Websites are super easy and super hard. A person with no experience with coding can have a surprisingly decent website up in minutes. There are a whole host of things that are no longer true about creating a website. Among them:
- Making a website no longer requires advanced, specialized knowledge
- It no longer takes a large investment of time
- Websites are no longer expensive to get started
- You don’t need help from an expert to build one
- An ecommerce site is no longer any harder to set up than a personal blog
The democratization of the Internet is well under way. Not only is it possible for the average person to start a website, but people are doing so in surprising numbers. But just because everyone can build a website doesn’t mean everyone should. The majority of sites are awful. Here is an example of some of the worst.
If your website happens to be a business venture, it is not enough to avoid making a bad website. You need a great website. You need one the looks good, works well, and makes you money either directly or indirectly. You also need it to stand out from the crowd of competitors that are eating away at your business. You need an IT team. Here’s how and why:
Use IT Support Services
You are going to need the help of experts. But you don’t need to hire employees to fill an IT department. You can just hire out the services of an IT department. There are local companies like Firewall Technical that offer Ottawa IT services. They are not the company you hire to set up your website. They are they ones you hire to keep it up and running via the equipment, servers, and networks that are crucial to your enterprise.
Not all IT services are the same. You may need more than one provider, as different companies specialize in different things. But you are always going to need someone to help you deploy, maintain, and repair the products that keep you in business.
Security Is Job One
Sales is not the first job. Security is. There are very few websites left that do not require even the casual visitor to provide some type of personal information, even if they do not ask for it directly. These days, ads have nothing to do with informing a consumer about a product or service. They are about tracking every movement you make online.
When websites are not covertly tracking you, they are asking you for a username and password. They want you to set up an account, provide contact information, and sometimes, age verification. Whatever information you collect about the visitors of your site, you are responsible for it.
Not even the government can keep your data safe from hackers. That is one of the best reasons why you need the services of an IT services team.
Taking It to the Next Level
One of the biggest challenges is scaling your website to meet growing demands. If you are not prepared for the added traffic, it will cause performance and reliability problems that might cause you to not only lose the new customers, but the old ones as well.
Trying to grow before you’re ready is a shortcut to failure. An IT services company can help you determine the equipment you need to handle the capacity you are growing into. There is a great deal of complexity involved. These are not the average decisions even a tech geek can make on her own. Scaling experts are standing by at an IT department near you.
Sure, you can manage without IT support services, but not very well, and not for very long. To go from good to great and really stand out, you will need help deploying and maintaining your IT infrastructure, securing everything, and when it’s time, taking it to the next level.