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Behind The Firm List Blog
Want Fries With That?
In the last 6 days, I've looked at probably the websites of 350 web design firms. That on top
of the 15,000+ I've looked at over the last 6 years probably puts me in the unique position of
seeing the most sites by web design firms in the world (where's the Guiness Records when you
need them).
It hasn't always been pretty. Once in a while I see a REALLY amazing site. I mean, one that
makes me feel so embarassed to be in this profession, even after 10 years.
But usually, I just see a lot of... run of the mill sites (not to hurt anyones feelings).
The in agencies and firms was that you were always competing with a client who wanted to know:
"why can't my cousin do this?" Obviously, your cousin who just learned FrontPage could. Would
you get the same quality and design from him as you would with this firm/agency? No.
Up until this last year or so, I saw quite a few of those sites done by your cousin. He's done
pretty well for himself. He's done the websites not only for a lot of clients but also for a
lot of firms. Why have your own staff, just outsource to your cousin, that's what they used to
say.
But in the last 6 days, my views have changed. Almost like that guy in the documentary Super Sized
who ate nothing but McDonalds for a month, my views have changed. My diet has sucked. And I'm ill.
Sure, you're cousin is still doing a good amount of business. I think he's set for life. But
he's got competition. Becoming more and more prevalent are firms which buy their sites from a
supplier of site templates as well as from web franchises which provide templates with their
franchisee package.
For the most part, you can't always spot a template. Usually they are made foolproof enough
that you couldn't tell. Not always so. I've seen quite a few templates and implementations
where it's almost as if they slapped on their name with tape. And they forgot to spellcheck
and make sure the firm name was changed in all places, made sure the mock text was changed, etc.
But if you've see enough of these templates, you can spot them. I've spotted too many in the last
six days, which has me wondering why get into this business if you can't even do your own site?
Sure. Money. You don't have to do more work to make money, you can do less. And isn't that the
American (and now the Worlds) way?
I've particularly upset by these large franchises. I have chosen not to list many, as they don't
even allow a firm to have their own identity and content, just a different URL and contact info.
