A friend mentioned this to me so I thought I’d have a look. SiteCube.com offer a Flash website generation service and website hosting that they are selling to small businesses. I think what the idea is that you pick one of their pre-made templates and then you add text and your own pictures etc until you have a finished website. That in itself is not too bad, after all if people want to rely on a cheap Flash based website for their business then all the very best to them. What concerned me however was that they are reselling this service.
What they are trying to offer you as a reseller is your own website design business. In a market swamped by cowboys and hobbyists is it really wise to offer people with even less knowledge of the whole hosting and design market a business in a box? They’ll set up a domain for you and then you end up hosting pages from their website in frames on yours. Does anybody still use frames these days? What about support? How the hell is Resleller going to respond when his client needs support? The resale plan relies on you marketing to businesses skills that you don’t have. You are then responsible for billing them and collecting payment.
“You do not need any programming knowledge, design skills or any technical expertise to avail of this business opportunity.”
“The system has been setup such that YOU own the customers under your own business name.”
So I own the customers who I have got by misleading them into using a service that I don’t have the skills or knowledge to support, ace!
“integrated web solution created for independent professionals like, doctors, attorneys, musicians, models etc and small businesses like restaurants, salons etc”
Having been involved with small business website design for a long time now there is something else that doesn’t sit right with me with this. With every client their primary concern was using their website as a marketing tool, making sales and lead generation. They all wanted to rank well for search terms related to their business and products because the search engines can provide free eye balls, when you are starting of in business free can be a great word! It is wrong to pitch Flash as a suitable tool for small business websites, unless the client is in the design industry where lovely animation can count. If my business had been sold a SiteCube website then I think the chances of me ever having anything to do with the web again would be a bit limited. And some people wonder why website design has such a bad reputation?
9 Responses to “SiteCube.com, Business Opportunity Or Another Nail In The Coffin Of Website Design?”
Joe
March 1, 2010
Thanks for the insight, I will not be using them. My quest continues for a web site building program
|Helen
September 10, 2010
Thank you for the insight, I will not be using them.
|michelle woolcott
June 2, 2011
I’m horridly pissed right now at sitebube. My website is down, and I have no phone number to call. Even sitecube.com is down completely! I own a makeup artistry business, and mainly deal with weddings. This could completely destroy my business! I’m a nervous wreck right now, and verrryy unhappy with this company!!!
|Christie Greer
August 17, 2011
I never had a problem with them. For me…I really liked having a company help me out. But then again I’ll admit that I’m not as savvy to build one on my own so those of you that know more about this…that’s awesome. For me and my work…it was wonderful!
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