Developer SOS | How we rescued a Black Dog that was in a bad way

Developer SOS: Black Dog Advertising

by David Dwyer on 03/04/2014

Save our Site' helps clients regain control of their website.

It takes a lot of talented people to get a website online. Programmers, copywriters, SEO experts and graphic designers are just a few of the specialists we work with to make our clients’ dreams a reality. But they’re only part of the story. ‘Online’ can very quickly become ‘Offline’ without a reliable host – the people who in effect plug your website into the web.

In short, putting a website online and keeping it online is a team effort – or at least that’s how it should be. Since we launched our Developer SOS Service a few years back, we’ve seen more than once what happens when these teams break down.

Take what happened to Black Dog Advertising, a marketing firm in Glasgow. They created a 1&1 website, and in time it developed serious problems. That’s not so unusual, but the real fly in the ointment was that their type of website required support directly from the Server Host. Black Dog Advertising Online soon became Black Dog Advertising Offline – not a place you want to be when you’re in marketing.

Not quite sure what to do next, Black Dog Advertising turned to the Support team at 1&1, their Internet hosts, for help. They shouldn’t have bothered. Not only were their hosts usually ‘unavailable’ to investigate the problems at hand, when they were available, long phone calls to various support staff yielded only a more frustrated client.

And then Black Dog Advertising got in touch with Inspire, on the old ‘dog and bone’. We contacted the online host and quickly asked a few pertinent questions. We identified that the issue lay with the database being used. We duly requested access, and duly they refused to give it. They even refused to give access to Black Dog Advertising themselves, stating that ‘Only 1&1 are allowed to access that.’ After getting still more of the same old 'run around', we escalated the issue with their Support team to a level in the organisation that gave us the ability to resolve the problem.

Within a few days, what was Offline became Online, and the Black Dog website 'barked again'.

If your website has gone to the dogs, or if your current developer is making you howl, give us a call. We’ll sniff out the problem in no time.

David Dwyer is Managing Director of Inspire Web Development. He has years of experience in a range of web and IT roles plus seven years in sales and marketing in a blue-chip FMCG company. David’s academic and professional qualifications include a BA (Hons) in Business Economics (Personnel & Ergonomics) from the University of Paisley, an MSc in Information Technology (Systems) from Heriot-Watt University and PRINCE2 Practitioner-level certification. He is also an active member of the British Computer Society, Entrepreneurial Exchange and Business for Scotland.

Follow Inspire on Twitter @inspireltd and @developersos

1&1 Websites, Developer SOS, Inspire Web Development, Inspire Web Services, Server, The Evolving Web, Web Design, Website Support

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