Professional looking websites build company’s reputation, generate more business and ensure smooth cash flow. The website design is very important for the company’s appeal. Since most businesses are moving online, the importance of web design in business will exponentially grow in the next couple of years.
That is why choosing a reliable web design company is one of the most important preconditions for building a successful digital business operation. This guide will show you how to pick the top web design companies and negotiate projects with a professional web design studio.
Options for choosing the top web design companies and independent designers
If you want to start an online business operation, you have several options for designing your website. You can do it yourself. We don’t recommend you this option if you are not a professional web designer. Still, if you choose to do this for saving money or learning more about web design and development, our How to Build Your Own Website from Scratch guide can be very helpful.
The second option is to hire a freelance web designer. You can find many freelance web design professionals on Upwork, Fiver and 99Design. Still, the biggest disadvantage of hiring a freelance web designer lies in the fact that in most cases they don’t provide any guarantee for their work. When it comes to prices, beginner freelance designers will charge you less, but hiring more experienced professionals can cost more than choosing a proper web design studio. The reason for this is the high commission on most freelance marketplaces. For example, Upwork is taking 20% from each contract.
The third and in our opinion the best option is choosing a reliable web design company. In this guide, we will explain you the process of selecting and negotiating with the top web design companies. You will learn how to find them online, check their portfolios and packages and avoid getting ripped off.
Where can you find a reliable web design company?
The best way to find a reliable web design studio is through word of mouth. Ask your friends and fellow entrepreneurs to recommend you a designer with whom they have worked with in the past. When searching for recommendations, try to get as much information as possible. Ask the person who is giving the reference about their relationship with the web design company, their previous work, prices they have paid, etc.
If you don't have people to recommend you a reliable web design studio, your search will be much more complicated. Start from Google Search or specialized portfolio networks like Behance. If you search for the ‘top web design companies' in Google, you will find dozens of articles that list world-famous web design agencies. Bear in mind that most of these studios are based in Western countries, and they can be costly.
Benefits of hiring an offshore web design studio
That is why your best bet would be finding an offshore web design studios. They usually provide the same level of knowledge and experience, at a much lower price. Today, when video calls and collaboration apps can provide full connectivity to remote teams and employees, decreasing your cost by hiring an offshore agency is the best choice you make.
Virtual Spirit offers professional services, provided by our talented web design team, at competitive offshore prices. So, you don’t need to look any further. You can find more information on our web design page.
Carefully read the description on web design company website
Most agencies have a particular page on their site that explains web design services. If these pages don't offer the adequate amount of information avoid hiring the company. The first thing you should look for on the web design company website is the agency's portfolio.
Every web design studio needs to present its portfolio to the website readers. Bear in mind that companies only list highly successful projects in their portfolios, so if the portfolio seems thin, you can ask them to share more projects with you. You can also contact some of their portfolio references and inquire about the quality of their design work.
If some of the portfolio references are not satisfied with their work, notify the agency and give them the chance to explain. While doing this, don't mention your sources because that would be truly unprofessional.
Investigate each package web design company offers
Before hiring a web design company, you should ask about the exact contents of their packages. Always request a quote on whole jobs and watch out for the web designer who charges their services by the page. The package should also include one or a few updates after the work is done. Some companies are also ready to provide you with great update and maintenance packages, but you should check whether they are included in the basic price, or charged extra.
Find web design studio ‘s employees on LinkedIn and Behance
The easiest way to evaluate company's expertise is to check each employee individually. First, ask the company to introduce you to its most prominent designers and then find their work on Behance. You can also check their job history and most important projects on LinkedIn. If the web design company also employs photographers, find their shots on Flickr.
Check whether the web design studio keeps the intellectual property
This is probably the most important part of the future deal. Before hiring a web design studio, you need to ensure that all of the design work will be filed under your company name and that you will be the sole owners of the designs you paid for. You can choose whether you will allow the web design studio to list your project in their portfolio (there is no reason not to), but by becoming an owner of the intellectual property, you will make sure that you won't need to pay extra fees after your contract ends.
We hope that our guide will help you to find a reliable web design company. You should also check out Virtual Spirit portfolio and make sure that you hire the web design studio that offers the best value for money and can turn your idea into memorable web design solutions.
