Hiring On Upwork- Beware!

Ok, you need a website but you want a "really good deal", so you mozy on over to Upwork and peruse the overseas buyers with great prices. Wow, you're so smart!

But as a professional – a doctor or a lawyer- what do you know about web design or web designers, for that matter? When a seller on Upwork tells you they will use a premium theme on your site FREE- isn't that just great? I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Do you even know what a "premium theme" is?

What’s It Like Working With Overseas Marketers On Upwork?

Well, for one thing, people from other countries have different values than people who grew up in the U.S.- it’s just a fact of life. Different cultures, different economics. In some of these countries, the average daily wage is between $5 and $10. Some of these sellers are working just to get a meal, so sometimes “dishonesty” arises from desperation.

The Most Common Problems

It’s a toss-up, really; between dishonesty, sheer laziness and lack of initiative. Take your pick.

Let’s Talk About Dishonesty First

Keep in mind that a lot of people who may be scouring these platforms like it’s a Black Friday Sale at Walmart’s, don’t know squat about what they’re buying, “Oh I need a website.” Great, but what do you know about a website?

For example, do you know the difference between a website made in code and one made on WordPress?

I’ll make your life easy with a simple explanation, in plain English: a website made with WordPress is more easily accessible to the masses. If your web developer flakes out on you, in five minutes you can find someone who knows WordPress to replace them.

Not so easy with coding. Some of the bigger marketing firms intentionally use obscure custom coding to stop people from leaving them and going with other designers. While this isn’t prevalent on Upwork, it’s good to know, just the same.

Is Your Web Designer Offering You a FREE Premium Theme or Page- Builder - Just To Sweeten Up The Deal?

Well Gollee, Gomer! Where do you think a person who makes $5 -$10 a day gets a theme or page builder that costs $60 / year- renewable every year? In a lot of cases, the “Premium Theme” is one that is stolen from a previous employer or purchased off the internet. These hacked themes are often called “cracked” or “nulled”.  There is a whole black market for them.

So, what could possibly go wrong with that?

Well, for one thing, if you don’t own the theme – with your name on the license- someone else controls it. If they fail to pay the renewal fee at the end of the year, what will happen to your website?

They also have the ability to deny you future access to the updates of the theme or page builder. If you can not update your web assets, you are leaving yourself vulnerable to hackers. 90% of theme updates are security plugs. If you can’t update, oh well.

Another thing hackers may do is to put malware coding inside the “cracked” them and then sell them. It’s like having a ticking time bomb on your website.

Simple Solution- Always Buy Your Own Paid Plugins, Themes, or Pagebuilders – In Your Name -So You Have Control

Another thing to look out for is hosting. Buy your own hosting- in your name, your login, etc. Give the person who is designing your site the login for a one-time set up of your website, then, as soon as it is finished- change your password and pin#.

Most WordPress hosting companies will allow you to invite a web designer via email. This will give the designer access to only your website- not your main hosting area or credit card info. 

Wait! They Said They Work With A Team- Means Extra Manpower For Your Project, Right?

Well, it can also mean an extra added security liability for your website. A team means anyone number of people from anywhere- can have your login info. At any given time. This is a huge liability, considering if someone from overseas takes down your website or hacks it- you have absolutely no recourse. What are you going to do if they do? Find an International Lawyer and sue them through the Hague Convention?  No, you’re going to take it on the chin and wish you had listened to me.

Now wait, didn’t he mention “lazy” and “no initiative”? Yes, I did. And I’ll go you one step further- plain stupidity.

Here’s what I mean by lazy. You hire someone from overseas on Upwork for example, to make your website. They offer “unlimited revisions”. You see that and you wonder how you could go wrong!

When someone offers unlimited revisions- 9 times out of 10 – you will need them! Because your web designer is a dope who doesn’t follow your instructions the first time. So now you can waste your precious time asking them to fix what they ignored the first time around. A lot of them will ask you to supply pictures and content for the site. The text content- that is primarily your responsibility unless you are hiring someone who speaks English as a first language and knows elementary grammar.

But to ask you for images? If a “designer” asks you for pictures- this is a sign they are not really a designer- they are a “copy and paster”. A “copy and paster” is someone who will put your pictures where you want them, leaving the design of the site up to you as if you have nothing better to do than to babysit someone you are paying to design your website!

Here is an answer I got once when I sent a “designer” two pictures to add to a web page and told him where each one should go. He added one of them. I asked, “what about the other?” He replied, “Which one?’ Well since there are only two and you already added one… You can’t make this stuff up.

Here’s another one for sheer stupidity: I was doing a page for a lawyer and I gave the designer a beautiful picture of a courtroom. He added it to the site- where I wanted it, the only thing was the way he cropped it: you could only see the chandelier on the ceiling- no bench, no seats for attorneys- no courtroom- only light on the ceiling. When I asked him what was that, he said it’s from the picture you sent me. Great! This comes under “unlimited revisions”, which equals unlimited stupidity in some cases.

No initiative… you ask the “web designer” to design, they ask you what to do. Trust me- it happens.

The Impossible Dream: Find A Web Designer On Upwork Who Knows How To Design, Has Initiative, AND is Honest.

Find one with all three and you can send them to me for a job. I will hire them in an instant!   

But what about SEO Specialists On Upwork?

A lot of buyers complain that they paid a good amount for SEO but really didn’t see any meaningful results. Well, that’s because they didn’t do their homework first! Before you hire an SEO Specialist, look at some of these tips!

The Moral Of The Story: You Will Save Money On Upwork In Some Cases- If Your Own Time Has No Value.