WordPress Help from Oakland

Need an extra set of eyes to help you with your website?

We provide personalized advice and support to ensure your website projects continue moving forward.

Whether you have a simple question or a complex issue, we’d be happy to dedicate time to help you get it sorted.

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Direct and Personal Support for Beginners

Plugins, themes, widgets, SEO, security, performance optimization… There’s a lot to contend with when you’re just starting out on WordPress. And wading through hours of video tutorials quickly becomes overwhelming.

Our one-on-one consultations are designed to help you push through the aspects you’re finding most challenging, help you move past the barriers holding you back, and make sure you get your project confidently off the ground.

If we’re unable to address all of your questions and concerns during your consultation, the last five minutes will be dedicated to helping you establish a path forward.

I go to Watchdog Studio for everything. In fact, I try not to use anyone else. They are professional, patient, easy to work with, fast, and their work is impeccable.

Katie Barcelona

katiebarcelona.com

I go to Watchdog Studio for everything. In fact, I try not to use anyone else. They are professional, patient, easy to work with, fast, and their work is impeccable.
Katie Barcelona

katiebarcelona.com

Meet Your Oakland WordPress Consultant

Hey there! My name is Justin Korn. I’m the Head Watchdog here at Watchdog Studio.

After working the ladder from Tech Support to being the Director of Information Technology at two different companies, I realized my real passion was in building websites and solving problems for small business owners. So, I left it all behind and started my own business.

I do a lot of ongoing development and support for companies of all sizes. What I’ve realized over the years is that many small business owners need a little extra help to get them through a particular challenge they are struggling with.

Tutorials are great, but they can be time consuming and often not answer your exact question or solve your exact problem. This is exactly what these one-on-one WordPress consultations are great for. Past customers have found they make more progress talking with me for an hour then they do in a week or even a month!

If you find yourself struggling with your website, stuck on something you can’t figure out, or would just like some personalized assistance, I’m here to help.

Justin is a dream to work with. He’s speedy, creative, and best of all a great communicator. With my website in Justin’s capable hands, I can focus on making my podcast and rest assured knowing that all site issues will be taken care of.

Hillary Frank

Longest Shortest Time

Common WordPress Issues I Can Help You With

WordPress Hosting

Whether you’re looking for the first time or unhappy with your current provider, finding the right provider is an important decision and can be overwhelming. During your consultation, we can walk through your requirements to find a WordPress hosting solution that fits the bill for your business.

WordPress Setup

You’re not alone if you find yourself stuck getting WordPress installed and working properly—it happens to the best of us. We can get a copy of WordPress installed and functioning properly so you can start building your business website all during the duration of your consultation.

Page Speed & Load Times

Starting to notice your website running slower and slower as the days go on? Worried the load times of your website are hindering your success? Over the years, I’ve built up a few performance enhancements and can help you implement them through your consultation to get your website flying again.

Caching

Getting cache configured properly can be confusing and even cause negative performance issues if not done right. Whether it’s with a popular plugin or through your hosting provider, during your consultation I can help you implement a caching solution that will boost website performance and reduce load times.

Security

Worried your website has been hacked? Wondering how to implement more robust security layers to help prevent the worst from happening? Your consultation can be used to do a quick scan of your website and review potential weak links in your security setup.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Curious if people are finding your website? Considering how to improve your search engine rankings? We can run a basic SEO audit while on our call and discuss some key strategies to get your website found easier and help drive more traffic (and business) your way.

WordPress Migrations

Anxious about moving your website to a new hosting provider? We don’t blame you! It’s taken me years to perfect and know all the little things to look for when planning a WordPress migration. Rest easy during your consultation while I handle the migration of your website’s data properly and safely.

Plugins

Not sure which plugin to use to implement your vision? Unsure how to accomplish your goals with the plugins you’re using? Throughout the years, I’ve used a fair share of the most popular WordPress plugins out there and own developer licenses for quite a few as well. During your consultation, I can help you with setting up or configuring Divi, Elementor, Beaver Builder, Advanced Custom Forms, Gravity Forms, WooCommerce, Yoast SEO, and so many others.
Watchdog has provided us with a much needed personal touch I didn’t even realize we were missing before. We’ve been stoked with the level of service, performance and security provided by Watchdog.
Julie Urbanski

Team RunRun

Is a consultation right for you?

If you’re building your website yourself, you should be very proud of yourself! It’s no easy feat and can be overwhelming and confusing. At some point, you might find yourself feeling stuck, frustrated, or spending all your time digging into something and getting nowhere with it.

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Consider asking for help if:

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You’re spending valuable time slogging through video tutorials.

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You’ve been stuck trying to get something to work for more than a few hours.

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You read about adding code to the functions.php file and not sure what that means.

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You’ve added code to the fucntions.php file and your website is no longer functioning properly.

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You’ve added code to the fucntions.php file and your website is no longer functioning properly.

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You simply don’t know what you should or shouldn’t be doing.

Does any of this sound familar?

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a WordPress website consultation?
Our WordPress consultation provides you a low-risk option for getting expert advice without a long-term commitment.

You get the chance to talk with Justin directly, one-on-one, who has over 10 years of experience working with WordPress websites and has seen it all. He can help you solve your immediate issues or answer lingering “how-to” questions. He can help you find the right tools for your project or get through a critical roadblock. For larger projects or issues, he can help you plan the best path forward to reach a successful resolution.

Your WordPress consultation is what you make of it.

How does a consultation work?
  1. Use our easy booking system to choose a date and time for your 55 minute meeting that works for your schedule.
  2. You’ll receive a calendar invitation which will include a link to join your Zoom call. Be sure to add it to your calendar so you don’t forget.
  3. Prior to your scheduled consultation, provide any necessary information needed to be sure Justin can be prepared and ready to dive in.
  4. Join the Zoom meeting at your scheduled time. Zoom will allow us to share screens, see each other face to face (if you want), and record our session for review later (if desired).
How do I know you can help me?
Over the years, Justin has dealt with all manner of WordPress issues. But, from time to time, he can get stumped. If you’d like to be sure he can help you with your specific problem before booking a consultation, use the contact form to reach out and explain the issues you’re experiencing. We will always be entirely honest and upfront about our experience and expertise and let you know if we don’t think we’ll be able to assist you.
Will you be able to fix all my issues and answer all my questions during our consultation?

Your consultation is designed to address the most pressing issues you are currently facing. With proper preparation, we should be able to cover a lot of ground during the call. For larger issues or ongoing support, we offer a range of website services that may be of interest.

What happens if you’re unable to help me?
The consultation is entirely risk-free. If during your consultation we decide together that there’s no way forward and your issue or question can’t be resolved, we’ll happily refund your consultation fee immediately and provide any recommendations for other businesses that we believe might be able to assist you.
What projects are you able to help with?
We help small businesses with all kinds of website improvements, optimization, and enhancements as well as fellow WordPress developers and agencies with their client websites. This ranges from SEO and speed optimization to security, performance, and hosting-related issues.
How do I make sure the call is worthwhile?
Preparation is key. The more issues and questions you can identify beforehand, the more ground we will be able to cover during your consultation. Any details you send before will be looked through in order for me to be fully prepared to assist you during the call.
Do you provide consultations for anything outside of WordPress?
In short, yes.

Justin has experience working with other systems and tools from around the web such as MailChimp, Mailerlite, AirTable, Google Workspace, etc. (there are too many to list them all).

It is strongly recommended that you reach out with the contact form first to be sure we can help you before booking your consultation.

Unsure if you need a consultation?

If you’ve got any doubts or questions before booking, send us a note and just let us know about your issues by filling out this contact form! We’ll happily get back to you letting you know if a consultation is a good fit.

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Get the Most From Your Consultation

We know exactly how valuable your time is. To ensure you receive a quick, high-quality consultation, we recommend taking the following steps:
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Make a list of your website issues.

This will speed up the process and we may be able to take care of simple problems on the spot.
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Send your issues and questions before the consultation.

Rather than spending your consultation time explaining your issues, this will allow me to be prepared and super-focused on providing answers and solving your problems.
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Backup your website beforehand.

While it’s unlikely we’ll need it, it’s better to be safe than sorry. We also don’t want to spend our time waiting for a backup to complete during our call which could lead to not finishing your punch list and requiring another appointment in the future.
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Ensure you have Zoom installed.

All consultations are conducted using Zoom video conferencing. We’ll be able to more easily help with your WordPress issues with Zoom by allowing us to share screens and talk with each other face to face. While being on camera will help us connect and communicate with each other better, it will not be required if you opt to keep your camera off.

Book Your Consultation

Use this form to choose a convenient day and time for your WordPress website consultation.

Enter your contact information, any initial details about your project and your payment information. Once submitted, your credit card will be charged and your appointment will be saved.

You’ll immediately receive a confirmation email that will include a calendar invite which contains a link to join your meeting on the day of your consultation. We’ll also follow-up to gather any additional information necessary and send you a final reminder the day of your meeting.