Is it time for a new website?

Why did you purchase your current car? Was the old one eating gas (and the contents of your wallet)? Or maybe your family was growing and you needed more room and a safer vehicle?

When it comes time to buy a new car, it won't be for the same reasons you acquired your current one. Because life changes. Our needs evolve, as do our bank accounts and general tolerance for sitting in mechanic shop waiting rooms.

But when you finally get that new car, it's a glorious moment, isn't it? The smell alone is worth the five figures your bank account will drop over the next 60 months.

You offer to drive everyone everywhere (as long as they don't bring any food along with them). You're astonished by how quickly the interior cools in the summertime and warms in the winter. And the tech is so advanced that you're finally able to donate all your old cassette tapes.

In the early days after buying a new car, everything is great! If you have to take it in for maintenance, it's probably covered under the warranty. But you aren't likely to take it to the shop much at all, as it's been thoroughly tested.

Of course, you'll still have to maintain it, even in the early days. That means oil changes, tune ups, and tire rotations. But they're all to help increase the longevity of the car.

We're here to talk about websites

(Right. I almost forgot. Sorry. Let's talk about websites now.)

A website is like a car. 🤯

At first it's all shiny and new. It's fast. Performant. The CMS helps you build pages exactly as you want. It puts you and/or your business out there in a favorable light. It feels good! And if something goes wrong in the early days, the agency that built the site will likely fix the bugs you encounter free of charge.

But like cars, websites age. They require maintenance to function properly over time. Regular updates are imperative to getting the most out of the site without letting it wither away.

As your wants and needs change, you won't jump right into buying a new website. Rather, you'll bolt on to what you have with new features...like a car stereo upgrade, roof rack, or remote starter.

Everything grows old

No matter how well you take care of your car, eventually it will show signs of age. Maintenance trips become more frequent (and costly). Parts become more difficult to find. Performance degrades. The thought of buying a new car starts creeping into the back of your mind.

It's a big step. An expensive step. It can be risky. Because of that, it's not always obvious when it's the right time to start shopping.

The same goes for a website.

In both cases, the process of moving on to something new is both expensive and time-consuming. You're the one running the show, even if you didn't build the thing. It will still require a substantial amount of input from you if you want to make sure you end up with the best outcome for you.

Choosing the right vehicle

In the past, the process of redesigning a website could sometimes mean just redesigning the site — not necessarily rebuilding it. There may be some small updates to make under the hood, but the majority of it may be solid and could remain in place.

That's because we've been building websites in much of the same way for almost 20 years. With the adoption of Web 2.0, we saw an emergence of dynamic content management systems that could handle both editing and consuming the content in real time. The power was real. That technology continued to advance, but not in any sort of revolutionary way.

So every time you needed a new website, it was more like buying this year's Toyota Camry. It's not much different from a five-year-old Camry. It may be a little roomier, with more color options and upgraded dashboard technology. But it's still a Camry. You're still going to buy it for the same reasons you bought the last one.

But what if there were something missing from the market? Something that could increase safety, make it easier to drive in the winter, and add storage space, all without sacrificing fuel economy, comfort, or price?

Today that option exists. It's an SUV. It's the largest market segment in the automotive industry for exactly those reasons — safety, comfort, efficiency, price, etc. But back in the 80s, that wasn't an option. There was no modern SUV for consumers, even though the foundation on which they were built had existed for more than 50 years!

The modern SUV of websites

The Jamstack is a modern methodology on building websites. It's the SUV of websites. It is at the same time both revolutionary and established. It turns the process of building and hosting a website completely on its head without actually introducing any new concepts. It simply takes what we've learned over the last 30 years, extracts the best parts, and combines them into a modern, game-changing approach.

The Jamstack offers increased speed, security, performance, scalability, availability, and more without sacrificing cost. But wait there's more! In fact, once the new website is built, a Jamstack solution typically reduces cost!

Enter the showroom floor

Eventually your current site is going to wear down to the point where it's time to start thinking about visiting the website dealership. But this time, don't go for another Camry. Don't insist on WordPress or Squarespace or — heaven help me — Drupal.

Instead, ask about the new SUV they just got in. Ask your agency about moving your website to the Jamstack, which:

• Costs you a fraction of your current website in upkeep costs.
• Gives you more control over and flexibility with your budget because you can transition one page at a time.
• Scales with ease and minimal cost.
• Is more secure than a site running with open database connections (e.g. WordPress, Squarespace, etc.)
• Tends to have a larger pool of developers who can work with it.

Or, better yet, ask us! We've been building websites with this approach for years, and we think we're pretty good at it. Or, if you just want to talk Jamstack, drop us a line. We like meeting new people.