2009 Online Horse Resources: Web Designers
Keeping with the mission of expanding and improving the identity of the horse industry on the world wide web, there has been a collection of resources that has been put together to help guide horse enthusiasts online. These resources are grouped in categories and will be delivered seperately in weekly cycles to help the circulation process. Please note that these collections have been created by us and they represent our opinions – some of them good and some of them bad. The goal with these resources is to help horse enthusiasts to evaluate and find the best resources available to them.
The first of the resources we are making available is a listing of web designers that cater to the horse industry. You might think this category is a little off the wall for us to be publishing. Why would a web designer and his company develop a resource guide that gives free publicity to other designers in the horse industry? The answer is simple. Not everyone is going to want to use SEMS Design services, and there will be times when SEMS Design might not be able to meet your deadline for the creation of your project. At the same time, there is some confusion about what a web designer is. There are some designers out there that have the whole package; graphical design skills, programming skills, search engine optimization skills, etc. Then there are those that only have one or two of the skills and your project needs one of the skills that are missing from your current designer. We will list the skills we think these designers have to help you to make the best decisions in picking your designer(s). These listings are in no particular order. They are from the first 2 pages of Google with the search phrase “horse website design”.
Pros: We really like the work this company does. All of their websites look original and have great appeal. The websites we looked at showed they take the time to learn the background of their customer and they work to blend a template in with the look of the customer’s identity.
Cons: Looking at a couple of the sites they created we took notice that they could implement a little more search engine optimization tools, but nothing major. By far one of the best design companies for the horse industry.
Pros: Their website could you some help but that is not the focus. I think they do a fine job of given the websites they create a fashionable look with a different look then the other sites they create.
Cons: Some of the websites they have created a behind the times in valid code and some break the rules all together. I looked at some of the sites and did not see any search engine optimization on any of the pages. This simply could be due to the fact that they require clients to pay for this. Not for sure.
Pros: What a beautiful website. Hands down winner as the best designed designer website out there for the horse web designers. The sites in the portfolio look to have a fairly decent design to them.
Cons: The only thing I can say is that I was on a big high when I went to the website and then was let down a bit going to the sites in the portfolio. This is not a bad thing, just something I noticed that I felt going from the design site to the client sites. I really did not see any extra integration of interactive scripts on the client sites.
Pros: Everything. This company has done their homework both on their site and the client sites. They really have their act together and looks like they do everything professional.
Cons: It would not be right if I did not mention something here, so the con is that we wanted that domain name.
Pros: They must do some good work, or marketing, because they have a good list of clients in their portfolio.
Cons: It looks, to me, that they could start to catch up with the current changes in valid coding practices of websites.
Pros: For the sites they have built, the design does have some nice graphical design principles behind it.
Cons: For the sites that were looked at, they used some bad design principles for web design. First, the whole design must have been created in a graphics program and then sliced. This includes the text, which means that there is no text for the search engines to pick up. Then a real no-no, they used text with a same font color as the background color, trying to fool the search engine robots. This is a HUGE penalty for the website. Get rid of these 2 practices and I would say they do a good job.
Pros: None of the sites are really ugly.
Cons: Most of the sites look like they had been built off of templates you can buy from template selling websites. Did not see much use of search engine optimization on the client sites. Using new valid web code was not found nor was any new age scripting techniques.
Pros: I don’t care for the site they have, but LOVE their work. They, he/she, look to not only know design, but they also know programming. That is what you call a complete package. I get happy when I find someone who can put some juice behind the pretty look. Love their work and give the 5 thumbs up on it all.
Cons: Don’t like their site.
Pros: Why did I put none for services? Try to go to their site, but make sure you have anti-virus software because they try to hit you with a virus. So because of that I suggest you stay away from this site and block it from any of your searches.
Cons: If they do try to get business, I don’t know how much they can get when they throw a virus at you.
Pros: I have to say even on the worst of sites for web designers, the sites I can get to, there is a positive. They are trying to built sites that will help promote, kinda.
Cons: The work looks like that of a 5th grader. Not much for your money, even if you are spending $1. Money is money.
Pros: Sheri Gordon has a beautiful eye for horses and her painting are AWESOME. What a gift to have that and then be able to put it into web design. Great work.
Cons: Looked at a couple of her sites and the only thing I noticed was that some of her coding was against validation standards. Nothing that would hurt a site that much, but it is always better to be safe then sorry.
Pros: I am a little confused by this company. The header and title of the page says White Horse Web, but I do not see anything in the portfolio or in the rotating pictures on the front page that are horse related?
Cons: From the couple of websites we checked there is no search engine optimization and all the site is a photoshop image sliced. Not good coding practices.
Pros: From the standpoint of marketing the horse industry, they have a lot to offer. They look like they try to help you in every area possible. Kinda like a Wal-Mart.
Cons: They could catch up with the times in their coding practices and the use of newer technology that would help websites run faster and efficiently.
Pros: From a general glance of their sites they look pretty and they have a general design principle behind them.
Cons: I could not find enough horse related designs to tell you if they have what it takes to market the horse on the world wide web to the best.
Pros: The general appearance of the website templates do look good. It looks like there is a general SEO tactic used for the sites.
Cons: The downfall of the pros is that there is no blending of what goes inside the templates that makes the site really stand out. And the SEO tactic is generic which means it is not customized for each individual site.
Pros: Build some of the hottest websites I have seen. The designer there really finds a way to blend in the identity of the client with the creation of the website.
Cons: Very little, if any, search engine optimization is used, and no new technology on the sites, They are all static.
Summary
For the most part these are the sites I would tell you to visit if you do not have any use for our services or you are in need of a particular design. I added the Curly site for your protection when browsing. I really do not feel the need to prioritize these sites, just know that they where the only sites I found worthy of actually looking at, giving my opinion, and looking at some of their client sites. Any other of the design sites, that I found, I would tell you not even waste your money, because if you did spend $1, consider it wasted.
This list is not about fair or about getting more exposure for one person/company over another. It is about the mission: expanding and improving the identity of the horse on the world wide web.
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