Web Design: Everyone has to Start Somewhere

Cultivating Your Presence, Web Design 1 Minute

Recently, my blog partner did a post urging any small business owners holding out on creating a web site to take the plunge (read that story here).  He assured anyone feeling intimated that every “first try” typically lacks polish and suggested going to the Wayback Machine (a digital archive of the World Wide Web) if in need of evidence.  I thought that sounded like a super fun experiment.  So in the name of confidence building, let’s look at some big companies and their humble on-line beginnings. . . .

LEGO

Certainly not without charm (because who doesn’t love minifigures?!), but I’m guessing the individuals in charge of this design can’t look back now without cringing.

HOME DEPOT

I love a web site with a cartoon mascot that introduces himself before presenting the content of his page.  Homer from Home Depot.  Priceless.

MACY’S

Where pink, purple, and red and a dash of stars meet function.

GOOGLE

I rememberd Google always being just a logo and a search box, so I was amused to see this early weightier version. 

MCDONALD’S

More cartoons.  I’m lovin’ it.

PEPSI

This one may be my favorite.  And I’m not going to lie, I wish I had the Shockwave plug-in.

UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE

Look at all them clouds! 

AMAZON

Not too shabby, right?  I even kinda remember this design.  I knew I needed to keep looking. . . .

Source: https://www.versionmuseum.com/history-of/amazon-website

Here’s the gold!  This relic wasn’t available on the Wayback Machine.  Their earliest functional crawl of Amazon was 1999, and I had a feeling that an older, humbler version existed somewhere.  Thank you, versionmuseum.com.  (In amazon’s defense, this design was among the oldest within this collection with a July 1995 release date.)

FACEBOOK

Welcome to “the Facebook.”

In conclusion, I restate: everyone has to start somewhere. 

I hope one day your business grows so big that someone like me searches its origins to see the beginning of your journey.

Advertisement

Published by Carole Mancuso

Carole is a lead content developer for Brand Building for Small Business, a new venture, though she has been performing the art of brand building in some form since 2001. She owns and runs Instant Invitation, which also operates as Inked Invitation through Zazzle. She designs graphics, develops personal and small business templates, and works to steadily build the company’s brand. Instant Invitation was established in 2014 and currently produces six-figure annual earnings with consistent year-over-year growth. Carole spent 15 years in the corporate sector in the Communications department of now Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies (a national billion-dollar company). As Communications Manager, she was responsible for the company’s web site, online advertising, social media, and promotional email. When the desire to be close to family and closer to the sun brought her to Arizona (across the country from the company’s corporate operations), she began pursuing her own business. She taught Public Relations and Organizational Communications courses at Wilkes University and Introductory Communications at Northampton Community College. She is happiest while spending time with her husband and two children as well as their extended family and close friends. She loves the beach and all things wine.

Published

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s