Ethical Web Design -

... make sure you know your web designers!

Ethical Web Designers here in the UK have no reason to hide their contact details from you.

There are however a few "fly by night" people who pass themselves off as proper web designers in an attempt to make a quick killing without paying any UK tax.

Clearly it is not in these "web designers" best interests to offer you (or the taxman) their full contact details.

They can often provide a reasonable web design job but it is also possible that problems will arise as a result of your dealings with them.

• If you got the job done cheaply it may be that they are not a professional web design firm. They may just be tinkering with web design and trying to earn some money on the side while doing so.
  
• They may be people in full time work as web designers who are also trying to earn some money on the side. That is no reason why they should not be able to provide a decent website but they may eventually just tire of what they are doing and pull the plug on the "business".
• If they have not been declaring their earnings they may feel that the taxman is getting too close so they will change their business name and website address.
• They may be people who have not been providing the service they promised. Problems may be occurring with their work for previous clients and they may then decide that "disappearing" is the easiest option.

Note that the situations described above are typical of examples that have been quoted to us by clients who came to us after losing contact with their original designers.

Are you dealing with a traceable, ethical web designer

If you are considering a web design company that is not willing to tell you who or where they are then beware. Ask yourself why they want to keep this information hidden.

Typically these web designers will offer only an online form as a means of contacting them. They will not offer an email address or full contact details and generally they will only provide a mobile phone number. We are based in Balloch, within the Loch Lomond and Trossach National Park. We do not provide our full address on this website for privacy reasons but it is on all communications with our clients. Designers like these are best avoided. Ethical designers have no problem with offering full contact details.

Ethical SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)

Before selecting someone to do your SEO have a look at this SEO information from Google. This explains why you have to be very careful when doing so. I have recently been involved in discussions on online forums about this and the conclusions are that the SEO industry is probably one of the most unethical on the Internet.

I have several websites, not all related to web design. I regularly get emails from people offering to get me number one positions in Google They may tell you that they have visited your website and carried out a survey, which shows that your website is under performing and that they can sort it out for £NNN per month.

The problem they have is that when people who understand SEO receive these emails it is generally apparent that they are based on lies and misinformation. You should never do business with SEO people who spam you. If they were as good at SEO as they claim their own websites would be bringing them in all the business they could handle.