As I perused the internet in my daily search for "the competition," I clicked on to Google's Web Design and Development category. Much to my surprise, or lack thereof, I saw the following: WEB DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT (19563). That's almost 20,000 web design and devlopment firms and resources on the net today! It's not to say this is a bad thing, but it's not necessarily a good thing either.

Now I agree that there is a large amount of class-act companies, providing quality services to their clients, but is there really a need for 20,000 of them? Web design companies can be divided into 4 main categories.

1) HTML and graphic design firms
2) Web programmers and developers
3) Web promotion and marketers
4) Multimedia artists and developers

These are the basic aspects of web design and development on the internet. But these days, we see new firms springing up all over the web, offering individuals and companies "the best service on the internet." If it were up to them, we'd add more items to the categories, including "pressing a button that does the work for you for a low low price of $500." Firms need to get a grip and stop trying to play the customer.

How can this be done? The only way to remove our industry from the hole it's made is to reverse our tactics. Firms must realize that a client usually needs those 4 major services, so offer them. If you offer alternate services, provide a genuine quote. This solves our problem of 20,000 web design firms on the internet by getting rid of the "slackers" of the industry. We must look forward and think of our potential clients, not our abilities to deceive.

John Patrick
Adage Web Design
john@adagewebdesign.com
http://www.adagewebdesign.com/

Hi BigJohn,

Welcome to WT. Good message and I agree!

The biggest problem is that for every quality firm that is truly thinking of their potential clients and the clients needs, there will probably spring up even more that offer "the best service on the internet" with no concern for anything other than their own "great" prices.

Do you think the industry will turn around as a whole? Or will it continue as is, with some quality firms still out there among the designing hordes?

Dave

Dave,

Thanks for the positive feedback! I personally think that the industry will make the U-turn it needs, it just might take a while. Sooner than we think, the supply will outweigh the demand for these services, and firms will be forced to shut down altogether. All we can do is hope that they prove me wrong. For now, however, clients can hopefully see the faults in some of these unnecessary firms and make the right decisions.

John Patrick
Adage Web Design
john@adagewebdesign.com
http://www.adagewebdesign.com/

first of all, welcome to the site

realistically your never going to get rid of the slackers

ive saw some terrible web design websites but they have made money and people have been scammed

there is a generation of people who still dont want anything to do with a computer and it is very easy to tell them a pack of lies to get a sale

its the same for everything i guess - i mean i dont know anything about plumbing and theres every chance id get ripped off there

I think one of the major problems is with the industry is that owning a copy of FrontPage or Dreamweaver seems to be the qualification for being a web designer. I've seen some pretty awful web design sites (ones which have more animated gifs and useless java applets than many personal pages) charging huge prices.

Although in theory they don't harm the industry (the 'proper' designers get the top search engine places), there is always the problem of PPC search engines, allowing anyone to take this top spot.

I don't think that the huge number of web designers is a major problem, or that it will greatly fall. There is no real financial loss in being in the market and with very low barriers to entry, as many new 'firms' will enter the market as leave it.

It'll still be the best firms who get all the money though

yes i agree that there are a lot of ugly websites out there and people who dont know squat but i think that is good

the internet was designed for everyone and not everyone who designs a site can be great at it but if they make sure their site is rich in content they should be at the top

although most of the time poor content and poor design go hand in hand

Hey bigjohn. Nice to see you coming over from webdev. You have some similar postings over there!
-dk

Edit: hmmm maybe is webmaster-forums.net can't remember.

dk01,

I've tried to open up a broad discussion on the topic through more than one forum. That way, I receive feedback from a multitude of designers, rather than a small group.

I also the think web design will take a U-turn,, more and more ppl are learning the tools , and they are getting easier aswell , soon there will be a program that will just make great sites in a click ,

or the person needing a site will take a few days out off there week and learn it and make there own ,


and there are way more then 20000 companies, remember not all sites ore on Google

The big "problem" (really it's a vital part of the Internet) is that it's so easy to put up a site that there really aren't any hurdles that make you stop and say "Do I really want to do this?"

If you were opening up a graphics design shop you'd have to find a place to rent/buy, spend a lot of money on supplies and equipment, deal with the legal issues of being a company, and so forth. If your heart wasn't really in it you'd stop somewhere before the doors opened.

On the net you just find a host, write a few pages, give your CC-billing company your SSN, and there you are, all ready for business. If you're so disinclined, your only motivation can be the great piles of money you think you're going to make.

I think there's still the attitude that bricks-and-mortar are somehow more real than the net so we don't mind so much letting some things slide. Once we begin really breaking the "street" down to "this is Charlie's house, here's somebody running a garage sale, and here's the supermarket" then the quick-buckers and the half-hearts will either have to rethink their drink or go away/provide a "friendly" service. Right now the net is still too homogenous.