Buyer Beware - Be sure to read the fine print and before you sign, ask around, get a second opinion.

For many people, websites and their design construction and maintenance is a bit mysterious. In this day and age, with all the different things we have to learn, all the manuals we need to read (even the kids toys come with manuals now), all the updates on nutrition, parenting, and health we have to stay on top of, it makes sense that there are some areas we'd really like to be able to leave to the experts. Like medicine, for example. Or dentistry. Or accounting.

Or web design and implementation. With terms like 'feature rich' and 'search engine optimization' and 'content management systems', website construction and design seems to represent such a huge learning curve that many shoppers might think they don't know enough to even pick the right webmaster, and so they choose the first one they find.

But the internet is changing rapidly, as most of you know. And so is website technology. There are many kinds of websites, and many ways to build them. You can spend $900 on a website or you can spend $5000 on a website and they might both look the same.

What's the difference? Which do you need?

In this, part one in a series of articles on Shopping for your Website, I'd like to start with a little story.

A client recently approached me to update their current website. Their webmaster had moved out of the country and the client wanted someone local to carry on with the maintenance of the pages.

However, when the previous webmaster was asked for information regarding accessing the website's backend, he immediately took the entire website down and refused to give over any of the design elements or graphic pieces.

Turns out, the client had unwittingly signed a 'non-transferrable' contract when they hired the webmaster to build their site. This meant that they would not be able to choose someone different to update the site. But not only that, they were not the 'owners' of the content on their site.

Luckily for this client, the website was only a year old. But what if it had been 5 years old and full of historic content? I know with my own websites, I start filling them up right away with all manner of stuff. Look at the Test of Metal website. We have started a history section, there's a trivia section. The whole site has actually been around for a long time, in different versions. I believe this is the 3rd different design for the site, and we keep moving the content over to the new pages. I am also the 3rd (at least) different webmaster for this site. Things change. People change. And life goes on. But a website is like a scrapbook or archive. It represents more than one person, or one company.

So warning number one: If the web company presents you with a 'package' deal that involves a copyright contract, seek a second (and third and fourth) opinion. Most webmasters can give you what you need but we all have different approaches. Different abilities. Different levels of experience. And our prices are different too.

Ask questions like

- Does the design of my website belong to me
- If I want to change hosts at some later date, will that affect my website or my domain name
- If I want to change webmasters at some later date, will you hand over the access to my host space and files.
- Will I be able to carry out my own webpage updates. If I need you, are you able to maintain my website and what would this cost?
- How available are you for troubleshooting. How much time does it take for you to respond to emails from me.
- Do you have any testimonials from other clients.
- Can I see some of the websites you have done?

DO contact a variety of webmasters. Of course Goodwin Studios would be very happy to quote on your project. As well, on our LINKS page, we list some of the other local companies offering web design and construction services.

Last changed: Jan 05 2010 at 1:45 AM

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