So I posted my last blog several months ago when things weren't going so well for my web design business. It was getting to the point to where I even considered looking for a web design "day job" to help make ends meet. I have to admit finances weren't great but they were good enough for me to hold out longer then expected... and I'm glad I did.
When the New Year rolled around something completely unexpected happened. I started getting a ton of phone calls from people looking to either start a new website or revise the one they already have. As always, I am more then happy to help anyone with whatever their goal might be, but the whole thing caught me off guard and ultimately it spawned a small curiosity as to why it happened at all.
For those of you who don't know, my future wife is a digital marketing rock star and she is a huge inspiration for me. This also ties well into my future goals of adding digital marketing to the list of services we will offer our client base. So where am I going with all this? Good question... It makes a lot of sense that web design be interwoven into the digital marketing realm and because of this obvious relationship my business is busier then ever. Perhaps because of tax reason or maybe simply due to a New Year's resolution, business owners have decided to take the bull by the horns and do what they can to help their business survive in the current economic climate. All they need to do is convince people to buy their product and services and the way to do that is ADVERTISE.
As most do, I have learned a lot about different aspects of running my business as I introduce new concepts and procedures to improve the way we do business. Knowing my goal of offering marketing services is just around the corner; I feel lucky in a sense that I have sort of been tossed into the marketing efforts of my clients and really forced to see what I do from a different perspective. I guess I have always known websites were a form of advertising for small businesses, but I never felt the need to put such emphasis on it like we have to do now. After all, current internet advertising trends have demonstrated that traditional forms of offline marketing (television, newspapers and magazines) are going to lose market share to online advertising efforts over the next few years. By some estimations, online advertising is expected to hold as much as 10% of the global advertising market share in 2009 and keep growing. By the way, this is also some interesting reading on the subject (by iMedia Connection - "Be Careful What You Ask For").
So as it turns out, some industries really have an opportunity to prosper even when things are tough for so many people. Given the fact that my work load (and profits) have increased, I am still looking forward to the day that everything returns to normal.
One last note however... for anyone who wishes to keep closer, not so interesting, tabs on me during my large blogging gaps, you're always welcome to follow me on http://www.twitter.com/kmjwebdesign. I hope to see all of you there!
