Relocating a business is almost as stressful as moving house, almost. For us it was both, relocating house meant relocating the business too. Over the years w24 has taken on customers from all over the UK as well as a few in Europe, these days of course it’s not an issue. We get enquiries on a weekly basis from all over the UK, location means less and less. We buy our day to day business goods from a company in Leicester; we buy “things” on eBay from all over the UK; our dedicated servers are co-located in Maidenhead; so why should moving affect our business. Well I’m glad to say it doesn’t. But it still confuses me when many companies only look locally for a web designer, but when it comes to hosting they consider every element EXCEPT the location of the company supplying the hosting. We know there are other web designers in the area but it’s just not the type of business that competes locally. In fact we’ve discovered that there is a web designer, running his business from home, on the same street to where I live, which itself is less than 100 metres from the office.

So, as a client, when you visit our website, is our address important? Does it make a difference if we live in Glasgow, Edinburgh, London, New York, or a little village in the deepest darkest corner of the Scottish Borders? Something to consider; your trendy state of the art agency in the heart of (insert name of city here) will have nice hefty overheads, nice shiny offices to show off, with all their latest toys. It surprises me when all the trendy up and coming agencies have nice trendy big offices in which to “lure” their clients. I’ve got a massive 2000 square foot of space, I pay pennies for it and rates are amongst the cheapest in the UK, there’s a desk a chair and a couple of computers, printer, scanner, a kettle, and the usual bits a pieces. I’m not expecting clients to pop in for coffee, but they are always welcome (if they can find me). An equivalent bit of office space in Glasgow, Edinburgh or London would cost 10 times as much.

Does the location change my skills, am I better or worse web designer/developer? No, of course not. So what does this mean for my clients? The same high quality, highly personal service that they always receive with prices that won’t break the bank because I have a reasonable hourly rate and I don’t have to cost in all those shiny new office toys and premises. It’s just one of those businesses you can do anywhere; like being a writer, journalist, consultant, architect. The work and quality of work is entirely down to the individual, or individuals that make up a company, and NOT the location. So consider that carefully when choosing your next project!