freeman95:
Very good post.

After many encounters With many nigerian web designer, I've gotta advise y'all to be careful when dealing with them...

Most of them are lowlifes and thieves who just wanna rip you off and take your website...

Stupid people

You couldn't have said it better.

I had a very terrible experience with the first guy I contacted to design my site, and he's a nairalander o @mako007 09094851271 07063541577. Story upon story. 3 weeks turned 3 months. Still waiting for a refund sef.

For me, I'd rather get a designer from Fiverr than go through another bad experience.

ladyF:


You couldn't have said it better.

I had a very terrible experience with the first guy I contacted to design my site, and he's a nairalander o @mako007 09094851271 07063541577. Story upon story. 3 weeks turned 3 months. Still waiting for a refund sef.

For me, I'd rather get a designer from Fiverr than go through another bad experience.

So bad for those who claim to know, but know NOT...just spoilers for the genuine ones. He didn't just lost you, but good referrals that would have come from you.

Doerstech:
Before contacting a web designer/developer for your website, you normally have to go through series of question and answer sessions, some initiated by designer, others by you as the site owner.

As a business owner you must have asked your website designer some of these questions

(1) Examples of sites he/she has built before.

(2) What technology/tools will he/she deploy in building your site.

(3) Will your site have these/that features ( responsive, blog, forum, newsletter, optin-form, payment processors etc )

(4) How long will it take for your site to be ready?

(5) The cost and other extras like maintenance SEO and the rest


And more, the list can go on and on. the designer will in turn ask you some familiar  questions with the most important one being.


What kind of  website do you want ( simply informational site, dynamic/database driven site ( with user generated contents ) e-commerce
website, forum, community/NGO or even just a blog website)


With the above question, the designer can then tell what possible technology to deploy for the website, how long it will take for the job to get done and the possible cost.

After all said and done and your website is delivered to you, is now your turn to ask post design questions so you can re-validate your earlier agreement and for you to confirm that your site had all the needed required features.



(1) Is my site optimized for search engine?

The internet is filled with so much information on search engine optimization and it’s important to any personal, professional and business website  on the internet. SEO allows you to grab free organic traffic that’s around your business themes, phrases and keyword putting you in front of your target audience.

And when we talk about optimization, we are not just talking about the right keywords mapped to the right pages. But we are also talking about

(a) Your site assets ( images, videos and other media files ).
(b) Its speed.
(c) It’s structure.
(d) It’s responsiveness and accessibility features all optimized as they should.


So it’s important that this becomes part of any website design process for any web designer who knows his/her onion.


Read - https://doerstechnologies.com.ng/5-things-to-do-to-make-your-website-more-visible-to-your-target-audience


(2) Has it been submitted to relevant search engines

This is not far from the first above and not absolutely necessary. Yes not necessary in the sense that search engine robots finds and index website pages/posts as they craw around the web following links and searching for contents that matches uses search queries.

if you have done your part well, taking all the right steps to make sure your website/it’s content is not just hiding at one corner of the web, then be certain that you will be found sooner than later.

But as a new website owner, you need to take that extra step of submitting your site to relevant search engines like Google and Bing through their respective search console.



Read - https://doerstechnologies.com.ng/how-to-generate-create-xml-sitemap-website


(3) is it mobile friendly and responsive?
With everything driven by mobile interactions as we do almost everything with  our mobile devices, one wonders if this question is actually necessary.

But from experience not all business owners has the technical know how to understand what mobile first and the responsiveness of their website means as their only understanding of their business website looking good and ok, is just about it being good on their various laptops and desktop computers.

Be it as it might be, you expect any modern web designer cum developer to build website with mobile first approach and also those building with CMS like (WordPress, Joomla etc ) to build with themes that are mobile and responsive ( Almost all modern themes are.)

So don’t just ask test your site starting with your own mobile devices and with existing mobile testing tools to be certainly sure that’s the mobile and responsiveness of your site is taken care of.



(4) Is my site secured?
This is another important question and when we talk about security, the first thing that comes to mind is the green key signs on https:// designated sites. That being part of it, but your website security goes further from that especially if built with Content Management Systems like WordPress. Your website being secured requires you to.

(a) Take advantage of any existing security features of your website host. whatever they have like inbuilt sitelock etc that you need to
activate, please do.

(b) Regularly keep your installed plugins/scripts and the CMS itself updated. Every available update tends to resolve one security issue
or the other so it's important you regularly login to your CMS dashboard and keep your files updated.

(c) Delete any un-used plugins installed.

(d) Install security plugins when necessary and needed starting with free ones like BulletProof Security to add extra layer to the
security feature of your site.

(e) Use https://: Having an SSL certificate on your site which ensures your users that they are on the right site and their activities on
your site is secured. This feature, is no longer the exclusive preserve of online stores and the rest of them, it's important for every
site to have this as it is now an important part of SEO for your site.

The above points are just a scratch on the surface of how important security is to your site especially if your website requires heavy hits, you have to take extra measures to ensure that all identifiable security loopholes are taken care of.



(5) Do i have any Newsletter signup attached?

One of the sole purpose of building a website for your business, is to attract the right set of audience to it and not just any audience, but audience that can pick interest in what you have to offer, stay with you and ultimately buy from you.

This becomes easier when you have a means of communicating with them on a regular basis and proffering solutions to their needs which is where the newsletter signup comes in.

With your newsletter and any other optin tool on your site, you will be able to capture their details like email and use same to show your expertise, cultivate them and build trust with them.



(6) Can i track my site visitors?
Following on the heels of newsletter is the ability to track your site visitors. By this I mean knowing where your customers are coming from, how and what they do when they come to your site. You need to know

(a) What keywords/phrases they used to land on your site

(b) What devices ( phones, laptops).

(c) What pages they spend most of their time on when they visit your site etc.

(d) And for how long


This is where your Google analytics, Google search console and the rest of them comes in. Your web designer needs to show you evidence that this has being done and grant you access to this analytic on your request as data's and intelligence deduced from your site analytics  can help you make needed changes on your site.



(7) Do i have a blog and can my users easily read and share my site content online?
What ways can you really show that you’re an expert? How can you tell the world that you know what you’re doing if not through your blog? With a blog you can

Show your expertise and grasps of your business to your existing and potential customers

You can provide fresh content on a regularly to search engines robots to feed on and much more and lots more.

And not just a blog, but one that’s shareable, once users land on your blog are they able to like and share your content with ease?



( How can this website be updated and maintained? is there an agreement to do so by the designer
This is an important question to ask so that you both don’t have issues on the long run. Depending on what the website is built on ( Content Management System or coded from ground up using HTML,CSS, JS or any other Front End Framework ) a proper agreement should be in place on the maintenance and management of the site.

Is there a grace period whereby your site will be updated by the designer at no extra charge?

Will you be shown how to update it yourself especially if it’s a CMS built website?

It’s good to work out these details from the beginning and re-affirm them at the end of the business transaction for the interest of peace.


(9) My login details, can i have them?
The last on my list and the most simply/difficult one for many crocked reasons. Now before i proceed on why this is both simply and difficult let me list the possible login details to ask your site designer

For those whose's site was built with CMS like WordPress, then your dashboard login details. With this you can login and update your site pages and posts, most importantly update your site plugins.

Your Site Cpanel details

FTP login details etc

The story about how this is both simply and difficult will be for another day.

Hope with these 9 questions, i have provided a site owner or a new to be website owner an important information to better deal with his/her webmaster and ensure you get the full value of what you paid for.



Rutherford Ejimonu Nwa Iheanacho is signing off

For the full details of this material including images used head off to https://doerstechnologies.com.ng/9-questions-ask-web-designer-after-handing-over-your-website

Nice one bro...
I've actually quit web developing, it's not worth it in Nigeria.
Imagine some clients will demand for a database driven website for 20k, seriously?
one even need a blog for 5k. the way the price you it's really discouraging.
there is more gain in graphics than website in Nigeria.

Doerstech:


You're right...most times PEPs from Nairaland ask for heaven and earth and yet can't pay when you quote figures for them...mainly becuase Nairaland is littered with wasmasters claiming they can do anything for fees that are plain ridiculous to say the least.

But I normally includes basic SEO as part of my design process I charge nothing for that though except the client needs something extra.

I understand that for users like me, I do on budget offers. But some guys out here, they will say "Any kind of website for 5k".

There's one that has more than 100 threads here that messaged me on whatsapp and was asking me where he would get wordpress themes and plugins. His ads are very convincing and he doesn't know where to buy themes from.

Sha, God go help. I just pray nairalanders don't get scammed in their bid to get the 'best services' for free

OurworkComNg1:


they will ask all these questions and still want to pay 15k for developer's days of sleepless nights. na wa o

Nigerian clients are annoying ehn. It's organzations that will be my target for 2018. I cannot come and not sleep well for crapppyy cash

Offpoint:

Nice one bro...
I've actually quit web developing, it's not worth it in Nigeria.
Imagine some clients will demand for a database driven website for 20k, seriously?
one even need a blog for 5k. the way the price you it's really discouraging.
there is more gain in graphics than website in Nigeria.

Come back bro...I know and am always in awee by stuffs graphic guys do that's why whenever some of my friends who knows about my little skills on graphics wants to call me a graphic designer, i will always NOPE AM NOT ONE....

Regardless putting out stuffs like this and most things referrals have brought me clients who pays without too much fuss.....the most irritating ones though mostly comes from here.

Doerstech:


From my encounter the worst have being those from Nairaland ( both in terms of unrealistic demands and cost )...I don't know why this is so especially those that claims to know one or two things about web design and development

Lol nairaland peeps are something else

ladyF:


You couldn't have said it better.

I had a very terrible experience with the first guy I contacted to design my site, and he's a nairalander o @mako007 09094851271 07063541577. Story upon story. 3 weeks turned 3 months. Still waiting for a refund sef.

For me, I'd rather get a designer from Fiverr than go through another bad experience.

Infact ehn

Some even refused to give me my own cpanel details..... Something I paid for, cos I was a novice then...

One even ran away with my 150dollars made from my old website, even stole my domain....

I advise you forget about the refund lol..

freeman95:


Infact ehn

Some even refused to give me my own cpanel details..... Something I paid for, cos I was a novice then...

One even ran away with my 150dollars made from my old website, even stole my domain....

I advise you forget about the refund lol..

Lol... You can imagine!

I can't forget about the money o.

Doerstech:


Come back bro...I know and am always in awee by stuffs graphic guys do that's why whenever some of my friends who knows about my little skills on graphics wants to call me a graphic designer, i will always NOPE AM NOT ONE....

Regardless putting out stuffs like this and most things referrals have brought me clients who pays without too much fuss.....the most irritating ones though mostly comes from here.

Bro I've quit scripting over a year now and you know the implications of not constantly scripting.
if anyone needs something cheap I just do it with wordpress platform.

Offpoint:

Bro I've quit scripting over a year now and you know the implications of not constantly scripting.
if anyone needs something cheap I just do it with wordpress platform.

Yes I understand bro...all the best..but whenever you choose to I know you will...

Ignyte:


I understand that for users like me, I do on budget offers. But some guys out here, they will say "Any kind of website for 5k".

There's one that has more than 100 threads here that messaged me on whatsapp and was asking me where he would get wordpress themes and plugins. His ads are very convincing and he doesn't know where to buy themes from.

Sha, God go help. I just pray nairalanders don't get scammed in their bid to get the 'best services' for free

You can imagine...

Doerstech:


Yes I understand bro...all the best..but whenever you choose to I know you will...

hmm... thanks, in case you got more interesting stuff to post... you can tag me along.

I can only build the side that have payment processor. (which can accept and transfer both naira & us dollar to and from my domiciliary access.)

The reasons for hiding cpanel details was not clear to me until I started hosting for people. Every hosting has One main domain and two addon domain when you are making payment. It is very easy for them to sell the two extra domain another two innocent people. SO you are now three people on one server with the same username and password. That is why Developers will never want you to know that cpanel exists. I lost my first domain because of that. whenever anybody is hosting for you, always insist on knowing the hosting platform and your username and password.

If you need professional website design services:
Visit: https://abbakin.com/web-design-services/

adeoba2008:
These questions are good questions but not all of them can be answered but I feel the job the Developer is different from that of SEO Analyst or manager.


If you want to know more about SEO check:

https://crmnigeria.com


See you there.

Bro how many Nigeria firms employ Web designer and SEO Analyst cum Manager at same place? Just about how many?

Most Job descriptions for Web designers is a combination of everything....by everything i mean

Front end + Backend + Graphics design + SEO + DM.....infact you'll see some adding Hardware to it.

That said....a typical web designer should be vast with UXD UI, SEO and abit of Graphics......

adeoba2008:
The reasons for hiding cpanel details was not clear to me until I started hosting for people. Every hosting has One main domain and two addon domain when you are making payment. It is very easy for them to sell the two extra domain another two innocent people. SO you are now three people on one server with the same username and password. That is why Developers will never want you to know that cpanel exists. I lost my first domain because of that. whenever anybody is hosting for you, always insist on knowing the hosting platform and your username and password.

Most times the problem is with peps who don't want to pay, so these developers cut cost by adding those sites as ADDON domains on an already existing account.

Especially if you're on an account like Namecheap Ultimate Package which allows 49 More Sites making it 50.

I personally takes care of this by inputting the cost of hosting in my calculations so each of them can have full access to their host account.

Ignyte:
Nice.. but OP... If you pay for site and you don't pay for SEO, I no dey oh. Nairaland clients are fond of requesting stuff that their money cant afford

Truetalk.

pacespot:
Nice tips

You're welcome

Hello Friends please kindly beware of the is Man

With the Moniker Doerstech

He is a fraudster he has duped our company and he his currently on the run, transacting business with Doers Technologies is at your own risk kindly beware

No matter how far you go justice will still come up with you Rutherford Ejimondu


This are his details

+234 8095966698 (WhatsAPP), +234 8077040583 us on info@doerstechnologies.com.ng

Friends kindly be careful and BEWARE

Thank you from Sachio Properties

Sachiopropty:
Hello Friends please kindly beware of the is Man

With the Moniker Doerstech

He is a fraudster he has duped our company and he his currently on the run, transacting business with Doers Technologies is at your own risk kindly beware

No matter how far you go justice will still come up with you Rutherford Ejimondu


This are his details

+234 8095966698 (WhatsAPP), +234 8077040583 us on info@doerstechnologies.com.ng

Friends kindly be careful and BEWARE

Thank you from Sachio Properties

Na wa ooooo...

Who can now be trusted?

Funny enough, they all appear as innocent. Their chats and convo is so fluid, smooth and mature.

Same way I fell for a guy named Creatify here on NL (He has deactivated his account now)

We had a website deal for #180k. He got half payment and absconded.

Such a flowery guy!

Waterloo awaits.... So damn sure. Today, tomorrow or someday.

moshoodn:



Na wa ooooo...

Who can now be trusted?

Funny enough, they all appear as innocent. Their chats and convo is so fluid, smooth and mature.

Same way I fell for a guy named Creatify here on NL (He has deactivated his account now)

We had a website deal for #180k. He got half payment and absconded.

Such a flowery guy!

Waterloo awaits.... So damn sure. Today, tomorrow or someday.

wat kind of website?