When something goes wrong in your home, you have a good idea of who to call to fix it. You call a plumber for a clogged toilet, or a roofer for a leak in the ceiling, or an exterminator for unwanted pests. You’d never dream of asking an electrician to re-tile your shower, would you?

And yet, when something goes wrong on a website, it’s not always easy to know who to contact or how to fix it. In a time where a good number of people have built their own websites (or had their cousin’s neighbor do it), they’re sometimes caught unprepared when something unexpected happens. It can also be difficult to explain exactly what needs attention on your website, which makes it difficult to find the right person for the job. Add in an office environment where multiple people assume different responsibilities—all somehow related to “the website”—and it gets even more confusing.

Who Can You Call?

In order to get a little clarity on the situation, let’s think about some of the tasks that a website might accomplish:

• Represent someone or something visually (make you look good!)
• Share information
• Connect people (either through email or social media)
• Sell products and services

Loosely translated, these functions of your website match pretty nicely to various professionals—some of whom you might not even think to bring into a discussion about website issues. For example, you might check in with a graphic designer if you need a snazzy new image for your social media channels. But that’s probably not the same person you’d talk to if your computer wasn’t connecting to the internet. Likewise, if you were to ask a web developer why you didn’t get a particular notice from your website, that’s often a question they aren’t able to answer. They’re not connected to your office’s email system. And when you’re looking for “someone in the IT department” to help, it’s good to keep in mind that their primary job is to get electricity and internet connectivity to your physical device. But that’s often where their responsibilities end. It’s easy to see that the key to getting the right answer is often a matter of asking the right question—to the right person.

Getting Proactive

Helping people get the right answers to their questions is a big reason why we at ThirdSide started offering website management services. Many of our clients, some of whom had their websites built by other developers, have found that it’s helpful to have a team of people who can address all of these concerns together. We define our specific skills among ourselves, so we know where to find the answers you need. We have teachers, tinkerers, sketchers, and sellers with real-world experience solving problems just like yours. Keeping a proactive approach to website development eliminates potential issues before they become problems. We work on your website even when it’s doing fine—that’s why it’s “management” and not “maintenance”.

With the advent of content management systems, website management is much more accessible—and much less mysterious—than in recent years. No longer do you have to track down an ever-elusive web developer for the simplest of content changes. But with greater access comes greater responsibility. Finding the right person to assist with website management is like finding the right tool for a home improvement job; everything just works better.