Given how essential web design is for businesses—you can’t do much without a web presence—it would be safe to assume that the process of creating a website would be less complicated, not more. Unfortunately, between digital strategy, UX and product design, interface design and development and mobile and tablet versions, the list of web design sites and services you can enlist to get a standout website seems to be growing everyday.
The good news is that there are services that make web design much easier and more affordable, provided you know where to look. We’ve done the work of sifting through the internet’s endless resources to round up some of the best web design sites and services for different needs and preferences.
*Please note: because the scale of web design projects vary, most design firms do not disclose prices but give quotes on a project-to-project basis. The prices given for the firms listed below are estimates based on research done by Clutch.
Table of Contents
—
- Resources for planning a web design
- Resources for designing a website
- Resources to support your completed web design
Before we dive into our top picks for the best web design sites and services, it’s important to note that this is far from an exhaustive list. The internet is a big place, and there are a seemingly infinite amount of companies to choose from. For this article, we searched for the highest rated sites, making sure to represent variety in location, services and pricing tiers, all while keeping the article concise and to the point—we know you don’t have all day. Consider this a place to start; it’s always wise to do some additional comparing and contrasting yourself.
Best sites to find and compare web design services
—
If you’re unsure of where to begin looking, why not do what we did in preparation for this article? We scoured the internet for reputable sources that vet web design companies and compared their rankings with user reviews. With that said, here are the best sites to find and compare web design services.
Clutch
Clutch is a website that conducts market research, including phone interviews with agencies and their past customers, to collect vetted information in one place and make hiring B2B firms much easier. You can view lists and stats on everything from marketing agencies to web and app development firms all in one place, and their site boasts data on over 150,000 firms.
Specialties
Agency data that includes marketing and advertising, software development, web/app design, IT
Pricing
Free
The Manifest
The Manifest, Clutch’s sister company, is an online publication that provides resources and how-to’s for businesses navigating the tech industry. Most importantly, their annual top 100 shortlists (like this list on web design) are a great place to find verified statistics and information on web design firms to hire.
Specialties
Agency shortlists and informational guides on digital marketing, web design and development, software development, app design and development
Pricing
Free
sitejabber
Sitejabber is a website that collects user reviews for online businesses and web services. While the insight you’ll find here isn’t vetted (anyone can post a review), once you’ve made a shortlist of businesses this can be a great secondary resource to check to see what real users are saying about them. Sitejabber even has a browser extension that allows you to see reviews as you shop.
Specialties
User reviews for online businesses
Pricing
Best digital strategy and consulting services
—
Web design can be a costly and exhausting process. Imagine going through it to find that your design not only missed the mark, but you weren’t aiming for the right target to begin with. You might think you know what your website is supposed to accomplish, but that doesn’t guarantee this is going to match your users’ exceptions. This is why it’s critical to start your web design process with a solid digital strategy.
While digital strategy largely resides in the business consulting realm, it influences how the design will look and function. A good consultant will perform the target audience research, competitor research, brand audits and more to help you articulate what problem your website will solve and construct tangible goals for your design. Most designers will do this as a part of their design process, but if it’s within your budget and if your website stands to be fairly complex, it’s worthwhile to consider hiring a professional who specializes in digital strategy. While it is best to complete this step before you get a web design, you can always hire a consultant to audit your existing website and strategy.
TalMix
TalMix is an online portal connecting hiring managers to a global network of business talent who are available for hire on a contract or permanent basis. You set up an account, upload your project details and TalMix’s algorithm matches you with a list of job seekers that meet your criteria. Their talent vetting process requires “extensive senior level industry experience” and “strong academic credentials.”
Specialties
General high end business consulting
Location
London, UK
Top clients
Staples, A&M, Foresters, Coople
Pricing
Varies depending on the talent (priced in pounds)
Undisclosed platform fees
Graphite
Graphite is an online service that connects business owners with business consultants. You create an account, describe your project and Graphite’s account managers will curate a list of prospects for you to interview. Although the vetting process is not made explicit, their site boasts that only 1 in 20 candidates make it through and 65% have advanced degrees.
Specialties
Business strategy and consulting, marketing, IT, data science
Location
San Francisco and New York
Top clients
Danaher, Sephora, Gilead, Sequoia, NEC
Pricing
Varies depending on the talent
Undisclosed platform fees
Expert360
Expert360 is an Australian-based consulting platform that provides business talent for everyone from startups to enterprise clients. Once you create an account and post a project, you will be automatically matched to a list of candidates. Though Expert360 does vet its talent, including reference checks and phone interviews, there seems to be more variety in expertise and pricing than TalMix or Graphite.
Specialties
Business strategy and market research, IT, sales and marketing, operations
Location
Sydney, Australia
Top clients
Coca-cola, Uber, Virgin, Metcash
Pricing
Varies depending on the talent
15-20% platform fees
Best UX design services
—
UX (user experience) design is an important step for planning how users will interact with your site. While digital strategy can help you come up with big picture goals for your website, a UX designer will provide a skeleton for exactly how your website will fit together and how its information will be relayed piece-by-piece for users. These wireframes will essentially provide the roadmap for the visual design of your website to follow.
>> See a roundup of our favorite freelance UX designers here >>
Though UX design is much more critical for apps than general web design, if your website includes user functions such as profile management, shopping and messaging, you have functionality befitting UX expertise.
Qubstudio
Qubstudio is a UX firm whose founders share a background in traditional design and branding, though these days they focus on delivering user experiences. They manage to be affordable for small and mid-market businesses while still delivering highly rated, top-notch quality services.
Specialties
UX/UI design
Location
Lviv, Ukraine
Top clients
Oracle, Finova Financial, Scoutbee, SoftServe
Pricing
$50 – $99 per hour
$10,000 project minimum
Momentum Design Lab
Momentum Design Lab is a UX studio that boasts Silicon Valley expertise with a global mindset. Their design process lasts between 16 and 32 weeks and includes every step from UX strategy to product realization.
Specialties
UX/UI design, digital strategy
Location
San Mateo, CA
Top clients
Ticketmaster, Sony, Toyota, AT&T, Verizon
Pricing
$150 – $199 per hour
$25,000 project minimum
Brave UX
Brave UX is a studio that prides itself on being brave enough to make tough choices on the behalf of users. Their singular focus on user experience lends itself to the design of complex apps, making them a great choice if your web design will need to incorporate higher levels of user functionality.
Specialties
UX/UI design
Location
Washington, D.C.
Top clients
AOL, Marriott, Royal Caribbean, Discovery
Pricing
$200 – $300 per hour
$50,000 project minimum
Best web design template sites and website builders
—
When it comes to building a website, the easiest and cheapest option by far is to use a template from a website builder platform. These sites allow you to simply choose a theme, drag and drop images, enter text and have a finished working website within a matter of hours.
>> See a roundup of the best website builders here >>
If that sounds too good to be true, there are significant drawbacks. A template inherently means that customization is limited and your site will have a generic look, often the exact same look as the thousands of other businesses that have used the same template. Template sites also rarely offer anything beyond basic functionality. But aside from these negatives, the site builder option can act as a great temporary solution if you don’t yet have the budget for something more extravagant, and you certainly can’t fault these platforms for their ease and speed of use. With all that said, here are the few template sites that break the mold. Read more about the differences between website builders and web designers here.
Squarespace
Squarespace is a website builder that offers sleek design templates and speedy results no matter whether you are building a blog, a professional website or an online store. They also make it possible to integrate third party apps and tools to your template to cover your bases if you need extra functionality. Plus, you can work with a Squarespace Expert to get a custom web design.
Specialties
Portfolio, blog, and online store templates
Location
Online, global offices
Top clients
Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, Danny Bowien, BRRCH
Pricing
$16 per month for personal plan
$26 per month for a business plan
$30 per month for basic ecommerce
$46 per month for advanced ecommerce
Shopify
Shopify is a website builder that offers shopping cart and point-of-sale technology along with flexible templates for your online store. While many template site builders include some form of ecommerce option, Shopify excels for being primarily focused on ecommerce and even includes built-in marketing tools to track and promote your store.
Specialties
Ecommerce and point-of-sale technology
Location
Online, global offices
Top clients
Staples, Lindt, LeSportsac, Hawkers
Pricing
$29 per month for basic plan
$79 per month for standard plan
$299 per month for advanced plan
Best sites to find a freelance web designer
—
Freelancer platforms put the diverse services, pricing, and design sensibilities of a global freelance design community right at your fingertips. These are web design sites in which freelance designers join, often through strict vetting, display their portfolios and skills and browse for jobs posted by clients. Freelance web designers are often much cheaper than your typical agency, yet they can still offer the trend-setting design work that beats out any template web design builder.
The great thing about freelance sites is that the sheer number of available freelancers gives you access not only to web and UX design but additional website assets such as custom illustration, lettering, photography, copywriting and more all in the same place.
99designs
99designs is a global creative platform where freelance designers and business owners connect and do work online. Clients can work two ways on 99designs: 1) work with a freelancer 1-to-1 in a secure project space or 2) launch a web design contest in which multiple freelancers submit custom proposals at once and the client chooses a winning design. The contest method gives the client a number of web design options to choose from (and the chance to develop contacts with multiple designers for future projects) while the project method allows clients and designers to set their own prices, terms and deliverables.
The freelancers on 99designs include web and app designers in addition to all kinds of creative fields, from branding to custom art. Each designer must apply to join the platform, and applicants are vetted for their background, experience, and the quality of their work samples. All in all, 99designs gives clients access to a wide range of talented freelance designers at affordable prices.
Specialties
Web design, app design, logo and branding, email design, landing page design, icon and button design, illustration, book cover design, business and advertising design
Location
Online, global offices
Top clients
Quiznos, Docker, Univision, Draft Kings
Pricing
$599 – $2,499 for a web design contest
Varies for each individual freelancer project (usually within a similar price range as a contest)
Toptal
Toptal is a freelancer portal that prides itself on its stringent vetting process, boasting talent made up of the top 3%. While this does add a great deal of security to the quality of candidates, it also adds a heftier price tag. Toptal is mainly tech-focused, which can make it a great place to contract upper tier web designers and developers.
Specialties
Web design, app design, UX design, software development, product management
Location
Online, global offices
Top clients
Airbnb, Bridgestone, Motorola, Gucci, University of Southern California
Pricing
Varies based on the freelancer
Estimated $2,400 – $4,800+ a week for a full-time freelance designer
Estimated $2,000 – $4,800+ a week for a full-time freelance developer
Upwork
Upwork is a general freelancer platform where clients can post jobs and freelancers can apply for them with their portfolios. On the upside of Upwork, their freelance categories encompass a wide range—everything from copywriting to accounting. On the downside, Upwork’s vetting process leaves much to be desired: a computer algorithm automatically rates freelancers based on job success as opposed to the quality of their design work. This means that while Upwork offers a wide variety of freelance services, the onus is largely on you to verify the quality of those services.
>> See an in depth comparison of 99designs vs. Upwork here >>
Specialties
Almost any type of freelance work imaginable
Location
Online
Top clients
Microsoft, General Electric, Bissell, Automattic
Pricing
Varies based on the freelancer
Best full-service web design firms
—
Web design firms are fully-staffed operations that will often take a more holistic approach to your website design. Working with an agency like this typically includes market research, brand direction, user testing, web design and development.
While this is a great solution for business owners who’d rather hand the process over to a full-service company than hire a number of contractors and consultants to get their website off the ground, this kind of convenience typically comes at a high price. Most web design companies charge hundreds of dollars an hour and often include a minimum project expense of several tens of thousands of dollars. If you have the budget for it, you can usually expect agency quality and the whole experience to soar above most other web design services.
VeryCreative
VeryCreative is a web design firm that makes itself available to everyone from small businesses to million dollar companies. Their branding focus allows them to build a company’s presence from the ground up, carrying clients from the strategy phases all the way to a completed website.
Specialties
Web design and development, ecommerce design, UI/UX design, branding, graphic design
Location
Fort Worth, TX
Top clients
Sleeprate, Tailor Factory, Keyco, Ecokit
Pricing
$25 – $49 per hour
$1,000 project minimum
Cleveroad
Cleveroad is a web design agency that champions design for mid-market customers and specializes in video streaming and chat technology. Their web design process covers everything from the discovery phase to automated testing, and they take extra care to include clients throughout the process.
Specialties
Web design and development, mobile app development, UX/UI design, software development
Location
Dnipro, Ukraine
Top clients
Virgin Atlantic, Octopus, Fuji HI, Cartogram, Blockbuster
Pricing
$25 – $49 per hour
$10,000 project minimum
Huemor
Huemor is a higher end digital agency that seeks to elevate brands through web design. Aside from being great at coming up with design puns, Huemor makes it their mission to help everyone get a completed, exceptional website, whether you’re an enterprise client or a non-profit.
Specialties
Web design and development, ecommerce development
Location
New York, NY
Top clients
American Crew, Live Nation, NBC Sports, The Special Olympics, Webby Awards
Pricing
$150 – $199 per hour
$50,000 project minimum
Best mobile web design services
—
In 2016, mobile web traffic officially surpassed desktop traffic, making a mobile website a crucial component of every company’s online presence. Most websites these days are designed with the mobile experience in mind (though mobile versions can sometimes cost extra). But what if you missed out on a mobile web design when you first got your website made? Though most web designers will be able to design a mobile site, these are the best sites that specifically offer services to convert your existing web design to a mobile version.
ZURB
ZURB is a digital design agency that specializes in a data-driven approach. This team aims to give you more than a mobile version of your website but to grow your business through the mobile space, all with their nerdy sense of humor.
Specialties
Mobile and web apps, growth design, experience design
Location
Campbell, CA
Top clients
AAA, eBay, Netgear, Men’s Wearhouse, Joseph A. Banks
Pricing
Undisclosed per hour pricing
$5,000 project minimum
Customer Magnetism
Customer Magnetism is a digital marketing agency that offers web development and web design services. Their process includes creating a mobile version of it if you don’t already have one in addition to auditing your existing website.
Specialties
Digital marketing, web/mobile design and development
Location
Virginia Beach, VA
Top clients
Bayliss Boatworks, Scheilch, Canteen, Echo
Pricing
$150 – $199 per hour
$5,000 project minimum
Best web redesign services
—
Website design is rarely a one-time process: technology and user sensibilities change often enough that a good website will need regular updates, if not a full-scale redesign. There are a lot of factors to consider before getting a redesign, but the main reason is to ensure that both visuals and usability are enhanced.
>> Work with freelance web designers to get a custom website redesign here >>
While most web design firms and freelancers will be capable of delivering a solid redesign, it is important to make sure that whoever you choose understands that strategy is at the heart of a redesign. After all, any competent web designer can update the visual look of your web page, but a redesign is a pointless expense if your new site does not perform better than your last one. With all that said, here are the best redesign services that won’t have you shelling out for website revamps year after year.
WebFX
WebFX is a digital marketing agency made up of a full-service staff of designers, developers and marketers. As such, they take a traffic-driven approach to improving your web presence with a redesign. In addition to crafting a strategically executed redesign, they offer a speed design service in which they deliver a custom website within 30 days.
Specialties
SEO marketing, content and analytics, website design and development
Location
Harrisburg, PA
Top clients
Verizon, Comcast, Jiffy Lube, Subway
Pricing
$100 – $149 per hour
$1,000 project minimum
Their site also offers a price estimate calculator
PopArt Studio
PopArt studio is a full service agency with a focus on interactive design. In addition to consulting you through the redesign process, PopArt promises increased Google placement, split payments and a speedy turnaround.
Specialties
Web design and development
Location
Novi Sad, Serbia
Top clients
Pepsi, Nike, IBM
Pricing
$25 – $49 per hour
$1,000 project minimum
The very best sites for web design services
—
There are many steps to take in the design of a website, and many stakeholders that must support the process in order to get the best result. Out of all of the web design services available on the internet, freelance web designers are the best and most cost-effective web design solution.
Not only are they much cheaper than a fully staffed web design agency and capable of just as stunning results, a freelancer platform can act as a one-stop shop for all your web design needs. With a freelancer site, you can invest in both a web design but working partnership for many design projects to come.
Still wondering where to get the perfect custom web design?
Our talented designers can create it for you.
The post The best web design sites and services the internet has to offer appeared first on 99designs.
No comments:
Post a Comment