If you’re a small business (as we are), every penny counts, particularly in this economy.  Say you’ve spent the money to have a simple website developed, one that won’t change very often but still will represent your company well.  You’ve decided to save a few pennies by making any changes yourself, using what appears to be a simple program — WordPress, perhaps, or one of the free bits of software on a hosting site.

Is this a good idea?  Yes and no.

Yes, it certainly will give you an appreciation of what it takes to develop and maintain even a simple website.

No, it may not be as easy as it appears and it may not save you money.

What it takes to manage your own webiste:

1. Skill in using some types of computer software. At the very least, you already should be very proficient with using a word processing program or, better, a presentation package, and know to insert, position and resize text and images.  You should understand a bit about pixel sizes and resolution; and perhaps how to upload and link to a pdf file.  Oh, and an idea of how to fix things if it all goes wrong is good, too.

2. Discipline in ensuring that you both monitor and manage your site.  This includes checking it daily to be sure it still looks as it should (add it as a home page in your browser for this), as well as keeping a calendar to be sure your domain name and/or hosting is renewed when it’s due.  Management also includes updating with new information as soon as possible — will you be put off by not being sure just how to do it?  Will having someone ask you for new information be a needed push to get it out there?

3. Patience with navigating the site that hosts your website.  Although most have improved, some sites still evidently are constructed and maintained by ancient maze makers — or, at least, by strange beings that speak an entirely different language.

Let me tell you a story or two.

I did a simple website for client whom I thought was capable of making minor changes once we had the site done.  I wrote out very detailed, step-by-step instructions, handed over her passwords and wished her well.  One day, about a month later, I noticed her website was — gone!  All that remained was an odd-looking contact form in the upper left corner of the page.  Oops.  I called.  It turned out she had inadvertently changed the template and had no idea how to get her website back.  Fortunately, I had a copy, which I reloaded, checked for errors, and updated as she wished.

Her website had been in this state for days — at a busy time in her sales cycle.  There’s no telling how many potential clients she may have lost.  In addition, what it cost for me to put the website back up was far more than what it would have cost to make the few changes she had wanted.

Another client who preferred to manage solo discovered his website had suddenly ceased to be — entirely.  Gone completely.  In this case, he hadn’t remembered to renew his domain name registration.  Although the site still was intact when it reappeared, we did need to go through it to verify all was good.

In both cases, the amount of management for these websites is minimal, amounting to a few changes every quarter — less time than was spent on the fixes.

Outsourcing this task makes sure that things do get done and that bad surprises are minimal.

Remember that commercial for engine oil? The punch line was “You can pay me now or . . . you can pay me later,” with the implication the “later” was going to cost a lot more than “now.” Website management can be like that. Unless you truly have the requisite skills, outsource.  It’s easier on the nerves — and the wallet.

The Mattison Group specializes in providing consulting in the planning, design, development and maintenance of small- to medium-sized websites. We develop and manage small websites in house.