ETHICAL BUSINESS THATS GIVEN US A FANTASTIC NEW WEBSITE
I'd originally created and managed our online profile in 2016 & for the the past 7yrs it was OK, but in need of much improvement recently. I'm The Tree Walker Arborist Ltd & my skill set is in arboriculture, not tech.
We originally had a business relationship with Be Creative Design (becreativegroup.co.uk), based in Barrow In Furness. Be Creative contacted us and introduced themselves as the domain holders and hosts of our web address. What became clear was, over a couple of years they preyed on our lack of knowledge about our digital platform & how the internet works, for their own financial gain....
We were called on multiple occasions, with differing angles of approach. One was 'a number of domain names have been released, which, if you bought them would greatly increase traffic to your website'. So we bought 'treesurgeonseastyorkshire.co.uk' & until recently, if you typed that in to an internet search, it would indeed take you to our website. So we bought that, along with treesurgeonsdriffield.co.uk, treesurgeonsbeverley.co.uk & treesurgeonspocklington.co.uk.
Then we got a call to request payment for the annual renewal of our SSL certificate for our domain name 'SSL Renewal - 1 Year - treesurgeonseastyorkshire.co.uk 200.00' (Actual text copied from their invoice.)
And then we got an email from them asking if we knew anyone who would benefit by 'cloning our branding' stating 'It could be a case of competition trying to piggyback off yourself online'. Because 'they'd had an anonymous request to purchase the domain name 'treewalkerarborists.co.uk, our is the .com version. They explained the domain registration is free for anyone to purchase, and if we didn't buy it, they would be freely available to this 'unknown entity' which could take a high volume of web traffic away from our site.
This was a very hard sell & I was reminded on multiple occasions during a call, that this could severely impact our business if we didnt buy the domain name (& agree to annual hosting).
That didn't sit right with me, so I reached out to Ben @ BeeLocalWebDesign for his support with a review of our digital platform. And what a brilliant education it was!!!
Suffice to say 'purchasing' individual domain names in the belief they will increase traffic to a website is basically a SCAM, used by unscrupulous companies, to prey on individuals/companies with limited knowledge of how the internet works. Yes, the domain name will be linked to your website address, but no one searches for treesurgeonsdriffield.co.uk - they search for 'tree surgeons driffield' etc, so all similar trades in the area come up in that search, making ownership of the domain name utterly pointless & completely worthless! And certainly not worth £497.00 + VAT!
Needless to say Ben taught us a lot about the internet & subsequently saved us a small fortune with a review of our online presence in the process. He's built us a brand new website, which is fantastic & we've also ended our advertising on Yell.com, which we learned was another complete waste of money.
The whole experience has saved us money, been a great investment, given us a fantastic, renewed digital platform & taught us a great deal in the process!
It's great to work with a local provider, who demonstrates his integrity & professionalism. We are more than happy to endorse Ben @ beewebsitedesign.co.uk
Steve Walker
Director
The Tree Walker Arborist Ltd