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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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    Dean Hore
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    We've been using Suncoast Web Solutions for approximately 20 years now. The service we've received over that time has been second to none. Neil and his team have at all times, assisted us as we expanded, nothing was a problem, and always done in a very timely manner. I couldn't recommend them any high enough.
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    Cannot speak highly enough of Andrew and Neil at Suncoast Web Solutions. Andrew espscially has been nothing but caring, patient and polite. We've had bad past experiences and these guys have turned everything around, couldn't be happier. Very trustworthy, which is hard to find these days, and worth every dollar spent. Finally feel like we're being looked after and our website and traffic to it hasn't been better! Would highly recommend these guys to anyone.. they've been in business a long time and you can see why!
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    Andrew & Neil have been incredibly helpful. They both played a key role in developing the website for the business I currently work for, & the results exceeded our expectations! Without a doubt, this is the best web design company I’ve had the pleasure of working with. They are so understanding & attentive to detail. They give great advice & recommendations & listen to my ideas/concerns. Thanks guys, appreciate everything you do! 🙂👍
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    Neil and his team at Suncoast Web solutions were great to deal with. They definitely know their stuff when it comes to web designs. Highly recommend if you’re looking for a professional online presence.
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    I didn't quite understand the design process at first, so a little early communication would have helped that & it was lengthy however the end result was a great looking perfect functioning website that finished up with a meeting about the site with training.
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    I cannot say enough great things about Suncoast Web Solutions! Neil and the team are always there to help and I always know I can trust them. They are so knowledgeable and experienced in all things website, digital marketing and hosting - we highly recommend them to anyone. 5 Stars!
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    Neil and the team at Suncoast Web Solutions have looked after and hosted our website for over 12 years now and their advice and services have been invaluable to our business. They have overcome technical issues to deliver the web features we desired. They assisted us to be involved in managing our website proactively ourselves, however if we got out of our depth they would jump in and take over to ensure everything was done correctly. I would highly recommend Suncoast Web Solutions for your web needs.