One of my local, larger competitors has recently embraced WordPress and they’re doing a lot of work with it. Quite frankly, I think this design company is a lot better than the WordPress sites they’re producing, but I suspect that’s because they’re using stock templates.
Anyway, from a business perspective, I’m trying to figure out why they’ve gone down this road. Could it be they’re targeting smaller customers with lower budgets or just trying to improve their website development profits by reducing development time?
Anytime a company makes a significant workflow change (ie. from Dreamweaver to WordPress) there is usually a reason, especially if they continue down that path. I just want to make sure I’m not missing anything.
On a separate, but related note, why do WordPress sites seem sluggish? They also seem to generate more coding errors.
There are probably a lot of reasons including the one you mentioned. I think one of the bigger appeals of Wordpress is that anyone with minimal or even no design or development skills can have a fully functional and fairly elaborate site with shockingly little effort. With the huge number of available templates and plug-ins it’s a no-brainer. Where it starts to get hairy is when you need to start customizing things. But if you’re going after clients who just want something built quickly that looks decent and works it’s hard to compete with WP. Plus even non-techy clients have heard of WP; name recognition goes a long way. It all depends on the type of product you want to produce and who you’re targeting. WP has it’s place … obviously.
But in my opinion it’s become the “everyman’s” website solution: quick, easy and free. For a lot of people that’s enough, especially if it suits the project and client.
Todd
On Sep 29, 2012, at 1:31 AM, RavenManiac email@hidden wrote:
Could it be they’re targeting smaller customers with lower budgets or just trying to improve their website development profits by reducing development time?
Without calling myself an expert, I guess it is related to how WP (Joomla and others) is constructed. Like a a Leatherman tool. Ever used one of those? Very appealing hardware. Looks good. Ever tried to do some serious work with it?
Right.
And everybody needs plugins to get the machinery work. No wonder it gets sluggish with bad code.
On a separate, but related note, why do WordPress sites seem sluggish? They also seem to generate more coding errors.
Essentially, Wordpress allows you to rapidly build websites without having
to learn all the code. Oh, and plug-ins for extra-fancy bits. Sound
familiar?
There are plenty of gorgeous and functional Wordpress sites out there. And
MILLIONS of developers. Many hosting providers even have control-panel
tools to make installation easy.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not all pie-in-the-sky goodness – it’s a
web-development tool. I wouldn’t switch all my work to that platform, but
there are times when it makes more sense to use that tool, My advice, if
you’re curious, why not set up a test site and try it out?
It is interesting you posted this as we’ve a small company local to us here in London who offer ‘web design’ services purely around WordPress solutions. Looking at their body of work the majority of the designs look very similar and under the hood the code instantly points to the WordPress themes they are using. I can’t tell you how profitable they are but their business model appears to be to set the client up with a WordPress site, add a pre-made theme, adjust this slightly to change a few colours and images and finally add the client content. Bish, bash, bosh, instant web site.
WordPress is very popular and extremely well supported allowing companies like this to cherry pick the parts they need for a site and simply bolt them together without much effort.
I’ve setup and run a number of WordPress sites in the past, most recently with FreewayStyle (see link below) and although WordPress gives you a lot of flexibility it does act like a huge flame to various moths. I’ve never had so much spam as I get through FreewayStyle. Every day I get numerous emails from bots that have found the site and have automatically tried to post comments with back links to their sites.
Regards,
Tim.
Unfortunately, with design, some people just don’t appreciate what we do for a living. I’ve had a few clients tell me that they can get a CMS enabled website online for $399 or a logo for $99. Usually, it’s from a designer in China or India and the end results like crap, design wise. Functionally though, as far as the websites, they’re not bad.
I usually end up getting work from clients after their “cheap” designer either doesn’t deliver or just generates clipart looking work.
My take is that the world is full of talented and clever people. Clients
that I have worked for, like Sony, RCA/BMG, BBDO and Walt Disney Studios
have all embraced outsourced design work - not just because it is cheaper,
but because these designers can deliver the same high-value and
professionalism that we do.
The real rub of globalization is our own cost of living - the bottom line
of any economy. I could work for dramatically less if my landlord and
grocer and all the other resources I rely upon would also work for
dramatically less, and if I were living communal-style with my extended
relatives.
It’s a good strategy to be available to pick up projects that falter. My
advice is be careful though about how you characterize foreign work -
because one day you may be the foreigner soliciting work.
–
Ernie Simpson
On Sat, Sep 29, 2012 at 10:01 AM, RavenManiac email@hiddenwrote:
Unfortunately, with design, some people just don’t appreciate what we do
for a living. I’ve had a few clients tell me that they can get a CMS
enabled website online for $399 or a logo for $99. Usually, it’s from a
designer in China or India and the end results like crap, design wise.
Functionally though, as far as the websites, they’re not bad.
I usually end up getting work from clients after their “cheap” designer
either doesn’t deliver or just generates clipart looking work.
You’re absolutely right Ernie. I was generalizing of course. I have seen some good work come out of places like China and India so I sincerely hope I didn’t offend any designers from those countries. However, the fact remains that there are still a lot of “sweat shop” type online design firms that I feel hurt our business.
On 29 Sep 2012, 3:06 pm, The Big Erns wrote:
My
advice is be careful though about how you characterize foreign work -
because one day you may be the foreigner soliciting work.
I can see your point and I sometimes I think it’s like a Wal-mart mentality: quick, easy and cheap but not much else. To me that kind of stuff doesn’t appeal. But despite some shops crankin’ out WP sites like an assembly line (whether local or outsourced) I feel fortunate, because the people who hire me do so not because I’m inexpensive or because I possess scary-good design or coding skills but because they appreciate the personalized treatment I give them, I’m accessible; I’m building a relationship with them. I’m not just “the guy who designed their site” I’m “their designer, Todd”. That’s of great value to them because they feel they got more than just a website for their investment. They know they could have found someone else to do it for less money and faster but it’s a hell-of-a-lot harder to find someone you trust, like and who you feel has your best interest in mind vs. just trying to make a quick dollar.
A Ford and Mercedes are both conveyances but they are by no means equals.
Maybe I’ve been lucky, maybe not but the people who are looking for $399 websites are not my target audience nor are they likely to contact me. WP is just a tool, like any other tool, it has its place.
Todd
On Sep 29, 2012, at 10:34 AM, RavenManiac email@hidden wrote:
However, the fact remains that there are still a lot of “sweat shop” type online design firms that I feel hurt our business.
Don’t forget availability. Not that long ago a client would use professionals local to him. Globalisation means a choice of web designers from anywhere. Gazillions of them. Market forces would dictate the cost can only go down if they’re all to get work. All sounds a bit bleak.
I think if you can charge a rate to make a decent living and try and learn as much as you can along the way. If you don’t you’re always going to get beaten on price if you follow the low cost route. The clients picking the low prices will never be suitable for the long term.
David
On 29 Sep 2012, at 16:06, Ernie Simpson email@hidden wrote:
The real rub of globalization is our own cost of living
I learned this in the first year of my first career (advertising photographer). Fresh out of college, I started hustling work among the ad agencies of Phoenix, AZ. My studio was in my Mom’s garage, much of the equipment was borrowed, hand-built, or otherwise scrounged. I was hungry and it showed. I quickly got the reputation as the person you go to when you don’t have any budget left. I worked my ass off, and made very little money.
The next year, I made a conscious decision to raise my rates – over 200%. I worked quite a lot less often, and made a lot more money. And I was getting better and more interesting jobs.
That’s the other important part of this equation. People who want it all for very little usually fall into a narrow category of work you don’t want to do a lot of – the “brochure in space” site.
Walter
On Sep 29, 2012, at 12:26 PM, David Owen wrote:
The clients picking the low prices will never be suitable for the long term.
While not WP but Drupal: http://www.creativescotland.com/ check out the drop downs. This is Scotland’s major arts funder and yet they produce a site that sucks imho. A leading design agency was responsible for the logo which cost £35K unable to find out who designed the website, perhaps wisely they’ve not put their name to it.
It’s typical of an agency to charge for the many man hours in research and time taken to prepare a logo whilst everyone forgets to ask if the final result is actually acceptable.
David
On 29 Sep 2012, at 17:54, “seoras” email@hidden wrote:
A leading design agency was responsible for the logo which cost £35K
There was an initial consultation process (whatever that was) which cost 10,000. The logo was ultimately commissioned out to the Leith Agency, the Edinburgh-based creative agency that has worked with global brands including Honda, Carling and Irn-Bru, at a cost of 25,000.
(this is all public knowledge)
The website went to their sister company. Blonde ( I dread to think what they charged, a lot more than I would for sure)
So, you certainly don’t have to be a ‘bucket’ shop to use wp, drupal, joomla or whatever. Just charge gold bucket prices and it will be fine.
I would have used WP myself, some really classy templates:)
