Avoiding DIY Pitfalls: Why Professional Support Matters

Managing a business is already a challenge. Now throw in managing a website without expertise. Juggling too much at once is sure to lead to some dropped balls. And when your head is in a thousand places at once, even minor issues can quickly escalate into major headaches and lost revenue.

Consider This

A small family-owned business launches a new e-commerce website to sell their artisanal handmade candles. Because they have limited technical abilities in-house, they rely on a family friend with basic website familiarity to handle the maintenance. At first, things go smoothly. However, within a few months, the site began experiencing frequent crashes and downtime. Pages load slowly and shopping carts break. Customers are losing confidence and going to their competition. Their stockroom is filled to the brim with unsold candles. Chaos is ensuing!

The business owner contacts their family friend for help, only to find out they are unavailable. After all, they're just doing their friends a favor, so the website is not their priority. Now the owner must attempt to diagnose and resolve the growing issues on their own. After days of struggling, they get the site back up. Hoorah! But wait - in the time the site has been down, they've lost significant business from frustrated customers. They realize too late that website management requires real expertise.

Too often, entrepreneurs take the risky DIY approach to website maintenance, ultimately losing time, money, and customers.

But what specifically can go awry when you take on this mammoth task yourself?

Technical Troubles

Security Vulnerabilities

Lack of technical skills and time can lead to failure to manage updates and patches. Unfortunately, letting this task slip your mind leaves your site vulnerable to hacks and compromises. Issues like unpatched plugins, outdated themes, and unsecured admin areas are easy attack targets. Those seemingly innocuous update alerts can snowball into malware infections, data breaches, blacklisting by search engines, and substantial business disruption.

Site Crashes and Downtime

Insufficient expertise around plugin conflicts, coding errors, and upgrade failures can cause catastrophic site crashes and downtime that disrupt business operations. Conflicts between plugins or themes can render sites inaccessible. Attempting to upgrade WordPress or plugins without the proper know-how can also corrupt sites. And with greater downtime comes more significant opportunity for your competition to swoop in and snatch your customers.

Page Load Speed Issues

Bloated code and unoptimized images caused by lack of optimization create slow page load speeds. Excess plugins, scripts, and widgets can further bog down page loading. And with over half of website visitors jumping ship after 3 seconds of loading, a lagging site isn't a risk you should take. Not only does a speedy page boost your chance at conversion, but fast site speed also plays an essential role in SEO.

Inadequate Data Backups

Lack of regular database and file backups, and insecure backup locations can lead to the permanent loss of crucial business and customer data. This can have devastating financial and reputational impacts.

Design Deficiencies

Negative Brand Perception

Attempting website design without expertise often results in an, to put it mildly, aesthetically unappealing site. A website that is more drab than dazzling damages brand image and credibility. Poor color schemes, low-resolution images, cluttered layouts, and distracting animations can make people think your brand is unprofessional or disorganized. Remember that first impressions matter, especially online.

High Bounce Rates

Cluttered navigation elements, confusing menus, and poor layouts typically increase bounce rates as visitors quickly leave sites that are difficult to figure out. On top of that, content that is hard to scan or burdened with excessive ads pushes visitors away. You need clear visual hierarchies and efficient layouts to keep your visitors happy.

Loss of Mobile Users

A lack of responsive design means the site does not adapt to screen sizes and dimensions across devices. With nearly 60% of users looking online on their phone, a non-responsive website leads to a loss of engagement from smartphone and tablet users. Non-responsive sites provide poor reading experiences and improperly displayed navigation menus or CTAs, causing mobile visitors to bounce.

Missed Conversions

Ineffective page layouts, CTAs, and cluttered designs often lead to reduced conversions from visitors who intend to purchase or sign up. Poorly designed websites will throw in needless roadblocks, like unclear navigational paths to crucial pages like checkout or pricing. Weak calls-to-action blended into layouts fail to compel users. Overloaded pages prevent visitors from focusing on taking desired actions. All in all, subpar UX turns eager customers away.

Support Shortfall

Distraction from Core Business

Self-managing a website while running a business leads to neglected tasks as technical crises arise that distract from the work that matters most to you. Time spent troubleshooting preventable issues or learning how to operate new plugins pulls focus away from critical business operations and revenue-generating tasks.

Wasted Time

Lacking specialized expertise results in excessive amounts of time wasted trying to maintain and troubleshoot. Attempting specialized technical or design tasks without expertise leads to excessive trial and error. You can end up aimlessly wandering around your website, wasting time trying to solve problems you may not even know the cause.

Heightened Stress

Attempting to handle website management on top of the existing stress of operating a business leads to heightened stress levels from taking on too many tasks. The pressure of single-handedly handling website issues, design updates, maintenance, and every other facet of operating your business is mentally taxing.

Final Thoughts

A DIY approach to website management often ends badly - with lost time, money, and customers. But professional support lays a strong technical foundation for success. Bring in experts to handle the heavy lifting so you can focus on business growth.

Stop settling for an underperforming or unreliable website that holds your business back. Don’t waste another minute battling DIY website headaches. Partner with seasoned professionals like Your WP Guy to establish a robust online presence. Our team loves working with small business owners to unlock the full potential of their online presence.

Schedule a discovery call with Your WP Guy now. Our experts specialize in WordPress support, maintenance, security, and design. We’ll tackle any website challenge so you can focus on what matters - running your business.

Avoiding DIY Pitfalls Summary

• Attempting DIY website management often leads to technical problems, poor design, and business distractions.
• Lack of expertise around WordPress maintenance results in issues like site crashes, data losses, and security risks.
• Amateur website design damages brand image through aesthetics, mobile responsiveness, and layout effectiveness.
• Self-managing a website while running a business causes wasted time, heightened stress, and neglected priorities.
• Partnering with professional WordPress experts provides well-maintained, optimized sites so entrepreneurs can focus on their core business.