Digital transformation has accelerated thanks to the pandemic. People are no longer looking for the best local web design company. This allows for more choices and opportunity to pick a web design agency that truly knocks your socks off with their creative, engaging and modern design. You need this, because a digital presence creates a positive impression of your company, regardless of industry. 48% of Internet users consider web design the number one factor in determining the credibility of a business.

Lead Generation

If your business website is made to capture leads, it’s your main marketing tool. 90% of users bounce from a website that is badly designed, thus playing an important role in achieving your business objectives of generating business leads. (HubSpot).

Ecommerce

For Direct to Consumer (DTC) and ecommerce, your website is the only real sales channel you can own—social media channels often change and are hard to predict. Besides owning your sales channel from a technical perspective, you also are able to generate your greatest sales margins, thus providing your best opportunities for the business to grow.

Mobile-First

Mobile devices generated 51.53% of the total website traffic in the second quarter of 2020. (Statista) A well-optimized mobile experience is critical, especially for consumer brands that sell directly to consumers.

Page Speed

SolarWinds conducted a page load test that showed websites that loaded within two seconds had a bounce rate of only 9%. Pages that loaded within five seconds had a bounce rate of 38%. As the page speed increased, the bounce rate soared and reached up to 73%. All this to say that website page speed is very critical to a well structured web development process.

Mismatched Voice

What leads users away from your website include things like unclear voice and brand, so make sure you know your audience! It’s important to understand who you’re speaking to If you’re not sure, test and validate.

Difficult Navigation

Confusing navigation prevents visitors from having a smooth user journey, and decreases the discoverability of content deeper in your site. Disconnected, outdated and hidden information adds to confusion and frustration.

Overused Ads

Too many ads on some sites creates a bit of a turn off for some and slows down the performance of your website for everyone.

Too Much Text

Information overload is critical to recognize—marketing pages are different from resources and articles, and should be short and sweet. People really scan content rather than read long-winded sections, unless it’s an article page. Even then people still skim through for the most part.

Poor Design

Visual mistakes are critical to address, such as clashing colors, use of white space, disproportionate scale, no call to action or one that blends into the page.

Bad Mobile Experience

If your site is mostly used by consumers, it’s critical you have mobile-first design. Oftentimes the mobile experience is the least thought through, it’s important to prioritize above the fold content, make sure the call to action isn’t buried down the page, and that it loads quickly.

How Much Does it Cost to Hire a Web Design Company?

Website cost varies wildly. It can be anywhere from $2,000 – $100,000, depending on the size of the team, their experience, the number of custom-designed pages, and the complexity of its design and development.

Freelancer (website Cost of $2,000 – $10,000)

Pros:

• There’s a lower cost of services because of their low overhead.
• Speed – usually freelancers move quickly, make revisions faster, and because some like to work long hours means you might get your project done faster.
• Streamlined communication, since you’re dealing with one person. They may know your project better since information isn’t passed down from team member to team member.

Cons:

• They might be a junior, learning on the fly as oftentimes people freelance to get experience.
• Since they’re just one person, they aren’t going to be great at everything you need for a website, such as content writing, SEO, custom development, web design, etc.

Pro tip: If you have a limited budget, figure out the one service you need most and hire a freelancer that knocks it out of the park. For example if you care about web design the most, hire a freelancer that has a stellar design portfolio.

Offshore Agency (Website Cost of $10,000 – $35,000)

Pros:

• Usually you should be able to get more services for your buck.
• You’re providing opportunities to people that may live in a very poor environment.

Cons:

• Communication typically breaks down, especially if English is not their primary language.
• Setting meetings might be a challenge across different time zones.
• Need a refund? If you already paid them, don’t count on getting your money back.
• If hoping on a quick call to talk through an issue or a task is important, then hiring an offshore agency is prolly not the best fit.
• They may require more communication as you “tell them” how to build the website.
• If the site breaks, it might be days or weeks before it gets fixed.

Pro tip: Work out a payment plan that forces the company to deliver first. For example: pay 10% deposit to start, 30% after completion of the design phase, 30% after delivery of a functional website demo, remaining amount after going live.

US/ Western Europe Web Design Company (Website Cost of $20,000 – $100,000)

There are things to look for when trying to hire the best US web design company.

Pros:

• They speak English and should be able to communicate well.
• They typically have a dedicated project manager.
• They’ll bring a team of experienced experts.
• You get the ability to call and check their references, especially if they’re a US-based company.
• Most likely their work hours overlap with yours, which is always useful for meetings.
• They’re most likely a one stop shop for all your website project needs from SEO, branding and copywriting, to professional web design and website development.

Cons:

• A team member that may not speak english well, for example a developer that could lead to a lower quality developed website with lots of quality assurance bugs.
• A bigger budget is required.
• Your project start date might be pushed out as far as 1-3 months, and the timeline might take longer if the agency is well known.

Pro tip: Ask for team bios and their experience. Know who will handle your website from the project manager, strategy, to design and development.

Curious what your website cost might be?

If you’re dealing with a web design company, expect roughly a 12-16 week timeline. Make sure to also ask what the lead time might be for your project. Sometimes an agency can be really backed up for as much as 2-6 months. That is a significant amount of time to wait to start your website redesign project.

A freelancer might be able to turn something around much faster, in 6-10 weeks depending on their availability and lead time.

• Example: simple information site
  • https://commercial.chugach.com/
  • Timeline: 7 weeks
  • No SEO
  • 8 complex page templates
  • No copywriting services
• Example: enterprise-level marketing and conversion site
  • https://www.definedcrowd.com/
  • Timeline: 14 weeks
  • 14 Complex page templates
  • SEO
  • Resource center with Salesforce integration
  • Pardot integration, Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics, Google Search Console
  • Custom shopping cart for lead generation – Data Catalog 
  • High-end interactions, custom illustrations, and animations
  • Branding voice & tone

• Example: eCommerce site
  • https://hangrykits.com/
  • Timeline: 16 weeks
  • Build your kit – custom shopping cart with add-ons
  • 8 simple page templates
  • SEO
  • Copywriting
  • WooCommerce

See our in-depth article on Website Redesign Project Plan: The Ultimate Guide with Templates.

Start your search in Google or Clutch. Clutch is nice because it includes all web design companies globally. Most of those companies have a detailed background check such as business license(s), bankruptcy if any, judgment filings, business entity and jurisdiction, along with in-depth case studies written after Clutch conducts a phone interview with the client. The reviews cover quality, schedule, cost, willingness to refer, challenges, scope of the work, team, performance, areas they could improve, advice for future clients.

WEB DESIGN AGENCY	CLUTCH OR GOOGLE RATING	BUDGET	FOUNDED	SIZE	LOCATION
Razorfish	4.6/5	$25,000+	1995	20,000+	Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Deloitte Digital	4.7/5	$10,000+	--	9,000+	New York, New York, USA
Tiny Frog Technologies	4.9/5	$5,000+	2003	10 - 49	San Diego, California, USA
22squared	4.3/5	$10,000+	1922	350+	Atlanta, Gorgia, USA
Grey Global Group	4.5/5	$25,000+	--	2,400+	New York, USA
R/GA	--	$25,000+	1970	2500+	New York, USA
Huge	4.8/5	$25,000+	2000	1200+	Los Angeles, California, USA
Clay	4.8/5	$50,000+	2009	10 - 49	San Francisco, California, USA
Fresh Consulting	4.9/5	$50,000+	2007	200+	Bellevue, Washington, USA
360i	4.6/5	$10,000+	1998	250+	New York, USA
AKQA	--	$10,000+	1994	2,100+	San Francisco, California, USA
Cramer-Krasselt	--	$25,000+	--	250 - 999	Chicago, Illinois, USA
Conversant	--	$25,000+	1991	30 - 49	Boulder, Colorado, USA
Lounge Lizard	4.7/5	$25,000+	1998	10 - 49	New York, New York, USA
Huemor	4.7/5	$50,000+	2011	10 - 49	New York, New York, USA
Bachoo	4.9/5	$10,000+	2015	10 - 49	El Segundo, California, USA
3 Media Web	4.9/5	$25,000+	2001	10 - 49	Marlborough, MA, USA
Adchitects	4.9/5	$25,000+	2016	10 - 49	Poznań, Poland
Soda Web Media	5.0/5	$5,000+	2017	2-9	Atlanta, Gorgia, USA
Bop Design	4.9/5	$25,000+	2008	11-50	San Diego, California, USA
Thrive	4.9/5	$10,000+	2002	10 - 49	Seattle, WA, USA
Kobe Digital	4.9/5	$1,000+	--	10-49	Los Angeles, California, USA
WebFX	4.9/5	$1,000+	1995	250 - 999	Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, USA
Eight25Media	4.0/5	$25,000+	2011	50 - 249	San Jose, California, USA
Azuro Digital	5.0/5	$5,000+	2018	5+	Ottawa, Toronto, and Calgary (Canada)

1) Razorfish

Why? This long-running digital agency, acquired by Publicis Sapient in 2016, offers global creative design solutions from its 34 offices across five continents. Their clients include household names like Mercedes-Benz, Walmart, Southwest Airlines, and Audi.

Size: 20,000+
Founded: 1995
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Budget: $25,000+
Key Clients: Acura, SleepCountry, Days & Ross
Google Rating: 4.6/5

https://www.publicissapient.com/

2) Deloitte Digital

Why? Primarily a consultancy, this company also serves its clients as a technology firm and creative agency. Their integrated digital solutions include aspects like strategy, user experience, creative and development, carried out by teams of consultants.

Size: 9,000+
Founded: —
Location: New York, New York, USA
Budget: $10,000+
Key Clients: Acura, SleepCountry, Days & Ross
Google Rating: 4.7/5

https://www.deloittedigital.com/

3) 22squared

Why? As one of the nation’s top independent ad agencies, 22squared combines smarts, leadership, and creative talent to impact business and culture.

Size: 350+
Founded: 1922
Location: Atlanta, Gorgia, USA
Budget: $10,000+
Key Clients: AdCouncil, Baskin-Robbins, Dunkin’ Donuts, Publix Super Markets Inc., Southeast Toyota Distributors, and The Home Depot
Google Rating: 4.3/5

Clutch Profile
https://www.22squared.com/

4) Tiny Frog Technologies

Why? Founded in 2003, Tiny Frog is a San Diego web design agency, specializing in WordPress web design and development, and secured hosting and maintenance. They have 170+ five star reviews, a deep bench of expertise, work with affordable budgets, and have built over 1,100 websites.

Size: 20+
Founded: 2003
Location: San Diego, California, USA
Budget: $5,000+
Key Clients: Cox Communications, Lee & Associates, Sycuan, Rady Children’s Hospital, UCSD, Ken Blanchard Companies
Google My Business Rating: 4.9/5

Clutch Profile
https://tinyfrog.com/

5) Grey Global Group