Tag: websites

The True Cost of Web Hosting

Posted by Karl – November 30, 2009

When it comes to hosting, people often become confused about the true cost. The fact is, hosting can be very inexpensive if you shop around.

I have setup hosting for new clients who were previously getting bills from anywhere between €300 to €500 a year to host their website. Websites containing about 10 pages. Not exactly a monster of a website in terms of “space”.

An example if you will ….. One client of mine was issued two separate invoices for two websites he had from this “Hosting Company”. Now, these websites were very basic. Five pages each. No Flash. A few images but nothing Picasso would be panicking about. ;-)

The invoices were for €499 each and had “Complete Web Hosting” in the product description. In total it added up to €998, (Excluding VAT may I add!!) for hosting of two websites for 1 year. I seriously could not believe it was this much, and when I told my client the true cost of hosting, he was stunned, and was sorry he didn’t contact me sooner, as he had paid these invoices for the last three years, no questions asked.

So why did he pay? He paid because he was not educated on the technical aspects of hosting and assumed that his “Hosting Company” knew what they were talking about. I think this is the mistake most people make.

So, in yours truly came, armed with his Technical genius, as such. ;-) I signed him up to a “better” hosting company for a “complete hosting solution” at €94.80 for two years.

So if you add everything together, my client will actually save over €1900 in the next two years by moving to this new hosting provider, who give superior Technical Support in comparison to what my client had experienced with previously.

He was delighted. He could not thank me enough. We are, I’m afraid, still having problems with the transfer of the domain from the old company, but this just shows of the poor customer support that these so called “hosting companies” provide.

So why do some companies charge this extortionist amount to host a site? Because they can get away with it and if the client hasn’t been educated enough on the hosting, they will continue to get away with it and still get their €500 or so from their other customers, which, may I add, is simply wrong.

Hopefully this article will make people aware of the true costs of hosting. If you are getting a bill for over €400, then I think it is time to start shopping around, or better still, get in contact with me, where I will educate you and advise you on a hosting solution just for you and your business.

Category: Hosting
Tags: confused about cost, cost, site hosting, web hosting, websites
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A Free Website is Worthless

Posted by Karl – November 17, 2009

These days the internet allows users looking to create a website the tools to build online for free. Fair enough. I suppose some day this was going to happen. But the word “free” frightens me. Frightens me to the core. Let’s discuss:

On one hand you have a quote from me for €1000 for a 10 to 15 page site that includes:

Optimised and Validated Handwritten Code;
Submission to all Major Search Engines;
Uniquely Designed according to the clients specifications;
One on One consultation to get the desired results;
Custom 404 error page;
Favicon;
Email setup;
Hosting Setup;

I could go on, but I won’t.

On the other hand you have this “service” that builds websites for free using templates.

Let’s just digest that previous sentence: Builds websites for free by using templates. (I actually hate templates. Using Templates is cheating but that is an entirely different Blog Post!) The reality is that “ALL” of these free websites are built using templates. So where you think that you have created a nice website for yourself just remember that a 100 business’s across the world are using that same template.

Now what option would you choose? I think the majority of people would choose the option that is free and this is where people go wrong. When something is free you can almost guarantee there is some catch. No one gives stuff away for free. No One!! I mean, Think about it: There is a big difference between “free” and “€1000”. Is there not?

Take for instance, Videographers. Videographers can get up €900 to film a wedding. You could just “do it yourself” but you know that you would be better off to leave it to the professionals. You would get a professional job from a person that has been filming weddings for years, opposed to someone who went into Currys that previous Saturday and picked up a camcorder and filmed the day. You see where I’m coming from? The same concept applies to Web Design.

I am a Freelance Web Developer by trade and do this for a living so I know exactly what I am talking about when it comes to the “TRUE” cost of websites. Just because you can get it for free doesn’t mean that it is any good!

Also potential clients cannot understand why, for a site, I charge €1000 when they can get it somewhere else for free. This causes me a lot of anguish and stress. But I think by the time I’ve explained to that person the pros and cons of each they understand completely that the way forward is with the “Professional Freelance Web Developer”.

I think people are intelligent enough and can assume for themselves that when the word free comes into the equation, Stay well clear!!

Category: Research
Tags: free is worthless, free websites, websites, why build online
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Web Design – Reasons for delay?

Posted by Karl – October 15, 2009

Below are some of the situations that can delay web development:

Preparation of Content
If information / content is supplied in instalments, the developer is faced with loss of time in starting and stopping and restarting the job. I have experienced many stop-start situations which drag out the time building the website. It’s the same in any procedure. If you stop and start, you take more time than if you continue uninterrupted from beginning to end.

Web designers may start another website while waiting for content for the first one. This extends the completion date even further. Most web developers have clients waiting for them to start another project.

Images
If images supplied need optimising for the web then time must be allowed for that. e.g. Sometimes a client has sent poster sized images of 2 or 3 megabytes, in different dimensions and aspects – landscape and portraits all in landscape. These need to be resized and some rotated to the right way up.

Google
Delays happen if you don’t check out competing websites on Google; and work out what words visitors should search Google for in order to find your site. The text then needs to be reworked to include the key search words. Web designers know their own business of designing websites. They expect you to know your own business better than anyone else.

Once a website is visible under its domain name on the web, time must be allowed for search engines to index, first the home page, then, usually the following week, the inside pages. There is a good case for hosting the domain name early with a home page containing just the relevant text with key words, so that search engines can start indexing.

Needless Chopping & Changing
When website owners cannot decide, or change their minds about content, text and pictures and what inside pages to have, the site is delayed.

An example : One client I was dealing with spent weeks dotting “i’s” and crossing “t’s” and revising his text but refusing to go live until he and his friends had appraised every word and every picture that they themselves had supplied. Then, the day after hosting was set up and the domain name delegated and the site became visible at the domain name, he sent me an email saying he couldn’t find his site on Google in a search for certain key words. Then his friend rang me saying the same thing. Then another phone call. Very frustration for me to say the least. Allow me to repeat : Google will normally take a couple of weeks to index your website.

So in conclusion, when website owners put thought and planning into their content, delays are fewer, the website is completed faster and it is listed by Google faster.

How to ruin your website in 10 easy steps

Posted by Karl – May 21, 2009

A lot of people give suggestions on how to improve your website or blog. Whether it is via SEO or design suggestions. Not many tell you what is going to destroy your website.
http://dustinbrewer.com/how-to-ruin-your-website-in-10-easy-steps/