Righto, it’s time to address the pits of hell, and those who reside there permanently, web developers from hell.
You know the ones that lock up shit, hide shit, lie about shit, deny handing over shit, and are just plain ole’ shit at what they do.
There are so many unqualified and inexperienced cowboys out there… even though they’ll tell you they have yeaaarrsss of experience. Unless they can answer a bunch’o questions, take that BS with a grain of table salt, friend.
If you’re one of these demonic beings, please jog on. For those of you who are on the nice side of life, let’s get down to it!
🚫 Locking down your admin roles
Ok I get this to an extent – hear me out! Why pay hundreds or thousands of dollars on a new website, but when you get it through the handover, you can’t change anything but text and images? That’s craziness! These type of web developers do this to earn a quick buck from the unknowing.
The world needs more empowerment and business to business interaction. I do walk-through videos, answer questions etc, therefore I’ll never lock your site down so you can’t do simple updates.
Those in-dept settings which may result in the breakdown of your website can be hidden IF NEEDED, but with client education, that doesn’t have to be done. Simple.
🚫 Not handing over full ownership
I have recently been in contact with a small business owner, who couldn’t understand a few things that their previous web dev did. I quickly saw they had been added as a user, not owner/admin (see previous point) and when looking further into their domain ownership, the developer is the real owner! That’s alarming, especially when this overseas company won’t respond to any communication attempts.
Want to know the details of a domain? Or check on your own? Visit https://who.is/ and pop your domain in and hit search.
In all aspects of a project, always, always, ALWAYS read the terms and conditions, and any additional info supplied on a contract, especially clarification around ownership.
🚫 Placeholder text
It’s not hard to request content from a client – I do it all the time. If they struggle to provide, I send a document with prompts to help out. The client I mentioned in the last point was handed a website that cost $1000+ that was in placeholder text (y’know that Latin gibberish, yeah nice work web dev!). Nothing was input.
Now, this client has a business that can easily be written about, so why not just go the exta mile? If the business is harder, and you need more detailed info, ask for it, mate.
🚫 GoDaddy
GoDaddy is not an Aussie company, cheap and well-known does not equal quality. When you go through a developer they will charge you the amount from GoDaddy plus add a bunch of dollars on top. I’m very clear with pricing, I keep it super affordable and I don’t hide who I use for hosting. PLUS my guys are 100% Aussie owned and operated.
I will continue to add to this. I will also be creating a downloadable checklist of best practices that you can use when you’re going to hire someone. Drill them with question if you need to, these people need to know what they are doing – many out there do not! It’s frustrating, I know.
If you have any questions or if you’d like more information, let’s have a chat!