There's no money in web design. AEIOU is getting out of the outsourcing business
POSTED BY Rick Latona IN Featured, Web Sites

We were the first company to sell mini-sites so we might as well be the first company to stop selling them.

The reality is there is no money in web design. It's hard. The customers are hard to please. The margins are slim and frankly, there are bigger fish to fry.

There are only so many things we can focus on and with our brokerage and auction businesses booming, we've decided to bail out of this race.

A couple of weeks ago we stopped taking new business at aeiou.com and the time has come to officially announce that we are out of the outsourcing business.

Here are some questions that we anticipate you having and our answers.

1. Open projects - yes, we will finish all open projects. We still have our team because we will be using them for in-house needs. All client orders will be filled.

2. What will happen to my site that is hosted at aeiou.com web servers?  - Unless you have a hosting agreement with us, you will have 90 days from today to move your site files. We will also be emailing all of our customers asking them to move.

3. Who do you recommend we use now for our mini-sites and web development needs? We've decided not to recommend anyone. There are many good companies out there and we want to remain agnostic. We are an infrastructure company ourselves, providing auction and brokerage services and we'd rather not take sides.

Any other questions regarding this matter can be sent to clients AT aeiou.com.

  • http://dnclips.com dnClips.com – Domain Feeds and more

    Sad to see a domain business getting closed. Wish you the best with your other endeavours.

  • http://www.tiawood.com Tia Wood

    Mad respect to you and the AEIOU.com crew. But also, congratulations on the successes in other ventures as well!

  • http://domainnamewire.com/2009/10/19/aeiou-com-calls-it-quits/ Domain Name Wire » News » AEIOU.com Calls it Quits – The Domain Industry’s News Source

    [...] a blog post at RickLatona.com, Latona says there’s no money in web design. “It’s hard. The [...]

  • http://www.localdatabase.com Bryan

    I was wondering how long this would take. Can't say I really blame you.

  • http://admindaily.com Jesse

    I hate to say this but you couldn't be more wrong in your statement. I along with many others can attest to the fact that there really is is a boat load of money in web design. Where the system fails is when someone wants a thousand dollars worth of work for $199-$249 or whatever the catchy "limited time offer" is for the day.

    I think the trouble started when the term mini-site was first spoken, there is no such thing as a mini-site.. a website is a website, no matter if its a one page site or a thousand page site. By telling someone its a mini-site you instantly devalue your own work and give your customer the impression that they are getting something less than a website... Don't get me wrong, everyone loves mini donuts but the term "mini sites" sounds cheap and well, like something I would have if I had no other choice or lacked the ability or money to get a "real" website.

    I personally have found that the same people that contact someone looking for a $199 mini site are also willing and often times excited to spend 10 times that to get the site, or type of site that they really want developed. With parking revenue being down (for everyone except the parking companies that is) everyone is looking for a way to make a buck, unfortunately mini sites were never the answer. If you want the results of a developed site instead of $0.004 per click from your favorite parking company you are going to have to build a real website with a real purpose in most instances.

  • http://coniston.com Lake District

    i dont think you'll starve Rick, lol
    premium auctions, newsletter and digipawn is way to go bud

  • http://www.domainimal.com/blog.html Mike

    I would think the domain aeiou.com should now be of very high value to any designer/developer out there since it now has so many thousands of backlinks with relevant anchors. Any plans to sell?

  • http://www.pixelrage.net Mark

    There's been no money in web design for years - I quit a long time ago. I blame these cookie cutter services that sell sites for $50, they've essentially killed freelancing as we knew it.

  • Greg

    Maybe the real problem here is that such sites don't actually generate any new visits? You can't just write some simple text on some lame wordpress template and hope to rank high on search engines. Getting visitors takes time and work.

  • http://premiumdomains.us M. Menius

    Time & energy are in finite supply so channeling it in the right direction is smart. Focusing on the Latona auctions make great sense because domain auctions have so much more room for growth (ex. targeted to niche industries).

    Kudos to Rick for giving customers 90 days to move files too. At least that helps the customer base make the transition.

  • http://www.elliotsblog.com/youve-got-to-know-when-to-hold-em-know-when-to-fold-em You’ve Got to Know When to Hold ‘Em, Know When to Fold ‘Em | Elliot’s Blog

    [...] saw Rick Latona’s post today about his company exiting the mini site space, and I immediately thought of Kenny Rogers’ [...]

  • http://geodomainstoday.com/2009/10/19/geo-site/ The AEIOU.com Geo Site is Gone…the Idea Was a Good One | GeoDomains Today

    [...] recently wrote about how much I liked the Geo Site developed by AEIOU.com. Today Rick Latone announced that he was closing up the web design shop, so no more Geo Sites. Too bad…I liked [...]

  • MArk

    Always will have a lot of respect for you Rick. I thought you were always on the up and up. You were fair, honest, and gave of your time.

    Wish you the best in everything you do.

  • http://www.descriptivedomains.com DescriptiveDomains.com

    AEIOU did a great job, I went to order a site today and they referred me to this Blog.
    In my case the sites worked, I need a web site that is Google complaint that's all. I don't care about anything else. I own LoganAirport.com and Google dropped that name from my account because of content or lack of, it had links to hotels, car rentals and flight reservations. The name made a lot of money on Google, up to $100.00 a day if it snowed in Boston not to mention the income from flights, hotels and car rentals. I moved the name to parked .com and it made $20.00 a day.
    So does it make sense to pay AEIOU.com $200.00 - $300.00 to make that site Google compliant? You bet and they could have charged me more.

  • http://sigmaNames.com nSathees

    Agree with Jesse,

    A website is a website. There is no mini site. The failure starts at SEO. The so called mini sites will rank better at the beginning. With no more content updates, it will vanish from search engine ranks. That is a problem for these mini-site developers as they promise ranks.

    All these mini site developers done is to screw the freelance developers.

  • http://florencecondominiums.com peter

    it really is a pity. great looking websites, fairly priced for domainers and perfectly priced for end users...i truly was planning on getting numerous sites once i got a few sales under my belt. they really were a perfect starting block on which to built out domains. domainers can't be sitting on their laurels and expect aeiou mini-sites to continuously pump out cash. but the bones for a website that would retain visitors were there, you just had to add some more content. by my estimate you're throwing the towel in maybe 1 year too early. many individuals who have been laid off will be starting up their own business and aeiou offerings would be right up their ally. personally, this anouncement has thrown a wrench in my plans.

  • http://domaingang.com/domain-news/rick-latona-competitor-launches-new-minisite-firm-wzgjc-com/ Rick Latona competitor launches new minisite firm: WZGJC.com | DomainGang

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  • http://domainingmanual.com/2009/10/my-three-favorite-domaining-blog-posts-week-of-10182009/ My Three Favorite Domaining Blog Posts: Week of 10/18/2009 | Domaining Manual

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  • Jack

    Website development is work. So is domain development. There's no easy way around it.

    Welcome to the real world.

  • http://RapidDomainBuilder chad p

    Options and Opportunity are good things to have, go where the money is... Curious why it didnt work. We have a dynamic niche product debuting in the coming weeks for niche sites call RapidDomainBuilder. Beta testing and rebuilding it now. Also looking for feedack...

  • http://highvaluetransactions.com m roberts

    You can't just blame it on the development industry. I contacted aeiou and was interested in a couple of projects and got one call back then ZERO followup after that. Also did not get some items emailed to me which I requested.

    In my sales experience (in other industries) I have to follow up with people numerous times and for months and months.

    Your pitch was that you could help monetize domains either through ads or increased value when it came time to sell. You did not try to justify this claim or try to sell your services.

  • http://www.slcbootcamp.com SLC Bootcamp

    The problem is that customers always want little changes here and there. If you could force them to set their requirements and not change them at all, it could be worth it.

  • http://www.design-teams.com Martin

    Understand your thinking but still see good opportunities if you offer a well-priced product and treat customers well - the comments here tell you that.
    We need freelancers to help us cope with demand so if you are looking for work -
    free registration.

  • bernard

    Will domainers land in a near future and understand there is no way to massively develop domains and achieve a descent website + SEO?

    Wishfull thinking as to create added value by simply registering domains, and selling (in fact exchanging) them to each other in the domainer mob.

  • http://www.ricklatona.com/2010/09/07/you-dont-develop-domains-you-develop-businesses/ Rick Latona » You don’t develop domains, you develop businesses.

    [...] I shut down aeiou last year I threw up a now infamous blog post titled, there's no money in web design. I believe that post was largely misunderstood and I never commented on that fact but I will [...]

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