Top Web Design Companies

What Is Web Design?

Web design is the creative process of conceptualizing, planning and creating the elements that create the look and feel of a website. It focuses on the style of the user interface (UI) - the visual representation displayed to users.

There are two facets to understanding what is web design: the front-end or the client interface and the back-end or the technical part of web design. While the front-end conveys the aesthetics, designs and navigation, the back-end includes the CMS (content management system), domain name, sitemap, hosting and more.

The web design industry is quite a lucrative sector with the market growing to worth over $40 billion in the U.S. as of date. With this information laid out, it means that brands and businesses continue to seek agencies and line up for web design services worldwide due to the demand.

Web Design vs. Website Development: What Is The Difference?

Web design is focused on user experience (UX) and layout optimization, which can be an attractive creative solution for your brand. In the web design process, elements used are graphics and illustrations, most often by expert illustrators or experienced UX/UI designers.

Web development is the process of converting a web design into a functional website. This undertaking includes front-end and back-end developers who use programming languages like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, etc., to code the mockup created by web designers and build technically feasible and smooth-operating websites.

So, these are the key ways to differentiate points between web design vs. website development, and a good way to conclude what expertise your upcoming project needs.

What Is A Web Design Company?

A web design company is an agency that specializes in creating and maintaining professional websites to help brands reach their audiences and accelerate online growth.

They engage in different processes, visualize, plan and create a collection of electronic files that control all the visual elements on your site to provide your visitors with an engaging user experience.

In other words, web design companies are in charge of the aesthetics of:

• Layout
• Graphics
• Images
• Structure
• Colors
• Text styles
• Content

Their job is to make your website fully-functional by ensuring it is interactive, easy to navigate and compatible with different devices.

There are less than 2 billion active websites and the number is constantly increasing as businesses are discovering the benefits of a professionally designed and developed websites.

What Do Website Design Agencies Do?

Website design agencies create the outward-facing interface of a website.

They first design the layout, format and structure, called the wireframe. Then, they take that wireframe and add colors, images and typography, typically in Photoshop.

Once completed, these companies will present their designs as static images to the clients. Once these are approved, they move into the web development phase.

Website design agencies are often confused for web development companies, the firms that write code and build the website.

However, a web design company is more like a graphic design agency rather than a software development company.

What Are The Different Types Of Web Design Companies?

We can divide web design companies into several categories based on:

• The services they offer: Some agencies offer full custom web design services whereas others choose to particularly specialize in:
  
  • Design: These experts are in charge of the graphics and the layout.
  • Development: They handle the programming of the website.
  • Marketing: They take care of analytics, SEO and website content.
  • IT: They are responsible for the website’s hosting.
• The platforms they use: Website design agencies are qualified in designing websites with various platforms such as Shopify, WordPress or Drupal.
• The type of businesses they work with: Various web design companies choose to focus on small business websites while others tend to provide services for large corporations.
• The industries they serve: Different companies also choose to design websites within a specific niche whereas others have varied industry experiences.

How Much Do Web Design Companies Charge For Their Services?

Top web design companies typically charge:

An Hourly Fee

Charging employees by the hour is the most common form of invoicing.

If you’re hiring a top web design company in the US, that could cost you between $100-$175 per hour.

Overseas, those experts’ fees tend to be lower and range between $55-$75 per hour.

A Fee Per Project

When it comes to the cost per project, website prices differ starting from $1,000 and going up to $100,000, sometimes even more.

A few factors that will influence this cost are:

• The number of pages
• The number of components and features you need
• The complexity of the design

Per project invoicing is beneficial for brands that need a variety of separate website projects created.

A Results-Based Fee

For results-based billing, agencies and clients will determine specific key performance indicators that need to be reached in order for payment to be issued.

These may include:

• Higher search engine rankings
• Increased website traffic
• More conversions

A Flat Fee

Charging a monthly or yearly flat fee is common for brands that need an agency on a retainer. They are often used for periodic consulting or website management.

Flat fee-based agencies often help improve:

• System updates
• Integration management
• SEO
• And more

5 Reasons To Hire A Website Design Company

Here are the top five reasons to consider when partnering with a professional web design company:

Reason #1: Better First Impression

Businesses have as little as 7 seconds to make a first impression. (Forbes)

Your website is probably the first element that your audience will see when they search for your products or services online.

And, if they don’t like what they find when they land on some of your pages, they won’t even make the effort to read your content or consider making a purchase.

In today’s world, your frontend design is your storefront. The way your website looks reflects your brand and your offering.

A professional website design company in the US will create a high-performance website that will impress your audience, make it engage and convert.

Reason #2: Increased Credibility

90% of users bounce from a website that is badly designed. (HubSpot)

People know how to make judgments and this number highlights that they don’t trust sites that are poorly designed.

On the other hand, a website that is fully functional and has a compelling design entices visitors to stay longer, affecting your ranking in search and the influx of organic traffic.

Professional design also enhances your brand’s credibility and builds trust among your prospects which creates an opportunity to capture these leads and convert them.

Web design companies in the United States employ top-notch designers who understand what best practices work for specific businesses and industries. So, they can make all the difference, bringing your company the desired results. 

Reason #3: Enhanced Mobile Experience

Mobile devices generated 51.53% of the total website traffic in the second quarter of 2020. (Statista)

The number of users who access websites from their mobile devices is constantly increasing. This is why it is more important than ever to have a site that is mobile responsive.

Having a website that is not compatible with smartphones and tablets means a site that is not well functional. Its layout, images, fonts and other visual elements will not be displayed properly which will result in higher bounce rates.

A professional website design company offers professional services and builds websites that run smoothly on different devices. By providing you with a mobile-friendly website, they will help you to improve user experience and capture more conversions.

Reason #4: Improved Search Engine Rankings

SolarWinds conducted research to see if page speed really affects bounce rates. The results were quite interesting:

• Pages that loaded within two seconds had a bounce rate of 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%.

Page loading time is one of the key ranking factors of search engines including Google.

Unlike websites that load slowly and make visitors bounce, a site that loads fast makes users stay and open more of its pages.

This decreases the bounce rates and increases the dwell time which is a sign of good user experience.

Google ranks those pages that load fast because it wants to provide searchers with user-friendly results.

A website design agency will deliver you a website that runs fast and smoothly by:

• Ensuring all the images have the right size
• Eliminating unnecessary plugins
• Minimizing HTTP requests
• Reducing redirects
• Improving server response time
• And more

Reason #5: Outperforming Competition

The difference between building a website on your own by using free builders and considering professional custom web design services is in the competitive advantage you can take.

To get a step ahead of your competition you need to launch a website that is authentic and much more appealing than theirs.

Top web design companies not only have access to premium tools and technologies but they are always on top of the latest trends. So, they can build a cutting-edge site with which you will be able to challenge your competitors.

Top Signs That You Need To Hire A Website Design Agency

Having a website is no longer enough.

The competition is fierce, so the only way to stand out is to have a site that attracts attention and provides visitors with an intuitive user experience.

Here are the top signs that you definitely need to invest in custom web design services:

• You have an outdated website design: Having an outdated site can hurt your SEO and make it difficult for users to find it or use it. Professional United States web design companies are always on top of the latest trends and understand the best practices that can improve user experience. They can give your website a fresh look and maintain it properly.
• You are far behind your competition: A website design company has access to premium and expensive tools that provide them meaningful data on your brand performance, audience and competition. So, based on these analytical reports they can create effective strategies and push you a step ahead of your competitors.
• You are not hitting the expected sales: Web design companies have innovative skills, technical knowledge and they offer unique and proven areas of expertise in website building. So, they can bring you the desired results and meet your expectations.

How To Choose The Best Website Design Company

Here are a few steps to consider that will help you select the top website design company for your business:

Step #1: Determine The Type Of Website You Need

There are many types of websites, such as:

• Informational
• Social Media
• eCommerce
• Blog or magazine
• And more

Determine which type of website you need and the objectives you’d like to reach through your site to find the best website designers that specialize in exactly what you need to succeed.

Step #2: Create A Budget And Understand Pricing

Before you start meeting with the prospective web design companies, determine the amount that you are truly able to spend on your website.

Once you solidify your budget, search for the best web design companies that can:

• Operate within your budget.
• Provide a return on investment.

Step #3: Check Out A Web Design Company’s Portfolio & Case Studies

A website design agency’s portfolio and case studies are clear indicators of their ability to build successful platforms and deliver results. Look for factors like:

• Industry experience
• Experience solving similar business problems
• Incorporating innovations, trends and ideas

Pro Tip: The most important quality to look for in a website design agency’s case studies is their experience solving similar business growth problems as yours, regardless of industry.

Step #4: Understand How A Web Design Agency Formulates Processes And Ensures Results

Take the time to understand how a web design agency creates an organized process and ensures you receive an ROI.

Make sure you learn:

• Who will be working on your team, what their qualifications are and how much time will be dedicated to your project
• Who your point of contact will be
• What the key performance indicators will be and how often they will be tracked
• How often you will have meetings, calls and receive reports
• How long the best web design company will monitor your site’s performance

10 Questions To Ask Web Design Companies Before Hiring One

The following questions will help you understand the top web design companies’ offerings and help you decide if they are the right fit to grow your business online:

1. Who will be working on the project and what is their experience?
2. What web design, development or additional services do you offer?
3. How do you stay in-the-know about the latest trends?
4. Can you share some successful case studies and portfolio items? Why were they successful?
5. Do you have any experience in our industry, market or solving a similar business problem?
6. What is the organizational process of a website design project?
7. Do you incorporate SEO optimization in website projects? Do you have an in-house expert?
8. How often will you measure results and what metrics will you use?
9. How much do your services cost and should we expect any additional fees?
10. Do you offer long-term support and website maintenance post-launch?

The Principles of Web Design

Web design is a unique process that creates one-of-a-kind and impactful compositions, where brand values and audience are guiding them. The key principles of web design are as follows:

#1. Readable Fonts

These exemplify your company’s brand personality and grab your target audience’s attention.

#2. Negative Space

Also known as the ‘blank space’ or ‘white space’, this refers to the empty area between the visual elements. It can be used to draw attention to important content and increase text readability, which creates a seamless user experience.

#3. Design Consistency

It is important to maintain the visuals elements such as fonts, colors, and icons consistent throughout the web pages. This gives your website a professional and polished look that boosts the brand’s credibility.

#4. Page Navigation

A well-designed website navigation creates a streamlined and relaxing experience for the user. This can take different forms, such as a drop-down, sticky or sidebar menu and must work well on both desktop and mobile devices.

#5. Optimized Buttons

Call-to-action buttons are an indispensable part of your web design. If they are positioned properly, the user will continue to navigate your site. Being an effective design element to capture leads, the CTAs should stand out and clearly communicate the actions you want the user to take.

The Key Elements of Web Design

Every website has a specific set of web design elements that create an overall attractive and user-friendly website. Below are some of the key elements designers can play around with:

#1. Navigation Area

When it comes to navigating through the site, designers opt for different types of menus such as hamburger menus with a long list of options that the user can choose from, or the menu bar that is designed horizontally at the top of a page. The navigation area takes the visitors directly to where they want to go, providing them with a clear path.

#2. Hero Section

As the key visual, hero images should be responsive and engaging, with a strong visual experience that can encourage the user to stay on the website. This goes for product images as well, which must be high-quality so they can concretely communicate your company’s business.

Similar principles apply for background videos that automatically start playing on the website, as these can be used to tell a story about your brand.

#3. Featured Videos

Other visual elements include featured videos, which can highlight a particular service, product, a project, or a niche-related activity. Short and enticing, these are often explainer videos informing the audience what a company does, what they are selling and how to use their service or product. This positively impacts the potential clients’ purchasing decisions.

#4. Sliders & Carousels

Carousels and sliders are functional web design elements that show photos or product features in a slideshow. They can be controlled both manually and automatically. The difference is that the sliders display only one slide at a time, and carousels allow multiple slides at the same time.

#5. Cards

With cards on a web page, visitors can consume the content bit by bit, without being overwhelmed. The designer breaks the content into different cards, thematically composed, and serves them to the users who can choose a clearly defined theme behind each of the cards. This element is popular in B2B and B2C websites because it provides the viewer with digestible information on products and services.

The Most Popular Web Design Tools

There is a wide range of web design tools and software to choose from when designing a website. The three main types of software are code-free, code editing, and ones for prototypes and mockups that can be both code-edited or code-free.

Some of the most popular are:

• Graphic editing: Photoshop, Illustrator, DrawPlus, Affinity and more
• Color scheme: Adobe Color CC and more
• Typography: Adobe Typekit and more
• Prototyping: Balsamiq, Axure, Figma, Moqups and more

Web Design RFP: What To Include & Why It's Important

A Web Design RFP (request for proposal) is a document that determines whether a potential web design company is a good fit for one’s business needs, requirements and budget.

An RFP document is used to notify a professional agency about:

• Project availability
• Project requirements

Based on these project parameters, the vendors are able to assess the project and understand what information to respond with which allows them to provide a proposal for each specific client.

When businesses need a website, they should put together a request for proposal and send it to several potential vendors.

Then the website design agencies will send proposal solutions that will include the website:

• Timeline
• Scope of work
• Cost

A properly written web design RFP will:

• Provide key insights into the agencies’ capabilities and expertise
• Allow for more accurate quotes
• Clarify project goals and functionalities
• Determine project constraints

A typical RFP document contains the following aspects:

• Company background: The goal of this section is to provide a brief description of your company and the industry you operate in.
• Project overview: In this part, you should provide a specific evaluation of your current website, if you already have one. Share your strengths and weaknesses and be clear about the problems you face. Then, share your reasons why you need a new website.
• Target audience: Tell prospective web design companies who your target audience is. Be as specific as you can since the more your partner knows about your potential customers the better vision they can develop of how your website can serve its intended users.
• Project scope, new functionalities and deliverables: Here, you will list the required pages, functionalities and features of your new website. These deliverables may range from typography to copywriting and images. So, make sure you set clear requirements and provide all the types of services you will need.
• Website examples: This section contains examples and inspiration of some websites you like. Include links and describe which functionalities you particularly like (or don’t like) and how they might make your website better. You can also include examples of your competitors within your industry.
• Budget: In this section, you will provide the budget you can allocate for the project. This is a key factor for website design agencies to gauge their interest, so make sure you list it early in this formal document. Your budget will allow the prospective partners to recommend specific solutions but also help them understand how they can allocate their resources and time the best.
• Timeline and deadline: Here, you should tell web design companies when you expect the project to be delivered. Make sure you consider the complexity and size of your website and set a realistic deadline.

Takeaways On Web Design Companies

The top website designing company in the USA offers high-quality services and it can provide you with a cutting-edge website that stands out and beats the competition.

These experts not only create fully functional but also appealing sites that can:

• Retain your audience
• Increase your brand’s credibility
• Enhance user experience
• Improve your search engine rankings

To pick the right website design agencies, set a budget and think about your goals and requirements.

Then, visit the companies’ websites and consider their reviews, portfolios and industry experience.

Finally, don’t forget to ask the right questions since they may be of key importance in finding a partner that can meet your needs.

But before you return to the table, here are a few last tips to consider that will also make your search easier:

• Warranty: Your website should come without any bugs, errors or code issues. So, ask website design agencies whether they can provide you with a contract that includes product quality clauses.
• Post-launch services: Your website will also need updating and maintaining which is why you should ensure the web design company you pick will be there for support after the project ends.

Best of luck!

…

Scroll Up To Find The Top Web Design Company!