Looking For the Best Web Design Companies?

Needless to say, we didn’t choose our top web design companies at random. We employed strictly defined criteria to ensure we selected only the best of the best and our final choices are a result of careful thought and consideration. Read on to find out exactly what criteria drove our decisions.

Sure, you probably have some ideas of your own as to what your website should look like, but those are often just outlines. Website design companies worth their salt will need to have fresh ideas to support those outlines and turn them into a final product. This is especially true of web design service providers who also handle marketing, as getting the word out and grabbing the audience’s attention nowadays takes some serious advertising and promoting skills.

At the end of the day the most important benchmark of good web design – user experience, will make or break your site. Above all, a website design company must be able to create usable and functional websites. One in three people are likely to leave your website if they can’t find the information they’re looking for, and many will groan at the sight of their screen enlarging when they try to click on a button. Ultimately, if a web design firm cannot create a user interface that isn’t frustrating for the customer to use, find another one.

Last year the mobile share in total online traffic was around 52%. What’s more, analysts predict that by the end of the year this number is likely to increase to 79%. Pretty interesting figures, don’t you think?

What this means is that more people will be browsing the internet on their mobile phones than on computers. This also implies that your site must be responsive/mobile-friendly in order to keep up with the times. Ultimately, any site that doesn’t work well on a mobile device will see their traffic decline rapidly. This is why the best web design agencies include mobile development and mobile app development as a way for sites to stay relevant.

But wait, that’s not all! There’s also a big difference between sites that are mobile-friendly vs. responsive websites. Mobile-friendly sites function on any device but display in the same manner as they would on a computer. This leads to users having to zoom in on different pieces of text or images to see them correctly.

On the other hand there’s responsive sites. Responsive sites adjust for the pixel-width of a mobile screen while preserving all the content. These sites are, perhaps, superior in some aspects to mobile-friendly ones, as they don’t require zooming, and are perfectly readable on both PCs and mobiles.

So what does this mean for web design agencies? It mandates they be able to handle both types of design. Depending on the client, the needs may differ and it’s important for a web developer to assess who will be viewing this content and through which mediums, adjusting the process accordingly. As of now, the numbers seem to be in favor of responsive design. 

As a client, one of the most important things to consider when choosing one of these web design companies is what kind of platform the designer uses, or rather, what kind of platform they specialize in. Most commonly, web designers specialize in WordPress, Drupal, or even use their own custom CMS. Different platforms cost differently, based on their complexity, and will also affect how quickly the project is completed.

And that’s not all—depending on the platform, it will be more or less complex to edit the data. Top web design companies provide training, so you can later modify the data yourself on the platform. This will come at an additional cost, so be sure to take that into consideration.

This mighth seem like a silly question, but it’s actually a very serious matter. Companies sometimes outsource their work, and it can be a very touchy topic. Why? Because it can create various problems. You might experience inexplicable delays, and discrepancies can arise between the quality of the company’s previous projects and the one they’re doing for you, not to mention many other small problems and oddities.

The truth is, many web design companies in the USA outsource their work because they can’t handle all the projects they’ve accepted. In addition, the company you’ve selected might not even be in the US in the first place. For most clients, it’s to work with an onshore company than an offshore one, but the reality is that offshore companies don’t necessarily provide lower quality services than onshore ones. The main thing is knowing who you’re collaborating with in order to avoid confusion and mishaps.

In addition to knowing who you’re working with and where they’re located, you need to see how responsive they are. This depends on the location of the company, but also its size. Top web design companies in the USA with extensive client lists might take more time to respond, while smaller ones might devote all their attention to you. If it’s an overseas company you’re dealing with, and in a different time zone, they might not respond to your inquiries right away. However, most companies like to leave a good and lasting impression on their clients, so they will be fairly responsive.

Finally, the best way to see how responsive web design companies are is to call a meeting with them in person. If they accept a meeting with you, that’s already an excellent start and can give you some more clues about who they are and what they’re about. That’s why you invite people to business interviews in the first place, right?

Okay, so you’ve got your site up and running, but what happens if you want to make some changes to it? This is where your web developer comes in. Top web design firms usually provide some kind of support for new sites. They are usually happy to do any revisions if your team doesn’t have the required knowledge, at a price, of course. Developers that don’t do revisions should, at least, train your staff to work the platform themselves.

One of the best indicators of a company’s worth is their portfolio. Looking at their portfolio, you can determine what these web design firms have worked on, the scope of their projects, what they specialize in, whether they provide training and support, and a lot of other useful information. Most importantly, a portfolio can show you how experienced a company is and how well they stick to deadlines.

Anyone can create a pretty portfolio, but disappointed customers don’t lie. One of the best ways to determine if a company is worth your time is to look at customer reviews and, more importantly, testimonials. This way you’ll not only find out more about how skillful the company is, but also how well they treat their clients, how responsive they are, and pretty much all the things we talked about above.

However, one must be careful too. Too often, begrudging clients will slander the good name of a company because they didn’t get what they wanted yet failed to explain what they wanted in the first place.

The final criterion we take into consideration is the pricing. This one is a little tricky, as different companies value their services differently. However, there are some standards, and you can always compare a company’s pricing with these standards.

While looking at prices, you must also differentiate between companies that charge you by project and the ones that charge per hour. The best designing companies in the USA here on our list charge their clients an hourly rate, and the prices usually range between $100 and $200 per hour. However, there are companies that charge more or less than that. Pricing isn’t always the clearest indicator of a company’s quality, but it can be a deciding factor, based on your budget and expectations.

Alright, so you’ve got your best web design company list you’ve evaluated all the deciding criteria, and you’re ready to make your choice. What should you do before you actually proceed with hiring? Here are a few steps to follow.

Some clients want the works, and some already did some of the work. If you’re the latter, send what you have over to your company of choice. If you’ve already got a logo, send your company the source file so they can include it on your website.

This is extremely important for eCommerce website design companies since they need to start building your brand right from the start. If you’ve also got some minor graphics you’d like to include, send them over right away so the developer can plan out what goes where and avoid unnecessary complications and delays.

You can’t go into business without knowing who you want to target. Furthermore, if your agency doesn’t know what your business is or what you do, they cannot help you, even if they’re one of the top web development companies in the world. So prepare your own portfolio, and tell your agency who you are, what you do, why you’re doing it, and who your target audience is.

This is pretty self-explanatory, isn’t it? Going into business, you’ll probably have a few ideas about how you want to advertise your product/service, and what you would like your design to look like, but be open to suggestions offered by the professionals. After all, that’s why you’re here looking for a web design company, looking at the names on this list.

Don’t you hate it when you’re about to walk out the door on Friday and your boss says, “Wait, wait, wait, I need you to do just this one thing for me”? Well, that’s probably how developers feel when you’re adding new things, tacking them on once the site’s finished. Prepare all the extra things you need beforehand, because, as we mentioned in step one, it will help avoid unnecessary delays when launching your site.

Top web design agencies will easily add those extras, but first-class service comes with a price. Furthermore, this extra stuff (like banners and landing pages), isn’t usually included in the price, so if you don’t want to get slapped with a larger than expected bill, tell your agency what you want to add on time so they can work out the price.

There’s no need to tell you how important this step is. Having a defined budget and time frame demonstrates your professionalism and shows your preferred best design agency that you’re a client worth having. Remember, they have every right to turn you down if they decide you’re not organized or serious enough.