Why have a webmaster?

I always ask design clients if they would like my company to do the webmastering for their site. This ongoing cost is where the more stable portion of my income will eventually come from.

I just got an email back from a client who I designed a relatively small and simple site for. His logical question was, "Why do I need a webmaster?" (paraphrased)

I had not dealt with that question before, so I came up with a "form letter" that includes some bullets at the end for the specific site.

My understanding is that all the statements are true, and I've tried to make them understandable. If anything is just plain wrong, please let me know.

I've emailed it to my partner, but would also appreciate any comments you guys have. Feel free to comment on the language used as well.

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I’m glad you asked that. So many people are under the impression that once you have a website for your company, that’s it. However, to even keep a website up, running and looking consistent takes routine work.

First, we will keep a routine eye on the site to make sure the server is running. Although the people who provide the space for the website and supply your email accounts already do that to some extent, we will specifically be watching your site. Sometimes changes on the server can affect the look of the site. The hosting company does not normally check every single website to see if there are any changes. This is especially true for smaller websites.

Second, as new versions of web browsers (ie Internet Explorer) are released, sometimes the look of previously existing websites can change. Not only that, but the changes required on the site can be complicated to keep the site looking right in the old web browsers and the newer web browsers. We keep on top of this and make sure the site always conforms to those changing standards, as well as looking good with the older standards.

Third, if we feel that the website look is getting stale, we will contact you about a redesign that would be included in your webmaster cost. (If you contact us about a redesign, it’s not included in the webmaster cost.) Too often, sites are put online that look fine with the current standards and technologies, but a couple of years later they look poor compared to other sites.

Finally, we will keep the information about your company itself up-to-date. This would include any changes you want us to make, as well as specifically watching/changing the following things that are specific to your site:

- INSERT SITE SPECIFIC STUFF HERE