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In the last few months I've been finding it increasingly difficult to find new business. The jobs we get now are paying around 50% of what they would have just 18 months ago.
Also, the average turn around time from intial enquiry to signed contract is getting longer and longer. 2-3 months+ isn't uncommon.
My observation is that there is some kind of crazy price war going on at the moment with companies producing sites at little above cost price.
Or have my sales skills gone to pot?
But you can still scrape through lean times with a good portfolio and word of mouth from happy customers. There is a difference between a quality custom business card and a Kinko's "raised lettering" special, just like there's a big difference between the "$300 Website, Complete!" designers, and quality, custom work.
Successful businesses will come to understand that soon, as the internet itself becomes less of a "mysterious force" in the commercial world.
As for longer turn-around, that must be global. Since the slide towards recession began turn around and payments have lengthened. Even my ad sales business, which does not require contracts or long term commitments, has been running hot and cold... it seems people need so much reassurance that their dollars/euros are being well spent.
Strangely though, it seems like the larger dollar contracts get signed quicker. A lot of this may have to do with larger companies being more familiar in the tech field and having access to good legal departments.
Those ma and pa accounts seemingly take forever to finalize and require much more hand holding.
It might take a little more time for the small business operators to come around to the fact that those $300 Complete! websites are a complete waste of time.
I've been telling prospective SEO clients to get 3 quotes from competitors before committing to a contract with me. This seems to have reduced the "dalliance" time.
Fees on the other hand are going up, unless I really want to add the site to the portfolio and can afford to take the cut.
DG
This has several benefits.
I know what my monthly income will be given the contracts I have.
There are no dry spells.
The client isn't forced to come up with 80% of what can be a large chunk of change depending on the site and the level of optmization.
Accountants prefer it.
The schedule seems to fit everyone's idea of a business concept better than 50/50 contracts.
If the optimization takes place over a long period of time, there's no long wait for the cash flow.
DG
digitalghost, it's funny you should mention the monthly installments - I was just disussing this today with my colleague - I think it may be the way to go. The big invoice can scare a lot of people off.
It's interesting that you mentioned that the "larger dollar contracts get signed quicker" - this happened to us last month - another company got the job before we got to our pitch date.
Good call!
If you are a webmaster/seo with just a small touch of business savvy then the world is your lobster :) Build a sucesssful www based business and they will come to you, not buying a "web site" but a proven business model, name your own price from there on in.
Web design for profit is a dead end road. Learn how to get your sites to the top and then market your own products or do some sort of affiliate marketing.
Everybody and their brother can "build" a web site....but there's only 10 spots on the front page of the serps and you only get one shot at "making" the sale.
I think these tools have driven down the need for professional designers as well.
Even though Flash is usually detested by power surfers, Flash design demands are up as well. I have a client that can't find the developers he needs, either skills are lacking or costs are prohibitive.
I think that the large market, the small business owners, may have a sour taste in their mouth after being burned by designers that promised and couldn't deliver.
There are countless "web design" sites that look like they were made by someone with NO HTML skill and a brand new copy of FrontPage. The small business owner hires someone because they aren't familiar with HTML, they hire someone with FP that has little HTML skill and everyone ends up frustrated. This same thing happened and is still happening in the SEO field.
The market is learning though, and free market economics will prevail. The online industry seemed to forget that all the same rules apply. The important one being, you get what you pay for.
DG
i've now got a 2 month lead time for commencement of work and there is no way i can guarantee to meet their timescales, yet people still want to sign contracts with me. i'm letting them sign on the understanding that i can't guarantee finish dates until i actually start, and that they can pull out at any time prior to commencement - its all written into the contracts so nobody loses out. i'm startin to farm work out to other designers just so i can cut down the amount of work i have. last night i finished a site that i signed contracts for back in early november - just not had time to finish the site. i had to do little more than integrate a database with customized search and add password protection - a total of 12 hours work - but it has taken me this long to get around to doing it ....
i've even increased prices but that has had little effect so far. maybe i need to increase them more?
and yes, i agree about the frontpage users ... i guess about 1/3 of small businesses in the uk have built their own websites themselves ... and then armed with their copy of frontpage, they set themselves up as web designers ... and they don't understand the market and they don't understand anything like cgi / asp / php databases / ecommerce and so on.
one only needs to look at the web design category of the ODP - there are some 11,271 web design companies listed there. there must be several thousand others not listed. the market is saturated.
in my opinion, it's about time the governments regulated web design. businesses will only benefit from websites if they have a properly built website with the most appropriate features (ie, databases, ecommerce and so on). a bricks and mortar shop cannot really benefit by having a 5 page website built in frontpage with a "please phone us for details" or "please visit our shop" message - if people can't buy from one website they will go elsewhere - they won't visit the shop and they won't phone up for prices and details. regulation will be good for the web design industry, good for businesses, and good for the economy.
rant over ... back to work ....
Most of our new business comes from 2 sources, referrals from existing relationships (clients, supplies, personal contacts), and networking at CoC lunches etc. We are also doing quite a bit of redesign work, bringing old, quick'n'dirty sites up to scratch, as people start to gradually realise that there is some value in this "internet" thing
>> businesses will only benefit from websites if they have a properly built website with the most appropriate features (ie, databases, ecommerce and so on)
I'm sorry, but I just don't think that is true. Some of the most successful sites I look after (in terms of business generated) are embarassingly bad, built 3 years ago when we were still brand new in the business. They look awful, they are so badly optimised I'm surprised that anyone EVER finds them, and they generate '000s of pounds worth of enquiries a day. *shrug* The rest of the world marches to the beat of a different drum, I suppose.
It's so large that cleaning it up has earned me a Ph.D of procrastination. It is also high traffic and profitable.
It breaks all the rules, has no theme, bloated code, some pages are 60k or more and the graphics were made with Image Composer. My dad was offered 20k for it and turned it down. Until last month, it hadn't been updated in over 6 months. An overhaul is planned and has been started, but I don't do web design anymore. I created some nice sites with DW but design doesn't appeal to me.
The site works because of the service. If someone writes and wants information on a topic, we send them email. Free tech support? Got it covered. Looking for a book? Author's name? A painting you liked as a kid? We find it. We've done everything from helping a person find a job at a zoo to finding a collection of obscure alphabets. Just started the cigar section of the site for people that want to find those premium smokes. Service works, and people don't expect it online. How many sites answer email within 3 hours? With an answer?
So, rather than cater to the technically savvy, we offer a service to those that aren't. Changing the site might be a mistake, we'll find out.
As for web design, it is still profitable. I am asked constantly to find web developers. The developers earn good money. They in turn, give me referrals for SEO.
ODP could have 300,000 listings for web development. There are MILLIONS of new sites being created. The market isn't saturated. Finding the best way to tap the market is the key. I can't count the number of web designers I know that complain about lack of business, and when I ask them for a business card they tell me they don't have any. Their business is online.
My work is performed online, but my business is is conducted everywhere.
The more bricks and mortar strategies that are applied online, the more business rolls in. I think an online commerce revival is coming. The first spate of e-business entrepreneurs made all the mistakes, the second crowd will learn from them.
DG
every job I've got has been because I do web development and *...usually it's been a question of knowing the field the client operates in...though on one occasion it was marketing and SEO skills (plus being the ONLY candidate who could answer basic questions about html and javascript in the interview)
we were always going to have to specialise
Just to add my observations I have been meaning to do some research to get some evidence but this is just conjecture at the moment.
The US web design market seems more saturated than Europe / UK.
US net use being much more established for consumers and b2b than Europe this should be the case. Thus I think professional US companies are starting to do more in house or use contractors with more specific objectives as it is now more clear to US companies what is possible / important with the web. I think US mom and pop business will still be buying bad websites or making them themselves - paying too much and too little. US Web Agencies with viable business models I think are targetting more quality work which pays better prices and offers ongoing income. For the less commited but professional US companies I think there is a shortage of web designers and considerable lead times which is an opportunity for UK based designers. E.g. My first customer in 2001 was from California. It's only a phone socket away after all :-)
In UK / Europe there seems to be a lower level of web knowledge among sales and marketing managers which means they are still paying for poor work or doing poor work themselves. I come across VERY variable price / quality of work in the sector I target. Knowledge seems pretty low.
Have to bear in mind for the UK that b2b companies that are not exporting (outside UK national boundaries) have a much lower commercial potential from the web than equivalent companies in the US that are selling ouside their state but within national boundaries.
Plus b2c US companies have a much larger connected home user base. UK has about 10 million plus homes connected, to go outside UK you need multilingual, to go outside state in US you keep the same language.
I see a lot of UK web designers seeming to think that web technology knowledge is all they need. You don't see the same team in advertising or PR working successfully for b2c and b2b and political or not for profit clients whose business / org models are completely different.
I see this lack of focus all the time when looking at my web design competitors here in the UK.
I agree with the argument "use your knowledge to start your own business" because apart from anything else even if you maintain web design as a back up income you will then have proper data to use as evidence for your skills when you talk to customers.
Digitalhost > My work is performed online, but my business is is conducted everywhere.
You are soo right
How many web designers can claim top 10 positions in the SEs for web design .... well its got to be only 10 :-) sad innit
From my perspective, I would love to have a full-time PR/media section working with or within the company, to provide the early, off-line impetus to a new site, particularly the e-comm sites. There is just no way I could sell the idea to the sort of companies I deal with though. Even the fairly advanced ones generally see the web site as an additional, almost unconnected part of their business.
A lot of them don't get involved in PR anyway, as they are too small, or unconcerned about it to begin with. That makes it hard to sell the idea of promoting a function they see as non-core
However, I would agree with the original assessment that too many web designers don't really "get it" yet.
I still find that most small/medium businesses are intimidated and confused by the online world. They like having a professional to guide them and provide the know how.
I have noticed less of the "fly-by" night customers who don't have a game plan and don't have a clue to running a business.
My last post about web design has been superseded in the last 4 hours just got sales on two web design jobs today.
We market ourselves as an internet consultancy firm rather than web design firm.
It is frustating to get the "not interested" brush off. You want to yell "You OUGHT to be interested, stupid! Properly done it will make you a lot of money."
That's where the "consultant" marketing works, rather than "design". When people hear design they think art school. When people hear consultant they think business savvy.
In my experience the current climate is full of people who want their original website "fixed". If you know what you're talking about, they will hear it. Just be sure not to get drained by writing free proposals -- these folks are trying to get every bit of info they can so as not to repeat the past.
This is the real difference between a site that "works" for them and one that just sits there gathering dust.
How many businesses are dumb enough to put ads in magazines without mentioning their site? Lots. Or you see "email us sales@whoopidoo.com" but no URL. You read the ad and think "No they wouldn't be that stupid would they? Sure enough, they have a site called woopiedoo.com and they didn't even mention it.
I must seriously rethink my business plan.
We have a stock proposal which is tweaked slightly for each client. Unless their requirements are significantly different this works well.
Straight up advice to small businesses is what they want. Often they will buy from you because you have given it to them straight.
Bang on the money in more ways than one!
The key of course is to find opportunities that dovetail with your own set of "other" business skills. Hosting, design and SEO will have a relatively limited lifespan because of saturation, economies of scale, better software, the broadening knowledge base, more competition etc.
There's no time like the present to approach other businesses with "half a webmaster's hat"....
