The risks of picking the “popular” choice
When you choose a designer based on hype or personal ties, things can quickly go wrong:
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The “Committee” Trap: Many local clubs and charities rely on committees to choose a designer. If the committee lacks design or marketing knowledge, they can easily be “duped” by someone who talks a good game but lacks the skills to deliver.
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Bells, Whistles, and Flashing Images: Inexperienced designers often try to hide poor skills with “flashy” features. If a site has too many moving parts or flashing images, it usually just slows the site down and annoys your visitors.
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Outdated Skills: The web moves fast. Someone who was “good” a few years ago might still be using old methods that leave you with a slow, clunky website that doesn’t work on modern phones.
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Broken Promises: It is easy to promise a professional result, but much harder to deliver things like member areas or integrated calendars. I’ve seen many clients left with a broken website and no choice but to pay twice to have it fixed properly.
Social Media: More than just “posting”
It is also risky to let a club member run your Facebook page without a proper plan. I’ve noticed a few major issues lately:
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Unreadable Content: Posting images with tiny writing that nobody can read on a phone is a waste of time.
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Inconsistent Posting: Posting ten times a day or not at all for a month makes the club look disorganized.
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Too much AI and “Humour”: Using AI to write every post feels cold. Worse is when a volunteer tries to be “funny” at the expense of other members, which just creates bad feeling.
How to protect your business or club
Before you sign anything, you should always sit down for a proper chat.
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See what else is out there: Don’t just go with the first person you see. Look at other designers’ work to see the level of quality that is actually available today.
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Ask for a full list of what you are getting: Is it a modern, fast, and mobile-ready site, or just a pretty shell? Ask specifically about features like member logins or booking systems to see if they actually know how to build them.
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Have a proper plan: Whether it’s for a new website or a Facebook page, don’t wing it. Know what you want to achieve before you start.
At Major Web Design, I believe in doing the job right. Your business or club deserves a digital presence built for 2026, not 2016.
