Israel Vasquez Jr.

Ok, before all the flaming starts… lets just say that at least in my country Belize, there isn’t. Seriously though… speaking about web design as it’s traditionally thought of… i can safely say that the web design business is dead.

So how do i come to this conclusion? well for starters here’s a short list.

1. Everyone and Anyone who is somebody in the business and the internet world already has a website.

2. Those that don’t have, are looking to get on the internet: fast, cheap and easy. CHEAP being the keyword here.

3. Everybody and their mom knows or pretends to know how to make a website.

The list could go on, but lets start here by dissecting point number 1… do you know of any company serious about their business that doesn’t have a website? I could almost bet half of my paycheck that the answer is no. Everyone and their marketing department have realized the power that the internet holds and have either created, are in the process of finishing or relaunching their website. The chances of getting a major website design project is almost slim to none, especially if you’re not an established company in your current market. Chances are as slim as Peter from Family Guy losing weight!

CHEAP or BUDGET Website Design

So what about the other people who don’t have websites? well this mostly consists of small, tiny or minute companies trying to leverage the internet to maximize their business’ as most as possible. They want to do this with as little or no money if possible and they want to this NOW!! so whats the problem with that you’ll say? Yes, somebody needs to service this market, after all even fat and ugly girls need some loving huh? Well the problem lies in that these small websites can take up as much time as a large project. How is that possible? Clients are far more aware of the internet now that before, they know what is a website, they know what is HTML, they know what is a template. And they certainly don’t want a template. They want complete, customized designs and websites with all the bells and whistles for $500 or less. No Kidding!! I’d rather go sell Panades on the corner than do this! O.K. well, i won’t really sell panades but my theory is that doing customized websites for small business can take as much time as working on a large project. Especially if the client doesn’t have content, and takes forever in getting it together, and especially if you don’t have a tried and proven web development process. You can be my guest and go ahead and offer them a full customized package, throw in the content, web forms, menu’s, site search, search engine optimization and hosting…You’ll go broke in no time and will really think about opening that Panades shop instead.

My third and last point… for now, Everyone and their brothers, their mom or grandma’s pretend to know that they can build a website. Heck, there’s even one guy here in Belize advertising “Web Design Classes in Frontpage” in the newspapers. Yes you heard right, FRONTPAGE, Microsoft Frontpage. I thought they didn’t make that software anymore?? jajaja Anyways my point is there is so much competition, everyone is willing to have a go at it and hack together a couple pages, slap some graphics and pictures, charge as little as the price of a good coffee and say they’re web designers. This isn’t bad you will say, as the best will survive. Yes, but they’re diluting and misinforming the clients and market. They make promises of grandeur for very little money because they don’t know or are ignorant of the process of truly creating a professional, intuitive, standards compliant website. This then affects the real professionals as they have to live down to the expectations of the clients and charge far less what they would normally charge.

So why am i being so critical of the web design business, when I myself am in it and have been in it for a while now? Well I’m just giving you food for thought, something that has been in my mind for a while; which i came about thinking while me and my boss were having a meeting about Search Engine Optimization, and he made a comment about this being a difficult business. Darn right, i thought… but do we get out of it? NO, don’t get me wrong, i didn’t say their is no money to be made on the WEB. Just traditionally as web design is seen, there is none, that industry is dead. This doesn’t mean however there are not other ways of making money by doing web work. There are, plenty of people are doing so.

And how do you ask? wouldn’t you like to know! I’ll leave that for my upcoming post. For now, keep this in mind, Be innovative, be different, and most of all Be A Trusted adviser.

If you would like to send me comments, your opinions or even hate mail, please feel free to email: rasiel at gmail dot com.