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r/webdev • … • u/TheDarkerKnight83

I found out my mom is paying $400 a month for a static website and an email...

TLDR: Pretty sure my mom has been getting scammed for the last 10 years and I want to get her out. **Am I missing something before moving her?**

**UPDATE\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_**

THANK YOU ALL. I was hopeful I could get one response and this community outpoured with 90% helpful info and 10% jokes (all were appreciated)

Some common threads below:

**1. It's not a scam if she knew what she was paying for and got it** \- Fair enough. I will reword to "price gouged". Sorry if I offended any of the price gougers, cry from your yacht

**2. $400 isn't bad for high touch, high quality service on a complex site** \- 100% valid... this wasn't complex and it *still* wasn't high quality. Basically unreadable content, no SEO optimization, incorrect info. Functionality is basically just a walking business card with minimal to no updates. Website doesn't even have pricing. Just a form to **email** her, nevermind schedule. She doesn't sell anything on the site and max traffic is 10 people per day. 20 if someone refreshes a bunch of times.

**3. THANK GOD** yes, she owns the domain... that saved a headache

**4. My path forward -** Built her a new site today, and talking to her about her needs, recurring updates, number of emails, storage space, etc. tomorrow. Would share, but honestly I don't want to expose her. All said, it looks great and seems to function well

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Hi all! Honestly I **wish** this was clickbait

My mom has a successful freelance design/inviation/swag business. Her web presence was always mid, but her focus was on managing the work she was getting, not getting more.

Now, she has three full time supporters with a growing suite of offerings so she wanted to revamp the website and had her hosting company do it.

From both a design and content/SEO perspective, it's the worst thing I've ever seen. The images are all stock (not hers), with alt text of "a couch in a living room", spelling errors, inconsistent formatting, nonsenscical organization, etc.

I told her if she paid them a cent, she should ask for a dollar back for the inconvenience.

Turns out she's not paying a cent... she's been paying them $400 a month for the last TEN YEARS to host her site. When I told her that was crazy, she said "they also host the email address"

I am not a web dev. I have a light CS background but have put up a hobby website before.

My question is **am I missing something here**:

1. **The Site:** Her website just needs to be a lightweight gallery of images with some descriptions of her work. Her active users must be maximum 20 a day. This would take a decent webdev a day if she pre-supplied context and host on railway or smth. Maybe integrate it with her instagram because that's what she keeps most updated 2. **Email Hosting:** I've hosted an email for a business before. Can she not just pay $8 a month for google workspace, Zoho, or another alternative?

If I am correct that this is easy:

1. Is there anything else I should know before I get her off 2. Oh my god how many people are these assholes doing this to

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