As a business owner you know the importance of a high quality website to promote your enterprise. When it comes to building and developing your website, it makes sense to go to the experts, in this case a website developer. What happens though when the website doesn’t work as you expect and your developer refuses to address it or worse just disappears on you? What can you do when you risk having lost your hard earned funds for a website that just does not work?
Firstly, what are the signs to look out for before the problem escalates? A core issue that can arise is fuzziness around scope and deadlines. If you find your developer is constantly renegotiating your needs and requirements seemingly without needing to, this is a huge red flag. Similarly if you find that deadlines are sliding or repeatedly changing or being pushed back without good reason, this is a sign of a poor developer. Once the website is created keep an eye out for developers who don’t respond to messages or put off setting guarantees with regards to maintenance and updates.
So if you find yourself with the issues above what can you do about it? Document everything and make sure if possible that you have a written agreement for post build maintenance, updates and repair work. If you have this in writing then it becomes easier to take legal action. There are other steps you can take in place of or in addition to legal action. Step one is to secure your website, making sure you have all necessary login details and where possible changing the password. The next proactive step I recommend taking is to figure out what exactly is broken and what is needed to keep your website running and accessible to your customers.
Whilst knowing what kind of documentation is useful to have and what steps to take is useful, some of you may be wondering what to do next with a broken website that risks costing you value customers and trade.
This is where I come in, as a freelance website developer many of my customers come to me after they have been ghosted by unprofessional developers. I know how difficult it is to trust after being let down badly and I work with you to rebuild trust. The first step I take with new clients is to draft a schedule of work to make sure we both know exactly what is needed, this includes discussing on-going support, updates, maintenance, repair and bug fixes. If your existing website is not working I will work with you to find where it is broken and what your business needs are for the best possible fixes. My work is documented and clear, I don’t believe in hidden costs or sliding deadlines. I want to ensure our working relationship is built on trust, openness and professional behaviour.
If you have had difficulties with previous website developers, let’s talk about how we can work together to support you and your website – contact me here.