Vent : 4 : Belief : Website and graphic design being vented in Southampton, out to Hampshire and across the UK and parts of the world, optimisation, online marketing, logo design, brand comms, advertising, printwork, corporate branding, stationary, multimedia, design consultants, marketing consultant, databases, website management, ecommerce

vent : 4 : part : 1

What is the biggest business issue you face in your business right now? Or, put another way, if the there is one hurdle you could fix/overcome, what would that be?

The biggest hurdle we find that we have to overcome is the client’s perception and cynicism towards the website design industry and the feeding of this misunderstanding by the fact that anyone can build a website and charge money for it.

On one hand we get clients who come to us with the full belief that the web is the way forward for their business or organisation and they realise that it is worth speaking to and involving someone with the expertise, experience and knowledge to help. The other end of the spectrum is those clients whom although I expect do understand the importance of the internet for their business, begrudgingly seek a solution, dismiss the need for it and then expect something for nothing and justify this by the fact their brother or cousin could do it for them for half the price but they are currently busy. The flip side to this is that too often clients come to us with existing sites that are seriously underperforming, contain little or no graphic design, are badly written, have serious coding issues and no Search Engine Optimisation to be found.

We have witnessed those who are responsible for building such websites and have seen how this only breeds client scepticism within an industry that although widespread is still surrounded by confusion and misunderstanding at street level. To cut to the chase, they see their clients as nothing more than invoices with legs and offer no customer care and do not even seem to have respect for the work they produce.
This is not just limited to one man bands creating websites in their bedrooms, we see this work coming out of established agencies that just see website design as a production line and go for quantity over quality.

We believe part of the problem is the number of developers designing websites with no graphical training or expertise, part is down to the fact that due to the competitive nature of design and positions in good agencies being so hard to find let alone secure, setting up in your bedroom is an easy way to make a few quid. Another reason although a lot more controversial is the agencies set up and run by sales staff as opposed to designers and marketers, the one thing they seem to forget is if you produce gooddesign the money will follow.

PART : 2