Boyink! - Spring Forward on the Web

Profit from the Internet.  Work from home.  Own the world’s #1 rated Internet Business.  WSI offers a full training and support program complete with your own personal success coach whose purpose and mission is your success.  WSI is clearly among the most profitable, proven Franchise / Business Opportunities in the world today!  WSI boasts the world’s largest network of Internet Consultants and has been ranked # 1 in its category by Entrepreneur magazine’s “Franchise 500” listing 5 years in a row. Link >>

I was looking at the business listing of an upcoming tradeshow, and noted a booth from “WSI Internet Consultants” - so hit Google to check them out.  I hadn’t heard of them before, so—always being interested in the local web scene - went to take a look.

What an interesting little nut…

So - from reading the corporate site apparently this is a franchise business, like any Subway or McDonald’s you pay a fee and get to be the local WSI branch.

It struck me as odd that, even though I’ve been in and around the web business for as long as WSI apparently has,  I had never heard of them.  Since it seemed odd that someone, in 1996, would have had the foresight to start such a business I went to the Internet Wayback Machine to check on that claim.

Trying to search the Wayback Machine prompts a “Blocked Site Error”.  OK, so now I’m even more suspicious.

Hmmm…funny that in 1996 they wouldn’t have been able to get the “wsi.com” domain - which currently brings up a Weather Services related site…so I tried a Wayback Search on that domain and see that in 1996 it belonged to:

Workgroup Solutions(WSI), a premiere Professional Services company, linking business needs, people, and best-in-class solutions for today’s corporations.

Hmmm…looks suspiciously like a business that might turn into an internet Consulting Franchise….doesn’t it?

Googling around - there look to be dozens of look-alike WSI-related sites:
http://www.wsiwebworks.com
http://www.wsiresources.com
http://www.wsiconsultants.com
http://www.wsimarketing.com
http://www.wsisolidsites.com

Some of their client sites have all the code-stampings of being Dreamweaver-based, or worse.  And..don’t even checking either their company or client sites against a validator of any type.  Just don’t.

Doing a “WSI Sucks” search brings up some interesting discussion forum threads where the fee structures are discussed.

Just makes me wonder - if after 11 years and all the supposed business awards, shouldn’t I have heard of them?  If I haven’t then what are prospective franchisee owners getting for their $50K upfront investment?  Certainly not the brand awareness and market position of a Subway or McDonald’s.

Anyone else heard of these guys?  Used them?  Bid against them?

 

Comments are closed, but you can read the comments other people left.

1. Dave J. on May 02, 2007

   I heard of them a few years ago, then contacted them just to see if they are real. I ended up dealing with a really nice franchisee, who did a little keyword project for me. Then she disappeared. No way I would touch one of those template sites, though.

2. jfisher on May 08, 2007

   We compete against them (sorta) as we are an up and coming internet marketing franchise.

3. Boyink (Author) on May 10, 2007

   ...seeing the wsi-related search traffic coming in now, how long until a WSI rep comes ‘a calling?

4. Pete Severen on June 07, 2007

   I am from Toronto, and just graduated from a system analyst program. I came across this company during a job search. Even though I did not have the investment to get involved in the business I spoke with one of there reps to find out more.

   There is no doubt that this company is for real…I even went to home office to visit the staff. I found out that they have partnerships with IBM, Microsoft, PWC and Oracle and I am sure these companies wouldn’t develop strategic alliances if this company wasn’t legit.

   I acutally asked the the same question, How come I never heard of your company? and the answer they gave me made alot of sense.

   It’s a strategic approach. The internet industry is a fragmented market, and at some point there will be a point of market consolidation (ie. Real Estate..Remax, Royal Lepage, Century21). They decided to fly below the radar, and didn’t want all these companies to copy what they were doing. There goal is become the a household brand, and they do not have the number of franchisee to do so. They are currently building there brand through the business community, and I even seen them published in Success Magazine, which has been around for 100 years.

   Peronsally I feel that this is an amazing business, and by prejudging the business without learning more, you could be missing out in the perfect opportunity…you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

   Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on my experience.

5. Boyink (Author) on June 07, 2007

   Nothing to lose but a $40K investment…

   Thanks but no thanks.  Doing well enough on my own…and don’t want to play by someone else’s plan.

6. Boyink (Author) on June 07, 2007

   Heh..and his email bounces…WSI rep?

   A - if it’s such an amazing business an opportunity, why not borrow the startup costs?

   B - I don’t believe the internet industry is one that’s going to be consoodated like real estate, as the main benefit that those companies offer agents is marketing.  We small internet companies are much better at marketing ourselves - so frankly I see no benefit of going from solo to buying a franchise.

7. Pedro Morales H. on June 23, 2007

   Hi, my name is Pedro Morales and I am a web designer and Internet consultant in my country Colombia, at this moment, I am in the process to acquire a franchise from them but I have so many doubts about its success, 50k is too much money to waste. But I want to be recognized in this sector and I was thinking that these people were supposed to be ok. After I read this comment, I have more doubts by now. Please if anyone could help me, should I invest this quantity on WSI ?. I need to know if this is going to be a good business for me or not.

   Help me to find the truth about this organization, please.

   Can I trust them or not, this is my question.

   Thanks.

8. W on July 04, 2007

   Hi there guys,

   First of all thank you Mike for bringing this issue.

   I’m in Europe, I have a corporate job and I’m interested in starting my own business. I’m currently discussing with WSI the business opportunity.

   Are there any WSI consultants out there who I can talk with?
   Clients? Projects?

   That’s critical for my decision. Of course there will come a moment in time when they will have to open all the doors, but, since there are 1500 consultants worldwide, I’d like to ear from them, or they don’t do blogging?

   Pedro, I’m with you, just don´t throw 50k away with no garantees.

9. Boyink (Author) on July 31, 2007

   Here’s a question for all of you coming in via WSI-related searches.

   If WSI was as good as they say at this whole internet thing, why would you be finding MY site while searching for them?

10. Richard Quick on August 02, 2007

    Hi,

    I’m a web designer with 10 years’ experience and I’ve just merged with a company that has a WSI franchise.

    Here’s my take on WSI.

    They’re definitely a legitimate company.  They’re based in Canada and have been going for over 10 years, though they may not have owned the current domain back then.

    To my knowledge, there are over 250 WSI franchisees in the UK.

    The business model is that the franchisee basically runs a sales operation.  The actual web design work is done in one of a number of production centres around the world.  There’s ones in Canada, India, South America, Eastern Europe etc.

    What the franchisee is paying for is:

    a) the use of these production centres - none (well, very few) of the franchisees can create a website themselves
    b) initial training
    c) ongoing training and support
    d) prebuilt marketing materials and branding
    c) etc

    The work that the production centres do isn’t templated, but it does use software packages, which tends to lead to a templated look and feel.  The quality of the design is “ok” but it’s hardly outstanding.  Likewise, the technical quality of the client side code is poor.

    The franchisees range from people who are struggling to make ends meet to some franchisees who land million dollar contracts.

    For example, P&O;Cruises and Rand McNally’s websites were done by a WSI franchise in Canada.

    Personally, the WSI franchise doesn’t have 50k of value to me, but that’s because I’ve got 10 years as a web designer on some high level sites and I’ve written a best-selling book on the subject. 

    If you don’t have the technical or design skills and want to set up a web design company, WSI does offer something.  My business partner has a good enough knowledge about web design to have impressed me - and yet he knows no HTML.  What you’re paying for is an education.

    I think you do have to realize that you’re gonna have to put in A LOT of work yourself, the money’s not going to come without hard work - your setting up a business just like any other.  Also, the IDEA is that you’re just selling websites, but in reality you’ll have to project manage the production centres to get them to do the work properly.

    The production centres produce half decent sites at the bottom end, but a lot of the larger WSI franchisees work with local freelance web designers or even take on staff as the start doing bigger projects.  Design wise their work doesn’t really cut it at the higher end and the HTML coding is, to be frank, poor.

    The training WSI offers is heavily discounted and is of a VERY high quality.  They do get really good people in.  Also, you have the potential to work with other WSI franchisees on larger projects, so you’re not on your own.

    The corporate sites that WSI provides are - quite frankly - appalling.  But the franchisee doesn’t have a say in these.  Every franchisee has to apologize for their own site - which isn’t good.

    One thing WSI are very good at is realizing what business want from their website - to make money.

    There’s a big focus on ROI, SEO, PPC etc.  Even if the WSI sites aren’t the prettiest, may clients are happy because they make money from their sites.  That’s not to be sneezed at.

    If anybody’s got any more WSI questions then fire away, I’ll answer them best I can.

    Bottom line.  If you know HTML, CSS, Photoshop, Sales and Accounting then don’t buy a WSI franchise.

    If you know sales and accounting but don’t know how to make a website then a WSI franchise is worth investigation.

11. Richard Quick on August 02, 2007

    There goal is become the a household brand, and they do not have the number of franchisee to do so.

    That doesn’t really stack up as an argument.

    There are over 250 WSI franchisees in the UK.

    That’s NOT a small company.

    The reason they don’t have a well known brand is that the focus is on selling franchises, not selling the services of the franchisees.

    TBH the log is crap and they spend no money on any national advertising.  THAT’s why you haven’t heard of them.  (I guess I should say us, but I’m not gonna ;o)

12. w on August 20, 2007

    Thank you all for your comments, I guess I’ll pass the opportunity. Mainly because from what I’ve seen they’re more focused on selling franchisees than help existing franchises getting business.

13. J Garrick on September 22, 2007

    Message 10 and 12 were the most helpful. Thanks.

14. Richard Quick on February 11, 2008

    Interestingly, I just found out that WSI is owned by Landmark Communications Inc., who also own the Weather Chanel and weather.com

15. JP on February 14, 2008

    Richard, I believe the WSI owned by Landmark Communications is “Weather Services Incorporated” and not the WSI discussed here.

16. Richard Quick on February 14, 2008

    Doh!

    You’re right, of course!

    ;o)

17. Dubai Real Estate on February 19, 2008

    I had heard of them a while back.

18. Deon on February 25, 2008

    I have bought a WSI franchise. Dont buy it I want to get my money back it suck

19. rabio on February 29, 2008

    check ripoffreport.com
    searsh wsi….......

20. Dan on April 04, 2008

    Tuesday, 1 April 2008
    Why not be an WSI Internet Consultant?
    Sold, business from home – Fast growing (young) market

    Sales pitch recruitment path, every question leads to an answer that makes you feel that it is total right for you.

    Small to medium sized B2B franchise network. The client base in general does not have large investment spare for their solution. An IC is underpinned by their ability to sell. However the make-up of the entire e-solutions web marketplace is so competitive, it should not be consider easy sales.

    WSI sell on the fact that it is a global network that uses its international spread to reduce an ICs costs in production, to lead to greater margins. However, the actual comparative cost is not competitive with other online solutions providers. In actually fact, you could argue that that the global network is stretched. It could be said that, WSI is an out-dated model in an ever changing environment.

    This market for small to medium sized companies is sporadic and poor interest, lead generation companies are amble in presence in the network, they all suffer from poor feedback, and it is the dependency of an IC need of lead generation which is the demise of many. WSI franchise does not compete on technology with the web developer marketplace. WSI uses DNN, the framework least likely to completely obtain W3C, W3C is UK law and North America “selling” on – The UK law forces the network to produce W3C websites, and so US & CA WSI ICs tell end clients that it is possible and good feel factor for a law that should be. However, with the frame work that it claims is the best in the marketplace is not equipped to deliver W3C. It also and probably more importantly is not comparable designed to set well with Google.

    WSI recently have been indicating that an ICs future is in S_E_O. However, this is a service that an IC can offer simple by reading and learning form the Google help pages – for free.

    “BE” is a content management system for DNN, however it is modular and as such is used to build quick simple solution, the platform is underpinned like all platforms, which one gets used the most will eventually become the standard. DNN is not well positioned for this race.
    DNN is free, you pay over the odds for the content management system, yes, it does help, but the technology that it is helping is not pole position; the power of open source could lead an IC to be developing “e-solutions” rather DNN module mess.

    An IC pays for his franchise to find out that a [key market] is charity.
    They pay their 10% commission to WSI

    Keeps it reputation by “running” Top 50 internet franchisees

    A Production Centre pays its rates and as such receives possible client flow.

    WSI, it also pumps out that SEO is the future, to learn from home, many IC now only do this with websites that are past production. However, I will repeat, there is no requirement to join WSI to make a profit with Google Adwords or similar.

    Do not spend 50,000!! on this.. there are simpler ways…

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