prepared or be aware of as they head into building, upgrading and developing a new site. It's great that people love a CMS (Content Management System) and want to control things themselves. But with that comes responsibilities. Getting the basics right means clients can focus on content - and have the peace of mind of automated daily backups, easy duplication of entire site into a staging site for major work without every jeopardising or touching live content. Technology will continue to evolve. And that's a good thing when it improves and adds value to people's lives. May that always be our primary goal with everything we create.

1. WEBSITE CREATION
INTERNATIONAL
Scott Groves
THE ULTIMATE GUIDE FOR BUILDING YOUR WEBSITE EVERY CLIENT
WISHES THEY WERE GIVEN WHEN STARTING A WEBSITE

2. DESIGN. BUILD. SELL.
FUNDAMENTALS

3. FUNDAMENTALS EXPLAINED
Hosting
We use and highly
recommend WP Engine. It
is set up and billed
through SG Int’l. This gives
you Pro features such as
CDN, daily backups,
second staged website to
test changes without
affecting live site & more…
Payment
To begin build: 50%
deposit payment plus
hosting account activated.
Final completion payment
due on agreed completion
date. Site will not go live
under completion
payment is received.
The Build
We build solely in
WordPress. It powers 25%
of the internet, millions
invested in development &
free to install giving clients
a Content Management
System as a Bonus!
The Process
1. Authorise “Go” on build
2. Transfer Deposit Payment
3. Set Up Hosting - pay online so
we can install your site and begin.
4. Send us Sitemap / Menu
5. Decide on Layouts per page
6. Provide Content, Colors, Logo,
Fonts, Social, Passwords, etc
7. Approvals and Final touches.
8. Completion Payment
9. LIVE LAUNCH!
Layouts
The fun begins! Your look
and feel comes together
here. Send us any links to
websites you like the look
of and look through our
Layouts Section in this
Guide to choose your
page look.
Content
Content consists of the 4
types of media; text,
images, video & audio.
Based on your sitemap /
menu, we’ll set up a
Google Drive for you to
send all content through
to.

4. ADDITIONAL SERVICES
Marketing
Consultation
As experts in social media,
PPC campaigns, content
strategy, podcasting, video
& copywriting - it’s easy to
assume you will get all this
included with a web
build… but these are
additional.
Optimisation
& SEO
A website build is a
different service to website
optimisation. It can be
added to your package
but it’s important to
understand it’s a
completely different skill
set, research time and
service to implement.
Copywriting
We often get asked,
“Does this read right?
Is it a good headline?”
We are happy to help with
copywriting services. Main
content will still come from
client interviews or copy
re-writes of clients works.
Options include:
- emotional selling
- lead generation
- follow up emails
- pop ups / landing page
copy
- web copy
- meta tag writing
Social & Content
Strategy
Once your site is live, or
even during the process,
you should be thinking
about social media, PPC
marketing and the
strategic direction of your
online presence.
Talk to us with any
questions you may have
and we can customise a
package for you.
Traffic, Leads & Sales
Understand that a web build is
NOT a marketing plan. And
putting up a website will NOT
instantly lead to an avalanche of
business. You must market your
website via a mix of methods
you develop into your own
marketing formula.
Training
Learn the ins & outs of
WordPress with a personalised
one-on-one session. Recording
available.

5. HOSTING

6. WEB HOSTING
Hosting your website is totally optional with us. And we are completely transparent about it.
First of all, know that hosting a WordPress website requires very fast servers.
We personally use & recommend WP Engine and you can go with them directly or through us (and
we’ll set it up for you). Setting it up via us has a couple of advantages:
1. We’ll set it up and point domains etc for you. Enquire at scottgroves.com
2. Because we are on an Agency Plan, you’ll automatically get EXTRAS that you don’t get on WP
Engine’s Personal Plan. i.e. CDN (Content Delivery Network) is included FREE with us!
WP ENGINE HOSTING FEATURES:
• Automatic Daily Backups
• CDN (if hosted via Scott Groves Int’l)
• One Click Staging Site to Make Changes to Test
Site Before Putting Changes on Live Site
• Hack Protection. Should your site get hacked, it
gets fixed for FREE!!!
• Free Live Chat with WP Staff every day!
WANT FULL CONTROL?
Click Here To Set Up Your
Hosting Account Direct
With WP Engine
WANT TO SAVE A FEW $$$?
Click Here To Set Up Your
Hosting On SG International
Business Account

7. LAYOUTS

8. LAYOUT OPTIONS : UNDERSTANDING THE BASICS
Layouts for ANY page on ANY website are best viewed as nothing more than BOXES.
Keep it simple. Learn the simple names to communicate with us.
Decide on the layout for each of your pages.
LEARNING THE SECTIONS
_________________________
HEADER FOOTER SIDEBAR BODY COLUMNS
LEFT
SIDEBAR
RIGHT
SIDEBAR
2 COLUMN
3 COLUMN 4 COLUMN
NOTE: Using the “box” thinking, you can layout pages any way you like.

9. LAYOUT OPTIONS : CLIENT EXAMPLE
For a client that has a simple 6-10 page website, they may choose the following as an example…
HOME
MAIN
BANNER
UNDER
HEADER
WITH A
COLUMN
LAYOUT
NOTE: FOOTER IS EXPECTED ACROSS ALL PAGES - UNLESS OTHERWISE ADVISED
SERVICES BLOG ABOUT CONTACT
POPULAR
BLOG
LAYOUT
WITH
RIGHT
SIDEBAR
LANDING PAGE

10. 3 Box : Banner / Slider with 2 Feature Boxes

11. 3 Box : Banner / Slider with 2 Feature Boxes

12. 5 Box : Banner / Slider with 4 Feature Boxes

13. 5 Box : Banner / Slider with 4 Feature Boxes

14. 5 Box : Banner / Slider with 4 Feature Boxes

15. IMAGES

16. IMAGES: SIZES & PLACEMENT
MAIN BANNER / SLIDER IMAGES
1920px WIDE X 1280px HIGH or to Reduce File Size of Images / 1500px WIDE X 1000px HIGH

17. IMAGES: SIZES & PLACEMENT
FEATURE IMAGES / PORTFOLIO IMAGES
495px WIDE X 400px HIGH

18. IMAGES: SIZES & PLACEMENT
FEATURE IMAGES / PORTFOLIO IMAGES
COMPLETE OPTIONS:
There are many options with image sizes
(see pic).
The key two points to remember are
these:
1. Images too big will load slow and
affect user experience so try to keep
them as close to the size you want
them be on your website
2. Don’t make them too small and then
expect them to look good if the
setting size (see right pic) is larger -
that’s how you get grainy images /
blurry images. Better to always be
slightly bigger and let it autocross or
have your designer size images
exactly right.

19. TEXT
1: THE LOST ART OF COPYWRITING
2: THE NEW ART OF SEO-WRITING

20. TEXT: THE LOST ART OF COPYWRITING
WORDS MATTER
Images grab attention. Words convert.
Beautiful design and gorgeous images
are essential in modern web design. But
not for why people think.
All good websites look good. It’s
expected. If it looks bad, they’re gone!
Once you have caught the eye of the
visitor, you need good copy to draw them
in.
Selling, influence, conversion - all comes
down to words.
TIP # : Write for humans first, search
engines second!

21. TEXT: THE NEW ART OF SEO-WRITING
“KEY”WORDS
Including keywords is good practice.
Whilst I will always stand by “Write for
humans first, search engines second” - it
makes good sense to include your
keywords in your main headings and
subheadings of your copy.
Other good uses of SEO-writing for your
keywords throughout your copy would
include:
- Bold
- Italics
- Links
You don’t need the “tech-talk” but
understanding that each Header (H1 Tag),
Subhead (H2 or H3 tag) along with bold,
italics and links - wraps your keyword in a
piece of code to help search engines
understand what your webpage is about.

22. VIDEO

23. VIDEO
VIDEO ON YOUR SITE
Video as a media is HUGE!
Every client would benefit from HIGH
QUALITY video on their website.
But you shouldn’t host it on your own
server or hosting.
Make use of free and paid services like
Youtube, Vimeo and Wistia to host your
video.
Simply provide us with a link to your
video on one of these channels and we’ll
paste onto your site for you wherever you
like.
Videos can pop open in light boxes and
on mobile, they’ll naturally convert into
beautiful fullscreen videos when
someone hits play.

24. SEO

25. SEO
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
Everyone wants to be # 1 on Google.
There’s no doubting the benefits of being
ranked and easily found on Google. But…
Expecting to put up a new website and
show up on page #1 of Google is laughable!
PLUS… as a strategy, you MUST understand
the value of traffic coming from a variety of
sources. Preferably, “Controllable Sources”.
SEO is powerful and loved. Mainly because
it's FREE traffic. But a website that gets most
of their traffic from SEO is dancing with risk.
TIP# : Optimise but have a balanced traffic
plan that includes good content, pay-per-
click, social, email & other partnerships.
TIP# 2 : Pages that rank on page #1 of
Google have on average over 2,400 words.

26. SEO
ONSITE OPTIMISATION
Key SEO Factors to Get Right on Your Site
Keyword in URL of page
Keyword in Title Tag of page
Keyword found in first paragraph of copy
Keyword used throughout copy (density)
Keyword in H1, H2 tags (header, subhead)
Keyword in meta description of page
300+ words on page (TIP: aim for some in-
depth 3,000 to 10,000 word pages)
Images alt-tags optimised with keyword
Outbound Links - to external sites and your
internal pages on your own site.
Title Tag
Meta Description
URL
Note: These tags and optimisation of webpages are an
additional service and not included as standard. To
successfully optimise a site requires research, consultation,
thinking, SEO writing skills and code execution.
SEO Services Available During & After Web Build.

28. HOW TO WORK WITH SCOTT GROVES INTERNATIONAL
CHECKLIST OF WHAT YOU NEED TO PROVIDE
▸ Passwords to domain etc (Recommend Last Pass to manage passwords)
▸ Hosting agreement and monthly payment on valid CC (to begin)
▸ Password of choice to access your Content Management System (CMS)
▸ Email set up details (what do you use? Gmail?)
▸ Sitemap of pages (your menu for your site)
▸ Design layouts per page (see layouts in this document or send links of sites
you like)
▸ Content per page (images, text, video, audio)
▸ Colours of your brand (CMYK, RGB or Hex #)
▸ Logo (jpeg and transparent PNG for white logo to go over images)

29. TIPS WHEN SENDING CONTENT THROUGH
DO’S ————————
▸ Do name images based in
page and where they need
to be on page
▸ Do provide your logo in jpeg
AND transparent PNG (see-
through background). Color
and greyscale
▸ Do provide a style guide.
Font and colours for headers,
subheadings and body copy.
▸ Don't give us miscellaneous
images and say "use wherever"
▸ Don't provide portrait dimension
images and expect them to look
good or fit a landscape area
▸ Don't take 6 weeks to provide us
content and expect changes
overnight. Allow 24-48 for small
changes to be made. Major
content may take 1-2 weeks to
lay up and drop in.
DONT’S ———————

30. WEBSITE
MAINTENANCE
ONGOING SUPPORT

31. AFTER SITE LAUNCH:
Packages are available for ongoing support /or…
ONE OFF MAINTENANCE / WEB CHANGES
$150+ gst per hour billed in 30 minute increments

32. TERMS / LANGUAGE
GLOSSARY OF TERMS
▸ CMS - content management system
▸ API - Application Programming Interface - a set of functions and procedures that
allow the creation of applications which access the features or data of an operating
system. API Key is a common password style code to connect accounts to your
website i.e. MailChimp
▸ Sliders - images that slide to reveal another image (often used as banner)
▸ Header - top section of your website where menu and logo appear
▸ Footer - bottom section of your website (where © Copyright notice appears)
▸ Copy - the text you write on a page
▸ Icons - graphic elements used to show basic image to highlight a section
▸ Buttons - action elements that allow people to follow a path in your site

33. Scott Groves
INTERNATIONAL
SCOTTGROVES.COM
“a world of possibilities…”