What Hinders you from getting & managing your own website?

[Keith - StocPress]

Hey guys, I run a Web Design & Hosting firm, and im pretty new here. Some of the biggest problems for business owners with getting their own website can vary from the cost, all the way to not knowing what the purpose of the website is.


So my question is

What Hinders you from getting & managing your own website?

[vangogh]

Well for me very little hinders getting and managing a site, but I would think for many it comes down to a few things.

1. Not realizing the benefits of having a website - Most people here do get this, but I know many people still don't see how a website can help their business.

2. Time/Cost - Not enough of either to really get a site off the ground and keep it maintained

3. Lack of coding skills - Not everyone knows or wants to know how to build a website. That's one of the reasons content management systems like WordPress and online site builders are popular. They reduce the learning curve to where you don't need to be a coder to use them.

Just some thoughts to get the discussion going.

[Patrysha]

With a lot of my clients the answers are:

1) They don't have enough knowledge to know who to trust with their website.
2) They have tried (or friends in business) have tried a website before but "it didn't work" - so they don't see the value in it.
3) They don't know what a fair price is (Did you see the uproar in Minneapolis over the $75,000 website to promote tap water??)
4) They're overwhelmed with the options available and don't know how to compare quotes.

[vangogh]

They're overwhelmed with the options available and don't know how to compare quotes.

That's a good one. Those of us who work with websites all the time can more easily determine which are the better options in general and for a particular site, but there are so many choices it's easy to see how someone might be confused by them all.

[Vivid Color Zack]

price.

In my industry there is a LOT that has to go into a successful site. If you don't know the printing industry you can't program/design a site for it. Just not going to happen there are too many variables that you would never expect unless you've used a lot of online printing sites in the past. So finding a qualified designer is really difficult too.

We've wasted thousands of dollars on sites only to realize hey, we totally didn't think about this possibility, and now this site is almost worthless.

BUtttt.... new site should be up next week. And it should be everything we've dreamed about. prepare for awesomeness.

[KristineS]

I think a lot of the barrier is lack of knowledge and being uncertain who you can trust. There are a lot of shysters masquerading as web site designers. So I think that scares some people.

For others, I think the barrier is not knowing how to do things on their own. If you have to pay someone to do every single little thing it can quickly get expensive. Also, if you don't even know the basics, you may find the whole exercise too intimidating and just decide against even trying it.

[GBlack]

I agree with Kristine on the intimidation angle. Let's face it - present company excluded - many people simply aren't willing to take that leap across the Terror Barrier - that mysterious land of the unknown where they might actually have to do what is, for far too many, the hardest work of all - THINK and ACT. With the resources that are available online today, ain't too many mysteries out there you can't solve with a bit of resolve.

[eborg9]

With a lot of my clients the answers are:

2) They have tried (or friends in business) have tried a website before but "it didn't work" - so they don't see the value in it.

That's an interesting one, because people who don't know anything about the web assume that just putting up a website is an open tap flowing out new customers, and when it isn't, I guess "It didn't work" like it was some kind of hardware, would be the reaction.

It's really hard to turn people like that, when they have seen someone else get frustrated, and quit, and neither have any knowledge, but they look to each other for advice.

When people are successful in one area, it's really hard to get them to stop and learn, especially with something that will take time.

[vangogh]

There's a self-fulfilling prophecy about it. I've seen lots of people try to do something online, but they don't really believe a site will work for them so they aren't willing to spend the money to hire the right people and they aren't willing to learn how themselves. They end up with a very poor site that naturally doesn't do anything, which convinces them they were right in the first place and that a website isn't worthwhile for their business.

While we've all lived with the web for awhile now, it's still in its infancy. Not everyone gets it or wants to.

[KristineS]

That's an interesting one, because people who don't know anything about the web assume that just putting up a website is an open tap flowing out new customers, and when it isn't, I guess "It didn't work" like it was some kind of hardware, would be the reaction.

I've seen this reaction so many times, and it often combines with what Vangogh was saying about being unwilling to spend money to build a good site rather than just a site. People think putting anything up on the Internet will bring in revenue, so they put up some inexpensive site that doesn't work well and then expect to be able to rake in profits. It doesn't work that way, but a lot of people don't understand that.

There is an art to building a good web site and it takes a lot of thought and effort. You can't just throw any old thing up online and expect that you will be successful.