Best web designers and web site management.

pgj2015

I am looking for recommendations for a very good web designer, web site management business. I already have a web site but I am parting ways with the person who currently runs the site. I don't have the time myself to run the site and I want an expert to run it for me. I don't want a 1 man set up, some guy working out of his box room, I want the best of the best here.

Axwell

There are lots of factors in that - what is your website built on, are you looking for someone to manage design, hosting, software updates etc or are you looking for someone to just manage adding new content, working on SEO and the hosting side of it is managed by someone else.

Also when you say 'run the site' it sounds more like you are looking for someone to run your business, as opposed to someone to maintain your website so some clarification on exactly what you after will help give you better advice.

pgj2015

Axwell wrote: »

There are lots of factors in that - what is your website built on, are you looking for someone to manage design, hosting, software updates etc or are you looking for someone to just manage adding new content, working on SEO and the hosting side of it is managed by someone else.

Also when you say 'run the site' it sounds more like you are looking for someone to run your business, as opposed to someone to maintain your website so some clarification on exactly what you after will help give you better advice.

The part in bold is what I want, I don't have the time or the know-how. The site already exists but I have a few problems with it at the moment.

I don't want anyone to run my business but me, I am in business a few years now and I actually haven't had 1 day off this year, so im not some lazy person who wants someone ese to run my business.

can web sites generally be left to their own devices until it is time to renew the hosting and domain each year? what is very important to me is I want my site to remain high up in google searches and want as much traffic to the site as possible.

mneylon

You need to be a lot clearer about what you're looking for.
It sounds like you're looking for someone to manage your online including doing SEO. You probably also want them to do your pay per click advertising.
That's probably something you'd be better off doing in house rather than outsourcing if not for any other reason than cost
Also you haven't given any indication of budget, size of the business or any other useful metrics.
Sorry if that seems harsh, but there's a lot of variables that would impact anyone's ability to give you any sane advice

silver2020

Get someone in as an employee to do this. You might find someone who wants a 3 day or 4 day position so that they can do other things on the side or has kids to look after as well. (A lot of this work can be done from home). It will be far cheaper than the outsourcing route.

You want someone that understands your business and the end user you target.

If you have a decent Facebook following you might put details there and see what comes in.

markmoto

pgj2015 wrote: »

I am looking for recommendations for a very good web designer, web site management business. I already have a web site but I am parting ways with the person who currently runs the site. I don't have the time myself to run the site and I want an expert to run it for me. I don't want a 1 man set up, some guy working out of his box room, I want the best of the best here.

Best of the best might not be available at all (too busy) or cost above your expectation.
The only alternative for the "best of the best" is to outsource.

But in reality you don't want "best of the best".
What you need is hard working, fast learning, reliable lad.

pgj2015

I need someone or company that are better than my competitors or at the very least as good as them. it isn't a huge company but I understand even big web design companies will work with smaller businesses. I also know that paper doesn't refuse ink so am weary of cowboys who might have a great site themselves but don't have the skills to back it up. I have even seen some designers online who haven't even a proper site themselves.

my competitors are using people who aren't really professionals, just people who self taught themselves so I want someone better than them to make sure my web presence stays strong.

Mrs OBumble

Are you making money out of your Web presence?

markmoto

pgj2015 wrote: »

I need someone or company that are better than my competitors or at the very least as good as them.

my competitors are using people who aren't really professionals, just people who self taught themselves so I want someone better than them to make sure my web presence stays strong.

Most companies in this field don't have best of the best, they might have 1 lad or 2 and the rest work under their supervision.


However when you start subcontracting company your bills will go up ( company empl.salary, commercial interest, travel exp. fees etc etc)
And when project becomes complex you wont be able to get rid of company without great losses.


I would look into employing someone or finding a person to work in partnership.


If you give more details perhaps I can suggest better direction. (PM)

pgj2015

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Are you making money out of your Web presence?

Yes, why do you ask?

pgj2015

can web sites generally be left to their own devices until it is time to renew the hosting and domain each year? what is very important to me is I want my site to remain high up in google searches and want as much traffic to the site as possible.

Axwell

pgj2015 wrote: »

can web sites generally be left to their own devices until it is time to renew the hosting and domain each year? what is very important to me is I want my site to remain high up in google searches and want as much traffic to the site as possible.

It depends on what your website is built on - if its WordPress for example there will be ongoing updates to the core software and plugins that should be made to keep everything secure and up to date. If it's on Shopify on the other hand then it's a managed service to they look after that side of thing.

If you are talking about traffic and Google searches then that's SEO and unrelated which is why I asked you in my first post to clarify exactly what you are after and also what your website is built on.

There's lots of advice being given here without people knowing exactly it is you need. You seem to want someone to look after the website making sure it's running smoothly and you want it to keep performing well on search engine results - so if you can answer what your website is built on then I can tell you if you need person 1 or not and then you just need to look for person 2.

28064212

pgj2015 wrote: »

can web sites generally be left to their own devices until it is time to renew the hosting and domain each year? what is very important to me is I want my site to remain high up in google searches and want as much traffic to the site as possible.

Impossible to tell. If none of your competitor's sites change, and Google don't change their algorithms, and no other industries end up branching into a related keyword... then you'll probably be fine

pgj2015

Axwell wrote: »

It depends on what your website is built on - if its WordPress for example there will be ongoing updates to the core software and plugins that should be made to keep everything secure and up to date. If it's on Shopify on the other hand then it's a managed service to they look after that side of thing.

If you are talking about traffic and Google searches then that's SEO and unrelated which is why I asked you in my first post to clarify exactly what you are after and also what your website is built on.

There's lots of advice being given here without people knowing exactly it is you need. You seem to want someone to look after the website making sure it's running smoothly and you want it to keep performing well on search engine results - so if you can answer what your website is built on then I can tell you if you need person 1 or not and then you just need to look for person 2.

it seems to be a wordpress site.
I have a site and it is in the top google searches, the most important thing for me is to stay there.

Axwell

pgj2015 wrote: »

it seems to be a wordpress site.
I have a site and it is in the top google searches, the most important thing for me is to stay there.

Then if that's most important for you you should be looking at someone to look after and manage your SEO and ideally improve it if possible. SEO is an ongoing process, there's too many moving parts to just remain where you are. Your competition can be improving there's, the algorithms change..unless you are paying for ads there is no guarantee you will stay in your current spot unless its a very niche area with little competition.

As regards WordPress you should keep it up to date - in the more recent versions you can turn on auto-updates for plugins so they can update themselves, the risk is if something goes wrong during the update you need to be able to roll back or problem-solve the issue. Also, you should be taking regular backup, again you can automate this using one of the backup plugins. So you could somewhat manage that side of things yourself if you didn't want to pay someone to do it and just focus on getting someone to look after SEO or you could hire both.

If your website is making you money then it's in your interest to spend money on keeping it up to date and secure and high in the rankings.

pgj2015

Axwell wrote: »

Then if that's most important for you you should be looking at someone to look after and manage your SEO and ideally improve it if possible. SEO is an ongoing process, there's too many moving parts to just remain where you are. Your competition can be improving there's, the algorithms change..unless you are paying for ads there is no guarantee you will stay in your current spot unless its a very niche area with little competition.

As regards WordPress you should keep it up to date - in the more recent versions you can turn on auto-updates for plugins so they can update themselves, the risk is if something goes wrong during the update you need to be able to roll back or problem-solve the issue. Also, you should be taking regular backup, again you can automate this using one of the backup plugins. So you could somewhat manage that side of things yourself if you didn't want to pay someone to do it and just focus on getting someone to look after SEO or you could hire both.

If your website is making you money then it's in your interest to spend money on keeping it up to date and secure and high in the rankings.

Thanks, very helpful info there. I will get things rolling asap.

any idea what kind of money it might cost per year? I will probably let them take care of most of the work.

markmoto

pgj2015 wrote: »

can web sites generally be left to their own devices until it is time to renew the hosting and domain each year? what is very important to me is I want my site to remain high up in google searches and want as much traffic to the site as possible.

Depending on website engine. But in general you can leave website as is for years without doing anything just paying hosting/domain renewals. However with on going development from server end to user end it would be good to have someone to look at time to time.


Google ranking always a competition, promoting your business, improving search results and using some other tools you would need to have someone on regular basis. But if you need someone only to keep your google search rank high you could be better off paying google direct and have top position all the time.

Axwell

SEO costs can depend - a lot of them will offer packages tailored to certain options and you pick what you are looking for. Some will offer to write content for blog posts and do backlink optimisation, some will look at working on the SEO you currently off (On-Page SEO) so it really depends on what route you go and what area your business is in - shop around, get a few quotes and find someone you feel understands your business/product and look for testimonials and a track record.

Website maintenance - plugin updates and backups etc there are companies that specifically offer WordPress maintenance for around €50 per month.

NSAman

If money is no object you can have a team of people managing this. However, as I have found, finding someone who understand what you want and hiring that person (team) is much more cost effective than hiring outside firms to do this for you.

We currently have a team of 10 people managing this. Weekly briefings of defined goals, aims and development.

Someone outside your organisation may be good but the constant conversation, idea building and goal achievement aims means it is better off in-house than farmed out.

That is my own experience anyhow.

_gir

Junior web developer myself, think most web agencies or companies where I've worked would be reluctant to support someone else's website as a. more profitable to build websites than support per hour b. lot of companies won't want to support something they didn't make as if something goes wrong then they're on the hook for someone else's work. Not to say that there wouldn't be an agency out there that wouldn't agree, but may take some time searching. I'd say if you're on short time, maybe just hire someone directly on a part-time basis or in a contractor role.

The other thing if you're interested in staying in the top of Google search might be to speak to a digital sales and marketing agency, they'd handle SEO better than any web developer.

Axwell

_gir wrote: »

Junior web developer myself, think most web agencies or companies where I've worked would be reluctant to support someone else's website as a. more profitable to build websites than support per hour b. lot of companies won't want to support something they didn't make as if something goes wrong then they're on the hook for someone else's work.

While id agree there would be a reluctance to support someone else's build, any agency considering doing so would usually run an audit first to check the quality of the website and make any suggestions first based on that before supporting it.

Also, any web agency should be looking for recurring revenue in the form of ongoing support/maintenance work as part of their business model. It's all well and good saying it's more profitable to build websites but that's dependant on having a pipeline of leads and sales, monthly recurring revenue is what makes a business stay going during the quiet times and have the ability to scale and grow. That applies to most businesses, not just web agencies - recurring monthly income should be a goal.

_gir

Axwell wrote: »

While id agree there would be a reluctance to support someone else's build, any agency considering doing so would usually run an audit first to check the quality of the website and make any suggestions first based on that before supporting it.

Also, any web agency should be looking for recurring revenue in the form of ongoing support/maintenance work as part of their business model. It's all well and good saying it's more profitable to build websites but that's dependant on having a pipeline of leads and sales, monthly recurring revenue is what makes a business stay going during the quiet times and have the ability to scale and grow. That applies to most businesses, not just web agencies - recurring monthly income should be a goal.

true, that would explain why I'm on the dev side and not sales lol

MouseMan01

28064212 wrote: »

Impossible to tell. If none of your competitor's sites change, and Google don't change their algorithms, and no other industries end up branching into a related keyword... then you'll probably be fine

lol. Well said. :-)

MouseMan01

Axwell wrote: »

While id agree there would be a reluctance to support someone else's build, any agency considering doing so would usually run an audit first to check the quality of the website and make any suggestions first based on that before supporting it.

There's literally an endless list of things the departing developer can do to set off a timebomb and have the site crash at some stage in the near future. After takeover.

I've had vindictive devs, pull crazy sh** with websites I've taken over. No audit is going to catch a motivated dev with a grudge to bear ie. burying a time-activated line of code in the backend is easy and effective.

You have to think seriously about taking over a site from another dev IMO.

Axwell

Only a cowboy developer is going to attempt that nonsense, no one working in an agency is going to or have any reason to. One of the first questions I would ask taking over a website is who developed it and why a client is no longer working with them. Any one stupid enough to put in code to do something down the line which might damage a website and be traced back to them is looking to find themselves sued and in a lot of trouble..in 16 years in the industry I have never met someone that stupid.

MouseMan01

Axwell wrote: »

Only a cowboy developer is going to attempt that nonsense, no one working in an agency is going to or have any reason to. One of the first questions I would ask taking over a website is who developed it and why a client is no longer working with them. Any one stupid enough to put in code to do something down the line which might damage a website and be traced back to them is looking to find themselves sued and in a lot of trouble..in 16 years in the industry I have never met someone that stupid.

I guess I must be unlucky then. :-(

SaintOtis12

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/116897433#Comment_116897433

that's good advice, there are a lot of people looking for part-time jobs in the media. However, how do you know if they have the qualifications that employers require?

pgj2015

I found a great company for what I wanted, and they were very reasonable with their prices as well.

I came across a few cowboys as well, some guy quoted me €4,600 lol

I phoned a few companies in Ireland and liked the sound of the guy I picked.

He told me his prices and at one stage said no that's what we charge, we aren't greedy, which was good to hear after dealing with Web businesses who clearly were.

And this company has turned out to be true to their word.

alexago

I have the idea of building an auction website so I'm in the same boat. Thanks for sharing your experiences!

From wht I read, to find someone to run your website, you can consider hiring a web developer or designer with experience in website management. You can search for professionals on freelance platforms, job boards, or through referrals. And i think that it is important to clearly communicate your requirements and expectations to ensure you find the right person for the job.