As a leader in the industry we have heard it all when it comes to the colossal failures of Joomla Developers all over the world.
They just cant seem to get the websites built right or even complete them. Worst
of all, for those few Joomla Developers that do get the sites live,
they have done serious damage to the ranking ability of the website.
This is a huge problem, one we have to address on a daily basis. When potential clients call us, over 80% of them have had a bad experience with a Joomla Developer. There are a multitude of industry standards that must be followed yet rarely are, not to mention ethical, business and especially personal standards. Why do Joomla Projects fail every day? Here are some of the most common reasons.
Excuses from Joomla Developers to their clients
- Our power went out for 3 days, we could not work on the site.
- A family member died and we suddenly couldn't work.
- Our surgery we failed to tell you about took longer than expected.
- We take a week off for every single holiday. Sorry we forgot to tell you.
- We had to repair all the damage from the previous developers so now we have no budget left to actually fix the problems you hired us to do.
- We need more time, between our hour lunch break, messing up your entire website because we can't read or follow instructions, we now need double the time to fix these issues (that we created), because you have to explain what you want to us 4-6 times before we get it right.
- I love reinventing the wheel, so what you have won't work we need to rebuild from scratch.
These are just a few of the many excuses clients get from Joomla Developers globally as to why websites do not get finished in time, on budget or to spec. Some more catastrophic excuses such as "we under budgeted" or "this is not what we expected when we started" have serious financial repercussions for those who need websites built on budget and more importantly, on schedule. Many clients do not care about search engine rankings. And even more do not care about quality. Then there are those that absolutely care about those things yet have no idea if they really got it or not. There are 3 standards we try to meet every time.
- W3C standards for an internet compliant websites.
- Search engine standards for a search engine friendly websites.
- and a customer facing standard, an experience the viewers will enjoy.
- Not to mention being within budget, scope and schedule.
How to avoid the pitfalls of wanna-be Joomla Developers
One
of the first things to ask a potential Joomla Developer is their experience level
with the components they will be installing on your website. If they have never
worked with the component, then they have no idea what they will have to customize
to make the component fit right with the layout of your site. Secondly, what standards
do they develop under. Will your Joomla Website be coded with the latest HTML5,
CSS3 and be W3C validated for perfect code?
It is what "YOU the client" are unaware of and do not know that will cost you a fortune. For example: we install a component called Mijoshop for our customers. It is an awesome shopping cart system. Very user friendly. However, to set it up correctly, to produce the categories, their imagery, descriptions, meta tags not to mention all of the same information for the product section that can be not only a hassle but easily missed by a Joomla Developer who only cares about the bare minimum installs of the component and not the success of your business.
Needless to say, the majority of Joomla Developers we have come across; are shady. MOST will take you for everything you have. As a company that has been in business for over a decade we have had the opportunity to work with over 300 Joomla Developers/Joomla Development Companies in those 10 years. Out of those 300+ so called Joomla Experts, 11 of them were worth their weight in gold. The rest; sub standard developers that cause more loss, more head ache and more problems than I care to mention.
Note: It is important to understand there are many companies who develop websites and do a wonderful job and actually produce results. However, there are more wolves than there are sheep and this is just a fact. It is your responsibility to do the right amount of due diligence.
Why do these Joomla Developers fail?
It is pretty simple. Money! What the client does not know combined with those who have no personal character, no sense of urgency, couldn't keep a promise if you paid them to, and most importantly because they do not have the personal or professional work ethic required to deliver what is promised. It is easy to over promise and collect a check. It takes something within, something deep internal to take the time to study, research and produce what they are being paid for with absolute dedication to their task and client. Most developers are only looking for the quick buck. However, we have seen a huge up-rise of those who develop websites that actually think they can develop a website and are completely self diluted but have good selling skills. This is what we see the most. Those who do not know how to develop websites but know how to sell website development services.
Joomla Development Process
The golden nugget to a successful website launch for a website that is designed to actually produce results is the development process. You will pay extra for this process but in the end it could save you thousands of dollars. Depending on what your website development needs are and the functionality that you will need to produce the end result for you, you need to know how that software works, what you will have to provide for the software to work to determine the overall cost to develop that particular functionality. Many of our clients want a "simple events calendar" but even with a simply events calendar requires at least a page worth of content from the client to setup correctly. You need to know this. Having the developer provide you with all of the requirements on your part helps the entire process.
Bottom line to any person looking for a Joomla Developer that can actually produce your required result, spend lots of time with them on the phone, walk thru everything step-by-step to make sure they understand what they are doing and you understand what your part of the development of the site will be. If EVERY single aspect of the development of a website is laid out before hand, you will save yourself time, money and the headaches of having a website built.