I've had a client, from time to time, ask why they should keep paying their monthly subscription. Fair question. As business-people, we all need to be looking at our expenses and trimming where necessary. First though, let me ask a question.
Why have a website?
With nearly 90% of all purchases starting life as an internet search there's really no question why. The fact is, whether it's a new hair product, a vacation, a car or even a house, we all head to one of the search engines to start our hunt. And if a business doesn't have a solid web presence, then they're already well behind the pack. So, back to the original question...
Why continue paying every month?
What the client is really asking is, WIIFM (What's In It For Me)? And, again, that's a fair question. Some business-people see adverts on somewhere like Craigslist for a website for $299. Awesome, right? Unlikely. Often these are made by someone "in a galaxy country, far, far away...", who often fails to grasp simple English, and has different waking times to you. Plus it's likely a small 5 page site with zero bells and whistles.
But it's cheap! Of course. You get little website and no support. What many business-people don't realize is that websites require maintenance. Pretty much every month, I work on every site. Sometimes it's just updating a component or the core code because vulnerabilities have been discovered. In April, I went through all our websites and updated to the latest version of the core and made new, compatible templates as Google released a new search algorithm that favored mobile-friendly sites. This was all done free of charge because of your monthly subscription. Other companies would have charged for this, if they bothered doing it at all.
Today, I'm again working through every site, as Google has released yet another update and it impacts everyone (not just all of you, but probably 100% of website owners). It's become more aggressive in favoring (what it considers) mobile friendly websites. But, unlike the April update, this update goes further and requires some simple, but crucial, changes. Again, these are done by us free of charge.
Do you really work for free?
Well, technically, no, as it's built into your monthly subscription. What it means to you, as our client, is you don't need to worry about your website being out of date (at least not code wise) and giving you grief. We're here to make sure it's running smoothly and up to date. That lets you do what you're good at.
