wow, GREAT comments from everyone. and thank you for the fantastic tips and offers of help. thankfully, the ball is rolling on improving the site, both SEO and design-wise. it will get worse before it gets better, however, it will be much better when it's all said and done. brandi- the firm i'm going to work with has been in a similar situation as you described, working with a client that was more interested in getting the site up, than getting one that was of any value to them. frustrating, i'm sure. evo-yes...things took a turn for the worse and it was a slippery slope. totally sux. thankfully, phx has some fantastic people here that can help me get out of this mess. jerry-thanks for taking the time to look at my site. i really appreciate it, as well as the links. cathy-cute pooch. interesting perspective and valid point. shea-thanks for offering up your help/advice. i feel very confident that i have surrounded myself with qualified/great people to avoid repeating any of these in the future.

i agree with you on that and i'm all about having fun at work (hello, my company is called DURTBAGZ). and if you feel comfortable and like the people you've contracted with, it's doubtful that you'd just drop in, unannounced. it's all about keeping the lines of communication open and having a great working relationship. and i absolutely agree with your comment of one doesn't necessarily mean the other.

hi avonelle, thanks for commenting. the issue i have with wanting to be there in person from time-to-time is based on my terrible experience. with the "bad" web firm, they said they had developers on-site. turns out, there's a very good chance they contract it out overseas; i could never actually meet my developers for many random reasons. also, if you visit and witness multiple people around different desks, socializing and watching YouTube, versus working, it also gives you a good idea of their priorities. (this happend, as well.) i definitely have better things to do than watch paint dry, but i'm definitely going to drop in every once in a while to check things out. i'd suggest this for those who haven't been burned, as well. it has much more to do with the culture/work ethic of the company you've contracted than actually checking things off the 'to-do' list. thanks again for reading/commenting!

thanks, sunny. that's the goal.