Kit Digital: where it all ended up and what to do if your website was left half-finished

Kit Digital handed out vouchers of between 2,000 and 12,000 euros to digitalise small companies and self-employed workers. It was good news… and it also left behind a crop of websites built in a hurry to justify the grant.

Where things stand

The funding rounds are closed as of today. The programme has opened new phases over the past few years, so it may come back: we are an approved digitalisation agent and we let anyone who leaves us their details know as soon as something opens.

The problem we see every week

A client turns up with a website that ticked the boxes on paper: it existed, it was responsive and it had its sections. But look at it closely and the same things always appear:

• A generic template identical to the one twenty other businesses have.
• Copy nobody checked, sometimes with the “Lorem ipsum” still in it.
• No search work: it does not even show up for the name of the business.
• Nobody maintaining it: plugins out of date and security warnings.
• And the worst one: the domain in the supplier’s name, not the client’s.

What to do if this is your case

First, check who owns the domain and who has the logins: that is yours and it should be in your name. Then look at whether what is there can be saved. Very often it can: content, photos and the history are kept, and whatever does not work is rebuilt.

We call it the Rescue Plan: we review what you have for free, we tell you frankly what can be saved and what cannot, and we take 30% off the quote for the new website if this is why you came to us.

And if a new round opens?

Do not let the voucher decide the quality of the project for you. The grant covers part of it; what you are left with is the website. Choose whoever is going to maintain it afterwards, not whoever builds it fastest to claim the subsidy.