website hosting and maintenance query

B

Bolo

Registered User
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I have registered my domain name with digiweb.ie. I spoke to the guy about hosting my site and asked him a few questions, Im not really IT savy but asked him would they look after the maintenance of my site and according to him the maintenance is down to me, is this the norm..

I am looking to start a business and obviously until Im up and running want to keep costs to a minimum Ive found a decent free website design the guy doesnt mind me making any changes so long as I keep the website designed by blah blah at the bottom..

My site will be pretty simple to start with a home page, gallery, query form, customer feedback that sort of thing.

I am just worried about the maintenance part of things etc as I say Im not IT savy.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
If you have taken a hosting package with Digiweb they will provide storage space for you to host your website on (for a fee) for this fee you will get a certain amonut of space, email accounts, databases etc (you can also look at services offered by hosting365.com and blacknight.ie)

They will also maintain the hardware that will store your website. However on a basic package there is no guarantee of uptime/availability of your site.

In terms of the actual website itself (HTML code etc) that is entirely up to you, you can either manage it yourself or there are companies who will not only design a website for you but will manage any changes etc that you require (for a fee), a company I use a lot is www.NewOdyssey.ie and would highly recommend them.

I hope this answers your question?
 
If you know exactly what your website should do (detailed description, not a vague list) then you could get someone on www.scriptlance.com to create and maintain the website for you.

They'll be much cheaper than Irish web developers.
 
Yeah but can they do as good a job? There is a graphics site like that web one where people bid for graphics and most of them are rip offs from other logos etc.
 
Thanks guys for the replies. Basically Im just looking for a decent site without spending an arm and a leg.. Im just starting out so when Ive more cash I will throw it into it..

Ive got a few quotes from Irish web developers 600euros for a simple brochure site without maintenance which I was told was expensive for what I want...

The search continues.. I need it to look rich and the pictures need to be very clear without taking forever to upload..

THanks
 
I honestly don't think 600 euro is too much for what you are describing Bolo.
Quality imagery seems to costs money. Web Design is more expensive than web development.

Maybe you could compromise on the 'richness' of your site idea. It all depends on what is more important, text, contact, information content or a pretty face that will direct people to an email address, phone number etc.

Web Design for pretty, Web Development for content. Good site has the right balance of both for YOUR site/business.

There is a difference and it is not a simple process. The best advice I can give you is to be completely sure of what you want before you engage a web developer/designer. That way you will know what is the more important emphasis and therefore the type of company you engage with.

And remember, the initial outlay might seem a lot, but websites when implemented properly can drive up your business no end so it will be recouped in no time
 
Bob the slob said:
Yeah but can they do as good a job?
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Absolutely. They just have lower wages in their countries.

Bolo said:
Ive got a few quotes from Irish web developers 600euros for a simple brochure site without maintenance
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That's very expensive. I recommend you check out the link I posted earlier...
 
Flax said:
Absolutely. They just have lower wages in their countries.
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Asking any Irish business to work with a developer in India or wherever to build their company website is a non-runner in my opinion. The obstacles are too much. Time delay, language, etc.

Flax said:
That's very expensive. I recommend you check out the link I posted earlier...
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€600 for a professionally designed website is very low in my opinion. As pointed out by sinbadsailor, there is a big difference between 'designer' and 'developer'. It is very rare that you get a competent developer that has quality design skills and experience, and vice versa. Compromising can be dangerous and expensive.

Some people may think €600 is a lot because it may take a developer a matter of hours to put together a brochure site, but what will that site look like? Will it look good, professional, will the font usage be clearly thought out, will the colour scheme be thought through? Will the images be adequate? If you build it in standards compliant html/css how long are you going to spend debugging it in IE? Are you going to charge for these hours as well?

Most businesses would easily spend €600 on a print advert in a newspaper which is gone after a day. Why not spend more on a website that will be available 24/7 for years?
 
ButtermilkJa said:
Asking any Irish business to work with a developer in India or wherever to build their company website is a non-runner in my opinion. The obstacles are too much. Time delay, language, etc.
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That's rubbish. I could name a very large famous Irish website which is developed in Belarus.

There are no obstacles. I've been using off shore workers (developers and QA) from a number of countries including Ukraine, China, Russia and India and I've never had any problems.

ButtermilkJa said:
€600 for a professionally designed website is very low in my opinion.
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Are you a web developer?

€600 for a brochure website is not very low.

I'm sorry, but there is no need to hire an Irish person for web development work. You can save a fortune by outsourcing to a foreigner.

Again, I'm a web developer myself. I'm just being honest about the industry.

ButtermilkJa said:
As pointed out by sinbadsailor, there is a big difference between 'designer' and 'developer'. It is very rare that you get a competent developer that has quality design skills and experience, and vice versa. Compromising can be dangerous and expensive.
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I agree somewhat. But again, you can offshore the coding and design work for peanuts.

ButtermilkJa said:
Some people may think €600 is a lot because it may take a developer a matter of hours to put together a brochure site, but what will that site look like? Will it look good, professional, will the font usage be clearly thought out, will the colour scheme be thought through? Will the images be adequate? If you build it in standards compliant html/css how long are you going to spend debugging it in IE? Are you going to charge for these hours as well?
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You seem to think only Irish people can do this. I assure you people in other countries also have technical skills. They just have lower wages.

Lower national wages does not mean poor skills.

ButtermilkJa said:
Most businesses would easily spend €600 on a print advert in a newspaper which is gone after a day. Why not spend more on a website that will be available 24/7 for years?
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I agree. I have no problem with companies who want to spend a lot for local work (or whatever way they want to spend money.)

The OP has said he wants to keep his costs to a minimum, and I am letting him know how he can do this :)
 
Use your 600 quid to do a course in FrontPage .... Money well spent and you can do IT yourself .... You'd be surprised how easy it is. The only drawback is that IT is time consuming, specially if you are starting up a business.
 
Flax said:
That's rubbish. I could name a very large famous Irish website which is developed in Belarus.

There are no obstacles. I've been using off shore workers (developers and QA) from a number of countries including Ukraine, China, Russia and India and I've never had any problems.
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I see your point, but in fairness you are a developer. You know the playing field. You know what questions to ask and how to get the results you want from the offshore developers. I would think it would be more difficult for someone without any web/design/IT knowledge to initiate proceedings with someone by email and to run a project smoothly.

You need an Irish base. If someone wants to approach you and get the job done, and you decide to use offshore developers that's fine, but I just think asking the regular Irish business person to apprach offshore developers directly is not the way to apprach a new project.

Flax said:
Are you a web developer?
€600 for a brochure website is not very low.
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I am a designer by trade. I can also code html/css for brochure sites but if anyone wants heavy development work I will contract a developer. From your point of view €600 may seem high as you outsource all work, but in the Irish industry I think it is quite low.

Flax said:
I'm sorry, but there is no need to hire an Irish person for web development work. You can save a fortune by outsourcing to a foreigner.

Again, I'm a web developer myself. I'm just being honest about the industry.
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I accept your honesty and I agree, perhaps you can save a fortune, but I would rather deal with local industry. I would tell the client how much it is going to cost upfront. If they agree, then I pay a local developer the same.

Flax said:
I agree somewhat. But again, you can offshore the coding and design work for peanuts.
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So, essentially, are you a middleman? Do you just act as an intermediary between Irish businesses and offshore designers/developers? Sorry, not being smart here, it's just you say you are a developer but that you outsource everything. Do you find this appraoch easier than working as a developer yourself in the Irish industry?

Flax said:
You seem to think only Irish people can do this. I assure you people in other countries also have technical skills. They just have lower wages.
Lower national wages does not mean poor skills.
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Not at all, I'm sure they are just as competent, and in some cases more competent. I'm not trying to tell you what you're doing is wrong. As a model, it obviously works quite well for you. I am simply defending the Irish web design/development industry as, in my opinion, you seem to be coming out quite hard against it.

Flax said:
I agree. I have no problem with companies who want to spend a lot for local work (or whatever way they want to spend money.)

The OP has said he wants to keep his costs to a minimum, and I am letting him know how he can do this :)
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I understand that, and I appreciate your point of view, but when I read comments like "I'm sorry, but there is no need to hire an Irish person for web development work" I feel i have to defend the industry in which I earn my crust.
 
Nedtastic said:
Use your 600 quid to do a course in FrontPage .... Money well spent and you can do IT yourself .... You'd be surprised how easy it is. The only drawback is that IT is time consuming, specially if you are starting up a business.
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Whatever about outsourcing, you cannot expect the average business person to put together a website themselves. 'Design' is the most important aspect of any website - along with good content of course. Design is something you are either born with, or aquire over years of experience.

If you spend €600 on a Frontpage course and put together a poorly designed website, no-one will ever come back to see it twice. That is €600 wasted.
 
A "good" website doesn't have to be complicated. If your business is such that €600 is a lot of money, then you are more than likely in the market for something relatively simple.

I agree with the other replies that suggest you look at the content before the implementation. There is always a temptation to jump straight into the "how" -- development, hosting, outsourcing, graphics, learning FrontPage, coding, etc. But first you need to look at the "why" and the "what": why do you want a website, what do you want it to say about you and your business, what is your intended audience and what messages do you want to convey to them, etc. This needn't cost you anything because nobody is in a better position to do it than yourself, but if you haven't got the skills and you want someone to advise you then you will obviously have to pay for that advice. Offshore or local, it will be a miracle if you can get that advice and get the site implemented within your €600 budget.

Regarding costs, surely it would be better to spend, say, €1500 on a website that is of value rather than €600 on something that does nothing more than say "I have a website". In short, consider your return on investment rather than simply cost alone.
 
Many hosts offer simple 'site builder' tools - free with the hosting solution you bought. I know digiweb do, as do hosting365.com, etc.

You choose from a range of templates, then pop in your logo, pictures and content. Is more than good enough for a basic web presence and you feel you can justify more spend on something more unique.

HTH,
Steve
 
If you don't want to spend a lot of money on setting up you wesbite why don't use a service like:



All hosting, domain registration and web design taken care for you.
 
I've just visited that site and apart from the rather bland design, some of the links aren't working. Wouldn't strike me with a lot of confidence to use a company like that to be honest.
 
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