When expanding from custom software development to web design is it better to start a new brand or expand the existing brand?

I cannot answer this question for you, but I can offer a few points that may be worth considering. These are based on my own experience during the early days of Fingent ( http://fingent.com), when we faced a similar dilemma. At that time, while we had a clear direction about strategy from Sam ( CEO at http://Fingent.com ), we were ambivalent about our brand. We had  attracted set of customers who wanted only website design, and were happy to work for them. However, we did not want to be in the business of designing brochure sites, since we believed that this segment did not offer sustained profitability. We decided to remove web design, SEO etc. as a core service offering, and instead focus on developing business applications.  We still retain a few excellent web designers, to cater to demand for web design from our business software clients; however, we do not actively seek brochure web design projects. Here are a few more points to chew on: Custom software development services  and web design require a few similar competencies ( markup, coding etc.). However, delivering good web design requires a different skill-set and approach in areas like graphic design, active SEO and project delivery. Will your organisation be able to focus on developing and nurturing these different areas in parallel? What would it take for your sales and marketing team be focus on both areas? Management theory emphasizes the need for focus to do good business; are you in a position to focus your energy on two different businesses? You are able to generate interest in website design services among smaller clients, by branding yourself as a custom software development firm. Most web design firms project themselves as media agencies, with a heavy focus on art, typography, content writing and SEO. It may be of interest to understand whether your current positioning, as a provider of custom development services, attracts small businesses who trust software development firm, rather than a media firm to deliver good websites. You write that you do not want to be seen as a web design firm. Why? Do you believe that it might affect your custom software development business? Or is it because you are not interested in the business of web design? I hope these points above are of some use. Difficult decision, but irrespective of what you choose, there are interesting times ahead. Good luck! PS: This is an old question, but I guess there is some interest since I have been asked to answer this question.