BROADCASTS.com

b'Yes, we all know a guy, or a kid or a neighbor who \\u201cdoes\\u201d websites and can help us for $12/hour and a case of beer. But is that who you want maintaining your site? You are building a business, a division, launching a product, a book and event - don\\u2019t trust the results of your efforts to someone who only has evenings and weekends available to you to keep it running smoothly and efficiently. Your website is more than your online brochure, it\\u2019s your first impression, the gateway to your sales funnel, and ultimately your revenue. \\nRecently I took a website over from someone who had very little time to keep things current, make simple updates and never considered teaching the client how to do simple text and content updates. This is typical of \\u201cthe guy\\u201d. Typical of \\u201cthe lady, the gal, the girl\\u201d who is MIA is that they just disappeared, stopped working on sites, took a job, etc. \\u201cThe guy\\u201d is usually a control freak who is so afraid of the impact of imparting knowledge on the client because it will cost him money. This is my favorite type of new client because one of the tasks I love more than anything is TEACHING clients how to be in control, or at least understand their websites, online marketing, profiles and how they all play together to help generate REVENUE! I love smart clients and clients who want to learn how to do things. BUT, I also think that knowledge and energy needs to be weighed against the tasks that need to be done by the client in order to continue generating revenue. Sure, DIY your website and you save that monthly maintenance fee, the periodical overhauls, the check ups, the time to test forms, links, security, SEO. Are you starting to see the issue? YOU are GREAT at meeting your customers, opening doors, developing your product, marketing, so why would you want to add website maintenance to the day? Many of my real estate clients completely accept this. Their business ebbs and flows, so we adjust our budget accordingly. They have me do the basics no matter what to keep their site and marketing efforts worry free. AND during fat months, we add bonus items - preparing drip campaigns, cleaning up social profiles, enhancing the website with new features and more.\\nI had a frank talk with one that was stressing about having to do it all. I asked, \\u201cHow about you focus on your job, getting listings, closing deals and make enough that you don\\u2019t have to do the online maintenance or skip it because you are being cheap?\\u201d They appreciated the frank talk, and question. They laughed and agreed. One deal pays for my services for a year, easily. Money well spent at that point.\\nHere\\u2019s another situation, I made the mistake of assuming a small business understood that a website requirement maintenance. I made the assumption because we ended up in a client/vendor relationship because he had a site, HAD one that lapsed and then disappeared because he hadn\\u2019t continued to pay for hosting. It was a do-over. When we rebuilt it through the Wayback Machine version of his site to get the basic content back, we talked about why it happened, and how to prevent it. I thought it was understood that after I was done, SOMEONE still needed to update the site, make sure the theme, plugins, hosting, security, links, feeds were all current. We TALKED about it, I did not have it in writing. When things needed to be updated and I asked if I could do it and told him what it would cost he was furious. We have mended, and he understands now that it will cost money. He hasn\\u2019t wanted to pay to do this regularly so now it\\u2019s been 7 months on two sites since the admin has had any maintenance. This kills me, but I can\\u2019t give it all away just because I care and it bugs me. I\\u2019m a professional, so is he. So here\\u2019s the takeaway:\\nFirst time entrepreneurs - good for you for choosing to pay a pro create your site. That is EXCITING, but, it\\u2019s way beyond building the site. You\\u2019ve paid the pro, you\\u2019ve launched - now what? The part that\\u2019s on you is maintainin'