Every once in a while when we’re on demos with agencies, a question comes up that I feel we need to talk more about. The question is, “Chris, with Advisor Evolved, do we own our website?”
The answer is multi-layered and I want to expand on it here.
The direct answer is, no.
In technical terms, you don’t own our hosting server, you don’t own the plugins, theme, or any of the other software included in the website build. That is all packaged, built, delivered and maintained by us to our end-clients.
This model is called a WaaS (website-as-a-service), and this is not a new thing. In fact, its been around forever and when you look around, nearly all website builders and providers operate on the WaaS model.
Wix, Squarespace and WordPress.com are the three most notable, but virtually every other website provider does too. The days of paying $2000 for a custom website and have zero other costs and everything is butterflies and dandelions are over.
Actually, was that ever a thing? haha…
How our model (Waas) works
The WaaS model is the absolute best model for non-technical clients because everything they need is included in one simple consolidated package at one really affordable price.
Think of a property manager for your rental property, cleaning service for your corporate office, or service agreement with your HVAC company.
Our clients pay us a nominal monthly hosting + support fee (150/mo) and we handle all of the technical complexities of their website for them. There are no massive up-front fees, no contracts, and we include everything imaginable the client would need.
In fact, we go overboard with feature and performance.
Advisor Evolved clients don’t need to figure out their own hosting or DNS setup. They don’t need to evaluate which plugins are best or what is the most performant stack. They don’t need to write content or build forms or configure anything.
They literally don’t need to think.
We do everything and make those decisions for them. This eliminates weeks of research, months of frustration, and thousand of dollars in out of pocket costs.
We keep themes and plugins updated, add new features constantly, and more importantly, if our customers need help, they simply create an email ticket and we jump on it within minutes (if you’re a current client you’re nodding your head because you know all about our legendary support).
Owning technology is not a great idea if you don’t have time or knowledge
There’s an inherent problem with owning a piece of technology like a website in that, you are completely responsible for everything from updates, security concerns, accessibility, performance, content and form creation and more.
And if something breaks, you’re on the hook to figure it out. When you own a website, there is zero support. Sure you could hire a freelancer, but that’s not as easy as it sounds.
Owning something you don’t know how (or don’t have the time) to do anything with is, well, not a great idea.
The uncomfortable reality is, most small business owners (insurance agencies included) are NOT tech-savvy individuals.
They need ongoing help, and their websites need ongoing maintenance. When you own your own website, you get neither.
We definitely have some more advanced users who can login and create new pages or forms, but a vast majority of folks don’t know how to login to their site, much less do anything with it.
They are busy running their businesses. They need help and need someone to pay attention to things and keep things safe and performant, and that is the entire benefit of a WaaS model and what we offer at Advisor Evolved.
We’ve rescued several sites that were “owned”
In the last several years we’ve actually had to completely rebuild multiple (12 to be exact) sites that the agency owner “owned” and managed themselves. They came to us for help because things weren’t working right. One guy’s site was completely offline and he couldn’t figure out why.
Each time, it was a costly endeavor that could have been completely avoided, but the clients had no idea what they were doing, they just knew that “owning their site was a good thing to do”.
Owning something you’re not going to properly maintain is just silly.
Owning a website is like owning a car
The first few years is great, and you maybe be able to drive your car for 3-5 years without any problems, but inevitably you WILL have costly repairs, or you’re going to want to trade it in for a newer model.
This is why leasing a car makes the absolute most sense 99% of the time.
Owning a website is very similar to a car but they generally have a shorter shelf life because of how fast technology, design & digital ecosystems advance.
Because of that, like a car, a website is a depreciating asset in many respects.
A website is one of those things you’re going to want to reevaluate and update every couple of years, if not more frequently.
With that being the case, should you own, or lease a website?
Why does this even matter?
Here’s the thing that’s baffling to me about this entire argument…., you don’t own your AMS, CRM, dec page tool, rater, intake tool, or any of the other software you use in your agency.
You may not even own the building in which you do business. You might not own your house, your car, your phone.
So why does it matter that you own your website?
I know, I know….this is honestly a very silly conversation when you break it down and actually think about it, but one that I wanted to add my (yes, opinionated) take too.
In life, some things are worth owning, and many are not.
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