Description:
Hi, my name is John Fenn. I’m the owner of Budget Dumpster Rental. We are a national “dumpster broker” company based out of Cleveland, OH.
Budget Dumpster is a small company that helps contractors and homeowners find affordable dumpster rental services. Just like Priceline or Hotwire help people find cheap car rental, hotels and airfare…we help people find affordable and reliable dumpster services.
Our office is in Cleveland, OH however, we offer our services in the top 100 markets in the US. We have a virtual presence in all of these cities meaning we market online and/or have a virtual office space established in those areas.
Our main business website is BudgetDumpster.com. Don't laugh, I built it myself and I know it is in need of some "minor" updating. But it ranks pretty darn well.
THE PROJECT: I need a true professional to design and develop a network of 100 sites using WordPress Multi-Site...a site for each city we operate in. Each site will have its own original domain (not sub-domian), e.g. ClevelandDumpsterRental.com, PittsburghDumpsterRental.com, etc. I will need help with changing the DNS setting (domain mapping?). Most domain have been purchased and are currently parked with GoDaddy.
The theme/design for each site can be the same, replicated each time for each new site. I anticipate each site to be nearly 95% identical with a few exceptions… dumpster pricing, dumpster sizes and a few regulations will change from city to city. The header image will also change from site to site to reflect the correct domain. I will be responsible for content.
From my understanding, the multi-site platform would be ideal for this model. Each site would have the same theme, plug-ins, etc. Any major updates, edits or changes could be made within the admin panel and would affect every site system-wide. No need to modify each site individually.
Once this project is complete, just show me how (I will prob require a few hours of training) to replicate/add a new site and I will create all of the individual sites, add unique content, etc.
Each site will be “small” and consist of approx 10 pages. I will provide graphics, logos, ect. Each site would need a few forms, “schedule a pick up”, request a quote”, contact us”, ect. These forms would be forwarded to pre-determined email addresses and should also include an auto-responder. Social media links/buttons should be included on each site.
We will use Google Apps for all email needs, so email hosting will not be needed.
Hosting is not yet determined but will be determined between you and me. Upon awarding this project, we will have a discussion to determine the best hosting options to ensure, speed, uptime, security, etc. I want you to be active in helping determine a host because I will rely on you in the future to work with that host in the event there are any issues and you need access to the server, access to hosting customer support, etc. Both you and I should feel comfortable with the host. Side note: I prefer to host away from whoever is developing the sites. This has been proven to be conflict of interest in the past with developers up selling or recommending hosting that benefits them more than the sites.
SEO will be my responsibility.
I prefer for this project to be built on the Genesis framework from StudioPress. We can use a child theme, modified to fit my needs. If you do not work with Genesis but have a strong background/experience with multisite, contact me! We do not have to use Genesis.
IMPORTANT: Please understand I want to work with someone who has experience with multisite and has at least a few multisite projects under their belt. I will ask to see your work.
If you are interested in this project, please provide an estimate and include any comments or questions with you reply. Please also include an estimated time-frame for this project.
About me: I’m 32, married with 2 small boys…4 and 1 ½. I’m super down to earth and extremely reasonable and I’m very, very easy to work with. I worked as a Paramedic in the Cleveland area prior to launching Budget Dumpster. It may sound odd to get excited about dumpsters (lol) but this company has become my passion. I started BD 2 years ago working nights and weekends out of my spare bedroom. I now have 4 full time employees and 1 part-timer. We do a great job and help a lot of people save time and money every day. Half of our business comes from repeat customers which I believe says a lot. Last year was kind of a break-out year for us and we rented out over 8,500 dumpsters!
In the past 2 years I’ve learned a ton. I’ve also been burned a once or twice so I’m a little bit cautious with whom I choose to work with. That’s why communication and accountability are so big to me. I always do what I say I’m going to do and I expect the same from my business partners.
In closing, I would really like to establish a long-term working relationship with a WP expert who I can work with for the foreseeable future. I have a couple of other small businesses that will require work in the very near future. Thanks very much for taking the time to read this ridiculously long message! I hope to hear from you.
My budget is $5,000-$6,000.
Best,
John Fenn
john@budgetdumpster.com
