Most clients who ask me to build their website, view our relationship as a “one and one” deal, at least at the beginning of our talks. They assume that once their website goes public, my services are no longer needed. This is because they haven’t fully captured what it means to build a website and what services are required to maintain or upgrade it.
If you want to build a website for your business and are looking for a freelancer to do it for you, you have to realize that your professional relationship with him will be an ongoing process.
Think of a website like a car. When you buy a car from the car dealer, you just buy the product. You will most likely not going to contact your dealer again. If you want to maintain your car in a good “shape”, you will speak to a mechanic. If you want car insurance you will speak to a broker . If you want to add fancy equipment in your car, you will speak to a car tuner.
And of course, you will pay extra for those services.
Most customers have a false impression of which services are included in website development and which ones are not. They think that when they buy a website, they buy a car with free insurance, free maintenance, and unlimited upgrading choices. For reasons that we will not explain in this article, many web designers fail to communicate properly that this is not the case. Maintaining a Website up-to-date, recovering lost data, and applying new changes in its design, are additional services that cost money because they require additional working time on our part.
So, next time you have a freelancer designing a website for you, make sure you realize the operating costs that come with it, once it goes public. Ask him about a protection and maintenance package that includes a good disaster recovery plan. If you think you will want to upgrade the design of the website in the future, ask him what is his charging policy.
Understand that extra services, cost extra money just as it happens everywhere else.
Till next time.
* Alex Iliopoulos specializes in Website Business