Frequently Asked Questions
- What platforms do you build websites on?
Our team specializes in designing websites using the highly versatile WordPress platform. We focus on delivering user-friendly experiences and visually appealing designs tailored to each client’s unique needs. With expertise in various plugins and themes, we ensure that every site is optimized for performance, functionality, and search engine visibility, making it easier for businesses to reach and engage their target audience.
- Can you migrate my site from another platform?
Yes, we can facilitate the transfer of websites from various platforms to WordPress. This migration process involves several steps, including assessing the current site architecture, exporting content, and ensuring compatibility with WordPress themes and plugins. The overall cost of migration can vary significantly based on factors such as the specific platform from which we are transferring, the complexity and size of the website, and any additional functionalities that may need to be integrated post-migration. Typically, more extensive sites with unique features or customized designs may incur higher costs due to the increased effort involved in the transfer process.
- How much does WordPress cost?
WordPress is a fantastic open-source platform that you can use completely free of charge! The only costs you’ll need to consider are for hosting, your domain name, selecting a theme, and any plugins you decide to purchase. We’re here to help you with all those options!
- What do I need to get started with a project?
Basic requirements include:
- Clear business goals
- Content for your website (if we have not been booked to help with this)
- Brand elements (if we have not been booked to help with this as part of the project)
- Technical account access
- Commitment to project timeline
- Budget aligned with your chosen service
- What if I don’t move forward after a discovery call?
That is perfectly fine. We treat discovery calls like strategy calls, so you will always leave with information that helps you make an informed decision on whether we are a good fit to work together, but also what will be the best way forward for you.
- How do I know which service is right for me?
Take a look at our offered services and consider the things listed below:
- Business goals
- Timeline needs
- Budget
- Technical comfort level
- Desired level of involvement
If it is still unclear we recommend that you book a discovery call and we’ll help you figure out the best fit.
- What is your Refund & Exchange Policy?
Website deposits are non-refundable as they reserve your project dates and limit our availability to take on other clients. If a project needs to be resculed it can be once without withou addtional fees. Rescheduling two or more times will result in rebooking fees as outlined in the project agreement.
Support Stack hours are non-refundable but valid for 6 months.
Maintenance & hosting plans can be canceled anytime and will be effective at the end of the current billing period. (no refunds or prorations allowed)
- Do you offer payment plans?
Payment plans are available on design projects.
We also offer Afterpay and Affirm. If your purchase qualifies, it will be available at checkout.
- How do I use AfterPay or Affirm
Studio117 CreatAa flexible payment options through Afterpay and Affirm, allowing you to break your payments into manageable installments.
Using Afterpay:
- Select Afterpay at checkout when purchasing eligible services.
- Log in or sign up for an Afterpay account.
- Complete your purchase and pay in four interest-free payments every two weeks.
- Your service will proceed as scheduled while you make payments directly to Afterpay.
📌 For more details, please review Afterpay’s Terms of Service.
Using Affirm:
- Select Affirm at checkout when purchasing eligible services.
- Log in or sign up for an Affirm account.
- Choose a payment plan that works for you (options may vary based on eligibility).
- Make monthly payments directly to Affirm while your service continues as planned.
📌 For more details, please review Affirm’s Terms of Service.
If you have any questions about using Afterpay or Affirm, please contact us before completing your purchase.
- What is the difference between you setting up a theme on my site and the theme developers install service?
Theme developers will install the demo and all of its content on your site, requiring you to remove the unneeded content after installation. They will also update your requested colors and fonts in the theme settings.
Our service goes above and beyond that to help make sure your copy is added and that the site is tailored to your needs with the colors and fonts used in the way that you want them laid out on your site.
- What if I need more pages than what’s included?
Studio Sprint: Additional custom-built pages available at $500 per page
Studio Spark: Additional pages from the theme selected templates available as add-ons at $100 per page, or additional custom built pages available at $500 per page
Studio Focus: This is specifically for single-page websites. In some cases a single additinal page is needed and can be added at $500 per page for custom built pages
Studio DIY customers are able to add all pages they need with their theme setup.
- How long does each website service take?
- Studio Sprint: 2 weeks (It requires you to be available and accessible within a reasonable time between 10-4 EST during the project)
- Studio Spark: 3-6 weeks total (timeframe depends on clients repsonsiveness and ability to provide feedback in a timely manner)
- Studio DIY: 45-day access to staging site (work at your own pace)
- Studio Focus: 2-4 weeks from start to launch (timeframe depends on clients repsonsiveness and ability to provide feedback in a timely manner)
- What’s the difference between your website services?
Studio Sprint (starting at $5,000): Our premium two-week intensive service for businesses ready for a strategic, professional website with dedicated attention and quick turnaround.
Studio Spark (starting at $1,500): A guided website solution that combines professional theme setup with educational support – perfect for growing businesses who want flexibility and guidance.
Studio DIY (starting at $397): For hands-on business owners who want to refresh their website themselves with professional technical support and infrastructure.
Studio Focus (starting at $897): Perfect for businesses who need just one amazing, strategic page to convert visitors into clients.
- How do I get support if I need help?
For all existing clients, the best way to get help is in your client portal where you can submit a support ticket.
For new clients looking to get help, the get in touch section (found in the menu) of our website shares where you can request a quote, book a discovery call, or get technical support for the forst time.
- What are your business hours?
We’re available Monday through Thursday, 10 AM to 4 PM EST and Friday, 10 AM to 12 PM.
- How long are support hours valid?
Support Stack hours are valid for 6 months from the purchase date.
- What can I use support hours for?
Support hours can be used for the following:
- WordPress maintenance and customizations
- Email marketing platform optimization
- CRM integrations and troubleshooting
- Payment system integrations
- Automation workflow setup
- Tech tool selection and implementation
- System audits and optimization
- General tech troubleshooting
If you need help with something not listed here, please don’t hesitate to contact us to see if we can assist you beforehand.
- What kind of support do you offer?
We offer two flexible ways to get technical support:
Prepaid Support Stacks (best value):
- Starter Stack (5 hours): $425 ($85/hour)
- Growth Stack (10 hours): $800 ($80/hour)
- Power Stack (20 hours): $1,500 ($75/hour)
As-Needed Support:
- $95/hour, billed only for time used
- Perfect for one-off projects or occasional needs
- What if I need extra tech help beyond my updates and backups?
We are happy to help with your tech issues outside of your plan. You can choose to purchase prepaid support stack hours, or you can submit a request in your client portal and we will charge our hourly rate to get the job done.
- My host backs up my website. Do I still need that?
It is always a good idea to have backups outside of those provided by your host in the event of a system error or glitch. This ensures that you are fully protected against losing your site data.
- What does the monthly maintenance report include?
The monthly report is sent on the first of every month and includes details on all actions taken on your site, any user updates, update details, and backup info. You can check out an example report here .
- Will I still see that my site has updates in my dashboard?
Yes! You will still see the update alerts in your dashboard. But you no longer need to do anything about them. We do not update all plugins as soon as the update is made available to ensure that the updates are less likely to interfere with your site setup. You can rest assured that your updates are being monitored and handled in the best interest of your site.
- Why do I need a plugin audit when starting the maintenance plan?
Think of plugins like apps on your phone. At first, you download apps because they sound useful – a fitness tracker here, a photo editor there. But six months later? You’ve got dozens of apps eating up storage and slowing down your phone, and you can’t remember why you downloaded half of them.
Your WordPress site works the same way. Over time, you install plugins for specific features or projects, but rarely go back to check if you still need them. Each active plugin is like an app running in the background – using resources, potentially creating security risks, and maybe even conflicting with other plugins.
A plugin audit is like a digital spring cleaning. We look at each plugin and ask:
- Is it actively being used?
- Could its function be handled by another plugin you already have?
- Is it up to date and secure?
- Is it slowing down your site?
Here’s a real example: We recently audited a site with 32 plugins. Turns out they had three different contact form plugins, two backup plugins, and several plugins from a marketing campaign they ran two years ago. After the audit, we got them down to 12 essential plugins. Their site immediately loaded faster and became easier to maintain. And was less vulnerable from all the unnecessary plugins.
Before we start maintaining your site, we want to make sure we’re not just updating unnecessary plugins – we’re keeping your site lean, fast, and secure from day one.
- How do I know if I need a support plan?
You need a maintenance plan if:
- You don’t want to think about when to update WordPress, plugins, or themes
- You want the security of knowing someone’s watching for issues before they become problems
- You’ve ever logged into your site and seen a bunch of update notifications you weren’t sure about
- Your website is important to your business (it generates leads, sells products, or represents your brand)
- You’ve experienced a hacked site before (trust me, you don’t want that again)
- You don’t have time to regularly check, update, and backup your site
- The thought of your website breaking gives you anxiety
Think of a maintenance plan like insurance and regular healthcare for your website. It’s always cheaper to prevent problems than to fix them after they happen. And remember – one security breach can cost thousands to fix, not to mention lost business and reputation damage.
- What is included in your maintenance plan?
- Core WordPress updates
- Theme & plugin updates
- Daily backups
- Security & malware scanning
- Basic uptime monitoring
- Monthly reports
- Plugin audit at startup
- Do you offer website maintenance for platforms other than WordPress?
We do not currently offer maintenance or support for other platforms. But we are always open to feedback and if there is a need that may change in the future.
- What if I need help outside of what’s covered in my plan?
We’ve got options! For small tasks, we can help you determine if it falls within your hosting plan.
For larger projects, you can get support at your discounted hourl rate on an as needed basis or purchase one of our Support Stacks to give you flexible support hours at preferred rates. Just ask and we’ll point you in the right direction.
- How do I get help if something isn’t working right?
You can submit a support ticket accessible in a couple different places:
- Click the “Request Support” button in your website dashboard
- Access the “Request Support” button found on studio117creative.com
- Open a suuport ticket from inside your client portal
You’ll get a confirmation that we received your request, and we’ll respond withintwo business days. For urgent issues, please note “URGENT” in the subject line.
- Is my website secure?
Yes! We implement multiple layers of security including an SSL certificate, customized login URL and we run daily security scans to check for vulnerabilities and monitor for any suspicious activity.
- How often is my website backed up?
We run daily backups of your entire website, and these backups are stored securely for rention based on your hosting plan. These backups are like insurance for your website – they’re there if anything ever goes wrong.
- What’s included in the hosting plans?
All hosting plans include:
- Premium managed hosting
- Customized WordPress dashboard
- Core WordPress updates
- Theme & plugin updates
- Daily backups
- Security & malware scanning
- Basic uptime monitoring
- How is managed hosting different from regular hosting?
Managed hosting means we take care of all the technical aspects of running your website. From updates and backups to security and domain management, we handle it all. With regular hosting, you would need to manage these tasks yourself, but with our managed hosting, you can focus on your business while we ensure your site stays secure and running smoothly.
- Can I keep plugins that you recommend removing?
Absolutely! This is your website, and our recommendations are just that – recommendations. We’ll explain why we suggest removing certain plugins, but you have the final say in what stays or goes with the exception of maintenance plan customers. For plugins that have been abandoned we will strongly reocmmend removing them. And if on our maintenance plan, we may require you to remove them.
- What do I need to provide for the audit?
You will need to provide admin access to your WordPress website and then feedback/input in the collaboration document that we send over.
- What if I need help after the audit?
If you purchased the basic option and need help with implementation, you can upgrade for us to implement the changes within 7 days of your audit. Alternitively you can:
- Book support hours as needed for additional tasks
- Purchase prepaid support stack hours to get support at a discounted rate
- Sign up for a maintenance plan to help with maintaining plugins going forward
- What if I am not sure which plugins I need?
That’s exactly what we’re here for! We’ll help you understand what each plugin does and whether it’s essential for your site.
- Will the plugin audit break my site?
Nope! We take careful precautions, including full backups and thorough testing, before making any changes to your site.
- How long does the plugin audit take?
The basic audit takes 3-4 business days contingent on client communication. Implementation adds 1-2 additional days, depending on your site’s complexity.