A BATTLE OF DAVID AND GOLIATH

We’re taught to believe that size matters and by that I mean only the biggest can be the best. You know – if it’s small, don’t waste the call.  I’m here to say that this is one of the biggest (pun intended) fallacies especially in the business world.  Good things can come in small packages.  I’ll tell you why.

I’m a web designer, as well as a graphic designer – complimentary and useful creative and technical skills that allow me to provide a well-rounded service for my clients. I operate independently with an elite support team and have been in business over ten years now with long-term local, national and international clients. I wouldn’t still be here if I wasn’t doing something right!

Web design and implementation is a growth industry, the growth of which is matched only by that of Kim Kardashian’s media profile. The rapid rise of the internet and corresponding opportunities for people to create and operate their own virtual businesses has given rise to a highly competitive field full of a wide range of players large and small and of course the DIY market is off the scale.

So why is this a time to ‘think small’ and engage a boutique style agency like Mitchell Creative?

When you use one of the ‘big boys’ you’re just a client number. Your individuality is lost and you forfeit your ability to develop a personal – and perhaps more importantly – on-going relationship with your provider. Is this a problem?  Yes, this is a problem, a big problem, because when an issue presents itself, good luck trying to contact the support technician you spoke to last time. It won’t happen because once you’ve been on hold for half an hour (if you’re lucky) you’ll be transferred to a call centre and a brand new person. There’s no continuity. Frustrating and time-wasting?  Absolutely.  When you engage a small business, you engage someone for whom this isn’t just a job.  It’s their business and their priority is your business.

A local company is here in Australia so when you need to talk to someone, they are in the same time zone and are a phone call away, rather than an automated email system, where you might wait up to week for a response, which finally comes in the middle of the night.  You will pray to the technical gods, that the response is what you want, else you may have to wait another week for another reply.

Without exception, a business is responsible for their data. I have seen whole businesses lose their data when a shared server fails.   A well known server and domain provider lost a lot of clients’ websites and emails a few years back and offered $100 compensation – the loss to clients was probably upward of $2000.  How could this happen?  Data probably wasn’t backed up properly and not kept in a separate safe location – something you should check with your provider.  At the end of the day, you are responsible for your data so you need to make sure you keep your own back up, but it doesn’t look good for the company who lost the data, no matter whose actual responsibility it is.

Using a boutique style designer means your site won’t be ‘cookie-cutter’. Everything should be individually crafted to suit your needs.  Building sites in today’s technological world, means using the latest software and tools available to keep up with the changing face of websites.  Don’t build mobile responsive sites at your peril – customers expect to be able to use their phone to view your site and so do the search engines!  Lost customers and reduced search engine ranking are a given for non- responsive sites.

Are you going to get the cheapest site with a boutique style designer?  Probably not.  But as I said, you get what you pay for and you can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear as my mum always told me. There are cheaper designers and constructors and cheaper hosting, but when all is said and done, this is your business and you want the best for it and the best return from it. When you realise with dismay that your site looks like everyone else’s, isn’t dynamic and doesn’t work smoothly, or worse still, fails and you have no after-sales service, or even more disastrously, you have to start again, your cheaper option suddenly looks rather expensive and that’s certainly the case with cheaper web design packages.  Penny-wise, pound foolish is another of my mum’s favourite expressions. She’s a wise woman is my mum.

So, clearly the biggest isn’t always the best. This is your business, don’t risk it with quick-fix options.  Love it, nurture it and give it the best.  You’ll be richly rewarded.

JANE MITCHELL