Web design companies claims

[infilta]

Hello.
Last night I went through a few websites that are PPC results and top organic results in Google for a search "web design los angeles" and "web design new york".
I was looking at AdWords ad text as well as text on the "About us" page of these web design companies in order to find their claims (what they say they will deliver to the client) and tried to match it with their own web site and their portfolios.
Here are a couple of examples of what web design companies claim and what they actually deliver or how ridiculous it sounds:

Claim: “Let X-web-design-company design for you the site of your dreams”. (Source: NerdCube.com) - The site of my dreams? Like CEO's dream about great websites? CEO's have no idea about web design as usual, it is quite stupid to offer them "websites of their dreams".

Claim: “Most web design is awful. When you think you've seen it all, check out our portfolio. Worth it. “ (Their portfolio: Transform Agency - Our Work / Portfolio). Pretty mediocre. And sometimes even awful.

Claim: “Brilliant design”, “Professional web design” (Source: Professional Website Design Company in Los Angeles, California) Look at this website in Firefox: top menu without spaces; Flash is missing; all of the graphics are missing. And justified text. In IE - a talking head does greets visitors - WTF?

Claim: “Extraordinarily differentiated from every other web site design company in this industry”, “High profile design”, “unparalleled, first-class web design” (Source: California Web Site Design Services | Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange County, Newport Beach, Irvine, San Francisco, Sacramento – check the visual size, it takes about 2/3 of the screen real estate). Pretty lame site in general, far from their claims.

Claim: “Building… Google-friendly websites” (Source: Byte Technology - Website, Graphic Design and Online Marketing Services) – like building human-friendly is out of style already.


What do you think? Do you want to continue this list with me?

[LeadMagnet]

I have an idea, let's make a list of all the websites on the internet and say whether we think they'd look good in red or not.
For red websites, say whether or not you think they'd look better in pink.
Then add an insult that rhymes with the name of the website.
Don't stop until you've got the whole internet done, ok guys? GO!

[infilta]

haha, funny




Not

[LeadMagnet]

Just so long as my subtle point is not lost on you.

[picky-very-picky]

I think it's quite an interesting point being made, I mean what sort of sites are people trying to sell, surely google friendly should be default otherwise there's no point in having one

[rossable]

i don't see the point in berating sites that didn't provoke it.
sure they are average or lower at best... but why should we take time to point it out.

let it go. be professional. mind your own business.
that's my motto.

[infilta]

Originally Posted by rossable

i don't see the point in berating sites that didn't provoke it.
sure they are average or lower at best... but why should we take time to point it out.

let it go. be professional. mind your own business.
that's my motto.

Yes I agree. Why I pointed out is because of the this reason: Sometimes unless someone points it out, we don't notice how we make unsupported claims. I am not a marketing professional but I know that unsupported claim is a big turn off for clients who can detect it. And it's a reminder to us to be realistic about what we offer.

Plus it's a "general discussion" thread, I thought it's okay to discuss general issues like this one here.

[Toon]

seems ok to discuss for me, it's better than the 'look at this sh*t threads' with no real substance. just a link.

[infilta]

Besides, my point is that it's worth noting that 1/3 of companies in the top results of a Google search make such claims. Well I guess it works for a person not educated about web design - and I am pretty sure that kind of people are the target audience of these companies.This actually makes it right for them, I guess. They're not selling to other web design studios or designers, because they would usually say "mind your own business". But I think customers need to be educated. I know they're also probably not reading this topic, so it's futile, but at least my goal is to challenge web design companies to get realistic about how good their products are.