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Magical Mystery (Web Marketing & Maintenance Fees) Tour

"It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." Winston Churchill was referring to Russia during World War II, but he easily could have been referring to the murky web-related fees charged by some firms instead. 

Over the years, many prospective clients have asked us to review their invoices for fees charged by their previous web design or ad agency firms. They wanted us to decipher the charges on their invoices because they assumed they just weren't savvy enough to understand them. At least, that's the message given to them by their previous firms. What they were told boiled down to, "Don't worry about the details of these charges. It's too complicated for you to understand. Just trust that we know what we're doing and pay the invoice as is."

Well, to quote another smart, famous person, "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." So, according to Einstein's theory (of simplicity?), one reason the fees weren't explained well is that the firm really didn't understand them either. Another, more likely, explanation is that the firm didn't really want to explain the fees well, because doing so would undermine their validity.

Most of the fees in question were automatically recurring fees, as opposed to services being provided for a specific request made by the client, such as an update to a web page. Many were positioned as maintenance, service or marketing fees.

Now, before you get the wrong idea, a website (and often-times its related email server) does require regular maintenance to ensure that it's kept up and running smoothly. Examples of legitimate services are system updates, security fixes, trouble-shooting and requested changes to the website or email accounts. Such services are easy to describe. Furthermore, many website owners pay ongoing fees for website monitoring, pay-per-click advertising and other Internet marketing services. Some of these services are quite valuable, and, depending on how competitive your market is, may very well be needed (but not always). Regardless, they should still be clearly defined and explained.

Some of the fees we've raised our eyebrows at are "subscription" fees where no clear subscription service is described, "search engine optimization" fees for recurring bulk-submissions to 100s of search engines and directories (generally a bad idea anyway), or hazy "marketing" fees that are described with flowery, superfluous prose that never describes any specific, actionable items.

The point is, don't feel intimidated to ask for clarity on any vague web fees you're being charged. When you're charged by professionals from more established, familiar industries such as attorneys, accountants, or auto mechanics, I'm sure you insist on clear explanations of the services rendered. Don't settle for anything less from web firms.

This article was originally published in the Coeur d'Alene Press' North Idaho Business Journal