Outsourcing Your Website Management

Outsourcing Your Website Management. Is it a good idea?

Outsourcing Your Website Management. Is it a good idea, or should you handle the whole thing yourself? Well, here's my thinking on it...

Ok, in the interest of transparency, a good percentage of my business is managing websites for my clients. So, clearly, I'm probably going to lean heavily toward outsourcing this for your business. But, there's some things you should consider before you do this, and like most things, you should understand what is being managed and what it means for you and your business.

Hosting

Doesn't my hosting company handle my website? Well, depending on the level of hosting you are paying for, you will get different levels of service from your provider. This will include things like allocated space, bandwidth, backups, etc. In essence though, most hosting is similar to renting an apartment. You get the space, but no the furniture; unless of course you a leasing a serviced apartment.

Web Developer

Well ok, but doesn't my web developer handle my website management? Again, depends on the level of service arrangement you have with your developer. Some developer will have maintenance plans available, sone don't. Just because they built it doesn't mean they are looking after it. Kind of like your home builder. They build it, hand it over and the living in part is up to you!

Website Management

The thing is there's a lot more to website management than hosting and making changes to a website. It's going to be different for everyone that offers this kind of service, so I'll give you a breakdown of what I do for my clients so you can get an idea of what I mean.

But first...

Why does it matter? Well, it's you business website. It's a critical part of your business marketing, or should be, so it should be treated as a valuable and valued asset for your business. In truth though it's often treated as an afterthought!

Ok, here are some of the services I take care of for clients on a Website Management Plan. I only manage sites I've built by the way.

• Hosting (obviously)
• Domain Name Management and Renewal
• DNS management
• Daily Offsite backups
• SSL Certificate Management & Renewal
• WordPress updates, including core, themes and plugins
• Plugin licences
• Hacker protection, eg if it's hacked I fixed it!

The reason I began doing this is the reason I suggest you consider it for your business. Most business owners think they'll be ok handling all this stuff themselves but either don't have the knowledge or time to actually do it! And usually they think it'll be ok... until they're hacked, or their domain lapses or some other crisis hits. Then, suddenly it's important... super important!! And that's the thing, it is important if you are running a serious business.

So, if you're going to handle the management of your website yourself, ask yourself if you really have the time and knowledge to do it, or if you're trying to save a few bucks at the potential expense of your business?! Ask yourself whether it's worth the risk of being offline, or hacked, or losing your entire site... forever! My view? Put your time and energy into doing what you do well, and get a pro to look after the management of your website. It's like insurance for your business website.