How To Find Affordable Web Design Services For Your Business (Infographic)

Your website is one of the most important investments you can make when it comes to your business. Millions of people spend hours on their desktops, laptops, mobiles, and tablets and your company website is the first and sometimes the only thing they see prior to deciding if they should do business with you.

In order to appeal to the rapidly growing tech-savvy customer base, you need a website that is simple, beautiful, informative and works perfectly well on different types of devices.

How To Find Affordable Website Design For Small Business

Looking for an affordable web designer or agency that can fulfill all your requirements and create a website that both you and your users will appreciate without breaking the bank?

Here are helpful tips on how to find a designer or agency that specializes in affordable web design and development services.

Establish Business Goals & What Type Of Website You Need

The first thing you need to do is to figure out what kind of website you need. If you need a large web portal with e-commerce functionality you’re probably not going to save a lot of money. E-commerce packages require huge time and money investment, and you are probably better off working with a larger company, which might cost you significantly more than hiring a single designer. However, if you just need a small site to provide basic information about your services to potential consumers and web users, you can find a freelance designer who can create a beautiful responsive site for you at a fraction of the cost of hiring a large design company.

Furthermore, there are many sites that sell templates for WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc, that can be easily modified by designers with even very little development experience. The chances are they can easily set the site for you, and you can take over from there and populate it with your content without too much hassle. Sites that run on content management systems such as WordPress can be extremely easily updated and managed and once set up you’ll have no problem making updates, which also means you won’t have to keep paying a designer to work on the site. Hiring someone and paying them only for theme installation will save you quite a lot of money so that’s an option you should definitely consider if you’re working on a short deadline and a very limited budget. Check out popular sites like Theme Monster to see if you can use one of their templates. Chances you’ll be able to find something considering they have thousands of themes to choose from.

Should You Hire a  Freelance Developer or a Small Web Design Company?

You don’t have to hire a design company to help you build a well-functioning, informative site. There are many experienced affordable web designers who would work for much less due to having much lower overhead costs than a large company. However, there are more risks involved since you might run into problems later working with freelancers due to the lack of legally binding contracts and possibly their lack of technical skills you might need for the project. To ensure you don’t have any legal problems, create a digital or written document outlining the nature of the work, down to a small detail to ensure there are no misunderstandings later. To find out the level of technical skills a designer possesses, see if you can get references from former clients and do your diligent research to make sure there are no complaints or negative feedback online about their work.  Hiring an experienced freelancer who has a great reputation and a long list of satisfied clients is one way of getting affordable yet high-quality web design services for less.

What To Look For When Searching for the Right Web Design Company

The world of web design is a competitive one. There are tons of local and global affordable web design companies to choose from. To find a good company you need to spend some time on the web doing research to see which companies not only offer affordable web design but have been around for a long time and have a long list of clients, as well a stellar reputation.

Make sure they have testimonials from former clients and if you’re suspecting they might not be truthful, see if you can find and contact their former clients and ask them a few questions about the quality of work this design company provided. As always ask around, the best way to find a reputable and affordable web design company is to talk to your friends and other small businesses who might have used such companies before to see if they can recommend someone to you.

Also, it’s a good idea to check out the style design of the company you’re looking to hire. You want to find a design agency that has done work similar to what you’re looking to do with your website. You don’t want to hire a design company specializing in urban graffiti-type design if you’re looking to create a classical site with a traditional look and feel. As always do your research and try to find a local company if you can, so you can visit their office or have a face-to-face conversation since that is the best way to find out if your working relationship will be a smooth one.

Ask The Right Questions

Asking the right questions before hiring an affordable website development company will help you get a better understanding of the agency’s process, expertise, and level of service.

It will also ensure that you are on the same page with the agency regarding the scope of the project, cost, timelines, and overall outcome of the project.

So what type of questions should you ask?

When looking for a web design agency, it is important to ask the following questions:

1. What is your process for designing and developing a website?
2. Can you provide examples of similar projects you’ve worked on in the past?
3. How do you approach website optimization for search engines?
4. How do you handle website updates and maintenance?
5. How will we communicate during the project?
6. Can you provide references or testimonials from previous clients?
7. Will you ensure that the website is mobile-friendly and accessible to all users?
8. Can you provide a cost estimate and a breakdown of the services included?
9. How do you handle revisions and updates after the website launch?
10. What kind of guarantee or warranty do you provide for your work?
11. Who owns the website creatives and assets after the completion of the project?
12. Are there any additional costs for images, copywriting, video, etc.

How To Find the Right People for the Job

If you decided that you only need a small website, finding a web designer might be the best option for you if you don’t have a lot of money to spend on the design.

To hire a great designer you’ll need to do thorough research as well. You need to check their portfolio website, their list of former clients, and client testimonials, and look at their case studies. You should really talk to their previous clients to get an idea of what kind of customer service and overall level of work they provided and if the client was happy with the finished product. 

It is best to hire a designer who has previously worked on projects similar to yours so you know that is something they’re experienced at.

Also, it would be smart to interview and assess the skills of the designer before hiring them. If you do not have technical knowledge, you should try to get someone to help you interview the candidate.

Conclusion

Remember hiring the wrong candidate or design agency can lead to many problems down the line, including legal troubles, loss of time and income, as well as a tremendous amount of stress that you will most likely experience if your working relationship is not a good one. So whatever option you choose make sure you take your time to do your research prior to hiring them.

INFOGRAPHIC: Web Development Company vs Freelancer

Infographic by- GO Gulf Web Design