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Not every business needs the Internet. You will have to decide if there is any extra business to be had by having a website. We will give you honest advice but ultimately you have to decide. |
| If you are not sure, we will build you a basic site for a few hundred pounds. After a few months, if you want to, we can expand the site into a much more sophisticated one without wasting a penny of your original investment. |
| Learn to tell the difference between a good site and a bad one. This is crucial. Learn to look through your potential customers' eyes. What would they think of your competitors' sites?. Beware of web designers using lurid colour schemes for business sites. It means that they have no idea of marketing, advertising or image. Would you want your site to contain yellow and green stripes in the background with light blue text? Of course you wouldn't. |
| There are more cowboy web designers than there are cowboy builders, so beware. Every kid with a computer is setting himself up as a web designer. There is no regulation in this industry and it's a complete mess. Check references and talk to clients and remember that web design is all about presentation and very little about technical ability. A designer has to know what will work and that comes from experience alone. Computer nerds and geeks seldom make good designers - we've employed several of them over the years and each one, without exception, has lost us clients and work. |
| Don't bother getting comparative quotes from different companies. It won't be comparative because the quality of work won't be the same. It's better to look at the work that the company has done and just talk to them to see if they really understand what you need. Walk away from companies and individuals who spurt jargon at you and run from those that mention corporate strategy, market synchronisation, media management, web implementation and similar rubbish! |
Your website is a refection of your business. If it looks bad, then so does your business. You wouldn't go to work dressed only in Y-fronts and a pair of wellies so why have a site that may suggest that you do?
Remember it's better to have no website at all, than have a bad one. A poor website will harm your business. |
| We shouldn't have to say this but so many people make this mistake. Never, never pay for your website or design work up front. One recent client handed over £2400 to a company who delivered three pages a month later and then mysteriously vanished. He came to us to finish the job. |
| Learn the truth about Search Engines. No one can guarantee any kind of placement on any Search Engine. The only way to guarantee a high placement is to pay them and pay them well! Anyone who tells you otherwise is an idiot or is lying. It's currently taking up to six months to even get listed by Google unless you pay them. Placement companies are the latest scam. |
| Use your head. You don't expect to pay £1000 for a new Mercedes and you shouldn't expect to get a sophisticated website for £150. If you are foolish enough to think that you will, then you are truly worthy of what will inevitably follow. |
