That's what you tell us, all right. And we completely understand and agree that it would be ideal. First, it may be faster for you to update your website than to place your edits into our job queue (but not always). Second, it is probably cheaper (but not always).

Let's take this line of thinking a layer or two deeper: One unstated assumption is that updating your website will be easy enough for you to successfully accomplish in a reasonable amount of time. That, of course, depends on your comfort level and experience with web tools and the language of the web, right? Well, maybe (but not always). Web pages have become complex machines run by scripts and multiple types of code.

Perhaps your website is built upon a Content Management System (CMS) which makes it easy to do your own edits. Watch out for that word: easy! It's relative: Some CMS's are difficult to learn and difficult to use with layers of menus to slowly wade through. There is always a trade-off.

What, you say? Is this a Catch-22 in which you can only make your own website edits if two mutually exclusive conditions intersect?

It's not that bad, but you do need to pay attention at the beginning. At BOLD, we support a half dozen different CMS's because we have a variety of clients with assorted needs and varying levels of editing expertise. We spend time during our initial conversations on the topic of website updates to help our clients understand where the trade-offs will be for their particular project.

(Come to think of it, this may be one reason for the breakout popularity of blogs. Blogging tools have evolved quickly to eliminate barriers between you and what you want to say, and the reverse chronological order format promotes the aspect of timeliness.)

Over time, every web development shop collects a set of tools it prefers for doing the work. These tools become a part of the personality of the business and, to some degree, serve both as limiters and enablers. For example, suppose your organization has a web application that was built with Microsoft tools. It seems reasonable that you would want to hire a shop with significant Microsoft experience. That's a limiting factor, right? Here's another example: BOLD has deep expertise with Drupal. Drupal is a CMS that is optimized for the social aspects of the Web--sites that have any combination of forums, blogs, news, user comments, classes of membership, collaboration, and so on.

Drupal is an example of an enabling platform. It is easily extensible and, by design, lets us turn on powerful functionality without the coincident need for lots of tweaking and coding.

But this isn't about us--it's about you. And you want to do your own website edits. We applaud your resolve and want to help you make the best choice--one scaled perfectly to your resources and business culture.