I am going on my 6th year as a web developer and I took time at the end of 2008 to reflect on where I have come from and plan on going with web development.
Around February of 2003, a friend and I started www.doscrackers.com using Front Page and maintained the "if you will build it, they will come" mentality.

I think it took me 2 full years to get the site valid, cross browser functioning, and user friendly. This was all in an effort to get more customers, and launched what some would call an SEO experiment.

The majority of my focus and effort with web development has been focused on Google's method of listing and weighting site's pages. Mostly due to the fact that they retain the highest search percentage by more than 30% vs. their competition. Go with the leader.

Now that I experiment less, and spend more time producing tangible results, the sites I no longer have products on have become billboards in a way. My efforts have not gone to waste, and I continue to return a yield on my investment in many ways. If I had not experimented, I would not have learned what was / is what, and had to take someone at their word. The most expensive thing in most business plans is Research and Development or experimenting, so I feel that we have endured the experiment and have a very useful strategy to advertise products and services.

To go along with the "change" theme and take practical use from our previous billing practices we are going to change our perspective on financing new projects.
Previously we have charged 50% up front and the remainder was due upon completion for web development projects and for SEO services we charged a flat upfront fee and then benchmark payments there after.

WE NOW EXCEPT LOW MONTHLY PAYMENTS FOR ALL PROJECTS.

We understand that the economy took a nose dive, but that does not stop the need for advertising, rather it is now in more need than ever.
Let us know what you need advertised so that we can develop a campaign that will increase your bottom line.

Have a great New Year and a prosperous one. . .
Lee West