I’m often approached by people wanting to get started with a fairly basic website. Here’s the general advice I offer…

Although I create websites for people, my preferred role is that of a trainer and facilitator.

As a website is created, hopefully I can train the site owner during the process. I want the site owner to have a general idea of what steps are involved in launching a website, how to maintain the site, and when the time comes, what steps to take for expanding the site. It’s important that business owners not be in the dark with regard to these things.

It’s good to work with a web person (like myself), but it’s very important stay in control of everything. The domain name registration and hosting should be in your name. This helps keep costs down, and also ensures that future changes are easier.

My role is to help setup a standard website configuration that would be familiar to just about anyone with web experience.

Let’s say a year from now, someone joins your team who is web savvy, and they volunteer to help maintain and expand the site. I want them to be able to quickly understand how things are setup, so they could easily take the reigns if needed.