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Okay, what do you do?
I design evaluation and research reports using WordPress.
Really? I thought you built courses/drew comics/led private data visualization trainings.
I do that stuff too, but it’s not my core business. The comics are a labor of love. The data design training and courses are because I love to teach. But as a business person, I am an online report designer.
By reports, do you mean annual reports, data dashboards, or something else?
All of the above. Creating an online report requires a budget, so most people only go to the web for their bigger reports. That said, I can create and publish all sorts of reports, data dashboards, data hubs, and resources using WordPress.
Why do you design reports in WordPress?
Most people share their reports as PDFs.
Because of this, their reports are NOT auto-updating, SEO-friendly, mobile-responsive, multi-lingual, easy to evaluate, or generally accessible to many people.
There are also all sorts of other tools you can use to publish online reports. I’ve tried a bunch, but I believe WordPress is one of, if not the best, option for accessible online reporting. There is a reason why it supports like half of the websites on the internet.
But we already have Tableau, PowerBI, ArcGIS, etc…
Those tools might be great for internal dashboards and exploratory visual analysis. But WordPress is so much better for modern accessible narrative style reports. It also doesn’t cost nearly as much to maintain.
But we already have Canva, Visme, Piktochart, etc…
I am also a big fan of these tools. But I use them for design and illustration, not for sharing on the web. The reason is accessibility. A well-designed WordPress site is better suited for delivering accessible reports to a wide range of digital audiences. Perhaps one day this will change, but that day is not today.
Okay, but we already have a website person, why should we hire YOU?
To create an effective and accessible online report, you often need…
- A UX Designer
- A Web Developer
- A Graphic Designer
- A Data Analyst
- A Copywriter
Does your website person do all of that? If not, you can hire me (who has this strange mix of skills), or spend lots more money hiring a team of people who have far less experience than I do creating online reports.
Will you host and manage the report, or will the report live on our website?
This is up to you. If you would like to host the report on your own WordPress website, we can do that. OR I can manage and host the report for you on my ReportPress.org domain. I purchased the domain for this purpose and use it to host several digital reports.
There are additional tools and benefits to using my domain, as I’ve licensed a few extra tools you are unlikely to have.
I don’t use WordPress, can we still create a report on our website?
It depends. While many look similar, not all web platforms are the same. Let’s start with a conversation and go from there.
Will this be public, or can we share our report privately?
I suggest going public if possible, as it reduces audience barriers and friction. But there are many ways to make a WordPress website private. If you want it private, together we will choose the best option based on the report’s purpose and your audience’s needs.
How do you keep the data secure?
On the data sharing side, I rely on interactive data visualization and sharing tools that are ISO 27001 compliant. My two favorite tools are Flourish and DataWrapper. Data is hosted only through these platforms and embedded into the reports on WordPress. This also allows data to be managed, meaning it can be updated or taken down.
Can we share videos?
Certainly. The current standard is to use a major hosting platform (such as YouTube or Vimeo) and then embed the videos inside of the report.
Can we see examples of your work?
In short, yes. Most client reporting work is semi-private, or simply designed for specific audiences. As such, I prefer to walk potential clients through examples instead of sharing a public portfolio. I have a couple of generic examples in my ReportPress gallery, but I can share a lot more with you over a Zoom call.
What do I need to budget for an online report?
This depends a lot on the importance and complexity of the report. If it is super important, it may be worth spending more time in the UX design phase. If it has a lot of data in need of cleaning and visualization, then it might require a lot more analysis and design support.
Most of the reports I create fall into three budget ranges.
- Small Budget – $5,000 USD (requires ~5 days of my time, total)
- Medium Budget – $10,000 USD (requires ~10 days of my time, total)
- Large Budget – $25,000 USD (requires ~25 days of my time, total)
These budgets can be tweaked as necessary. I prefer to work using a flat fee payment structure based on a mutually agreed upon budget.
How long does it take to create an online report?
This also depends on the importance and complexity of the report. And on your schedules as well as my own. But generally projects can be completed in anywhere from a couple of weeks to several months.
Planning ahead can help make sure you secure a spot on my calendar. I am an independent consultant so I do not take on more work than I can handle.
How do we start?
Like most things these days, let’s start with a chat over Zoom.