Greetings from Beautiful Bay City

I received an e-mail the other day from a woman named Kathee. Kathee was irked because without realizing it, when we updated the site a few months ago we inadvertently left off what city the studio is located in. I still can't believe I made such a rookie mistake. I am genuinely grateful to Kathee for taking the time to let me know. I think most everybody who reads the blog regularly knows it, but I'll state it again for the record: 989 Design is located in Bay City, Michigan. We are located at 701 E. Midland Street, in the heart of Bay City's historic Midland Street business district.

I think what really bugs me about the omission is that sites who leave out that sort of information is a real pet peeve of mine. There are a lot of business sites which deliberately leave out location information. I really don't understand the rationale behind it, but I suppose they think it makes them seem like a bigger business than they really are.

For example, somebody mentioned a business in Saginaw (whose name I will not divulge, I'm not trying to be nasty I'm just using them to illustrate my point) and I had never heard of them before, so I looked them up online. If you go to the site and read through it, you would think that it's this giant business employing scores of people. Everything is written in this really silly, puffed-up style. "Our team of experts" and stuff like that. In reality, it is one person operating out of their home.

For years people have been saying that the internet is a great equalizer and that it levels the playing field for small business. I suppose that is true, to a certain extent, but I can't help but wonder why people think it's so important to look big. Personally, I think that being a small business gives you a big advantage, especially given the current economic climate. I like the idea of being more nimble and better able to respond to client needs because I don't have the same overhead as a big studio.

Granted, there are times when being a small studio excludes you from certain jobs and clients. For certain projects, size really does matter. You need the manpower to keep up with the demands of a big client. These clients are few and far between, though. For every client like Hulu.com, who recently awarded their $50 million account to a new agency, there are hundreds of clients with much smaller budgets, but the demands of these accounts are easier to keep up with as a small studio. I think that one of the most important things you can do with your website is to be sure that it accurately reflects what your business is all about.

Also, remember to put what city you are located in.