They marketed themselves as a service available to students preparing college admission and scholarship essays. They provide one to one editing sessions and specific strategies on how to produce effective papers. The two employees teach that strong writing with voice holds the key to powerful and compelling composition. They guide students through the steps necessary to craft strong writing because this component matters in a candidate?s application. Whether the requirement is a personal statement or a specific atypical topic, the writing consultation service claims to successfully assist students in this part of the college and scholarship application process.
Their initial success was good. In fact, their social media post indicated that they have helped students with essays for a combination of scholarships and admission into more than 30 different institutions. Listed alphabetically from Centenary College of Louisiana to Yale University, the list is impressive. Why then, has the service struggled to find many customers in the last 15 months? Turns out, the answer is simple.
Businesses Cannot Afford to Neglect Website Maintenance
In their efforts to maintain an active social media presence, they let their website maintenance slip through the cracks. While they were busy posting inspiring quotes about writing and the latest academic stories about college admissions trends, the website contract expired and was eventually shut down. As a result, customers were no longer able to access the prices and contact information that had driven so many customers their way during the first three years of business. Mistakingly thinking that the social media platforms alone would support their company was a mistake.
The recovery process was underway. Understanding that website maintenance was a complicated task and outside of their skill set, the two writing coaches decided to outsource their website platform to a company known for its contemporary website design and successful local online marketing techniques.
Website Design Must Match Marketing Goals
Web design and development trends focus on strong design elements that are able to catch viewer attention within seconds. Interestingly enough, trends can vary from colorful, complex design to simple design that emphasizes white space. As website platforms rapidly move toward one trend, a newer trend that is a visual opposite to the earlier trend is what often draws attention. America lives in a visual world and as the consumer’s eye becomes increasingly accustomed to one type of design, it is a web design and development company’s goal to stay ahead of the next trend in visual eye candy.
So while many see website maintenance as merely keeping prices, inventory, and events up to date, in reality the maintenance must be much more. The design team needs to create a site that can provide variety and new visual interest, while at the same time remaining familiar to frequent visitors.
This Is What the Research Says
In addition to striving for strong and attractive design, website maintenance must also follow the latest guidelines for internet research use:

• Anywhere from 40% to 46% of users will abandon a website page if it takes more than three seconds to load.
• Website bounce rate spikes to 100% if a page takes four seconds to load.
• Website bounce rates jump clear to 150% if a page takes more than eight seconds to load.
• Nearly 50% of users say if they arrive on a business site that does not work well on the mobile device platform they assume the business does not care about its customers.
• Approximately 46% of people say website design is their number one deciding factor in determining a business’ credibility.
• Research indicates that by the year 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship without talking to another person.

Scary, isn’t it?
No matter how good your product or service is, website maintenance issues can be the deciding factor in your company’s success. Slow loading pages, design that does not immediately adjust to a mobile device, and current trends in website design can mean the end of your business. And you thought all you wanted to do was help students learn to master great essay writing techniques. What were you thinking?
So while many website platforms advertise that they are easy enough to run that you can create and maintain your own site, turns out you might not want to do it yourself. Outsourcing to professional website designers and developers is the smart choice.