EchoD

I received a new telephone directory the other day and thought it might be a good idea to see what the listings under Web Design had to offer. My approach wasn’t entirely scientific, nor were my results very conclusive, but that’s no fault of my own. Honest.

I invented two projects:

• A real-estate website requiring a CMS to list homes for sale complete with property details and the option of a photo walkthrough.
• A travel blog for daily entries while on trips and separate photo galleries for each trip.

I planned to ask for quotes for those two independent projects from each designer, but I had to do some pruning first. I removed one listing due to distance. I wanted businesses or designers I would consider local to Jamestown, and if I included Irving, NY, I may as well go all the way to Buffalo. I removed a second because the designer did not list web design as one of her primary services. It was mentioned under a “can do” list, but it didn’t inspire confidence. A third was removed due to a very negative review and its association with another group of websites that screamed “Scam”.

I began looking for websites associated with the remaining five listings. I couldn’t find anything for The Graduate, Inc., or Mirror Images Web Services. If information exists, I can usually find it. It just wasn’t there. The telephone numbers for both companies were out of service as well. They don’t seem to exist.

Spann Enterprises, LLC., actually sells fire-proof safes. While the woman who answered the phone mentioned that she used to do web design, she said she doesn’t do much any more. She also explained that she doesn’t know how to build shopping carts for eCommerce or work with streaming video.

The number for ThinkPlayDesign went to a personal voicemail box. I didn’t leave a message, but his website is the best of the lot. I didn’t check prices, but he most closely meets my standards for quality and competence.

Lastly, the number for The Maytum Company was answered as Star Media Group, which is a division of the Toronto Star Newspaper, Ltd. This was the only listing to whom I could actually pitch my two projects. They might get back to me in a few days, but I’m not counting on it.

Follow-Up — December 2, 2009: Star Media Group never did get back to me with a quote.

Overall, I wasn’t very impressed. My goal was to get an idea of pricing in the area and to see if it’s capable of sustaining designers. I still can’t decide if I want to try seriously freelancing around Jamestown, and I feel I need to do a little more research. It doesn’t look promising.