Who is watching over your web site?

By LuAnne Bell

A new web site or web application is an investment.  Just as you expect to take care of your house or your car to maintain their value and performance, so must you plan to take care of your web site. A web site support and maintenance plan can serve as an insurance policy to protect your new investment.  There are numerous benefits to such a plan:

• ensuring that your new web site or web application continues to present your organization in the best manner possible
• ensuring that your organization's brand and messaging continue to be used consistently
• providing your staff with the confidance to add/edit/delete site content, knowing that they have support ready and available, if needed
• having another set of eyes consistently reviewing your web site or web application to ensure proper performance

A comprehensive web site support and maintenance plan will include:

• Web site troubleshooting and problem resolution, including such things as display issues, navigation problems and image re-sizing
• Web application troubleshooting and problem resolution, including performance issues of the site’s content management system
• Support for hosting, platform, and other related hosting infrastructure, including consulting with the hosting provider regarding modifications to the platform configuration to support problem resolution
• Support provided to site content editors as they add/edit/delete content
• Training support for new content editors

The most valuable support and maintenance plans are structured to provide immediate, real-time assistance when needed.  These plans typically required pre-paid support hours in the client's 'account' -- this provides X number of pre-paid support hours each month.  The other option for support and maintenance is 'pay-as-you-go.'  However, these plans do not usually provide the immediate access to support that the pre-paid plans do.

Remember.......anything worth doing is worth doing well.  Don't stop your web site re-design project at deployment.  Keep it going with a formal maintenance plan and you will gain much more value from your new site over time.

Apr 16, 10 Development 0 Comments