My client portal
Every client of mine signs in to one place to ask for changes, see where things are, accept prices, approve previews and find answers. I built it for my own business, and I use it every day. It is the best example I have of what a bespoke system can do for a small business.
1 click
From approved to live
7 days
To undo a change
20+
Plain-English help articles
0
Passwords to remember
Overview
The Problem
Looking after websites for small businesses used to run on email. A change request in one thread, the price in another, a link to check buried somewhere else, and nobody quite sure what was waiting on whom.
Ticket systems exist, but the off-the-shelf ones are built for help desks with dozens of staff. They make clients create accounts, learn someone else's jargon and pay per seat. I wanted something that felt like talking to me, only tidier.
What I Built
A portal that fits the way I actually work with clients. They can still just email me: every email becomes a request in the portal, so nothing gets lost. When they sign in, they see every request and whose move it is, in plain words.
When a change is ready, they check it on a private preview of their own website and approve it. Approving puts it live, straight away, with a week to change their mind. Prices arrive in the same place, with a button to accept, and every price, paid or on the house, is on one statement.
Inside the portal
Always clear whose move it is.
Every request, one list
Open and closed, each with a plain label: being worked on, price ready for you, live. The one waiting on the client is marked, so nothing sits forgotten.
Prices you accept in one place
A price comes with what it covers and when it is due. Accept it, or reply with a question underneath, and the whole conversation stays with the request.
Help written for people, not developers
A searchable help centre explains signing in, previews, prices, domains and email in plain English. Automatic checks flag any article that falls out of date when the portal changes, so the help always matches what clients see.
What else it does
Small things that save a lot of emails.
Sign in with a code
No password to forget. A six-digit code by email, and after that the device is remembered and links in my emails sign clients straight in.
Approve and it is live
Each change goes to a private preview first. One click puts it live, and for seven days one more click puts it back.
Pay by card
Prices can be paid online, or on 14-day terms by invoice. The statement shows every price, paid or not.
Renewals and domains
Every domain, hosting and email renewal with its date, plus a daily check that warns me if a domain's settings change.
Files, shared safely
Clients send and collect files in the portal instead of over email, and logins are never shared by email at all.
Text alerts
Clients can choose to get a text when a request needs their reply, so nothing waits days for an email to be noticed.
Social media approvals
For clients whose posts I write, every post waits in the portal for a yes before it is booked in.
A virtual assistant, supervised
Claudia, my virtual assistant, drafts replies and keeps requests moving. I read every message and approve every reply before it is sent.
Security tested
Before I trusted it with clients' work, I had it security tested the way an attacker would try, and fixed everything the test found.
The bigger picture
Your business could have one too.
The same approach works for any business that juggles customers, bookings, quotes or paperwork by email: a members' area, a customer portal, a booking system, an order tracker. Built around how you work, with no per-seat fees, and the code is yours.
Portfolio
More recent work
SallyJ.co.uk
A well overdue upgrade for a loyal client. A vocalist's website from 2011, rebuilt fifteen years on: her swirls, songs and testimonials kept, and made to work properly on a phone.
JadenGlass.com
A first website for a new supplier of fire resistant and ballistic glass. Two product sheets turned into certified-spec tables, a ballistic protection ladder and a logo, signed off in four weeks.
Belviston.co.uk
A property developer stuck with a hosting company's website builder. Two design directions to choose from, and a bespoke site she owns outright, live inside a week.
Drowning in emails about the same jobs?
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