Web designer’s rant
So it happened again: someone who had not been paying attention to their web presence, had the site taken offline as a result, and had created a massive amount of trouble for their business phoned me up, wanting me to fix it all for them, but didn’t want to pay me for it. This person was also adamant that they would not pay any money just to put their web site back online. It’s not the first time I have received one of those calls, and it certainly won’t be the last.
What is it about web design that makes people think it is some sort of charitable operation? You would not phone a plumber or an electrician and then balk at the thought of paying him, so why do so many business owners think web designers are just sitting there out of the goodness of their hearts waiting to serve their every need?
I take particular issue with businesses who do not want to spend any more than pocket change to run their web presence. I’m talking about people who think they can get a domain, a year’s hosting, and a web site that will go straight to the top of Google for £20 per year. That attitude is fine, if they are proud to send out the message that “we are so unsuccessful and amateurish that we have to cut corners as much as possible.” I often tell potential clients to think of the investment in their web presences in terms of how much business they would need to get through it to cover the site costs. With some clients, it only takes one customer via the web site for it to pay for itself. So why are so many businesses afraid of that? Is the fear of technology really an excuse for fear of success?
As I state on my business web site, I work best with passionate people. I love clients who really care about their businesses, know where they want to be in a year’s time, and are willing to work alongside me to make it happen. People who phone me up bragging about how little they know about their own businesses and expecting me to clean up after them – thus mocking my profession and my work in the process – don’t deserve my energy or my time.
That’s a horrible situation to be in. May I ask what why their site had gone offline and how it was resolved in the end? Its not fair that clients should mess up and expect it to be fixed for free. Often things that clients feel are an easy fix are not at all.
Michelle
27 March 2009 at 5:03 pm
It was offline because the only money they had spent on their web presence in the past five years was to a domain renewal scam (those junk mail letters that come in the post.) They said they also paid the “company” £30 last year. They were not sure what the “company” did – domain renewals or hosting – and did not know what they had actually paid for. Naturally, there were no paper records or purchase receipts, and the web site designer had emigrated. How convenient. I think the person managed to blame a total of six different individuals in the space of 60 seconds. When you decide to become a sole trader, you agree that there are no more excuses or people to blame, though they don’t seem to get that.
Ultimately it was the person using the old excuse of “I don’t understand this internet thing” to evade taking any responsibility for their business. Again, it’s my frustration with the fact that web design is fair game for excuses that wouldn’t wash anywhere else in business: I don’t understand this accounting thing, therefore it’s okay if I don’t keep business books.
idea15
27 March 2009 at 5:20 pm