The Web Design Business is Dead
blog.emastudios.com
blog.emastudios.com
Right, the web design business died right along with the webmaster business.Seems this article is written by someone still stuck in ten years ago. Sure there is always more competition and that puts pressure on prices, but not as bad as mentioned in this article.
Going niche seems to be a good way to go also.
Outsourcing gets lower prices for only so long, then prices start edging back up as those markets mature (much the same as manufacturing in China.) These days you can get low end U.S.developers for the same rates as what dev shops in third world countries are charging.
Also, a bit of trivia for you. Third world countries aren't cheaper to live in. Standards and expectations are just lower. Your ~$5 / hour developer is probably living in a hut with three generations of family or living right on the poverty line. As your life gets more westernized in a third world country, your living expenses start looking westernized as well. In large metro hubs such as Bangkok or Shanghai, your cost of living can skyrocket as you start moving away from living like the locals.
You just need to hit the right market. A web property can be very little or very big. It can be a 5 minute Wordpress installation or it can be a billion+ dollar thing with thousands of employees and multiple data centers. To get paid, you need to be working on things which will create enough value to (or at least have the potential to) return that investment. Few people will see that return on a $10 web site.