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Websites: You get what you pay for
ARE cheap and do-it-yourself websites up to the job? ETBusiness talked to Plus Two Design to get its opinion.
Directors Chris Ashton and Tony Baskeyfield informed us that a few weeks ago their web developer, Matthew Venn had a meeting with a client who wanted to discuss a new corporate website to represent their new business in the best possible light.
After discussing this clien’ts requirements and taking down a very comprehensive brief, a quotation and concept was presented a few days later.
The response was, however, somewhat dismissive, with the client stating that they had found a company online that was going to do the job for a significantly less amount than Plus Two Design had quoted.
Tony told us: “The client instantly presumed we were ripping them off, putting us in a very awkward position as clearly this was not our intention.”
Tony added that when viewing the solution provided by this other company, it was only too evident to see that the site had been constructed using a common template that had been used for many other websites produced by this company.
The website therefore offered little creativity and design.
The company also failed to optimise the website to be search engine friendly and therefore it was not being found on any search engines.
It appears that the company in question had informed the client that search engine optimisation was extra and would cost the client hundreds of pounds in excess of what they had already paid.
After making do with this website for a few months, this person decided they had no choice but to pay for the website to be put right and fully regretted their decision to value cost over quality.
This situation led Chris Ashton, the sales director at Plus Two Design, to want to make people more aware that a cheap, or do-it-yourself, website doesn’t necessarily mean value for money and, as with most things in life, you really do get what you pay for.
He added: “ A website should be an investment and it should be remembered that a poorly designed website can damage a company’s reputation and can restrict the number of people who can view it.”
Chris went on to say that he is finding that an increasing number of people are approaching him to express their concerns over websites that, in his experience, have been “knocked up” as quickly as possible by companies offering websites at a fraction of the cost that a professional design agency would charge.
He addded that: “People are often disappointed with cheap website solutions and among the biggest complaints are hidden costs, lack of creativity and design, and no search engine optimisation.”
Plus Two Design listens to clients’ requirements carefully and offers a bespoke design for each website to ensure the client knows exactly what they are getting before the website is built.
Tony expressed that its web developer has many years’ experience in the web industry and is fully qualified in the latest web technologies to ensure each site is produced to the highest possible standard.
In addition, search engine optimisation is standard across all new websites built by Plus Two Design and all sites are made accessible across all modern browsers and to users who may have impairments.
The most important factor Tony wanted to get across is that there are no hidden costs; all charges are made explicit to the client before any work is carried out.
He said: “We take pride in all our websites and see each website as a personal reflection on us as a company.”
If you would like to discuss any website or graphic work with Plus Two Design, call its team of designers and developers on 01778 342842 or e-mail creative@plustwodesign.com
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