Comments on: Don’t Hire Your Nephew

By: Rocky

Rocky — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:31:21 +0000

I want to thank everyone for the comments, I tend to agree with what you all had to say. It’s an interesting time in the web and design business. I’m glad to see that the general opinion is that good design and customer service will continue to be a major differentiator.

Until the next post, thanks!
-Rocky

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 16:54:30 +0000

I wouldn’t resist this, Rocky. The reason I say that is because technology is technology, and it is going to continue to advance, making it easier and cheaper for people to do things themselves. It is not just web sites, you see it all over the place.

I personally don’t think you have all that much to worry about, because good content will always matter. There will always be businesses and people that require a professional quality product, and there will always be those who don’t have the time to do it themselves.

“Just because you can doesn’t mean you should”. That’s a slogan I am starting to hear when it comes to these cheap, 5-minute “do-it-yourself” solutions.

To me, it’s our job as designers to enlighten customers on why good content will be more remunerative to their business than their home-made version.

Hope that helps!

Karen

By: Tobi Klarnet

Tobi Klarnet — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 17:00:29 +0000

Yes, services like Intuit’s do discount the skills and expertise of artists and developers . . . where there is an opportunity to make money, there will be a way to undermine and commoditize an otherwise unique and carefully crafted website, brochure, business card . . . or hamburger for that matter!

Society changes and therefore art changes. How many of you are painting murals depicting passionate religious entities on the walls and ceilings of churches lately? (historically, one of the few ways an artist could amass money and popularity).

But out of the mundane emerges the magnificent! The inspirational websites, the thought provoking videos or physical installations, the promotional ideas. Perhaps the over-saturation of pre-formatted websites will stimulate the public’s hunger for substantive design! I like a good steak every now and then.

By: Trent

Trent — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:38:50 +0000

Hi Rocky,
no need to over think the sales process here it is 101 marketing. What Intuit websites offers is a template based do it yourself website system. It is actually pretty complete. I have used Homestead for years and find it to be a great system for building websites for small businesses on a budget. It is designed for someone with zero web experience but know they need to be online. The ads state “starting” at $4.99/mo. This is in the same marketing neighborhood as rounding down to the $.99 in the price.
The assumption for the small business owner is they can try this solution for a low cost (even free for the first month) . Now you and I know building a website and marketing that website through ad space on Google, email marketing blogging, social marketing or full blown SEO is going to be more than $4.99/mo and five minutes but this process to the novice is near impossible to comprehend. The target market Intuit is after have never heard of the term SEO. The concept of social marketing is as foreign as is HTML and PHP, so what is the solution? Cheap and Easy. Just like you and when we learned to swim. Thank god no one pushed us into the deep end first. If we didn’t drown we probably would have been too traumatized to ever try swimming again. Over the course of trying to put their site together with the $4.99 package they will determine their aptitude for technology, learn about other requirements and products necessary for online success and determine whether it is worth moving forward on their own or look more seriously at hiring a professional and stick to doing what they do better. But at least they will not be too traumatized to ever swim again.

By: Bill Olson

Bill Olson — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 18:49:46 +0000

I believe there is a market for this type of product and in fact there are similar templates for marketing and advertising materials that have been around for years. You can find about anything you want on the internet that can be purchased cheap and customized, to an extent.

Intuit has identified a market and is only fullfilling thier needs. there will always be clients that realize that they need to differentiate themselves and appreciate quality work and there are those that just don’t get it. It’s no different in my opinion from other industries. Take home builders for example. There are custom home builders that actully hire architects to build a home that fits the home buyers needs. Then there are track home builders who build templated homes and make a lot of money. I suppose the custom builders could get upset that track builders cheapen the image of the industry.

It doesn’t offend me to see this type of product offering. In fact it makes me feel much better about the unique perspective I can provide to my clients that helps them be more sucessful.