Why use Applegreen, not cheap website software
You will not be surprised to read that we do not recommend using cheap website software. Saving money at the start of your project can end up costing you more later.
A frequently met scenario
Plenty of Applegreen’s clients have had the following experience. A techie mate of theirs is prepared to throw up a quick website for them for free. The client likes the result to start with but later wants to make a few alterations. They move house, their phone number changes, their prices go up. By then their techie mate has disappeared over the horizon.
They approach Applegreen Websites and ask us o unpick the mess of code left behind by the techie mate’s software.
What looks good on the outside…
A website is made only of code. You may have the latest website-creating software, but all it does is drive the creation of code from your instructions. Even the commonest programmes can convert their contents into web-ready code, including Microsoft Word and Publisher, and many more proprietary ones will produce a nice appearance.
The results may work visually but the problems start when you want to make changes. The code produced by cheap website software is a tangled mess which only the original programme can unpick.
If the client does not possess the same software as the original techie friend, the client has to ask a web designer to tackle the code directly. Trust us, there have been times when we have had to entirely rebuild code at great expense.
Few software packages take care with keyword placement, and even fewer techie mates seem to understand this.
Why web is not like print
You’re throwing away one of the greatest advantages of the web if you can’t update your website. And visitors to your site will quickly navigate away if it’s obvious that your information is out of date.
So ask yourself these questions at the planning stage: who will update your website and how will they do it?
The WordPress situation
The following scenario has lately become especially common with WordPress. Someone installs a complicated theme while not understanding it properly. The finished product doesn’t look anything like the theme’s demo and the client approaches Applegreen to sort it out.
Sadly, even people who call themselves professional designers have been guilty of this in our experience. We do our best with these projects but we cannot guarantee the results if a third-party theme doesn’t work properly.
Applegreen has recently been approached many times by clients who were dissatisfied by their recently-created websites. In these cases, the websites were provided by companies who had outsourced their development to freelancers. The freelancers, once paid for the job, had no further interest in it. The companies were then at a loss when asked to show their clients how to update it.
We have had variable success in these situation. We depend on the cooperation of the original company but usually we can sort something out for our clients.
And now?
At Applegreen we design and build ourselves from start to finish. W train our clients in the updating of their site if it is in WordPress. We are fast and responsive when asked to do updates.
Save yourself the heartache by involving Applegreen at the start of your project!
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