Small businesses form the backbones of many economies. In Europe, the EU estimates that small and medium enterprises constitute 99% of all firms (PDF file), with the average enterprise in Europe employing no more than six employees. Often termed “micro” businesses, firms with ten employees or less are especially suited to specialised niche industries such as web development and design.
As use of the internet has expanded exponentially, having a web presence is deemed essential for marketing and communication and for reaching more markets. To be effective, the design must be professional, sophisticated and appealing. To cater to the needs of the hundreds of thousands of firms needing websites, many web design companies have come into existence in the past decade, many of them small in size.