So, what can be done?

This depends on what state the project is in, and how it got there in the first place.

One issue is that some developers will say “it’s 90% finished”, but only say that because they wanted their last payment. Others may even believe it is finished, but they may not have the highest coding or quality control standards (we see this a lot with some offshore development). In some cases, it could genuinely be complete, but to a different or original specification which is not what the client now wants.

Something could be developed properly but only 50% complete, and still be in a far more usable state than something 90% complete, but coded badly. A beautiful house built on sand is still built on sand, and code is no different.

The biggest advice to the client is not to rush into anything. They need to take a step back, take a deep breath, and get the project professionally audited. They need to find out what state the code is, how complete it is, and what is required to fix it. As far as a web agency is concerned, they need to not assume anything, and query everything they have been told as the owner may have been misled.

The web agency needs full access, and fresh eyes, and after this can advise on next steps and associated costs and timescales. At this stage it is very much a case of doing things carefully and methodically, rather than heroic last-minute coding marathons fuelled by caffeine and optimism

In the best case, the project can easily be taken over and completed. In the worst case, it isn’t viable to continue. In reality, it is usually somewhere in between.

To complicate matters, there is often the requirement to pay the current agency to release code, without knowing the quality or completeness of what they will provide. This means that sometimes a gamble needs to be made, and a good web agency can help weigh up the options. There is often hostility between the old developers and the owner, so usually patience and diplomacy are needed.

In a few cases there is often the case of whether the previous developer failed to meet their obligations, and if legal action should be taken. This is where the new web agency needs to look at the facts, contracts, and ensure that feelings and frustration are taken out of the equation.

These projects are often some of the messiest that a web agency can inherit, logistically, technically, and emotionally. They require investigation, honesty, experience, and occasionally a bit of detective work.

Challenging? Absolutely. Messy? Often. Strangely satisfying when resolved properly? Very much so.

So, if this sounds familiar, and you need an agency to carefully and concisely analyse the situation, and advise accordingly, then please get in touch.

We work on a variety of platforms, and have decades of experience in inheriting half-built systems from the simple to the complex. Whether you have an unfinished full-scale bespoke development project, or a small brochure website, then we can likely help.

Whatever state your project is currently in, whether that is paused, stuck, limping along, or declared “almost finished” for the tenth time, we can likely help.

We are Webbed Feet, bringing balance to the codebase and restoring order to the galaxy.

We were contacted by two businesses in December that were similar in many ways, but fundamentally in far different situations.

Both businesses have a complex custom-built CRM, and the operation of both companies is dependent on their system running smoothly, and therefore uptime is absolutely crucial. Both systems were developed over time, with a lot of investment, and are huge. Most importantly, both were managed by a single developer.

Unfortunately, this is where the similarities end.

The first company, have a custom-built PHP Laravel-based CRM. They were concerned about their business reliance, specifically what would happen if their web developer disappeared overnight. They wanted to ensure that they have a larger and more-established development team in place that could seamlessly take over in the event of an emergency, and could work along-side their current developer in the meantime. It is absolutely imperative that their system stays online as their business depends on it for their day-to-day tasks.

This, of course, was not an issue for us, and this week they have instructed us to get started. It will take a few days of work to get up to speed, review everything, and give them peace of mind.

The second company are different. They have a CRM that is equally critical to their business, and much larger. This is built in an old .NET framework. Unfortunately, their web developer recently passed away, with all of the files on an encrypted drive, and therefore unavailable. To make the matter worse, with .NET projects the source code is compiled, so it can be run as it is, but (mostly) not editable. The website is also hosted in the web developer’s account, is out of date, and has a large number of modifications that were paid for, coded, but never made live.

We have started to reverse-engineer the compiled code, and we’re confident that we can get at least the core functionality working. The issue is that it will not be cheap, will not be quick, and due to the unknowns, we will not know what is possible and what isn’t until we get there. So, the client could potentially be facing a bill of many weeks of work, and a long delay, whilst in the meantime they are vulnerable to the CRM going offline.

It is worthwhile in them investing in, and restoring the system, as a full redevelopment could potentially cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. However, that is easy for us to say as we are not paying the bill! Besides, recently the client has invested heavily in another venture so may not have the cashflow. Their only interim solution is to subscribe to a (far more basic) off-the-shelf system to do the bare minimum which, even if it works, would be a massive compromise. Until this is setup, they risk their whole platform going offline which would be catastrophic to their business. Unfortunately, they are in a situation where they can’t win.

Their current situation is what the first company have planned to avoid.

In hindsight of course they should have made business resilience plans, but in reality, they are far from alone and their situation is common-place.

We worked for a very large organisation that you’ve likely heard of. They failed to have safe guards in place for their domain name, and the responsibility for its renewal was not allocated to anyone specific, so when their debit card expired, their systems went down. This included their public-facing website, their whole internal CRM, and all of their emails. Luckily our monitoring systems alerted us just before midnight on a Friday. We had their login, so went in and paid the nominal fee on their behalf using our debit card. If we didn’t have the systems in place, they would have opened the office on Monday morning, and had complete system failure. A simple domain name renewal can severely impact a business; the domain name is the key to the kingdom.

So, have a think, what would happen if your web developer disappeared? What would happen to your CRM, website, domain name, emails? Could your business function?

If you’re worried, and want advice on anything web-related, or a backup web agency, please get in touch.

Of course, your website is a small part of your business, so if you have any wider concerns about business continuity or crisis management, then we’d recommend Su, a lovely lady from SDH Crisis Management.

We are Webbed Feet, were here to help you prepare for the unexpected.

How often does a product or service’s low cost actually set alarm bells ringing in your head?

If something seems too cheap, it often suggests that something is amiss. But why is this dependent on the type of product or service on offer?

If someone goes to a second-hand car dealer with a budget around £15,000, they usually have an idea of the car that they can purchase, and if someone suggests their friend’s used car for, say, £500, they’d dismiss it as it won’t be what they’re looking for. But they are both cars, right? Well, obviously they are different.

Well, we have quoted for websites, and the prospective client has said they can get it for, quite literally, over 20 times cheaper.

Unlike the person looking for a car above, the person looking for a website thinks that they are comparing apples with apples, when they are most definitely not.

We have seen some web projects where the cost of the entire project would cost more than either the specification or quality control phases of our build. What does that say about the end product?

The truth is that cheap websites don’t work. They don’t show up in search engines. They don’t convert users into customers. They are just there, existing.

A decent agency will get to understand their client, and their client’s clients, and make sure that they are shown what they need in order to buy or make contact. A decent web agency will make sure the website works on all browsers and doesn’t have a technical glitch at a crucial moment. A decent agency will consider reliability, scalability, and security. All this comes at a cost, and needs experience and attention to detail.

“Our website looks OK, but we don’t get any enquiries from it.” Well, yes — you’ve gone with the lowest cost option, what did you expect? Think back to the £500 car…

The initial cost is always going to be a factor — we get that — but the return on investment is more important.

Don’t believe it is just with simple websites either; people make the same mistake with development and coding. We often have to invest countless hours patching up and fixing code, at a large cost to our clients, because they have taken a shortcut and found a cheap off-shore developer.

And these are the lucky clients. Several times, we have had to explain that what they have purchased is useless. One example that springs to mind is a client who gave us an online shop that was “nearly finished” and “just needs a shopping cart”. However, the developer had hard-coded all of the pages and products: there was no product database, no user accounts, no login, and no payment gateway. Apart from a dubious website design, it was of no use at all and had to be scrapped.

This happens more often than you’d think, and recently we’ve seen an influx of instances where people are using cheaper ‘developers’ who are using AI to create a solution, and expect it to be a simple task to bring their solution up to par… it’s not.

Choosing the cheapest solution may help cash flow now, but as soon as it starts turning away customers it’ll suddenly become a financial burden. Not only that, you’ll lose trust, chip away at your reputation, and get bad word of mouth. These negative thoughts will take much longer to overcome.

With development projects, you’ll end up in technical debt with a dated system that is soon obsolete. In these cases, a simple cheap fix can end up becoming a financial burden.

Your staff can make or break your company, and you most certainly wouldn’t recruit with their cost being the most influential factor — that would be corporate suicide. Your website is the same. It is often the face or backbone of your company and is worth getting correct.

So, next time you get quotes for professional services, make sure to question “how much” not only for the expensive options, but also the cheap ones, because it’s not the initial cost that costs you money in the long term!

We are Webbed Feet — we do things properly.

We have had several people get in touch with us recently, who are seemingly relying far too much on AI.

AI generated content

The most common, and most obvious AI reliance seems to come from people who quite likely type “write me a web page about X” in to their favourite large language model, then cut and paste. The end result being a page of em dashes (triple dashes), hypens, tick box graphics and, in the examples I’ve seen, minimal and poor content that will never convert.

I’m not saying that AI platforms shouldn’t be used for inspiration, but at least give them a decent prompt, fill in the gaps, add some personalisation, and make it your own!

AI generated marketing plan

Would you really rely on artificial intelligence to create your SEO or digital marketing plan? I certainly hope you wouldn’t, but some people are. They are quite literally trusting the fate of their business to ChatGPT.

The person that contacted me last week wanted Webbed Feet to optimise their content for search engines, but based on keywords that an AI suggested. Keywords that absolutely no one searches for. Do you see the issue? Oh, and this person had blatant AI generated content as well, brilliant.

AI generated project brief

“What specification should I give a web agency if I am after X, Y and Z?” Well, don’t put that question in to an AI and then send the web agency the result! Maybe start by telling the web agency what you’re after and seeing what they come up with… it’s their job.

We’ve had project briefs that were so specific they would alienate the majority of web agencies that received it, and those that did reply would quote themselves out of consideration anyway. The specification was massively overcomplicated, dated and contradicted itself. What we did was tell the client that the brief was blatantly AI generated and could they tell us what they were actually after.

Yes, large language models (LLMs) and other artificial intelligence systems are a very handy tool, and we use them in our marketing, of course we do!

But use them cautiously, and certainly don’t blindly follow what they generate, it’s a fast road to nowhere.

There are professionals who actually know what they are doing, maybe use them? Just a thought.

Worrying all of the examples above are from marketing folk, so maybe I’ll shut up and get my coat!

Want to know more? Get in touch with real humans

Never assume anything

If client tells us that something is the cause of the problem, then certainly we need to consider this, but we don’t rely on it. This is especially true when multiple people have unsuccessfully worked on the project, because they have quite often been looking in the wrong place, hence why it isn’t fixed. Similarly, if a client tells you something is working, make sure you satisfy yourself that this is true. Just imagine the number of times that we have been told that a password is correct, only to find out that this was the issue all along!

Multiple causes

Many problems are not a simple single error that magically appeared overnight, but a series of minor issues that all compound and cause a problem. The important thing to remember here is that, when eliminating potential causes, you need to be careful not to eliminate something that works, but only in the specific case for which you tested. For example, Bob could test something in Google Chrome when not logged in, and determine that Google Chrome is not the issue because everything works. In reality there could be an issue that only manifests for logged in users using Google Chrome.

Reproduce the problem

Have you ever had a strange noise coming from your car, taken it to the garage, and the noise stopped? Well, that makes it very hard for the mechanic to diagnose. It’s the same with websites. Flipping this on its head, if you can’t reproduce the problem then this is a blessing in disguise. Why? Because you can keep changing your environment, step by step, to match the clients until suddenly the problem appears, giving you your first lead!

Take a step back

Often trying to find a problem in isolation is difficult, and sometimes it’s impossible as the cause is a wider issue. So, take a step back, look at the system as a whole, and see if that provides any clues. Often this initiates a lightbulb moment and an “ah, I never knew that this system linked to that, this changes things” thought pops in to your head.

Assess the timeline

“It just stopped working for no reason” is unlikely. Something has probably changed. Whether this is something the user did and is trying to hide, something the user did that they didn’t know caused an issue, a system update, or a 3rd party influence. Of course, things can stop by themselves from time to time, usually when a certain limit has been reached, or even a date (think Y2K bug), or sometimes the issue has been there forever, just no one noticed.

No shortcuts

This is likely the most important point, do it properly, methodically, carefully and don’t take shortcuts. If you miss something, you may have to go over and redo a lot of what you’ve done. My dad, a very wise man, used to say “Aaron, do it properly, do it once”.

Common issues

That being said, sometimes it is worth a quick Google, or asking ChatGPT. Okay, experience will help here as you’ll know what to search for, but it could be a common issue that everyone is experiencing. Just don’t get caught in the trap of looking for ‘quick wins’ for days!

Divide and conquer

This doesn’t work in all circumstances but, when possible, it’s an invaluable tool. If you can eliminate a large part of the system in one go you’ve made your issue much smaller. Sub-techniques here involve commenting out or turning off large areas of code or functionality with the premise that if it isn’t there it can’t be the issue. Just go careful not to make any incorrect assumptions.

Talk to ducky

Eh, what? Sometimes explaining your process to a colleague helps as, by saying it out loud and step-by-step, you make yourself think more logically. It’s better if your colleague plays devil’s advocate, asks awkward questions, and makes you double check things, but even if they don’t, the act of explaining the situation in itself can still help. In fact, even if they are not technically minded, or even a rubber duck, this method still works.

Be methodical

People who are often good at debugging issues are methodical and logical thinkers; they make good developers. Don’t attack issues with an unordered scatter-gun approach, that will lead to nowhere and is how many agencies waste resources. You need a carefully thought-out plan, and to take your time. Rushing will end up taking longer.

Intermittent issues

Well, they are a pain in the ass. But remember that they appear intermittent to you, but there is a logical reason why they appear when they do.

Create an alternative

Sometimes users get stick in their ways of performing a task in a certain way, and quite often the bug in question is due to their processes that are in place for legacy reasons. Rather than fix the bug, it can sometimes be quicker to bypass by changing or replacing the whole process with a different, better, or newer technology.

Test, test and test again

A common mistake made is where people fix what they think is the issue, only to find it rears its ugly head again in the future. Once you have found the solution, make sure you understand why it works, and try as many edge-cases as possible to break it. Test it, test the system, around it, get the client to test it, and test it again. Remember that the point of testing is not to prove that what you have done works, but to find an example when it doesn’t.

Get a pro to help

Of course, if you don’t know where to start, have wasted too much time on it, or if other web agencies have failed, maybe it’s time to get in touch with us! This is what pushes our buttons, let us help you fix it once and for all. We are Webbed Feet; we enjoy fixing web development projects.

He was, in fact, referring to fixing my car, and not trying to cut corners to make the job quicker. This lesson hit home one day when I left a difficult bolt out when changing a clutch in an Austin Metro, and having to do the whole job again.

Now I am myself a father, and (apparently) a grown up, I find myself offering the same advice; but surprisingly not just to my son and daughter, but also to clients in the web-world, especially in web development.

A few examples instantly spring to mind.

"I’ve diagnosed the issue to save time"

Here’s a fun one, the client told us what their issue is, how crucial it is that it is fixed immediately, and what we need to fix in order to rectify the problem.

Seem fair? Well, the issue is that we didn’t think that the underlying issue was what they told us to fix. Add to this that a couple of web agencies, and a family member have tried, and their suggested fix still isn’t working. They had spent hours on this and keep hitting brick walls.

We told them that we would need to take a step back, diagnose the core problem, and fix that. It took some convincing because they didn’t want to pay us to diagnose something when they knew the cause, but they reluctantly agreed.

Just half an hour of billable time later, it was fixed… and wasn’t what they told us it was!

Every man and his dog

Similarly, we have seen another client run in to issues, and have had every man and his dog try and fix them. These range from family members, friends of family members, several web and marketing agencies, and apparently anyone else who could type, but we’re unsure in what order, or who changed what.

The issue is that due to the lack of experience of the first ‘developer’ they ‘fixed’ the wrong thing so along came the second person who had a slightly harder job to do, and they also did it wrong.

This repeated this several times over six months, with every person or agency compounding on the mistakes of the last, then it still didn’t work. This was costing them thousands of pounds in sales. So, they gave us a call, again telling us what they thought the issue was, even though it was very obviously wasn’t that. We took a step back, assessed what had been done, and did it properly.

It was an almighty mess that started because the client tried to get a low-cost fix, and this meant that a simple task ended up taking us over ten hours to undo what everyone else had done, then under an hour to do the original task.

The client as the middleman

We have another client who, in order to try and save money, always acts as the middleman.

It’s ironic because the few hours that she’ll save through admin, she’ll end up spending multiple times due to her lack of understanding around the subject.

In one example we are performing a technical integration and were instructed not to communicate with the agency the other end, and not to read any documentation ourselves. She could do this and tell us what to code...

Guess what? It wasn’t correct, so we are coding it for the third time... and still aren’t allowed to talk to the other agency directly.

"I’ve been hacked but don’t want to pay to fix it"

If there is one thing that you need to do properly, it’s to secure a system after it has been compromised.

We used to have a client, with a large custom-built PHP platform. We inherited this code and when we onboarded the client suggested a few upgrades that were needed in order to make the website secure. The client refused in order to save a day or two.

A couple of years later it was hacked; we fixed the immediate problem taking around five days, and suggested another couple of days to secure other vulnerabilities. The client refused again.

A year later, they were hacked again via one of the unpatched vulnerabilities that we warned them about, but this time have gained full access to everything. We offered a full fix, this time we’re looking at around ten days, the client refused and asked us just to hide the effects of the hack, essentially leaving the hackers in there.

Several months later, because they still have full access, the site was defaced again. The issue is that as this has been left so long, and all of the clean backups have expired, this project would now be weeks of work to secure, and a complete server migration. It’s a huge job that the client can’t afford.

They now have several hackers permanently in their system, all with full access to their code and data. This all started because they didn’t want us to do the job properly from the outset so that they could save a day or two of time.

Worse of all, overall, it has cost them a lot more than a proper fix would have done.

It’s not all bad

We have recently gained a new client with very complicated web-based software used to run their business; software that every other developer has shied away from.

The client was happy for us to take a step back, audit the code, and get the basics in place such as backups and a local development environment.

The client then asked us for changes, but wanted to chat with us first to ensure that they are pursuing the correct path, and wanted to do it properly and to our guidance.

Wonderful, absolutely wonderful!

Doing it properly is likely going to lead to a far better system and be more efficient in the long term.

A word of advice

There are a lot of competent and decent web agencies out there, all doing what they can to help. A lot of them are well-trained and qualified in what they do.

We’d suggest listening to their advice and, given the option, aim to get things done properly, first time. As my dad said “do it properly and do it once”.

Who you gonna call?

Well, if you want an agency that know what they are doing, are methodical, who tell things as they are, and do things properly, then us!

We prefer to take a step back, assess the situation, and do things properly first time.

We are Webbed Feet, we do things properly, and we love complex problems!

Yes, of course we can produce award-winning websites, but a lot of what we do these days is systems integration, something that is far more complex that standard builds and, as developers, very rewarding.

In this article I’ll explain to the layperson what systems integration actually is.

ChatGPT sums it up quite well; "System integration is the process of connecting and unifying different software, hardware, and other systems to work together as a single, cohesive unit."

We could simplify this as "making websites talk to things", but that makes it sound easy.

So, let’s look at some examples that are web-related:

A very common one is payment gateways that link to e-commerce websites such as online shops. These can sometimes be included easily within the shopping platform, but other times need something bespoke written by developers like us in order to get the two systems integrated, or 'talking'.

Warehousing integration is also popular; we have linked websites and online shops to warehouses for reasons such as stock-control, customised label printing and shipping automation. These can be through ERP software (if this doesn’t mean anything to you then it doesn’t matter), or again something bespoke that we code from scratch.

Similarly web-based systems can be linked to accountancy platforms such as Xero, QuickBooks or Sage. This means that invoicing and so on can be automated. Typically, when clients start integrating websites to accounting platforms, they also want the payment gateways and warehousing all in sync. If we start to factor in multiple payment gateways (think Direct Debit, PayPal or debit/credit card options) and the ordering that processes take place, there can be a lot to consider. For example, whether stock levels are handled by the website, warehouse, ERP or somewhere else.

A lot of companies store their core information in CRMs, and quite rightly so. Common examples of CRMs include Microsoft Dynamics, HubSpot and Microsoft Salesforce. Another system integration that we offer is linking websites to these CRMs, again often having to do it from scratch via their API (interface), rather than relying buying a plugin or extension. This means that a website can act as a user portal and sync the data with the CRM periodically.

Recently we’ve started integrating AI in to our web systems as well, using it to aid productivity or improve the user experience. A good example is a website that has 'make this content simple so that it can be understood by a 10-year-old' and 'summarise this page' buttons.

If you start mixing all of the above together, you can see that the complexity increases exponentially. Add in a custom-written user portal, progressive web apps (PWAs), a single login shared between multiple accounts, offline browsing and higher security requirements, it should be clear that there is a lot to consider.

This is systems integration, and this is what we do at Webbed Feet.

In short, we do a lot of planning, and often, extensive coding behind-the-scenes so that the end user has something working as, as ChatGPT says, "a single cohesive unit".

Hello Gemma

Lovely talking, but before we could even discuss marketing, we’d need your website up to par. We believe that any marketing will fall short due to the website.

To be blunt, it’s not doing you any favours - I’ll consider the main user journey as an example.

• There are spelling mistakes throughout, such as “Cate Ring” rather than “Catering” on your strap line on the home page
• To find anything about hog roasts, your main service, I need to click “menu”, which is small at the top, scroll down past “Deserts” (also spelt incorrectly, should read “Desserts”), and click on “Hogroast” (should be 2 words)
• When I get to the hog roast page, there’s under 30 words of information for customers to read about your main service, this is not enough information
• I don’t know really know what I am buying and how much it would cost, there isn’t enough information for me to choose you as my supplier. Compare this to your competitors (I linked to better examples)

We’re happy to look at this once the website is fixed, or quote for a new one, and you’d be looking at a starting price of [pricing information bespoke to them].

I see the website is built by [competitor], who offer £99 websites … and this would explain the results. I would suggest this needs to be rectified before you spend any money on marketing.

We’d love to get involved and set you up properly with a full solution, so if our prices suit your budgets then please get in touch and we can start fresh.

Also, we have spotted a spelling mistake in the URL [web address] itself, it is missing an ‘s’ from your company name.

Many thanks

Aaron

A few notes

I have tweaked the email slightly so that it is anonymous, and easy to read to an ‘outsider’.

Interestingly the competitor says “We'll build your small business website in 7 days. Launch for £99. You'd pay £1500 elsewhere, and probably get less”, well I beg to differ.

We were recommended by another local agency, so I’d suggest that our opinions are not unique, and that’s why they passed it on.

We often suggest tweaking clients’ websites rather than a rebuild, but in this instance there really isn’t much to keep, and the system is likely ‘ring fenced’ so we can’t. It needs to much work it’s going to cost similar to a new build.

Worst of all, the errors are still present.

Anyway, here at Webbed Feet we’ll tell you as it is. In this instance we’d rather turn down the work than offer a marketing campaign that won’t work. We can be blunt, but will be fair.

I’ve just moved house, and have been doing more than my fair share of DIY. Little touches here and there, such a bit of paint, few new bits of furniture and getting my wife to colour coordinate it all. These little changes all add up and have transformed the appearance of the house.

With websites you can often do the same, keep the bare-bones the same and give the design a refresh. No moving walls or anything major needed here, just a touch up to bring it in line with modern trends. These can be purely aesthetic, but also functional where things that are now standard were not when the website was made originally.

I’ve also been fixing a few bits, such as an extractor fan that pumped moist air in to the attic, a few squeaky or loose doors, and a tap that didn’t swivel. These things were overlooked by the last owners as they see them every day, but looking with fresh eyes, I could see that they needed to be fixed.

This happens with websites too; people get used to what they have, and think that high amounts of spam from a contact form, a site that is slow to load, or that the phone doesn’t ring is entirely normal… it’s not! When you get an expert to give it the once over there are often little bits that can be fixed or improved, making it all slicker.

I have also had to do more major changes such as fitting kitchen units. Yes, these have hurt my bank balance, and my patience at times, but these have transformed rooms far more than a bit of paint.

More often than not, more major functionality can be retro fitted to websites too, for those who want changes that are a little more drastic. Like the kitchen cupboards, they can also serve a purpose and help streamline things making everything easier to use. These can range from adding a simple newsletter sign on box, to creating a whole new shop or user area.

The thing is, tastes change, and I’m well-aware that I’ll need to redecorate again in a few years, and also that the odd thing is going to break and need fixing, that’s part of owning a house.

In the same way, website trend and technologies are always evolving, and yes, from time-to-time things stop working, so the maintenance is part of owning and running a website, or at least it should be.

Thanks to my dad, I’m quite ‘handy’, in that I can fix or improve most things, regardless of whether it is plumbing, electrical, carpentry or decorating, and Webbed Feet, our web agency, is very similar. We are able to work with design, marketing and search engines, as well as technical aspects, and importantly work on a variety of platforms ranging from popular WordPress, to an out-dated bespoke platform that no one else wants to touch.

My wife and I are nearly there, we’ve purchased our forever home and, in a few weeks, will have turned it in to something that we are proud to live and entertain in.

If you’ve been you’ve been thinking of refreshing your old and tired website this year, but don’t necessarily want to splash out on a new one, then get in touch and see if we can spruce up what you have, and make it both more effective, and something that you’re proud of.

We are Webbed Feet, we’re good at DIY, and websites

The previous web agency handed over the project to us and were very polite and efficient, but we believe they tried to sabotage the project, and in this article I’ll explain how.

Firstly, it’s worth noting that although the majority of local web agencies compete with each other, they are still friendly, cooperative and trust worthy. That being said, we have dealt with a nationwide company before who have deliberately sabotaged a client’s website when they moved to us.

Back to the story. The website did not only have poor SEO, it was below par, and was missing the absolute core fundamentals that you’d get by default. From an SEO perspective it was worse than a DIY-website build. The web agency has installed an SEO plugin, we can only presume thinking this would boost their position, when even the content itself was poor. That isn’t how search engine optimisation works.

Anyway, we ran a scan of our site using our software, did a manual audit, had a chat with the owners, and took them on as a client.

Our first step was to migrate the site on to our servers. So, we asked the old developer for a copy of the website which they provided in a couple of days, this was almost identical to the live version, and we’ll get back to that.

We set this up, made the website live, and ran another SEO audit, and our software couldn’t scan the pages any more. How strange!

This is where we think the other agency were being sneaky, in that, before they gave us the files, they checked a box on the (WordPress) website called “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”. It’s pretty obvious what this does, but in technical terms it adds “noindex” and “nofollow” tags asking search engines not to add these pages to their databases.

The other agency must have known they did a bad job, and hoped we wouldn’t spot there sneaky modification, and so things wouldn’t improve and we’d get the blame. Obviously we put things right, but this makes us wonder what else they could have changed. We also ditched their pointless SEO plugin.

The thing that we find funny is how pathetic this is, and how they could believe that any competent web or SEO agency would miss it.

For those of you with young kids, you’ll know that they hide under a duvet thinking that their parents can’t see them – well, this is about as ridiculous as that.

Nice try unnamed web agency, nice try.

Clowns.

We are Webbed Feet, we don’t play silly games

In this article we’ll explore, in easy-to-understand language, what I believe is going to happen with web design and development in the near future.

Web 3.0

Firstly, what is web 3.0? Well, it’s a decentralised and open web, which won’t mean a lot to most. But essentially have everything working without central databases, a bit like the way crypto currencies don’t have banks, but work on ledgers (lists) that ‘float’ around the internet. This will mean that you don’t need to worry about companies going bust or exploiting your data etc.

As you can see, that doesn’t help you see how your website is going to be different... So, what do I think?

AI

It is no secret that AI is starting to appear everywhere. In some ways it’s obvious, in others less so.

For better or worse, lots of companies are already using AI for textual and image content. They are also using it to write content for search engines, and because of this search engines are learning to detect AI-generated text. There is a battle starting to heat up.

AI however, can be used in more ways, such as chat bots to help with customer support, language translation, automation of repetitive tasks, improvements in search results, or changing a website’s content for different audiences.

It is also being used in negative ways, such as fake reviews, false news and fake personas on social media. It can be very influential.

It’s a mixed bag, and going to be huge.

The team at Webbed Feet, for example, have developed a system that automatically translates a website in to different languages, and can change the reading level of articles, provide a summary of what a page says, or even make it rhyme or make it sound as if it’s been written by like a pirate.

Seamlessness & Integration

More and more often websites are sharing logins between platforms. For example, you can use a Facebook account to log in Square Space, or use your Discord account to use Midjourney. Google also do this a lot, for example using their login for YouTube (owned by them).

This can make things very useful for people, but has the obvious implication that if one login is compromised, the hacker could gain access to many platforms. Other downsides are the dependencies on providers; how can you stop using Facebook, for example, if you use it to login to 3rd party services.

There are lots of other ways that things are made seamless, for example using Apply Pay or Google Pay to purchase something rather than entering your credit card details in.

An example of integration is in cars. My car is a BMW EV, and this links to my phone via the BMW app, the BMW website, my energy supplier (Octopus) and my charger company (MyEnergi). I can locate, open, lock and control the aircon in the car with my phone, and say how and when it charges. It’s great, and convenient, but there are inherent risks and complications. We see this happening more frequently with the web.

The end result, of course, is making life easier for users.

DIY Solutions

These days there are lots of tools such as WiX or Square Space that allow non-web folk to create their own websites. Shopify, for example, is a great eCommerce platform.

In the past these have been of a very poor quality, and so they were a cheap compromise for those not wanting a professional website. Most of these still have limitations, but are slowly improving and users can make increasingly better websites themselves. We have seen examples of DIY websites being better than low-end ‘professional’ ones.

This means that over time entry-level web agencies will specialise in increasingly higher quality work, and in turn, higher-level professional web agencies will offer more enterprise solutions.

Web agencies will not be redundant any time soon, and we’re a very long way from a DIY tool producing the work that we offer, but it means we can’t compete price-wise on low-level budget projects.

It’s worth noting that, at the moment these platforms give users the tools they need to do the job, but not necessarily the knowledge to produce something effective. Novice users will not know much about user experience, search engine optimisation or marketing strategies, for example. These may make or break the success of a website, as the small bits add up to make a website really work.

Ease of Use

This is the biggest one, a very important one, and one we are advocates of; UX, or the user experience.

Everything should be getting easier to us. Websites should be faster, seamless (as above) and work nicely on all devices with functionality suitable for each.

Google already uses a website’s usability, speed and mobile-friendliness as a ranking factor, and more importantly users are becoming more and more impatient and want everything to work fast and flawlessly. That’s where web agencies come in!

Summary

The main way that the web is evolving is to make life easier for users, which has to be a good thing.

This will be done in obvious ways that an end user can see such as shared logins, plus more subtle changes that have a lot going on behind the scenes such as a website’s speed.

AI will be used in a variety of ways, which is very exciting, but there is likely to be a battle going on behind the scenes with developers fighting to keep the positives of it without the negatives.

Here at Webbed Feet we are excited about implementing and developing the technologies that lie ahead, and have already started using AI to aid the user experience – watch this space, or get in touch!

In this article I'll explain why people get their websites hacked, how they are hacked, who gets hacked, what can be done to stop it, and what to do if the worst happens to your website.

What do hackers want with a website?

Starting with the most obvious, I'm sure everyone knows why a hacker would want access to a bank's website. It is likely also apparent why they would want access to large websites with databases of usernames, (hashed) passwords and personal details, or those with data storage or ones that accept forms of ID. In this article we are omitting these as they aren't as common for the everyday business owner, however, if you have sensitive data that needs securing, then we can help, so feel free to get in touch.

This article will focus on 'normal' websites; ones that perhaps have regular publicly accessible pages and do not contain anything of perceived value to hackers.

The point to consider here is that each of these websites individually is not that valuable to a hacker, but a lot of them, collectively, are.

If a hacker was able to hack one website, or ten, or maybe a hundred, it won't necessarily do a lot. But if they can hack thousands, or millions, then they are useful.

A common use of a hacked website is where the contents look the same to human users, but when a search engine looks at them, they 'see' it change. Suddenly a website could appear, to Google at least, to have lots of content about, perhaps watches. Add a few links back to a dodgy watch supplier, and do this over tens of thousands of websites and the hackers will start getting better SEO, and more traffic.

Or the opposite can happen, the site can look the same to search engines, but have adverts and links all over it so that, over multiple sites, lots of users unknowingly click through to where the hackers want them to go.

Another example is where the hacker doesn't care about the website, but more the computer that it is on. They can use the computer's resources, or that of the end users, to mine crypto currency or perform tasks. Again, one website on one server is not enough, but millions is a valuable resource.

They can also be used as a gateway to perhaps distribute malware, giving users files that will be opened to infect their PCs, or using the server's resources to attack other websites.

With one example we saw a few years ago, the hackers just left a "you have been hacked" message, for no reason other than to hack more websites than a hacker competitor of theirs.

So, it's not necessarily about a hacker waking up and deciding to hack your website... more likely that yours is one of tens of thousands that is a small cog in a big machine.

How are they hacked?

So, the hacker doesn't need to hack one website, but needs to hack tens or hundreds of thousands, or sometimes millions, to make it worthwhile. So how?

Well, they need to find a common vulnerability, one found all over the web, and write a tool to exploit it.

Now, there are lots of ways that this can be done, but one way is simple because the answers are given straight to the hackers.

There are lots of open-source platforms around, and without wanting to target specific examples, WordPress, Magento and Joomla are common targets as they are so widely used. Being open-source simply means that the source code that makes up the platform is available for everyone to see.

As it's open-source, various agencies are able to write and sell plugins or extensions to these platforms, which is one of the huge benefits of a platform being open-source. Of course, crucially, these plugins and extensions are also open-source, and so everyone, including the hacker, can see their source code.

Let's now assume I had written a plugin for WordPress, published it, and had 250,000 downloads. I then notice a bug in my code that means it can be exploited by hackers, so I quickly fix the issue, and upload it for everyone to download. Great, yeah? Well, not really, because the hackers can also see my old code, my newly uploaded code, and automatically compare the two to see where the vulnerability was. Now, here's the best bit (for the hackers anyway), if they check for updates every day, they are likely to see the fix, and therefore vulnerability before most of my 250,000 customers! It's a bit like a supermarket putting out a warning on their PA system "attention, there is a red Ferrari by the cash machine with the keys inside, can the owner please remove them before someone else drives the car away" - see the issue?

So, all a hacker needs to do is check multiple plugins for updates, and once one is found that patches a juicy vulnerability, they find a way of detecting which websites run the plugins, and deploying a hack automatically, and hey presto, thousands or millions of websites hacked at once. And the hacker won't know who they have hacked, or even necessarily care.

The detection part of this is fairly simple, get list of websites and it's easy to check what platform they are on, and what plugins are used, all with versions. In fact www.wp-sec.com does this for WordPress, and www.magereport.com for Magento, and these even provide links as to the vulnerabilities and, if your a techie, how to exploit them.

There are of course lots of ways of hacking a website, especially if it's a targeted attack, and that's why we offer a security audit of websites, including a penetration test to highlight vulnerabilities. We can of course lock fix them and help lock down your website.

Who gets hacked?

So, targeted hacks aside, it isn't necessarily any particular type of business that gets hacked, but more websites that are on open-source platforms, especially those who have lots of plugins or extensions.

And, by not keeping the platform and extensions/plugins constantly updated, websites are far more likely to be attacked.

So, what can be done to stop it?

It's fairly simple really, keep everything up to date!

Ideally websites should be updated daily, but that of course incurs a lot of fees from web agencies such as ourselves. Clients can update plugins and extensions themselves, or even set them to auto-update, which sounds great in theory, but often causes things to break because plugins and extensions do not necessarily 'play nice' with each other. There's a sweet spot between costs and update frequency. Whether that is daily, weekly, monthly or less frequently depends on a lot of factors.

It is however, always a race between website owners and web agencies updating code, and hackers trying to get in. Unfortunately, website owners need to win every time, and hackers only once.

There are plugins and firewalls designed to help, for example WordFence for WordPress, and they usually do a good in helping to prevent a compromise. They are certainly worth installing, but there are two drawbacks. Firstly, a paid-for version is usually required for security against any brand-new attacks because the data is often deliberately kept out of free versions for a month (that's how they make their money). Secondly, even the paid for ones aren't instant and don't detect everything straight away. There's a lot more to it than this, for example the developers who make the security plugins may let developers know that their plugin is vulnerable, but the point is it’s all a big race between the good guys updating their websites, developers of security software trying to help, and hackers trying to get in!

Unfortunately, the hackers sometimes win the race. Given the number of websites and vulnerabilities, it's just a matter of time before they skip through the net.

So, in order to stop it, website owners should speak to a website security expert to see how vulnerable they are likely to be, perhaps make some initial changes to help secure the website, get some security software (or plugin/extension) and most importantly, keep their website up to date as much is viable.

It isn't perfect, but who is more likely to get burgled; someone with a full security system, or their neighbour who leaves their door unlocked and windows wide open all day every day?

It's worth mentioning backups, they are also important, but we'll get to that...

This approach will work the vast majority of the time and be suitable for most who are just worried about automated attacks. Those with extra security requirements, who hold sensitive data, or may be subject to something targeted should really talk to an expert.

What to do if you get hacked

First of all, don't panic and rush in to a quick fix! You could easily make it worse.

If, for example, you server deletes logs or any dodgy code/files you will likely make it harder for developers to investigate; we like to see what damage has been done and get clues as to how they got in!

De-hacking a website is a job for a professional, and it has to be done thoroughly. If anything is missed, you may need to start from the beginning. Get it fixed properly, or not at all.

If you have regular backups, it will be a great help as your web agency has something to compare the compromised code with, so have more confidence in finding anything troublesome. It also means they can potentially just fix the vulnerabilities and not have to worry so much about a back door being put in (lots of ifs and buts here).

Because every case is different, it's hard to say what exactly your web agency will do, and we don't want to give away our secrets, but a very simple explanation would be:

1. Use server logs, update/version history, automated and manual scans, and the malicious code itself to find out how the attacker gained access, and locate any other vulnerabilities.

2. Prioritise vulnerabilities, and fix all of those past a certain threshold of what you and the client deem appropriate. This is always a debate between cost and likelihood of success, and here you could easily cut corners and have to start over, or spend lots of money fixing something that's very unlikely to ever be abused.

3. Upload the changes, and resecure everything. This may be a case of simply changing usernames and passwords, but with deeper hacks can often be migration to a fresh, updated, secure server. Now is also a great time to declutter unused plugins/extensions, implement protocols such as 2FA.

When we are doing this for a new client, where we didn't build their original site, we have found that during this process we often find that corners may have been cut, or things could have been optimised better, and report this back to the client. One example, was where highly sensitive images were bundled in with others, and not kept secure. In this particular case the client took our advice and we restructured this part of their system. So, it’s certainly a good house-keeping exercise as the website is scrutinised.

Is it a big job to fix?

As you can imagine that varies, but likely not in the way you’d expect.

It’s not usually the severity of the hack that gives the variation, but more the state of the underlying system, and getting complexity in getting it all up to date.

Usually when we are contacted to resolve a hacked website it isn’t because the components are slightly out of date, but because the system has been left unmaintained for years and has lots of ‘technical debt’ to overcome. All of this has to be rectified in order to resecure the website, and sometimes components have become obsolete, or replaced, and so we open up a can of worms.

Also, if we have full server access our hands aren’t as tied, and decent backups make things a whole lot easier.

We can never guarantee a fix, but so far have a 100% success rate for those we have tried – not bad!

We obviously cannot fix a cost until we know what the issues are, but our estimates are usually accurate because, as I mentioned, it’s not necessarily based on the hack itself, but the state of the system, as a whole.

It’s worth adding that hacks will not go away. There is no use patching the issue as it’ll come back to bite you, and as more time passes you may find the hackers get in to the system deeper, logs (evidence) are replaced, and backups are overwritten. Ignoring the issue will, in the vast majority of cases, result in a much bigger problem, and much larger bill!

How we can help

Give us a shout if you think any of these apply

• Think you’ve been hacked and want some advice, or want us to fix things?
• Want us to give you an audit and see if you’re likely to get hacked?
• Do you have something extra sensitive that you need locked down?

We are Webbed Feet, we take security seriously

We, however, offer services that most other agencies don’t.

Expert witness

If you’ve been left high and dry by a cowboy web agency, and want to know where you stand, we can assess everything, and advise on next steps.

Take overs

If you want to leave your current agency but are unsure if it’s possible, or what’s involved, we can take a look. Even if what you have is half built or broken, we can pick up the pieces.

Disaster recovery

Have you been hacked, or has something gone catastrophically wrong? It may not be the end of the line, and we may be able to fix things.

Speed

Is your website running painfully slow or crashing all the time? Does your current developer say that’s as good as it gets or it’s just the way it is? … well, let us be the judge of that.

Complex or legacy systems

If your website is large or complex and makes other agencies run away, or is on really old unsupported software, it may not be a write off, and there’s a good chance we can take over.

Security

Does your website contain sensitive data, or do you want to take every precaution to stop it getting hacked? Then maybe we should take a look.

Migrations

If you want to move a website from one host to another, or perhaps don’t know where to go, or even if you should, then we can help.

Integrations

If you need your website to ‘talk’ to something else, or need data imported from a different system, then we’re the guys.

We are Webbed Feet, we don’t shy away from difficult jobs, in fact we love them.

On Saturday 27^th April, 343 walkers set off from Five Rivers Leisure Centre to embark on a 6 or 10 mile walk. Being the sponsors, we of course made a Webbed Feet team, and opted for the 10 mile route.

Setting off in light rain at around 10pm, dressed in obnoxiously bright clothes, we were in high spirits. At around 6 miles, at midnight, when we reached Salisbury Hospice, the heavens opened, winds picked up, and we were soaked and cold.

We arrived back at around 1:30am lacking the ability to move our fingers, shivering, but still smiling.

The event as a whole raised over £42,000, and we are so glad to have been involved. Salisbury Hospice is such a worthwhile charity offering free support to patients, families and carers. It’s the only provider of specialist palliative care in our community and needs to raise £1.5 million towards the £2.9 million running costs annually.

You can sign up to the 2025 walk here, and cross your fingers for better weather!
https://register.enthuse.com/ps/event/MidnightWalk2025

Last month we have upgraded our fleet to electric vehicles, thanks to Sean at Carisma Vehicle Solutions.

Furthermore, we use 100% renewable energy to charge our cars at home, and power the office.

Another step in the right direction!

But I’ve been in the industry for 25 years, and in this time have learnt a few tricks and have a few pet peeves, which I thought I’d share.

Pop ups

If something is important then work it in to the page design, rather than undo all of the designer’s hard work by throwing it in people’s faces. As a user you’ve just taken the focus away from what I want to see and thrown some marketing in my face. Furthermore, if I’m on a mobile device it can often be a pain to close it.

Pop up modals

By pop ups I do not just mean promotions, but also the functionality of the website. You usually make the mobile-user’s experience far worse. Stop it.

Too many adverts

If your revenue comes from adverts then I can see their importance; but adding so many that a site isn’t usable will just annoy users, reduce impressions, and end up generating less money. A local news website springs to mind that I know many people have boycotted because they push too many ads. Use them, if need be, but don’t be greedy.

Discount code pop ups

These are not annoying as a user, but can be counter-productive for a business. I went to buy some window blinds the other day, added them to my shopping cart, then the phone rang. After my five-minute call there was a popup on the website offering me a 10% discount to purchase. So, I did, but was going to anyway. £30 off, thank you very much. I do see their use, but don’t give your money away so easily.

Too much remarketing

Ever looked for an item, then seen adverts for the item or seller everywhere? Well, that’s remarketing and it can be very effective. However, there is a difference between subtle marketing to keep my interest alive, to spamming me at absolutely every opportunity until I associate your brand with my negative thoughts.

Abuse my phone

Users may forget to opt-out to your marketing (even though, these days, you really need to get them to explicitly opt-in), and sending them an odd email every few weeks shouldn’t do much harm. But start phoning them or sending them texts and you’ll find it’s a sure-fire way of losing a customer. I ordered a pizza from a local shop rather than use a chain and, without my permission, they text me at least every week and didn’t give me the facility to opt-out. I had to go in the shop to get it done, and have never used them since…

Too much upsell

So, you add a flight to your shopping cart for a weekend away and go to check out.

Do you want to subscribe to our newsletter? No. Do you want to upgrade your fare? No. Are you sure you don’t want these extra features? Yes. Do you want to choose a seat? No. So you don’t want more legroom? No. Do you want express check-in to skip the queue? No. Do you want to upgrade your cabin bags? No. We’ll fine you if it’s too big, are you sure? Yes. Do you want to check in any bags? No. Do you need to take any equipment? No. Do you want a fast-track lane? Didn’t you ask this already? Do you want travel insurance? No. Do you want to pre-order any in-flight items? No. Do you want to hire a car? No. Do you need parking at the airport? No. Do you need a bus or train to the airport? No. Are you sure you don’t want that insurance? Still no.

This is genuine, I just did it. Enough said.

Summary: Don’t be greedy

Have you noticed a theme with all of the above?

In all examples the company is being greedy. This approach may indeed work with larger faceless organisations, but if you look at their reviews then they are often awful. People use them and put up with the pushiness because they have to, not because they want to.

This is much less likely to be effective on a small or medium-sized business, and may just alienate their customers.

Alternative: Be user focussed

To make a website work well the company needs to think of their end users, not their bottom line, and the rest will follow.

My favourite examples are shops that use Apple Pay or Google Pay, meaning lazy customers don’t need to find their payment card to purchase past a cart. I’d include myself in this, and have previously chosen take aways that have Apple Pay because I didn’t want to walk to the kitchen and get my wallet – lazy, eh!

We are Webbed Feet, we recommend putting users first

In this article we’ll look in to why this happens, and more importantly what can be done to improve things.

WordPress has a lot happening

It’s very true that WordPress has a lot going on, and the code and database are far from the most optimised out there. This is for a good reason, it allows for the flexibility that WordPress offers with plugins and themes, however it does mean that everything is overly complex compared to some other platforms.

What this means is that, when a page is loaded, potentially hundreds of files need to be retrieved from the server, and many calls to a large database made. A good analogy here is to imagine a well-organised office filing system, to another with 100x the paperwork all thrown in a pile on the desk and floor. The latter would result in a secretary taking considerably longer to find a document, and this is what WordPress has to deal with.

Can it not be optimised?

Well, yes and no. Certain things can be done, but the way that WordPress is structured means that it is inherently inefficient (because this means flexibility). Also, it’s worth noting that themes (the way it looks) and plugins (extra functionality) usually work independently, so each have their own set of files and database calls. So, if a web agency were to combine things nicely, then a regular update could break things.

So, WordPress can’t run fast?

That’s far from the case. It’s harder to optimise WordPress than some other systems due to the complexity mentioned, but it’s still possible, it just means you need to put more effort in and have more resources.

If you have a horse nicely pulling a cart, and then overload the cart, the horse will struggle. Add more horses, and you’ll get moving again. WordPress just needs more horses.

Hosting

This isn’t the be-all and end-all, but usually the hosting isn’t up to par. The server isn’t fast enough, it doesn’t have enough horses. Without getting in to too much detail, it could be down to memory, processors, or disk access etc, but usually it’s cheap hosting that shares resources. You get what you pay for, and once a server is nearing its limits it runs slower, making the problem worse, then you enter a spiral until, oh dear, everything crashes.

There are tools we have available to see whether a slow and unreliable site is likely to be server-related, specifically by seeing how long individual elements take to respond/load, seeing who else shares the server, and of course a bit of industry knowledge.

The good news is that the vast majority of WordPress sites can be migrated with a bit of work, and that we use hosting that allows us to upgrade server packages in minutes.

Out of date plugins

These aren’t always the cause, but it is always good practice to ensure that all plugins are up to date and working correctly because, if not, is it any wonder that the website crashes?

The issues are that not all plugins ‘play nice’ with each other, sites that are really old may be hard to upgrade, and some plugins or components may be discontinued. This is something we address on a case-by-case basis, and we’re always happy to have a look before we onboard a client.

Caching

This is where the juicy bits happen. You don’t need to load files from the server if they are ready in front of you, so can bypass the time-consuming bits and help the server have an easy life at the same time.

Oversimplifying things massively, if lots of people visit a certain page, then keep that page ready-to-go and send it to users when they request it. Then you only need to refresh it periodically to ensure it’s up to date.

There are lots of types of ‘caching’ (or similar processes that I am omitting for simplicity) at different levels from database calls, to pages, to caching files, to merging files, to CDNs… and, used correctly, these can make a massive difference.

How fast can you get a site?

Well, that’s the million-dollar question, and of course it varies site to site. It depends on the size and complexity of the site, the way it is built, whether it links to 3^rd party systems, the server used, the traffic the site gets, and of course the type of query the site has.

However, not trying to dodge an answer, one we took over from another web agency recently had a reduction of page load times from 15 seconds to under 2 seconds, oh, and it stopped crashing all the time, result!

What’s involved in doing this?

Would you believe it if I said to reach out and get in touch with us?

As every case is different, we’d need to look at the site, its complexity, the server it is on, the way/speed it loads components and a few other bits before we can talk numbers.

We’d usually just need admin-level WordPress access, and an idea of traffic (such as Analytics) and we’d have a good idea.

Yes, it will increase along with site complexity, but simple sites may only take a day to migrate and improve. It doesn’t have to break the bank.

I’m sure you love your web agency, but if yours aren’t a likeable bunch like us, then after you’ve moved you may get the added bonus of getting to talk to us instead.

There shouldn’t be much downtime, and once we have all of the required access it’s pretty much a process we can do without your help, and we will of course coordinate it with you.

It doesn’t cost anything for us to have a look, so if you want to know more, please get in touch.

A month later the website is getting an enquiry every fortnight, so it must have been a success!

Well, not really. What if the expected number of leads was 2 a week, then what you’ve bought would be only 25% as expected. A battery with 25% maximum capacity still provides electricity, but you wouldn’t want to buy one!

The tough part is that the most expensive one may not necessarily have been any better. Yes, you get what you pay for, but there are still web agencies that overcharge as well as those offering fantastic value.

Just to add to the confusion, some businesses can suffice with a less-polished website than others; it all depends on what they sell/offer, who they sell it to, and how much it costs.

So far, this article has likely just confused you more, so I want to explain why there is a difference in quality, and why some websites perform better than others.

Aesthetics

This is fairly intuitive, and when you’re not biased with your own company, it’s easy to see which websites have a nice design that suits its need, and which have used a cheaper generic template. Some sectors will need more refined designs than others; for example, a local village hall won’t need a high-end design like a five-star hotel. It’s easy to see why a basic design would be cheaper than something more elaborate, but once you start adding special effects and mobile compatibility it can soon make a big difference.

Structure

This is important, especially if the website is likely to expand in the future. Websites are built on a variety of platforms, each with their own benefits. Some simpler platforms offer lower cost websites, but at the cost of having less control with design and limited functionality; others may give users a lot of control, and be completely future proof but cost magnitudes more. The two tricks here are to firstly find an agency that offers a range of solutions and can therefore recommend one without bias, and secondly to ensure that you tell this agency about any future expansion or integration plans.

Attention to detail

If you were to buy a brand-new Rolls-Royce, you’d expect it to be meticulous, and you’d expect every last detail to have been inspected. With cheaper automotive brands this may not be the case. The same goes with websites, and more premium offerings will have far higher quality assurance and have every last detail thought of.

User experience

This brings me nicely on to the user experience. A web agency creating budget website may take content provided by a client and dump it on the page, whilst an agency creating premium website should consider every aspect of the content, images, layout and user journey. This is to ensure that the end user can navigate the website effortlessly, and see what they want, when they need to, in order to generate more leads

I have seen examples before where you could replace the business name and sector in the content, and the pages still read perfectly. The content was just generic padding, and no use to the end user.

Hand holding

A website project to us consists of far more than the build itself. An agency can take a brief and build a website quickly, or they can get to know the client, their business, and their end customers, to ensure that the website being produced is tailored specifically to the client. It’s imperative that every aspect of the website is thought of, and this not only means that the web designer needs to do their job, but they need to assist the client in giving them what they need. This all takes time.

Marketing-ready

Some users may well type in a web address and browse a website from the homepage, but many others may join a subsidiary page via search engines, or pay per click campaign. If SEO (search engine optimisation) is of importance, then this needs to be considered from the outset. Furthermore, if people are likely to join the website on a page other than the home page, then their specific user journey needs to be considered and the web designer needs to ensure that every such landing page contains all of the information that they need in order to turn them in to a conversion.

Maintenance & tie-ins

Often independent of the initial cost, many platforms need a lot more maintenance or have more recurring fees than others. Similarly, some web agencies only support certain platforms, and some web agencies tie clients in with their proprietary systems. Some websites can be moved away to different providers and others cannot be moved. It’s honestly a minefield for anyone who doesn’t have the industry knowledge, and again a multi-platform web agency can advise here, but most importantly, don’t be afraid to ask questions and double check what the web agency are saying.

What you can’t see

I have mentioned SEO, but there is a lot more behind a website that you can’t see that some websites overlook. For example, the load times, the reliability, how well it works for those with disabilities, how pages look when shared to social media, how Google sees your website, cookie policies, GDPR and security. These can all be omitted, often without the end-client noticing, or can be added making the website more expensive.

Place holder or essential tool?

Sometimes clients do not want an ‘effective’ website and it is only there as a placeholder in case someone Googles them to check their legitimacy, but for others it’s an essential tool required to act as a hub for marketing their entire business. Most businesses fall in between, and want as many leads as possible, and each of the points discussed contribute to making it a success.

The truth

We could comfortably make a 10-page website in a couple of days; we could grab template for a pre-built platform, quickly add the content that the client provides, put in some images, and off we go. We won’t do this, because we made the decision years ago to take pride in our work, and not to compete at this end of the market, but we could do.

But the truth is we could easily spend that same couple of days just talking and getting to know the client, helping them provide us with what we need, researching in to competitors, discussing design options, and after the site is ready, testing it thoroughly. The same amount of time spent, but without creating a thing.

Similarly, we could rush up a quick design in a few hours, or spend our time making something that's award-winning with custom illustrations and effects.

There are similarities in most industries, with clothes varying from cheap supermarket brands, to high street names, to the likes of Gucci or Dior; with cars ranging from Kias to BMWs to Ferraris; with kitchens, house builds, phones, household appliances, you name it.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with buying a Casio over a Rolex, and it is the better choice for many; and there’s nothing wrong with buying a cheap website, as long as you know what you’re buying.

Not all websites are equal!

We are Webbed Feet, we can help you understand what you’re buying

However, from time to time it doesn’t work and people take it the wrong way, but at least we can hold our heads high knowing that we tried our best.

Not the right fit

There are lots of web agencies around, all specialising in different projects and at different price-points. We like to think we’re the best, of course we do, but are realistic in that we may not be the best fit for every project. If this is the case then we’ll tell the client from the outset.

I can think of two recent examples where we recommended other agencies, the first because we would not have been at the right price point and our solution would have been overkill for what she needed; and the second because it was for a subject that our team had little knowledge of, or interest in, and we knew that one of our competitors would be able to offer more value as it was their forte.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t want to work with the people, but just that they would be best suited to someone else.

This leads me on to the second example…

Don’t like the client

Everyone is different, and you can’t get on with everyone all the time! We like to work closely with our clients in long term relationships, so it’s imperative that we like them, and they like us.

Once I travelled to East London to meet a lawyer to quote for a very specific SEO (search engine optimisation) project and had done lots of preparation as it’s a project that we wanted. When speaking to the lady in question she outright rejected every one of my ideas and was very argumentative. After around 45 minutes of having everything that I suggested shot down, she told me that she wanted unique ideas, and that my advice was almost identical to the previous three web agencies that have spoken to her.

At this point I stood up to leave, and told her that if four separate SEO professionals are giving her the same action plan, then it’s a very good indicator that this plan is correct. I then gave her one last piece of advice, and told her to listen to the next person who is in front of her as they are likely right.

She apologised, and said that she’d listen to me, but it was too late, and I told her that I couldn’t work with her, and wouldn’t expect my team to.

It won’t work

When it comes to marketing it’s imperative that we believe a project will work before we accept it, because if it doesn’t then the client won’t see the results that they expect, and our relationship will turn sour when they blame the marketing rather than the product or service. I’d really hope that other marketing agencies follow this rule.

With web development it’s potentially different because if we are not doing the marketing then we will not be blamed if it doesn’t work. However, we use the same philosophy and tell the client any potential concerns before they push the button. They can of course tell us that we are incorrect, and get us to build the project regardless, or more often than not listen to us and adjust their plan. Either way we have a clean conscious and can sleep at night.

These concerns could be related to the product or service, the amount of marketing needed to make it successful, technical or legal implications, competitors, just the general concept or, a very common one, an unrealistic budget or timeline.

One way that we address some of these points, for example technical limitations, is a feasibility study where we delve deep in to the potential complications before committing, so that the client is only risking a small portion of their budget. These usually work very well.

The truth can hurt

When someone is personally involved with their website we need to, or at least we should, watch our words carefully. Sometimes however, things can’t be sugar-coated and we need to tell a client directly some harsh truths.

One example that springs to mind is where a client wanted an image that her child drew in the background of the homepage of her (serious) business website. I needed to tactfully say that we are building a website for her clients, not for her, and her clients don’t care about a 5-year old’s drawing that should be on a fridge. This concept is true with websites in general, and some clients like to talk about themselves rather than how they can help their customers, and so we have a similar conversation with them.

Another common one is when a company have been both designing and marketing a website themselves, and come to us for help because something isn’t working and they are not getting the enquiries that they expect. If it isn’t working, then at least one thing in the process is wrong, and if they created everything then some of their work must be wrong. When we point out where the issue is, they can get defensive, even though we are doing exactly what we have been asked to do. We have surprisingly actually lost clients this way, but the only alternative is to tell them what they want to hear and agree that everything is OK, only to have an awkward discussion several months later when their results don’t improve.

A word of warning

From time to time, especially with larger projects, we have to warn clients about the consequences of their proposed actions, or lack of actions. The client may not like what we tell them, but at least we have done the responsible thing and given them the facts so that they can make an educated decision.

Once we advised a new client that they were storing highly sensitive documents in a way that is very vulnerable to compromise, and they listened getting us to do a full security audit and implement our suggestions.

With websites it’s imperative that the software is kept up to date, especially with open-source platforms such as WordPress. This, amongst other things, is vital for security. We advise clients to keep things updated, but if they have not done it for a while, or of the site is old, this is not always quick or easy, and clients have to balance the costs against potential risk. If a client’s website gets hacked, we then have to have a difficult “I told you so” conversation, and also advise them to contact the relevant people about the breach. It’s usually good to be right, but not in this case.

One good client once bought a modelling website, and our advice was to spend a day doing a full backup because the website was hosted in multiple locations. The client said that he’d just spent £60,000 on the website, and, despite being warned of the potential consequences, wanted to save costs and skip the backup. A few weeks later the RAID in his server stopped working, and long story short, was mostly unrecoverable. In a panic he asked why we didn’t advise him to do a backup, and an email thread was our defence. With our client almost in tears, I mentioned that we did a partial one anyway, without charging him, and with a bit of work were able to get his site online. A very happy client indeed!

WHAT?!?

One final example that really stands out was us telling a client that they were being irresponsible and that we wouldn’t work with them.

A church contacted us for some website amendments, which would have been fine, but we noticed a publicly accessible file that caused concern.

Because the church organised trips with the young children in their congregation, they had a list of children, their photo, name, likes, dislikes, parents’ names, other responsible adult names, schools, school pick up time, addresses, ages, pets… everything, all in one file.

When we pointed out that this was publicly available and on Google, they refused to fix it, or get us to saying that they only wanted the original amendments.

We refused to work with them, and let’s just say were brutally honest with our feedback.

The client is always right, kinda

With some of the above examples we have deliberately chosen not to with a client, and of course that would be better for us both. But with others, we have offered advice and the client has chosen not to accept it, which is absolutely fine.

If a client doesn’t want to keep their website secure, or wants us to build or market something that isn’t going to work then that’s their prerogative, and all we can do is explain the facts and let them decide.

An example of when we have been brutally honest is where we put a disclaimer within our proposal, but rather than bury it deep, it was half of the page, with a bright yellow background and a big bold warning. They signed it anyway… and it turned out that we were correct.

If you want a brutally honest web agency, or a brutally honest marketing campaign, then please get in touch.

We are Webbed Feet, we say what needs to be said.

With the recent rise of AI, we have an idea of something we’d love to build, so thought we’d try our chances, put it out there, and see if anyone wants to buy it. If you don’t ask you don’t get!

In short, it’s a multi-language website, with a twist.

We want to build a website, that will be properly be in multiple languages, but crucially the user only has to enter content in one language and we will use AI to automatically populate the others.

This would be far more cost effective of making a multi-lingual website in the long term as it will avoid the high costs of translations, and also means that a company can easily add further languages at little extra cost; the system won’t ‘care’ if there are 5 or 25 languages.

Furthermore, translations will be almost-instant, meaning that rather than having just the core content pages translated, it could automatically populate blog articles and case studies.

From our tests, using ChatGPT to translate existing text provides far better results than traditional translation methods, and it seems to be accurate. We have translated text through various languages in series and back to English, and the results are good. Of course, translations could be overwritten, or have a footnote such as “translated from English”.

You wouldn’t need to specify a base-language, so it would be great for multinational companies where articles, for example, could be written in any of the chosen languages.

We can use AI to enhance things further, for example it will be able to help us produce a truly multi-lingual website, where the menu buttons change language, where URLs are written correctly, where titles are shortened to the correct length, and we could even go as far as automatically embedding keywords in the page for SEO.

The website could use different domains for languages (such as yourcompany.es) or have sub folders (such as yourcompany.com/espanol) and, with a bit of work, we could accommodate non-Latin languages such as Chinese and Arabic)

This is of course the ‘basics’, but as you can probably see, could revolutionise languages within websites.

We are capable of making this, and would truly love to integrate AI to a content management system in this way.

It won’t be cheap at the outset, but could provide great ROI over time for anyone with a true multi-national business.

If you’re interested in this, or anything else just as fun, please let us know!

We are Webbed Feet, we want to build something cool with AI.

It’s an invaluable tool when it comes to content ideas (ChatGPT), images (MidJourney), editing images (Stable Diffusion and Firefly) and debugging/coding (ChatGPT)… but this nothing new, well compared to other AI.

The question is how are we thinking AI will be integrated in to our sites moving forward using APIs (application interfaces – i.e. making our software ‘talk’ to AI services).

To demonstrate what’s possible, let’s consider with a simple product, a blog.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could write a blog, then click a button to change the tone of it. With one click it could be formal, chatty, it could rhyme, sound like a pirate ('arr), or be turned in to a story for a child.

ChatGPT is pretty good at translations, and as such you could manage multi-language sites so easily with the CMS (content management system) automatically translating blog posts or pages in to the relevant languages.

On the home page of a website, you often see the first paragraph of a blog article, but if you look at this article, that would be “It’s exciting times for us web-folk now that Artificial Intelligence is on the horizon, and here at Webbed Feet we are already using it.”, which isn’t representative of what this article is about. Rather than asking a user to write a snippet, you could get AI to do this for you and cut it to the correct length. It could also create titles, descriptions and headings and ensure that they are the correct length.

With SEO in mind, it could edit these titles, descriptions and headings, but also create an optimised URL, and even integrate keywords in to user-provided content.

Although it would need to be used carefully, a CMS could even have a 'finish this article' button, 'make article shorter' or 'split article in to two halves'. Suddenly writing articles could be made considerably easier.

Whether this is a good idea is debatable, but social media ‘share’ buttons could also be improved, with social media integration, where the article is not only posted to various social media platforms, but AI could reply to comments on your behalf.

The advantages are not just restricted to language-model AI's. For example, AI could automatically create a suitable image or icon for the article, and use set of filters to keep it consistent with others. This could of course be overridden by the user as they write the article.

There is always the issue where users’ images are not good enough for the web, for example the user may be uploading a photo of a car, and the photographer was too close, so as soon as the image is cropped, parts of the car disappear. This is not an issue with AI as the background can be automatically extended, seamlessly adding more trees or grass. Also, the image could be cropped in such a way that the car is central.

If a user uploads an image, it could be too small and grainy, and AI can sharpen this. Similarly, it can improve the weather or, taken one step further, potentially used to remove or change unwanted elements.

Although not essential, it’s currently recommended that a human writes the article (here is an example of a solely AI generated one), but the tools that AI can offer to assist the user are huge.

The main issue being that AI currently recycles existing information in some form, so you need humans for ideas and innovation. But with machine learning progressing as it is, will this be this way forever? Will AI create blogs about things never yet thought about by humans? I guess that’s another article!

We are Webbed Feet, we are excited for the future.

It’s best to look at reasons for updating vs replacement, and take it from there…

Design

Fashion doesn’t only apply to clothes, it applies to cars, interior design, and of course websites. As with other types of fashion, it will age at different rates depending on different factors. A website for a ‘trendy’ modern startup will likely need to be redesigned sooner than a website for a general builder.

Of course, the web agency can design some form of redundancy in to the design by keeping the design behind cutting-edge, and using tried and trusted techniques, but they’ll only work so far.

Over time the trends will change, think of menus; a decade or so ago there were buttons on the left-hand side of the screen, then a menu from the top (still used today) and now modern sites have what looks like a hamburger (three horizontal lines). Menus have evolved due to the increasing use of mobile phones for browsing websites.

Depending on a few factors, such as the underlying framework, and the amount that needs to be changed, it is often possible to give many websites a facelift, which is an interim update considered as perhaps a lick of paint, or a semi redesign.

Content

Content can usually be updated fairly easily, and where space for new content doesn’t exist a web agency can often add systems for case studies, blog articles, or landing pages, and adapt the menu to accommodate them. These, again, depend on the underlying system but mean that pages and content can be added both for users, and search engines (SEO).

The issue arrives when a website evolves along with a business to such a stage that the whole structure changes. There is a point where it is more efficient to start again and relook at the overall structure from the ground up.

When businesses get to this stage it is often after several years because they have evolved and expanded beyond their expectations at the start of the project, so having a fresh look at the site is often beneficial anyway as the target demographic may have changed as well.

Technological advancements & user expectations

Technology is changing rapidly, just consider the vast progress that artificial intelligence has made in the last six months. Think of the speed at which search engines change their algorithms, what social media sites are trending, and recent integrations with mobile phones and payment methods.

Cutting-edge sites are more affected, and are often pushed to upgrade because of the way that their competitors do things. Consider two online shops, one allows you to pay only by credit card, and another allows you to use PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay.

This isn’t driven by the technology itself, but using modern technology to adapt to user behaviour. Users want to find what they are looking for quicker and easier than ever, they want fast loading pages, want to be able to filter products and swipe between options, want one-click purchasing, and want it all to work seamlessly on any device.

Taking things back a few years, who, these days, will navigate websites on their mobile that are not mobile-optimised?

This is tricky for web agencies to predict, and often manifests as a website not working as well as it used to, rather than it being apparently broken.

Updates

I’ve talked before about technical debt, which is best explained with an analogy. If you don’t maintain or service your car there will become a time when the mechanics sucks air through their teeth, and tells you the repair bill will cost more than what the car is worth; all of the little niggles add up, magnify, and start causing issues.

This is just as true for websites than it is for cars, especially those on open source platforms such as WordPress , Joomla and Magento. These all need updating regularly, and rely on themes, modules and plugins that also need updating. Furthermore, these websites sit on top of another system(s) that updates, and they may also integrate with 3^rd party systems that, you guessed it, update. They are all viewed through web browsers which now often automatically update, and these browsers run on operating systems, that update. You only need one of these updates to not be compatible with another update and you start getting issues.

The trick here is to keep on top of it, yes, the updates will need to be done, but doing them little by little is good practice, spreads the costs, and allows a web agency to suggest alternatives along the way, alternatives that may help with technological advancements as mentioned above.

So why not leave the website and not update it? Well, many people do this, and it can be fine for many years, but this is burying your head in the sand. A time will come where the system will stop working due to a 3^rd party upgrade or of course there are security implications, especially with older software being EOL (end of life) and not supported.

Many of these updates have a security fix meaning that without updates they are prone to being hacked, and if that happens, the site owner suddenly has a much larger issue on their hands.

As technology evolves, websites need to be updated.

Performance and growth

After talking about the negatives of having to update software, follows the best reason to upgrade a website, which is where the company has grown to such a point that the old one no longer suffices.

This is often due to the traffic increase due to more users or sales, where the old site runs slowly, or just isn’t as efficient as it was.

Also, the business itself may have grown in to other avenues and need a whole section added in order to push forward.

These are great times for web agencies as we know that are clients are successful, and/or about to have a growth spurt, so we can see what has worked best so far, and formulate a strategy to move forwards.

It’s easy for a client to spend money improving a website when they know they’ll get it back in spades, and have seen this happen before!

So, what about your site?

Our advice would be to get your web agency to look over it periodically, perhaps an annual chat where you ask them if your website is up to modern standards and to give it a once-over. They’d be happy to tell you how to spend your money, and should give truthful feedback about what is a nice-to-have compared to what is almost essential. Quite often there are cheap touch ups that can make a big difference.

How we can help

Of course, even if we’re not currently your web agency, we’re happy to look at, and take on the majority of projects built by others.

We’d love to give your site a once-over and make suggestions about what can be improved, or answer the difficult question of whether you can improve it with updates, or whether you should start fresh.

If you're interested, please get in touch.

We are Webbed Feet, we can update websites as well as rebuild them

Hey there! As developers we've witnessed firsthand the incredible popularity of WordPress. It's a game-changer in the world of web development, serving as an open-source content management system (CMS) that powers countless websites and blogs worldwide. Its flexibility, ease of use, and continuous updates make it an indispensable tool for content creators. Today, we want to share with you the exciting developments in WordPress that are making it even better for managing websites.

Introducing WordPress 6 and the Revolutionary Block-Based Editor: With the recent release of WordPress 6 in 2021, we're thrilled to introduce you to its standout feature: the new block-based editor. Say goodbye to the limitations of the previous editor. Now, you can effortlessly create and customise content using pre-built blocks for images, videos, lists, headings, and more. We can't help but be amazed by the intuitive drag-and-drop functionality that allows you to arrange and style your content exactly the way you envision it. It's a truly exciting upgrade!

Embracing Modern JavaScript Technologies: Staying Ahead of the Curve: As developers, we know that keeping up with industry trends is essential. That's why we're excited to share that WordPress is no longer stuck in the past. It has moved away from the old JavaScript library, jQuery, and embraced modern technologies like React, developed by Facebook. This major shift improves performance, interactivity, and compatibility with the latest web standards. By adopting modern JavaScript frameworks, WordPress is positioning itself as a cutting-edge CMS that empowers developers and enhances user experiences.

Leveraging the Power of JSON for Efficiency and Functionality: Another significant advancement in WordPress is its adoption of JSON (JavaScript Object Notation). This lightweight and easily readable format revolutionises data transfer within web applications. The result? Smaller file sizes and improved platform performance. By leveraging JSON, WordPress stays ahead of the curve, ensuring optimal functionality and seamless integration with other web tools and applications.

Taking Control: Ensuring Security, Performance, and Customisation: While WordPress offers out-of-the-box themes and plugins, we want to emphasise the importance of taking control of your website's performance, security, and customisation. As developers, we've seen firsthand the potential vulnerabilities that arise from neglecting proper maintenance. That's why we're here to help you navigate this aspect, ensuring your website is secure, loads quickly, and remains conflict-free. With our expertise, you can fully customise and manage your website, tailoring it precisely to your unique vision.

Conclusion

So, if you're looking to leverage the true potential of WordPress, don't hesitate to get in touch. Our team of experienced developers is passionate about helping you make the most of this powerful CMS. Let's collaborate and create a website that not only impresses but also delivers exceptional performance, top-notch security, and unmatched customisation.

Reach out to us today and let's embark on an exciting journey of WordPress development together!

Comprehensive project analysis

First and foremost, we need to understand the project in hand. This means we need to listen to the client carefully and often look at all available resources, including code, behind the scenes. We can also look at past correspondence to see why previous decisions have been made, and there is sometimes a bit of research involved if anything is unfamiliar.

It’s imperative that we do not start looking for a solution until we understand the problem.

Strategic planning and road mapping

Once we know the problem and goals, we can figure out a way to get there, along with milestones, timescales and deliverables.

This usually isn’t straight forward with complex projects as there are often several possible paths, each with a different strategy. A good example here would be whether we build on an existing system, or create one from scratch.

We need to set realistic expectations for both ourselves, and the client, as well as ensuring the plan is flexible enough to accommodate unforeseen circumstances, to ensure the project keeps on track.

It identifies the necessary resources, defines roles and responsibilities, and sets realistic expectations for all stakeholders involved. We must ensure that the plan is flexible enough to accommodate unforeseen circumstances while adhering to the client's overall vision.

Feasibility studies

With really complex tasks, or ones with many unknowns, it may be necessary to have a paid-for feasibility study within one or both of the above tasks.

Often tasks need to be started in order to see how complex or difficult they are, or even if they are plausible, and this can often take a while. It’s of utmost importance that we explain the process, and what we expect to find to the client, so that we can manage their expectations.

Similar feasibility studies can be used where we have a project with little, or no specification, for example where the client isn’t aware of the options, or the project is investigative, such as a website that has been hacked.

Assembling the right team

Large and complex projects require a diverse range of skills and expertise. We carefully assemble a multidisciplinary team that comprises web developers, designers, project managers and marketers.

We ensure that each team member possesses the necessary skill set and experience to contribute effectively to the project's success, ensure that their own personal timelines fit in with that of the project, and create clear communication channels and regular internal meetings to help foster collaboration and synergy among team members.

Agile project management

Adopting an agile project management approach is crucial when handling complex projects. An agile methodology allows us to break down the project into smaller, manageable tasks or sprints. Regular iterations and feedback loops help identify and address any issues or deviations early on. Agile project management ensures that the project remains on track, delivers incremental value, and allows for adjustments based on evolving client requirements.

Robust communication and client collaboration

Effective communication and collaboration between our team and our client are vital to successfully navigating large and challenging projects. We establish regular touchpoints, providing project updates, seeking feedback, and addressing any concerns promptly. Active client involvement throughout the project lifecycle fosters transparency, builds trust, and ensures that the final outcome aligns with our client's expectations.

We put suitable systems in place ensuring that client communication is straight forward, and can be tracked.

Quality assurance and testing

Maintaining the highest quality standards is a top priority for any significant project. We implement rigorous QA processes, including extensive testing and bug tracking, at various stages of development. This approach helps identify and rectify any issues early on, ensuring a robust and error-free final product.

Continuous learning and improvement

We have been building websites for 22 years, but every large and complex project presents a valuable opportunity for us learn and improve our processes. Once the project is successfully delivered, we conduct a thorough post-mortem analysis, evaluating what worked well and identifying areas for improvement. These insights are integrated into future projects, enabling us to refine our strategies and enhance our overall performance.

Conclusion

Tackling large and complex projects requires a combination of careful planning, skilled teamwork, effective communication, and a commitment to delivering exceptional results.

Our ability to analyse project requirements, create a strategic plan, assemble the right team, and implement agile project management practices sets the foundation for success.

By maintaining open lines of communication with clients, upholding stringent quality standards, and embracing continuous improvement, we can navigate complex projects with confidence, delivering outstanding digital experiences to our clients.

If you have a project that is not straight forward, please get in touch.

We are Webbed Feet, we love complex projects!

Here's our story…

Our sustainability and green practices started in 2019 when we became carbon neutral, ensuring that we offset all of our primary CO₂ using a Verified Carbon Standard, which was verified by Carbon Footprint.

Then, in 2020 the pandemic made us realise what was really important, crucially our families, and we wanted to leave a world for our sons and daughters. So, we decided to backdate our carbon emissions not only to where we were first incorporated in 2008, but to 2001 when we were established as a partnership… plus a little bit extra for any avoidance of doubt. We have therefore been lifetime carbon negative since we started 22 years ago.

In some ways the pandemic changed the business world for the better, for example making online meetings the 'new normal', reducing travel, reducing post and paper, and encouraging remote working. When the world finally emerged from the pandemic, we kept a lot of these practices helping our green effort even more.

Then, in 2022 we moved office, which was a great time to improve our insulation and windows, choose an energy supplier that uses 100% renewable energy, remove our gas heating, reduce water waste by installing toilets that reuse water from the sinks, installing a smaller more efficient electric boiler, replacing lights with LEDs, and at the same time going virtually paperless. It was a perfect opportunity for a fresh start.

We also started planting trees for new clients, and trying to (gently) spread the word by doing presentations about how easy the transition to becoming greener is.

A third of our staff currently work at home full-time, and we've signed up to the government’s cycle scheme to encourage staff to cycle to work. Following this, it seemed a small step to look at our suppliers, all the way from our website hosting companies, down to our tea, coffee and toilet rolls (which is a minefield).

In all honesty, none of these changes have individually been difficult or expensive to implement, but the old adage is true and that little by little, a little becomes a lot.

We are very proud to be the first company in Salisbury to be awarded the Gold Award for our engagement in sustainable practices by Green Business Association.

Obviously, this is just the start of our journey, and hopefully others will follow in our footsteps. We're more than happy to answer any questions about going green… or of course website design and development, and marketing.

We are Webbed Feet, we care about the planet that we leave behind for our kids.

Introduction

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significantly transformed the world of website design, and GPT-4, the latest iteration of OpenAI's powerful language model, is at the forefront of this revolution. GPT-4's capabilities extend beyond simple text generation, offering website designers a robust tool for content creation, strategy, marketing, and even coding. In this article, we'll explore how GPT-4 is changing the landscape of website design, making the process more efficient, effective, and accessible to all.

Content Creation

GPT-4's language generation capabilities are a game-changer for content creation. By providing prompts or a few keywords, designers can generate high-quality, contextually relevant content in seconds. This saves time and resources, allowing designers to focus on other aspects of the project. Additionally, GPT-4 can create content in multiple languages, making it an invaluable tool for businesses looking to expand their global reach.

Strategy and Planning

One of the most important aspects of website design is developing a comprehensive strategy. GPT-4 can be used to analyse competitor websites, extract insights, and identify trends that can inform your design strategy. By inputting relevant keywords or prompts, GPT-4 can generate suggestions for website structure, layout, and user experience, helping designers make data-driven decisions that enhance website performance.

Marketing and SEO

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and digital marketing are critical components of a successful website. GPT-4 can optimise website content for SEO by generating keyword-rich text, meta descriptions, and alt tags, ensuring your website ranks high in search engine results. It can also be used to create engaging marketing materials such as blog posts, email campaigns, and social media content, further driving traffic to your website. By utilising GPT-4's language generation capabilities, website designers can create targeted marketing campaigns that appeal to their audience and boost website visibility.

Coding and Development

While GPT-4 is primarily known for its language generation capabilities, it can also be utilised for coding and development tasks. By providing a prompt describing the desired functionality, GPT-4 can generate snippets of code in various programming languages, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. This can help streamline the development process, particularly for those with limited coding experience.

Additionally, GPT-4 can be used to identify and fix issues in existing code. When provided with a code snippet and a description of the problem, the AI can analyse the code, identify errors, and generate a solution. This feature can save valuable time during the development process, allowing designers to focus on optimising website performance and user experience.

Conclusion

GPT-4 has emerged as a powerful tool for website design, offering an array of features that can enhance content creation, strategy, marketing, and coding. By harnessing the power of AI, website designers can create engaging, user-friendly, and optimised websites with greater efficiency and effectiveness. As AI continues to advance, the potential applications for GPT-4 in the realm of website design are limitless, paving the way for a new era of innovation and creativity.

This article was written entirely by AI (GPT-4)

These are often one line or one-sentence specifications and it’s nowhere near enough for a web agency to quote.

I’ll explain why with an example; a “messaging system”.

Does the client want a very simple system where it allows users to email each other? This is practically no extra work on most systems, so is unlikely to impact the cost.

If not, do they want a self-contained system in its most basic form, or want additional features? This is where web agencies start to raise questions, and where the complexity of the tender rises exponentially… along with the price.

Can you message more than one person at once? Do you need messaging groups? Can they be renamed? Can you add people to these groups are they are formed? Can you see when people are online? Can you search through previous chats? Do you want profile pictures/icons in chats? Do you want to enable emoticons (smileys)? Does the chat need to operate in multiple character sets (different languages)? Does it need to allow attachments such as PDFs, sounds, and videos? Does the chat need archiving functionality? Should it support images? Do you need notifications? Should it be standalone or should the login automatically link with other parts of the system? Do you need a way to report abuse to the admin? Can admin see messages? Should a user be able to undo or delete their own comments? Does it need to be end to end encrypted? Do you need a time-out for security? Do you want to allow users to theme their messages? Can users block others from messaging them? Can you ignore others or mute conversations to stop notifications? Do you need access to standard GIF libraries? What about voice recognition?

Seem a bit far-fetched, and that I’m being pedantic?

Well, Facebook’s Messenger has all of the above features, as do other common platforms, and the issue is that that’s what people learn to expect. Clients will often describe a simple messaging system, wanting all of the above. But that’s far from simple.

So here we have options ranging from a free email link to something that could take months to build. Where do we, as web agencies, aim our quote?

• We could go in at the lower end, assume it’s a very simple messaging system, hit the brief, but massively under-deliver and disappoint the client who likely expected more.
• We could go in at the lower end knowing fully well that the client won’t be happy, and expect to invoice the client for additional changes getting the project to the specification that they expected. This happens far too often.
• Or do we go in high, assume they want most of the functionality, and more than likely not get a chance of winning the tender as we don’t look as competitive.

We could, and of course, will ask the client a few questions. But this is likely to be just one requested feature of many, and specifying what the client needs will take days or perhaps weeks, and that is assuming that they have enough time to answer every question that they are asked by every web agency that they sent the tender to.

In reality, the client hasn’t even thought about this, or maybe wasn’t even involved, and will often need to revert to a committee to answer any questions.

So, what’s the solution?

What the client really needs is a dedicated phase with a web agency. During this, the web agency will scrutinise all of the required features and ask questions as I have above. They’ll discuss any implications with the client, and make sure the client knows exactly how this will affect functionality, expandability and price. Once a specification for each requirement has been agreed, ‘plans’ are quite often made to specify everything in detail. Also, if the client is up front with their budget, a web agency can help tailor the specification to match the budget.

This is of course a paid-for project, as it could take anything from days to weeks depending on the project, but the deliverables will be a specification that any web agency can be used to produce a more accurate quote or estimate.

Of course, the web agency producing this specification hope they will get the project, but this is not a given, and the client can take this document to the competition should they wish.

A good analogy here would be paying an architect and structural engineer to develop a plan for building a hotel, before passing it to construction companies to provide quotes.

This is not always a necessity but should make it clear why sometimes web agencies lead their prospective clients in this direction. It really is a good move as it means the client and chosen web agency to end up having the same specification in mind when a proposal is written and a website is built, and this way no one is disappointed with the outcome

The tendering process as a whole often encourages web agencies to under quote to ‘get their foot in the door’ and then add on charges at a later stage. This is a perfect way to avoid this and manage expectations from both sides from the outset.

The names of these projects change between agencies, but we call them ‘discovery phases’ if they are aimed at producing a specification, or ‘feasibility study’ if we are trying to determine if something is possible, or how hard it is to accomplish.

The aim here is to choose a web agency that you trust, and work with them to develop a full specification that will deliver what you're after, be expandable, and hopefully within budget.

We are Webbed Feet

Whether it is their website and SEO, flyers and brochures, networking meetings, Google Ads, social media marketing, cold calling, promotional mugs, vehicle wraps, all of these have one single point of failure, and unfortunately, a lot of businesses have this, especially during the pandemic. This can pretty much stop the vast majority of this marketing from working, costing businesses customers, and wasting their money.

Let’s explain this by way of a story…

A few years ago, we were approached by a business and asked to quote to sort out their SEO and website as they weren’t getting enquiries.

After a bit of research, we concluded that their SEO was in fact decent, and their website, although far from perfect, was workable. So, with permission from a partner, we embarked on something sneaky.

We used fake accounts to make ten enquiries over the phone, email and the website’s contact forms. All of these were to different departments. A week later, only two out of the ten enquiries had a reply.

Here’s the thing, when you’re looking for a supplier you’ll allocate some time, do some research, make some enquiries to a few companies, and then wait for a response. Those who don’t reply are not considered. Usually, people only keep trying to get in touch if they really want to do businesses with you specifically.

So, in short, this company was throwing away around 80% of their custom and wasting 80% of their marketing budget.

Our advice to them was to forget websites and SEO, and to get another receptionist!

We got the job anyway!

With people working from home during the pandemic this is happening more, and many businesses are missing out on work.

So, the single point of failure is not answering enquiries in a timely manner. This alone can stop your marketing from being effective.

This can be as simple as answering the phone and, if you miss a call, calling the number back even if they don’t leave a voicemail. But also replying to emails, even if it’s a simple “All received, we’ll be in touch in 24 hours”.

There’s no point spending thousands on a website or digital marketing if you don’t take advantage of what it brings you.

So, a top tip would be to think of how persistent you would be choosing a supplier; would you keep trying one that won’t answer, or move to the next? If you’d move on, then think whether you do this in your own business, or even better, get someone to secretly test you when you least expect it!

We are Webbed Feet, we answer enquiries

One of my clients once said that setting up a Google Ads campaign is like gambling. Every time he presses ‘start’, he would just anxiously stare at the dashboard as it was a roulette wheel in a casino.

This analogy always makes me smile, although this is exactly how most people feel when starting their first Google Ads campaign.

Not surprisingly. Google Ads is a very powerful tool but also one of the most challenging ones. It takes a great deal of practice to master it, and it’s easy to waste a great sum of money in the meantime.

To save you some headache, I’ve made a list of the top 5 beginner mistakes.

1. Using vague ad groups

If I had £1 every time I saw this mistake, you wouldn’t be reading this because I’d be sipping Piña Coladas on my private yacht right now.

Many beginner users are guilty of creating one generic ad group for their entire business and stuffing it with all different keywords for every service they offer. This results in a low ad relevance, low click-through rate and consequently a low conversion rate. For the simple reason that people expect to find exactly and only what they’re searching for.

Each of your ads needs to be specific to one service. Remember: mixed messages are a big no-no in dating, and so are they in pay per click advertising.

Let’s see an example. If I have a hair salon, I should run a different ad group for each type of hairdressing service I offer. Putting “balayage ombre” and “pixie cut” keywords in the same ad group will not do me any favours.

2. Using broad match keywords

Broad match keywords are the second most evil things straight after the 5-day workweek. Some digital marketers say you shouldn’t use only broad match keywords in a campaign. I’ll be a little more dramatic and say that you should forget about them altogether.

Every time someone tells me that “they’ve burst their entire budget with no results”, broad match keywords are my prime suspects in the case.

Unfortunately, this is the default match type in Google Ads, and inexperienced users don’t change it. This can be a costly mistake because the little bastards will attract any search term that’s ’broadly’ similar to our keyword.

This is the PPC equivalent of inviting the whole neighbourhood over to our house saying it’s all on us. We’re simply exposing our ads to people who are not even looking for our service, ending up spending our daily budget on irrelevant traffic.

I would suggest using only phrase match keywords and a few exact matches. The bottom line is to banish broad match keywords from your life for good. (I wish we could do that to the 5-day workweek too.)

3. Not using negative keywords

Here’s another analogy. If broad match keywords were a person, they would be that one friend at a night out who keeps persuading us to get another round of shots for their friends’ cousins’ friends’ table. Then we look at our bank account the next day, realising how much money we spent on drinks for people we don’t even know who they were.

Negative keywords, on the other hand, would be our ‘always responsible’ friend. The one who makes sure that we don’t forget our wallet on the bar counter when ordering. Negative keywords are one of the most vital tools to reduce the amount of money we waste. To put it simply: whatever we set as a negative keyword will prevent Google from showing our ad if a user searches on it.

Let’s say I still have a hair salon, and I offer professional hair colouring. One of my keywords may be “hair colouring”. The problem is that some people who search on that keyword are looking to dye their hair at home, and they’re not interested in my service. This is where negative keywords come to save the day. We can simply put some search terms on a ‘blacklist’, such as “hair colouring at home”, “box hair dye”, etc. This way we can eliminate those users who are not looking for a salon service. Honestly, use negative keywords. I can’t stress enough how important they are.

4. Not using location targeting

In our globalised world, some people tend to forget about location targeting completely.

I’ve seen numerous dentists and butchers advertising their services nationwide. But my favourite one was probably the MOT service station running their PPC campaign worldwide.

I don’t even need to explain the problem here. If I advertise my Blackpool MOT station worldwide, the ads will, well… show up worldwide. And there’s absolutely nothing that stops someone in India or Mexico from clicking on my ad. Chances are, though, they won’t book their cars in for a full service.

Don’t get me wrong, some services do benefit from targeting globally. But if your business only operates within a certain geographical region, don’t forget to use the specific location targeting to avoid wasting money on people who can’t access your services.

5. Underestimating how lazy people are

This is probably the biggest – and most common – mistake, even amongst digital marketers. (Ironically, mostly due to our own laziness.)

This point briefly connects to the first one where I said users expect to find exactly what they’re searching for. This, however, does not only apply to the advert they see but also the landing page they arrive at.

Creating a different landing page for each product or service is a time-consuming task and - let’s be honest - we all hate to do it. But we really should. We need to make sure that our website has a very specific landing page for every ad we run, and it completely answers what the user is searching for without having to click elsewhere.

There must be an accurate description of the advertised service and a “contact us” button directly below it (so the users don’t need to look for the contact page). What you need to remember is that website visitors’ average attention span is 6-8 seconds, so this is all the time for you to shine. There’s one thing you should never do; never send all your traffic to your home page.

I hope you find these points helpful with your campaign building. But please don’t panic if your campaign doesn’t perform well for the first time. As I said, Google Ads is a very complex platform, and the most important thing to do is keep testing things to see what works and what doesn’t.

However, if you feel like it’s all too daunting, feel free to give us a shout, and we will do the hard work for you.

Drop us an email here if you need help with your Google Ads campaigns.

We are Webbed Feet; we are certified Google Partners.

These services include online marketing strategy development, Google Ads campaign management (PPC), search engine optimisation (SEO), Google Analytics online performance audit, social media advertising management (PPC), organic social media management (including profile management, content creation and analytics), content marketing and email marketing (EDM).

A little bit about my background

I’ve always loved creative arts and literature. However, I've also been interested in psychology, digital technologies and the commercial world. At first, I wasn’t sure how to turn this seemingly random range of interests into a career, so I went to study Communications and Media Science. During my studies, I did an internship at an online marketing agency specialising in buzz marketing. This was the moment I fell in love with digital marketing and realised that it allows me to merge all my interests.

Digital marketing provides me with an excellent opportunity to combine insight with creativity to create “art with a purpose”. This is the approach I’ve applied to my work ever since. It’s also the guiding principle of my advertising management and content creation. Finding the best opportunity to boost a client's business based on as much data as possible.

My digital marketing journey

As it became clear that I saw my future in this field, I decided to get a marketing degree under my belt. I graduated from Solent University in 2020 with a first-class honours BA (Hons) in Marketing with Advertising Management. Upon completing my course, I wrote my dissertation about social media’s effect on consumer behaviour. I was honoured to receive the Professor Derek Holder Prize for the best dissertation in the field of data-driven and digital marketing.

As digital marketing is one of the fastest evolving areas, openness to innovation and continuous learning is very important to stay relevant. Today’s trends may well be obsolete in as little as a few months. For this reason, I regularly attend professional training courses to keep up with the latest trends and technologies. I’m also studying for an MSc in Digital Marketing at the University of Southampton to further my industry knowledge.

How can I help you?

If you need some help to get your customers through your door (or your landing page), or you would like to engage with your audience in the digital world and turn your prospects into customers, feel free to give us a call or pop us an email.

We are Webbed Feet, we don’t only make websites, we want you to get the most out of it.

The good parts like busy Christmas markets, children’s plays and gathering with friends are likely to be prohibited, and the essentials such as food and gift shopping are going to be awkward.

So, if you do get grumpy, fantastic… get constructively-grumpy!

The main lesson here is that the current way of life is new to everyone, and we’re all learning as we go and bound to be making mistakes along the way.

So, if you’re shopping for groceries, and get annoyed that someone is breathing down the back of your neck, or the sanitiser has run out, ask yourself whether your workplace makes staff and customer feel secure.

If you try 'click and collect', and find it frustrating that the shop isn’t open before or after the school run, think if you are open all hours.  If a shop is busy due to lack of staff, ask yourself if you have any staff off that could be working.

Have you arrived at a shop only to find them shut, or phoned someone up and keep getting voicemail? Well, this applies to all businesses, do you make it clear on your website and social media what your special terms are? Do you list opening hours and explain that people are working from home?

If you are fed up with physical shops and move online, pay careful attention to what annoys you. Slow loading times are a big one, lack of information on products, hidden contact details, difficulty on filtering (narrowing down) of products or services, websites not working well on mobile phones, the list goes on.

Cheeky plug – this is where we come in, we’re a web agency that will happily improve or finish websites built by others! Interested? Get in touch!

This isn’t just focussed on retail either. I have tried to buy a few things recently and needed to talk to someone, and have been diverted to voicemail, or sent to someone's mobile with no reception.

Imagine your potential customers are grumpier than you, put yourself in their shoes and see what would annoy you. This is quite a hard thing to do, but what a fantastic opportunity we now have this December with everything more different, restrictive and stressful than ever.

On a positive note, don’t forget that most people and businesses are trying their hardest, so be nice, and hope others will do the same to you.

Have a merry Christmas and a Quacky new year, the Webbed Feet team.

I can see that this company can be found on Google, Yell, Facebook and Instagram. Great, what fantastic marketing, surely?

Well not really, they say where they can be found, but are missing the two biggest points, who are they, and what do they do?

The back and side of their van has no logo or identifying information. Maybe it is elsewhere, but if I can’t see it, it may as well not be there.

Surely you wouldn’t do this? Well, many people do, way more than you’d think.

People often miss the basics and start talking about specifics, whether that is in person, websites, or printed literature. These start to confuse the potential customer who, without content, gets a little confused.

What you need to do is, take a step back, and look at your marketing with ‘fresh eyes’. Assume that your potential customers know absolutely nothing about you, and follow these steps.

1. Tell them who you are
2. Tell them what you do
3. Guide them to the next step

Keep it simple, concise, and clear.

Yes, you can, of course, give them reasons to use you, sell your products or services etc, but make sure you follow these rules.

Think carefully about the third step. Do you want them to phone you up? Go to another page on your website? Ask a question?

Consider this:

 “What do you do then?”

“I offer fantastic value for money and strive to make my customers happy. We offer free quotes, don’t tie people into contracts, and keep everything simple”

That’s great, but they’ve missed the important bit…  “I’m David, and I’m an accountant based in Bournemouth”.

Just make sure you get to the point.

Oh, and if you have social media icons, they are useless if people can’t follow them.

We are Webbed Feet, we are a web agency

If you’re ambitious in life it’s almost certain that you’ll have goals, whether these be formalised in a business plan, or just a few thoughts in the back of your head.

In order to achieve a big goal that may seem unachievable at first, I’ve always found it useful to give myself several smaller goals, and within these smaller tasks to complete.

This is where Judo comes in. When I started I wanted to get a black belt.  This sounds a simple task, but one that isn’t quick to achieve, and if I was on my own but would be tricky to know where to start.

Luckily Judo has a system which does the planning for you. In order to get a black belt, you first need to get a brown belt and enter some competitions. Before you can get a brown belt, you need a blue belt, and so on. So the goal of getting a black belt is sub-divided into smaller goals of being awarded all of the other belts first.

To obtain each belt you have to have completed a set of tasks from the syllabus, such as demonstrating a particular throw, choke or lock.

So there we have many manageable small tasks, which in turn complete a small goal, and over many years these accumulate to the big goal.

Many business coaches use a similar strategy in order to keep people moving forward and expand their business. I also find it a great system on a personal level; if you don’t like something, set yourself smaller incremental changes to set yourself in the right direction.

As with a black belt, any significant business or personal goal could take many years, and it’s unlikely that it’ll be smooth sailing the whole time. Yes, it happens, but in reality, you need to take a step backwards in order to move forward.

With Judo this is often the case through injury, of which I’ve had my fair share. If you hurt yourself, sometimes the best option is to pause, regroup, wait for things to get better then carry on. Other times it’s possible to stray away from the syllabus and do something else that helps. For example, if you can’t do any physical training, you can certainly learn the  Japanese terms and maintain your focus towards your end goal. I remember lying by a swimming pool in Turkey learning my Dan grade (black belt) theory… I wasn’t going to let a holiday get in the way of my goal.

What an injury can’t take away is all of the hard work you’ve already invested. What it really shouldn’t take away is your focus, drive or end goal, it should just change the path needed to get there. You really shouldn’t stop or give up, as that will be the beginning of the end.

This is where Covid comes in, this is an ‘injury’ to many businesses, and in fairness a really bad one. Some businesses are doing well, others are adapting their offering to keep moving forward, and unfortunately, some are having to pause and regroup. As with Judo, the ones that are having the worst experience will have to work the hardest, but try not to give up hope, and try and keep the end goal in sight.

If you’re forced to shut your doors, is there anything at all you can do to keep yourself busy and making progress towards your end goal? Even silly things such as decorating, or getting your bookkeeping up together mean that when your doors open, you’ll be ready to go.

The Internet is a hive of free knowledge, so are there any books or videos you could read to help train yourself to enhance your offering?  Are there any jobs that you’ve always put off that you can now do? This certainly isn’t a ‘rethink reskill reboot’ suggestion, just tweaking what you have.

Don’t overwhelm yourself trying to get it all done, just tackle tasks off one by one, meaning you’re moving in the right direction.

I personally find that doing these tasks help me keep a positive mental attitude, whether that be through sports, or my personal or business life.

Everyone is different and will have their own struggles, but it was never meant to be easy. We’re all in the same storm, not the same boat.

Stay safe everyone, and let’s get through this together.

We are Webbed Feet, we are a web agency that thinks positively.

Obviously, it’s good that web agencies are growing and getting bigger clients, and we’ve done this ourselves, with several PLCs and well-known brands to our name, but this really shouldn’t be at the expense of the smaller clients that helped us grow, and help us survive.

Back in 2004 we had a call from an eccentric entrepreneur called John. He was a very likeable fellow and came to us with a half-built French property website, and he wanted small and frankly messy job costing a few hundred pounds.

John’s aspirations were huge, but his budget was modest at best, and we happily took on the project bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

To our surprise and delight, John gave us small job after small job, by making adjustments to his website, eventually turning it into a classic car directory, before asking us to do a complete website rebuild. Each change we made was paid for from the profit of our previous changes, and so it was a win for both us and John.

Over time this site had another full rebuild into a leading multinational site and John, being the entrepreneur that he was, had more business ventures with us, Webbed Feet, alongside him.

This small messy job costing a few hundred pounds turned in to be the biggest client that we ever had, at one point providing permanent work for over half of our staff.

Furthermore, we met a friend; we had several tours of John’s lovely house, were delighted to be guests at his birthday evening in his grounds, and like to think we helped him along the way.

It’s safe to say that, without John, we wouldn’t be in the position that we are today.

John has taught us a valuable lesson, and that’s not to forget where you’ve come from, and not to dismiss clients because you’ve outgrown them. You never know what opportunities they may bring.

We’re sure that some other web agencies could learn a lot from our experience with John.

So yes, if you have a huge website and big budgets we’d love you to enquire, of course, we would. But equally, we’d be just as happy to have several smaller clients; it’s about quality, not quantity! Just because your project is small, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be valued.

So, if you’re not getting the customer service that you used to, feel free to pop us a call or email. We’re not in the office at the moment due to Covid, but still working from home, still answering the phones, and just as eager to help.

Thank you, John.

We are Webbed Feet, we help businesses of all shapes and sizes

On one hand we’ve seen customers batten down the hatches and put their websites on the back burner, usually those who use it just as a brochure or reference.

But on the other, we’ve seen many customers using their website as tool to gain customers and push their businesses forward despite the circumstances. These customers typically have the “do your worst, we’ll fight to the end” attitude.

For some this is nothing new as they have always used their website as a tool. Others are updating their website to pivot their business somehow; Some are new to this and simply asking “how can I use my website to get me customers?”; And a few are making preparations so that when they are open, and business is back to normal, they’ll hit the ground running and be in front of their competitors.

Obviously a big factor as to what can be done is the sector that a business is in, but we’ve definitely seen the positive and pro-active attitude of many business owners not only help them survive, but seen them thrive.

One example I know very well is us, Webbed Feet. When Covid hit in late March we were as worried as the next person, but in our team meeting decided to push forward, market as hard as ever, and most importantly, we stayed open (albeit from our homes).

Although we're lucky with our sector (web design and web development), it wasn’t as straight forwarded as it sounds, and we’ve had to invest in an infrastructure to make this possible, and get used to managing our projects remotely, but it’s worked!

We’ve also tweaked our offering; yes we still make websites and online shops, get them high up in search engines and all that malarky, but during lockdown we’ve realised more and more that many clients need to make what they have work.

So we’ve been pushing the fact that we can improve or market existing websites, no matter what they are built in or who built them.

We have been changing content, adding functionality, improving user journeys, integrating websites with other systems (eBay, Google, Amazon etc) and even finishing half-built websites… essentially adapting what clients have so that their website becomes a valuable tool to help them through these difficult times.

We’re also practicing what we preach, and are currently getting investing time in getting own website up to par and giving it a well-needed refresh... we’re just having to make the time!

2021 can’t be as bad as 2020, or at least we all hope so, and Christmas is only 12 weeks away… it’s coming up very quickly. So we’re already planning ahead to 2021 with our clients, and telling them that if they want to start 2021 with a ‘can-do’ attitude, and relaunch their business online in the new year, then now is the time to start planning it.

We’ve no idea what 2021 will bring and there will be some casualties in the business world, but it’s not taking us down!

Onwards and upwards

We are Webbed Feet, we’ll get through this, and hope you do too

This is great if you have a ‘throwaway car’, but if you have something a little newer then a few years later you’ll take it to a mechanic who’ll suck air through his teeth when telling you how much money you’re going to need to spend to get it road legal.

This is exactly what happens with a lot of websites, and is known as being in ‘technical debt’. Effectively you ‘owe’ your website an increasing amount of money in order to get it to a baseline.

But why is this an issue?

We’re different to many other web agencies in that we’ll happily take over and modify websites from others; in fact recently this is becoming an increasingly larger part of our business.

When clients approach us with a list of their modifications it’s pretty common that, before we can do them, we need to fix the ‘mess’ that has been left behind.

Examples that jump to mind would be WordPress, Joomla or Magento websites that haven’t been updated in a long time, projects where functionality has been ‘fudged’ in for a short term fix, or ones that have been left to stagnate.

It’s never nice to be the bearer of bad news and tell a client that their website is going to cost a lot of money just to get up to par, and even worse when it would be more cost effective to start over.

Worst case, and one that we see all of the time, is where the customer has had their website hacked because it hasn’t had security updates. They have turned a cheap routine procedure in to a long and expensive process that could potentially cost more than the website is worth, and potentially cause damage to their reputation, harm their SEO and even lose work because of it.

This is why I thought I’d share a few things that you can do to keep on top of your website in order to avoid disaster one day when it suddenly becomes unfit for purpose.

Keep it updated

If you have a website built on an off the shelf system such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Umbraco, or Magento ensure that it is always kept up to date.

Try to avoid botches

OK a lot of this is down to your web developer, but if there is often a proper way of doing something, and a cheap way, trust their advice and do it properly.

Test it frequently

The amount of websites that we see that have a broken contact form or map is phenomenal. Every month or two scan your site on both a PC and mobile phone, and look for errors. Can you make a booking? Is everything clear? Does it load fast? Even test the phone numbers, I’ve seen a few recently where they don’t work!

Keep up to date with technologies

Does your website have an SSL certificate? Does it work perfectly on mobiles? Is it optimised for search engines? Ask your web agency if there is anything you should be adding – I’m sure they’ll welcome the potential work! Keeping on top of this now means you’ll avoid a sudden shock later on.

Review the content

A website may easily last five years, but in this time your business could change drastically. Therefore, is the content up to date and relevant? I know we’re reviewing ours now as our business has evolved a lot recently.

Spruce it up

Websites go through design phases just like everything else. Is there a way of giving it a ‘lick of paint’ to prolong its life?

Websites are one of the most powerful tools we have to generate business, and are our ‘shop front’ to the world, 24-7, so it most certainly is worth looking over them from time to time and keeping them ‘serviced’.

This will not only make them work more effectively, but will prolong their life, and help prevent a or big problem or unavoidable costs in a few years.

We are Webbed Feet, we like our clients to keep their websites up to date

I went to a body shop that I was very happy with under their old management, but decided that they now weren’t for me, and walked away when I could.

The similarities between this industry and my own (web design and development), became very clear.

I popped past two months ago and asked for a quote, and they seemed pretty cheap, perhaps too cheap, but it was only a SMART repair, going by their past reputation I asked to book it in. They couldn’t do it there and then, and said to call back a few days later. I did, and booked it in for the next Friday at 8am, and thought that all was well.

I arrived 7:50am on the Friday, and at 8am spoke top one of the technicians, who said I wasn’t in the book, but that it would be no issue, and I’ll be the first job after they’ve finished with what they are doing. I could collect the car at lunch.

After lunch I phoned the landline, and mobile several times to no avail, so turned up at the end of the day, and was told that they couldn’t fit it in, would never have fitted it in, that the landline doesn’t work, and that the person who the mobile belongs to is off for personal reasons. They told me to return 8am the following Monday, when they open, and they’d do it.

So I arrived 7:50am on the Monday, waited, waited some more. At 9am they were still closed. At this stage alarm bells started to ring, and I was wondering if I had made the right choice.

I was talking to another one their customers who said they usually open 8am – 9am, perhaps later as it’s a Monday and they may have had a busy weekend! He had his van covered in masking tape of bits that they had missed and needed correcting. A bit worried I continued to wait, and at 9:15 a friend of mine arrived, who had her car done by them the previous week, and it was given back to her with a few drips, and another bit unpolished and scratched. She hadn’t yet paid and was going to get it repaired, again.

At 9:20 with a body shop supposed to open 80 minutes ago still bolted shut, and with two poor quality jobs outside, I decided to go elsewhere.

I went to one of their local competitors with a good reputation, and had a far better experience. I was greeted by a well-dressed, polite man who took a look, and told me that a SMART repair wasn’t ideal in this situation, and he’d rather take the bumper off, and why. That my previous quote was “too cheap”, and said he couldn’t match it. He said he wasn’t the cheapest body shop, but my car will leave flawless. I told him to quote anyway, we made a deal, and it was booked in.

I had no doubts in my mind at all that it would leave perfect, although it’d cost me slightly more. And I was correct, the car left the body shop as new – thanks Bodytech Salisbury.

So what has this got to do with web agencies?

Everything!

We are that second body shop. We could do cheap botches on old websites, and get customers coming back with complaints all of the time, but we don’t. Why? Because we do things properly.

The old saying “buy cheap, buy twice” is so right. And, like the second body shop, sometimes paying a little but more is better, and in this case it wasn’t actually a huge difference.

For the body shop my car was just a small job of many, but for me, I love my car and wanted it to have their full attention, and didn’t mind paying a little more for that to happen. For us, making or upgrading a website is an everyday occurrence, but for our clients their website is important, costs money, and they want it done properly. The same can be said for most industries, and it’s important that every project, big or small, is done properly. Very few clients would want to have their project rushed in order to get the price down if the quality will suffer.

The clues that the first body shop would be bad were there from the outset, a company that won’t answer the phone, seem to have no coherence between their staff, an out of date website with incorrect phone numbers, don’t open on time and don’t deliver what the promise. They made it very difficult to book in work, and were obviously rammed off their feet fixing issues from previous jobs. I should have listened to my gut earlier… as it happens I feel I did it just in time. (I made the correct choice as my friend took her car back four times and the original body shop still couldn’t get it right).

Similarly, it’s important to make sure that we are doing all of the little touches with our own businesses, and that we don’t push away clients before they book work in. Any potential customers looking need to be reassured that they are using a professional company that will put the quality of the products or service first.

We pick up a lot of projects from clients who have been disappointed by other web agencies, and quite often it’s quite a way down the line… Just like having a bad respray, sometimes the bad work needs to be undone making the overall fix harder,

The point of this article is 2-fold. Firstly, as a consumer look for tell-tale signs as to whether the company you are choosing have the attention to detail that you want and then, importantly, listen to your gut feeling. And secondly, as a business owner, ensure that you give out the right impression to your potential clients.

We are Webbed Feet, we are a web agency that do things properly.

We started our mission to offset our CO₂ last year, by offsetting both the 2018/19 and 2017/18 years.

Today we decided to push a little harder, and offset our CO₂ for not only 2019/20, but also backdated it to cover 2015/16 and 2016/17.

What we are planning on doing is backdating our CO₂ emissions every year, until we reach our incorporation date, effectively undoing any damage that we have ever done as a company.

This year we have supported projects helping with deforestation reduction, hydroelectric and wind power in South America through the Verified Carbon Reduction Projects.

It’s only a small step, but it’s certainly in the right direction

We are Webbed Feet, we are carbon-neutral web designers, who love our planet.

I’ll admit that throwing someone over my shoulder, or choking them until they pass out hasn’t helped me run a web design agency, but Judo isn’t just about fighting…

Firstly, I didn’t get my Dan grade overnight, it took years of training and hard work and of course, Judoka (people who participate in Judo) don’t go straight to black belt, they work through their belts one by one. This is analogous to a business where we adapted our business plan to take us from where we were, to where we wanted to be in a series of calculated steps. We were looking at completing smaller steps, but always with the end goal in mind.

As Judo is a full-contact martial art, at times it’s inevitable that Judoka get injures, and I had my fair share. It’s very easy to tear a ligament, break a bone, dislocate a joint, or pull a muscle (I’ve done all of these) and make excuses to give up. It’s just as easy to injure yourself and postpone training for a few months until you’re better, but that’s not the attitude. What real sportsman do is to do what they can to train around their injuries. Don’t make them worse, let them heal by all means, but a broken finger doesn’t mean you can’t run and improve your fitness, or go to the gym and train your legs. Even in the worst case, you can still show up and support your friends to keep in the correct mind-set. Judo made me think about business in the same way in that we are bound to have obstacles, but we need to make the best of them, and work around them and do what we can. At the time of writing, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, and there are things we can’t do such as face to face meetings, but ways we can overcome these, for example, Zoom meetings

Martial arts are always known to instil respect, with Judo there things we always do, for example, bowing to an opponent or when we enter/leave the Dojo (room) or get on or off the Tatami (mat), but the real respect is always given to your opponent. If someone stands before you wanting to fight then it’s important to realise that they deserve to be there. No matter what their size, shape, or what belt they are wearing, they have trained hard to stand before you and deserve the utmost respect for doing so. Again the same with business; one of our best clients, who became a good friend over the years, first approached us as an eccentric with a very humble business idea. We treated him as if he was going to be our biggest client ever, bending over backwards to do what we could, and, guess what… that’s what he became! We wouldn’t be the business we are today without John!

In Judo the idea is to push and pull your opponent until they react, then use their own momentum against them. This means very subtle actions and a lot of attention to detail. I’m usually 16-17 stone and used to do a lot of powerlifting, but at the same time, I used to spar against a small lightweight black belt called Mani. He was very hard to fight and could throw me around like a rag doll at times, not through force, but as he had better attention to detail, and could read what I was going to do. The same is absolutely true in business, and we need to spend less time speaking and more time listening, and then take what we have learned to help our clients. This makes for a well-written proposal that promises what the client wants, and ultimately a product or service that will deliver what they expect. This means happy customers and a better business.

I’m 4 minutes into a fight in a competition; I’m struggling to get the oxygen in and seeing stars. I’m being strangled by my own Gi (Judo suit). I want to give up, I could end this just by tapping the Tatami (mat), but I don’t, I struggle and get free, only to be thrown and dislocating my big toe. Luckily the throw wasn’t precise enough to lose the fight, so I grin and bear it, and manage to pin my opponent on his back, but with all of my weight on my toes I’m in so much pain, and I’m grimacing counting down a timer in my head until I win the fight. Then I do win and get an ice pack, and suddenly the past 5 minutes no longer matter, it’s over and I won. Well, when COVID-19 reared its head many businesses feared for the worse, and we were one of them. Rather than shut up shop we decided, as a team, to fight until the end. It doesn’t matter what we have to do, how much we work, how long we’ll try, we’ll fight until the very end. So far the journey hasn’t been as bad as we had envisaged, far from it in fact, and we owe this to our ‘fighting spirit’.

A final lesson learned from Judo is always to be humble. There is always someone better than you, and even less experienced Judoka can catch you unaware. You can always learn, always improve, and just need to be the best that you can be. Absolutely this is true with business; don’t get complacent when times are good or jealous when times are bad. Create relationships with clients and competitors, and honour these no matter how your business is doing. Always be prepared to listen, you most certainly do not know it all, and make the most out of what you have.

For anyone with children, I would strongly suggest Judo, or any other martial art, not just for the ‘usual’ fitness, confidence or self-defence aspects, but for the other lessons that it instils, that genuinely give you a good foundation in life and business.

We are Webbed Feet, we have the fighting spirit

What is certain is that your business will need to stand out from the crowd so that you get the work rather than your competitors, and that many of us will need to adapt our offering to face the ‘new world’ in front of us.

The Government are offering bounce back loans of between £2,000 and £50,000 (up to 25% of your turnover) to help businesses get back on their feet.

It’s lunchtime on Monday, and this week we’ve already had two future clients contact us, wanting to use part of their bounce back loans to buy new websites so that they have a solid foundation when they can reopen.

One company wants to move to online sales in a slightly different market, seizing a trend that they have spotted during lockdown. The other wants to establish themselves locally as experts in their field, whilst publicising the quality of what they offer.

So why are these loans so appealing?

• Most UK-based businesses that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 are eligible
• They are easy to apply for online (some banks take under 5 minutes)
• They are very fast (one client had his money in 2 days)
• They are interest-free for 12 months, and only 2.5% for the next 5 years, crazy for a commercial loan
• No payments need to be made in the first year
• The government will 100% guarantee the loan
• No setup fees, no early repayment fees

Examples

If you wanted to spend say £4,500 + VAT on a custom-built website and marketing, pay nothing upfront and nothing for the first year, then just £96 a month for 5 years.

A smaller £3,000 + VAT custom built website; pay nothing upfront and nothing for the first year then just £64 a month for 5 years.

If you wanted to spend £10,000 + VAT on an eCommerce website and £5,000 on Google AdWords to kick start your business, pay nothing up front, and nothing for a year, then just £302 a month for 5 years.

Even the full £50,000 loan, only has £3,242 of interest over 6 years (averaging £45 interest per month), or interest-free if paid back within 12 months.

Great opportunity

Admittedly this isn’t a free website, but it’s unlikely we’ll get such a great opportunity in our lifetimes.

What a great time to revamp your online presence and kick start your marketing, getting your ducks in a row ready for when the country gets closer to normal. Time to make sure that you  don’t get eaten by the covid bear.

The government have handed us this opportunity on a plate and it’s time to take advantage of it to stay ahead of the game.

If anyone has any questions about the application process, websites, marketing, or anything else, please get in touch.

We are Webbed Feet, we will get through this.

<sup>* Note that any financial decisions should be discussed with your accountant or other professional. All facts and figures above should be double-checked and Webbed Feet UK Ltd accepts no responsibility what-so-ever for any actions taken after reading this article. Importantly you may only be eligible for one bounce back loan, so make sure you borrow enough to cover every eventuality, and not just your website and marketing.
* Details here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-a-coronavirus-bounce-back-loan</sup>

So today I thought I'd share a couple of the things the Webbed Feet team are doing to try and help.

The first, and most important thing is to make sure you're keeping yourself protected by following the government and scientific advice.

3D Printing PPE

As worries in regards to the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) supply have grown, a number of free and open-source designs have appeared to allowed both hobbyists and large industrial firms to 3D print a number of stand-ins. It's been wonderful to watch these groups grow, and develop working models that are already being used on the frontlines and protecting our essential workers.

As 3D printing PPE began to emerge there were concerns about how the logistics would be handled, something that's particularly tricky with the current lockdown in place. As a result, a number of groups have sprung up all over the country (and indeed, the world), each connecting makers in their community with the health services and other essential workers local to them.

Since the beginning we've been 3D printing the designs produced by HackThePandemic, a self-funded group of makers in the Bath and Bristol areas, their designs are NHS approved and they already have a team (and building) set up to handle sanitisation and cover logistics. You can see a tour of their factory below:

If you have a 3D printer, and you're in a different area, but still want to help out, there are a number of groups out there with different designs and levels of support - one to check out is the National 3D Printing Society, as they already have a robust delivery network with drop off points all around the country.

We'll continue to print as much PPE as we can for as long as we can, and of course, we've donated all of our remaining materials to the cause, have just bought new hardware, and hope that those that are able and have the supplies will join us in contributing.

Folding@Home

Don't have a 3D printer, but still want to help?

If you have a spare computer, you can donate your spare computing power to help Folding@Home simulating protein dynamics to help with disease research, and COVID-19 can be prioritised. This service takes big complex problems, and breaks them down into smaller tasks, these are then distributed to its members, who donate their idle computing power and runs the simulation, before sending it back to Folding@Home to be processed and studied by scientists.

All you need to do is install a small app on your computer, and then it'll automatically start running jobs when you're not using your computer, and then pause when you start doing something.

If you'd like to give Folding@Home a try and join some of our staff, you can check out the Folding@Home Start Folding page. The majority of users will likely be fine with the express installation, which will automatically tune the software for your specific hardware. During the setup process, it will give you the option of joining a team, there's lots of them out there.

You can find more about Folding@Home on their about page, as well as their Covid19 page.

There are more detailed guides for specific hardware, and if you get stuck feel to contact us, and we'll try and help.

Other ways to help

There are other ways to help too, people have been organising stay at home fundraisers to raise money for various charities and other institutions which have been deeply affected by the pandemic. Others have been sewing ear savers from leftover material.

We wish everyone all the best in this difficult time, and if we can do anything to help please let us know, and in the meantime, don't get eaten by the COVID bear.

As always, if you need us, please get in touch, and please stay safe.

We are Webbed Feet, it's not much, but we're doing what we can

During week one, Boris announced a few things that made us have more confident, hopefully a SBRR grant amounting to £10k, and 80% of our PAYE to furloughed staff… but then something extraordinary happened, and we now have quite a backlog of work, albeit from home!

If COVID-19 wasn’t in the news, my accountant would describe last week as a “good week”, lots of repeat business, and surprisingly a few new large-scale contracts, but why?

With web design, one of the biggest obstacles that we have is time; not ours, but that of our clients. Writing content, liaising with us on designs and layouts, and focussing on the website as a whole whilst running a business day to day is hard. But hey, for better or for worse (definitely worse in this case) the day to day running of businesses has slowed, which means this particular obstacle has disappeared.

Not for everyone though; those who are key workers or those struggling with cash flow will have issues, but for companies with a cash-rich business, a long term strategy and some all-important downtime, then what an opportunity!

We’ve had quotes that have been ‘open’ for a year, and now the business owners finally have time set aside, so have ‘pushed the button’, and we’ve had new clients from web agencies that have shut prematurely, urgently wanting things done. Many of our own clients have pushed forward taking advantage of our free staff, rather than having to wait weeks for availability like normal… it’s not all bad.

Like many others, we’re uncertain about the months to follow. We’ll make it through this, there’s no doubt in my mind now (time to thank the measures put in place by the government), but it’s this confidence of the future that we have, that many share, that will push businesses on.

So what are we doing? Well, for now we are ‘full steam ahead’, fulfilling contracts and deadlines, and surprisingly taking on new projects… but with an economy on pause, we’re not naive enough to think that this isn’t indefinite.

So what we are suggesting to people is if you want a new website or modifications to yours in the foreseeable future, then now is the time to act! I don’t necessarily mean by signing a new contract (although people are doing this), but get in touch. Even if we have to furlough our staff in the weeks or months to come, my business partner, Alex, or I, will be here to get the fundamentals in place.

Whether you want a new web site created, or your current one upgraded by Webbed Feet, or even another web design agency, it doesn’t matter. Why not give us a call, and help us tell you what it is likely to cost, how it should be structured, how it should look, and importantly what you can do in preparation. Then, when the time is right, you can give this information at any web agency and they will be able to get started, with minimal input from you, and get it completed quickly.

We don’t want anything for this; we welcome a phone call or email, we’re just happy to get the ball rolling.

Most clients of our, and other web agencies' clients, struggle to find the time to get their website underway, and what an opportunity this is!

So get in touch, don’t expect any high-pressure sales techniques, or an unexpected invoice, expect a friendly chat, and some advice on what you can do for when you’re ready to buy a new, or modify and old website.

We are Webbed Feet, we’re here to chat about the light at the end of the tunnel!

So, for a bit of fun, we’ve taken a look back in time and grabbed a few screenshots of websites from household names, mostly from 2001, the year that we were established.

To put this into context, when we started creating websites social media wasn’t a thing. Most people connected to the Internet using 56Kbps modems, including us. Google was in its infancy and people used search engines such as the now-defunct AltaVista. Netscape Navigator was one of the main browsers. eBay had competition from QXL as an auction website. Most people used Windows 95 as their operating system. And Aaron and Alex had hair!

Anyway, here are some older websites including our own – enjoy.

Click on an image to make it bigger.

1. Amazon - 2001
2. The University of Bath (where Aaron learnt to design websites) – 2001
3. BBC – 2001
4. BMW – 2001
5. BT – 2001
6. eBay - 2001
7. The Facebook (now known as Facebook) – 2005
8. Google (that still looks similar) – 2001
9. Nintendo – 2001
10. Webbed Feet – 2002 (our 2001 site isn’t complete)
11. Woolworths – 2001

Amazon
2001

The University of Bath
2001

BBC
2001

BMW
2001

BT
2001

eBay
2001

The Facebook
2005

Google
2001

Nintendo
2001

Webbed Feet
2002

Woolworths
2001

The concept is a good one, as it helps prevent debit and credit card fraud, but if businesses have ignored email warnings from their providers, many could have broken payment systems this morning and even worse, some may let through some transactions and not others, depending on the implementation.

So what should you do if you take online card payments?

Firstly, many people think that an easy test you can do without involving your web developer is to try and put a real order through the system as a customer. This could work, and if there is an error it will definitely show things aren’t working, but you could also get a successful transaction (due to the specifics of your order) even though other customers may have issues. You can have an indication as to whether it works, but can’t be 100% sure with all gateways. The issue is that every payment provider implements their gateways differently.

So what should you do? Ask your payment gateway or web developers. They can either check gateway versions or will have a test mode they can activate, and special details that will trigger the checks.

If you don’t have a web agency, or you are unsure, we can always help, just get in touch.

So, what is SCA?

Well as part of the Second Payment Services Directive (PDS2) Europe is rolling out Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), and the UK are following.

The launch date for this was 14^th September 2019, so the bank and payment gateways set the wheels in motion, and then the deadline was extended until 2020, but it seems the majority of banks and payment gateways have made the switch anyway.

When you pay for good or services, you sometimes just enter your card details, but often you get a 3D Secure pop up asking for further details like characters from a password. SCA is essentially an extension of this, and will extend the security by asking for at least two of the following:

• Something the user possesses, such as a mobile phone.
• Something the user knows, such as a password.
• Something the user is, such as a fingerprint.

This means that if a fraudster has your credit card, they can’t easily place online transactions unless they have for example your mobile phone, and know your personal data. This means fraudulent transactions should be vastly reduced.

There are exceptions, for example, low value (under €30 is suggested), low risk, or recurring transactions, but users will see this pretty much across the board.

Payment gateways have been planning this for a while as it is a major task, and should have been sending warnings to merchants, but from our experience, many of these have been ignored.

Some solutions will just work as the payment providers have done the hard work themselves, others may require some manual adjustments from your web agency, and ones on open source systems may need a plugin update.

It seems that the payment gateways have used this as a good excuse to discontinue older versions of their software, and so others may need a full upgrade.

This really is something that needs to be decided on a case by case basis, so we’d suggest everyone test theirs ASAP, and if they have any issues get in touch with their web developers, or with us.

And from now on, as a consumer expect to have more stringent checks and better security.

We are Webbed Feet, we fix broken payment gateways.

Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that we are advocates of websites with content management systems and sell them ourselves, and the purpose of this article is not to say that they are bad, but to highlight some issues that they have.

When a website designer creates a website they will produce brand guidelines with the website. In its simplest form this will show what colours and fonts are to be used in the document, for example, headings are dark red in Arial 12pt, and buttons are in a dark blue box with curved edges. These brand guidelines are carefully designed to ensure that the whole style of the site (and other media/literature) matches so that there is consistency in the website that contributes to a professional look across different media and literature that subtly tells the user that they are all related and helps build the brand.

Imagine a set of leaflets, each designed by someone different, each with a different colour scheme, font, shape, some with photos, some with cartoons, it would look a mess. This is what brand guidelines strive to eliminate.

So, a couple of decades ago the web designer was often solely responsible for updating a website, and as such would ensure that all changes adhered to the brand guidelines.

These days, a web agency can create a website, add a content management system for a client, and this can be updated by multiple people, with no design experience and possible without actually ever seeing the brand guidelines. The end result is that one page has a call to action highlighted in bright red, another as a big button, and another with a yellow background. The end result is that the professionally made brand guidelines have been broken, and the website starts to lose its professional appearance. We see this all the time.

So how is this prevented? Well here’s the tricky part. Some content management systems offer full flexibility, and literally give the clients a page builder where they can modify everything. This is great for the experienced user following brand guidelines, but can easily go wrong. Other content management systems are ‘locked down’ so that the users enter a title, description or testimonial and it is formatted automatically To keep the site adhering to the brand guidelines but offers less flexibility. There are of course lots of options in between, it’s a sliding scale.

Whether you have a flexible system such as WordPress’s Gutenberg, or something more restrictive such as a custom system where the web agency can decide what clients are given down to a colour or font box, there will always be advantages and compromises.

So which is best? As with most things in life, it depends on the site, the client, the number of content editors, their experience, and the brand guidelines.

Here at Webbed Feet, we work with pretty much every content management system, so can find one that fits the client.

We are Webbed Feet, we’re here to advise

Harry from Tru-Fit in Scotland is leaving us due to retirement.

Harry has been far from our biggest client but has been special for two reasons. Firstly he has always been very nice and easy to work with, but most importantly he was our first ever client.

Harry put his faith in us over 18 years ago in July 2001 by leaving Yell and getting Aaron, the only web designer at the time, to build his website, and since then it has been nothing but plain sailing.

We’d like to wish Harry a long and enjoyable retirement, and thank him for putting his trust in us when we were starting out.

Harry, it’s been a pleasure.

Our team want to change the way that we work and use some of our profits to help ensure that our sons and daughters, and the generations following them can say the same.

With Salisbury City Council recently passing a motion to declare a climate emergency, and Theresa May committing the UK to net carbon emissions by 2050, we’ve taken action and offset all of our CO₂ from last year.

More than that, we aim to not only offset any CO₂ that we create moving forward, but offset any that Webbed Feet has created in the past, and have started this process by offsetting twice what was calculated for the year.

Not only have we offset our CO₂ using a Verified Carbon Standard, and been verified by Carbon Footprint, the whole process has led us to determine the ‘weak’ points in our business, and we will strive to reduce these and consider the environment more moving forward.

Small steps we know, but with our funds helping hydroelectric and wind-based power, it’s nice to be heading in the right direction.

We are Webbed Feet, we are web designers, and we want a planet for our children.

But what does this mean for your website?

What has changed in v8? How does the migration from v7 to v8 work? What if you can't update? We have put this article together to cover everything you need to know about Umbraco v8, and what it means for you.

What's changed in Umbraco v8?

Umbraco v8 has been in the making for more than 5 years, and that's a long time in the web development world, one of the biggest reasons for this was the sorely needed cleanup of the codebase. Much of the older, legacy code has been removed, or reworked or tweaked to take advantage of newer functionality and performance improvements - offering a much improved experience for developers. A couple of developer focused features have also been welcomed, our favourites include the removal of the old XML based cache (umbraco.config) in favour of NuCache, and the inclusion of a Log viewer built right into the Umbraco Backoffice.

But this release also focused heavily on improving the experience for content editors using the Umbraco Backoffice. To this end the entire interface has been overhauled, moving the section bar from the left side to the top of the screen, resulting in a much cleaner and more focused editing experience.

The Umbraco team have touted 3 key features they're excited about in v8, each of which is designed to improve the experience for both editors, and developers; Infinite Editing, Language Variants & Content Apps.

Infinite Editing:

One of the first things the Umbraco Team announced via their Blog regarding v8, was the new frictionless editing experience, which they're calling Infinite Editing.

Less of a single feature and more a core user experience philosophy, Infinite Editing offers support for tweaking almost every aspect of each content element without forcing the user to navigate away from what they are working on.

In practice what this means is that you can manage content or settings related to the content you're working on without navigating away. So you can add new Media inline while adding new a new page, or tweak Document Types without abandoning your current work, navigating away, tweaking the Document Type, then going back and updating the piece of content you were initially working on. This results in a much simpler, more fluent workflow when managing your website's content.

Below you can see and example of Infinite Editing in action.

Language Variants:

When it comes to websites, content is king, and it's been this way for a long time now, but content can also be incredibly complex - especially when it comes to dealing with multiple regions, languages and language variations.

To help reduce the complexity of managing multilingual content Umbraco v8 brings a brand new set of tools that they're calling Language Variants. This has required some rather large changes under the hood, as Umbraco has been tweaked to work with variations of content from the ground up, but the end result means you can quickly and easily manage your content in as many languages as you need.

The Umbraco Editor has also been updated to support a new side-by-side mode, which easily lets you edit two pieces of content side by side. This is incredibly useful when used in conjunction with the new Language Variants. For example, if you're having an editor translate a page from English to Spanish they can view both side by site to ensure content parity. Once they've ready they can use the updated preview functionality to compare the end results.

You're also now able to define a list of mandatory languages, requiring a content be in both languages before you're able to publish. Alongside this you can also select which Language Variants to publish allowing you to publish all variants or a subset of variants in one go, this is particularly useful for handling things like product launches, where different regions may get access to the same product at different times.

Content Apps:

The final heavily touted feature in Umbraco 8 is Content Apps. Content apps are designed to compliment your editing experience, and are available as part of the content node meaning you can easily make use of them while managing your content. The core concept behind Content Apps is not to extend or change your editing process, but instead to give you specific insights in to, or provide real time feedback on the content you're currently working on. What kind of functionality they implement will depend on your specific use case.

Perhaps you'd like to get access to historic Google Analytics statistics for a particular piece of content, or you'd like to measure Flesch reading level, or sentance & word complexity of an article you're working on. This fits in very closely with the Infinite Editing changes, it's all about minimising distractions for content editors, no more navigating to a 3rd party website, or opening some software and then entering content to have tested, and waiting for results - instead now you can get this functionality built right into the editor!

^{Analytics Content App by Anders Bjerner}

What about v7?

We've seen hints that 7.15.x will likely be the last major release in that stream, and the Umbraco team have announced that they'll be supporting version 7 projects on their Umbraco Cloud platform until September 30th 2023 - which gives you quite a bit of breathing room.

Beyond that we don't really know exactly what will be happening with v7. The team have said that v8 is their priority and will be the primary version receiving any new feature or functionality moving forward but have also said that v7 isn't yet being discontinued and that those that postpone updates for now won't be left too far behind.

Can I upgrade?

As you can see Umbraco 8 brings a lot to the table. Unfortunately because of the breadth of changes, there isn't a direct upgrade path to upgrade from version 7 to 8. Instead much like previous versions the general advice is to set up a fresh install of the latest version and then manually migrate your content over to the new install.

The Umbraco team are working on a content migration tool to allow you to migrate your content, media and members from your existing Umbraco 7 site over to a fresh install of version 8, this should help ease the process although at the time of writing there's no ETA for this tool.

Of course the content is only one part of the update, you will also need to migrate over templates etc, as well as any code that implements custom features or functionality - and these may need minor tweaks, or a complete rewrite to work with v8. You can use the Umbraco Compare Release tool to help anticipate the kind of changes you may need.

This whole process is made more complex as currently many packages haven't been updated to support version 8, and some probably won't ever be updated.

We've found that simple sites, making use of a few key packages and little custom code have updated without major issue, but we've run into issues on some more complex sites which use packages that haven't yet been updated, or make heavy use of custom code to add functionality.

Want some help?

If you're concerned about your Umbraco site, or if you'd like somebody to help manage and support your Umbraco site please get in touch - our expert Umbraco developers can help with all aspects of Umbraco.

Unfortunately, this is all too common, but why does it happen and what can be done about it?

There are cowboys in every industry, and web design is one of them. However a lot of the time this happens it’s because the web agency has bitten off more than they can chew, or simply underestimated the work involved when quoting for the project.

Often such projects are built on open-source systems such as WordPress, Joomla or Magento and the web developer has expected to be able to use a plugin or module to handle the required functionality, and this hasn’t delivered what was expected.

A very high portion of UK web agencies also outsource their development work to overseas companies, typically in India or Eastern Europe, and this can result in communication and time delay issues, plus often a lower quality of coding, resulting in issues down the line.

Whatever the issue, if you’re in this situation it’s far from ideal, and you will have two or three big questions on your mind:

1. How much will it cost to get your website finished?
2. Can you get any money back from your current web agency?
3. How do you know who to trust next?

Obviously, there are no generic answers to these, but we can help.

Firstly, if we have access to your website we can look to see what has and has not been completed, and provide estimates on getting it to where you want. If this is not financially feasible, not possible, or if there is a better solution we’ll tell you. We’ll give you an honest and direct answer and let you decide for yourself. Sometimes clients need to start again, other times what they have can be salvaged, and we’ll let you know the pros, cons and costs of each.

With regards to you getting your money back, we will happily look at your contract, end product and any correspondence, and let you know if you have a case. We can also provide expert witness work either to build your case to resolve amicably, or evidence if not. We will also assess whether what you have paid is fair because sometimes clients may not have a completed project, but what they have paid for has been good value, so in this case, it’s important that they retain ownership after a settlement.

And finally, who can you trust? Well, we would say to trust Webbed Feet, but any web agency would say that! You need to make your own mind up as to whether you are being sold to or given honest advice, whether what you are being told makes sense, and most of all to trust your gut. We usually offer solutions where clients don’t need to commit everything and can work with us on a pay as you go basis, where it’s up to us to prove we deliver what we promise in order to get more work.

If you feel you’ve been treated unfairly, or have a half-finished website, and want to know what to do next please get in touch.

We won’t charge to take a look and offer some advice, will speak in plain English, and won’t push for sales.

We are Webbed Feet, we finish projects!

How often have you been walking around with your partner, children or friend, and decided not to go somewhere because it ‘looks too expensive’, or ‘doesn’t look like your scene’? This could be a shop, restaurant, travel agent or anywhere.

What you have done is completely dismissed a business on your first impression; that restaurant could have been reasonably priced and to your taste, it could have been the best restaurant you’ve ever eaten in.

You, of course, are not wrong here as we all make judgements about advertisements and businesses all of the time. The responsibility here lies with the business and its branding. A brand constitutes more than a logo and colour scheme, but the whole way in which a company portrays itself, and if their brand isn’t correct, or if their target demographic excludes you, then it may not appeal. They can’t appeal to everyone.

In the real world you see this all of the time; RyanAir vs Emirates, Lidl vs Waitrose, Kia vs Mercedes; with each of these having their own distinctive brand aiming at a specific demographic. None of these are wrong, none of these are better than the others, they are just different.

The Ryanair brand, for example, looks cheap and cheerful and appeals to people wanting flights at a low cost rather than those with all of the extras. The brand matches the business.

Now we move online, and the big companies mostly have this on point as well. But where things get interesting is that many smaller local companies don’t.

The same principles apply to business websites. Yes, you can get a user ‘bounce away’ without bothering to look at your website if it looks too cheap or isn’t to their taste, but you can also get people turning away because your website looks too good.

Looking ‘too good’ could be that you look expensive, or could also be down to your strapline, wording, images, or examples of your projects.

It’s worth making the point that this doesn’t mean businesses should have a bad or cheap website with no attention to detail, far from it. Instead they should spend time and effort in making it appeal to a different market. This can actually be harder to achieve and therefore involve more work.

Consider an estate agent, who mostly sell two to four bedroom houses, but have managed to sell a couple of multi-million-pound mansions. If they use these as case studies on the home page, trying to get bigger business, visitors may see these and think that their three bedroom semi isn’t good enough, and may choose an agent who looks smaller and will put more of an effort in.

What about an artist who paints portraits from her home at a reasonable price; if she has an expensive looking website and gives the impression that she has a huge studio with multiple staff and a gallery, she could lose trade as she’s considered too expensive.

We all have a target market, and we all offer subtly different services to many of our competitors, and our websites need to reflect this. In fact, not just our website, all of our brand, or adverts, literature, the way we talk on the phone, everything.

Sometimes people get this wrong and have tried too hard to make themselves not only look something they are not, but push potential customers away because of it.

Our advice here would be simple. Firstly establish the clients that you want to bring in, what is their demographic, what do you want them to buy from you, are they in a specific sector? Then look at your website and other marketing materials with an open mind and ask yourself “do they match?”

If not, maybe it’s time to make some changes.

We are Webbed Feet, and we will happily update website built by others.