3 reasons you SHOULDN’T do your own website maintenance if you’re a soulful author

Why it’s worth investing in website maintenance, especially if you’re a writer

Assuming you already know what website maintenance is and why you need it, you’re now trying to decide whether or not to do it yourself. Even though you can probably take care of your website and do most of the maintenance tasks yourself, I don’t recommend it. Here’s why:

1. Paying for website maintenance frees up your time.
2. Having someone else do your website maintenance gives you peace of mind.
3. Investing in website maintenance makes a quiet statement to yourself about owning your true work.

Paying for website maintenance frees up your time

For many years, I did my own website maintenance and actually enjoyed it. There are repetitive tasks that you need to do, and you can even automate some of them. I’m not going to lie. Doing proper maintenance on your website doesn’t usually take a lot of time. 

However, the operative word is “usually” because when things go wrong, it sometimes takes a LOT of time to sleuth out the problem. 

Time. Whether you’re writing your first book or editing your tenth book, time is your most valuable resource. Right? 

Nope. I would argue that my next point, peace of mind, is even more valuable.

Hiring someone else to do your website maintenance gives you peace of mind.

When you have a website, I can guarantee that at some point, you’ll find yourself wide awake in the middle of the night stressing about it. 

Maybe you tried to fix a page and deleted something you shouldn’t have. Or, you get a disturbing notification that sounds like your site was hacked. Or, you have an interview about your new book, and the link on your website to your Amazon Author page is no longer working, and you can’t figure out how to fix it.

When you’ve invested in website maintenance, you get to pass these problems on to someone else and get back to your normal dream state.  

Thank you for another successful month online! I feel secure knowing that you are watching over my site. – I.B.

Seriously, if you’re going to be awake in the middle of the night, I hope it’s because you’ve figured out a new angle for the chapter you’re currently writing and not because you’re worried about your website.

And here’s the thing, stressing about your website is a convenient distraction from doing your true work.

Investing in website maintenance makes a quiet statement to yourself about owning your true work.

I mentioned this above, but it’s worth repeating. I no longer do maintenance on my own website.

It probably sounds counterintuitive, but the same year I started offering website maintenance to my clients, I invested in it for myself. Do you know why?

Owning and cultivating my superpowers is more important.

I don’t doubt your ability to take care of your website. Likewise, even if you don’t know how yet, I don’t doubt your ability to learn how. However, is that your superpower? 

For me, especially as a web designer who can take care of her own website, investing in maintenance made a huge statement to the person in my head who tries to find excuses not to write. Yes, I can do maintenance on my website, and I choose to focus my attention on owning and cultivating one of my other superpowers instead. 

What superpower are you ready to make more room for in your life? 

If I haven’t convinced you of the value of having someone else do your website maintenance, and you still want to do it yourself, it’s OK! Download a copy of my free guide – Five Essentials for Keeping your WordPress Website Safe.