I set up my own web site, Retro Edge Web Design in the later part of 2007, prior to that I spent a good couple of years learning the trade and finding out how best to go about setting up a small web design business in my local area. After researching other web design businesses I quickly realised the similarities between cowboy builders and cowboy web designers in that as anyone can pick up a paint brush and call themselves a painter and decorator so can anyone pick up Adobe Dreamweaver and call themselves a web designer.

Having always taken great pride in my work I wanted my portfolio and Retro Edge Web Design to reflect a high standard of work. The better the quality of work, the more business I would get… or so I hoped. Over the last few years I have dealt with various businesses that took the cheap option when it came to their web site. Perhaps it’s because their friends, uncles, mate down the pub can design sites and has promised to do it for a hundred quid or perhaps they fancy having a go at it themselves, after all “Dreamweaver isn’t too hard to use is it?” More often than not it unsurprisingly comes down to cost and the cheapest quote wins the gig. I always find this frustrating, as companies are prepared to spend £100′s if not £1000′s on poster and flyer advertising but when it comes to their web site they are prepared to leave it in the hands of a novice. I’m talking from personal experience of course, as this is not always the case but my own experiences have led me to take on more web sites that needed fixing than new projects, and it normally takes twice as long and costs twice as much to sort out.

I guess the problem is that on the surface web design appears very easy but there is a whole lot more to web design than simply adding text and images to a html page. What are the chances of these web site cowboys offering any sort of SEO, there isn’t much point in having a web site if nobody can find it and it certainly isn’t worth having a web site if it is coded incorrectly, in fact it could do more harm than good.

My advice is simple, if you need a web site, seek advice from a professional…if a job is worth doing, it’s worth doing properly!