DW Tips

Whenever you start a business, you should have two primary goals: getting people to buy your product and delegating all the tasks involved in getting people to buy your product. Even if you have a small business with just one or two people, getting bogged down in administrative tasks, billing technicalities, and manual workarounds will ruin your business. Keep only what you're an expert in, or what you have to be an expert in, and hire out everything else.

Should you have someone else or a portal run your website?

Overwhelmingly, the answer is yes. Not only is the basic HTML for creating a web page technical and time-intensive, adding expected features like carts, responsive design, and security is even bulkier. Then you have to worry about bugs, the proper handling of credit card information, and making sure your links stay functional. Running your business's website will quickly become your business and you won't have time to sell or focus on any other tasks. 

It used to be that the argument between using a content management system (CMS) and HTML was really an argument between easy access without technical knowledge and full customization: knowing the code means being able to tweak the code and make your website stand out from a handful of default templates. But the HTML advantage no longer exists. For every line of custom code, there's an app or a widget you can plug into your site. For every template change, there's a pre-made template that already has that feature. Most importantly of all, you don't have to take the time to learn how to make those changes, because they already exist and, even better, have been tested by hundreds of other users.

The bottom line is that your time and your particular expertise are more important than your individual maintenance of your website. Go to Designer Digital for tips on how to get the most out of your website and the advantages of an open-source CMS.