An Update On Concierge Services: How It’s Going And What’s Changing

I started this business in 2008 and focused solely on training courses and memberships. It is why it has the word “Academy” in the name. And it wasn’t until 2021 that I offered any kind of technical services.

It was in September of 2021 that I launched what would become Concierge. It was part of a pretty significant pivot of the business…. minimizing the focus on training and information and officially embracing a hard pivot into services.

As of this writing, that was just a bit over 3 years ago.

I now have almost 60 active Concierge clients. I’m hosting a total of 78 websites (a few of them my own, but most of them for clients). A few clients maintain their own hosting accounts, but most of them are hosted with the Blog Marketing Academy.

From a business perspective, this has been a great change and I’m really glad I made the pivot. Not only has it been good for revenue, but there’s also something to be said for providing a real, tangible service that is valued. It is definitely a change from fighting the noise of online courses and online training and the feeling that I was saying the same things over and over again to people who weren’t applying it anyway. 🙂

My advice to other people in online business is never to dismiss the idea of offering services. Directly doing things for people is way more fruitful than training them on how to do it.

How Concierge Has Evolved

When I first started offering this, it wasn’t even called Concierge. I think I called it just “WordPress VIP Support” or something. I know…. super creative. 😉

When it first began, support was email only. I wasn’t offering hosting yet. Backups were powered by UpdraftPlus and was much more manual and stored on my Amazon S3 account. It was early and I just hadn’t really fine-tuned things yet.

Now, over the last 3 years, Concierge has evolved and just gotten better. The goal has always been to provide a “one stop” solution for site owners to get the best-of-class tools available – and then be there to support them along the way.

These tools now include:

• Hosting with Rocket.net. I don’t stuff all my clients onto a VPS server and cross my fingers. Rocket hosting is, in my view, the top WordPress-specific host on the market right now. And that’s what I use it for my clients (and myself 😉 ). Rocket also integrates directly with Cloudflare Enterprise, providing the same tools and speed as the seriously expensive Cloudflare Enterprise, but all folded into the hosting automatically.
• Off-site backups powered by BlogVault
• Malware scanning and firewall protection powered by MalCare
• Privacy-friendly site analytics with Fathom Analytics. The whole idea here is to provide stats that don’t feed the Google data mining operation, but also are simple enough that you can actually understand what you’re looking at and use the numbers. Google Analytics is ridiculously complex and bloated now.
• Premium plugins and themes in the Concierge Toolkit. The toolkit just keeps getting better and I don’t skimp around on tools. I want my clients to be able to operate their businesses without feeling nickel-and-dimed with a bunch of plugin licenses, or the hassle and confusion that goes along with shopping for them.
• Automatic image optimization powered by ShortPixel.
• High-end email deliverability powered by PostMark. Email deliverability is super important when you’re running a business. PostMark is at the top of their game, so my clients have their site’s outgoing emails powered by Postmark. It isn’t the cheapest option, by far. But, it is what served my clients the best, so that’s what I use.

Support has always been the name of the game with Concierge, but improvements have been made on this front as well. We switched over to Basecamp for project collaboration and each client gets their own private Basecamp project. There, we can chat, handle to-do lists, messaging and share files…. all within a private and secure space where things won’t get lost in our email inboxes. Basecamp even has a nice app for mobile devices.

I’ve also been making heavy use of private videos. I have been using Loom… and just recently switched over to using Cleanshot Cloud. And I use it all the time to record quick video replies, answering questions, or a quick how-to for clients to show them how to do something on their own site.

I have been told by a few people that the selection of tools and services I provide in Concierge is pretty “top shelf” compared to what many other providers offer. And it may indeed be. But, that’s why it is called “Concierge”. It wouldn’t be much of a WordPress Concierge if I was using low-end tools just to get the job done. I know that, ultimately, that would just lead to more work for myself, too. Top-end tools means less hassle for me, too. 🙂

Upcoming Changes To Concierge

As we head into 2025, I am going to be making some changes to Concierge. Let me summarize what those changes are….

Ending The Growth Plan

I am going to be discontinuing the Growth plan for Concierge. This was the middle-tier plan and, frankly, very few people used it. I also think it introduced too much confusion and decision fatigue.

So, now there will be only two plans for Concierge. The core plan includes all core client services typical of Concierge. The Platinum plan is going to now provide a much clearer delineation from the Core plan. Yes, it costs more, but that’s because it is much more all inclusive than the Core plan.

Platinum clients will now receive the following benefits over the standard core plan:

• Priority support (faster, and first in line over Core clients)
• 30% discount on Anytime Credits
• 3 hours of “hands on” time included each month to work on anything you need/want, without the need to worry about credits.
• Ability to send marketing emails in addition to transactional. This means newsletters, promotions, etc.
• Ongoing performance optimization and maintenance
• Legally compliant policy documents that dynamically update (see below)
• Quarterly site audits (see below)

Now the difference between the plans should be far more clear.

Ending Multi-Site Discounts

It has been that clients with multiple sites could add additional sites for $69/month. This will be ending and instead each site will need to have it’s own Concierge plan at normal pricing. Essentially, you will just “stack” Concierge plans.

The economics of providing these tools does not lend itself well to multi-site discounts, so I must adapt accordingly.

Any clients who already have the multi-site discount in place will be grandfathered in, so no changes for existing clients. Moving forward, however, you will need a Concierge plan for each site.

Note that you can “mix and match” plans. For instance, if a client has their main site enrolled in Platinum, they can have their other site enrolled in Core. In this case, the client will retain the benefits of Platinum for both sites.

Changes To Client Credit Discounts

One of the perks to Concierge has always been a discount on Anytime Credits. That discount has been set at 30%, so clients can get project work, custom development, or even book consultation calls. All cheaper than people who are not enrolled in Concierge.

This will continue, of course. However, the discount rates will change depending on the level of Concierge you are on.

Core clients will now have an automatic 20% discount. Platinum clients will receive the full 30% discount.

The main point of the higher plan has always been access to more development time. That plan includes more time anyway, but it only makes sense to make it such where purchasing more is cheaper, too. This provides extra incentive to be on the Platinum plan.

These rates will apply to all clients – new and existing. However, any credits purchased before 12/31/24 will be the full 30% discount for all clients. Starting in 2025, the new discount rates apply. Anytime Credits do not expire, so once purchased you’ll have them until you use them.

Quarterly Site Audits For Platinum Clients

The Platinum plan already includes the most time each month for site changes and edits – up to 3 full hours each month. The whole idea here is that you don’t have to worry about buying credits for most requests. We can even use that time to book a call if you like and there’s no need to debit any credits from your account.

But, I thought I would add one more thing… and that’s quarterly site audits.

These site audits will be a private video I will record just for you where I will go over your site and point out opportunities I see for improving the site, conversions, signups and sales. This is not just a technical look at the site’s “innards”, but I’m also going to look at it from a business and marketing standpoint and point out areas for improvement. To give you a second set of eyes, so to speak.

This will be a private video. And then if you want to book a call to talk anything over after that, you can.

This will be added to all Platinum Concierge clients – new and existing.

Privacy Policies You Don’t Have to Copy

OK, let’s face it…. most people treat those legal pages like an afterthought. Privacy policies, terms of services, disclaimers, EULA, cookie notices…. all those things are boring. And a lot of people end up blindly copying what they see on other sites, stuffing those links in the footer and forgetting.

But, these pages are more important than that. With changing laws around the world, an oversight in these areas could potentially lead to legal complexities and fines down the road for some people.

So, I am partnering with Termageddon to offer a solution. They monitor all the legal matters around the world to keep things timely. You answer a series of questions about your business and you will have a fully compliant set of legal documents generated specifically for you. We will then embed them into your site so that those legal pages are automatically updated as legal changes occur.

So, here are the changes that will take place with regards to Concierge:

• Termageddon will be offered as an add-on for Concierge clients at the standard cost of $12/mo. There will also be a small one-time setup fee for the initial setup.
• No client is obligated to purchase this add-on, of course. However, if you do not, I will be asking you to sign a waiver which basically indicates that you understand the situation and are fully legally responsible for any matters that may come up regarding your own website.
• For Concierge Platinum clients, these legal documents and setup is included. So, no addon necessary. 🙂

I know this kind of thing isn’t exactly exciting. But, as Concierge has grown, I believe it is necessary to address it in some way. And I believe Termageddon is the right partner for that for my clients.

Clarity For Outgoing Email

I utilize the power of PostMark for SMTP email delivery for my clients. They are one of the best in the business (part of ActiveCampaign). By using them, I know that transactional emails sent by client websites in my care will have the best possible delivery rates.

As an agency owner, Postmark isn’t exactly the cheapest provider. I do incur costs anytime a client sends out an email. Up to now, I just silently manage the volume. I tell clients if the volume gets too high, I’ll either need to charge them an overage fee or we’d just switch them to their own provider (such as Amazon SES). Frankly, it is very rarely a problem. However, I thought I should be more specific about how I handle client outgoing email moving forward.

Coming up with a set plan for managing clients’ marketing emails is a little tricky. Every client is pretty different. And my interest is to provide a worthy solution while keeping costs under control. Like I said, Postmark isn’t the cheapest. 😇

So, here will be my guidelines moving forward for outgoing email:

• All Concierge clients regardless of plan will have transactional email delivery through Postmark. This means welcome emails, lead magnets, password resets, receipts…. things like that. Anything other than broadcast marketing emails.
• For low volume marketing emails for small lists, we can do that on Core plans as well. We’re talking outgoing email volume of 1,000 emails or less. If you have a small list and light needs, this is fine.
• Core plans are limited to transactional email and marketing emails with volume less than 1000 emails. Overage charges will be $15 per 10,000 emails added to your monthly Concierge subscription.
• Platinum clients include all transactional email and broadcast email volume up to 100,000 emails per month. Overage charges beyond 100K emails will run at $10 per additional 10K emails. Generally, this will be reserved only for very high-volume senders.
• As always, a client can choose to use their own SMTP provider such as Amazon SES and they will handle that bill separately. And in rare cases, if outgoing email volume is too high for me, I will require usage of your own SMTP account.

PostMark is like the Ferrari of SMTP email. Most users see an immediate increase in email delivery rates and open rates when using Postmark versus something like Amazon SES. Pretty awesome, but expensive. And frankly, it gets prohibitively expensive for me to be able to offer broadcast email marketing to my clients. But, since I’m such a massive advocate of self-hosted lists through the likes of FluentCRM, I need to provide this capability somehow. Amazon SES is popular because it is so cheap, but they are also a real pain to deal with in multiple ways.

So, I need to simplify things. And Postmark is the best option. So now clients have the option to run all of their site’s outgoing email needs through my company (via Postmark) if they choose.

Keep in mind, this means you no longer need to subscribe to an outside email marketing platform. Between the power of FluentCRM (which is included) and reliable SMTP email service that comes with Concierge, you will not need another provider such as ActiveCampaign, Keap, Kit, Aweber or anything like that. It will all be included in your Concierge service.

Priority Support For Platinum

As you may expect, balancing out my time across a lot of different clients can be a real balancing act sometimes. Truth is, the load comes and goes. Sometimes, it feels like a whole lot is happening at once and it seems like a lot of clients suddenly have projects going on at the same time. At other times, things feel relatively calm.

I always try to keep things as fast as possible across clients, but truth is, sometimes I have to prioritize and decide who needs to wait just a bit longer.

Moving forward, I’d like to just make it official that one of the perks of Platinum Concierge is going to be Priority Support. What does this mean?

• Support questions and inquiries from Platinum clients will be answered first and as quickly as possible.
• For any projects, priority will be given to the tasks and projects for clients on the Platinum plan.

Now, this doesn’t mean that clients on lower plans are suddenly going to be sitting there with super slow response times. 🙂 That’s not how I roll. But, it does mean that when I’m looking at a sea of tasks that need to be done by a bunch of clients, the Platinum clients will need to come first.

Pricing Changes To Concierge?

I know that times being what they are, a lot of businesses have been raising prices.

I want you to know that I am trying not to do that. 😇 If my costs to provide this level of Concierge service shift upward too much, I may have to. But, for now, I am holding the line.

Instead of outright price increases, the adjustments above solve a few issues. No more multi-site discounts and changes to the client discount structure on Anytime Credits will solve a few things for me in a way where I won’t have to adjust the base rates for Concierge.

The Future Of Concierge

The fairly small changes being made for Concierge for 2025 have more to do with fine-tuning some things and providing clarity on a few matters.

But, I’m always looking for opportunities to make Concierge better. And to provide a better experience for clients who choose to trust me with their websites rather DIY everything on their own.

My goal has been to take what can easily be complicated and time-consuming…. and simplify it. I also wanted to provide quality help that is worthy of trust… because I’ve seen too many stories of people who have worked with other companies and were taken advantage of.

So, in terms of some potential future changes to Concierge, here are a few items I’m noodlin’…

• Of course, expanding a team of “go to” trusted people to do work on client sites besides myself, including developers, graphics designers and potentially even copy. We’ll see how far that goes. 😉 I do like a lean business. I also know my clients trust me and I’m hesitant as hell to bring on new people which brings in other potential issues. So, we shall see.
• I’m working on a custom plugin for Concierge sites that will bring certain support resources right into the WordPress dashboard, so simple and convenient access to help when needed.
• An expansion of support resources specifically for clients
• Pre-designed marketing automations and systems that can be “plug and play” into client businesses.

I am, of course, always keeping an eye on scalability so that I can bring on more clients. But, I’m also doing everything I can to remain true to why I called this Concierge to begin with.

Personal and friendly help when needed. Only the best tools. And always having my clients’s back.

That’s what a Concierge is supposed to do. So, from that perspective, this isn’t just a numbers game. I take quality of service really seriously. And I hope these changes will make some things simpler as we move into 2025.