Reviews for Web.com

Customer Service

After setting up my site through Web.com I ran into a few problems, My first thought was to call customer service, after repeated phone calls than repeated e-mails, I still had got no answer. If you are someone like me and needs some technical support from time to time Web.com is definitely not the answer.

Poor design

Nothing that could really constitute a "professional" web presence. And the Site Builder tool is quite clunky. Oh well, I gave it a shot. Any other recommendations?

During my initial planning stages of my business, I was referred to web.com to create my website. However, due to unrelated reasons, the business never panned out. I am giving support for this website because I have been hearing a lot of good things about it.

DiBona Designs

In Brief: For decades, Patricia DiBona has developed a well-deserved reputation as a talented artist who blends her spiritual background into her work. Her business, DiBona Designs, which she runs with managing partner Michael Ruskin, features DiBona's framed spiritual art, handmade writing journals, altered-book art, customized scrapbooks and scrapbooking materials, wrapping papers, collage greeting cards and card kits, and other specialty gifts, which at one time were only found at her studio in north Atlanta.

Before: DiBona had experimented with a website prior to signing on with Web.com, but with limited success. According to Ruskin, countless sales opportunities were lost because the web designer took too long to update the site when Ruskin needed changes or updates. In addition, the updated information—when it was finally published—often included errors. Finally, the business needed an affordable, comprehensive way to reach a wider audience as DiBona began to expand into new artistic avenues such as scrapbooking. Without an effective website, DiBona Designs wasn't taking full advantage of the prestigious reputation DiBona had built in the art community for more than two decades.

After: DiBona and Ruskin selected a Web.com Custom Website plan, which Ruskin says has provided an ideal mix of personalized design, one-on-one guidance, and do-it-yourself maintenance options. The website features a large online store in which customers can purchase any of DiBona's items as well as find updates about her workshops and speaking engagements. In addition, Ruskin appreciates the fact that he doesn't have to go through a third party to publish that information, which has allowed his productivity and peace of mind to skyrocket. Customers seem to like the site, too: the average visitor now spends up to 30 minutes on it.

PURSEsnickety!

In Brief: Founded by Atlanta-based entrepreneur Deborah Nail, PURSEsnickety! specializes in colorful, reversible purses, baby bags, and items for pets, all of which can be customized. Fueled by a steady stream of business, Nail initially worked out of the top floor of her home before moving into a retail location. In addition, PURSEsnickety! products can be found in fine shops and boutiques across the United States and beyond.

Before: The company's first experience with a web site several years ago was not a very positive one, says Nail. The site was built without a strong strategic plan, and it did not have the professional look or functionality that Nail envisioned. Without eCommerce capabilities available on the site, customers could not make purchases online, which did not ease the time-consuming process of filling orders and servicing customers that Nail constantly struggled with. As a result, PURSEsnickety! was not able to fully capitalize on its growing popularity with new customers and translate it into sales.

After: Web.com provided a complete site overhaul, including professional design, eCommerce options, and search engine optimization strategies, which have streamlined nearly every function of the business. Among the additions: e-marketing options that have facilitated communication with distribution and retail customers, a password-protected members-only area featuring wholesale pricing and ordering, an eCommerce store with more than 400 items available online for retail and wholesale buyers, and "Buy Now" capabilities for featured products on the homepage. The results have been outstanding. Nail says that business has more than tripled since the new website launch. Plus, her products can now be found in 49 states and seven countries. PURSEsnickety!'s technology transformation, including the strategies from Web.com, was also featured in a series of stories in Entrepreneur magazine.

Mary's Restaurant and Catering

In Brief: More than 10 years ago, Mary and Drew Jones started Mary's Restaurant and Catering, marking the first time either had ever worked in the restaurant business. Since then, the family-owned business has served thousands of customers in its two Greenville, SC, locations and catered hundreds of parties, corporate events, and weddings.

Before: Without a web presence, a sizable portion of the Joneses' busy 14-hour days were consumed by phone calls: customers asking about the menu, hours, or driving directions; catering prospects wanting information about facilities and pricing; and job seekers wanting to fax resumes. Meanwhile, when the Joneses found time to do an occasional marketing program, most often newspaper and radio, the results were difficult to measure. Despite the popularity of the restaurant, voted "Best of the Upstate" by readers of The Greenville News, business for the higher-margin catering division was slow.

After: After hearing about Web.com, the Joneses purchased a Website + Marketing plan and used Site Builder to create an attractive and robust website that has since become their most important marketing tool. Not only has feedback about the new site been overwhelmingly positive, but the launch of a search marketing program has created a new and cost-effective source of qualified website traffic. Today, business for Mary's Catering is up 30% over just two years ago, a fact the Joneses largely attribute to their new website. Best of all, they're spending about half the time on the phone—the icing on the cake, indeed.

The Cost, New Business Generation and Their End Game Isn't Good!

As an source to get a decent website up quickly with a lot of standard boiler plate verbiage web.com was very good. They were fast to call and gave good assistance in setting-up the site. They painless applied for my companies domain name as .com, .net, .info, .org, etc. for a fee. For getting a web site up quickly their services were very good. You can log onto your site and make changes quickly and easily. They set-up an 877 number to cross track inquirers after web searches. They have a basic stats section so one can view your web site activity. That is the positive side of Web.com.

It is good to have a decent company web site that you can tell potential customers to visit to get more information. That said, one wants to drive web site search inquirers onto your site in the first 10 listings or it is useless to generate new business. In little over a year my site has had 100 web search hits in total. Six (6) this month, up 50% from last month. Sounds good, but the phone hasn't rung. Why, all 6 web search originated in Florance, Alabama, my firm is based in Massachusetts!

Over the past year it has cost me approx. $1,500 and I have had 2 confirmed responses neither turned into business to date. At $270.25 per quarter this is a lot of hard earned cash to host a web site that doesn't drive business to your site! Go Daddy costs around $25 per year to host your site! For numerous reasons I am in the process of extracting my company from their services. When a called to get my domain transfer codes they told me that they owned my domain names and it would cost me $99 EACH to get the domain transfer codes for each .com, .net, etc. When setting up this service I specifically asked if I owned my domain names and they said Yes and their contact paperwork also states that I own the my company domain names. Under Federal law it is illegal for Web.com to own a domain name that they are setting-up for a company and carries a $10,000 fine per infraction. I am in the middle of resolving this situation and am not happy with this illegal shake down tactic by Web.com!

In conclusion Web.com has left a bad taste in my mouth. Legalzoom.com should extract themselves for referring to Web.com business on their site!

Craig R.

Author in Pseudonym

This was a very fine job of incubating my web site over its building phases, always with excellent advice or hand-on emendation. The result has been a fine information base for my outreach to my defined publics. I am enhancing constantly thanks to excellent accessibility to my novel features. I have yet to exploit the e-mail siting expansively, but have confidence in an equally beneficial experience.

Good customer service

Free trial

My experience was pretty good, but I canceled after my business after i changed my mind. Since I canceled within the free trial, I didn't get charged!