How Do I Find the Best Web Design Company?

1. Awards and Accolades

Winning a web design award or more indicates that a web design agency knows what it’s doing, and that it’s doing it well. The Annual Davey Awards serve as a good starting point to check what some of the best agencies have to offer. This award recognizes the best small web design agencies from the world over, offering awards across categories like websites, content marketing, branded entertainment, and integrated campaigns.

Sanctioned by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), this award has gained significant prominence since its inception, and its jury consists of leading digital creative and marketing experts as well as all-around luminaries. Top Notch Dezigns won the Gold award for Best Visual Appeal – Aesthetic at the 13th Annual Davey Awards.

2. A Proficient Team

While not all agencies that create award-winning business websites are big, they do have experts from different realms on their teams. For example, in addition to having graphic designers look after the layout and visual design of websites, they also employ user experience (UX) and user interface (UI) designers.

Building a website involves more than web design. After all, it’s the web development process that actually brings a website to life. This is why the best web design companies have front- and back-end developers on their teams, and some even hire full-stack developers.

Moving beyond web designers and developers, top web design agencies also tend to hire people in other roles. These include:

• Business development managers
• Business analysts
• Project managers
• Project architects
• Search engine optimization (SEO) experts
• Content developers
• Testing experts
• Digital marketers

3. Use of Content Management Systems

If you’re wondering, “How do I find the best web design company?” one easy way to eliminate the ones that don’t fit the bill is to look at their approach toward using a content management system (CMS). This is because the top players in this field know that using platforms like Weebly, Wix, and Squarespace does little to promote optimum growth and produce desired results.

On the other hand, they ensure building custom websites by using a CMS such as WordPress, Drupal, or Magento. When it comes to building business websites, most tend to favor WordPress over others because of various benefits such as flexibility, scalability, ease of use, extended functionalities, responsiveness, and SEO-friendliness.

4. A Collaborative Approach

If you partner with a top web design company, you will find that it follows a collaborative approach. For starters, it will take time to listen to your ideas, understanding that you have knowledge about your business and the industry it belongs to, and that you know what direction you wish to take. Then, it should be willing to challenge your ideas and offer new perspectives surrounding your vision, strategies, and goals. This collaborative approach ensures that you get the best of both worlds – yours and that of web design.

5. Creativity

The top web design agencies thrive on creativity because they understand the importance of creating unique websites that stand out from the crowd and drive growth. Creativity is crucial in web design as it enables designers to think out of the box, steer clear of traditional concepts, and infuse each design with a unique personality. The best web designers view every design element as an opportunity for creative expression, be it typography, colors, or buttons. However, they also ensure that functionality does not suffer on account of aesthetics.

6. Knowledge

The best website design companies for small businesses rely heavily on knowledge and experience. For example, they will have designers who have a firm grip on design principles, be it simplicity, navigation, visual hierarchy, different-shaped reading patterns, layouts, content, load time, or mobile-friendliness. In addition, they know how to use different design software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Sketch, and have knowledge of how to code in HyperText Markup Language (HTML).

Similarly, their web developers have the required knowledge when it comes to content management systems, front- and back-end coding, responsive design, SEO, UX/UI concepts, frameworks, testing, debugging, and problem-solving.

7. Experience

Experience goes a long way in most walks of life and the world of web design is no different. Sure, a new agency might end up delivering great results once in a while, but chances are it has experienced people on its team. With experience come knowledge and skills, and firsthand encounters give web design agencies a practical understanding of how to overcome different obstacles. It also helps them improve their problem-solving skills and decision-making processes.

8. Great Portfolios

While styles and approaches may vary, it’s common for the top web design companies to have excellent portfolios. More often than not, you will find that they favor quality over quantity, without giving into the temptation of showcasing all their projects. Instead, they curate a selection of their best work that represents their design capabilities and strategic approach.

Portfolios of the best website design companies often rely on storytelling through the case studies they present. These include their clients’ objectives and challenges along with the solutions and the results. It is also common for web design companies to showcase their top brand partners.

9. Top-Notch Websites

This refers to the websites of the top web design agencies and not the ones they create, although the latter matters too. When it comes to web design agencies, it’s only fair to judge them based on their websites because if they can’t do a good job there, there’s no telling how poorly they might fare with your project.

If you look at the websites of the leading agencies, you will notice a few commonalities:

• They are visually appealing.
• They deliver great user experiences.
• They are consistent in their branding and messaging.
• They provide high-quality content.
• They are optimized for search engines.
• They use responsive design.
• They convey the agency’s values and work culture.
• Contact details are easy to find.

10. Streamlined Processes

While the top web design companies come up with tailor-made strategies and build completely customized websites, they tend to follow streamlined processes. For example, you may expect any good agency to begin the process by understanding your business, its competition, and its target audience.

The design phase focuses on UI and UX, after which the spotlight shifts to content creation. Once a client approves the design and content, the development gets underway. This includes optimizing the website for search engines and ensuring mobile-friendliness. The launch takes place only after extensive testing.

Other Common Traits

The best web design agencies deliver results that are typically hard to achieve and they help take their clients’ online presence to the next level. Here are a few more traits they have in common.

• User-focused approach. The top agencies avoid taking big risks by going overboard with creativity and letting functionality take a back seat. Instead, they understand the needs and expectations of your target audience and focus on delivering a great user experience.
• Content specialists. Content continues to play a crucial role in the success of any web design project, which is why the best agencies have in-house content development and management teams. This aspect comes in handy from the content marketing point of view as well.
• Good project management. This involves defining a project’s goals and objectives, creating a scope of project, establishing a budget, assigning tasks/responsibilities, monitoring progress, managing communication, identifying potential risks, developing contingency plans, establishing quality standards, carrying out tests, and ensuring client satisfaction.
• Easy to contact. Getting in touch with the best website design companies is typically simple because they make their contact details easy to find. While some offer a live chat option, most let you get in touch over the phone, via email, or through their websites. Once you partner with any such agency, you may expect to have a single point of contact in the form of a dedicated project manager.
• Good communication skills. Good communication skills enable web design agencies to ask insightful questions during the initial stages. Since web design requires following a collaborative approach, clear communication is essential throughout. Besides, an agency with good communication skills can discuss timelines, budgets, revision processes, and any potential limitations transparently, ensuring that both parties are on the same page at all times.
• Plan for the future. User expectations and technology continue to evolve rapidly. Accounting for potential growth and future trends, the top web design companies build websites on flexible foundations. This simplifies the integration of new features and functionalities as your business needs change over time. Besides, planning for the future helps their clients maintain their competitive edge.

How to Select a Web Design Agency?

Now that you know how to determine which company is best for web designing, you need to make a selection after considering a few important aspects.

• Compare your options. Take a look at the top web design companies that warrant your attention and compare them against parameters like expertise, experience, skill sets, and reputation. Take a close look at their websites, portfolios, teams, and the quality of content they use. Go through customer testimonials as well as reviews on different online platforms.
• Make a shortlist and engage. Your shortlist should have no more than five names. Make note of the response time once you reach out to the agencies you shortlist as this gives you an indication of how quickly they might respond to you in the future.
• Determine competency. Discuss your requirements, expectations, and goals. Based on the answers you receive, determine competency levels. During this stage, the person you interact with should ideally ask discovery-based questions to better understand your needs.
• Check additional services. Succeeding in the online world typically requires more than a website. Depending on your needs and goals, you may benefit from partnering with a full-service digital agency that also specializes in different forms of digital marketing such as search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media marketing, and content marketing.
• Get accurate quotes. The cost of custom web design can vary greatly based on different factors, so it’s important to get accurate quotes. However, this requires that you define your scope of work as accurately as possible. If you don’t pay due attention to this step, you face the risk of stumbling upon a roadblock halfway through the process that might cost you way more money than initially expected.
• Ongoing support. Ideally, the web design company you partner with should be proficient in providing ongoing support. This way, you don’t have to worry about your website’s maintenance, be it in the form of carrying out regular updates, monitoring performance, or taking daily backups.
• Find the right fit. While creativity plays an important role in web design, so does professionalism, so it’s important not to compromise on the latter. You also need to partner with an agency that shares your vision, values, and work culture.

Conclusion

So, what are the best web design companies? They are the ones that work hard, channel their creativity, and showcase their expertise by creating user-friendly websites. Their designers and developers often toil long hours to make every website a success, irrespective of the purpose it serves and its goal. They also deliver measurable results and desirable ROIs.

In your search for the best web design company, make sure you consider if the one you select is the right fit for you based on your requirements, budget, and industry. This is because partnering with the right agency plays a crucial role in the results your website delivers.