San Diego Web Design

Have you been searching for a good web design company in San Diego?

You probably came across this page through a search engine and have been looking to find a good web design company for quite awhile — calling around, leaving messages and filling out inquiry forms, and you have had an exhausting experience through your search.

It seems that the web design field is a very competitive industry; every Joe Shmoe and his cousin have gotten into the web design business. This is because the web design business is a very easy business to start. Anyone can start one with just a computer, a little of knowledge of HTML, or a web editing software such as Adobe Dreamweaver. Adobe Dreamweaver is a simple web page editing software (similar to Microsoft Word.)

Also, there is no government license, education, business or business ethics training, or college degree required to start a web design company.

The question is, why is it so hard to find a reputable and ethical web design company? If there are so many web design companies that exist in San Diego, why is it so difficult to find one that wants to help or will just return your call?

This is because everyday, there are one to two web design start ups born and also one to two web design start ups go out of business. So while you are seeking a web design company, you are going to come across new startups that have little or no experience, or web design startups that are on their way out of business or have already closed their doors and disappeared.

If that isn't enough to deal with, you may come across web design companies with big egos and little talent to back it up; they put the least amount of effort into your project and charge an exaggerated price for what they deliver.

Another interesting fact is that some companies are spending as much as $40 per click for the keyword "Web Design" for Google AdWords, but if you try to call those companies, you cannot reach a real person, and if you leave a message, they don't return your call. That is another mystery as to why these companies spend as much as $40 per click for Google AdWords, but do not put any effort in responding and helping prospective customers.

The other interesting point is that the term "Web Design" is almost out of date and it is considered to be a low end job skill these days. This is because there are so many web designers that have little or no experience or talent that they are causing the "design pool" quality to be lowered.

Many of today's web designers just jumped into the web design field without any experience or education and consider themselves knowledgeable in all of the above fields even though they are not qualified.

I admit that I'm not a creative person, I'm on the technical side of Comentum, but I have learned to distinguish between good and bad design by continuously collaborating and working with the design team in our office.

I have learned that web design is not just about creating a web page using recycled templates or simple HTML code. It requires knowledge and experience in many fields such as:

• Branding
• Marketing
• Advertising
• Usability
• Design, UX Design (User Experience Design)
• Custom Illustration
• Development (Code: HTML, CSS, XHTML, etc.)
• Programming (PHP, JavaScript, etc.)
• Web Application Framework (MVC, Zend Framework, Ajax, jQuery, etc.)
• Database (SQL, MySQL)
• Quality Assurance Testing (Attention to Design Detail, Stress Testing, Browser Compatibility, W3C Validation, etc)
• SEO (Search Engine Optimizations)
• SEM (Search Engine Marketing)

Comentum provides all of the above services because Comentum has specialists in each field.

Does everyone want to be a web designer?

I think so — I come across so many people who think that they are designers, but they don't have the creative eye, or any knowledge or experience in concept development, copy writing, branding and marketing.

The same kind of people try to art direct a web project, which usually produces bad results.

I say to those people, it is better that you stay in your field of specialty and education, so if you are a lawyer, you should focus on what you are good at and not try to art direct a design or web project.

Some facts about San Diego

Why are there so many companies that look for San Diego web design? Google Keyword Tool shows that there are about 8,100 searches on the term, Web Design San Diego, monthly.

Here are some interesting statistics and facts about San Diego:

• San Diego is the eighth largest city in the United States
• San Diego is the second largest city in California
• San Diego City Population is 1,359,132
• San Diego County Population is 2,880,000
• San Diego has over 110,000 businesses
• San Diego is ranked the 3rd largest Biotech city.
• San Diego is ranked the 3rd largest technology city.
• San Diego is one of the most desirable destinations or places to live.
• San Diego has better weather than most cities in the US
• San Diego, although is a large populated city, it does not have the problems that usually exits with large cities such as crime, smog, very bad traffic, and high stress and a fast paced environment, because San Diego people are generally nice and laid back.

Research for this article was completed October 1, 2010; information may change.