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WordPress

Bob Sutherton
Bob Sutherton
20,160 Points
Posted by Bob Sutherton
Bob Sutherton
20,160 Points

How to begin with your first WordPress client?

I have decided to take a project for someone pro bono, and have decided WordPress is the right solution for their needs. However, although we have had some lengthy communication via email, I am essentially a stranger to this individual who I am offering to help.

To build his site in WordPress, I am going to need to ask for sensitive information such as access to his hosting account details. Right? What is the best practice approach for dealing with these details so that everyone feels safe and comfortable?

Also, this individual has an old outdated website already uploaded to his hosting account and domain. I am sure he would prefer that the site remain up while the new one is under construction. Is this possible? If not, how does one set up a "notice" to site visitors that the page is under construction?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give on managing these details!

3 Answers

John Wheal
John Wheal
27,969 Points
John Wheal
John Wheal
27,969 Points

I would personally start developing the site on your local machine and not touch his existing site or hosting at the moment. When you want to show him the site for feedback, I'd either upload it to a new folder on his server (e.g. example.com/newsite) or temporarily host the site on your own hosting.

As for handling his "sensitive information", there are various approaches you can take. Depending on his experience you might be able to get him to setup a temporary FTP user which he can delete once you've finished the project. Alternately, ask him to change the details (passwords) and then provide you with a copy. I've worked with a number of clients and many of them are more than happy just to send you their username and passwords (although I prefer if they change them first).

Bob Sutherton
Bob Sutherton
20,160 Points
Bob Sutherton
Bob Sutherton
20,160 Points

John, thanks for the reply. Your suggestion to change the passwords is a great idea and I will be implementing that from here on out when it comes to dealing with people's passwords

. I have already gathered that this client is not very technically savvy. Nor would I know how to set up a temporary FTP user (although that sounds like it would be an ideal approach). I wonder if it would be a hard process for me and the client to walkthrough?

Anyway, while I have your ear, I have a question regarding your advice about developing the site on my local machine. I did not think you could do it with WordPress because I thought you worked from inside the WordPress console that is connected to a specific hosting account.

If you have the time or inclination, I would like to hear more about how you would go about creating a WordPress site locally and then transporting it somewhere else. Forgive me if these questions seem ignorant or ill-informed. This is not only my first WordPress project, this is my first project period! I know my questions may require lengthy responses so I would appreciate any relevant articles if you don't have time to answer.

John Wheal
John Wheal
27,969 Points
John Wheal
John Wheal
27,969 Points

There are two different versions of Wordpress. You have Wordpress.com where Wordpress hosts the site for you. Treehouse has the following course on wordpress.com - http://teamtreehouse.com/library/great-wordpresscom-websites

The other version is wordpress.org where the site is self-hosted. I assumed that your client was using a wordpress.org site but you're now making me wonder. You need to clarify this with him (if you don't know) as the options available will be different.

Treehouse has the following course to setup a local WordPress development environment - http://teamtreehouse.com/library/local-wordpress-development

If you let me know if this is a wordpress.com or wordpress.org site I can answer your questions fully.

Bob Sutherton
Bob Sutherton
20,160 Points
Bob Sutherton
Bob Sutherton
20,160 Points

Thanks for the links. The client does not have WordPress at all yet, but has an old table based website from the 90's. I was originally intending to build him a regular website with HTML and CSS3, etc. But as I got into the project I realized that WordPress(.org) is perfect for him and his needs. I planned on using Wordpress.org to give him the full functionality of a WordPress website.

The local WordPress development link you gave looks like it might answer a lot of my questions!

Mary Paul
Mary Paul
13,792 Points
Mary Paul
Mary Paul
13,792 Points

This is an old post, but if anyone else has questions on local hosting of wordpress, Treehouse has a great course on it now.

https://teamtreehouse.com/library/installing-wordpress-locally-2