This article appeared in 1999 in the newspaper 'Webanzeiger', print circulation 160000. It is published here merely as an archive and search-engine fodder.

Switzerland on the Internet, as of February 2000: More than 1.8 million Swiss people have Internet access, well-paid men aged 20-40 form the largest user group, the share of women has reached 33% and senior citizens are just now being discovered as a new target group. There are 230 access providers and telephone companies offering access to the net of nets. Around 150000 domains with the ".ch" ending are registered or being hoarded, of which 108676 constitute the active Swiss web offering. The providers are outdoing one another with free Internet access and surf centers, and telephone charges are falling due to competition. The software tools for creating homepages are cheap and every day 1.5 million new pages go online worldwide. There are currently around 2.2 million websites, 800 million individual web pages can be reached, and of these only 15 percent are even indexed in the major search engines. All this is only a beginning and forms humanity's greatest universal platform for communication, information, commerce and entertainment (in that order). On every corner there is an "Under Construction" sign and the whole world is showing the proverbial Swiss diligence, while the Swiss web as a whole lags 1-2 years behind the USA or Germany quantitatively and qualitatively, and people look enviously at the competition.

Swiss client companies are planning ever larger and more sophisticated presences and in around 35% of cases assigning them to external web agencies. Earlier estimates for 1999 turnover at web agencies were CHF 250 million (source: Europemedia). The latest figures are significantly higher and say that Swiss web agencies generated turnover of around CHF 500 million for 1999 (according to an autumn 99 survey by the Institute for Business Informatics). Included in this figure are additional services sold alongside pure "web presences", for example hardware (network technology), software and training. This results in an estimated annual market volume of CHF 350 million in the field of web design and in any case corresponds to a massive increase of 70% compared with the previous year 1998.

Around 200 web design agencies share this pie and compete for the right to code and style the Swiss web that still remains to be woven, for payment. For this new market, an attempt is made here to gain an overview, to show the general conditions and to briefly introduce the most important representatives of the sector.

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Domestic companies are realizing that customer care is crucial for economic success and that the Internet plays an important role in this. A company website increases company presence and customer loyalty, opens up new regional and international markets (e.g. in the business-to-business sector) and has a positive effect on business partners and employees as a factor of identification. The second stage is seen in the advantages of e-commerce, where products are sold optimally with lean sales models and low advertising costs: The customer searches specifically for products and services, and collecting and evaluating visitor data makes targeted strategies possible in the sense of real-time marketing and allows a dynamic adaptation of the offering. An almost perfect concept that people had been waiting for a long time. The risks are low, it is an interesting new field, and the whole thing is even fun.

Yet a company's own Internet presence is often delayed, because there are turf wars over expertise on the executive floors and people rely on chance contacts and recommendations. Demand for web specialists is rising rapidly, while the supply of genuine experts is scarce and made even more difficult by Europe-wide staffing bottlenecks in the IT sector. Altogether 350'000 specialists are lacking across Europe in the computer industry, something that was further exacerbated by the Millennium Bug and is only slowly improving again. People with Internet knowledge are sought after, often young heavy surfers who simply know enough, because retraining genuine IT and advertising professionals takes time and is often not wanted by them either. A great deal of patience and enthusiasm are prerequisites, because grappling with HTML, texts, scanners, graphics and unreliable browser systems is not everyone's cup of tea. Web design agencies are constantly hiring new people and fueling a national gold rush, which leads to extreme growth rates for some agencies and to disillusionment for less successful competitors. An intransparent market is emerging with an arbitrary price structure, one that partly lives from a lack of information on the customer side and is run in a highly competitive manner.

How are web design agencies created?

They are usually founded alone or by two people by enterprising private individuals who come from a wide variety of professional backgrounds, for example IT, marketing or graphics, and among the courageous founders one finds many network technicians, academics and HWV graduates. In contrast to other industries, building up a web agency has the advantage that for the infrastructure and operation it only takes a few PC´s with Internet access and a telephone, and if needed one can rent an office as well. The investment costs are low and there is no need for storage or vehicles, no sales personnel and no expensive machinery, while the PC´s are usually already there anyway. The software for providing the service (homepage creation) is partly free, the "product" is delivered as data bytes via server or e-mail, and from advertising to order intake via project handling and payment, practically everything can be processed over the Internet. A truly virtual business with low ongoing costs (online fees, office rent, PC costs) and, depending on the agency's skill, very high net income.

Company names often consist of two-part coined words, whereby almost any "dice combination" of two trend terms works (people combine Cyber, Media, Com, Data, Digi, Solution, Design, Creation, Future, Digital, Vision, Web, Net etc.). Almost all agencies with such easy-to-remember names are successful, and these two-part word combinations have long since been used up.

Winning contracts is mostly done through recommendations from existing clients, through direct mail advertising, through the agency's own homepage and through expensive glossy brochures, more rarely through web banners, mass faxes or mass e-mails. On average, around 6.5% of turnover is used for advertising. Web design agencies frequently serve only "local" clientele within their own canton, and potential clients first look around in the neighborhood for a usable web forge. References created in a specific sector usually lead to further assignments in the same segment, which results in sector specialization among smaller agencies. In many cases, client acquisition is made easier by an already existing network of contacts. During client visits and presentations, partly elaborate technology is used, from a laptop with a prototype homepage from CD and PowerPoint slideshow, to canvas presentations with projector and flow charts on large-format display boards. The quality of the printed, often 10-page proposals is important, because clients still have strong trust in "non-virtual" paper. During client visits and meetings, the representatives of larger agencies invariably appear business-like, with suits and polished expression; they present themselves as representatives of the high-tech industry with a dash of the airs of art directors and advertisers, and the client is subtly shown his own incompetence in Internet matters, or else the client is skillfully "fraternized" with until the deal is successfully closed. Incidentally, web designers wear the color black strikingly often, apparently a fashion that has become established among many as a distinguishing mark and is also seen among advertisers.

As a job title there are all possible variants. For example "Webdesigner", "Web Publisher", "Web Developer", "Webmaster" (already frowned upon again in the USA because sexist and politically incorrect), "Mediamatiker" (new), "Interactive Media Designer", "New Media Producer" and quite a few others. The female share of staff is 22 percent (according to the IWI survey among over 100 agencies in autumn 1999). Internationally too, many award-winning works, especially web communities and outstanding personal sites, have been created by women. In agency management and sales, on the other hand, almost exclusively men are represented, because despite everything the sector functions as an "IT sector" and also wants to communicate itself that way outwardly. The age group starts at about 18 and for the heads of larger agencies is typically 35-45. Around 20 percent of agencies employ apprentices. Turnover per employee lies on average at 172'000 CHF/employee, value creation at 141'000 CHF/employee (source: IWI). The success of the agency depends directly on demonstrable references, general trustworthiness and flexibility, and to a very decisive extent on the communicative abilities of the client advisers. This specifically includes the ability to put oneself into the world of ideas of others and to present information and visual messages in a convincing manner, as well as personal powers of persuasion.

If business success occurs, additional employees (e.g. programmers, database experts, secretary) are typically hired after half a year and after about 1 year incorporation as a GmbH takes place.

The agencies usually do not live exclusively from web design (Creative Design, Programming, Content Creation and Content Management) but also provide training on the side, do partial work or are active with their own web server as hosting providers or access providers. The companies pursue their own projects on the side and build web platforms, applications, search services and general offerings from which they generate advertising income and additional visibility. Large projects from leading Swiss companies are coveted and, similarly to an architectural competition, are submitted simultaneously to 3-10 agencies. Prices range from a few thousand francs for small (5-20 page) homepages up to a million for major banks, large corporations, city platforms and the like. Database solutions and e-commerce applications (shops) are relatively expensive but are currently becoming cheaper quickly. It should be noted that worldwide there are about 1000 large companies that have paid over a million for their Internet offering. In the USA there are already over 20 "mega agencies" (e.g. sapient.com, cks.com, iab.com) that deal only with accounts (budgets) typically worth 500K. Here in Switzerland people are only slowly noticing that the market is exploding and that by creating more supply (underpinned by good reference presences) more envious demand is automatically generated.

Of course one can now make a small homepage oneself, but it is similar to clothing or food: People are happy to spend money on having a tailored suit or an external menu, or on going to an expensive photographer even though they might have an Instamatic camera at home. We live in an age where there are specialists for every activity. Yet the difference is not always noticed and people argue about what a good Internet presence is. The Internet requires extremely time-consuming and multilayered knowledge building. A large part of this knowledge cannot be acquired anywhere except through hundreds of hours of practice on the Internet. Various subfields such as programming, databases or e-commerce usually remain closed to private individuals. Only professional service providers have enough experience in all subfields, know the tricks and the best sources for every conceivable task. Traditional advertising agencies often cannot keep up here either, because the Internet has its own communication rules that first have to be learned. More and more often, advertising agencies are forming their own New Media department, but the largest part of the business still goes to specialized companies.

When we speak of homepages, what is meant is a broad spectrum of possible variants. These range from the simple implementation of a company brochure (text, photos and graphics only), through multimedia presentations (with animation, audio and video), through databases (information is searchable, selectable and dynamically retrievable), all the way to highly complex but relatively easy-to-use systems for users such as CD orders or personalized stock trading via the Internet. Work processes that in the past kept whole hierarchical structures of service providers occupied are being automated through the web, in the extreme case consisting only of communication between customer and web server.

The Internet is spreading faster than any communication technology before it. To reach 50 million "users", the medium of radio needed 35 years, television 13 years, and the Internet only 4 years. The volume of e-mails sent today is already ten times that of letter post.

Telecommunications charges will fall further. So-called set-top boxes for the home television have already been ready for series production for two years, and mobile phones with Internet connection have been offered for a year. Surfing is increasingly mobile, via laptop and mobile phone, something almost everyone can afford, and at home people will additionally have the Internet in the television. On the provider side this is financed through support costs and advertising. Actual Internet use will become almost free, while it is expected that individual websites (whose visit is currently free) will have to be paid for with every use by means of micropayment or pay-per-click.

Although the Internet is an unprecedented computer phenomenon in every respect, it does not look like "computer" and seems familiar at first glance. The websites recall familiar forms such as newspapers, books and television, while full internationality and multilingualism are offered and every website has a different navigation structure and design (thus is almost its own "TV channel"). We can, however, forget the much-invoked "interactivity" in most websites right away, because reading an encyclopedia, turning book pages or handling word processing is just as "interactive" as "browsing" (=rummaging through) a website. Exceptions are the few "truly interactive" websites where, for example, one shops, bids in auctions, trades stocks, plays games, or where visitor behavior is further processed by database scripts and the contents are displayed accordingly (so-called "dynamic"). The overwhelming part of the web is therefore by no means "interactive", because people merely select and display pages, just as happens when reading a book. Otherwise nothing interactive really happens there, and a few glowing buttons do not change that.

At its core, however, so the basic consensus seems to say, the net is a medium like all the others. But that is exactly what it is not, and the usual attempts to reduce the Internet to a comfortable term only document a misunderstanding. Because the net comes across like an old acquaintance, after initial shyness toward the technology we imagine ourselves safe within our proven media competence and forget that the Internet knows neither editorial office nor administration nor control. Before a newspaper lies at the kiosk, it has to overcome a whole series of financial, organizational and legal hurdles. By its mere existence it already proves adherence to elementary editorial rules. On the Internet it only takes a PC to publish on this "medium" (indeed a false term in view of our conception of the other media). All the more reason why web agencies are obliged to implement the contents entrusted to them seriously. This too is again an explanation of why web design agencies are needed that know enough about what information actually is and how to implement it properly (in terms of content, expertise and target group), because not everyone can do that. Otherwise the basic rule applies: "Always know the source" or "A Website is only an Interface". A good approach to improving these conditions might perhaps be if every website were accompanied by full information about who is publishing here, what the professional background is, what is being shown, and for whom.

The new media sector is meanwhile growing, wholly unnoticed by many in its size and dynamism, into its own service and publishing market, similar to the huge and lucrative print media or television. Yet while in these sectors a "publisher" must at least master spelling or have other qualifications, these filters are lacking in the mass medium Internet. It is also the first mass medium that is made not only "for" but also "by" the masses, as proven by the many private homepages. To call the Internet democratic for that reason (as is often and gladly done) is again wrong, because nobody has any right of co-determination over the integration or non-integration of a homepage into the web. In that case the web would certainly have only a fraction of its current size.

In the past the world was still in order: The graphic designer took care of the design, the programmer of the functionality, and the advertiser of the advertising. Each discipline required the corresponding aptitude profile and solid training. In web development there is a total mixing of these disciplines and this leads (in view of the visible results on the web) to the simple realization that graphic designers understand nothing about functionalities, web designers cannot write advertising copy, and programmers have no sense for visual design. Thanks to tools like Frontpage everyone becomes a multitasker here, which devalues the aforementioned professions (and the web itself) relatively strongly.

In the field of professional "homepage makers", on the one hand there are large companies (web agencies) with top-class specialists, and on the other hand small tinkerers and young company founders blinded by illusions, thus forming a service market incomparable in terms of heterogeneity. For customers this is a risk, a game of chance and a torment, depending on whom they end up with. Via the Internet anyone can present himself as a large agency, even though the company may perhaps be operating out of a broom closet. On the other hand, large agencies can justify any outrageously high prices by pointing to their expensive infrastructure and personnel costs, while the same service might cost only a fraction at a one-man company and may in fact even be better in quality and individual consultation (often a weak point of large agencies). What is meant here by consultation is a very essential aspect and one often decisive for the customer: "proper" consultation can, for example, mean that during a project the customer is given so much side knowledge that afterwards he is able to better understand the Internet, understand the strategies of the competition on the web, carry out effective marketing himself, and independently update and manage his own web presence. Many agencies have no interest in this, because these are generally services sold separately after the actual web presence. So whether merely a web presence is sold or the customer is involved in the project for his own benefit is a substantial difference. Yet the customer cannot assess such effects at the start of the project, and the proposal price may include one or the other model and can hardly be related to the actual workload on the agency side. Thus most customers sign with a mixture of lack of knowledge regarding the service, the competition, the benefit and the real equivalent value, in other words workload. All economic experts shake their heads in amazement here, because this contradicts all the rules of the market economy: The "right" price of a homepage is simply the one named by the provider and paid by the customer.

A market is defined as the overall combination of supply and demand within a particular economic branch. But the supply "Webdesign Switzerland" is not known here, not really quantifiable or qualifiable, and due to the information structure of the Internet hardly surveyable. One could therefore almost say that there is no market at all, but that it only takes place situationally between customer and provider. The inner reasons for this phenomenon are the fact that a customer can only with difficulty obtain information or comparative studies (operating a search engine is hard enough for beginners), secondly the poor verifiability of the mostly "magnificent" advertising information, thirdly the fact that different terms and offer structures are used for the same services, and fourthly the internal decision-making structure at the client company, where everyone believes he is a web specialist and wants to co-decide, although perhaps he has no clue.

Above all stands the main problem that nobody can define the "value" of a website. There is immediate protest here from the ranks of the well-paid professionals, but let us simply take a super-expensive website stuffed with "cutting-edge" functions and interface effects. What is so expensive here leads many visitors to the laconic conclusion that everything is overloaded and restless, and that they would have preferred a simple website that is "understandable" for everyone. But from the agency's point of view that would be too cheap. Or a company spends a lot of money on a "design work" that really looks like cyberspace and makes every web designer turn pale, while all visitors flee in confusion. The decision-makers in a homepage project usually sit in management and understand nothing about design and the Internet, and that is not their job either. Thus random decisions arise that are based on too little information, and by "information" what is meant here is applicable knowledge in an overall context. The knowledge is somehow there, but the overall context is missing with regard to services, quality features, and comparison of benefits. Moreover, any consumer protection is lacking, and the result you can currently see on the web, right here around the corner.

Switzerland is a country in which the economy consists especially strongly of SME's (small and medium-sized companies with 2 to 250 employees). 99.3% of all businesses in Switzerland are small and medium-sized businesses, 300 000 businesses exist, 150 000 of them are one-man(one-woman) businesses. They are the heart of the Swiss economy. A study about usage among SMEs in Switzerland shows that around 38'000 of these companies have a website. Most restrict themselves to more or less attractive presentations (consisting of text, graphics, photos, animation) and are in the planning phase for more advanced applications (databases, multimedia, intranet connection, CRM, e-commerce). Only 3% of companies make extensive use of the possibilities of Internet technology. The e-commerce sector is clearly the most important growth area, but multimedia too (Flash, audio, video) is increasingly in demand. Compared with other European countries, the many poorly made websites of Swiss small companies are striking. In many places people simply tinker away and basic rules of advertising or design are simply ignored, the main thing being to have a homepage. Not everyone has yet understood that an Internet presence today forms an essential part of the company's image, and many prefer to cobble something together themselves instead of leaving it to the professionals. According to a survey by "Bilanz", companies with a web presence notice an average 10 percent increase in turnover after the first year. This may seem surprisingly high, but it can be read in Bilanz and includes quite a few companies that have achieved very high increases in turnover through major Internet offerings. For most other companies the result shows up in increased company presence, better customer information, broadening of target groups and improvement of the general image through a modern and customer-oriented communication policy. This alone proves the importance of those people and companies that design Swiss Internet presences.

There are now around 200 web design agencies in Switzerland, around 10 of them with a certain degree of name recognition. The larger ones have typically been active for 4 years, expanding strongly, and the majority are already operating either as an AG or still as a GmbH. Geographically there is
a concentration in the Basel-Bern area and in the Zürich-Winterthur area, but also in the St. Gallen and Aarau area. The smaller agencies have around 10 employees, the larger category around 40-60. In addition, people often work with partner firms, freelancers and subcontractors, for example on assignments for programming, CGI, Java, database solutions, e-commerce, graphics, CD-ROM, photography, video and other demanding work, so that in fact hardly ever does "everything" come from the company itself. While the leading heads (usually 2) keep their place, the employed or freelance web designers constantly change and after half a year move on to another agency or become self-employed, often with two designers resigning at the same time and building a new agency together. Almost all professional web designers have already worked at several companies, and most typically pursue hobbies such as making music, traveling and sports such as surfing, snowboarding or extreme sports. The business steering of larger agencies is often carried out in the background by well-known art directors from traditional advertising agencies who are somehow connected with the web design agency and cleverly and profitably expand contact networks, which explains certain duplicate references. Some of the large Internet providers are also active in the web design business and have their own (usually very expensive) web factories, for example Internet Access, The Blue Window or Goldnet - but this excursus is primarily about agencies that mainly offer web presences and related services.

Some agencies are overloaded and struggling with delays of several months and almost all are looking for new employees (partly via homepage and employment agencies), primarily in the fields of web engineering / programming, database development, but also web designers, project managers and marketing planners in order to handle ongoing projects.

The agencies' own presences show that with growing success their self-presentation becomes ever more neutral and among market leaders even expresses itself in an extreme understatement (minimal design) of their own homepage, which of course then again counts as progressive and stylish, true to the motto "those who have as much to show as we do simply show little". On the other hand, such a style gives the agency an industry-neutral outward appearance and avoids customer rivalries or stylistic mistakes. Hand-drawn elements (illustrations) are in fashion and are found as "non-tech" design elements especially among successful companies. Atmospherically effective "business photos" are also being used more and more often, while others in turn rely on striking layouts and postmodern "cyber design", or simply on a few good advertising slogans. Less successful competitors accordingly present themselves in their own presence in a more elaborate, more technical way, and put on lots of cyber fireworks. To try to read a secret recipe from this would be nonsensical, since as we know it is only the combination of demonstrable references and project-related abilities of the company that works as a sales argument, but not necessarily the CI conveyed by the homepage (even if this is responsible for the first impression). It is noticeable that successful companies usually refrain from childish gimmicks and that the texts are very pragmatic, while the famous Internet "hype" is deliberately avoided verbally in order to convey a serious basis of trust to clients.

This is also a recipe for success for larger assignments, together with the realization that one must have a number of typically Swiss companies and brands in the reference list. In textual terms the advertising arguments of the companies are very similar, telling in a promising and boastful way about low-cost permanent advertising, about e-commerce, and about the new communication age as an opportunity for Swiss companies suffering from recession, and finally also pointing to the competition, which is already much further ahead with its Internet presence.

Around 90% of agency homepages are exclusively in German, some additionally in French or English. Around 80% of the homepages are designed with frames, while depending on the agency a large part of the reference sites was created without frames. It should be noted here that in Switzerland noticeably more work is done with frames than in the USA, something which is known to have advantages and disadvantages. Regarding compatibility with different screen sizes, it must be said that quite a number of agency homepages were visibly developed for 1024x768 resolutions and in some cases do not even run correctly on 800x600 pixels, not to mention 640x480. According to a current study by StatMarket, 55% of users surf with 800x600, 23% with 1024x768 and 14% with 640x480, with most people who have a "modern" PC or one bought in the last year surfing at the higher resolution. Most of the large agencies take this point into account, but not all.

With the customer and work references shown, things are consistently "pretended", which means for example that a major bank is listed, but on closer inspection (or by personal inquiry) it turns out that not the homepage was made, but merely partial work in the intranet or in training. Every company tries to get the most coveted references somehow onto its own list, which is quite quickly possible once one realizes that, for example, a major bank constantly makes use of hundreds of different service providers at the same time. In actual large projects, up to three agencies are often active in adelimited work areas. It is striking that among the references of successful agencies one finds exclusively domestic companies and brands, whereas foreign colleagues certainly also take on and realize international projects.

Work for foreign companies based in Switzerland is rarely shown. Thus on the part of Swiss web design agencies the Internet is not used as a cross-border platform for contract work and once again people only tend their own garden. In this it becomes clear that even in the area of global networking our cultural peculiarities assert themselves.

Prices are either given only on request (via online form or e-mail), or example packages or an hourly rate are stated (average Fr. 150.- per hour). Usually 30% down payments are worked with. For the preliminary concept (proposal), usually two alternative suggestions are created and illustrated with screenshots or even put directly on the web for viewing, and in some cases they are even billed separately (e.g. Fr. 3'000.- to one customer who rejected the suggestion but nevertheless had to pay for the proposal). Often, when the order is awarded successfully, the proposal costs are deducted again from the total costs.

Note: With the following price examples, one should not forget that the larger agencies also realize very extensive projects (up to hundreds of pages with integrated solutions). Only in direct price comparison with such large projects would the real price levels become visible. Such information is generally not available and is not disclosed even upon simple inquiries. We therefore limit ourselves to cost examples for a completely normal first presence for a small to medium-sized company, from concept to launch.

Average price for a homepage of around 5 web pages
with photos (supplied), text (supplied), layout (self-created), online form and domain installation:

                   
approx.  Fr. 5´500.-

According to the test by the well-known newspaper "Online PC" at the beginning of 1999 among 170 Swiss web design agencies (for a 5-page homepage for a restaurant with a few small extra services), the bulk of the proposals lay between Fr. 4´000.- and Fr. 7´000.-.In the upper price segment, prices of around Fr. 8´000.- to even 11´000.- are certainly charged for small HP´s (5 to 10 pages), with a peak at Fr. 19´800.-.

E-commerce solutions are available at Fr. 14´000..- unless they are configured by the company itself or obtained through one of the new low-cost providers. Database solutions are typically sold from Fr. 20´000.- to 50´000.-.

In addition, as everywhere, there are extreme cases, such as a homepage where the front graphic alone cost 50K, or a multimedia production of just a few minutes for 300K (concrete examples). Some people simply afford themselves this luxury, probably just because they did not look at the competition. At the same time there are young Internet enthusiasts who do such projects for free, and in some cases even well, though there is no reliability here. A graphically overwhelming homepage by a young hobby designer still says nothing about his ability to implement external industries, themes and contents as well.

"Webdesign" is a service but all too often degenerates into an ego trip. The level of self-infatuation is quickly reached (on the web in general), and it is a long road to real quality and customer satisfaction if one wants to work long-term as a professional developer. That requires experience, visual and linguistic culture, versatility, networked thinking, economic understanding, self-discipline, good English, organizational skills, communicative skills and a high degree of general education. The necessary polish only comes with a certain age, because it takes a "broad horizon" to keep dealing with new topics and industries and to be able to present them correctly. The "fun factor" of homepages, often sought by younger web designers, used to be more important than it is today, because the Internet's user profile has shifted more and more from young students to established (and critical) business people, and even our grandparents are surfing now. That is why web design should increasingly offer more "aha effects" than "wow effects", or ideally even both, and at the same time be able to offer something to all age groups. What is wanted is a balanced mix of information, design, of content worth seeing and worth reading, and then the whole thing preferably bilingual because most international visitors understand only English.

Many companies succumb here to a widespread error and rely on the graphic-visual self-presentation of a designer or agency, while their own industry may have to be presented quite differently from the relatively grateful world of the Internet. Because the Internet theme looks interesting anyway. The assessment should rather be made on the basis of the completed assignments, because only there can one see how foreign and perhaps difficult topics were implemented. To find the right address and tone for the target groups of one's own company and sector, communicative talents with good powers of comprehension are needed, not Photoshop cracks. Graphic abilities are certainly important, but the communicative concept and the understanding of the project are decisive for the success of a website. Success is determined by the website visitors, not by applause from the ranks of the client company at project acceptance. With growing experience one first designs for oneself, then for the client companies, and finally for the target groups. This process lasts at least several years and is a valuable aspect for a client company when choosing a web designer. When choosing an agency one should also always ask which people in the background are doing the actual work, and whether there is an age difference of more than twenty years between agency managers and designers, as is often the case because of low personnel costs. Many company homepages are therefore produced by young people who have not yet worked a single minute of their lives outside a studio in a real company (in other words in the economy) and who otherwise do not look much beyond their cyber horizon. Thus arise the "distorted images" and company homepages familiar to us all, which should actually represent a serious company, but come across like a mixture of clipart and Nintendo.

Other companies in turn make their website themselves and have internal departments in which enough expertise is available (or often only apparently so, which then shows in the results). And finally there are the cases known to us all of expensively produced, "professionally" created presences that are nonetheless rejected by the public and made in completely tasteless fashion, whereby neither the target audience nor the client benefits but exclusively the agency. So it is the same as in advertising, where sometimes million budgets have been squandered on a campaign that remained unsuccessful and was even counterproductive. Corresponding examples are found in abundance in the relevant specialist literature in the field of branding and advertising. So in principle one is dealing with "creatives" and that is always a risk and requires subjective decisions on the part of the companies, especially since one's own web project is hard to assess by already existing presences and every presence represents an individual solution. Then there are also presences that are simply superfluous (there are businesses that really do not need a homepage), and that cover neither an information need nor fulfill any other meaningful task. In the end such works are looked at only by management, but have no audience at all and merely fulfill a misappropriated prestige function. On such projects too, web agencies are of course happy to work, as long as the cash register rings and the client enjoys it.

After completion of a web project, the customer usually has no influence of his own on his homepage (except where this has been specially arranged and technically solved) and must submit a new assignment to the agency for every desired change, which then usually receives no high priority and leads to long waiting times. In addition, the agency's logo is placed more or less prominently on the client homepage and sometimes the entire HP is even placed under the agency's own copyright, thereby securing the preservation of the reference and preventing client-side tinkering. Many clients opt after about 1.5 years for a complete or partial redesign (a "completely different" presence), whereby usually another agency gets the job. Thus the market expands in all directions and new applicants too get their chance.

Some agencies show explosive expansion rates with an annual quadrupling of turnover and staff. Leading web agencies expand internationally as soon as possible, i.e. they typically set up branches in Germany (Frankfurt, Berlin, Munich and Hamburg), in England (London) or in the USA (New York and Los Angeles). In this way they can offer clients better networking, as is also offered by traditional advertising agencies in the context of the increasing globalization of marketing campaigns.

After the recent Swiss market entries of "super agencies" such as the American USWeb/CKS and the IAB Internet Advertising Bureau, the globally active Real Media (realmedia.com) as well as the leading German new media agency Pixelpark, the atmosphere among Swiss industry leaders is tense. The large corporation Bertelsmann too is playing a growing role in Switzerland, and this in a wide variety of areas from Internet book retailing to online television. It is expected that part of the Swiss large web projects will be taken over by internationally active agencies operating strategically and skillfully. More and more projects can only be handled by an expert squad of over 20 employees, and the times demanded for realizing a large project are constantly shrinking.

Whether the world-famous "Swiss Quality" (which is good but often slow) can also fight its way to a market position in the web sector? With the Internet, gifted by the USA and already much better established in Germany, will we soon also get their development companies, which will penetrate the local market quickly and cleverly? Hardly anyone is still interested in the fact that the World Wide Web was invented precisely in Switzerland, namely in 1989 at CERN in Geneva. What began as an idealistic vision of a worldwide, open network is today hard-nosed business. And as soon as lucrative business is involved, there is always worldwide competition for it. Local web agencies too are slowly realizing that the Internet has no borders and that the competition on other continents has a growing interest in Swiss client companies that are willing to invest, and are themselves expanding internationally. A race against time, because we are quality-conscious and careful, but the Americans for example present themselves quite differently: They are faster, more willing to take risks and more uncomplicated, as can be observed in the lightning-fast assembling of ad hoc teams that are recruited by an agency and flown somewhere to quickly produce a few thousand web pages and then move on to other projects. The cooperation with new people, so important for every large project, works faster and more smoothly for them, because all the IT workers there learned that long ago. Perhaps they also simply have the cultural advantage that they can turn everything into a game or a show, and do not see the whole thing so grimly. Thus they see fewer problems than solutions, and at the same time do the best business. This corresponds to the fast-paced dynamics of the Internet, whereas the cautious Swiss character rather has difficulty adjusting overnight to a completely new situation or implementing new trends with the necessary open-mindedness. Or in other words, "we start with the meetings while they start with the project!"

Our advantage therefore clearly lies in quality, yet precisely there, as already mentioned, there are strikingly many badly made examples in the Swiss web. The genuine professionals are therefore increasingly in demand here, and also so that the clientele will finally see the differences. Much public relations work will still be necessary, because the image of "web designers" is miserable, indifferent or downright superhuman depending on the level of knowledge, and both industry and the population should finally be given a correct picture. There would be strong interest in this, because actually everyone wants to see once "what kind of people they are who make the web". As a rule they are neither graphic designers nor advertisers nor even Internet freaks, but mostly career changers with an interesting CV. One approach to this was the Rundschau production by SRF1 (with a portrait about me), which showed little for insiders but was nevertheless able to provide some insights. Or for example this overview, which will certainly lead to similar work.

As with all phenomena and inventions that grow too quickly and are additionally pushed by profit thinking, there is an urgent need for catching up with the Internet regarding the questions "what is sensible" and "who can really handle it". While many client companies are still delighted with their first homepage and are already satisfied with a rotating globe, other companies are already benefiting substantially from the Internet and are incorporating the possibilities (B2B, B2C) into their business model. Seminars and consulting are being offered everywhere, and the pressure on late starters grows with every month. The result is: Everyone is "on" the Internet, but only a few are a part of it.

At the same time, further mergers and takeovers between Swiss web agencies are expected in the new year, as well as some acquisitions by foreign agencies and media companies. Various efforts to form industry associations (also a kind of protection against the outside) are currently underway, but due to the high dynamism of the market and the heated competitive situation they are only getting off the ground slowly. After the turn of the millennium, the topic of Internet development has received an additional boost, because many traditional IT applications are gradually being outsourced onto the web (keyword distributed networking), and as is known the specialists are lacking or are still occupied in "Y2K" projects. On the occasion of these firefighting exercises, many companies at the same time commissioned complete reprogramming or expansion of their systems, which means that the staffing bottlenecks in the IT sector are now smaller, but still far from solved.

General confidence in the necessity and reliability of computers and Internet solutions has risen again, and the actual web boom in Switzerland is expected in spring 2000. New technologies such as WAP, mobile computing and web TV are ensuring growing acceptance and demand among clients. In the field of web development there is more than enough business. So anyone who wants to become a web worker should start tomorrow: According to a recent survey by FACTS, the profession of Mediamatiker, from web designer to multimedia producer, has the greatest attractiveness and financial development perspective of all (!) existing professions. Whether clients then get real value for their money is another matter, and as is known there soon will not be any leaves anymore but millions upon millions of homepages. The wild growth of the Internet is not being curbed and channeled, but simply declared to be big business. Along the data highway construction is taking place like mad and everyone is trying to stake out his claim as quickly as possible. The result is a scenery like driving through the brightly illuminated streets of Las Vegas: On every corner a different game is being played, and every building needs its own neon sign.

Under these conditions, web design in Switzerland is forming into an interesting growth market between IT, advertising and telecommunications, one that is generating many new jobs and professional profiles. The possibilities for self-employment and company formation in this sector are intact and promising, though flops are also constantly being produced and in many cases disappointed clients jump from agency to agency. It will take several years until uniform general conditions and functioning competitive mechanisms have formed, while the market continues to grow explosively.

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[ NOTE: Here I had an extensive listing of the 100 most important web design agencies in Switzerland, beginning with the big players. Including their main clients and price levels. This listing soon became outdated, because many web agencies went under or newly started... ]

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Feedback on the article "Swiss Webdesign Business" by Greg Lemmenmeier (www.greg.ch)

Hi Greg
I think your ''Swiss Webdesign Business'' contribution is great...
- Jürg Keller, Core Technology AG, www.core.ch

The Swiss Webdesign Business article is really superb - informative and up to date.
— Monika Zöchling, Altdorf

First of all, a big compliment on the site "Swiss Webdesign Business" - your work is worth gold (and yet can be obtained so simply and entirely free over the web - brilliant!).
— Cyrill Locher, Marmotta Multimedia AG, Schiers

First of all, congratulations on your report, it is really very interesting and comprehensive. Our competition too is presented very comprehensively.
— Jürg Unterweger, RTK Online Services AG

Your article about web design companies in Switzerland is excellent. You make the search for a suitable partner enormously easier. Many heartfelt thanks for that.
— Alexander Bischof, swissinvest.com ag

A very interesting study that you are publishing here. Almost even an instruction manual for those who want to enter this market.
— Peter Waldburger, upcom ag

I would like to warmly congratulate you on your excellent article in Webanzeiger. One of the best things I have read about the sector.
— Fredi Schneider, ACADIA AG Medien & Kommunikation

This is how our attention was drawn to your market study: Congratulations, it is fantastic and does all the work for us in the web design area.
— Markus Schaer, Editorial Office CASH / Ringier www.cash.ch

We read your analysis of "Swiss Web Design" with great interest and learned quite a bit about the competition in the process!
— Martin Bauer, DIGIVISION AG

Your SWB page is a great thing!!
— Marco Zaugg, unik. Neue Medien GmbH

this is great, your overview of the Swiss scene...
— Marky Goldstein, CEO, www.rosa.com

From time to time I take another look at your overview of the Internet agencies in Switzerland. The introduction in particular is extremely interesting and always points out new trends.
— Bernhard Wyss, CIMP Group GmbH

I was pleased to see that you have continued to expand your Swiss Web Design Business. I was asked by a trade journal for an article on the Swiss Internet agency scene, to appear for IEx 2000. Would you be interested in helping me create the article (with mention as co-author, of course)?
Best regards
— Gian-Franco Salvato, aseantic media AG, www.aseantic.ch

I read your study with great interest! The list of Swiss web agencies will be very useful to us in the future and save us a lot of time.
— Stephan Handschin, UNIC Internet Consulting GmbH, www.unic.ch

I liked your SWB overview very much. I also took the liberty of citing the address in my latest book (Internet -- also for my company?)
— David Rosenthal, lic. iur., www.insider.ch

I, a young student (22, computer science), happened upon your website about the Swiss web design market (www.greg.ch/swb) and found what I had been looking for for a long time: A first usable directory and an analysis that was interesting to read and beyond that came across as cool and fun.
— Dominik Vogel

The compilation of web design companies is also a great thing. Something like this has long been missing.
— Andreas Neuenschwander / [www.andi.ch](http://www.andi.ch)

First of all, congratulations on your SWB preparation. You hit the nail on the head :)
— Tommaso Porzio, Visioprint Services

In order to be able to replicate this study in Switzerland too, I would be grateful to you for a short interview at off-peak times.
— Daniel Michlig, University of Bern, Institute for Business Informatics, www.unibe.ch

We read your compilation "Swiss Webdesign Business" with great interest. Compliments on the comprehensive and up-to-date compilation!
— Bruno Rambaldi, Futurecom Interactive AG, Zürich, www.futurecom.ch

While working on a market study of my own, I came across your work, on which I would like to warmly congratulate you.
— David Meili

Not bad, your article. Good that someone is sorting out the turnips there. In my opinion many Swiss web designers are very print-heavy and self-glorifying (instead of self-confident). Take a look at us: www.wedoso.com
Your opinion interests us.
— Zeno Davatz

warmest congratulations
from our point of view your SWB page is really successful and one of the best overviews in the Swiss web jungle...
— roman bottlang, DACHCOM digital ag

I discovered your study and immediately placed a link on my HP. Although we belong "only" to the guild of hobby designers, this study has shown me many interesting aspects that we can and will (hopefully) also apply.
— H-J. Lenzi, www.lenzi.com

For an article about Swiss Internet agencies I am collecting background material and figures.
In the process I came across your article SWISS WEBDESIGN BUSINESS.
Compliments! A really interesting compilation.
— Michael Genova

Through a note from one of our long-standing customers we came across your study on web design agencies in Switzerland. We read it with great interest and judge it to be very competent (our managing director, Mr. Juan Meier, asked us to pass on a compliment to you).
— Annelies Kilchenmann, Marketing, MacGuffin, Zürich

I read your report: Swiss Web Design Business - an overview with interest.
I work at EB Wolfbach, a cantonal further education institution, in the field of web publishing. At the same time I am a member of the examination commission for Web Publisher SIZ. I am interested in the printed version of your essay.
How can I obtain it, what does the brochure cost?
— Andreas Hediger, www.eb-wolfbach.ch

Warm congratulations on your outstanding article. You really know the Swiss market very well and have outlined it aptly.
— Gian-Franco Salvato, Managing Director, aseantic media ag, Basel

We would be extraordinarily pleased if we too could be included in your directory Swiss Webdesign Business.
— Christa Nussbaumer, Kreativ Team Trichtisal

Greg Lemmenmeier has published an extensive compilation of web designers under "Swiss Webdesign Business". Apparently one can also request this list from you by e-mail.
We conduct WebPublisher SIZ and WebMaster SIZ examinations throughout Switzerland and would very much like to write to these companies in order to recruit experts for the oral examinations.
— Brigitte Steffen, Cooperative Swiss Informatics Certificate SIZ www.siz.ch

just stumbled across your homepage, nice infos you got! the compilation of web design companies is really quite something... just wanted to ask briefly how one gets into your database of web designers, because we are still missing ;O)
— Thierry Pulver, Dreamlab Inc., Bern

I have just read through your page. It contains interesting figures.
Take a look at our page and judge whether we deserve to be listed as well.
— Felix Kuhn, Transmission IS

Just read the article about the Swiss Web Design Business - interesting!
— Lisa Jans-Ladner, Editorial Office Swissonline www.sol.ch

Warm congratulations!!! I read with great interest the study on Swiss web agencies that you authored. I would very much like to learn more about your study. Did you conduct it independently, is there a follow-up study, are the details about the agencies on your page periodically updated, what was the media reaction to the study...
I am of the opinion that exactly such studies are needed today, partly to draw attention to the medium Internet, and partly also to provide clarification among clients.
— Reto Baumgartner, Managing Director, MySign GmbH, Aarau