Managing Multiple WordPress Sites? This Plugin Helps Freelancers and Agencies Save Time and Increase Productivity

TL; DR: Many agencies and freelancers juggle hundreds of websites. Conserving time while managing these sites manually isn’t an easy task. This is where WP Umbrella steps in. WP Umbrella allows users to consolidate their WordPress site management with its plugin. It offers a centralized dashboard for automating backups, deploying updates, and maintaining websites for increased productivity and time savings. We spoke with Aurelio Volle, CEO and Co-Founder of WP Umbrella, about the plugin, its benefits, and customer relationships.

Not everyone can turn a side hustle into a successful full-time business. And not many have done so while teaming up with a longtime friend. But the team at WP Umbrella can say otherwise. In 2021, Aurelio Volle and his childhood friend Thomas Deneulin joined forces to create WP Umbrella.

After finding success with a previous WordPress project, the duo decided to give it another shot by launching a WordPress plugin. They developed a site monitoring tool and posted it on AppSumo, a marketplace for emerging software deals. Within a short time frame, more than 600 users bought the tool.

Soon enough, Aurelio and Thomas began to receive requests for additional features. So they built out the plugin and transformed it into a complete management tool. Since 2022, Aurelio and Thomas have worked full time on maintaining and improving WP Umbrella.

“We help agency owners manage hundreds of websites from a single dashboard. So when they connect everything, we allow them to update their websites with just a few clicks,” said Aurelio Volle, CEO and Co-Founder of WP Umbrella.

Today, WP Umbrella helps thousands of business owners manage and streamline their WordPress website maintenance. WP Umbrella allows users to save time and increase productivity with its features, which include backups, security monitoring, and reporting.

Aurelio told us WP Umbrella has a six-person team, and the company is entirely bootstrapped. Yet, its size hasn’t affected its reach. WP Umbrella has helped users worldwide manage more than 10,000 projects since its launch in 2021.

Getting started with WP Umbrella is simple. Users can download the WP Umbrella plugin and then connect the API key for every website they manage. Once done with the connection, they can manage all their websites from one place.

“You can connect all your websites, regardless of the hosting providers. And we have a lot of features that save a ton of time,” said Aurelio.

WP Umbrella streamlines management duties, allowing users to do tasks that would take hours to do manually in only a few clicks. Its centralized dashboard enables agencies to complete bulk actions in seconds. For example, users can deploy updates for multiple websites in a few seconds.

“We do backups and manage the installs. So if something goes wrong with your websites, you can restore it in just one click. We also do time, performance, and visual regression monitoring, so we alert you if anything happens on your sites,” said Aurelio.

WP Umbrella also offers security monitoring. This feature allows users to track and see vulnerabilities associated with plugins and other aspects of their sites. Besides the technical features, WP Umbrella provides white labeling and reporting.

“We send the white-label reports to the agency’s clients. So the client can know about the operations the agency performed on their website,” said Aurelio.

WP Umbrella is committed to helping users stay competitive in the WordPress landscape. Many WordPress-tailored agencies and freelancers exist. But using WP Umbrella can give them an upper hand in the sea of competition.

WP Umbrella offers agencies and freelancers three primary benefits: productivity, peace of mind, and transparency. “The first one is productivity. We save you a ton of time. Just imagine the process of updating, and many agencies are still doing this manually,” said Aurelio.

The automation feature of WP Umbrella enables teams to work and deliver more value to their clients quicker. Users can consolidate their websites and accelerate their management processes. This benefit also leads to the peace of mind WP Umbrella offers.

“We also help you with peace of mind. Because if something wrong happens on your website, you get to know it before your clients do,” said Aurelio.

WP Umbrella will alert users if something breaks visually on a website. Its tool checks websites at least once a day for any changes. Aurelio also told us that the team seeks to maintain trust between agencies and their clients by offering care reports.

“We send automatic PDF reports every month to the clients of our clients. It’s a good opportunity to inform clients that you have been working on the website. It’s also a touch point,” said Aurelio.

These reports allow agencies to share transparency and inform users of the inner workings of their websites. Clients can see what the WordPress business worked on and identify areas they want to discuss and improve.

“If a client is not satisfied with something, they have the opportunity to say it through these reports. So we help agencies and freelancers to prove the value of their work and communicate the benefits of their service with these reports,” said Aurelio.

Since its start, WP Umbrella has always prioritized its customers and their input. “What sets us apart from the competition is that we are building WP Umbrella in public. Every six months, we share every figure and challenge we faced,” said Aurelio.

Users can give their feedback on what they see from WP Umbrella. And the team listens. Aurelio said his goal is to keep this same, close link to his customers as the company grows.

The WP Umbrella team also has a few things in the pipeline. It will release a visual regression feature very soon. The team is currently working on new backup technology as well.

“We are past data testing, so it’s super fast and reliable. I’m so excited about this, even though it’s not a new feature, because of the possibility of seeing almost instant backups,” said Aurelio.

The team plans to launch one other feature before the end of summer 2024. This feature is a safe update solution. It will help users update their websites without any breaking. If a mishap occurs, it will automatically restore the backup without any action from the user.

Aurelio encourages agencies and freelancers with multiple WordPress websites to try WP Umbrella and see its value. “Users should give WP Umbrella a try. We have a 14-day free trial, no credit card required. And the experience we are offering is quite unique at the moment,” said Aurelio.