Who has 100 million competitors?

I recently stumbled upon an entry from respectable blog 3by9 which dealt with the overcrowded webdesign market and the necessity for webdesigners to make a difference and stand apart from the pack. The article advises to create niche-focused products and start to get known in this particular niche. I happened to leave a comment on this post :

However, I don’t fully agree with the point of this post. Here are my 2 cents: most webdesigners won’t find their clients online; to my view, traditionnal “real-world” networking is still the best way to get new clients and believe me, to non-techie eyes, little difference is made out of a portfolio and HUMAN attitude is much more important; so unless you’re absolutely willing to grab the job of redesigning the website of a high-tech web 2.0 superstar startup, there is less need to separate ourselves from the pack. The separation is already a fact due to our respective (and unique) HUMAN networks. I’m often surprised by the number of people I know who design websites and get paid for that without even having an online portfolio.

My point here is to emphasize the fact that for the rest of us, there’s little probability to close a deal online with tech-savvy clients anyway. Looking elsewhere than on screen, you realize that most of the world is still less than partially connected : will your future prospects ask you for pixel perfect cross-browsing experience back to IE 4.0 and meticulously check the validity of your markup? Developping one app to start to get known online is good, but this should be done on your extra free-time only, for you don’t have 100 million guys out there to outperform with a brand new app. Instead, try to develop your human network and get known within your existing customer’s customers or friends. This is how you stand apart, for your network is unique. And this will surely bring you some more work.

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