Has anyone used Webworks Internet

pinksid

I have had a call from Webworks Internet offering to make a website with address and maintenance for one year for £99 plus VAT then £99 per year after that.

Has anyone else used this company - I searched this forum and the only mention of them is about 3 or 4 years old.

There are also mixed reviews when I search google.

Any help would be much appreciated!! Thanks

debbie42

They were mentioned here more recently:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/242971

What would make you choose them as opposed to anyone else? What are they offering, in detail, and do you need or want the service?

paulwf

I haven't used them but there is one absolute golden rule I always advise - make sure the domain names are registered to you, preferably by buying them yourself. The concern with any web hosting package is that if they set it all up for you and they own the domain name you end up being tied to them for years to come and they can charge whatever they like. If you own and have admin over the domain you can cut your losses and point it at a new website at any time.

Unless they are modifying your site £99 yearly renewal is steep, I pay £40 inc VAT for my server account.

paulwf

Just looked into it a bit more. 4 pages with 8 images isn't much, just a placeholder site really. It certainly wouldn't be worth the £475 + VAT they claim!

I would probably use a simple website builder like 123-reg for £2 a month. Yes it will look fairly generic but I'd imagine these guys are just knocking out site after site as well. The key thing with using a site builder is that you can update it yourself at any time. Websites date incredibly quickly, you may want to add a special offer or post opening hours over Christmas etc. A static site is rarely a good idea.

Once you've tweaked a site over time and built up the pages and images you'll have a really good idea of what you require then it might be worth paying sensible money to get a custom built site.

I suppose I think the package offer is a bit of a fudge...not big enough to be worth having a custom site but no mention of being able to update it yourself.

teabelly

If you want to make a basic site yourself you can't beat using wordpress these days. It is very easy to build static pages with it. There are loads of themes and plugins that help you get your site looking good.

Hosting is quite cheap but you definitely want to get the domain name yourself. 123-reg are good for domains but I'm not sure how good they are for hosting. Heart internet are supposed to be quite good and they do quite cheap domain names.

debbie42

I've recommended Wordpress in the past, for self-build sites. It's far more powerful than a lot of easy build hosting options, though you possibly need to be more web savvy.

You can start off with the slightly limited, free, Wordpress hosted variant, which would give you a web address something like yourname.wordpress.com.
You can test it first before deciding to go for your own hosting with the full product.

Berbatov_2

paulwf wrote: »

Just looked into it a bit more. 4 pages with 8 images isn't much, just a placeholder site really. It certainly wouldn't be worth the £475 + VAT they claim!

I would probably use a simple website builder like 123-reg for £2 a month. Yes it will look fairly generic but I'd imagine these guys are just knocking out site after site as well. The key thing with using a site builder is that you can update it yourself at any time. Websites date incredibly quickly, you may want to add a special offer or post opening hours over Christmas etc. A static site is rarely a good idea.

Once you've tweaked a site over time and built up the pages and images you'll have a really good idea of what you require then it might be worth paying sensible money to get a custom built site.

I suppose I think the package offer is a bit of a fudge...not big enough to be worth having a custom site but no mention of being able to update it yourself.

Hi mate

you can update it at any point during the year,unlimited amount of times too

so if she ever needed to update anything she/he would call their account manager and ask for the changes to be done.FOC So she could update her "opening times" when ever she wanted.

4 pages is enough for a company maybe just starting out but you can get extra pages if required in the future.There are also extras that allow you to add as many images as you like from home etc.

Hope this helps any questions dont hesitate to ask me thanks again

Berbatov_2

paulwf wrote: »

I haven't used them but there is one absolute golden rule I always advise - make sure the domain names are registered to you, preferably by buying them yourself. The concern with any web hosting package is that if they set it all up for you and they own the domain name you end up being tied to them for years to come and they can charge whatever they like. If you own and have admin over the domain you can cut your losses and point it at a new website at any time.

Unless they are modifying your site £99 yearly renewal is steep, I pay £40 inc VAT for my server account.

very valid point

and yes with webworks YOU DO own the domain name.Its registered to you and your address and you get confirmation of ownership with your artwork pack the following working day

thanks :A

gosnis

If its of any use, I use Cookie Creative for all my website marketing.
They were recommended to me by a colleague and they do a good job for a fair price.

gazfocus

I've not heard good thinks about Webworks. We've had a couple of customers come to us after bad experiences with Webworks.

gosnis

gosnis wrote: »

If its of any use, I use Cookie Creative for all my website marketing.
They were recommended to me by a colleague and they do a good job for a fair price.

gazfocus wrote: »

I've not heard good thinks about Webworks. We've had a couple of customers come to us after bad experiences with Webworks.

Agreed, I have heard a few people complaining also.
It seems that smooth talking and high pressure sales people are taking people for a ride, and giving the sector a bad rep.