How Small Business Websites Die - in a Single Diagram

This one graphic explains how and why so many of my small business clients no longer get website traffic. In most cases, they don't even make it to hiring a developer (thankfully). Those are the lucky ones. The ones who didn't hire that 'cheap' web designer only to find out that it's not so cheap to pay someone for every single content update.

This graphic shows the steps down a path of misery for a small business website. It shows how small businesses get sucked into the proposition that a DIY website platform is 'easy'. Then they find out it is easy to MAKE a website...but not so easy to maintain or expand a website beyond very basic functionality (read: no automation, no data synchronization, no integration with applications, not mobile ready).

So the truly unlucky ones will fork out money for a designer. They will pay a modest fee to get a few things done, only to realize that going forward, even sneezing in their direction will cost money. Now they are not only out of cash, but also out of website visitors as the lack of new content has driven their website into the ground.