[csa]

I love it when competitors think this way. They are basically giving away a potentially huge comparative and competitive advantage.

That said, there are a few questions:

1. Do the gains of getting a professionally designed website offset the costs in some way? It should, but in many cases it does not.

2. (Mentioned elsewhere in this thread) The market has a lot of participants (saturated?), and the median end user is not good at differenting quality other than by personal reference (kind of... sort of...). As such, being a provider in the market can be a bit sketchy.

3. Anyone who is really good at web design (esp. if it extends to other aspects of the digital experience) will quickly realize that they can make a lot more money (and consistent money) by owning one or more businesses and crushing the online presence aspect of those markets. The startup costs are higher, but the ROI is really good.