To Web or not to web....?!

[Mustang]

I have been getting quotes for someone to produce a website for me since I have the domain name. Nothing too OTT just some basic details to form a simple marketing tool. I have to think about what I want but before I do wanted to seek some opinions.

1) How many of you have a website for YourCo?

2) Of those, how many find it useful and worth spending time/money on doing?

3) What personal data is available to the general public via it? I was thinking of putting my latest CV on and my company contact details (general email and office phone number). Mrs Mustang is concerned that is too much and could lead to identity theft. Comments?

4) What are the pros and cons of doing it?


TIA.

[milanbenes]

pro's don't put their cv's on websites because cons might nick the info !

just have a representative page

Benes plan b has a webpage but it's nothing to do with IT

Milan.

[Churchill]

I have been getting quotes for someone to produce a website for me since I have the domain name. Nothing too OTT just some basic details to form a simple marketing tool. I have to think about what I want but before I do wanted to seek some opinions.

1) How many of you have a website for YourCo?

2) Of those, how many find it useful and worth spending time/money on doing?

3) What personal data is available to the general public via it? I was thinking of putting my latest CV on and my company contact details (general email and office phone number). Mrs Mustang is concerned that is too much and could lead to identity theft. Comments?

4) What are the pros and cons of doing it?


TIA.

Never, ever, ever put your CV on the internet.

[Ennui]

Check out Office Live

Free domain, site & hosting courtesy of Bill Gates

[XLMonkey]

Yep, got a website for the company. Have it because it is expected by the client (and in a vague way helps ex-clients remember who I am).
Its worth very little, and that's how much I spend on it. Use 123-Reg and their standard content management system to put a little blurb and pretty pictures up. Costs about 120/year. I know that there are smarter and cheaper options, but haven't the time or inclination to find them.

I have a virtual office service and put those contact details plus a company email address on it. Put limited personal information (who I am, what I do, client testimonials) on it, but no home address or personally identifying info.

Pros - looks professional, some clients expect it, if done in a slick way can help you justify a "consultancy" type of rate. Some people (I'm not one of them) think that it helps you avoid IR35 by providing evidence that you are in business on your own account.
Cons - its a bit of a faff

[threaded]

I have a website. I also have some fan sites. They've all have helped bring in work and swing contracts for me, and they're really not all that good, but I don't pretend to know marketing, just what works for my business.

[DimPrawn]

Fan sites?

There are some sick people out there Threaded.

[oraclesmith]

1) How many of you have a website for YourCo?

Yep. I also bought up extra domain names (same company name, different TLD's) and pointed them at my site. I also pay £20 a year for auto submission to search engines.

2) Of those, how many find it useful and worth spending time/money on doing?

No-ones ever come to me through the site, but I've found potential clients go to the site once they meet me/get my card/receive my marketing. It helps a little with IR35.

3) What personal data is available to the general public via it? I was thinking of putting my latest CV on and my company contact details (general email and office phone number). Mrs Mustang is concerned that is too much and could lead to identity theft. Comments?

As said previously, never put your CV on it. The most personal details I have on mine is the general 'who am I' info you might find for Directors on larger company sites. If you are limited you must have your reg office address and contact details. If you want to put your e-mail address on it, use an image of it so it can't easily be spammed. Or a contact form. I don't put my VAT number on it either. I also have a few 0844 numbers which people can call me on, which go on the site, and point to my office/home number.

4) What are the pros and cons of doing it?

It's cheap and if you're a limited you can appear to be a little bigger and more organised than if you don't have one. The cons are basically the time and cost to do it, but these are under your control. You could just have a few stable pages for less than £100 a year total expenditure including promotion.

I use Serif's Webplus to produce the site. It's cheap and good for simple sites and comes with templates. the possibility of RSS feeds, e-mail forms etc if you can be bothered to set them up. You need to be savvy to Serif's sales techniques and buy the latest versions direct, not old versions from PC superstores.

[threaded]

I would also recommend anything by Serif. Not that I'm biased at all...

[milanbenes]

if you used serif for your website then I would strongly not recomment it !

anyway, what is serif ? what happened to cutting html yourself ?



Milan.