Providing Website Support to Clients

I did a post sometime ago about VAs whose websites had been copied. Today I want to discuss the other side – creating websites for clients.

Recently I had a client send me a whole lot of text for a website I am putting together for her. I copied and pasted the text into the various pages, formatting as required, and then noticed that the words ‘contact’ and ’email’ were hyperlinked. When I checked to see what they were linked to, they led to totally different domains. I went and checked the domains and found that perhaps my client had been using these other sites as a guide for what she should be putting on her website.

Now, this means that the text she has given me might not be entirely her own so I carefully worded an email to her, advising that I needed to be sure the content was her’s and not anyone else’s. I explained that Google can penalise websites for duplicate content and that also there is a site called Copyscape that can be used to check for someone else’s content that might have been copied.

As her designer I didn’t want to experience problems with the thought that others might think I had done any copying, nor do I want my client to have problems with people assuming the same of her. She agreed that she will revisit those sites and check her content to make sure that nothing can be viewed in that way.

As virtual providers of support to other businesses it is important that we protect our clients and their interests. After all if they go out of business we lose a client so assisting them to protect their business should be in our own best interests. Sometimes those areas may appear to be a shade of grey but we need to check ourselves and how we would feel if it was our business that a certain action was being applied. If we wouldn’t do it for our own, then chances are it probably isn’t in the best interests for our clients either.

ethics, copyscape, protecting clients, virtual assistant support