Let's face it, it takes a lot of work to run a website effectively. There's lots to do and as soon as any company or organization stops maintaining their website, they start to lose their website rankings and they're more susceptible to getting hacked or compromised. Most business owners don't want to take courses on how to maintain their website and keep it running well. Just like they hire a heating and air conditioning professional to service their air systems, they hire website design professionals to maintain their website. It only makes sense.
When looking for web maintenance help, there are a number of things to think about and make sure you understand before making the right decision.
You get what you pay for with about anything. That's very true with website maintenance. When you hire someone to help you with maintaining your website, make sure they do a good job and do things correctly.
Along with that, the most important thing is communication. When you send in your request, was there a response right away? Do you know your request was received? Do they use a ticket system to keep track of your request?
What about getting a quote on the work? If you wanted a quote, did you get one? Are you sure they understood what you wanted done? Would they do a mock-up of the work before actually doing the work on your live website to make sure they understand what you want?
You have your own task list or to-do list of things you need done to make your website and business run more smoothly. The last thing you need is frustration. You need to work with people that understand what you want done and why you want it done. They should ask questions if it's not clear but you also don't want to be overloaded with too many, basic questions. It should be easy, not difficult.
Again, you want the work done soon, not in a week or two. Communication should be prompt and clear. The work should get done right away, not when they find time to pay attention to you. The way to ensure this is to make sure the website design/maintenance company you choose has staff ready to work on projects. The last thing you want is for them to pull their developers off of large projects to take care of the smaller things you need done. The developer/programmer loses momentum on their project and they see your task as a distraction and something to just "get done" instead of taking care to make sure the work you need done is done the right way.
Here, at Webstix, we have a Website Maintenance Department. We have staff just waiting for website maintenance requests from business owners and professionals like you. They do quotes and use a ticket system to keep track of your requests. They follow up and make sure all your questions are answered. They're experienced and understand what you want done without too many questions. If there are questions, they create mock-ups and come up with ways to show you what they think you need done so that the work happens without much delay or frustration.
Our pricing is simple. We use a "Maintenance Blocks" system where 1 "block" is a half hour of time. This is enough time to take care of your request, do testing, take a backup of the work, write down changes in a log file and get back to you with a report. The more Maintenance Blocks you purchase, the better hourly rate you get. We keep your blocks in your account and you can use them whenever you want - this keeps billing costs down and just makes things simple.
You won't get lost in the shuffle, either. We're a company of about 20-25 people, so that means we're small enough to care about every one of our clients. Every client is valuable to us and we'll do our best to make sure you're happy with the services we provide. We'll even make suggestions from time to time if we see something that your website/business/organization can benefit from. We're your partner and we're in your corner to help you be successful.
Learn more about Webstix Website Maintenance and give us a try! The sooner you do, the sooner the work gets done!
-Tony
