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May 15, 2025 • 9 mins

This overview discusses web design, acknowledging its complex nature and the variety of services available, ranging from basic template use to custom coding. It notes the evolution of web design tools, highlighting the shift from code-heavy methods to accessible platforms like Wix and Squarespace, which empower individuals to create comprehensive websites. The text also addresses the business aspect, emphasizing how understanding these modern tools allows individuals to offer affordable services that can significantly undercut traditional design firms, using a personal anecdote as illustration. Finally, it touches upon Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as a related service offered by web designers and suggests educational resources for those interested in pursuing this career path.

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Episode Transcript

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SPEAKER_01 (00:00):
Welcome to the Deep Dive.
Today, we're jumping into theworld of web design.
We've got some reallyinteresting materials actually
sent in by you, our listener.
Yeah, it's a great topic.
So whether you're maybe thinkingabout setting up your own
website or trying to figure outwhat your company site actually
involves or, you know, justcurious.

SPEAKER_00 (00:20):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (00:20):
We're going to explore it.

SPEAKER_00 (00:21):
And what's interesting right from the start
is this term web design.
The sources point out it's...
Well...
It's kind of ambiguous.

SPEAKER_01 (00:31):
Ambiguous, yeah.
Not as simple as it sounds.

SPEAKER_00 (00:33):
Exactly.
It's not just one skill.
It covers a whole spectrum ofservices and approaches, really
depending on what someone needsonline.

SPEAKER_01 (00:40):
Okay, right.
So let's dig into that.
Our sources, we've got piecesfrom Web Design Business
Fundamentals and somethingcalled Web Design Acuity
Business Pass.
They really highlight this.
It could be anything from usinga ready-made template.

SPEAKER_00 (00:52):
Super basic stuff sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 (00:54):
All the way to a whole team coding a custom site
from absolute scratch.
It's a huge range.

SPEAKER_00 (00:59):
And that's the key thing.
When someone says I need webdesign, what they actually need
could be wildly different.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05):
Like one person just wants a simple page, maybe
contact info.

SPEAKER_00 (01:08):
Yeah, exactly.
Or a business might need afull-blown online store, payment
processing, the works.
The term means different things.

SPEAKER_01 (01:19):
It reminds me of saying I need car repair.
Could be an oil change.
Could be a new engine.

SPEAKER_00 (01:23):
That's a good analogy, actually.

SPEAKER_01 (01:25):
So to get a handle on where we are now, it probably
helps to look back a bit.
Like, how did this all start,say, 30 years ago?
Things were pretty different, Igather.

SPEAKER_00 (01:34):
Oh, absolutely.
Worlds apart.
In the early days, building awebsite almost always meant
coding.
You had to get your hands dirty.

SPEAKER_01 (01:40):
With things like?

SPEAKER_00 (01:41):
HTML.

SPEAKER_01 (01:42):
HTML for the basic structure, yeah.
Then you had CSS for thestyling, the look and feel, and
other languages, too, for morecomplex stuff.
Java, PHP, SQL for databases.
It was much more technical.

SPEAKER_00 (01:54):
Okay, so definitely needed specialist knowledge back
then.

SPEAKER_01 (01:56):
For sure.
But then things started toshift.
We saw the rise of YSYWigieditors.

SPEAKER_00 (02:01):
YYSYWigi.

SPEAKER_01 (02:02):
What you see Ah! Our

SPEAKER_00 (02:04):
sources mentioned tools like Microsoft Front Page,
Adobe Dreamweaver.
These were early examples.

SPEAKER_01 (02:10):
So these let you design visually without seeing
all the code underneath.

SPEAKER_00 (02:14):
Pretty much.
You could arrange things on thescreen and the software would
generate the code.
It made things more accessible,visually driven.

SPEAKER_01 (02:20):
That sounds like a big step.
But were there downsides?
Like, was the code any good?

SPEAKER_00 (02:25):
That's a great point.
Often the code generated bythese early WIS IYG tools wasn't
as clean or efficient ashandwritten code.
Right.
And you still needed someunderstanding of web principles
to use them well.
But yeah, it was a huge step.
It started opening things upbeyond just the hardcore coders.

SPEAKER_01 (02:43):
Okay.
So fast forward to today.
Now we have what the sourcescall turnkey codeless services.

SPEAKER_00 (02:50):
Exactly.
Think about platforms like Wix,GoDaddy, Squarespace, even
Canvas.
Right.

SPEAKER_01 (02:56):
I've seen ads for those everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 (02:59):
So that's

SPEAKER_01 (03:07):
really changed things for, say, small
businesses or individuals.

SPEAKER_00 (03:10):
Completely changed the game.
Getting online is much fasternow and often way cheaper.

SPEAKER_01 (03:15):
And they do more than just build the site, don't
they?

SPEAKER_00 (03:17):
Yeah, that's a key point in the sources.
Many of them bundle in otherfeatures, things like processing
online orders, handling creditcard payments, even managing
inventory.

SPEAKER_01 (03:27):
Wow, okay.
Yeah.
Which actually leads usperfectly into this case study
from the sources.
This was pretty eye-opening.

SPEAKER_00 (03:34):
It really was.
It involved an organization thathired a large design firm.

SPEAKER_01 (03:38):
And the cost.
Get this,$73,000.
Just to create the website.

SPEAKER_00 (03:44):
$73,000.
And that wasn't all.

SPEAKER_01 (03:46):
Oh.
Plus, another$35,000 every yearjust for hosting.

SPEAKER_00 (03:51):
$35,000 a year for hosting.
Now, what kind of site was this?
Super complex.

SPEAKER_01 (03:55):
You'd think so, right?
Yeah.
But no.
The source says it was basicallya simple landing page.
Just links out to otherthird-party sites.

SPEAKER_00 (04:02):
Not an e-commerce giant or anything?

SPEAKER_01 (04:03):
Not at all.
So their contract ends andsomeone else steps in.
An individual.

SPEAKER_00 (04:07):
Right.
And they recreated the websiteusing Wix.

SPEAKER_01 (04:11):
Using Wix and the cost this time.

SPEAKER_00 (04:13):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (04:13):
$2,200 for the build.

SPEAKER_00 (04:15):
$2,200 compared to $73,000.
And

SPEAKER_01 (04:19):
the hosting,$600 a year, down from$35,000.

SPEAKER_00 (04:23):
That's quite a difference.

SPEAKER_01 (04:24):
And here's the real kicker.
The source says the new Wix siteactually had better features.
It was improved.

SPEAKER_00 (04:31):
Improved for a tiny fraction of the cost.
But wait, there's more.
Oh.
The source dug into the hosting.
Turns out both the expensivefirm and Wix were using the same
underlying infrastructure.

SPEAKER_01 (04:43):
You're kidding.

SPEAKER_00 (04:44):
Nope.
Something powerful like AmazonWeb Services, AWS, probably with
NetApp involved too.
Same backbone.

SPEAKER_01 (04:51):
Wow.
Okay.
So the same hosting tech.
Vastly different price tags.

SPEAKER_00 (04:56):
It really makes you wonder, doesn't it?
About value, transparency.
Are clients sometimes payinghugely inflated prices based on
maybe an old idea of how hardweb design is?

SPEAKER_01 (05:05):
Especially for simpler sites, yeah.
It definitely suggests, well,potential for being taken
advantage of, perhaps.

SPEAKER_00 (05:10):
It's a stark contrast, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
Okay, so it's gotten way easier to build a site.
Once you have it, people need tofind it, right?
Which brings us to SEO.

SPEAKER_00 (05:19):
Ah, yes.
Search engine optimization.
Crucial stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (05:23):
Can you break down what that really means and why
it matters so much?

SPEAKER_00 (05:27):
Sure.
SEO is basically about trying toget your website to show up high
in the search results, like onGoogle, when people search for
things related to your site.

SPEAKER_01 (05:36):
Ideally on the first page.

SPEAKER_00 (05:37):
That's the goal.
But the challenge, as thesources highlight, is that it's
incredibly competitive,especially for broad terms.
Imagine trying to rank numberone for just shoes.

SPEAKER_01 (05:47):
Yeah, impossible probably.
You search for something generallike that, what do you see
first?

SPEAKER_00 (05:52):
Ads.
Lots of ads.
Often the whole first page ormost of it is paid advertising.

SPEAKER_01 (05:58):
Totally.
I remember trying to find like aspecific kind of running shoe
once.

SPEAKER_00 (06:02):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (06:02):
Yeah.
Scrolls and scrolls of adsfirst.

SPEAKER_00 (06:04):
Exactly.
Even if you get more specificlike shoes near me or maybe
little girl tap shoes near me,you'll get more relevant organic
results further down.
But the top spots.
still often ads.

SPEAKER_01 (06:16):
So even if platforms like Wix have SEO tools built
in.

SPEAKER_00 (06:19):
Which they do, and they can help with the basics.

SPEAKER_01 (06:21):
It doesn't guarantee you'll beat the paid ads for
visibility.

SPEAKER_00 (06:24):
Not necessarily, especially in crowded markets.
Paid ads often get preferentialplacement.
So foundational SEO isimportant, yes.
But getting real tractionorganically can still require
specialized skills or an adbudget.

SPEAKER_01 (06:38):
Which is why web designers still offer SEO
services, even with all theseDIY platforms.

SPEAKER_00 (06:43):
Precisely.
It's a whole separate ongoingchallenge beyond just building
the site itself.

SPEAKER_01 (06:48):
Okay.
This is fascinating.
So if someone listening isthinking, okay, I'm interested.
I want to learn more about thisstuff.
What's the path?
How do you get into web designor just understand it better?

SPEAKER_00 (06:59):
Well, the sources have some good advice.
One obvious route is hands-onexperience, maybe working for a
web design company, if possible.

SPEAKER_01 (07:07):
Learning on the job?

SPEAKER_00 (07:08):
Yeah.
But even outside of that, thekey thing is continuous
learning.
This field changes so fast.

SPEAKER_01 (07:13):
True.
Tech always does.

SPEAKER_00 (07:15):
And here's a really practical tip from the
materials.
Check your local library.
The library,

SPEAKER_01 (07:20):
really?

SPEAKER_00 (07:20):
Yeah.
Many libraries offer free accessto online learning platforms.
LinkedIn Learning is a big onethey mention.

SPEAKER_01 (07:26):
Oh, OK.
I've heard of that.

SPEAKER_00 (07:28):
It has tons courses on, well, everything web
related.
WordPress, Wix, CSS coding,using Canva for design, open
source tools, even AI in designnow.

SPEAKER_01 (07:39):
Wow.
So potentially a huge resourceright there for free.

SPEAKER_00 (07:42):
Absolutely.
And what's kind of amazing,according to our sources, is
that if you really committed andwent through a bunch of these
courses,

SPEAKER_01 (07:49):
you

SPEAKER_00 (07:49):
could actually end up knowing more than maybe a
surprising number of peoplecurrently working as web
designers.

SPEAKER_01 (07:55):
Seriously?

SPEAKER_00 (07:56):
Yeah.
These courses cover theplatforms, design basics, user
experience, maybe even somemarketing concepts.
It shows how much learning hasbeen democratized.

SPEAKER_01 (08:05):
Incredible.
Okay, so let's sort of wrap upthis deep dive.

SPEAKER_00 (08:08):
Sounds good.

SPEAKER_01 (08:09):
We've seen how web design started out super
technical, needing code.

SPEAKER_00 (08:13):
And how it's evolved massively with these
user-friendly platforms like Wixand Squarespace making it
accessible.

SPEAKER_01 (08:19):
We talked about that case study, the huge cost
difference.
That was pretty shocking.

SPEAKER_00 (08:22):
Definitely a standout point.
Using the same hosting techunderneath it all.

SPEAKER_01 (08:26):
Right, and we touched on SEO, how vital it is,
but also the challenge ofcompeting with paid ads.

SPEAKER_00 (08:32):
And finally, how accessible learning resources
are now, like through yourlibrary.

SPEAKER_01 (08:36):
It's been really insightful.
Lots of surprising turns.

SPEAKER_00 (08:40):
It's a dynamic field, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_01 (08:42):
Which leaves us, and you, with a final thought to
chew on.
Given how easy tools have madebuilding a website, yet
considering all the complexitieswe've talked about, like
strategy, SEO, value, what doesit really mean to be a web
design expert today?
Something to think about.
Thanks for diving deep with us.
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