Can a novice manage own website?

[BlueSky2019]

New to all this but reasonably I.T. savvy.
We have a wordpress website; pretty pictures, blog, testimonials, web contact etc but nothing over complicated in my opinion.
Needs a bit of updating but not impressed with the company we use to manage it. I want to add some links in to technical info on the products new sell and have been requesting for ages that the site gets updated, but nothing actioned.

Am seriously wondering if I get some basic training in website management/digital marketing whether it’s something I can take on myself? Or am I best off leaving it to the professionals?

 

[Ian J]

I want to add some links in to technical info on the products new sell and have been requesting for ages that the site gets updated, but nothing actioned.

Am seriously wondering if I get some basic training in website management/digital marketing whether it’s something I can take on myself?

If that is the sort of thing that you want / need then it is fairly basic and simple and if I can do it then anyone (within reason) can do it

 

[fisicx]

Agree with @Ian J, it is very easy to learn so there should be no reason why you can’t do it yourself. If you need a bit of help there are plenty of Wordpress experts here who can do just that. When I train new users it rarely takes more than hour to cover the basics.

 

[ServWise]

Agree that it is totally possible to manage your own site, however difficulty can often depend on how the current theme is put together.

If it is pretty vanilla WP using the built in Gutenberg editor then it should be easy to manage content. The difficulty comes when you want to change something outside of the content (or any widgets) and that may require you to edit theme files. I would look into something like Elementor if you want to have fairly easy ability to alter those "design" aspects of a website.

Ultimately to do a professional job you need all of the following skills, PHP, SQL, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, graphic design and SEO as well as web hosting knowledge for things like managing SSL and .htaccess rules or dealing with broken plugins when you can't access WP etc

 

[antropy]

Am seriously wondering if I get some basic training in website management/digital marketing whether it’s something I can take on myself? Or am I best off leaving it to the professionals?

The whole point of a CMS like WordPress is that you can edit and adjust it yourself.

However, it might be good to have a freelancer or web agency on hand in case you really bungle it up.

@fisicx is a great WordPress developer, and we would also be happy to help you if needed.

Paul.

 

[Hooble]

New to all this but reasonably I.T. savvy.
We have a wordpress website; pretty pictures, blog, testimonials, web contact etc but nothing over complicated in my opinion.
Needs a bit of updating but not impressed with the company we use to manage it. I want to add some links in to technical info on the products new sell and have been requesting for ages that the site gets updated, but nothing actioned.

Am seriously wondering if I get some basic training in website management/digital marketing whether it’s something I can take on myself? Or am I best off leaving it to the professionals?

You should be able to self learn everything you need too about managing the WordPress. They have a webpage that should be able to help -

Learn WordPress - There's always more to learn | Learn WordPress

Whether you’re a first-time blogger or seasoned developer, there’s always more to learn. From community members all over the world, these vast resources will help you learn more about WordPress and share it with others.

learn.wordpress.org

You can always ref there for anything your not sure about doing.

 

[Mark T Jones]

What is the value and purpose of the site for your business?

I set up and managed my website with minimal IT or design skills

It was very customer/need focused though, and generated good leads

That said, my business has no need to appear slick or technical - the work us done after they contact me

 

[Paul Norman]

If you are prepared to learn, and put in the time needed, I see no reason why you cant do this.

It's a choice, always. If you pay the right developer, they ought to be able to do it better, freeing up your time. But that is not the only way of achieving your aims.

 

[fisicx]

Hiring a developer to customise a wordpress site is one thing. But if all you want to do is update your content there is no reason to pay anyone for this. Even updating wordpress core, themes and plugins is a DIY task.

 

[Onthebrightside]

I started a wordpress website with the help of people here and they helped me make it and update it. I had no experience whatsoever and used the help of people on here and the multitude of very useful YouTube videos to take me through it.

@fisicx and others on here were extremely helpful and kind.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I agree with the above if your not looking for a lot of organic traffic
The usual suspects above all have mostly low online competition in their areas and their efforts will get them where they want to be
My business had to compete with the global titans like FedEx etc as well as "Tony's Trannys and flatbeds" around the corner

So if you need a lot of traffic in a competitive market you may want to have a company or someone on board

 

[fantheflames]

Hi @BlueSky2019

From what you've mentioned, you can absolutely do it yourself.

Are you able to ask the agency you're with for a tutorial?

If they aren't doing what you need them to, you don't need them.

Train yourself.

Or hire a new agency to take care of the elements you can't quite get.

Good luck!

 

[YasmeenLondon]

New to all this but reasonably I.T. savvy.
We have a wordpress website; pretty pictures, blog, testimonials, web contact etc but nothing over complicated in my opinion.
Needs a bit of updating but not impressed with the company we use to manage it. I want to add some links in to technical info on the products new sell and have been requesting for ages that the site gets updated, but nothing actioned.

Am seriously wondering if I get some basic training in website management/digital marketing whether it’s something I can take on myself? Or am I best off leaving it to the professionals?

Website maintenance is straightforward until it's not. Updating plugins could be as easy as clicking 2 buttons, but sometimes a plugin or a WordPress core update breaks some things.

I had a few websites break because of a WPML update a month ago, so sometimes website maintenance is not straightforward, which is why it's always recommended having a staging environment and testing and never updating the live site until you've tested on the staging, it is one extra step but that step will save you countless hours of troubleshooting and reverting to previous versions.

Every time we build a new website for a client I ask who will do the maintenance, their skill levels and then I provide training either 1-1 in recorded zoom sessions or I send a video to them, hopefully, your agency can do the same.

 

[fisicx]

@YasmeenLondon - in umpteen years of using Wordpress I’ve never had an update break a site. Maybe you do more complex sites but most of my clients don’t even need plugins.

 

[YasmeenLondon]

@YasmeenLondon - in umpteen years of using Wordpress I’ve never had an update break a site. Maybe you do more complex sites but most of my clients don’t even need plugins.

I honestly can't say whether or not we do more complex websites without seeing your portfolio first, but the plugin that caused the issue is usually very reliable (WPML) and this was a one-off glitch and luckily it was mitigated by having a staging website.

 

[fisicx]

Ok. Must admit I stopped using WPML years ago as the alternatives are often much better.

 

[YasmeenLondon]

Ok. Must admit I stopped using WPML years ago as the alternatives are often much better.

Do you mind elaborating on the alternatives, you've piqued my curiosity, from experience there isn't a single multi-lingual plugin without flaws, and if you go the no-plugin route (WordPress multisite) it makes managing the website a pain (especially for e-commerce websites)

The choice between using a plugin or not comes down specifics of the website and the business, some plugins make managing the website easier, and some make adding a functionality easier, obviously, if you need a plugin to add a basic CSS animation, or rely on a security plugin to harden your website and server then you should let someone else develop, but some plugins save time, enhance speed, security etc and if the client is better served by using those plugins then why not ...

 

[HFE Signs]

There are so many tutorials and bits of code online these days, you should be able to manage it yourself. 20yrs ago I would have said certainly no. Enjoy the learning

 

[AllSpiritual]

Yes for sure, go for it. plenty of tutorials on youtube etc.
Ive written a lot of websites from scratch years ago, but nowadays its pretty easy.
** Backing up your work before making changes is key ! I learnt the hard way

 

[macScot]

New to all this but reasonably I.T. savvy.
We have a wordpress website; pretty pictures, blog, testimonials, web contact etc but nothing over complicated in my opinion.
Needs a bit of updating but not impressed with the company we use to manage it. I want to add some links in to technical info on the products new sell and have been requesting for ages that the site gets updated, but nothing actioned.

Am seriously wondering if I get some basic training in website management/digital marketing whether it’s something I can take on myself? Or am I best off leaving it to the professionals?

You definitely can. At the very basic level, you need knowledge of Html, and CSS stylesheets to create your own website, and you can also host these on your own machine or virtual machine (using Linux and Nginx) for very little cost. This is what we did ourselves from scratch. Youtube, W3School, and Google were our best friends.

Other solutions would be to go for hosted solutions that you can edit yourself using templates offered to you.

If you need fancy-looking websites or the complexity of having web applications and forms and cookies etc then you should get an expert web developer to help with this, and there would be maintenance costs involved as well, alternatively again you could go for online e-commerce hosts that provide the options but let you maintain the settings and content.

 

[Russ Michaels]

there are plenty of online resources that will teach you how to do it, if you have the time and inclination.

the main thing is making sure the site is secure and keeping everything up to date.
You specifically need to keep an eye out for plugins that get abandoned or removed from wordpress.org, as these will stop getting updates and will cause problems.

Install the free version of WordFence at a minimum and properly configure it, and it will tell you whenever there is any issues.

Use a host that has WordPress toolkit, and you can use this to handle all the updates and perform security lockdowns easily.

 

[Glen Wheeler]

Using Wordpress is very simple, there are lots of videos out there to get you through the very basics things. I would however suggest having someone there who knows what they are talking about, and who can be on hand on an ad-hoc basis to get you through other things. As much as you think you have done the right thing or accomplished something with a plugin it can often cause problems. Trying to keep your site fast and secure whilst on WordPress is a challenge and so seek advice before proceeding with anything you might be unsure of.

 

[MBE2017]

As can be seen, most think it is feasible. The only thing to consider is the cost in doing it yourself, what other tasks you will not be undertaking whilst updating the website.

I do my own sites myself, but mainly because I do not watch tv, so have time in the evening. I am either surfing on the web or working on the web, in the evenings, so it is no real cost to myself, and I don’t need to update my sites very much either.

The other alternative is to find a more responsive company to do what you are paying them for.