Keeping Pixel Earth On Retainer

The post-development phase is an important consideration even before building a web site. After your project is complete, it is often advantageous to hold Pixel Earth on Retainer for upcoming site maintenance, additions and tweaks. The Retainer arrangement retains PE at a discounted rate for a pre-determined number of hours annually. Think of it like cell phone minutes, only annually.

Benefits for You

I have found the Retainer to be a great mutually-beneficial relationship for clients and myself alike. The Retainer gives many of my clients peace of mind knowing that I'm readily available for unscheduled maintenance or development. It also keeps them close to their goals of keeping their site current and relevant. Search engines also favor sites that are updated regularly to sites that lays stagnant for years at a time.

Benefits for Me

As a developer, the Retainer helps me balance my work load between new projects and 'unscheduled' work for old clients. The Retainer helps me avoid the situation of taking on too many new projects, which results in the infamous "unreachable developer syndrome" that many of my clients have experienced with other developers.

Example Retainer Agreement

An example of a Retainer arrangement might be:

• 15% discount for up to 12 hours of work for 2010

Time is billed in half hour increments, so a Retainer of only 12 hours can easily cover 24 routine modifications or updates to your site per year. That's once every 2 weeks!

What Constitutes Routine Maintenance

• adding additional menu items
• adding additional pages
• adding or replacing photos
• replacing the text of a page
• adding additional inventory
• making moderate graphic changes
• updating contact information
• adding new pre-edited audio tracks
• adding pre-edited video clips

What Does Not Constitute Maintenance (...constitutes development)

• Significant site layout changes
• The addition of database, or modified database functionality
• The addition of a bulletin board
• Taking digital photography
• Addition of flash modules or slide shows
• Significant photo/image editing of new images/audio/video
• Adding forms and writing the scripts to process them
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Print design projects, logo design, print ads

Referral Incentives

Be sure to look into PET's Referral Incentives, which allow you to earn free maintenance hours, simply by recommending Pixel Earth to your partners, colleagues, and friends. It couldn't be easier!

Notes

• Note that un-used retainer hours do not roll over to the next year, so use them while they're hot.
• Likewise, if requested maintenance exceeds the remaining number of maintenance hours, the time will be billed at the Hourly Rate.