Cheap Websites Your Opinion

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Arch-Stanton

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I was over on boards.ie and came across a closed thread, where a company was offering a website for a few hundred bucks, they got banned for spaming (I wont mention the company in case this thread gets closed)

But I am interested on people’s opinion on cheap websites.

Do they send punters into shock when they get a more expensive quote from another company.

Many punters out there probably don’t the difference between a static brochure site and a CMS with custom scripting etc. So when the here a couple of grand mentioned for work, they spin into shock.

I am sure that over the years that many excellent well though out projects which probably would have done well, never got of the ground because of this phenomenon.

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mneylon

mneylon

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Damien

The last time I put a job out to tender the prices varied from 1k to 15k!

However NONE of the companies would have dared sell us a Template Monster template with "customisation" :)

Michele
 
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TheMenace

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Many clients go into shock when they're quoted, say, 10k for a website. This is true. However, most are perfectly happy to accept a 5k - 10k fee for a small spread ad in The Irish Times or Sunday Business Post for one day only. On the other hand, your website is your shopfront to the world and lasts for years and years. It's also considerably more time-consuming to produce a website. What does this say about clients? That's right - they don't understand the web, its value or what it takes to deliver a professional website and in many cases, especially in Ireland, they don't really care.

When companies like Ripe.ie come along and try to spam already uneducated clients into believing that it's perfectly acceptable to pay peanuts for shoddy, irresponsible and unprofessional crap then those of us who have sweated blood over the last few years to actually get good at our jobs and try to offer a professional service... well... we're going to get a bit peeved. :cool:
 
mneylon

mneylon

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The ad analogy is an excellent one.

I have the same problem with hosting and domains.

A good domain name can make or break you. It's that simple.

Take this site. The domain name is keyword rich. It's obviously not as good as say webmaster.com or any other one word solution, but it's still semantic
 
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tomed

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TheMenace said:
When companies like Ripe.ie come along and try to spam already uneducated clients into believing that it's perfectly acceptable to pay peanuts for shoddy, irresponsible and unprofessional crap then those of us who have sweated blood over the last few years to actually get good at our jobs and try to offer a professional service... well... we're going to get a bit peeved. :cool:
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Agreed

There is a market for business who simply can't afford to pay the price for a custom built website.

Those of us working in the industry know how valuable a good website can be to company, but it is a hard task justifying it to uneducated clients. But that's why we love this job so much ;)

Edit:
Oh by the way - you should look at Ripe's comments on my blog.... » The cheek of them! » Tom Doyle :: TALK
 
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tomed

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Arch-Stanton said:
I have read your blog, and I have to say fair play to ripe, I respect anybody who stands up and fights their corner.
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Did you read all his comments Arch?

He never once addressed any of the issues we discussed or he was asked, if he did, I would have commended him. But he didn't.
 
ButtermilkJack

ButtermilkJack

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But that's exactly where the problem is. Yes fair play to him for fighting his corner, and yes there is a market for template sites for small companies at €600, but it's the fact that this guy is comparing ALL web design companies to his own and making us out to be chancers and sharks who rob our clients. Now do you see why everyone is up in arms? ;)
 
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Arch-Stanton

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He never once addressed any of the issues we discussed or he was asked, if he did, I would have commended him. But he didn't.
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Yes, indeed true, I was probably giving him the credit for actually replying

but it's the fact that this guy is comparing ALL web design companies to his own and making us out to be chancers and sharks who rob our clients.
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My very point

This is why a case could be made be to regulated or self-regulate the industry in some fashion, nearly every other industry is, why not web design and development.

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tomed

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Arch-Stanton said:
This is why a case could be made be to regulated or self-regulate the industry in some fashion, nearly every other industry is, why not web design and development.
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Yep - I would love to see omething like this out there. But how would you regulate it?
 
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TheMenace

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You can't really regulate design - it's too subjective. You could, in theory, start excluding people who's sites don't all validate but, to be honest, that would pretty much exclude all but the most anal of brochure site designers. The fact of the matter is that you can't regulate this industry - you can only educate clients.

What we need is an official, legally-binding checklist/contract that Web design and development companies will need to sign for the client before each job. It would insinuate that the vendor was au fait with Web standards, accessibility, SEO, etc. Basically a minimum guarantee of quality. If the client felt they were hard-done by, they could have the site audited and, if found badly lacking, they would have legal recourse.
 
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