Are you respected?

I have been in this industry for quite a while now and things have been getting quite bad lately.

One of the main things is that I really feel that a large percentage of clients and potential clients don't respect the web design business. They truly believe that we are a dime a dozen. I have some great clients that understand the service they are provided is critical to the success of their business, but others don't really see it like that.

For example, lately I have to make 2-4 phone calls to an existing client who is basically 1 step away from signing up with me. The client is always busy and doesn't promptly return phone calls. There are other's like that, that in one way or another, don't show enough respect for the services they are getting. If their lawyer or doctor called, I am sure they would make time to speak with them.

Another thing that bugs me - I went to a meeting with a client who was bargaining the price of a website that in my opinion was critical for her business (her old site was horrible and the type of business she was in needed a nice site). She wanted to reduce the cost of the site by like $200. Which to me, is insignificant and something I would never haggle about. Now this client pays $10,000 for her lease and has a decent amount of money. Why are people putting price over quality with web design?

Now please don't reply with posts such as offer great customer service and a great product and people will appreciate you. I have really been in the industry a long time and offer a great service with many clients that are very happy. It just seems that generally - the respect for us web designers isn't at the level it should be.

i have to agree with you here. i've had people bitch at me for taking over a week on a project, and also had people tell me that $300 is way too much for a fully custom designed and coded site.

I think we still suffer from the old thing of some companies still downgrading the importance of a website and seeing it as a 'task' rather than part of their overall strategy. Maybe there's a bit of "oh, its that man ringing about the website again - I really must get back to him and get that thing moving at some stage".

I sympathise with you though and personally try to get longer term contracts, but I might be slightly different in that web dev is only a very small part of what I do.

I hope the clients returned your call since you posted

Originally Posted by Julian If their lawyer or doctor called, I am sure they would make time to speak with them.

that's because it actually takes time, skill and dedication to be a lawyer or a doctor. how many doctors do you know who are in highschool?

web design is looked upon as a bottom feeder business because the majority of "desigers" (i use this word as loosely as i possibly can here) are bottom feeders:

"i need a web site for my business"
"well my neighbour's boy timmy is a whiz with these computer machines, i'm sure he can do it"

That is actually true. I've never had a problem with my clients like that because of the following:

1) Most of my clients are well-known by myself, and there is a good level of respect between us and thus know the value of my services and never bother to haggle down the price.

2) I always handle myself in a respectable manner. For example, if a client were to try and haggle down the price of the website I wouldn't consider taking on that client in the end as most of the time clients like this don't understand the value of the service your offering.

3) The fact that children now have the skills in design to do a similiar job to that of adults is downgrading web design in many ways. Also, sites like piczo and freewebs have downgraded it in some ways by offering their "free websites" to the public. If you come across as a professional, no matter what your age, clients will be willing to pay you in full for your services if they are of a high standard and also respect the position you have taken to help their business thrive.

Basically, anyone that tries haggling (if the price set in reasonable) = rejection from me.

Anyone asking for a "quick, cheap" site (as in a £50 job LOL!) = rejection from me.

Anyone setting a budget that is way less than adequate and expects to get a site for that price = rejection from me.

You should in an indirect way be demanding the respect of your services and professionalism and be conveying that message to your clients.


The moral of the story is...
1) NEVER WORK WITH CHEAPSKATES!

Originally Posted by derek lapp "i need a web site for my business" "well my neighbour's boy timmy is a whiz with these computer machines, i'm sure he can do it"

.....Bingo! That answers the KEY problem with the profession. I think this is the main problem with 'freelance designing.' Working design as in 40 hours a week comes with much more respect in my opinion.

one reason i think fulltime design jobs come with that automatic respect is because it's viewed as a profession and not a hobby. i think people just guitily assume because it doesn't use a lot of big obvious tools they must just be a "bottom feeder designer" as a side project, or else they'd be registered as some kind of company.

it's more of a problem with linear thinking than anything, imo. take something physical for example. you could be an independant landscaper, running yourn own business, and people won't jerk you around - landscape my yard for $100 - because t's blindingly obvious why you can't just get some joe nobody to do it: above all else, joe nobody doesn't have the tools. the physical tools of web design is the computer. if joe nobody has the tools, following that line of thinking, he's got the tool, he uses the net a lot, why can't joe nodody do it?

when it comes down to it, i just don't care. i've tried to position myself where if people are interested in me, it's for a specific reason, they're coming to buy this specific thing, so money isn't an object unless it's 'i simply don't have that much, how can we comprimise?' situation.

if someone tries to pull the 'why does it cost so much when i could get my neighbour's kid to do it for $50?' i just send them on their way and i don't give them a second chance. i know they're just going to second guess and try to force my hands.

it's like the silent treatment. they'll either crack and look at things from a more open minded perspective, or they get left behind.

You all have interesting perspectives on this.

What I am trying to understand is why it seems like web design has lost a lot of respect. I deal with the large majority of local people, and most are not internet savvy, so don't see the budget sites being sold for a dime a dozen. Yet they seem to have very little respect for web designers. I have even had clients on maintenance programs say they will edit the sites themselves!

Originally Posted by Julian You all have interesting perspectives on this. What I am trying to understand is why it seems like web design has lost a lot of respect. I deal with the large majority of local people, and most are not internet savvy, so don't see the budget sites being sold for a dime a dozen. Yet they seem to have very little respect for web designers. I have even had clients on maintenance programs say they will edit the sites themselves!

Because, most people never grow out of that 16 year old mentality of "I can do and know everything and anything."

another thing that comes from going it alone is that you're a one man show, so they go "i'm just one guy too, why couldn't i do it?"