Website/Blog - Hire out or learn?

[Rapid]

Hi, everyone. I managed to download a free template to customize my Wordpress blog. I also had an overseas web design firm create my new website promoting my services (I also have a couple of items for sale - no sale yet).

My problem is that I have limited web tech skills. I know a little about HTML and can make simple text revisions. I had designed (or rather borrowed a ready-made template that came with a web design program) and uploaded a simple webpage and know how time-consuming the process can be. I managed to pick up a couple of tips about search engine optimization (I've been doing this myself all along) and can "sort of" navigate around the Control Panel provided by my Lunarpages account. I know the basics of creating a Myspace page. Etc. You get the idea.

On my website you can play audio clips on a player that's embedded on the website. The issue is that the player doesn't show the duration of the clip nor how much time has progressed. I asked my webmaster if he would upgrade the player so that visitors can view the time. He said that he won't be able to and that I would need to ask a "professional" to do it.

My question is: Is this something that a beginner can learn to do? In the future I would like to incorporate more audio clips, video clips, offering free reports, creating a database to capture e-mails, etc. Of course, there are paid services for these things, but my website isn't generating a lot of traffic or revenue yet. I still have to figure out "track backs," "pings," etc., to optimize my blog.

My personal strengths are writing, speaking, instructing ... definitely not technology. Should I just buckle down, grind my teeth, and bear it (learn the stuff slowly and painfully)? On the other hand, learning how to do the tech thing better will definitely help marketing my services.

Any suggestions or resources would be appreciated.

If you are interested in viewing my website, please PM me. Thanks.

[YazKMan]

About the Audio Player; It depends how your current player receives its information about which file to play. It may be as simple as simply replacing the current player with a different one and changing a few settings, or a whole load of customization. You'll have to tell us more. although most likely it'll just be a simple change of switching it out for a different player.

Now onto whether you should learn the technical skills to administer your own site. If you're looking to modify your own site(CSS design, PHP) then it will take you quite a while to learn, and it is time consuming, its up to you whether you want to trade time for money by hiring someone out. If I didn't have the technical skills I would definitely hire someone.

But I strongly recommend you learn the basics of website administration. Also things like "Creating a database to capture emails" isn't really that hard to do , and I expect you could learn it quite easily. Be aware though, that being able to do it doesn't mean that that is the way it's supposed to be done. For example, many people new to PHP and database tend to leave gaping security holes that allow for SQL Injection attacks very easily.

That's my suggestions. If you do decide to code your own scripts, remember this, always treat your users and their input as malicious unless proven otherwise. You must always sanitize any and all input you receive, even if you are sure it is clean, you can never be sure. Another thing, explicitly define what you accept in your scripts(i.e. a while list) meaning instead of saying "I wont accept $, %, or # symbols" you will say "I only accept !,@,^ symbols" .

I know I went off on a tangent there, but I feel not enough people know this

Hope this helped.

[Brutha]

I guess it depends on the value of your time.
If you are a good writer (you make money writing) hiring out is probably a good idea, because that allows you to better focus on your writing.

[ixmatus]

If technical proficiency is a painful process for you (it never has been for me, so I am not capable of fathoming why it is for anyone else) then you should certainly pay someone to do it for you.

This very situation of yours is why I have a job, most people find it too time consuming or frustrating (for them atleast) to learn how to do this stuff on their own.

On the other hand, if you are a reasonably intelligent person (it certainly seems like you are to me) then technical proficiency is neither painful nor a far reach - it simply requires some impetus and foundation laying.

Either route will be satisfying to you; by learning you will increase the knowledge and possible vectors from which you can view the world and in the process build your own site (getting what you want), and by paying someone, you save time, get what you want and still increase your knowledge and possible vectors from which you can view the world (by having the time to learn other things).

It's simple, really, which option feels the most exciting?

[Tayrak]

You could try this spot and see if it's any help to you: Site Build It

And to answer your question, yes that's an affiliate link which means I get paid if you sign up. They offer a great deal more than most hosts and you don't need to know any coding what so ever. They have a great support team in place and a forum. (And I live close enough to this guy to grab him by the scruff )
They also offer a guarantee, which means you can test drive it for a month and if it doesn't work out you get all your money refunded. Muck around the site, you have nothing to lose by looking.

[PaulL]

I think it breaks down to:

How much money do you want to make?
Can you forecast increase in sales volume if a professional makes the changes compared to if no changes are made?
Is the profit greater or less than what you paid the professional, and if not, are you using an appropriate time scale?

Hate to answer a question with a question.