Having the right person handling your website can take care of potential issues. 

Depending on your skill level and availability of time, you may or may not be the right person to manage your business’ website. If you don’t do it, who should you select?

Here are a few important considerations when choosing the right small business website manager.

Internal Employee

It is likely that at least one employee in your business may have some untapped skills that could be useful for your website. These skills may include content writing, web or graphic design, marketing, and/or coding. If you suspect such a person may exist on your team, discuss your ideas with thim to gauge their interest. You may give small tasks for him/her to complete at first, working on a trial basis until you feel confident of the right fit.

On a personal note, I actually did this for a previous company I worked for when they found out I had WordPress experience. That being said, I don’t recommend going to your employee and saying “I heard you have this skill, congratulations you are now our website designer”. If you believe an employee could help you in a certain area make sure they are compensated for the extra work. Don’t just add more work to their plate. It doesn’t make for a happy employee.

You’ll also have to consider the limitations of your current personnel. You may find you have an excellent graphic designer who is horrible at blog writing. Or you may find a marketing genius who knows nothing about coding. It is likely you’ll need to supplement any internal support with a hired specialist to fulfill all the needs of your website.

Freelance Contractor

A freelance contractor is anyone working as a self-employed individual, taking on small or temporary jobs. There are many websites that help connect freelancers with those who need to hire for a particular project. Over the years I’ve learned that not all freelancers are created equal. Freelancers are generally very good at one area of web development, but may not be the answer if you are looking for someone with knowledge of website design and SEO/Marketing.

Freelancers are great for short-term projects. In the case of managing your website, you may hire a freelancer to assist in getting it set-up at the beginning. However, it is unlikely that a freelancer will be the best fit for a long-term management relationship. Freelancers can sometimes be fickle — leaving certain jobs if a better opportunity arises elsewhere, etc.

B2B (Business to Business) Website Manager

Hiring a professional to manage your website may be the best solution. This ensures that the correct level of expertise, care, and time are given to your website as needed. A professional website manager often has access to certain resources that an internal employee or freelancer may not be able to offer. Also, a professional website manager should be able to offer a variety of services to meet 100% of the goals for your website — email and social media marketing, blog content writing, design and coding, and general website maintenance.

No matter who you select as website manager, you’ll want to always have access to your analytics data. This allows you, as the business owner, to make key decisions regarding the direction or your website.

Are you considering hiring a professional website manager for your business site? Take a look at the LuckyFish Media services to see if we’re the right fit for you.