Advice on Internet Design Start Up?

I am starting up a small business designing websites for small businesses. I'm targeting small lawyers firms, accountancy firms, pubs, clubs, and any small business which requires a basic static website.

1/ I am employing someone who is quite skilled at website design and is not too expensive to employ.He can concentrate on designing and making whilst I concentrate on getting the sales. 2/ I would like to ask advice on what people think the future of website design is? I sometimes worry that there perhaps are too many designers in an overcrowded marketplace? 3/ Is there enough work to go around? Or is it truly overcrowded? 4/ What would be deemed a good price for a basic starter website package for a small business?

I am offering a basic website price at a special price, so I can get work via recomendations.

Reply to
Quentin Jones
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Golden Gun, you're making it quite obvious that you don't know the first think about the business.

Have you got any examples of work?

You turn down offers when you get them.

Does it matter whether there's too many or too little? The good ones will do well and the bad one's will fail. It will just happen quicker if there are too many.

When you contact someone and offer your - sorry, your designer's - services and they ask for examples of your work do you hurl abuse at them?

Business is not for dreamers. If you are serious put some examples online and decide on prices or quote per job. My guess is you just want to talk about it and not do it.

Peter Saxton from London snipped-for-privacy@petersaxton.co.uk

Reply to
Peter Saxton

One piece of advise - don't spam.

If you really think the marketplace is overcrowded why are you seeking to enter it?

Jason Clifford

Reply to
Jason Clifford

Aside from what everyone else has said, you`d have to initially start by doing the sales & web design work yourself, unless you have deep pockets. Then if you get the customers you can employ someone. The IT industry is a real struggle these days, and so therefore will be success in a new venture. Doing eveything yourself to begin with is the best way. You could contract work out to someone if and when you get it but that won`t be cheap.

Reply to
DSM

41 EUR/h was the last quote I saw here. Nowadays school (lower level university) pays the 3 months trainee period for students. They still have severe problems to find an employer. Some of them have found a job in Spain. Salaries are there lower but more than unemployment benefit here.

(In my vocabulary web pages are not IT.)

Reply to
First Surname

Don't - there are already FAR too many.

Not enough really good ones, far too many just about passable ones.

Very - VERY overcrowded.

As much as the customer is willing to pay for the sort of site you are able to produce.

Good luck - you will need it. And if you want any site hosting, get in touch.

Reply to
Bob Brenchley.

Respected Sir, May I ask how you end up with one commercial enquiry per week if you are not in this business? I am a great believer in trying to find out what the market wants and what the market requires. I am not a man having alot of money to invest in my business, however, I feel I have researched the market reasonably well and feel that I can offer value for money, which in a nutshell means I aim to "win" business by offering better value for money than other more established businesses. It is a classic entry method.

Why are people going to spain if I may ask?

Reply to
Moonface

That sounds encouraging, I will be operating at the "small business level" to begin with, until I gain experience and see how things progress. My main intiial goal is to build satisfied and happy clients with the idea being that they will generate the majority of future business as is the hallmark of all successful businesses.

Yes Quite.

. A PR agency at the high end. You're not selling "HTML skillz", because any monkey can do that. Take the

Absolutely sounds to me like you really know what your talking about. Thats exactly the reason I am not attempting to "make" the websites, I know just the schoolboy basics, but I can't compete with the years of university and experience that the chaps who will be working for me have got. My experience is in marketing and design and customer understanding from a business perspective.

May I ask your opinion as to *why* there is such low prices around at the moment (rock bottom)?

Understood.

Your talking "hardcore" websites, and hardcore e commerce

So may I be nosey and ask what you actually do? If you don't exactly work in the industry then you seem to know an awful lot about it.

Your advice and points have been gratefuly recieved.

My official business has started today!! If you where in the high end level of website design I could have taken your details and passed on the more advanced work that I do not want to get involved in.

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Reply to
Moonface

Thankyou for the advice, and I know definitey not to spam, everybody hates it., and you will only damage your reputation.

I am asking the question? Even in an overcrowded market place, or in a recession it is still perfectly possible to grow a business and expand a business and start a business. Competition is more intense, and you either give up and don't try to enter or you enter but enter with the knowledge that its a "tough market". Knowing if your area is extremely competative, to me is just knowing what your up against, not a reason to quit and not have a go. I feel sufficiently confident that even if the market place is overcrowded with suppliers, I will be able to find my own niche, and compete favorably on better value for money.

May I ask what is your opinion regarding the market place being overcrowded or not?

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Reply to
Moonface

Well, I thought about it, and I wondered if the reason it is "overcrowded" was just that every tom, dick and harry, are now calling themselves a website designer, without proper knowledge and experience?

Hmmph, well, the response on here has been mixed, a few people have said there is shed loads of work around. Mixed response regarding "overcrowded market place".

Yes, thats a good point.

Thanks for your advice, in fact to be frank, I gain alot of market research from just chatting to people and reading previous posts on usenet. Really, I'm tryingto offer a niche service, something slightly different than somebody else. Still I will see what happens.

Reply to
Moonface

I feel I have researched the

ok, pop quiz to see if you can offer better value than the average......... define for me / us what the purpose of the product (eg a business web site) is... you need to know this as a pre-requisite

Reply to
Guy Fawkes

Golden Gun

Maybe one of your spelling mistakes in your marketing directs enquiries to him instead of you!

Peter Saxton from London snipped-for-privacy@petersaxton.co.uk

Reply to
Peter Saxton

You are not going to get one client if you dont publish examples of work. If you havent done any business at least do a few example sites. Why dont you do your own site? Whoever heard of a website provider without their own site.

It's similar to an accountant never having done any accounts!

Golden Gun, can you quantify what your experience is?

Supply exceeds demand?

In what way did it start? Did you place an advert somewhere? You're being awfully coy!

Peter Saxton from London snipped-for-privacy@petersaxton.co.uk

Reply to
Peter Saxton

Golden Gun, in what way are you offering a niche service?

Peter Saxton from London snipped-for-privacy@petersaxton.co.uk

Reply to
Peter Saxton

Golden Gun

After all it's not very good if you are unwilling to use your own service. Are you seriously expecting others to use your service when you wont use it yourself?

Peter Saxton from London snipped-for-privacy@petersaxton.co.uk

Reply to
Peter Saxton

"Peter Saxton" wrote

See his other post (copy below) - he's just taken on some "talent" (I wonder if this is some guy he met down the pub?!) - perhaps this consistutes "starting" ...

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"Moonface" wrote

Reply to
Tim

I'm not sure this applies to web design (at the small end)

Build a good site, and it doesn't _need_ much further business. OK, so some types of site will. But not enough that you can base your continued existence upon repeat business from the same clients. Keep them happy by all means, but do it to generate recommendations, not to hope for repeat work.

I work on large systems. I might write some HTML, but I'm more likely to write SQL, Java or RDF. I'm a lousy website designer !

But I'm "a computer guy", and there are people who want websites. Three of my neighbours have already asked me (I live on a small street of shops).

The market is flooded by 25 year olds who have no major outgoings to spend. Given the choice between a 40 year old software engineer with a mortgage and children, and a teenager living with their parents, or sharing a flat with their fellow graduates, then which is the better choice ? If you want skills on SpodWriter 4, where both of them only bought the first O'Reilly last week, then does experience really count for much anyway ?

The "market rate" is low, because there are people who will do it for this price (even if not well). Clients don't understand the difference between good and bad work, so why should we expect them to pay any more ? Cheap is popular, mainly because cheap is _tangible_. If you want to up-sell this market, you need to educate them on the difference.

No. "Hardcore" is when Sun or HP fly you to Hawaii to demonstrate their new servers to you. Or when one breaks, and they fly an engineer to you. There's a world of _big_ systems that exists on a plane you can only dream off.

Knowing how to drive something like Underwired is useful, rare, but hardly "hardcore".

I'm unemployed. Too old, too expensive. Now I make furniture.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

there's a whole world of meaning and warning to the UK economy in that one line.... excellent.

Reply to
Guy Fawkes

Well Andy, my business is most definitely at the small end.

Thankyou for your advice. I hope to get recommendations, as you say perhaps there won't be repeat business but at least their might be good word of mouth.

Such Modesty.....

Gosh! People just know your into computers and they make it their business to find you?? So you should go into webdesign as well.

Ah, I see what you mean, but then surely as some chap on here was saying, surely clients are going to prefer someone experienced, who is established, and who do not want an "amature" let loose on their business?

That is good advice. As a simple point, I firmly believe that "cheap is not best" and "cheapest is not allways best value for money" . Any competitive arena, will have various pricing strategies by various businesses, it is allways the cheapest ones who tend to die away. This has been seen in the past with the realy cheap phone companies, do you remember "mercury"? They where so much cheaper than B.T., but they dissapeared into obscurity. Same thing is predicted to happen with the new "directory enquiry services".

My point being that surely it can't be so difficult to show customers the difference between inexperienced kids who are using a simple program and someone who is a professional and can handle completely intereactive websites and build complete unique and bespoke websites etc.

Your right:) I know my niche, I would be "supremely happy" if I could earn a few crumbs from the table for my work..and end up with a few happy clients. My ambitions are modest.. The point for me that makes this business attractive is that I can use my selling skills, and I can work hard and do a good job, without having to invest anything, (because I don't have much capital), and earn a wage in the process.

If anything is requiring techncial discussions that I am not able to cover, I will refer to the website maker.

You are a website designer who makes furniture? How interesting...I hope your doing well. I really appreciated your tips and thoughts. I will let you know how I get on, perhaps I won't get much response from all the mailshots that have gone out.? I'm offering a 99 special introductory deal, one years hosting, domain registration, and graphics and thats it. So I'll wait and see.

Reply to
Moonface

Ok. I thought they had gone bust. Ionica went bust I believe. Yes I've heard of NTL

Reply to
Moonface

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