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The fact that even small businesses are now willing to invest in staff development for internet related skills is a reflection of the growing faith in the world wide web as a medium to provide business to a company. Whereas even back in 2005 a website was still something that many businesses had designed because their competitors had one, it is now evident that the bar has been raised to the extent that every detail of a website is being scrutinised.
Business owners who paid for a budget website with a CMS in, say, 2005 are now starting to notice that their competitor have increased their stride and the standards of website design have improved immensely. The web design and internet marketing specialisms that would have previously been deemed as unnecessary within the scope of a web project such as Web Usability Testing are now being taken seriously because of the strength of the competition these days.
I’ve noticed that businesses are not only willing to spend more of their marketing budget on internet related marketing and less on (certain types of) traditional marketing but they are also beginning to give greater consideration to the decisions that pertain to their website. It’s no longer “I need a website” it’s more like “Why do I need a website, how will it work for me?”. Did you notice that the first was a statement and the second was a question? Well, that’s what businesses are now starting to do. I speak to countless business decision makers who complain about how they have wasted valuable money on a cheap website. They almost always tell me that they wish the “web designer” whom they enlisted to undertake the “work” had enlightened them to the fact that a few hundred quid isn’t enough to do a worthwhile job. Real expertise costs money.
