Wow. In the last couple of weeks, I have seen a number of unscrupulous web developers (if you can call them that) develop some very poor websites for their customers. Whether it is because they are simply trying to cut corners wherever they can or because they are not adequately educating their customers, some bad websites are being developed.

I believe that, primarily, the problem stems from folks wanting features that are intermediate to advanced features. Items such as e-commerce are not things that just anybody can do. Unfortunately, this is showing up in a number of places. While I could run through a long list of major mistakes, I will instead stop with one... the most important one. Sure, bad design that will give you poor search engine ranking is definitely bad. The worst, however, is the creation of a technology that can, in-fact, land you into legal trouble that could end your business.

Is your Web Designer giving away your customers?

It seems that it is of little consequence to some "designers" out there who has a list of your customer's personal contact information. The first mistake that many of them make is to force your customers to use an outside payment services such as PayPal where they must give up their information to PayPal to use your site for purchases or... worse...

Some "designers" are creating web forms to accept critically private information such as credit card numbers without using basic encryption. While this might sound a little over your head, the key is that none of the information is protected as it traverses the "great wide Internet." Would you write information that could be used to steal your identity on a paper airplane and attempt to fly it across a busy city? These "designers" are asking your customers to do the Internet equivalent of just that.

Don't ask your customers to risk their identities and their credit. Whether it is us or another web development firm, always look for somebody willing to ensure that your customers' data is secured.