Creating a new design for a website is a complicated process, and most companies choose to employ professional website design teams in order to get the best result possible. While larger companies will be happy to outsource their web design and pay an agency to guide them through the process, small companies tend to shop around for the best deal and can be confused by the wide range of prices quoted for website design. When one web design company demands £5000 for their work, and another demands £500, it can be very difficult to understand the reasons for the wide difference in cost.
Companies vs. freelancers
Perhaps one of the biggest reasons why there is so much variation in price is the type of company that is offering the quote. Freelancers, or independent web designers, often work from their own home or office, do all the work themselves and tend to offer lower prices. Web design companies employ a range of talented staff, offering a specialist at each stage of the process, but the costs of running a company are higher. However, when considering the prices offered by web design companies, it is important to bear in mind that cheaper prices tend to deliver cheaper looking websites.
How prices are calculated
When companies quote lower prices, the end product tends to be less effective in terms of both functionality and design features. The reason for this is that most web design teams state fixed prices relating to the amount of time that they intend to spend on the project. Therefore, the company originally quoting £500 for their work intends to do a lot less for your website than the company quoting £5000. Naturally, this will affect the finished results of the project.
Customer Journey
Many “one man band” design companies often struggle to offer the same level of customer service throughout the web design process as larger firms. There are not enough hours in the day to source new business, design & create quality websites and offer the necessary after sales support customers require. Freelancers tend to move on more quickly too, which can leave clients high and dry regarding on-going support.
Process
When it comes to processes, ours has been fined tuned to make sure our customer experience is solid and easy for the client. This is what our journey looks like-
Information is the key
We will gather as much information about what you want from your new website, your business direction and most importantly, what you want your customers to do once they click on your website.
Wireframes
Just the same as a building blueprint, we offer you the chance to sit down with us while we come up with our sketched ideas.
Mock up
Once we have nailed the wireframes we can design your bespoke website. Our graphic designers will ensure your site has the look and feel you want.
Build
Here comes the geek coding that we love! We build it all with a built-in CMS and make sure your beautiful website is mobile friendly and fully tested.
Launch
Move emails, hosting and double check all content before we set it ‘live to the world’.
Support
Whether you need training, revisions or SEO, we will be on hand to help you move things forward.
How design is affected
Perhaps the most important aspect to consider when looking at companies offering cheaper services is that they will have to do less work in order to achieve the same results. One way in which they might do this is through the use of recycling. Recycling in this context means that they will be reproducing some of their previous work, and presenting it as suitable for your website. In some cases, the cheaper company may also skip your design plans completely, instead building a basic website without allowing their client to suggest ideas.
Better ideas
In order to make your website really bespoke, it needs to have been designed with the end-user in mind. Businesses choosing the cheaper option may end up with a website which doesn’t meet their needs. By choosing the more professional option, companies won’t have to make do with template design, and can instead have a website which is developed with bespoke features that cater for their website’s needs. Most importantly, the business website will be able to expand and adapt in the future, as the business grows or changes.
