I’ve been working on a website for a client. His site was dated, terrible on mobile, contained bleh content, was poorly formatted, and wasn’t search engine optimized. 

I’ve know the owner for at least ten years, and we’ve discussed his website numerous times. He almost hired me two years ago.

But his daughter had just graduated from college and she offered to work on his website.

Well, it didn’t happen. It rarely does.

Heck. I can relate to his desire. When my son was a young teenager, he wanted the job of mowing our lawn and taking care of the garden. So I delayed hiring a gardener and let him do it. 

My dear son was unreliable and when he did work, it was a poor job. 

“I’m going to fire you and get a gardener if you don’t shape up,” I would threaten.

“I will, Mom.”

He would shape up for a little while and then slack off again. After more than a few threats, one day he came home and saw a gardener mowing the lawn.

“What’s going on?” he asked.

“I told you I was going to hire a gardener if you didn’t do better.”

“What am I going to do for money?”

“I don’t know.”

He was pretty mad at me. But he quickly got a job delivering papers and later worked his high school years as a coffee jockey. He did just fine. He worked so much better for other people than he ever did for me.

It’s tempting to ask our kids (or some other relative) to handle our website and social media matters. And I am sure a few of them will rise to the task. 

But for most of us, waiting on our kids to help us just isn’t going to cut it.

Easy Web Tip 291: If your website or social media needs some TLC, stop waiting around for your daughter or your nephew and hire a professional.