[benny d]

..company should be using to have a good web presence?

At the moment I don't have a web presence apart from Checkatrade.
I have had a couple of web pages in the past made by "web page designers",  but neither got me any work. Was about 5 years ago for the last one.
I have no idea as to who to trust, as I need to have it done correctly this time, and to be on page one of search engines etc.
Any advise appreciated

Ben

[Michael H Jones]

I replied to a thread on here today - if you search for Checkatrade threads - it was a reply to that. Someone on there recommended a web design company that uses Wordpress. I only replied to that because I'm thinking of switching.....there really are a load of sharks around so a recommend on here is a good thing.

[Mike Halliday]

I was told  that Wordpress  is a load of crap used by amateurs  who don't know any better, it is wide open to been hacked and  will at some point be hammered by Google algorithms

Perhaps I was told wrong

[Michael H Jones]

Ah right, I always thought that Wordpress was used by a massive number of companies around the World and had top notch security (because of its popularity).......I may be wrong on that though......
I think a lot of web designers use it, but it's working out if they are any good - the one recommended on here sounds promising.

[Mike Halliday]

What ever I say is second hand info but I was told Wordpress is very popular because it's free and easy to use, so there are many people using it to create thier own  websites (so they have total control). 

but how many professionals web design companies use it? This is a question I don't know the answer to but it would be interesting to know the answer

[Adam Eastman]

I'm just half way through building my website, and it's a very easy platform to use. I'm also told its one of the easiest with regards to SEO, although I have not got that far yet.

There are also some big brands that use Wordpress, like eBay, Sony, MTV News, so it can't be that bad.

[Mike Gwilliam]

What ever I say is second hand info but I was told Wordpress is very popular because it's free and easy to use, so there are many people using it to create thier own  websites (so they have total control). 

but how many professionals web design companies use it? This is a question I don't know the answer to but it would be interesting to know the answer

It's not relevant how many web design companies use it as some might prefer, or are more used to coding their own site.

I think Wordpress is so popular because of its flexibility. You can get an awesome website for not a lot of money. The premium or paid for themes are say $30 to $80 and some come preinstalled with extra bundled plugins.

For someone who wants to manage their own content it's reasonably easy and there are loads of tutorials on YouTube. As well as premium plugins there are zillions of free ones including contact forms, caching to enhance page speed, galleries and sliders etc. Also if you use a blog or make an article page you can allow a comments section.

And quite importantly Google ''why Google likes Wordpress''
 http://www.emagine.com/blog/web-content-management-systems/why-google-loves-wordpress-websites/

https://webtegrity.com/our-blog/web-design-tips/use-wordpress-business-website/

[Michael H Jones]

 I thought it was quite well regarded generally....but definitely not free! 

[John Higgins]

What ever I say is second hand info but I was told Wordpress is very popular because it's free and easy to use, so there are many people using it to create thier own  websites (so they have total control). 

but how many professionals web design companies use it? This is a question I don't know the answer to but it would be interesting to know the answer

Lets be honest mike I am no fan off wordpress as it is a speghetti coded and a function based sytem,
there is a big difrence between a website developer and a wordpress administrator who calls himself a website developer

The all system from its base structure does not follow profestional codeing practices and evenmore insane the mojarity of its
pluging are poorly coded. Sorry to you word press fans out there but when google kicks in its mobile first algorithm if you site is not running at
1 second and under page speeds your will start to fall.

I could go on for ever why under the hood I think wordpress sucks but woulld mean me sitting all day posting.

The above is based on 30 years of programing experiance

Mark
www.kireth.com

[Michael H Jones]

Mark/John,

You have a link to a website for web design, but you appear to be unable to spell correctly. How can anyone find your advice credible? Maybe WordPress is putting pressure on your business? 

[John Higgins]

Mark/John,

You have a link to a website for web design, but you appear to be unable to spell correctly. How can anyone find your advice credible? Maybe WordPress is putting pressure on your business?

Hi Have over 300 carpet cleaning websites spelt correctly and on  front page of google and over 900 happy clients so must be doing something right.

To finish off this is quote from one of my much respected peers who as penned several books on programming.

What WordPress does is make people think they know what they are doing when they don’t.

It’s too easy to create something and the power you feel from being able to do things you don’t really understand convinces you you actually know what you’re doing.

So you get people with the ability to do things on the web that have no idea if what they are doing is right or wrong. And they start doing very dangerous things. They set up insecure sites. They write terrible code. They get hacked. And then to top it off they start selling their services!”

[Shaun_Ashmore]

Posting on a forum on the run throws up spelling mistakes that's why proof reading and spell check were invented.

[Michael H Jones]

Mark/John,

You can't even be bothered to spell-check your posts and you claim to have over 300 carpet cleaning websites? And what coverage do these websites have if there are only around 100 towns and cities? And it's very easy to get on page 1!! 

You sound like an uneducated person/spammer and would be dangerous to employ as a web designer.........God forbid you help anyone on here.

Laters.

[Michael H Jones]

Posting on a forum on the run throws up spelling mistakes that's why proof reading and spell check were invented.

When you are advertising a service that requires correct spelling and good grammar, I would expect better.

[Michael H Jones]

Not so good with your own website....put http://www.kireth.com/ into Google page speed and see the problems.

[John Higgins]

Not so good with your own website....put http://www.kireth.com/ into Google page speed and see the problems.

Use the correct tools Shows your ingnorance
https://tools.pingdom.com/#!/bnYqdE/http://www.kireth.com/

Load time 756ms

Faster than  93 % all tested website

[Michael H Jones]

Oh my God, are you still pretending to be a web designer?
The proper tool would be:
https://developers.google.com/speed/

You need to troll elsewhere.

[Stoots]

Wordpress maybe flawed  I don't know bit if all you want to achieve is a decent looking site and get on the first page for a few cleaning keywords then it's ideal. Let's face it achieve that in our industry isn't that difficult. Obviously in other industrys it may be worth spending thousands on custom sites.

[Mike Halliday]

Call mark a troll is a bit harsh

He's been a member since 2005 and has 90 post, he has built websites for lots of CIU members and not seen any of them complain, I think most of them are on the first page of Google .

I'm biased because I know him personally I've seen his set up &  he does have a successful web design company. 

[Michael H Jones]

I wouldn't mind if he could write coherent English....but he seems incapable. And claiming to get websites on page 1 is laughable as it's so easy!! And his own website for his website business is ranked badly by Google (is he going to argue that they are wrong?).
I think he has been building average websites for people in an easy industry and getting average results.....poor form.
Plenty of people have been fobbed off with poor quality like this over the years.....check his site in the link I've posted and ask yourself if he really knows anything that can't be learnt in an hour on t'internet.