July 2016 will mark ten years since the official launch of Purple Dog Design Ltd – Happy Birthday Purple Dog !!
I’m very pleased to have reached this milestone and would like to extend my thanks to all past, present (and future) customers of Purple Dog for your patronage. What did you get me? 🙂
A lot has happened in ten years
It’s been an interesting journey in a fast paced and ever-changing online industry. There has certainly been many developments and changes in technology, platforms, styles and trends – notably, the rise in use of “smart” and mobile devices and of course the explosive growth of social media sites. Twitter was also launched in 2006, but the predominant social network back then was MySpace, which I confess I did use, but found to be awful as it was constantly full of “chatter” and not much else. One could argue that hasn’t changed!
As Facebook grew, many commentators believed it spelt the end for websites, but now of course, we know the opposite is true as more and more business owners realise that social media represents an important, but small part of their overall online presence. Social media will never replace a great website.
What was true then, is still true now
Looking back over the last ten years, I’ve had the pleasure to work on many different projects across a range of industries – and for a variety of different customers and businesses based in New Zealand, Australia, The USA, Germany and the UK. It’s been invigorating, and sometimes quite eye-opening. I’ve discovered amazing people, ideas, products and services being run in peoples’ home offices! I’m pleased that Purple Dog has been able to participate in the growth of these SMEs. There have been many varied web projects – from the straight-forward jobs, to complex builds and some that have proved to be eye-watering (but healthy) challenges!
The years have come and gone – but what was true then, is still true now: having a great looking, professionally designed and properly functioning website is essential for every business. You want to be easily found on the web, you want to stand out from your competitors and of course, you want to generate interest in your services or products. “Branding” your own little piece of the interweb takes more than just a Facebook page or some awful $2 website from a template company.
It takes more than just a fabulous website design too! It takes thought, time and effort and continued marketing, continued efforts, desire and passion! Like most things in life, you get out what you put in and we are lucky enough to have been able to put in a lot for our clients!
Over the last decade, online marketing services have also grown exponentially – most notably Google who say they started with “350 customers” but now earn over $2bn per year. While the decline of print has not been so good for newspapers – businesses have relished finally being able to measure and “see” who’s clicked on what and when. In our corner of the world, despite not growing to such confounding revenues, we’ve been quietly involved in many successful online marketing campaigns and continue to provide a suite of online marketing services.
Size matters
While the likes of Facebook, Google and others grow into gazillion dollar businesses, Purple Dog has purposely stayed small. By “keeping things simple” and remaining nimble, personal and “localised” – I like to think we’re a bit different – we take the time to really know our customer’s business and offer personalised, “account managed” consultancy services.
I believe there is still a place for service providers such as myself that have no ambition to become corporate monoliths, who are easy to contact and who offer tailored solutions to business owners who value quality over “chatter” and results over “bluster”.
Here’s to the next ten years!
All in all, it’s been an enjoyable journey – there are of course always learning points and lessons – I’d be worried if there were not! It’s an exciting industry to be a part of and no-doubt there will be some very interesting developments in the next decade. Nonetheless, the specialist knowledge and expertise I’ve developed is available to you now – and I look forward to working with you at some point in the next ten years!
Thank you if you’re an existing Purple Dog customer, for sharing our journey! If you’ve not yet explored working with us – why not get in touch to find out how we can empower your business.
