Celebrating 15 Years in Business

It's frightening when I think that 15 years ago today I incorporated 'Advanced Web Designs' (which I had initially set up in December 1999) to become a Limited company. I remember the feeling of excitement that I was finally going to be in control of my own destiny, but also being very worried about how it would all pan out.

Back in 2000 websites were by no means the standard marketing tool they are now, in fact most business didn't have a website, most didn't even want one, and it was very difficult trying to convince potential customers what the benefits of having a website would be.

Download speeds were horrendously slow and in most cases would actually tie up your phone line for the length of time you were browsing (or surfing) the internet. Google was in existence; although it was still being run from Susan Wojcicki's garage and wasn't particularly accurate with its results, making finding any information from the limited number of website available, almost impossible.

There were no tablet computers or smart phones and so you could only browse the internet when you were sat in front of your computer....and when no one else wanted to use the phone!

There was no social media, so the internet wasn't being uses as the communication tool it is today, and there was very little trust from a security point of view, making the prospect of successfully selling products online a flawed proposal.

Thankfully this has all now changed, and as a company, have over the last 15 years experienced a year on year growth. This has allowed me to expand the company to ensure we are able to keep up-to-date with the continual changes and improvement in technology, and offer a full range of web related services to our customers.

Whilst the time has passed in the blink of an eye, we now have a great team here at our offices in Hertford, and are in a stronger position than ever to go forward in to the next 15 years!