Over the past 18 years that we have been in business, we’ve seen and heard all sorts of crazy stories when it comes to hiring website designers or even web design companies.
They are usually horror stories – the kind that gets repeated just because it’s so gory and that you hope your friends don’t fall prey to unscrupulous web designers!
Most of the time, we hear stories like these from our clients. When they come to us, they are already “burnt” or rather shall we say, properly frustrated with the freelancers they deal with. To be fair, not all freelance web designers are crooks.
We had a client approach us after he was conned of his money 3 times by 3 different designers in this one island. Others come to us because their websites cannot be updated as their designers had run off or disappeared and hence, not contactable! They are left with websites they can do nothing about.
Other clients come to us because they want a simple yet understandable website maintenance package – they want to pay for an entire year of website updating services instead of getting slaughtered each time they want to update their website.
There are also people who come to us because our team can update their website within 24 hours or less.
Yes, we have such a package for clients who need quick turnaround time. Understandably this is only offered to our own clients.
Here are some fascinating stories which we’ve heard over the years.
Which one is yours?
Problem #1: You paid a web designer the full fee (because it’s only RM2,000) but he keeps delaying your website. Eventually, he stops answering your phone because he can’t deliver the website you want. Your money is gone with the wind and you have no website at all.
Problem #2: You got your friend’s IT-savvy son to design your website for free because he wanted to practice his web design skills. Eventually, he goes overseas to study and never comes back. Your domain name expires and you don’t know how to renew it and you have no idea how to get back your website! When you do manage to contact your neighbour’s son, he informs you that he has forgotten the password because it was such a long time ago!
Problem #3: Your website was designed some 10 years ago and was never updated or redesigned since then. The information is out of date and the website is so ’90s that you’re just plain embarrassed to tell customers you have a website.
Problem #4: You got a web designer to design your website. While it looks creative and fancy, the website is hard to use and customers complain they can never find anything they want.
Problem #5: You want a website to help you grow your business but you never want to pay for website maintenance. Or you could be willing to pay for website maintenance but your website designer doesn’t want to update your website and he doesn’t tell you why. You have to keep calling and emailing him.
Problem #6: You got your business cards printed at a print shop and they threw in a free website for you. But your website is technically just one miserable page and isn’t even found on Google.
Problem #7: Your website has major security problems (as highlighted by your customers) but you don’t know how to solve these issues because you’re not a tech person. The website designer you hired is no longer to be found.
Problem #8: Your website content was written by your website designer and you almost died of horror when you read it. It reads like rubbish and makes your business look unprofessional and sloppy.
Problem #9: Your website content is exactly the same as your brochure because your website designer just copied and pasted the content, including the spelling errors!
Problem #10: Your website designer does what you tell him to do. He doesn’t offer any real ideas or helps you as your business grows.
Problem #11: Your website is a sad wasteland full of old information and ugly photos. It is also complicated and confusing. Yet you have no idea how to fix this problem.
Problem #12: Your website is designed and launched but you get no results at all. You decide to use Google or Facebook advertising. The money you spend on online advertising isn’t even getting you the right prospects and you’re really regretting all of this. Basically, you’re wasting money every month!
If you suffer from any of these 12 website problems, you might like to talk to us and let us help you. Try attending our Tech Tuesday events (now only available once-a-month due to our busy schedule and multiple projects) and let’s see if we can help you. Or sign up for our free newsletter to learn more.