What Are Some of the Biggest Reasons That You Haven't Commissioned Someone to Build Your Website?

The number of people claims they can "do" your website, charge way too much for way too little effort. I am in control of my message, not someone else. For me, trust is a huge issue.

My website just received an honor from a site....top 100 sites in its genre in the world. I ranked #2.

It's all my creation and gets me around 50K hits a year.

No webmaster has ever convinced me they can do better, and they run quick.

I'm an engineer and control freak and felt like I could do a better job myself; and would have more control over modifications when I needed them.

Been there done that, got the T shirt.

The ones who are the best are already occupied with large contracts and cant make long term commitments to chunks of work here and there. They want your site to be overhauled so its more modernized and fits into what the rest of the internet is transforming into.

I once had a developer from India who was quite good, and was on call for me, but he disappeared, nowhere to be found. I believe in capitalism so I will give anyone a chance as long as the output of work is satisfactory, but even when u do find that good long term connection, they just dont seem to have enough commitment for the long haul.

Egads! Now I know why people cringe when I tell them I'm a graphic designer.

The entry threshold is low. Anyone can say they're a designer. However, if you do a more thorough vetting up front, you can steer clear of part-timers or people who are between jobs and find a dedicated designer or firm that has a proven track record of sticking with their clients over many years.

I pick up a lot of projects from clients who went through a stream of "designers" and "developers" and were always left in limbo when the contractors moved on.

If you call a few of the designer's clients and ask them what kind of long-term and ongoing service they receive and how happy they are with the results, you won't have to deal with fly-by-night con men.

How's that working out for you Jeff?

I had to look at this in me.. and go for being Present instead of being Perfect.

What a shift in my business and my life. I wasted two years for the perfect ~ and finally agreed to CTA landing page without a full immediate website (to follow)... brought huge conversions and sales and freedom!

Dj Segovia

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in response to the Danny Gurvis post : I typed in " Master Key Systems America LLC" and was unable to find the website.

"Hits" are a flawed and antiquated unit of measurement.
For example: If you have not 19 images on your front page and I, as a visitor, go to your home page, you just got 20 hits. If I hit refresh 2o times, you just got 400 hits in a matter of seconds. So "hits" are a useless unit of measurement. What you should be looking for is "Unique Visitors".

Also, "hits" can be a double edge sword.
For example; Let's say your name is "John Hammer and you have a website called hammer.com. On your website you have pictures of the family, your grand kids, other family members, trips you've taken, food you like, etc.

Please stay with me here and this will soon start to make sense.

The only people that want to come to your site are your friends and families. But the rest on the world maybe looking to buy a hammer.

So here is a scenario that brings it all into focus.
as an example, 20, 000 people typed in "buy a hammer' in their search and "hammer.com" shows up high because the search term "Hammer" is in the website address (hammer.com).

Here's is when it goes downhill ... FAST. Those 20,000 people that ended up on your site quickly discover that you do not sell hammers, so, as quickly as they came, they quickly "Bounce" off your site. Google and the boys "read these things called "Bounce Rates". Once they see a bounce rate higher than 40%, Google and the boys realize that they are not helping the searcher to get to an acceptable site, so they start moving "hammer.com down, down, down on the Search Results page until your on page 2030

So having a high number of 'Hits" with a high bounce rate , will hit you all right ... right out of the park and buried in search hell .

There is a saying in our community.
Question:
"Where's the best place to hide a dead body?"
Answer:
"On the fourth page of any search engine.

Hope this helps

Had a website about 8 years ago. Tried promoting it and only 4 people visited it in one year. Waste of money.

Money and control. Sure my site would have a better look but then I have a monthly cost that goes with that. Now I can maintain my own content and if it isn't pleasing to others then they do not have to look. I'm selling a service to businesses, not the look of my website. I see some pretty good websites that look like a bunch of work and they don't produce contacts.

I did...I use ClientWhys which focuses on the CPA/Accounting/Tax industry.

Interesting discussion Steven, thanks for asking. We offer these services and the primary driver we see is cost. Most professionals in our area don't have the time to build their own, but their perception of website design cost/value is skewed by amateurs who offer web design at bargain basement prices. Secondary driver is poor customer service from the bargain basement designers. We all get tainted by that brush and can only remove that impression by delivering exemplary services with open and honest communication, i.e., rebuild clients trust in web design as an industry.