When it comes to choosing a company to partner with for your website, look no further. At DOBE we pride ourselves on excellent customer service. Way too often we see businesses struggling with the company that they have chosen to work with to build their website. It seems that the website build process takes forever, there are numerous issues that never get resolved, and all too often these “fly by night” designers just vanish off the face of the earth completely.
There are a couple of reasons why it is important to work with an established company rather than an individual. Although we love the spirit of entrepreneurship and we find it awesome that more people are getting into web design, the reality is that all of us need to make a living. What we have found far too often is that a lot of these website designers under quote projects or they simply do not comprehend the effort that goes into building a proper website. A lot of people will potentially be able to build a website without too much of a skillset, the problem is they often overlook important user experience design factors, they have no plan on what the flow of the website will be, they lack design strategy and focus and numerous other aspects that are important to a functional website are discarded all together.
Once a website project is under quoted, the issues start to appear. This is where most businesses realize that they have paid for a “stick it together” website that does not really offer much value. These “fly by night” companies or individuals often get in over their heads and realise that they cannot make a sustainable living from creating these “chep” websites. It is easy for them to sell this “cheap” website compared to our rates, but as they say, you get what you pay for. You also need to remember you don’t get what you don’t pay for.
All of us need to make a living, but if you choose to partner with an individual or a company that sells cheap websites, you need to consider the ramifications of your choice. Firstly, websites take time to create, it also takes time to properly plan the website, then once the front end work is done and the site looks pretty, it needs almost an equal, if not more, amount of time to get the back end right. The back end is the stuff you do not see, but it can be the stuff that makes or breaks a website. Some of these back end features include, speed optimization, image optimisation, making sure the site is secure, ensuring that the software used does not clash and is compatible, ensuring that the website loads correctly on various devices, browsers and networks, ensuring that the hosting is setup properly, ensuring that contact forms are robust and will be able to withstand the enormous loads of spam heading their way, ensuring that the pages, images and assets on the website is properly named and described so that browsers know what is going on on the website, and this is only scratching the surface of what needs to be done behind the scenes.
Working with a company that offers cheap website will inevitable end up in disaster, they won’t be able to cope with the scope of work that needs to be done, they won’t have money for proper software or support as they are trying to sustain themselves on an unrealistic living wage, and they will probably end up taking a job somewhere to help them earn a living. This is where it becomes very problematic for you, your website is your online representative, and a lot of people will look at your website to get an idea of what your company is all about. If your website is down, slow or outright broken, this will leave a bad impression on potential customers. If your web developer is off working somewhere you will struggle to get hold of them for support. So beware of using “cheap” of “fly by night” businesses as this will harm you in the long run.
At DOBE you can rest assured that you have a company with a reputable reputation with an experienced team that is always growing and pushing themselves. You will also have the peace of mind that we won’t disappear into thin air once your website is built. We have committed to a physical office in Middelburg Central, we are in the process of purchasing the office, and our business partners have committed to a long term relationship within the company in order to ensure that we stick around for a long time to come. We are constantly training new staff members to ensure that you have premium support and we make sure that when you call us during business hours that there is always someone to answer your call. If disaster strikes and you need support you will always be able to get in touch with one of our partners directly to help tend to your problem.