Hello from Perfect Eye

[Perfect Eye]

Hi there

My name's David and I have recently launched Perfect Eye Web Solutions with my business partner Paul. The business carries out small business website design, and graphic design. We formed a partnership in September of last year. We have both worked with/for design agencies in the past and have both recently graduated from uni with degree's in information management and web design respectively.

The market is incredibly tough to crack which we are finding out. We feel we are on the verge of taking off and hope to employ by the end of the year.

Just writing to say hi and look forward to some business debate and banter. Our site is www.perfect-eye.com - please take a look around. Thanks a lot, David.

[Alpha]

Hi David and welcome to the forums.

You have certainly chosen what has become a saturated market place with prices being constantly driven down.

What are you offering to distinguish yourselves from the myriad of competitors out there?

i wish you the best of luck in your business venture :)

[Ozzy]

Hi David,
Web design is indeed a tough market, but with good contacts through networking and collecting clients who are very net saffy and aware of the importance of their website you can make a good business from it.

I feel the knack is to attract clients who work on their websites as an important tool in their business, and in such become a revenue stream for you. Look after them and do a good job and they'll stick around. It works in the same way between me and my web designers. Although I use someone else for the code behind the scenes, the design aspect is done by the same design company I have used for about 5 years, and every single month I give them a bit extra work whether its my newsletter or a tweak to a website. It is relationships like that which will build your business, not little few hundred quid websites here and there.

I hope this helps, and welcome to the forums!

[sparklyscotty]

Hi there. I love your name. I do agree that the market is unfortunately, very crowded at the moment. However, that doesn't necessary mean no success. There is still a lot of demand for webdesign, and I think that combining webdesign with marketing is a good combination.
Definately think of ways to distinguish yourself from the competion. Another idea is to maybe specialise in a certain type of website, or aim advertising at a certain market. (for example, Garden Centre websites with lots of natural graphics etc.) This gives you a solid niche to pitch to without spreading yourself too thin. It is easier to send advertising to every Garden Centre than every possible business that might need a website.
One thing that I will note is that in my search for a webdesigner I am often amazed that they don't take the time to create a great 'showcase' site with a full portfolio of their work. I want the 'wow' factor when I look at a webdesigners site, and I want to know that I can trust them with my site, and that they are freindly and helpful. I also want to know that there will be follow up support.
Your site, copy and portfolio are all very impressive. I wish you all the best for your business.
-Angel-

[Perfect Eye]

Hello to all, thanks for the welcome and the advice. It's all been taken on board.

The biggest problem we find is the actual act of getting your name out there and generating interest. We've had lots of enquiries through pay per clicks in the search engines, and we've been to a couple of small scale trade fairs at our local costco centre. These are our main forms of marketing - and word of mouth does help too.

How do you get into the right kind of networking events/schemes? We are having a meeting with a chamber of commerce rep next week and may join that - then do the monthly breakfast club session to promote our business. We hope this brings in some results. Are there any other local network events people can identify for me?

We also try and offer our clients different monthly services e.g. updates, graphic design updates, pay per click campaign management etc. Slowly we're building a base of repeat business which will help ultimately.

We also send out literature and offers to newly formed businesses - we recieve a new business list from a marketing company each month for new company's in our local catchment area.

[Perfect Eye]

What are you offering to distinguish yourselves from the myriad of competitors out there?

Hi Alpha - we're trying to play on a quality and value scale. There are lots of web designers out there who charge a hell of a lot of money for their services and the results are quite shoddy. I've noticed on another thread that this is an annoyance to many board members. It is one of our pet hates too.

We try to build up an honest relationship with a potential customer and clearly explain exactly what we'll do and justify the costing. We price reasonably and fairly whilst we wont compromise on any of the quality. We also try and heavily push our portfolio to show the quality of our work, and use it as a benchmark during the pitch i.e. we wont produce anything less that this standard.

It's just very hard to communicate this message as businesses are literally bombarded by 100s of different agencies.

[Whistle Ink]

Hi,

You are a very different company from the ones I have seen and had experiences with! Your own site and that of your clients is a good example of quality and standard to some other 'web site designers' out there. Well done.

One way you could do business is by looking at portfolios of existing companies (the appalling ones)- if you see an awful website- why not do a quick concept design or design roughly the home page or something?

Some may argue that this is unfair. But is it unfair that businesses have to suffer being represented shoddily over the internet? If they agree then you would already have the text and some of the graphics so you could even design it at a lower cost than if they had approached you to do one from scratch!

Let me know if you think this is unfair!

[Perfect Eye]

Hi Whistle Ink - i think thats a reasonable thing to do. We've done that with a couple of clients - offered them a re-design service - and they've taken us up on the offer.

Definately something we'll look into a bit more. Cheers.