Will I Be Able to Edit My Own Website?
It's one of the first things people ask me: once the site is built, can I change it myself? The honest answer is some of it, if you want to, and I make the rest of the changes for you at a set hourly rate. Which way suits you depends on what you'll change and how often.
This post explains how changes work on a site I build, what each option costs, and when a different setup would serve you better.
The short answer
- Your blog: yes, if you want to. The edit-your-own blog add-on ($500) puts an editor in your site, and one training call shows you how to use it.
- Everything else (text, photos, pages, features): I make the changes. They're $150 an hour, in 15-minute increments with a 30-minute minimum, or $675 for a prepaid block of five hours.
- A store you update every day: that's a job for Shopify, built as a custom project.
- A WordPress site you already edit yourself: keep it. I can host and look after it on a written quote.
What a CMS is
A content management system, or CMS, is software that lets you change a website's content through forms and buttons instead of code. You sign in, type into a box, upload a photo and press publish. WordPress is one, and Shopify's admin does the same job for a store.
A CMS earns its keep when the same kind of content changes often: articles, events, products. For pages that change a few times a year, such as your services, your about page or your hours, it's more software to learn and keep up to date, for edits you'll rarely make.
How a plan site is built
The sites in my plans are built in Next.js, a framework for building websites in code, and hosted on Vercel. There's no drag-and-drop page builder behind the pages, so you can't edit them yourself. Changing one is a job for someone who works in the code, and that's me.
The code is still yours. Once the build fee is paid in full and the site launches, the design, the pages and the code belong to you, and I hand over a copy of the code repository whenever you ask. If you ever end the care plan, I hand over your code and you can host the site wherever you like.
Changes after launch
The $79/mo care plan starts the day your site launches. It covers hosting on Vercel with SSL, daily backups, uptime monitoring, and security and dependency updates. It doesn't include changes to the site. Those are billed by the hour:
| Price | |
|---|---|
| Changes after launch | $150/hr, in 15-minute increments, 30-minute minimum, invoiced monthly |
| Prepaid block | $675 for five hours of changes |
A change is new text, new photos, new pages or new features. Swapping a phone number and two photos is usually half an hour: $75. You pay for the changes you ask for, not a monthly fee for changes you might never make. If you expect several changes most months, the prepaid block works out to $135 an hour.
Anything bigger than an hour or two, I quote first, or it's sold as the matching add-on. A new page, for example, can be the extra-page add-on: $250, designed and built.
Revisions before launch, fixes after
Before launch, two revision rounds on the design are included. A round is one batch of requested changes. Approving the design tells me to build the rest of the site as designed, so read the preview closely and ask for everything in those rounds.
After launch, for 30 days, I fix anything that's broken at no charge. A fix is something that doesn't work as designed, like a form that doesn't send or a link that goes nowhere. It isn't new content or a change.
Your blog: three ways to run it
On Deluxe and Premium, a blog is set up as part of the plan: the listing, post pages, categories, RSS and the SEO plumbing. On Starter, a blog isn't included; I quote it.
Once it's there, there are three ways to get posts on it.
You send posts and I publish them
Posts live as files in your site's code, and I publish them when you send them. Like any other change after launch, that time is billed by the hour.
I write and publish them for you
A blog post, written and published, is $150. The content plan is two posts a month for $250 a month, and you can cancel any time: I suggest topics for your approval, and each post runs 800 to 1,200 words with one round of revisions. Premium includes five blog posts with the build.
You write and publish them yourself
The edit-your-own blog add-on is $500. I put Payload in your site, and one training call shows you how to use it. Payload is an open-source content management system that runs inside a Next.js site and gives it an admin panel (Payload's documentation). You sign in, then write, edit and publish your posts without waiting on me.
The add-on is for the blog. On Deluxe and Premium the blog is already there; on Starter, I quote the blog first and the add-on goes on top. Changes to your other pages still come to me, by the hour.
If you'd rather write your posts in WordPress, a WordPress-editable blog is possible too. It depends on another platform, so I quote it in writing before I start.
Which fits you
| What you'll change | How often | What fits |
|---|---|---|
| Hours, a phone number, a photo or two | A few times a year | Changes by the hour |
| Several updates | Most months | The $675 prepaid block |
| Articles, news, announcements | Weekly or monthly | The edit-your-own blog, or posts written for you |
| Products, prices, stock | Most days | A Shopify store, as a custom project |
| A WordPress site you already edit | Whenever you like | Keep it, hosted on a written quote |
Three questions settle most of it:
- What will you actually change in the next year? Write the list. If it's your hours and a few photos, an editor you never open is $500 you didn't need to spend.
- How often? A few times a year points to changes by the hour. Every week or two points to a blog you run yourself. Most days points to a store platform.
- Who will do it? Someone has to have the time. If nobody in your business will write a post a month, the content plan or a single post now and then is the honest choice.
If you're weighing a builder you'd edit yourself against a site I build, my post on the real cost of a "free" website builder adds up three years of each.
When a different setup fits better
A store you update every day
If you add products, change prices or adjust stock most days, waiting on anyone, me included, is the wrong setup. That's what Shopify is for. In Shopify you add products and update prices, variants and availability yourself, from the Shopify admin or the Shopify app (Shopify Help Center).
A Shopify store is a custom project, not a plan. You pay a $500 deposit and complete intake, and I send a free written quote with the scope, the price and the payment schedule. Nothing is built until you accept the quote in writing, and until then the deposit is refundable in full. Once you accept, it counts toward the project price. My post on WooCommerce vs Shopify covers the store decision in more detail. Start a custom project.
A WordPress site you already edit
If you already run a WordPress site, know its editor and like it, you don't need a rebuild to keep editing. I host and look after existing WordPress sites case by case, on a written quote, and you keep editing your own content as you do now. Content and design changes from me aren't included. A $500 deposit starts the quote. It's refundable until you accept, and credited to the work. Ask for a quote.
Where to start
My plans are Starter, $2,400 for five pages; Deluxe, $4,080 for seven pages with a blog set up; and Premium, $6,720 for ten pages with copy written for every page and five blog posts. Each is one build fee, paid in full for 10% off or half now and half before launch, then the $79/mo care plan from launch day.
The edit-your-own blog, the content plan and every other add-on are listed with their prices on the add-ons page. To compare the plans and their terms, see the pricing page.
Jamin Giersbach
Jamin Giersbach is one of the three designers who started Popproxx in New York City in 2000. Early clients included WebMD, MSD Capital and Bookmans. In 2007 he took Popproxx to Oregon, and he has run it on his own ever since.
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