Suncoast Web Solutions
Suncoast Web Solutions

Backyard Hacks Tainting Professional Website Development Industry

Backyard hacks are giving the professional web development industry a bad name and something needs to be done about it to address the issue.

Today I searched Google using the key phrase “Web Development” My search returned 154 million results.

Too often businesses and individuals alike are getting ripped off by quasi website developers purporting to be ultra qualified, yet fail to meet the industry benchmark and consequently giving the whole industry a bad name.

Like everything in life the buyer should “beware” but being that there is no minimum entry to become a website developer people simply assume everyone offering such services are in fact fully qualified and consequently it’s sometimes not until they are onto their 3rd, 4th and sometimes 5th generation website do they begin to realize that they have been ripped off and been given unqualified advice by unscrupulous operators who have no web development qualifications and /or no accountability whatsoever.

There are many reputable and talented website developers that offer and provide professional services but with no industry regulation they are tainted by the backyard merchants.

This situation is very similar to the backyard motor mechanic of the old days and can easily be avoided by simply doing a little research and asking a few testing questions of website developer prior rather than later.

  • How long have you been developing websites?
  • Have you built websites like the one you are proposing to build for me?
  • Can you provide 5 references from companies you have built website for?
  • Can you provide 5 website addresses of website you built like the one you are proposing to build for me?
  • Do you have a documented, repeatable process to plan and build websites? Give me a written overview of the process?
  • Who owns the Intellectual Property rights to the software in my website?
  • What are your office hours? How can I get issues resolved after hours?
  • Is the website portable (i.e. can I move it off of your system)? Who can host the website?
  • Can you give me a line item breakdown of your setup fee / initial development estimate?
  • Do you provide training?
  • How much am I paying for hosting?
  • How much am I paying for software licensing, maintenance, and support? Is it a flat fee or hourly?
  • How much I am paying for ongoing content changes? Is it a flat fee or hourly?
  • When and if required do you take care of upgrading my website to a new version if and when required?

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