A few years ago I built my first website in MS Windows Live. It served its purpose of creating an online personal profile. Fifteen months ago, when I started my own business, I elected to have a corporate website built by a professional agency. I stayed closely involved in the creative process, but they did a great job. Now, I’m launching a new product, a book on China, so I decided a small micro-site was warranted. 10 pages in English, replicated in Chinese. I elected to keep my costs down by contracting the work to on offshore web design company in China. I chose a company that advertised it had been in business for 10 years, had over 30 employees and whose talents spanned the gamut from creative through technical to commercial. The developer had agreed a 7 day turnaround on this small site. I paid 50% upfront and retained the balance until completion.
In retrospect, it was a poor business decision. The lessons I have learned have been expensive ones. Certainly my out-of –pocket costs have been lower, but my expense, when fully costed, is probably three times what it would have cost me to get a first-class job done locally. I hope this little diary will show you the potholes and help you to make wiser decisions than I did. Try to laugh quietly.
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