You’re here for answers, and answers you shall have!
→ Should you, as a small-to-medium-sized business owner, manage your own website? No.
→ Should your company manage its website, or should you outsource web management to an agency? It depends.
The outright “No” to the first hypothetical question is from a place of tough love. I would not necessarily give the same direct answer to solopreneurs just starting out. However, if your role involves overseeing and/or executing on any of the following—sales, invoicing, operations, or HR—then you should outsource management of your website as soon as possible. In our experience, the longer and more varied your job description, the less likely you are to regularly update your website, on both the backend and frontend. And if your website is not being well-maintained on the backend nor consistently updated on the frontend, you are hurting your discoverability and therefore your growth. We promise that seeking website support from an agency like Armada Digital is not as complicated or as expensive as you may have been led to believe.
The Web Management Solution For Small-To-Medium-Sized Businesses
It is from conversations with business owners whose size and complexity of needs didn’t require a full-time internal hire, but still warranted consistent and reliable support that we developed our Concierge Website Services (CWS) program.
For $250/month, we host your site on a contained server shared only with other Armada clients; conduct nightly backups, core WordPress & PHP updates as needed, update plug-ins weekly, test contact forms monthly, and include 1-hour of development support each month. Here is a full list of what the program includes for those ready to review the details! Your team can submit requests directly to our website support team via email, requesting that X be added or Y be changed. We respond within 1-business day, and most tickets are completed within that time as well.
This program is designed for businesses with team members who are wearing multiple hats, and “maintain website” is nowhere to be found in a job description.
The Case For Managing Your Own Website
This is where the “It depends” comes in. There may be an internal marketing role with “maintain website” in the job description. In which case, welcome to the fold! If the Armada Digital team built your website, then this individual would be included in the detailed (and recorded) website demo we conduct following the initial site launch. It is during this call that we can determine who is doing what moving forward and the level of support recommended in the long run.
For example, we have a number of clients with an internal team member who is charged with adding new blog posts or press entries to their site but will submit the occasional ticket to our team when a bigger scope of work is on the horizon (adding a new landing page or re-working a page layout). In these cases, we recommend our hosting-only program, where the basics are still covered (secure hosting, nightly backups, necessary updates), but additional support is available as requested and billed hourly.
Beware Outsourcing Web Management To The Wrong Provider
If you’re at the point where you need to identify a third party to take over your website, keep a few things in mind:
- An independent contractor may be the cheapest route, but we recommend seeking references to ensure best practices are followed and response times align with your expectations. What happens if they go on vacation or find a full-time job?
- No matter who you work with, be sure you maintain ownership of your website and domain, as well as Admin-level access to the backend.
The stakes here are real—outdated plugins and neglected security patches leave sites exposed, and small businesses are disproportionately targeted by automated attacks looking for exactly that kind of neglect. At Armada Digital Agency, we utilize a ticketing system that allows us to assign requests to a specific developer and track time spent. Tickets can be escalated by clients according to urgency level, and we monitor all response and completion times.
Ready To Change Providers Or Outsource For The First Time?
Whether this is your first rodeo or you have been managing your own website for some time, we have a detailed process for migrating WordPress websites to our servers that avoids dev-speak as much as possible. If your interest is piqued, you can reach out to our team here.
