Website leasing advice

james2005

Hello I have a friend that is a new business startup and needs to get some business/enquiries via the web.

He built a site called

[URL="http://www.massaffect.co.uk/"][COLOR=#810081]www.massaffect.co.uk[/COLOR][/URL]

but got stuck with it.

He basically does discos, lighting, events for weddings etc etc, he is based in Cornwall and is going to see someone in Truro tomorrow that will lease him a website for £50 per month and get him to the top of Google search engines with an option to purchase the site at a later date (unfortunately I dont know the name of the company)

I want to help him where possible and we are currently getting a steady stream through of leads through telemarketing.

He basically offers everything from disco (I hate that word) through to kids entertainers at weddings, disco & lighting hire, including balloons the whole lot.

Is there any pitfalls he needs to be aware of as I dont want him signing into a long contractual agreement that turns out to be not that good or crap!

At the same time I dont want to appear as if I am trying to take charge, its his company and I am helping with lead generation.

He produces amazing lighting for disco's, I havent quite seen anything like it down here.

He needs to get going from tomorrow ish maybe starting off with the website showing discos for wedding/parties etc with pictures and some strong seo for Cornwall area and then adding more content to it as he will be adding photography as well as the others i mentioned like balloons, kids entertainers.

The competition in way of website appearances are a joke and very amateurish stuff..

He will be offering about 75% of whats on this site:

[/COLOR]
[/URL][URL]http://www.firebirdevents.co.uk/[/URL][URL="http://www.firebirdevents.co.uk/"]

I really would appreciate some advice.

Thanks

Jamie

aerostar

Personally, these people that promise to get you to the top of Google search are promising something that they cannot really deliver. Think about it, if lots of similar sites use these people...how can they guarantee each to be top of the searches ?

I would suggest he looks for a freelance web designer and make sure that he is always given the complete website design code, also check costs, someone I know had a website done and to change a telephone number, they wanted £50 !!!.

Are their any art colleges etc around, perhaps look in local papers for website designers, or use pre-designed templates and modify himself.

Google offer websites and templates, perhaps his domain registrar company offers similar.

http://www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html

RobTang

The concept of leasing a whole website sounds really really wrong to me.

The domain name needs to be owned and controled by the company, no ifs not buts. If the designer holds it they can (and probably will) hold you to ransom, everthing else you can always switch out.

Hosting (the machines were the website is physically strored) is almost always leased but ideally it should not be soley through your designer.

Website code would normally be commissioned by the company and then it would be fully owned by the company (intellectual property bit) software it runs on can be licenced under lease like agreements but simple websites 99% of the time run on free open-source stacks anyway.

£600 a year sounds a lot for a simple website and some additional services. You can easily get a simple site comissioned for that and fully own the IP outright for that.
Which means you're essentially paying for managed services with a big exit fee if want to retain the IP, so it really depends on what exactly is provided and the T&Cs.

It still sounds wrong to be me though, my advice is to back away and go through the more traditional route as aerostar suggests

chunter

Get yourself off to www.webdesignerforum.co.uk Repeat your post in there.
There's a lot of very shrewd people who'll be able to steer you in the right direction.

They'll probably tell you first off to take the current website down as it's doing more harm than good.

EDIT: I would suggest the local nature of the business means that Facebook could be a very useful promotional tool.

steve1980

The existing site is terrible. If anyone pays £50 per month they are mad.

Also shouldn't the site be called Mass Effect rather than affect?

With regards to SEO, no one can guarantee you will be top within any time scale. They are talking out of their rear end.

Most, not all, web designers will give you a complete break down of costs and, if applicable, ongoing maintenance fees should the client want that. Personally, I prefer to do the site and be done with it, bar the annual renewal costs.

Check out terms and conditions of anyone your friend chooses and be sure that a signed agreement/contract is provided by both parties.

paddyrg

I can get you to the top of Google listings guaranteed - but by spending your money on ads. There is no other way to guarantee it. Renting a website is just about the dumbest concept I've heard - head over to the Small Business board here and get some business-end advice!

james2005

Thanks , I did just register but for some reason I cant post, have i got to be a web designer maybe?

They look like they know their stuff though

chunter wrote: »

Get yourself off to www.webdesignerforum.co.uk Repeat your post in there.
There's a lot of very shrewd people who'll be able to steer you in the right direction.

They'll probably tell you first off to take the current website down as it's doing more harm than good.

EDIT: I would suggest the local nature of the business means that Facebook could be a very useful promotional tool.

james2005

I was looking at the Google ones the other day but still seems a little hard i.e editing it etc.

Is this something you could do very cheap?

Thanks

aerostar wrote: »

Personally, these people that promise to get you to the top of Google search are promising something that they cannot really deliver. Think about it, if lots of similar sites use these people...how can they guarantee each to be top of the searches ?

I would suggest he looks for a freelance web designer and make sure that he is always given the complete website design code, also check costs, someone I know had a website done and to change a telephone number, they wanted £50 !!!.

Are their any art colleges etc around, perhaps look in local papers for website designers, or use pre-designed templates and modify himself.

Google offer websites and templates, perhaps his domain registrar company offers similar.

http://www.google.com/sites/help/intl/en/overview.html