Do you need to outsource website support?
If you run your own business, your time is extremely valuable. One obvious thing that can really help to free up more time is to outsource website support. When you start a business, cost constraints probably mean that you try to look after everything yourself – from accounting to tax to your website.
However, once you start to grow, you can’t afford to be spending your time trying to work out how to be a web developer. Once your business is up and running, it’s clear that some tasks are better done by experts. And your time is better spent doing what you do best.
When it comes to web development, it’s not necessarily feasible or cost-effective to do this in-house. It’s a highly complex technical area, and you may have neither the skills nor the time to do this internally.
Fiddling around with your website can take up a huge amount of time. Don’t fall into the trap of spending hours of precious time on it. An expert could sort it all out for you in a fraction of the time, and none of the hassle. Once you decide to outsource website support, all of this can be looked after on your behalf.
Here are just some of the reasons to outsource website support to an expert:
WordPress is certainly easy to use and has a user-friendly content management system. However, that doesn’t mean that the upkeep of your WordPress website is easy!
Security threats, bugs and other issues constantly come up. Software updates continually require your attention. This applies not only to the WordPress software itself, but also to any themes and plugins that you use on your website.
Here are just some of the many other maintenance-related tasks your website requires on a regular basis:
- Broken link checking and fixing
- Website backups
- Security monitoring
- Coding fixes
- Speed and performance improvements
- Content and design updates
- Server configuration
- Security certificates (SSL)
- Database cleaning
Needless to say, keeping your website running properly is extremely time-consuming, even if you know what you’re doing. And you may find that some of these tasks are definitely beyond your current skill set. If you outsource website support, it will feel like a huge weight is taken off your shoulders.
If you decide to outsource website support to Outerbridge, we take care of security alerts, broken links, backups, SSL certificates, performance etc. We also keep on top of all the latest developments, so that your website is always safe, fast, secure and bang up to date.
Do you want to do it by yourself?
Let’s face it: all the tasks that go into maintaining your WordPress website can seem downright tedious and monotonous to people who are not web developers. It can seem never-ending. You might Google a few things online to try and cover the basics, but you know that your time isn’t well spent managing all this. You may not even be sure that you’re doing the right things at all.
As a business owner, you should be focusing on your core responsibilities, finding new business and growing your company. If you’re occupied with building a better performing website you will run out of time to focus on the business itself. The fact of the matter is that websites need a lot of attention and upkeep if they are not to become troublesome. You simply shouldn’t have to manage that on your own, and you don’t need to.
Many people find that the decision to outsource website support was one of the best decisions they ever made for their business.
What are the alternatives to outsourcing WordPress support and might they be cheaper?
- If you can find a good one, and if you can afford it, you can recruit a web developer to work in-house for you. This will result in additional salary costs, taxes, benefits, training costs and risks. Plus you probably don’t need a full-time developer, especially if you are a small or medium-sized company.
- You could pay a developer as and when needed to assist you with updates as they arise. But that means you need to stay on top of WordPress and to know when something actually needs fixing, upgrading, etc. Plus, it could be very difficult to find a decent web developer when you need one. It will also work out more expensive in the long-run, because a regular support package is much more cost-effective.
Can I really trust someone enough to outsource website support?
Yes you can. But as with any outsourcing, it’s crucial to do some research first:
- Check customer reviews and testimonials to see what existing customers have to say about your proposed provider. Contact some existing customers directly and ask for their views.
- Work out roughly how much time you or your team currently spend on WordPress-related tasks. Then use that number and your hourly rates to work out a reasonable starting-point budget for these services.
- Make sure that your support company matches your expectations. What hours do they provide support for? When (and how) are they contactable? Will you be working with people you can meet and build a relationship with? Some companies will only accept email support requests, for example.
- Find out whether your support company have any experience within your specific industry. Will they make an effort to really understand your business, so that they can make appropriate recommendations and quick decisions.
- Is there anything outside of the traditional WordPress support that you’d also like help with? You may want to look for someone that can help you with other areas of the business such as strategy, marketing, or search engine optimisation. Are you looking for someone just to complete tasks when you tell them to, or a more proactive approach from a trusted business advisor?
This really good article in The Guardian explains more about what to look for when outsourcing.
Do a few updates here and there really matter?
Yes, they really do. It’s like a car. If you have it regularly serviced and keep it running nicely, it will give you many years of trouble-free motoring. But if you put things off, ignore the rattles and don’t maintain it, one day you know it will cause you a major problem and cost a fortune to sort out.
For the same reason, choosing to outsource website support to a reputable developer will give you peace of mind that everything is under control. You will be confident that you won’t experience any major website downtime or security incidents. In fact, as our customers will tell you, it will be a huge weight off your mind.
