Having your own online presence for your small business is essential to the growth of your company or business. As a small business owner should you outsource your website design or can you do this yourself ?

According to Smart Company, there are certain things that you can do yourself — but unless you want to turn your company into a web design and development company then the major tasks should be outsourced.

As a small business owner, here”s the things that you should seek assistance with:

• Website Design – unless you are a graphic designer, home made websites look like school projects nowdays
• Content Management - your website designer should incorporate a Content Management System (CMS) with your website, that you can update online. There are both free and paid services that you can use for this task. Your initial content should be put together by your web designer, and you can gradually take over it.
• Email Marketing – This is an advanced marketing technique that only a handful of small business owners can achieve. You can outsource your email marketing campaigns if you’re not confident to manage this service, but over time you should be able to learn this
• E-commerce – Best to have your website set up for you by a professional, and then take over the task once it’s set up.
• Search Engine Optimisation – I’d recommend that you seek out the help of a professional to set up your pages (and posts if running a blog) to maximise your search engine placement for your keywords, and then with a little learning you should be able to take over this task.
• Pay Per Click (PPC) Marketing — Adwords, etc. This is not a job for a beginner, as your wallet is tied directly to it. Your PPC Campaigns will need to match your landing pages, and having an opt-in form to capture your visitor’s interest will help to serve your business into the future. Get this wrong, and it will cost your business thousands of dollars, with no results to show for it.

And here’s a list of things that you can do yourself:

• Social Networking -
• Updating your content with new material each week - you should be releasing tips, strategies, topical news stories, and items of interest for your readers. This will help keep your website up to date with the Search Engines, and if your CMS is up and running then you might be able to hand this task over to someone more junior in your organisation.