Should I throw feces on them?
This week, there has been a highly publicized “feud” between John Stewart and the douchey bald guy from Mad Money. Unlike most web developers, I am very interested in the financial markets and pay close attention to what is going on Wall Street. Obviously, these days there isn’t much good news coming from Wall Street. Since the bottom fell out of the huge pyramid scheme formally known as the U.S. banking system, there has been a lot of talk about how the U.S. public was terribly misled. John Stewart was complaining about exactly that when he sparked a feud with CNBC. His argument is that CNBC helped hyper-inflate the bubble. Instead of telling the American public that U.S. financial institutions were terribly overleveraged they encouraged Americans to buy stock in companies on the verge of failure and Americans did it. As experts they failed to perform their duty. Why did Americans fall for it? Not because they’re stupid but because they don’t understand the increasingly complex financial markets and because they trust the so called experts.
Web developers are experts but the main problem I see in web development is blatant disrespect for customers. Web development is a confusing topic for many. If our customers understood design, programming, and SEO they wouldn’t need to hire us. As experts, it is our job to guide them in the right direction and to give them all of the information and advice necessary to make a good decision, even if the result is they work with a more qualified company. Much like CNBC we have a duty to our customers.
Recently, I have been getting bids to do some landscaping and fencing in my backyard. If I really, really tried I could probably do these projects myself. In reality, I know very little about fencing and less about sprinklers, I have some opinions but I am no expert and that is why I am hiring someone to help. When talking with the various contractors, my lack of knowledge really got me thinking about how web development customers feel in meetings.
I don’t think of myself as a dumb person. In fact I feel like I am pretty good at what I do but what I do is web development NOT landscaping. Our customers are smart people. They run businesses, have families, and shape our community. The problem with web design customers isn’t that they’re dumb, the problem is that they don’t understand web design and that is exactly why they’ve hired you! Instead of criticizing your customers for their lack of knowledge you should dance circles of joy. If everyone was a web development expert then you would probably be watching Oprah from your mom’s couch.
As a fellow web developer I challenge you all to try to provide your customers with a good value, good information, and the respect they deserve. Customers are a requirement of running a web design agency but they’re also people with families and lives. Web developers, SEO experts, and marketers in general should work hard to avoid the snake oil salesman reputation that is often given to financial professionals. Both web developers and financial professionals deal with complex topics. Working to provide customers with good, honest advice will help your customers get an ROI, help your reputation, and help the reputation of our industry in general. Don’t become the Bernard Madoff of web development.
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Sick. You and your odd choice of titles and matching photos… Does anyone else find them as “entertaining” as I do? I hope not