I had a potential new customer ask me recently, “Why do I need monthly maintenance services on my website?” My short answer to him was basically that you don’t. Now, to clarify, I am not saying that you really don’t need them, but that you don’t have to have them.

You could get away with having a professional build your site and then park it at one of the big box hosting companies online, or even to gain more control, build a server for your home or office and host the site yourself. These are both very “doable” options. So now that you have successfully had a site built and it is now hosted in its new home, you have to ask yourself a couple of questions.

1. Who will make the necessary changes to the site when information changes or needs to be updated, added, or removed?

2. What happens if the site goes down due to a bad update to a plugin or some other software glitch? Will you spend all the money you’ve saved getting it fixed, and what if it happens more than once?

3. Do you have the proper security measures in place to ensure that you are not hosting a site that is spamming or sending harmful or damaging materials to others? Security is a tricky thing, and even with the best security, there are always issues with sites. A website is not really a “set it and forget it” document online. Someone is always out to get your info messed up or even worse, subvert it to get you blacklisted.

4. Do you have the time to learn WordPress, Elementor, WPBakery, Avada, or any of the other many page builders out there usually used to create a site? To properly fix, update, or maintain your site, you will need a basic understanding of these types of software, and it can be a little bit of a learning curve.

5. Search engines have an ever-changing list of requirements that your site must present to be listed at the best positions in a typical search for your industry or occupation. SEO services are expensive, but most design firms that offer hosting will also offer SEO as a perk of their services. SEO can be a real headache if you don’t know what you’re doing, believe me.

6. If you did go with the big box hoster, or built your own server then you are still paying a monthly charge. Now in the case of the big box hoster, it may only be a few dollars a month. If you host your own server, then it’s upkeep on the machine, power costs, and the cost of internet. If you’re hosting on your own machine there’s always the issue of internet downtime due to storms, technical problems at the headend, or anything else that can take down your service. When that happens your site is down and it’s out of your control.

7. Finally, to the main reason people don’t opt for a managed service, money. How much is it worth to you to not have to worry about items 1-6? How much would you have to pay an employee to take on the site as part of their job description? If you do the math, you will find that it is not cheaper and, in many cases, more costly to pay an employee (who may or may not have the technical skills and will require training at your cost) compared to the amount most designers will charge to do the level of work on your site it takes to keep things going on a monthly basis, not to mention all the subscriptions to plugins and other services to aid in security, SEO, virus protection, firewall, and so many other requirements of a great and secure site.

These are just a few of the many reasons why it makes sense to have a website designer “in your pocket,” so to speak. A dedicated designer will have the time and experience to not only do the maintenance, security, and changes you need each month to your site but can and will monitor your site to make sure it has the least downtime possible. A professional will be able to advise you of best practices and keep your site compliant with the latest rules and regulations, as well as keep it talking to search engines like Google correctly.

In the long run, it just makes sense to have a professional help you with your site month to month. Most of the time, the cost is much less than you could and will pay someone else to do the same work when things go bad, and they WILL eventually go bad. If you are interested in having your site built, hosted, and maintained by a professional for a low monthly fee you can definitely afford, then contact me today, and let’s get started on a much more stress-free journey with your new or existing site.