Should I Be Updating My Website Or Leaving it to the Pros?

So, you’ve finally got your website up and running - great! However, it’s not time to rest on your laurels as your new creation is going to need to be maintained. So, we’re talking about regular website updates, adding content and making all those necessary tweaks to keep it looking and working as you need it to for your business. The question is, should you be hiring a web designer or doing it yourself?

In this article, we aim to provide some clarity on the subject by offering up some pros and cons of doing a DIY job. The truth is that the best decision will vary from person to person, depending on the business being run and the person running it, so if you’re ready, let’s now dive into those advantages and disadvantages.

The Pros

Pro #1 - Cost

Ok, so when you decide to update your website yourself, the first benefit you’re going to enjoy is cost-related. Make no bones about it, when you hire a web developer, it can eat into your budget, but this cost can be avoided almost completely when you do it on your own. Do your maintenance yourself and all it will cost you is time.

Pro #2 - Flexibility

Another advantage of carrying out your own website maintenance is that you get to decide exactly when it gets done. Hiring a web developer most often involves having to carry out these tasks in line with their timescales, with lead times that can be days or even weeks into the future. DIY maintenance can be done at any time of your choosing.

That’s it as far as benefits go, but they are pretty big advantages, as cost and flexibility are big aspects for any business to consider, particularly when talking about startups and other small businesses who’s website budgets tend to be on the small side.

So, to the cons…

Con #1 - It’s Time Consuming

There’s a well-used phrase in business that goes along the lines of “time is money” and it’s something you’ll learn fairly quickly when doing your own website maintenance. All things considered, you will spend a lot of this valuable commodity working on your website when you choose to go it alone, rather than hiring a web designer.

Con #2 - It Invariably Involves Training

Another aspect to DIY website maintenance is the need for training to give you the skills required. Sure, there’s a ton of tutorials out there on everything from updating your website to adding content, but again, this takes up more and more of your precious time. The website world is constantly changing too, so it’s not something you’ll be able to avoid.

Con #3 - There’s Usually Very Little Support

Another reason why people choose to hire a web designer is the support they provide. When you do things for yourself, free/low-cost support can be lacking. Of course, you can pay for support, but when this option starts costing you money, it begins to make the idea of hiring a professional that much more appealing.

Con #4 - Many Clients Don’t Tend to Use a CMS

A professional will usually use a content management system (CMS) for website maintenance as it provides a neat overview of your content. From our experience clients don’t tend to use these kinds of tools regularly and even when they do, they’ve usually forgotten how to use it the next time they try, meaning that both content, images and other elements end up unoptimised, impacting your SEO visibility.

It Really Does Pay to Trust in the Professionals

There’s a reason why so many business owners choose to hire a web developer and that’s because it means that the job is taken care of properly, meaning no impact on search rankings. There is something of a misconception in existence that when you don’t have access to your own website maintenance, you’re somehow not in control of it - which just isn’t true.

So, if all this sounds familiar and you’re deciding between doing a DIY job and using professional website services, then contact us and see how stress-free and affordable it can be to get your website looked after, so you can concentrate on work that makes you money.