Getting a website / webdeveloper

Philipert821

Its much easier to get paid a web developer

noangel666

Flyonthewall wrote: »

That site is rather slow to load and the header is terrible. I'm pretty sure the banner images at the top of the page are images I've seen elsewhere so certainly not ones they've created specially for their own site. Hopefully they're not stolen ones!

Judging by the Facebook page spaces are limited. "We have a space come available, for one more company to organically dominate."Also, bad English. Wouldn't want things to be written like that on my site!

Creation Date: 20-MAR-2014
Updated Date: 04-MAR-2015
Expiration Date: 20-MAR-2016

Only been around a year, only very recently updated and expires in a year.

Plus they appear to have used iPage to create it which has free site building tools and template-based site builder. While it's possible they did create the site judging by the layout I'd guess not. Looks like a pre-built template. Looks like they base other sites on the same basic template too.

I'd guess other sites are hosted under iPage too, meaning all the marketing they offer could be through what iPage offer.

They also have only 251 facebook likes. For a site claiming to offer so much and be able to get sites to page 1 of Google you'd think they'd have more likes (although at least they don't appear to be buying likes, or certainly not in large numbers if they are).

Basically, I'd avoid them! Even if they are around for more than another year they don't seem very good.

Yes but free is free and a website can set you back a good couple of hundred pounds (which I don't have) there's nothing actually wrong with any they have done as far as I can see (except theirs is slow loading :rotfl:)

I have looked in to their other websites and they really are in good positions on the listings and the facebook post you're on about is just condensed so it fits Twitter (I do that with mine)

The guy said they're based on wordpress or joomlas and the basic template is the cheapest (paid for) or free options so I am guessing that's what most folk go for.

I am tempted to give it a go but wasn't sure how easy it would be to get rid of them and do it on my own if it took off.

So say I took a punt and let them do it and it did take off, could I then just kick them off? Or would I be stuck with them taking half my profits forever?

noangel666

And is it me or is this website changing between two? It's freaking me out lol

Flyonthewall

noangel666 wrote: »

Yes but free is free and a website can set you back a good couple of hundred pounds (which I don't have) there's nothing actually wrong with any they have done as far as I can see (except theirs is slow loading :rotfl:)

It's not professional. If you're using them to create a business you want original graphics and a decent logo for a start. As a site offering to create websites and logos their own site is a demo of what they can do and their site is a poor demo.

Their site shouldn't be slow to load, there's nothing on it that should make it slow. It's not a good sign. Any decent web developer should make sure their site loads as fast as possible and if it's loading too slow then there's too much on it (usually due to videos, too many images or Flash) or a hosting issue (which is bad as your site will be hosted by the same company).

I have looked in to their other websites and they really are in good positions on the listings and the facebook post you're on about is just condensed so it fits Twitter (I do that with mine)

Good positions are useless if people give up waiting for a site to load or find the website rubbish when they click on it.

You can condense a post and still use good English. I wouldn't trust them to write out anything on the site for me because I'd be thinking it's not going to be well written and if it's not well writen on my site then people won't keep reading or stay on my site. A large part of what they offer is SEO and that includes written content on the site so their English is very important. First impressions are everything.

The written content on their site isn't great either. For example, on one page they've start a new paragraph mid-sentence and indented it, plus put a comma before and which is un-needed. The whole thing is stupidly long and there's a random bit in brackets. They've then continued the sentence which doesn't flow right at all with or without the brackets.

The guy said they're based on wordpress or joomlas and the basic template is the cheapest (paid for) or free options so I am guessing that's what most folk go for.

Yeah and you can tell. Their own site should prove they know what they're doing and that they can design good templates/sites, not just go for basic and cheap.

Others go for that either because they're told it's best and they don't know any better and/or they can't afford more. Most people go to a company because they can't do it themselves and they don't know what should be done.

I am tempted to give it a go but wasn't sure how easy it would be to get rid of them and do it on my own if it took off.

So say I took a punt and let them do it and it did take off, could I then just kick them off? Or would I be stuck with them taking half my profits forever?

Well their website is due to expire in a year so if they don't continue you may have more issues than that. That aside, because they do still have a year to renew it, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get rid of them. It's not clear. I think you'd have to ask them directly (although in a polite way, they may not take kindly to "get rid" lol).

Also, £850 for a Joomla/Wordpress style site with hosting for a year. I know I mentioned Joomla and Wordpress before, but you can use Joomla for free and install the add-on/plugin features you want. Loads are free and there's a ton of free templates too, including professional looking ones. I'm sure there's features for SEO on there too. I know there is for Wordpress, which is also a free option with many free plugins and templates. Personally, I prefer Wordpress, but they both basically offer the same.

I'd seriously look into them two first because it's pretty much a free (or much cheaper) option of what they're offering.

Their own blog has a fair bit of information on SEO, which seems a bit silly as they're hoping you'll pay them to do it for you, but there we go lol. You can find plenty of free information online about SEO, marketing and using Joomla/Wordpress.

Anyhow, if you do use them I'd suggest making sure you know exactly what you're signing up for and double check your site to make sure all links work and all content is written out properly.

Flyonthewall

noangel666 wrote: »

And is it me or is this website changing between two? It's freaking me out lol

I know it has changed briefly to a new layout a few times recently, but haven't seen it do that today. It has been going slow for me though and I've just been typing out a reply so if it changed within the last few minutes then I missed it lol.

noangel666

Flyonthewall wrote: »

It's not professional. If you're using them to create a business you want original graphics and a decent logo for a start. As a site offering to create websites and logos their own site is a demo of what they can do and their site is a poor demo.

Their site shouldn't be slow to load, there's nothing on it that should make it slow. It's not a good sign. Any decent web developer should make sure their site loads as fast as possible and if it's loading too slow then there's too much on it (usually due to videos, too many images or Flash) or a hosting issue (which is bad as your site will be hosted by the same company).



Good positions are useless if people give up waiting for a site to load or find the website rubbish when they click on it.

You can condense a post and still use good English. I wouldn't trust them to write out anything on the site for me because I'd be thinking it's not going to be well written and if it's not well writen on my site then people won't keep reading or stay on my site. A large part of what they offer is SEO and that includes written content on the site so their English is very important. First impressions are everything.

The written content on their site isn't great either. For example, on one page they've start a new paragraph mid-sentence and indented it, plus put a comma before and which is un-needed. The whole thing is stupidly long and there's a random bit in brackets. They've then continued the sentence which doesn't flow right at all with or without the brackets.



Yeah and you can tell. Their own site should prove they know what they're doing and that they can design good templates/sites, not just go for basic and cheap.

Others go for that either because they're told it's best and they don't know any better and/or they can't afford more. Most people go to a company because they can't do it themselves and they don't know what should be done.



Well their website is due to expire in a year so if they don't continue you may have more issues than that. That aside, because they do still have a year to renew it, I'm not sure how easy it would be to get rid of them. It's not clear. I think you'd have to ask them directly (although in a polite way, they may not take kindly to "get rid" lol).

Also, £850 for a Joomla/Wordpress style site with hosting for a year. I know I mentioned Joomla and Wordpress before, but you can use Joomla for free and install the add-on/plugin features you want. Loads are free and there's a ton of free templates too, including professional looking ones. I'm sure there's features for SEO on there too. I know there is for Wordpress, which is also a free option with many free plugins and templates. Personally, I prefer Wordpress, but they both basically offer the same.

I'd seriously look into them two first because it's pretty much a free (or much cheaper) option of what they're offering.

Their own blog has a fair bit of information on SEO, which seems a bit silly as they're hoping you'll pay them to do it for you, but there we go lol. You can find plenty of free information online about SEO, marketing and using Joomla/Wordpress.

Anyhow, if you do use them I'd suggest making sure you know exactly what you're signing up for and double check your site to make sure all links work and all content is written out properly.

It would just probably take me all year to work it all out lol :huh::huh::huh:

Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to reply. It's nice to get a different perspective as I usually go in feet first

Also, yes, MSE is on a wobby for me as well. Keeps saying timed out when I try to post and log in etc.

Flyonthewall

noangel666 wrote: »

It would just probably take me all year to work it all out lol :huh::huh::huh:

Anyhow, thanks for taking the time to reply. It's nice to get a different perspective as I usually go in feet first

Also, yes, MSE is on a wobby for me as well. Keeps saying timed out when I try to post and log in etc.

No problem

It's not really that complicated. There's step by step guides online to setting it all up and how to install plugins. With each plugin, they have settings similar to how other software does. No coding or anything like that.

I suggest checking out the official sites and having a bit of a read up on both Joomla and Wordpress. Worth spending a few minutes having a look when it could save you a lot of money.

There are also some free hosting sites with auto-installers for Joomla and Wordpress. So you can install either with a click or two and just have a mess around with them. Try a few plugins and stuff. Obviously for anything more professional you'll want better hosting and a domain name, but that's a good way to see what's possible.

If needed you could get a web designer in at any point to help you out.

Yeah, I got the timed out message too.