Gone are the days when you could post your Web pages to the Internet, sit back, and rest on your laurels!

Search Engines (like Google, Yahoo, and others) rank you higher if your site has fresh content (which means pages that are updated on a regular basis). Therefore,  you, or someone you trust, is going to have to do what Web designers call ‘routine maintenance.’

It's really quite simple. Don't you find it irritating to open a Web page and see stale information? Surely, something has changed since it was published.

Options

Once you’ve decided some changes are in order, there are a couple of avenues you can choose to go about making them. I’m probably prejudiced, but I believe the best option for most people is to let the person/company who designed your site in the first place do the updates, too.

Here’s why

You worked pretty closely with your original designer. You helped him (or her) word the text on your pages. The two of you selected which photos and graphics would be most appealing, and which should be left out. You trusted him (or her) with information you might not hand out to just anybody.

Doesn’t it stand to reason that his familiarity with your business, as well as with the site (and the code) he created, would make the updating process go faster and more smoothly (read: less money outlaid for you).

But wait ...

Unfortunately, more and more designers are opting out of routine site maintenance. I can’t blame them, really. There’s not a lot of money to be made in updates, especially compared to initial site design.

At Jolly Spider, we pride ourselves on tackling the small jobs as well as the more “glamorous” ones. So yes, we do maintenance on sites we create, and we won’t charge you a fortune to do it, either!

Do-it-yourselfers

If your original designer won’t make updates (or you had such a bad experience you don’t want to re-hire him or her), you’ll have to tackle the job yourself or have someone on staff do it.

There are programs available which can make the updating process run more smoothly. Many are reasonably priced; some are completely free. Do a little research and see what fits your needs.

Hint: If you’re using Microsoft Word 2000 and up and Internet Explorer 5 and up, you can even access the built-in editing function. See if your designer will walk you through it the first time.

One BIG caution

Know that if you decide to do your own updates, your site eventually won’t have the same look or feel it had when it was first published. Little things will start to change – a font here, a color there. Typos will show up, links will break, things won’t line up the way they did before.

You’ll save money, of course, by doing it yourself, particularly if you have LOTS of changes you want to make often (and on your schedule). But is saving that little bit of money worth the certainty of wrecking your original design? I don’t think so.

An example

It’s kind of like going to your doctor for a routine checkup. An office visit might seem expensive at the outset, but don’t you feel better knowing you’re in the hands of a professional rather than treating yourself (especially if something major should arise?)

 But you’re the client. It’s your money and your Web site.

You decide

 Do you really want the aggravation of taking time away from your usual work-related tasks to learn a programming language? Do you really want your site to dwindle to something that casts your business in a less-than-professional image? Do you really want your staff person to inadvertently make a change that causes your entire site to crash?

 At Jolly Spider, we believe a job worth doing in the first place is worth doing right – every time! So let a professional do your site maintenance. It only makes sense!

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