A common question I hear while out on the street handing out company flyers and business cards is “Are you local?” The interesting thing about website design is that we really don’t need to be local to the customer’s area. They like the thought of a local company so that they can contact them if they need to, but this can be accomplished anyway with all of our methods of communication in existence today.
We have already proved it. We are located in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario and we have built a site for a client in Thunder Bay, Ontario. They are 1,500 kilometers away, yet we never have any problems keeping in touch. With our technology, like the BlackBerry that I use, I have all my emails sent through to it. I can get texts and obviously phone calls, plus there is unlimited calling and long distance in Canada, so it doesn’t matter where our clients are, we can always keep in touch. Even more convenient is Skype or any video chat program where you can speak face-to-face on a virtual level.
With this business, it is not really necessary to be local, even though it still provides a feeling of helping your community by keeping jobs there. In the end, price does matter for small businesses, and even if your website designer is local, you are still going through large corporations for web hosting that are not local. Sometimes, saving some cash is worth the phone calls and emails to get what you need to keep your business alive. Especially if you are in a small area where there is only one company and they are charging outrageous amounts of money for their services.
I agree, I’m a website designer as well and I’ve done projects all over the province. I don’t think it matters whether youre there in person or not. A website is an online entity so therefore you can always call or email someone. Some clients prefer the face time with web designers, but I dont think its necessary and to be honest, you can’t really do anything in person when you meet them anyway. You can offer them training sessions after, but thats about it.
I still think it’s necessary to have the face to face. It’s better to meet someone to see if they’re trustworthy or friendly. Who knows what the person your emailing is like.
I still don’t think anything beats the face-to-face, like others have said. I find that it’s good to see and speak to someone and see how they react to what you want and what you request. You can’t really get a sense of that through the phone or video call, and definitely not through email.
We think there are pros and cons for both options. But at the end of the day, it’s the client who is the most important, and it’s the website designer who should be able to adapt to the needs of the client. If the client wants face-to-face, then the website designer should provide them with face-to-face support. If the client doesn’t want to meet up and just decide and go through everything online, then the website designer should have a streamlined process for allowing the client to voice their opinions with ease.
Thanks for your comments, Jim! We agree with you, and if we were to hire a website designer, we would want to meet up with them as well. But…to each their own! We know some individuals who don’t like the face-to-face and prefer just communicating by phone or email. It’s always up to the client!
We have heard many unpleasant stories about companies outsourcing their website design to save money. Local web design, SEO and online marketing companies are able provide a better level of service simply because they are familiar with your specific demographic, and can easily meet you on a personal level. I was lucky enough to use local web developers’ and Buzzigo Social marketing company’s services last month, and by hiring locally I had an opportunity to personally understand the team of people designing and promoting my recorded media & publishing website here in Vancouver.
Thanks for visiting Michael! I agree there is great value in finding someone local to help out with building your website. I’ll never claim otherwise! However, in those instances where staying local will put great burden on your company’s finances to achieve your desired goal, it may be better to look elsewhere. WE DO NOT OUTSOURCE any of our operations at CryoDragon! We do it all here and we remain the number one source for contact with our customers. With my original post, I was referring to people that I had already met and they had me face to face with them, and had the opportunity to discuss anything they wanted with me. I still recommend finding a local business if you can. However, if you are being hustled, or gouged, then maybe expand your search to other districts or regions in your area. As pointed out, I have built websites for customers that are over 1,000 km away and they gave us great reviews for our work. We are also building another website for an event in Manitoba, which is about 2,000 km away. In both opportunities, we never met face to face, and quite possibly never will. In closing, if you have a great local designer, or developer in your area, and you can afford it, by all means, go for it! If not, don’t be afraid to reach out and expand your business circle! CryoDragon is here to help!