Some people think cornering the market for a particular product is a good thing – I disagree. Having a better product than the competition is the real key – that’s why we love competition – it makes us better at what we do.
In the web development industry, competition is everywhere. Reality says that we can’t design every website local businesses need. In fact, we really wouldn’t want to design all of them because we wouldn’t have the opportunity to compare our work to anything if we owned the market.
There are many excellent web development firms in southwest Florida – however, for every good one, there are ten bad ones that deliver terrible designs, bad copywriting, and equally bad results for their paying customers. In fact, these web developers make it easy to pick them apart because their own websites are train wrecks of epic proportions. Bad graphics, poor writing, frequent misspellings, and much more litter the local web developer marketplace.
In today’s economic climate, it’s important to get value for your money and the internet offers that value. Unfortunately, most web developers fail to provide their potential clients the education they need to get that value they so desperately need. It’s easy to pick out their work because it lacks professionalism and is so antiquated, it can’t help but create a sense of disappointment on the part of the client – and an attitude that “the internet doesn’t work for my business.”
So your probably asking, “what’s the point?” The point is short and sweet. When choosing a web development firm, use the following guidelines:
- Look at the developers own website first. How does it look? Is the text readable? Is it all hype – as in “we’re the best,” etc.? Are their frequently misspelled words?
- Look at samples of the web developers work. Ask for the samples and the keywords affiliated with each site. Google the keywords to see the results.
- Meet with the web developer one-on-one and get a feel for their knowledge of the market, their product, and the industry as a whole. Most web developers are sadly stuck in the last century and cannot offer the skills needed to succeed in today’s marketplace.
- Get the developer to outline the entire project for you, including a completion date and what steps they will take to make your website succeed. If they promise “guaranteed top placement” in Google or any other search engine, and their own website doesn’t get that type of placement, that should speak volumes about their abilities and their integrity.
This discussion could go on for pages and pages – but I think you get the big picture.
Choosing a web developer can be confusing. Everyone and their brother-in-law can design websites, right? So why do I need to pay someone?
We come across this all of the time. With all of the software out there and free website builders, who even needs a web design firm? The answer is simple: unless you are a professional web designer, YOU do!
Of course, this mostly applies to business websites. If you have a personal or informational website, a website builder or a friend is just fine. However, if you are starting a business or are creating an online presence for your existing business, professionalism is key.
That’s why we love the competition.
John Delaney
Integrity Technology Group
North Port Florida Web Development
www.integritytechgroup.com
