[lugm.org] Upcoming meetup

[S Moonesamy]

Hi Joki,
At 08:48 29-05-2014, Jochen Kirstätter wrote:
>Quite frankly, I did business in the past with other local companies and
>unfortunately I had to stop it in order to keep my own business going.
>As you already described it, there is a kind of slowness in this whole
>procedure. Taking into consideration that there are so many
>"professional" web agencies out there on the island which simply produce
>only crap, it's kind of tough to keep anyone being serious about their
>online activities looking for professionals in the country. Please don't
>take this as a generalisation but the number of web sites seen leaves a
>weird impression...

I read the blog article at 
http://www.naliniaubeeluck.com/blog/item/11-website-relaunched 
and wondered what the web site could have done to 
attract more visitors.  I share your opinion 
about what is produced by web agencies.  Frankly, 
I did not understand why the local web sites are 
like that.  If you go to http://www.lexpress.mu/ 
you will see an advertisement at the top of the 
web page.  There is a problem with that. :-(  I 
visited a few local web sites which highlighted 
the talent and creativity of people in Mauritius.

>Well, topics like proper performance, SEO and WAI handling are
>supposedly "standard" for a professional web agency but unfortunately
>this doesn't sell for a huge number of businesses in Mauritius. The
>general argument more or less is like this:
>
>Web Agency (WA): "Here's our quote for your new website."
>Customer (C): "Oh, could you lower the price?"
>WA: "Yes, of course..."
>C: "Thanks, much appreciated. We have a deal!"
>...
>Work is in progress and as good as done
>...
>WA: "We're almost done, and going to invoice you next week."
>C: "You know, about that price... we have to talk."
>...
>
>Remaining outcome is your imagination.

I guess that it is difficult to assess the value 
of the work when people do not understand the 
amount of work it takes to provide proper performance.

>The work spent on performance, proper SEO and the outlook of conversion
>is not honoured and therefore, most of the web agencies are on the quick
>buck rather than providing professional results. Why? Because no one
>will pay it.

Ok.

>But when it comes to feedback, like "web site is slow", "SSL rating is
>bad", etc. who is going to be blamed? Of course, the web agency because
>the (partly or even still unpaid) job done has never been completed - on
>customer's behalf and behaviour.
>
>Now, there is another variable in this game... Line of reporting and
>responsibility.
>
>Sure, there are web agencies here in Mauritius which are
>a) professional,
>b) knowledgeable and
>c) willing to do the improvements for a client
>
>But... someone higher doesn't like them or doesn't agree on a budget to
>spend for such "unnecessary" improvements. I think you get the picture
>of the whole story.

The problem might be that the "web site is slow" 
is not considered as a serious problem.  Someone 
higher might understand that it is a problem if 
there are a lot of people who consider that it is unacceptable.

Regards,
S. Moonesamy