This post was inspired by another post at ManageWP on the future of website development. In short, the author is stating that web development as an industry is changing its nature. Today you can have a nice looking site with most up to date functionality for $10/month (or so) from companies like GoDaddy, Weebly or SquareSpace. His argument is that web development as we know it is gone.

The post is followed by a few comments on the uselessness of the post and the ideas. I couldn’t leave it without posting a comment and stating my view on the matter. In this post I’m doing an extended version of that comment.

The industry is evolving

Web development is changing and that’s the fact. As everything else the industry responds to disruptive innovation. Things get cheaper and businesses need to stay in touch with current realities. The bigger companies are utilizing the “economies of scale” principle to feed the most people. Their business model is making money based on a volume, not on a piece by piece level. Websites that used to cost $1000 can now be built for $10 with modern user friendly tools.

To each their own

It’s easy to say that Chris is wrong or he’s right, but there’s always a shade of grey. His article moved me think and that’s the most important thing about disruptive innovation or disruptive thinking for that matter.

My argument is that certain tools are appropriate for certain businesses / companies and their websites. Usually a $10 website is ideal for a small service based local startup because the site’s goal is to establish web presence. I worked with agencies that serve their clients solely based on a Weebly Developer platform. It allows them to build sites quickly using a variety of templates. The end result is a cheaper site for their clients.

When we talk about larger companies that use the website as a tool to showcase their product catalogue and develop sales funnels the $10 sites are not an option. In such cases a Professional Web Developer or even a web development agency is required to build it. And I’m not even talking about a good company that can support the site they built. This brings me to my next point…

Customer service is the key

Yes, GoDaddy offers a Customer Service line. However, if GoDaddy is not offering a certain feature, then no customer support can help you add it to your website. Again, this is a strong argument for dealing with a professional web developer that uses flexible platforms and can implement the changes required.

At the end of the day, skills are important, but when you have an endless choice of tools and platforms like WordPress and Joomla, custom web programming skills are needed less for the mainstream market.

Regardless of what site you’re building (company / business) customer service is the key to your business success. You have to be on time, underpromise and overdeliver, provide quality and timely response to your client’s needs.

Quality web development is alive and well

I’m not providing web development services but I know a few good people that do and do it very well. Moreover these companies and individuals are in high demand. The bottom line is that the industry is evolving and we all need to stay in touch with the trends and our customers’ business needs. Let me know what you think on the matter? Do you own a site? Have you been thinking of redesigning your site or moving to another platform? Feel free to share in comments below…

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