There are a lot of web designers out there and the majority of them are sole traders, working alone from home offices. If you’re just starting out and finding your feet then the chances are you might not have a web design contract in place. But this is a risky omission.

Why a web designer needs a web design contract

Beginning web designers often shy away from having a web design contract because they don’t want to commit to particular things, because they’re not sure if they’ll be able to deliver. They may never have tried creating this or that feature or function, so they don’t want it in writing that they’re going to put it in.

But not having a contract means that it’s easy for clients to say that they assumed something would be done, and refuse to pay if it’s not added in. If everything’s in writing you can point out that a particular feature wasn’t specifically included. Of course, in most cases you’ll still ending up doing it to keep the client happy, but when it comes to the crunch at least you have a leg to stand on.

Why a web design client needs a contract

For pretty much the same reason as the web designer, the client benefits from having a written contract. That way, they can prove that an element or feature was included if the web designer is saying the project is complete, but they don’t believe it is.

What should a web design contract look like?

The good news is that the contract doesn’t have to be very complicated. Sure, if you can it’s best to get a professional lawyer to create you something, but people starting out in business rarely have the money to spend on that kind of thing.

One way is to find free template downloads of contracts that are available on the web. But you can simply create a word document with a list of the features that will be included, turn it into a PDF, and email it to the client. This forms a basic agreement.

Is email communication contractually binding?

Remember that email communications can form the basis of a contract or contract amendment, but only if you can prove that both parties have seen and agreed the details. In other words, if you send information to the other party but s/he never replies to that specifically, it is not legally binding. But if they reply to the email and confirm agreement, then it is.

Read about how much different websites cost - using a tortured transport analogy on our main web design site.

We offer managed hosting services with all our websites, because we care about the long term performance of our products and about making a meaningful difference to our clients' businesses.

However, sometimes potential clients look at the budget options that are available online and wonder why we aren't matching those prices. Other times, they want to know if they can use us to make the website, but then move over to cheap hosting to reduce ongoing costs. Some people (heaven forbid) might even suspect that we're simply trying to squeeze as much money out of them as possible. This simply isn't how we do business.

Here's the real reason:

Why we don't complete on price when it comes to hosting

We don't complete on price, because it would mean making huge sacrifices in quality and service, which would result in poor performance and unhappy clients (or going bust - resulting in unhappy us).

A good technological platform with robust backups and redundancy to make sure the website loads quickly and never goes down takes investment, and that costs money. On top of that, we want to make sure our staff are available and have time to deal with each client's query patiently and properly.

We believe that our prices are extremely reasonable when you consider the level of high quality hardware, software and genuine personal service we provide.

Why we won't put our websites on other hosts

In the past we have agreed to make websites and then host them on other servers, but we no longer allow this, because of the headaches that have arisen for both us and our clients.

The problem is that cheap hosts are cheap for a reason. These companies usually sacrifice quality of hardware and software and customer service, in order to drive their prices to the absolute minimum. This means that servers are unreliable and overloaded, meaning the clients' website runs slowly and may frequently dissappear altogether.

It also means that the customer service is impossible to get hold of, unskilled and in such a rush they simply send autoreplies without finding out about the problem properly. This wastes a great deal of time and contributes to high blood pressure and hair loss (not clinically proven).


When this happens, the client comes back to us, and it's our word against their that the poor website performance is all about the host, and nothing to do with our work - which would have worked great if we were hosting it. And because we're soft, we often end up sorting out these problems where the cheap host refuses too.

What do you mean 'to begin with'?

The reasons stated above are why we insist on hosting our websites - not because we're trying to squeeze as much money as possible out of our clients - and to prove it, we DO allow clients to move, but only after we've proven the quality of the website on our hosting and support platforms first.

If, after this has been proven a client still feels they wish to move away, then they can - at their own risk...

If you're thinking of getting a website designed in Leeds, or anywhere across the UK, then give us a call for a chat about your project. We're happy to give free advice and suggestions as well as quotes and proposals.

Or if you need help with your computer - anything from fixing a broken laptop to maintaining a snappy response, then check out our associates, who offer great IT Support Services, from their base in Guildford.

M- commerce is short for mobile commerce, which basically means being able to pay for things with your mobile phone.

What's good about M-Commerce?

With the dawn of the smartphone, we really are reaching that sci-fi movie era of having the one little widget for everything. Phone, watch, entertainment, camera and now wallet. It means not having to carry separate cash, new promotional opportunities and just generally looking cool.

What's bad about M-Commerce?

The main problem with M-Commerce as it stands is that as of today, it's just not very secure. Keen companies may rush into offering M-Commerce campaigns and structures without properly assessing the risks and consequences, then suffer when failings in security and stability emerge.

I'm a business owner - should I get involved in M-Commerce?

We're back to our standard mantra. There will always be some guy (probably in a pinstripe suit and pink shirt) insisting that X is the latest, greatest thing and if you don't seize the bandwagon right this instant, you'll be left behind forever.

Our advice is to treat everything with the same openness and wariness - online, offline and anywhere else. Look at the risks, the benefits and the costs - and not just monetary ones.

For more advice about how to take advantage of the web for your business, without falling into common traps, visit our web design and development website 

I'm a regular Joe - should I use M-Commerce?

Research shows that many people view M-Commerce as if it has the same level of security as the internet - this is not true, so you should be much more careful when carrying out transactions over text - and hopefully that's on top of already being pretty darn careful when purchasing online. Make sure your credit card company will cover you if something goes wrong, and also remember that debit cards carry almost no protection.

Visit our main site for more down-to-earth, plain English tips and advice on web related questions - we make website and software

Sentiva make iphone and other mobile apps from our offices in Leeds.