What Is an Industry Specific Web Development Company?
The concept of Industry Specific Web Development Companies is simple enough. They are businesses that specialize in developing websites for one specific type of industry. They are incredibly common and provide professionals or small business owners with very affordable web design and development services with the promise of SEO and excellent Customer Service.
Typically these companies will have a name like Great Dental Site, Therapy Web-Sites, or Construction Sites. You can typically find their site linked at the bottom of a website in the footer. Clicking on this link will show you that these web development companies typically have an incredibly large number of clients all from a single type of industry.
What's the Problem?
Well, for many users of these services there is no problem. Because of the focus of these web development companies, most of the work is handled for the customer and the prices offered are typically fairly low. However, if you are expecting these services to produce websites that are competitive when compared to other businesses in your industry within your geographical location, than you will definitely be disappointed.
The simplest reason behind this is because these companies are unable to offer a competitive advantage to ALL of their clients. If two dental companies in the same town were customers of the Great Dental Websites company, it would be unfair for the Great Dental Websites company to offer a competitive advantage to either of those businesses over the other, right? That is, unless one of those companies is willing to pay a premium for “personalized SEO services”.
The method of SEO, and the web development practices behind that method that are utilized by these web development companies put each business owner on the same playing field as their rivals. Eliminating any possibility of direct competition for higher search result rankings. While business owners utilizing these services can increase their rankings through testimonials and writing their own blogs, they will likely notice that their site traffic is relatively static. For some business owners they also quickly notice that it can take weeks for any changes to be made to their website, with some industry specific providers only making changes to a customers site once a month.
So Are Industry Specific Providers All Bad?
Of course not, for some industries these types of websites can actually be better than purchasing the services of an individual web development company. These services can really shine for industries that are specifically in B2B spheres. This is because they can often get lower rates on listings for top directories in a variety of professional directories.
Another advantage of these sites is their typical low cost. If you are just starting a new business and can’t afford the services of a web development company to personally design and manage your website, than these industry specific sites can be a great choice. We believe wholeheartedly that even a low quality website is better than no website at all. But be prepared for the somewhat generic and boxy layout of poorly written text and smiling stock images of various professionals that your customers will have difficulty connecting with.
Authenticity, and the crafting of a relateable, likeable brand, is not something that can be automated. So beware of anyone that tries to sell you a cookie-cutter approach to marketing.