Getting a website designed was never so easy
The World Wide Web is inexhaustibly replete with millions of websites, each serving some purpose that fulfils the needs of netizens on the virtual prowl every day. And though getting your own website up and running pronto has become quite simple now, thanks to template-based website builders, the task is best left into the hands of professional web designers.
Searching for the right web designer for your business, however, is the tricky part. 0707 being an experienced website design company in its own right, we believe we are better poised than a sponsored pay-to-play directory to present you with an unbiased list of the best web designers from a list that runs into thousands in the market today.
For your convenience, we have listed the companies based on the following selection criteria:
- The minimum project budget of the design company
- The business size they focus on
- Industries that their clients belong to
- The technologies in which their expertise rest on
Jump to the category that best matches your budget:
- Best suited for web design project budgets under $10,000
- Best suited for web design project budgets under $25,000
- Best suited for web design project budgets under $50,000
- Best suited for web design project budgets over $50,000
Web design companies with project budget under $10,000
1. UPQODE
Founded in 2015, UPQODE is a digital marketing and WordPress web design company that has already bagged multiple awards for being a top notch agency. Its list of services includes web design & development, web hosting, eCommerce website development, corporate website design, digital marketing and SEO services.
UPQODE’s portfolio is an impressive display of its ability to understand client requirements clear enough to deliver unique design solutions to best position their business in the market.
Source: upqode.com
Project Budget : Minimum $5,000 | Employees: 10-49 | Location: Nashville, TN |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 100% | Industry Focus: Business services – 50%, Legal – 50% | Client Focus: Small business – 70%, Mid-market – 30% |
Key Clients | UPS (United Parcel Service), TEDx, MSW Compliance, AmeriFreight Inc, Spondylitis Association of America (SAA) |
2. BMG Media Co.
BMG Media Company has literally dipped its beak in almost every industry you can think of. From small businesses, startups, medium & large businesses across consumer goods, healthcare, hospitality and entertainment industries, this web design and software development company has literally pushed the envelope since it was founded in 2009.
BMG Media’s services are an eclectic mix of custom web design, branding, software development, business automation, eCommerce solutions and mobile app development. Their constant dedication to problem solving and creative visual design has been the primary reason they could design 1000+ websites successfully and win over 25 industry awards so far.
Source: bmgmediaco.com
Project Budget: Minimum $5,000 | Employees: 10 - 49 | Locations: Birmingham, MI (HQ); Detroit, MI; Houston, TX; Fez, Morocco; Poznan, Poland |
|---|---|---|
Technology Focus: WordPress – 65%, ReactJS – 10%, React Native – 5%, NodeJS – 5%, AngularJS – 5%, CodeIgniter –5%, other framework/CMS – 5% | Industry Focus: Consumer products & services – 25%, Financial services – 25%, Health care & medical – 25%, Information technology (IT) – 25% | Client Focus: Small business – 100% |
Key Clients | Zynga Inc., Lucky Strike, E7 Solutions, Perricone MD, Adachi Restaurant, Grand/Sakwa Properties, Greenwich Capital Group, Dollar Store Properties |
Portfolio: LinkedIn
3. Studio Fox Design
Dallas, TX-based Studio Fox Design is a 100% small business dedicated creative agency that specializes in custom web design & development, eCommerce solutions, branding and hosting among others. All of three years old, Studio Fox Design has been ranked as a top-rated web developer in Dallas for 2020 by Expertise, while Clutch ranked it as a top-rated web design company in its 2020 review.
Studio Fox Design’s strength rests in its skilled designers that create visually captivating graphics to connect with the audience. Add to that their ability to understand client requirements, and a great brand is in the offing as a compelling story that’s told through some stunning designs.
Source: studiofoxdesign.com
Project Budget: Minimum $5,000 | Employees: 2 - 9 | Location: Dallas, TX |
|---|---|---|
Technology Focus: WordPress – 60%, React Native – 10%, Angular JS – 10%, Joomla – 10%, Drupal – 10% | Industry Focus: Business services – 50%, eCommerce – 50% | Client Focus: Small business – 100% |
Key Clients | Whole Foods Market, Sway’s Universe, Sorce Freshwater Company, Outdoor Sportsman Group Inc. |
Portfolio: LinkedIn
4. 1Brand Design
1Brand Design happens to be an award-winning web design agency that takes pride in its full-service creative and internet marketing solutions, which it has been providing to its clients since 2009. The company was borne out of a coalition of independent designers, developers and marketers that got together as creative aspirants at the University of Florida.
Services that it offers include web and UX design, WordPress development, SEO, logo design & branding, print design, HTML5 animation and social media marketing. 1Brand Design offers its services to businesses of all sizes, starting from startups to Fortune 500 companies across various industries.
Source: 1brand.design
Project Budget: Minimum $5,000 | Employees: 2 - 9 | Location: Chicago, ILL |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 80%, AngularJS – 5%, Joomla - 5%, Drupal – 5%, ReactJS – 5% | ||
Key Clients | Hard Rock Cafe, Chicago Bears, Nascar, J.G. Wentworth, Peachtree Financial Solutions |
5. Flamingo Agency
Flamingo Agency is a great choice for those that are looking for affordable but ROI-driven web design and SEO solutions. The Chicago, ILL-based company was set up in 2017 to cater to small businesses with services that were easy on the wallet but high on results.
Their SEO services start at just $499 monthly, which include on-page and off-page SEO for sure-fire lead generation and 50% higher conversions. Flamingo Agency is primarily a WordPress website design company with custom design services that start at $999 for custom landing pages and $2499 for small business websites.
They also specialize in mobile first design (responsive web designs), eCommerce website design (WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento) and white label web design (WordPress & Elementor).
Source: flamingoagency.com
Project Budget: Minimum $2,499 | Employees: 2 - 9 | Locations: Chicago, ILL (HQ); NYC, NY |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 100% | Industry Focus: Not-for-profit – 30%, Dental – 30%, Gambling – 10%, Health care & medical – 10%, Hospitality – 10%, Manufacturing – 10% | Client Focus: Small business – 100% |
Key Clients | Wujcik Construction Group, Cooper & Ella, Muscle & Joint Physical Therapy, The CakeRoom Bakery, Glass Block Factory, 3D Microbrow |
Portfolio: LinkedIn
Web design companies with project budget under $25,000
1. Unified Infotech
Unified Infotech is a web design and app development company that is all about delivering modern and scalable solutions to its clients, which range from small and medium businesses to innovative startups. Speaking of startups, some of them went on to clinch venture capital funds totaling a figure of over $50 million, courtesy the solutions provided by Unified Infotech.
With a six-phase work process that reflects sheer project management brilliance, they have been offering web design & development, UI/UX, mobile & web app development, SaaS platforms and consulting services for 10 years straight, outperforming themselves every time.
Source: unifiedinfotech.net
Project Budget: Minimum $10,000 | Employees: 51 - 200 | Locations: NYC, NY (HQ); Kolkata, India |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 20%, Laravel – 20%, React Native – 10%, Node.js – 10%, Angular JS – 10%, Drupal – 10%, Django – 10%, React – 10% | Industry Focus: Information Technology (IT) – 20%, Education – 10%, Financial services – 10%, Health care & medical – 10%, Transportation – 10%, Automotive – 10%, Legal – 10%, eCommerce – 10%, Other – 10% | Client Focus: Mid-market – 60%, Small business – 30%, Enterprise – 10% |
Key Clients | Citibank, OpenReel Inc., Bridger Consulting Group, DMV Music Plug, NBCUniversal |
Portfolio: LinkedIn, Behance, Dribbble
2. Efelle Creative
Efelle Creative is a dynamic team of 30 designers, developers, marketers and strategists who believe that good enough is not enough, or as they say, “good enough sucks”. Most certainly, that's what has been driving this Seattle-based custom design agency to exceed expectations for 15 years.
At Efelle Creative, they have a custom plan for every client, whether it’s a small business, middle market or an enterprise, although they focus mostly on the first category. Their areas of expertise include responsive website design, eCommerce design & development, digital marketing (SEO, PPC, inbound marketing), graphic design and branding.
Source: weaverarch.com
Project Budget: Minimum $10,000 | Employees: 30 | Location: Seattle, WA |
Technology Focus: WordPress, FusionCMS, Drupal, Joomla, Progress Sitefinity | Industry Focus: eCommerce – 50%, Legal – 20%, Business services – 15%, Other – 15% | Client Focus: Small business – 65%, Mid-market – 25%, Enterprise – 10% |
Key Clients | Conner Homes, Radar Skis, Seattle Fish Guys, 3 Howls Distillery, Uncle Harry’s Natural Products, Kryptek Outdoor Group, Avara Construction |
Portfolio: LinkedIn
3. Fisherman Labs
Based out of Manhattan Beach, CA, Fisherman Labs is a design and development studio that’s always up for challenges, constantly learning and getting better. A look at their acclaimed clientele and you’ll realize they must take their crafts seriously.
From custom websites for unique brand stories to augmented reality / virtual reality experience for hard-hitting brand campaigns to functional web & mobile apps, Fisherman Labs has done it all. Their collective efforts across strategy, design and technological processes are the reasons they can be a great choice for all projects digital.
Source: linkedin.com
Project Budget: Minimum $10,000 | Employees: 10 - 49 | Location: Manhattan Beach, CA |
Technology Focus: Ruby on Rails – 40%, WordPress – 30%, Other – 30% | Industry Focus (Mobile): Social – 40%, eCommerce – 20%, Gaming – 20%, Digital publishing – 20% | Client Focus: Enterprise – 50%, Small business – 25%, Mid-market – 25% |
Key Clients | Nike & LeBron, Walmart, Sony, United Nations, Snapchat, Cartoon Network, Harvest.org, Homepie, CollegeHumor DROPOUT, Qualcomm |
Portfolio: Dribble
4. Iperdesign Inc
Adjudged as one of the top web design companies in Philadelphia in 2017 by Clutch, Iperdesign attributes the success of its clients’ digital goals to its 4D Process – Define, Design, Develop and Deploy. This is where the boutique digital marketing agency combines strategy with ambition to fit in the requirements of clients with all business models and sizes.
Founded in 2000, Iperdesign harnesses all the vital digital resources available across app / mobile development, CMS / eCommerce, web applications, software integrations, database design and augmented reality to power up its clients. Its list of services include branding, UX design, web design & development, video experience, digital marketing, startup solutions and enterprise solutions.
Source: iperdesign.com
Project Budget: Minimum $10,000 | Employees: 10 - 49 | Locations: Philadelphia, PA; Rome, Italy |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 60%, CakePHP – 30%, Django – 10% | Industry Focus: Health care & medical – 30%, Business services – 20%, Hospitality & leisure – 20%, IT – 20%, Not-for-profit – 10% | Client Focus: Small business – 60%, Mid-market – 40% |
Key Clients | WWF, Dow Jones, Dale Carnegie, Ernst & Young, Wall Street Journal, UNFPA, Pirelli, Stampone O'Brien Dilsheimer Law |
Portfolio: LinkedIn
5. Thrive Design
Thrive design is what Thrive Design does, which is helping its clients thrive in their business. Period (if you noticed their clever logo)! The Seattle-based web design agency’s services are predominantly aimed at coming to the aid of small and mid-market businesses in Seattle and the Puget Sound region.
Thrive Design says its web design service is crafted to help clients achieve their business goals and meet consumer needs. To that end they have a process that kicks off with in-depth consultation, future-compliant design experience, branding, customized marketing strategy, personal web support and a WordPress care plan ($127/month).
Source: thrive.design
Project Budget: Minimum $10,000; ($125/hr for ad-hoc work) | Employees: 2 - 9 | Locations: Seattle, WA (100% remotely from Seattle, WA and Somerset, UK during COVID-19 period) |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 100% | Industry Focus: Business services – 20%, Consumer products & services – 20%, eCommerce – 20%, Legal – 10%, Other – 30% | Client Focus: Small business – 80%, Mid-market – 20% |
Key Clients | Viviane Woodard, Satori MJ, American College Strategies, Paddy Coyne’s, Atzbach Antiques |
Web design companies with project budget under $50,000
1. Ruckus Marketing
Ruckus Marketing likes to be known as a full-service disruptor. The expansive collective experience within the company makes it ideal for Agency of Record (AOR) work, especially because of its nimble, solutions-driven team. They have a proven track record in excelling in project-specific work too, just in case, for which they have received worthwhile mention on ABC, CNN, CBS and WSJ.
Irrespective of the industry, their clients have benefitted from their branding, platform design (WordPress, eCommerce, SaaS, Shopify, etc), campaign building (SEO/SEM, out-of-home advertising, experiential, etc) and film & photography services.
Source: ruckusmarketing.com
Project Budget: Minimum $25,000 | Employees: 10 - 49 | Locations: New York, NY; Allentown, PA |
Technology Focus: WordPress, Custom CMS | Industry Focus: Retail – 20%, Advertising & marketing – 10%, Business services – 10%, Consumer products & services – 10%, Automotive – 10%, Other – 40% | Client Focus: Mid-market – 60%, Small business – 20%, Enterprise – 20% |
Key Clients | BMW, Unilever, Harley Davidson, Intel, HarperCollins, Tweezerman, Altec Lansing |
Portfolio: LinkedIn
2. Ramotion
For small and mid-market businesses with world-class designs and affordability on their sights, the buck most definitely stops with Ramotion. Founded in 2009, Ramotion is a digital product design agency that has 11 years of acclaimed (and happy) clients and a few achievements (#1 UI/UX team on Behance, #1 contributor of Swift on GitHub, #3 design team on Dribbble) to its credit.
With a scattered team of 34 experts in diverse disciplines, Ramotion has been instrumental in helping its startup clients amass a total of over $750 million in funding. Reaching measurable goals and arming their clients with a consistent product are stimulants that push the small team, who prefer working with a few clients at a time to achieve optimal results.
Source: ramotion.com
Project Budget: Minimum $25,000 | Employees: 34 | Location: San Francisco, CA |
Technology Focus: Webflow, ReactJS, Gatsby, Contentful, DatoCMS | Industry Focus: Retail – 30%, Consumer products & services – 25%, Financial services – 20%, eCommerce – 15%, Business services – 10% | Client Focus: Mid-market – 50%, Small business – 30%, Enterprise – 20% |
Key Clients | Adobe, Mozilla, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Salesforce, Universal Music Group, App Annie, HackerRank, Turo, Bitmoji, Descript, Flyr Labs, Kyber Network |
Portfolio: LinkedIn, Behance, Awwwards, Dribbble, Github
3. Mabbly
Chicago-based Mabbly presents itself as a strategic design agency, the strategy part involving the application of data analytics, market research and digital technology to drive its digital creatives. Brand strategy & branding, digital marketing, web design, product & visual design and web & software development are areas in which Mabbly’s tribe of energetic creators like to be challenged.
Since the agency was founded in 2013, Mabbly has garnered a clientele that include some of the most renowned names across diverse industries. Mabbly mixes smart strategies, intuitive design and the best of what digital technology has to offer to craft custom solutions for the business need at hand.
Source: mabbly.com
Project Budget: Minimum $25,000 | Employees: 30+ | Location: Chicago, ILL |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 60%, NodeJS – 20%, Other – 20% | Industry Focus: Manufacturing – 30%, Business services – 20%, Consumer products & services – 20%, Retail – 20%, Financial services – 10% | Client Focus: Mid-market – 50%, Enterprise – 40%, Small business – 10% |
Key Clients | Microsoft, SPR, EY-Sinek, Symphony Care Network, Crane USA, Gonnella Baking Co., Griffith Foods, Zeno Group |
4. Dotlogics
Dotlogics is a custom web design and digital marketing agency that combines the best of web development, content strategy and social media principles to build a successful brand and boost sales. Founded in 2007, the agency comprises a team of highly skilled designers, brand strategists and marketers attuned to achieving results.
Dotlogics is all about revenue and traffic growth and apparently their digital marketing campaigns are crafted to achieve exactly that. Ninety percent of their branding efforts are focused on strategy while 10% goes towards corporate identity.
Source: dotlogics.com
Project Budget: Minimum $25,000 | Employees: 10 - 4 | Locations: East Northport, NY; Westbury, NY |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 50%, CodeIgniter – 30%, Joomla – 20% | Industry Focus: Advertising & marketing – 10%, Education – 10%, Hospitality – 10%, Retail – 10%, Manufacturing – 10%, Other – 50% | Client Focus: Enterprise – 40%, Mid-market – 40%, Small business – 20% |
Key Clients | Brown University, McDonald’s, Data Device Corporation (DDC), ReaShape, Under the Weather (UTWPods) |
Portfolio: LinkedIn
5. Bilberrry
Founded in 2010, Bilberrry is a Seattle-based nimble organization that offers custom web design & development solutions based on a transparent and humanistic approach. The agency likes to dive deep to create measurable goals for its clients and devise the best strategies to push their business forward.
Bilberrry follows an approach wherein every possible question related to a project is answered in a stage-wise manner to create realistic goals, follow a flexible strategy, focus on highest product value and provide continuing support.
Source: bilberrry.com
Project Budget: Minimum $25,000 | Employees: 34 | Location: Seattle, WA |
Technology Focus: ReactJS – 40%, WordPress – 25%, NodeJS – 25%, AngularJS – 5%, Laravel – 5% | Industry Focus: Business services – 10%, Consumer products & services – 10%, Financial services – 10%, Health care & medical – 10%, IT – 10%, Real Estate – 10%, Not-for-profit – 10%, Retail – 10%, Manufacturing – 10%, eCommerce – 10% | Client Focus: Enterprise – 50%, Mid-market – 35%, Small business – 15% |
Key Clients | PepsiCo, University of Washington, myOGSM, Grand Image, OfferUp |
Web design companies with project budget above $50,000
1. Constructive
Staying true to its name, Constructive is a New York-based branding company that focuses all its strategy and design efforts on social impact, which is exactly what its catchline says. Their services are aimed at building powerful branding and digital experiences for ambitious non-profits to connect to those that are aligned with their missions and values.
The Constructive team of designers, strategists and communications experts draws inspiration from the clients, which in turn allows them to make an impact of their own. Services that Constructive offers include brand strategy & branding, strategic & communications design, digital strategy & web design, content strategy & development, strategic consulting and workshops & training.
Source: constructive.co
Project Budget: Minimum $50,000 | Employees: 10 - 49 | Location: New York, NY |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 80%, Drupal – 20% | Industry Focus: Not-for-profit – 85%, Education – 15% | Client Focus: Mid-market – 65%, Enterprise – 35% |
Key Clients | Yale University, Climate Impact Lab, The Legal Aid Society, The University of Chicago, World Economic Forum, ClimateWorks, National Head Start Association (NHSA), Aspen Institute |
2. Huemor
With over 80 international awards to their credit, Huemor comes across as a serious choice for those that are looking at design and development projects for their website, no matter the business size or category. Although they have served businesses across various categories in these nine years, Huemor found their services to be particularly valuable for Beauty, SaaS, B2B and retail brands.
Huemor offers a unique 6-month Rocket Fuel Program designed specifically to boost growth in conversion and sales by identifying areas of opportunities. Starting at $5,000 a month, the program includes a full conversion rate optimization (CRO) audit, data analysis, web strategy, roadmap + milestones, A/B testing, full stack development and full reporting.
Source: huemor.rocks
Project Budget: Minimum $50,000 | Employees: 10 - 49 | Locations: New York, NY; Pittsburgh, PA |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 90%, Drupal – 10% | Industry Focus: eCommerce – 50%, Business services – 20%, Consumer products & services – 20%, Not-for-profit – 10% | Client Focus: Mid-market – 85%, Small business – 10%, Enterprise – 5% |
Key Clients | Revlon, NTN Buzztime, Net2phone, Navatar, Serraview, Ironside |
3. Think Company
Think Company has been in the business of web design and software development since 2007 and has been declared one of America’s fastest-growing privately held companies seven years in a row by Inc. 500. They also found honorary mention in 2018’s Forbes Small Giants’ list and 2017’s Soaring 76 list. Talk about commitment!
Think Company’s purpose is to envision, design and create experiences that would enhance lives, with all their creative thinking done in what they call ‘Think Spaces’. Although they focus on catering to mostly enterprise level companies, their services are available for small and mid-size companies too.
Source: thinkcompany.com
Project Budget: Minimum $50,000 | Employees: 100+ | Locations: Philadelphia, PA (Flagship); Conshohocken, PA; Denver, Colorado |
Technology Focus: Adobe – 40%, Other – 60% | Industry Focus: Business services – 15%, Financial services – 15%, Health care & medical – 15%, Consumer products & services – 10%, Other – 45% | Client Focus: Enterprise – 60%, Mid-market – 30%, Small business – 10% |
Key Clients | Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Johnson & Johnson, Comcast Corporation, InstaMed, JP Morgan Chase, Merck, Ascensus, Bayada Home Health Care |
Portfolio: LinkedIn
4. Modern Tribe
Modern Tribe is a Minneapolis-based digital solutions provider that has been working with enterprise and mid-market businesses, including some of the biggest brands, for over 15 years. A fully remote digital agency with 130 team members that include traditional employees and independent contractors across the globe, they are powered by the sharpest and most diverse talent for a broader perspective on design.
Modern Tribe focuses on interconnectivity to design and engineer custom websites, applications, custom plugins and digital publishing platforms that empower over 10 million users every day. Combining intuitive design and robust technology to solve the most complex of problems with focus on scalability and impact accountability is what they do best.
Modern Tribe specializes in designing and developing enterprise-level implementations, including complex integrations and custom plugins to fit into a WordPress website.
Source: tri.be
Project Budget: Minimum $50,000 | Employees: 130 | Location: Minneapolis, MN |
Technology Focus: WordPress – 95%, React Native – 5% | Industry Focus: Education – 40%, Arts, entertainment & music – 20%, Business services – 20%, Media – 20% | Client Focus: Mid-market – 50%, Enterprise – 50% |
Key Clients | AT&T, Condé Nast, eBay, MTV, Nike, Microsoft, Macmillan Publishers, Córdoba Guitars, Harvard Law School, MIT Sloan Management Review |
5. Blue Fountain Media
A Pactera Edge partner firm, Blue Fountain Media is a specialist in B2B and B2C website design and development, which they mix with copious amounts of branding and marketing solutions for their clients. Proud recipient of several awards, including the Acquia 2017 Growth Partner of the Year, Blue Fountain has worked with some of the biggest brands in the world since 2003, Microsoft, Sony and FedEx being a few of them.
The New York-based agency’s human-centric philosophy is helping people & businesses grow through endless possibilities in the digital world, powered by the right mix of imagination and technology. Some of the services in its extensive list include digital transformation consulting & strategy, branding, next generation technology, global experience assessment and influencer marketing.
Source: bluefountainmedia.com
Project Budget: Minimum $50,000 | Employees: 50 - 249 | Locations: New York, NY (HQ); Redmond, WA; Chicago, ILL |
Technology Focus: Drupal – 50%, WordPress – 25%, Sitecore – 25% | Industry Focus: Education / Not-for-profit – 20%, Financial services – 20%, Health care & medical – 20%, Arts, entertainment & music – 10%, Hospitality – 10%, Real Estate – 10%, Retail – 10% | Client Focus: Enterprise – 50%, Mid-market – 40%, Small business – 10% |
Key Clients | FedEx, MetLife, Sony, NYU, Microsoft, Syneos Health, Cathay Bank, United Church Funds |
How to find out which web design company fits right into your project
By highlighting some of the leading web design companies across different budget categories, what we have done is just scratched the surface to a whole new world of opportunities in the digital arena. As excited as some of you may be after diving into the profiles and works of these agencies, we do know that you must be bubbling with a lot of questions in your minds.
In the following section we’ll therefore address some of the most common and probable questions in FAQ-esque fashion to make your choice even clearer.
Q. What should be the budget for my web design & development project?
A. I’m sure we don’t need to remind you that having a website as a digital storefront for your business, whatever the size, is absolutely essential in today’s age. How much you should spend on building one, however, entirely depends on the nature and scale of the project and your business size.
But if we were to offer a ballpark figure on an average website design & development cost, I’d say you should be ready to shell out anything between $5,000 to $50,000. Having said that however, there are various cost affecting parameters involved, such as the kind of website you want (small business, corporate, eCommerce), number of webpages, preferred design style, CMS and database integration.
Of course, you can always tweak the components of your web design project to fit into a budget that’s affordable for you. Most designers will announce their client focus and their preferred project engagement method (project-oriented, hourly rate, client-based). So, a good starting point for your search would be to use those filters to narrow down the list.
Q. What are the usual/popular online & professional platforms where I could look for the best web design agencies and initiate a conversation?
A. The best platforms to look for web design agencies and their work are LinkedIn, Dribbble, Behance, Yelp, YouTube and good ol’ Google.
Q. Would hiring a remote agency be a good idea or should I go local as some people suggest?
A. Unless you dwell in a cave in a far-flung island with no internet, you may have noticed that businesses, though slowed down, continue to run as usual despite the destabilizing effects of COVID-19. With social distancing restrictions and lockdowns in effect in several nations, remote working is what has been powering hundreds of businesses now, including some of the leading brands in the world.
If anything, the pandemic has showed us that the digital world is a small world after all, bringing people closer across borders to work and collaborate productively. So, no, the location of a web designer doesn’t matter anymore.
In fact, hiring a remote agency for your website design project is not just a good idea, it could even be a better alternative to going for a local agency. Here’s why:
- Your project tasks will keep running constantly round the clock, considering the time differences for each of the team members.
- Geographical diversity in a team implies a collection of the best talent across the world. Meaning, you will get yourself a helping hand from professionals that are highly skilled in full stack technologies covering both frontend and backend expertise, contrary to single location-based agencies, which may or may not always have the best skillset for every project.
- Remote-based employees are more productive because of obvious reasons like the freedom to work form a comfortable environment (home), being able to save time otherwise spent on commuting to work, reduction in distractions (from colleagues) and so on. In general, by nature remote first organizations have more matured processes to manage productivity and quality, which in turn benefit you.
- Popular collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams, Webex, Jira, Confluence, Trello, Slack & Hubstaff have made remote team collaboration and communication as good as, if not better than, in-house physical operation.
Q. What does the roadmap for a successful website design project look like?
A. If you may have visited the profiles of some or all the agencies listed above, you will have noticed that many of them have outlined the processes they follow to define the way they handle a project. Irrespective of the nature and size of a project, the process normally remains the same and can typically be categorized into seven steps.
These steps / phases / stages go a long way in keeping the project organized and measurable, making it convenient to make improvements in future projects. You can research on some starter website project management templates if needed.
Now, while you’re busy taking all the right steps, it’s important that you don’t forget these 32 mistakes that you should avoid in your website design project. But for now, let's look at these following steps for a successful web design project.
Consultation / Workshop / Discovery
The key to kicking off a successful web design project is to build strong communication between the stakeholders. That, plus prodding at all relevant questions to discover everything about the project and the business, and thus arrive at some realistic and measurable goals.
To that end, organizing early discussions and interviews through client discovery sessions goes a long way in aligning a project and coming up with a smart strategy. This stage is also where the roles of each team members should be defined and milestones planned in a transparent manner.
Market analysis
Your next step should be to absorb all the latest market trends by analyzing websites that would qualify as your business competitors. This will help you gauge the situation to make correct choices in terms of design, technology, functionalities, features and your website framework.
Remember, staying updated translates to staying ahead in the race, as the digital world keeps evolving ever so often.
Strategy
This step is a collaborative phase wherein both you and the company doing your design must sit down and settle for a mutually agreed strategy. Defining the target audience and the impact that you would want your website to have on them is the key to creating a strong digital marketing strategy.
Your digital strategy will involve assigning roles and responsibilities to team members most fit for those, while making optimal utilization of the resources available in hand as an exercise in scope definition.
Design
Once the designers have been assigned their respective roles, make sure that there is a system in place that allows tracking of deliverables. Being able to track and review deliverables through milestones makes it possible to address areas that might need changes or fixes early on.
It also helps in aligning interdependent tasks between collaborators like designers, content creators and strategists.
Develop
The work of website developers starts when the designers are done with theirs. And needless to say, it’s not a very breezy phase since it goes through a lot of technical hurdles along the way.
Finding bugs is one of the most common as well as irritating problems one can experience. It's advisable therefore that you get yourself involved in this phase as much as the developers to stay abreast with the project roadblocks.
Validation / Testing
Now this is a phase that might be repeated more than once until the perfect product is ready for launch. From design testing, technical testing and functionality testing to end user testing, every test and validation has to be cleared before you give the green signal.
Be sure to test your website on all browsers and mobile devices (in case you want a responsive website), check for design consistency, website loading time or any other possible errors that any of the webpage might be displaying.
You cannot afford to launch a website with errors, considering that’s going to be the face of your business in the digital world. Take a look at these vital tests your website should go through before you roll it out for the audience.
Maintenance / Care / Training
Many agencies offer more than just the usual annual website maintenance policy. Agencies that really step out of the conventional business-centric approach offer customized care plans and even training sessions to make sure that the launched product keeps functioning like it was projected.
So, don’t miss out on finding agencies that go the extra mile to be the perfect partners to their clients. Here’s a checklist of some important tips in website maintenance to be followed if you’re getting a business website.
Source: medium.com
Conclusion
Being handed over a website that’s ready for launch can always be a special feeling, whether it’s your first website or one of many. But, with the hardest part (website design and development) over, take care not to become complacent and lose focus.
Yes, your website is officially launched. But there’s still the task of making sure it’s visible to your target audience, which is why you need to have a strong search engine optimization (SEO) game, besides the usual promotional methods like pay per click (PPC), social media marketing (SMM) or email marketing.
Your website is only as good as it looks and works, so better keep it looking and working without great. 0707 Inc is a digital experience agency with fully loaded design, engineering and marketing capabilities and a proven track record that you can bank on for all your website projects.
Schedule a consultation with us for a custom website that will be an extension of your business values. We create unique digital experiences that tell your stories and get you closer to your audience for higher conversion rate and sales growth.
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