What Type of Web Mechanic Are You?
- Owner #1: Do you like to tear down the engine and rebuild it instead of doing a standard tune-up?
- Owner #2: Are you a tinkerer
- Owner #3: Do you know enough to keep up with standard maintenance, or do you just want to turn the key and know that it works?
A lot like maintaining your car, your level of comfort with the mechanics of your web site is very similar. Owner #1. There are some of you out there who are just happier tearing your web site down and starting over. That is great! Unfortunately many of us, including me, are far from being able to even dream of doing that. If you do this as a hobby, I also think that you should consider web development as a career choice. Good developers are hard to find. Just like with cars, the owner who can tear down the engine and rebuild it is a small group, a very elite group. Owner #2. Then there are the tinkerers. You know who you are. You are very comfortable with doing your own basic maintenance. You make your own text edits and update your graphics and links, however, you leave the heavy duty construction and major overhauls to the professionals. I think a much larger group fall into this category. This is a great benefit to the performance of your web site (car) if you are disciplined enough to make regular updates. Your tinkering brings fresh content to your site and drives you up in the search rankings. It also provides new reasons for your visitors to stop and stay for a while, which is exactly what you want. You maintain peak performance. Owner #3. Here you have the rest of us (this might be the largest of the three groups.) I don't know about you, but when I type my URL in the browser I expect to instantaneously view my web site, complete with updates. Now, I have no idea how to write the code for a site, or make updates, but I do want my site to be killer. Just like owning a car, you don't have to know anything about building it or what goes on under the hood. What you do need to know is when to take your vehicle in for maintenance and you need a good mechanic. Same thing with your web site. You need to have a developer you can trust to keep your site updated and repaired if necessary, and you also need to take the initiative to provide your developer with fresh content on a regular basis. Think of your site content like fuel for your engine. If you don't fill up regularly the site is just not going to run and the least you can do is give it an oil change regularly buy adding some new content even if you don't add pages or features. Bottom line is, even if you are a web site Owner #3 you have to be involved. Next in the series: Your Web Site Is Like a Car – Buying Options. And Do I Really Want a Trailer? How to make your web site work for you.
