Many businesses choose to manage their own website after they have paid to have it created because it appears to be more cost effective than paying for additional ongoing management services. But after training, and allocation of time to make regular changes, is managing your own website really cost effective or possibly driving potential customers away?
Website content management systems have been created to make it as easy as writing a Word document, so a lot of business owners see it as a cost saving strategy to employ someone internally to look after the regular website changes and updates. This is fine if that person is multi-skilled in graphic or web design, web development & online marketing, but generally it is either the business owner, office staff member or tech support that gets landed the job as an offside responsibility. This can have damaging results over the long term.
When a web development company is employed to create a website usually they will project manage the job to bring it together (and sometimes outsource the components that are not their expertise). They need a graphic designer for logo designs and image creations and even to make sure the colour scheme is right. They will then have a web developer to code the design into a website and ideally a copywriter to write or tweak the client’s text to make it more appealing to visitors, create tag lines, etc.
Website marketing advise is vital if the purpose of the website is not just branding but to generate new leads. It’s important the chosen developer or designer are certified or experienced in giving marketing advise about how best to use the website, how to add links and meta information for better natural search engine results or know consumer online buying behaviour to implement in the design. The strategies of image placement and certain features such as colour schemes, advertising, email sign up forms, page orientation and links are vital marketing strategies which can impact a website’s success or not as a marketing tool.
Ultimately, how user friendly your website is, how compelling the words are and how professional it looks will determine it’s effectiveness as a marketing tool for your business – so why after spending 1000’s creating such a tool would you then hand over the long term marketing of it to an internal staff member with no internet marketing experience to keep it that way?
By all means it is possible to internally manage what makes sense, e.g. adding blog posts, events and promotions, etc. but consulting marketing advise such as using a researched list of keywords to blog about, and making sure they are placed in the sites pages, titles, tags and excerpts is well worth considering to outsource. Their regular input in keeping the website updated not only means the business always keeps it’s appearance as fresh and alive to new visitors of the website but also builds a closer relationship between the marketing professional and the business. Meaning they can advise on current and latest software and strategies available to keep the website bringing in new customers continually and help grow your business.
Getting regular input from an experienced and qualified consultant may be slightly more expensive than the hourly rate of a staff member but over the long term will be a far better, cost-effective strategy than waiting until the website starts to appear old, outdated and boring and stops working in the search engines. All of which will reduce the potential leads and be costing you more in lost sales.
So now is a good time to take a look at your website and consider how it’s design is making you money. Does it have continual fresh content added to it for natural search engine ranking? Does the content still represent your business’ services and products? Would you be better contracting the management of your website out rather than employing someone internally? If so, how much of it?
Don’t be lured by the idea of saving money when managing your website , as it could come at the cost of ruining the professional appearance, functionality and natural search strategies and therefore potential customers and sales and the long term growth of your business. Your job when it comes to having a website isn’t in managing it – but finding the experienced person who you can rely on to manage it for you.
At The Adviser Brand we can provide you with a number of clients to talk to who are more than willing to tell you how our designs and ongoing advise have helped them grow their business. If we have a vacancy to consult with your business regularly we are more than happy to review how we can help you.
Free Mini Course
Want to book more sales meetings on autopilot?
Find out how to build a lead generation system that filters out tyre-kickers so you are only dealing with fully qualified leads ready to take action
Related Posts
