What is Website as a Service (WaaS)?

You might be surprised to learn this, but I’m not actually a website designer. Or a graphic designer.

Well, I mean, I am now …I’ve been doing this work for almost 20 years. But my formal education and training…are not in design or the arts or even programming.

My original path started with a deep and passionate connection with those brave, independent souls who quit their day jobs to create a life of their own design.

They strike out on a path of self-employment, or startup new ventures, or dedicate their lives to a grassroots cause.

The energy created by their hope & action…that’s stuff life is made of!

So, when I finished a BA in Organizational Management, minored in Marketing, and got myself a fancy, overpriced MBA with a focus on Entrepreneurship; I thought I was fully equipped with all the tools I needed to help these amazing, world-shapers do their world-shaping thing.

I spent a few years working diligently in economic development. I helped startup teams prepare for their Shark Tank-style pitch presentations. I wrote a bunch of successful grants to help grassroots organizations get to the next level. I taught business planning classes to women in transition, walking over 100 women from idea to income. I was hired as the Director of a statewide, SBA funded training, support, and microloan program designed to help women start micro-businesses. It was awesome.

But I never wanted a job-job. I too yearned to be the brave soul who stepped out of the safety net of a salary and colored outside of the lines.

I knew the people I wanted to work with…the dreamers…the lift-shifters…the bootstrappers… didn’t have big budgets that included paying for business advice or consulting. Still, I could no longer stomach spending most of my days writing grants that would just pay my salary rather than actually helping people grow their businesses.

This is the winding path that led me to website design.

I had dabbled doing some design work in college. And I knew that, as a designer, I would be able to work with the people I love working with.

I was able to provide an actual, tangible thing that would help their business succeed. Always peppered with business advice and a deep respect for their journey.

Still there was this gap

Over the years, my rates have increased along with my knowledge and skills. I’ve struggled with ways to earn what I know I’m worth while keeping my services accessible to the dreamers and the small-on-purpose business owners.

The challenge

Most professional websites come with a fairly steep initial price tag that doesn’t fit smaller budgets. There’s also, traditionally, a 4 -6 week build time for most website projects. Finding that kind of time is just a pipe dream for a busy one-person show.

Inevitably, a few months after a client has spent $3000 – $6000 on a website, they realize that they need to make a change. Businesses evolve. Processes change. Services get refined. A website is never a static, un-changing thing.

I’m sorry to break this to you, but your website will never be done.

Getting the invoice for a website update can be a real gut-check for any business on a budget. Which means the updates tend to get delayed. Indefinitely. And the site gets out of date. Quickly.

Within a year of making such a huge initial investment, the website can become so irrelevant that the business owner loathes the idea of sharing the link with potential clients.

Sadly, the only fix for a website that far gone is typically a whole redesign. AKA another huge investment.

This is all just ridiculously unrealistic  for anyone running a business or an organization with a limited budget.

And that’s when Website as a Service swoops in to save the day.

Website as a Service (WaaS) is a single monthly fee that covers the design, development, hosting, maintenance and periodic updates that every website needs.

It’s everything you need to get (and keep!) a professional web presence.

There’s a small setup fee of $250 or $550 depending on the size & complexity of your website. Then you pay a monthly fee for a limited term. You can choose the length of that term between 12 and 18 months.

At the end of the contract term, your monthly price reduces to just the cost of the Website Care plan…in which we continue to provide hosting, maintenance, and periodic updates.

You can think of it kinda like getting the fancy new phone with your mobile phone service. You pay a slightly higher monthly payment until that phone is paid off. Once the phone is paid off, your monthly payments go down.

What’s stopping you now?

My hope is that the Website as a Service plan will make a gorgeous, professional website more attainable for the kinds of clients that feed my soul.

If you’ve been wishing for a new website, but have been overwhelmed by the price tag, maybe this will open a path for you.

If you’d like to see how much a new website will cost you, check out the WaaS packages here or play with the website estimate calculator here.

I would love to work together soon!

P.S. I’ve also been working on ways to solve the challenge so many of my clients have with preparing the content and copy for their new websites. This led to the creation of the Website Planning Toolkit. You can download yours for free in the box at the bottom of this page.