I don’t want to ever use a free web host for any of our sites – the reason is pretty simple.
You get what you pay for.
Even if the hosting is superb with all of the bells and whistles, when something goes wrong you need someone accountable to fix it.
People are only accountable if they get paid. If it’s free, there’s no urgency on their part.
Brendon
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
You get what you pay for. That would include yourself right Brendon. I mean your own website looks pretty bad.
I’m not sure of your point.
Yep, I’ve mentioned many times that this site is old and ugly and needs a revamp to look better.
But it does something crazy that we really don’t want to mess with just now……it works.
More than happy for the criticism but if you can keep it relevant and play nice, that would be more constructive.
Oh, and maybe include your name otherwise you tend to lose a bit of credibility.
Cheers
as a loyal reader for 2+ years…I like your site the way it is…i know where to find everything i need…it depends who you are trying to service I guess…if it is the loyal reader 99% of the time we’ll never go to your site anyway as I access the content exclusively via rss. Design is in a sense irrelevant compared to constantly generating good content. Because of this, I’m sure you generate 10x more business than the average designer who hasn’t even got past the “your website is a piece of artwork stage”. At least you ‘get’ that a website is a communication tool and not just a piece of art. Not sure what planet anonymous is on??? It was a post about hosting and he/she throws a design curve ball.
I think Anon is the same person who commented here:
http://www.tailored.com.au/2008/04/blue-hosts-new-service.htm
I had a bit to say back and I assume he came back because he didn’t like a grumpy bloke like me having a go back!
The site is not great looking and is now a bit jumbled re navigation, etc but it’s just so valuable to us that I’ve struggled to commit to a redesign for a couple of years (the guys in the office and who we work with are always pushing a redesign).
So Anon probably has a valid point but he makes it in such an obnoxious/destructive way that it has almost no value.
We do tend to remove comments like his when they are abusive/destructive (I removed another one he did at the same time).
I really should write a post about it, but almost everyone gets it wrong about business – it’s all about marketing, not all about what you sell.
I know I prefer 1000 targeted potential clients searching for a web developer finding this site than 10 finding a much more attractive site.
But most designers think it’s about the design. Most designers are wrong. And they get grumpy when you suggest that!
Thanks for the input Cameron.
Cheers
Brendon
Hi Brendon,
I know you’ve been toiling with the redesign issue on your site for some time. As I’ve mentioned to you before now, I think your site has become a comfortable, instantly recognisable “place to be” for those of us who regularly read your blog and value your high quality content and advice over the aesthetics of the site.
I also believe that, likewise, any serious prospective client who visits your site could not help but see the value in engaging your business and marketing acumen rather than complaining about any lack of artistic flair.
Finally, how does Anon equate a comment on free hosting with the ability to create a good looking web site.
It sounds like sour grapes to me.
Wish I had read the comments on the other post first…a few laughs to be had…how do you way up using words such as “bullshit” with scenario that that might be the first impression a prospect gets of you – Not judging, just interested?
I think you need to be careful about thinking about how Tailored goes about your business competing with these type of services. I believe there are essentially 3 ways people try and solve their website problem.
1. “I need to get a website designed…” This person would probably search for a “web designer” or “graphic designer” (and get upsold a website)…this question is best answered with someone with a graphic design background.
2. “I need to get a website built…” They would probably type in “web developer” in a search engines…this question is best answered with someone with a coding background. With a bit of luck they will have a relationship with a quality graphic designer.
3. “How can I best market myself online?” … not completely sure what they type into search engines but they are the ones that know they are in the right place when they come across your site … best serviced with someone with a marketing background (not IT, not graphic design).
I think this third category is the category that you have really have been pioneering here in Australia.
As you know, it’s never number 1 or 2 that people really want solved…its always 3…which is why there is so much underservicing in the industry…dog sites, abandoned sites etc.
Any company that has the skills to solve problem 3 (and churn scenario 1 and 2 customers to scenario 3) will in the long term, be sitting on a gold mine.
Thanks guys
Some terrific points there.
I think we need a bit of a redesign because the site is getting too big for the navigation and we’re not making enough use of the bigger screen resolutions these days.
But they’re more useability issues than design.
Design matters only a little – it’s the engaging and compelling content that does what it is supposed to do that makes the difference.
Cheers!
Brendon
I work with some very good designers. They can produce fantastic designs. But none of it matters if the objective is to make money. It’s a very amateur and naive assumption to assume the better it looks, the more people will buy from it. If that was the case, every website would be Flash.