web design services

[bubbathedog]

Originally Posted by angelacolbert

you have to customize your wordpress.. it will be beneficial for you.

Wordpress supports rich functionality through it's plugin architecture. Others who say CMS' (content management systems) create lock-in problems don't realize just how powerful a CMS, such as drupal, really is. For most smallish websites, these frameworks are just fine, the functionality is great out of the box, and most importantly, they will scale for all but the most heavy traffic'd web sites.

Once you're looking at spikes in visits that take your site into the millions of eye balls, yes, at that point you'll need to worry about scalability and resilience. Until then, WP or drupal are just fine.

Local web consultants are very pricey (just like everything else here on LI) and they require much hand-holding. Key to getting your money's worth is to have everything in writing. Even if you draw a web site on the back of a napkin, have an idea of what you want coming out of the deal. And yes, the vast majority will site your web presence with a rackspace, aws or godaddy. Find out where the site will ultimately be hosted. And to really vet your web designer, don't just look at their pretty sites hand-picked for the portfolio. Ask them for the alexa stats on their busiest sites, since it's easier to build a pretty site than it is to get people to visit.

[longislander2]

Originally Posted by Yzette

I can tell you exactly why: If you're a web designer or copywriter on Long Island, or any other expensive area, you're going to target larger clients who will give you repeat business (regular site updates and maintenance for the designers and ghost blogging and social media for the writers), instead of quibbling over one-offs with a local small business owner who has apoplexy when you quote them a professional rate and behaves like something straight out of Clients from Hell.

+1 on this. I'm generalizing here, but small businesses don't want to pay and they have no idea what they want. Aside from coupons and ads in the local Pennysaver, they have no idea how to market themselves already, much less figure out what to put on a web site. Places like WordPress and Weebly offer perfectly good web tools for little businesses to experiment. If you're a web designer or copywriter and you get stuck with one of these small clients, you'll spend an enormous amount of time on changes and end up getting $2 a hour for the project -- and you'll wait 60 days or more for the check.