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Are You Paying Your Web Designer Twice?

by John Coronella, October 7th, 2008
Web Designers

Web Designers

If you allow your web design company to put a link back to their website on the bottom of yours, you are paying them TWICE.   Even worse, it’s recurring billing.

Because Google’s pagerank algorithm uses incoming links to a website to determine it’s importance, there is an entire industry that has developed around buying and selling links.  Links can help a design firm rank for search terms that then bring them more business or revenue.  When you let your web designer put a link at the bottom of the website YOU paid for, you are paying them in link equity.   The value of this link on the open market can vary from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars a month!

Are you a well known retailer?   A very active person in your community?  That link at the bottom may actually be worth what you paid for your website EVERY YEAR.   The problem is that web design companies often take advantage of your ignorance or add it to the bottom of your page.

Sometimes this is acceptable.  For example, if your web design company links to you from their site, you are benefiting from their link popularity and it may be an even swap.  Other times people get free services that link back to the creator.  If you use a free blog template, for example, it is fair and equitable to give the designer credit.   The bottom of this blog links to WordPress.org for this reason — they gave me free blog software, and I return the favor with a link.

Buyer beware.  If you are paying for a service, you shouldn’t have to link back to the person who created it unless it was fully disclosed as part of the deal.

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1 Comment

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 7th, 2008 at 10:10 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

One Response to “Are You Paying Your Web Designer Twice?”

  1. Joseph Says:
    October 7th, 2008 at 10:36 am

    Of course designers realize that the link on a potential site is a great source for generating new leads. But first and foremost designers realize establishing good political relationships and working relationships with their clients. Which means generally clients talk to their friends and say hey click the link on my site if you care to see who designed my stuff. And that’s necessary for well patting the back of another business. Many established businesses use this practice of scratching the designer’s back as to keep his or her rates at the same spot.

    Is a link worth something. Sure. But is word of mouth worth more, I think so.

P