Don’t Forget About Maintenance

Many small businesses think that once their website is up and running they can pretty much forget about it. Of course, nothing is further from the truth. As your business changes and as you get more sophisticated about how to work the Web, you’re inevitably going to want to make changes.

That’s why it’s so important to choose the right company to maintain your website. So many folks I know contact with their web hosting company to do it, and usually that’s the wrong choice. The reason for this is that website maintenance isn’t really their business. They’re in the business of web hosting, and the two businesses are often quite different.

I just talked to a prospective client this morning who was in exactly this predicament. They’re paying their web hosting company a substantial monthly fee for maintenance, but when asked to actually do something, they’re very unresponsive. The last change, for example, took nearly three weeks to complete. “It’s as though they never really expected us to actually ask them to do anything,” the client said.

Not only do you need a company that’s responsive when asked to make changes, but you should try to find one that can advise you on possibilities, one that will take the time to try to understand your business and come up with ways to make your website more useful to you and your customers. For example, instead of simply implementing a newsletter sign up form, find a company that can also integrate that form with MailChimp or ConstantContact.

One of the problems with finding a maintenance company is that so few Web developers and Web hosting companies are interested in that kind of work. They’re interested in collecting a big check, and then they’re on to the next client.

I, on the other hand, love doing maintenance work. So, if your website needs some updating or some new features, get in touch. I’m sure we can come to an arrangement that works for both of us.