Starting in January, Prospect27 is myself, Karl.

Now managing over 80 customer websites in December 2020, this year I have phoned thousands of potential customers.

In November alone, I sent out 600 proposals for websites.

It sounds crazy, but it grow a business-to-business service, you have to go all-in.

During this time…

I’ve spoken with many people about their experiences with website designers.

I wanted to take the time to tell a few stories, about some of those experiences.

 

Gone With The Wind

Imagine paying for a website to be built.

And six months later you were still waiting for the initial design.

Upfront costs are designed to make you walk away.

When you do, you lose out on all the initial deposit, and the web developer gets away with doing little-to-nothing to justify it.

That’s exactly what happened to one of our customers.

After agreeing to pay £600 for their website designed, they paid a deposit of £300 to get things started.

At first, things were looking good, with screenshots of some initial designs that were being presented as evidence of work.

And then, they vanished.

Gone with the wind.

Never to be seen again.

They still haven’t responded to their emails, even after kindly letting them know they were going elsewhere.

We have since got them online with no upfront costs, and continue to manage their web presence for them.

 

The £1000 Website

You spend two grand on a website

You’d expect it to be good, right?

This tale begins in the hills of Yorkshire, with one of our customers dealing with a local design agency.

£2000 he spent on the website.

And yet the contact forms hadn’t even been working.

Even worse, his website designer had not been responding to his messages for four months.

And every time he called, he was told he “was busy and would get around to it.”

They had even offered to pay  him extra to do it, to which he replied he would “do it for free but in his own time.”

And it never got done.

 

The Rogue Designer

Spending money on a website that doesn’t get updated in the future in one thing.

But how about having your designer put their phone number on your website?

And not only that, but mess up your entire content and site structure.

In some sick form of revenge, one of my customer’s ex web-designers did exactly that.

It wasn’t until the website expired, and they refused to pay any more money, they were able to get out of the mess.

We registered them a new domain, and did our best to direct any traffic from their established digital presence to the new website.

Over time, we’re slowly establishing the authority of their new website, and it will all be a bad memory.

But for over six months, they didn’t have a website to represent their business – that’s been established more than 100 years.

 

Held Hostage

Imagine that you put your trust in a company, only for them to take advantage of you at every cost.

“We need £500 this month to keep the website updated with cookies.”

“We need £200 for Google keywords.”

No changes to the website. No improvements.

Just nothing.

Then… when you have spent thousands of pounds, you’re held hostage with the website’s domain name.

The customer never did sign up with us, but we’re still in contact and they are still frustrated with their service.

They are waiting it out – and trying to get the ownership of the domain from their web developer, who is currently ignoring all their calls, after taking £250 for the web transfer last month.

It’s a shame.

Always have a standard agreement in place with the ownership of your domain name, or be clear on the service after the website is designed to avoid any potential situations like this with your business.

 

Lost Cause

What happens when you sink thousands into advertising an out-of-date website?

You can soon feel like it’s a lost cause.

You must understand, over the last few years, viewers accessing your content on the mobile has increased tremendously.

In most cases, over 80% of your web traffic will be on mobile phones.

When you have a website that isn’t mobile optimised, or you are running an advertisement campaign that you are not tracking and hoping that spending more money will solve your problem, you’re wrong.

This customer had spent over £10,000 advertising their old website, and told me that they felt it had brought them no business.

We have customers spending far less than that, and having much better results.

It’s not always about spending more money.

It’s optimising your website, so that when you do attract people to your site, they pick up the phone.

And that’s as simple as we can make it.

 

The Prodigy

What about the young up-and-comer who has promised you the world for £100 a year?

They are new to the game, but they are ready to take on your project.

Four months in and they are struggling to understand the value of your business, and your customer’s problems.

He has no experience writing content and is beginning to grasp the idea of designing a website.

It’s like a school project for them, as they continue to learn through the process.

Developing your website, week after week.

Meanwhile, you’re paying them to study.

And you don’t really get anything for your money.

Beware of anyone who says “we are just starting, does anyone want a free website with hosting?”

What they are saying is, “do you want to continue to pay me in the future, as I continue to practice my craft on your website.”

A website with no upfront fees, that is managed by a qualified professional?

That is different.

 

My Sister’s Boyfriend’s Brother Said He’ll Do It For Free

Will they?

Like I was going to paint my entire house, yesterday.

And I promised I’d give my mother a hand at clearing out their garden.

It’s not going to happen.

And if it does, it will be on one Sunday afternoon, out of the blue, in 3 months time as we have dinner.

Or I’ll paint my home when the electric cuts out for a couple of hours, in about 3 years time when that next happens.

Whatever.

Nobody you know personally is going to do anything for you, for free.

And if they will, it won’t be good.

Or they’ll resent you for it.

Just leave your personal life to the side, and hire a professional to design your website.

 

“I’m Doing It Myself, I’m A Website Designer AND A Plumber.”

Really?

Your a plumber by day, web-designer by night?

Saving people from their boiler problems 9 while 5, designing mobile-responsive websites by well into the morning.

You’re not though, are you?

You took a three-day course in using the Wix-builder during the ‘lockdown.’

And now you’re a web designer.

I get it, we’ve all had a lot of time on our hands this year.

Creating a website takes time.

And for anyone who runs their own business?

£30.00 per month must be worth more than the time it takes every month to manage a website.

 

These are some real-world examples of some of the worst scenarios we have come across over the last ten months.

Do you have your own horror story about your experience with your website designer?

I’d love to hear them.

Perhaps I can revisit this topic, and feature your story in an update.

Email me your nightmare stories at Karl@prospect27.co.uk.