Fixing Old Client Sites

As I was doing some last minute maintenance updates before turning into bed,
I realized that a site a worked on a year ago needs improvement because I
wasn't as skilled as I am today. Today, I won't be as skilled as I will be
a year from now as I'm always improving.

Question is: How do you feel about the sites you know are not up to your
"current standards" but you are still working on them (maintenance)? Do you
want to go in and fix things? Would you do it for freee? I'm feeling a bit
weird because I want to give the client the best and at the time I thought I
was doing the best but I can see now that I wasn't. Being ethical is
important to me. Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Isabelle
http://www.is.visisoul.com

"Isabelle" <isabelleREMOVETHECAPS (AT) REMOVETHECAPSis (DOT) visisoul.com> wrote in
message news:6gM3b.3483$_F1.604287 (AT) news20 (DOT) bellglobal.com...

As I was doing some last minute maintenance updates before turning into
bed,
I realized that a site a worked on a year ago needs improvement because I
wasn't as skilled as I am today. Today, I won't be as skilled as I will
be
a year from now as I'm always improving.

Question is: How do you feel about the sites you know are not up to your
"current standards" but you are still working on them (maintenance)? Do
you
want to go in and fix things? Would you do it for freee? I'm feeling a
bit
weird because I want to give the client the best and at the time I thought
I
was doing the best but I can see now that I wasn't. Being ethical is
important to me. Any thoughts?

Talk to your client and tell them exactly what you've just told us. Offer
to either leave it as is, or to 'fix' it for a reduced price (I wouldn't
offer to do it for free, since you probably charge more now). If the client
is happy to leave it as/is, that's his choice.

I'm assuming you're charging more than you did last year, since your skills
have definitely improved? :-)

--Tina
--
http://www.AffordableHOST.com
LiveChat: http://chat.affordablehost.com
20% Discount Code: newsgroup
Serving the web since 1997

Isabelle wrote:

Question is: How do you feel about the sites you know are not up to
your "current standards" but you are still working on them
(maintenance)? Do you want to go in and fix things? Would you do it
for freee? I'm feeling a bit weird because I want to give the client
the best and at the time I thought I was doing the best but I can see
now that I wasn't. Being ethical is important to me. Any thoughts?

In principal: fix it for free.
If you can afford it depends on the number of sites, the extent of them, the
quality, the specific customer and if you want them in your portfolio.
So, if it is an ugly site in frames, with 2000 validation errors, of a
customer who paid too late, then leave it as it is. If you built 200 bad
sites, well, find yourself another job :-)
Sometimes there is a valid reason to make a (paid) redesign. Once I rewrote
a site and added a MySQL database instead of plain HTML thus offering the
client to change things (a catalogue) himself. My price for the database was
high enough to make the necessary changes in the rest of the site.

Regards, Nico

Question is: How do you feel about the sites you know are not up to your
"current standards" but you are still working on them (maintenance)? Do
you
want to go in and fix things? Would you do it for freee? I'm feeling a
bit
weird because I want to give the client the best and at the time I thought
I
was doing the best but I can see now that I wasn't. Being ethical is
important to me. Any thoughts?

Ok, DO NOT FIX FOR FREE! does Ford just give us the latest and greatest
version of the F150 just because it is better than the one we bought a year
ago? No. Of course you want to offer reduced prices to current clients. that
is the most ethical. But dont work for free, that will get you trapped into
situations you dont want to be in. (I know)

I would suggest reviewing the site - jotting down the things you would
change/improve and what that will do fo the site - be it increase visitor
stay time, or make ordering process more simple for your client. And give
that info to your client. Along with a price. If they want the upgrade, do
it, if not, hen leave it alone.

Do not tell them you think it is bad because you were not skilled enought at
the time, that is not true, you were skilled enought to make the website,
but now you know how to turn it into a piece of gold.

Again, think about cars, Ford presents us with the new model- all the
features etc. and lets us decide if we want the upgrade. Why should this be
much diffirent?

Hope this helps.
eve
www.jaxdesignstudio.com

If it's not something that takes you hours and hours of time to so it, fix
it for free.
Like, an hour or two or three, I'd do it for free.
A week, no.
Unless it's due to my mistake or neglect.

You know, think of it as software. There are bug fixes and patches, and
there are new releases that they want you to pay for.
I tell people (potential website clients) that they should budget for the
website overhaul about once a year or so. Updating the look, some minor
reformatting. Just to make their clients feel that the company is
progressing with the times.


"Isabelle" <isabelleREMOVETHECAPS (AT) REMOVETHECAPSis (DOT) visisoul.com> wrote in
message news:6gM3b.3483$_F1.604287 (AT) news20 (DOT) bellglobal.com...

As I was doing some last minute maintenance updates before turning into
bed,
I realized that a site a worked on a year ago needs improvement because I
wasn't as skilled as I am today. Today, I won't be as skilled as I will
be
a year from now as I'm always improving.

Question is: How do you feel about the sites you know are not up to your
"current standards" but you are still working on them (maintenance)? Do
you
want to go in and fix things? Would you do it for freee? I'm feeling a
bit
weird because I want to give the client the best and at the time I thought
I
was doing the best but I can see now that I wasn't. Being ethical is
important to me. Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Isabelle
http://www.is.visisoul.com

"Isabelle" <isabelleREMOVETHECAPS (AT) REMOVETHECAPSis (DOT) visisoul.com> wrote in
message news:6gM3b.3483$_F1.604287 (AT) news20 (DOT) bellglobal.com...

As I was doing some last minute maintenance updates before turning into
bed,
I realized that a site a worked on a year ago needs improvement because I
wasn't as skilled as I am today. Today, I won't be as skilled as I will
be
a year from now as I'm always improving.

Question is: How do you feel about the sites you know are not up to your
"current standards" but you are still working on them (maintenance)? Do
you
want to go in and fix things? Would you do it for freee? I'm feeling a
bit
weird because I want to give the client the best and at the time I thought
I
was doing the best but I can see now that I wasn't. Being ethical is
important to me. Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Isabelle
http://www.is.visisoul.com

Boy, I sure would love for Sony to come over and give me a new DVD player.
The ones they make now are so much nicer.
I'm also gonna call my dentist about that cap he did for me on that tooth I
busted when I was a teenager. The caps today are a lot better than they
were.

I don't think I'll get too far with those requests...

The truth is, your customer engaged you in business at that time based upon
skills you had at that time.
Also at that time, your client was aware (or should have been) of what they
were getting.

I recommend not touching any past work without charging for it.
You might want to come up with a "Maintenance Package". Charge them a
monthly fee for updates and changes. Then, earn your money by doing the
fixes each month.


--
Karl Core

Charles Sweeney says my sig is fine as it is.

In article <6gM3b.3483$_F1.604287 (AT) news20 (DOT) bellglobal.com> in
comp.infosystems.www.authoring.site-design, Isabelle
<isabelleREMOVETHECAPS (AT) REMOVETHECAPSis (DOT) visisoul.com> wrote:

Do you want to go in and fix things? Would you do it for freee?

Yes and no, respectively.

If I gave the client my best efforts at the time, and the client was
satisfied at the time, then I would not give away my efforts for
mere improvement. If I had made an actual _error_ through ignorance,
I would feel obliged to fix that for free.

--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Cortland County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
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EightNineThree wrote:

Isabelle wrote
How do you feel about the sites you know are not up to
your "current standards" but you are still working on them
(maintenance)? Do you want to go in and fix things? Would you do
it for freee?

Boy, I sure would love for Sony to come over and give me a new DVD
player. The ones they make now are so much nicer.
I'm also gonna call my dentist about that cap he did for me on that
tooth I busted when I was a teenager. The caps today are a lot
better than they were.

I assume the DVD player as well as the cap were in compliance with technical
standards
at that time. If you found out Sony had sold you an inferior product you'll
probably never buy a Sony again.
The OP: "because I wasn't as skilled as I am today". Probably to read as "as
skilled as I should have been to do the job"

The truth is, your customer engaged you in business at that time
based upon skills you had at that time.

Not likely. Most clients have not the slightest knowledge about website
building :-)

Cheers, Nico

"Nico Schuyt" <nschuyt (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote

EightNineThree wrote:

The truth is, your customer engaged you in business at that time
based upon skills you had at that time.

Not likely. Most clients have not the slightest knowledge about website
building :-)

That's the client's problem.
While it is good to empower the client with some good basic knowledge,
ultimately it is the client's responsibility to be an intelligent consumer.



--
Karl Core

Charles Sweeney says my sig is fine as it is.