As a business owner, one challenge is separating myself from my competitors. As the internet industry changes, so do the items that people use to make their determination.There are a large number of web design companies in New Jersey. Hundreds at the very least. The companies range from tiny operations like my own to huge companies that aren't actually located in New Jersey, but have the budgets to create the appearance that they are.

With all these options how can someone looking for a designer find the right one?

I suppose the same goes for trying to select anything these days - we're overwhelmed with options. Fortunately with the web, people are able to browse and educate themselves. They can look through every web design company and make their own decision.

The reason I bring this up: I'm waaay down in the southern end of New Jersey. The very bottom. Most of New Jersey doesn't even acknowledge the county I live in, which is Cape May County by the way. 99.9% of my clients are here in the same county, usually just a few minutes up the road in any given direction. Oddly though, I suddenly started getting inquires from people a good hundred miles north of here. What the heck?!? Where are these people finding me?

I discovered that my little website has found its way to the first page on google under the search "New Jersey Web Design". Needless to say I was thrilled. It was never my intention to try and compete state-wide. I like having my little corner of the state. Its quiet here. Less populated. Slower pace. You get the idea.

Almost everyone who contacted me said the same thing: "Your sites look much nicer than most of the other companies". I very humbly thank them for the compliment. It's great that people appreciate the visual quality of my work. It's great that its a reason some people choose me. To tell the truth, it's not the main reason I would want someone to choose me.

Why would I want them to choose me?

Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of my designs. I pour a great deal of time and effort into each one. I try to make each one unique. I believe that each one is better than the last, but not always because of visual appeal. Visual appeal is subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Choose your own worn out phrase to say the same thing.

Though people respond very well to my design talents, I feel my greatest strength is is under the hood of the website. The part people cannot see. The part they don't investigate or judge when going through website design companies.Look at the urls of websites I've made in the last 2 years (View my portfolio). They're clean and search engine friendly. No gobbledy-gook web addresses like "mypage.php?this=something&session=1234hthds".

Search engines have a hard time reading that crap. You certainly couldn't give someone that web address over the phone!

Back on my own sites, look at the use of headings that are real text instead of graphics. Try changing your text size and see how my layouts completely adapt. Try printing a page and see how even the printed version looks nice and doesn't include the annoying things that should not be printed, like the classic extra page of footer links etc.

A goal of mine this year is to use the hidden features to further separate myself. Until now I touted myself as the only web standards-compliant developer from here to Philadelphia (70 square miles) but I have seen a couple others pop up that are using XHTML/CSS for their pages. Forget using that as a separation point looking forward. Following the rules shouldn't be a way to separate yourself, but down here it was that way for some time.

The extra effort put in though print display, page flexibility, clean coding, natural seo "out of the box". These are now the things that separate me from most. That and service. I truly believe in the old world business practices of the handshake being equal to the contract, and more importantly treating others as I would want to be treated.Maybe all along that was the reason people chose me. I welcome everyone who is considering me to call upon my clients and ask them about their experience. Good service is harder to find than ever, despite the claims to the contrary.

It seems there are more stupid employees at businesses that don't care than ever before. Is this a result of our fat, lazy America? Maybe. Maybe it's just me noticing it since I own a business. Maybe it's just me getting older and less tolerant, or maybe service really has gone down the toilet.Whatever the case may be, I'm dedicated to being the business that is a joy to call, a joy to work with and hopefully as a result, a joy to refer to friends and associates.