18 November 2011
In Reply to the Email about changes and developments at WWDC and the GBBO site

Just got your email re: changes and development etc, you’ve got a great site that certainly helps me and my business a lot. My business site which is currently in redesign (and about time to!) will be making a point of highlighting WWDC where ever appropriate, especially in our testimonials section.

However, the GBBO site you highlight in your email when I first saw it back in the early part of this year caused me concern. After some reflection I wondered if it would cause problems and in reality it hasn’t.

The DIY website is not a serious proposition for a serious business. A brand new one ‘person’ band who has little capital and has to watch every penny may be well advised to venture down that route. However once the DIY site is complete and they’ve used up their ‘FREE’ Adwords voucher they may well find themselves spending a little more time and money on their DIY project than the adverts suggest.

Call me cynical but it’s a great net to catch advertisers on a premise/proposition which looks like something else. And I wonder how easy it’ll be to move camps and take your domain name with you?

As for established or well funded business/business person, they are all to aware of the old adage ‘You get what you pay for’ and although the phrase ‘if you want a job doing properly, do it yourself’ may also be in the forefront of their minds often, how many plumbers, electricians, accountants, carpet cleaners, psychologists, dentists went to Art college or know anything about design? How many are confident that they will produce the site they want and will be able to maintain and change it as they wish. I don’t think that confidence is high, and why should it be, they’ve got businesses to run, businesses that they actually do know about.

I take your point about competing on Google Adwords though, thankfully, natural results get far more attention than adwords and your site is hitting home in the rankings, show casing design businesses that are ranked by their customers.

J Robinson