Status of www.inCharge.co.uk

Dear Editors

This little beauty...

www.inCharge.co.uk

...was submitted to the made-to-measure category...

Computers: Internet: On the Web: Web Applications: Content Management

...and I would be delighted to hear if it will be included in your splendid directory.

Cheers
Julian

[r]recd[/r]

That's good to know - wasn't sure if the submission had worked.

Please add this site ASAP - inCharge.co.uk is a genuine business providing a valuable, professional service - but I need customers now, not in 6 months.

Thanks
Julian

The editor that reviews you site is highly unlikely to read your message and you should be realistic about how ODP work - suggest you read the FAQ.

There are zillions of sites that offer you customers now, and we will not be offended if you contract with any or all of them. It's simply not something the ODP CAN offer -- and (because there are zillions of sites already offering it) it's not something we feel a need to try to offer.

If the company won't survive six months without an ODP listing, then -- a word of professional advice -- sell out now. (WE know that an ODP listing itself won't make a major difference in a site in the first six months anyway.)

[You don't have to take our word for it. We might be regarded as uninterested in, or even biassed against, your particular goal. Check out some of the website promotion forums. See what the successful website promoters say ("I do it without the ODP...") and what the failures say.]

OK, reality is seeping in.

A lot of people are under the impression that an ODP listing will help potential customers find them by improving search engine visibility. A listing will not make the difference between rags and riches but it might help.

But I take your points and will not give up the networking, cold calling, leafleting outside the bus station...

Non-DMOZ feedback: it would help (get customers, not a listing) if the services you offered were competitively priced and there were demos not brief paragraphs - it didn't convince me and I sometimes need services akin to your own.

Why would I pay a £10 upfront fee and £2 - £4 a month for a domain name = £58 over the term of the domain name when I can get the same from thousands of other places for £6 - £10 and that's it. Or £30 a month for hosting with no indication of webspace or bandwidth and virtually no features - I can buy reseller size space/bandwidth with no limits on mail boxes, a myriad of features, and CMS software for less than that. If you were offering a dazzling array of added value services then maybe, but I don't see that on the site.

In all honesty, DMOZ hat back on, I would be very reluctant to list the site, I just don't see enough original quality content or any products or services that make me want to yell out hallelujah. There are hundreds of other sites all doing the same thing better. Look at the existing listings, find the best of the lot. That is the bar you have to jump (or at least match). For a DMOZ listing, for live customers it wouldn't be a bad thing either!

That is very useful feedback and gives me something to aim for.

However, if you are able to set up websites on a reseller hosting account then you are not my target market. My target (and existing) customers typically do not understand what bandwidth is, or how much disk space or how many email accounts they will need. That's why I just say they will get 'enough'. That is why there's no techno-speak on the site - it's alienating.

When, my car goes wrong I could buy a carburetor for £20 and fit it myself but I take it to my friendly local garage and pay him £120. Similarly I will take care of my customers domain names but it is labour intensive getting them transferred & registered - but it is worth it to them because they wouldn't know where to start and they don't want to know.

The £30/month is really for support - of which they need lots - and for the ability to edit their own websites without technical expertise - and ongoing software development which is continuous.

If it sounds like I'm patronising my customers then I'm not explaining myself well - it is about empowering busy non-IT professionals by giving them control of their websites - without needing to learn the jargon.

Anyway, the site obviously doesn't get this across, so I will work on it. The reason there's no on-line demo is because I talk people through the demo over the phone - but there should at least be screen shots. And a FAQ and some articles, and resources for designers who are my partners after all. Plus testimonials & links to existing sites. And a re-design.

Thanks for taking the time to review the site and give feedback. It's really appreciated.

there should at least be

Click to expand...

You're getting the idea!

We are all about content content content. If you cut out all the content to make the site easy for non-technical people it won't be content-rich enough for us to consider as a worthy addition. Tuck more specialist stuff away on linked pages and the site becomes a resource not just an ad. We don't list ads, but we do think long and hard about decent informational resources.