Atlanta web design and web development firms — does largest = best?

May 11th, 2007

The Atlanta Business Chronicle's annual list of Largest Web Design and Web Development firms in Atlanta was released this week. The list ranks the top 25 web design and development companies in Atlanta according to set criteria. This year, it was full-time Atlanta staff. Check out the list below -- hey, we've got nothing to hide.

As they changed the ranking criteria this year, there were some surprising changes. Prior year rankings were based on reported revenue. However, too many firms apparently "fudged" the numbers. Only 10% of the list submitted financials to verify claims. Of note: the smaller you were, the less likely you were to submit financial verification. We even discovered one firm, whom will remain unmentioned, reported one set of data for one list (25 people, $2.5 million revenue) and different data for another (35 people, $2 million revenue). The reason was clear: as each list is ranked differently, they were trying to play the rankings to their benefit. There is no reason they information should be different as requested the prior year's actual revenue performance and employee count. How scandalous!

So this brings up a critical point. In the web industry, why do we associate big with being good or delivering quality? Look at the largest company in the US - Walmart. Is quality their brand? No, it's low prices. So, being big isn't inherently good -- it may even mean cheap. Perhaps size correlate with being the best in your industry? Consider this: many of the firm's on this year's list reported nearly half the size or earnings in the year prior. Are they twice as good now, or half as good before? From what we've seen and heard, the answer is definitely no.

Small Giants -- recent book by Bo Burlingham, editor of Inc Magazine and coauthor of The Great Game of Business discusses "how maverick companies have passed up the growth treadmill -- and focused on greatness instead. Greatness. Now that sounds like a company I'd like to plan and execute my interactive marketing strategy.

So if it isn't great size, what makes a company great?

Being great at what you do
Creating a great place to work
Providing great customer service
Making great contributions to society

As we look at this list of atlanta's web design and web development firms, rather than consider size, let's ask: are these companies great?

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