When you have no idea who a good web design agency is, what they do or how much they cost, and are missing out on the benefits from having a website professionally designed, this guide is for you. 

Starting a website can be challenging enough, and if you have no idea how to plan your website project, the process can feel daunting.

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Research is essential when planning a website project. You need to know what you like and what you don’t like. More importantly, what your customers like and don’t like. These decisions are key to a website’s functionality, design and usability. The primary goal of your website is to generate leads or increase profit margins for your business, right? A guide to find out the best web design agency and how much they cost is broken into simple steps.

How do I find the best web design agency?

Usually, they can be found by searching on  Google or through a recommendation.  Look at the business reviews made by other people to check whether they are good or not. If their work is  not acceptable, reviews will be negative. So check the reviews to find the most suitable web design agency.

The second step it to look at their portfolio to decide if they’re suitable for your website project. But before you take the step of calling, let’s take a closer look at what a professional web design agency can do for your business website and break down the return on investment.

What does a web design agency do?

We are amongst the best web design agencies available in Australia, and are proud that we can make your ideas into an excellent web design for your business.

When we design a website, we think carefully about your business and your customers. This means we do a lot of research before the design is made. There is also a process of getting your input, testing the layout for functionality and test for  user experience as well. As we have over 6 years UX and customer experience design, we use a design-first approach for building sites.

We do every task using a prototyping system, such as wireframing, which in a high-level design template for each web page. Think about it in terms of building a house, you need to start with the foundations. If you try to change the architecture, without working on the foundations, it will be way more expensive to make design changes. Wireframes are similar as these are the foundations of your website.

Building a website is similar to owning a house. It needs checkups, design adjustments and upfront iterations. We present your website as a design template. So you can get a basic idea of how your site will look, and how it will function. This whole process is done without even entering in any code.

Building your website is a collaboration. We like to make sure that you and our web designer have the freedom to talk about the whole layout. You are responsible for giving us feedback. Our clients have been really happy with this process, because we always ask what they think before we start the development of the site.

How much does a website cost?

A website can cost anywhere between $4,500 - 15,000 or more depending on what your requirements are. The price is literally for the hours and the number of people that are on the website project. Even if our clients ask to design an entry-level website, it takes approximately 150 to 200 hours from designing, developing, testing and launching the website.

A website has the following steps:

• Project managing and coordination
• Customer research
• Designing phase
• Wireframing
• Development
• Compatibility on all devices
• Web content optimisation and uploading
• Quality assurance and testing phase
• SEO and web optimization 

Remember that a great looking and high-performance website is always a significant benefit for your business. It may feel like a considerable investment but the return on investment speaks for itself.

Read: The basics of a high converting website

Can I make my website more affordable?

If you can do a high amount of data research yourself, of course, you can reduce the cost. But note that a web design agency doesn’t cut corners. If you want a high-converting website, then it’s not something we recommend you do yourself. 

If you need some guidance around your website project, please talk to us so we can provide you with some options. We can do a web strategy workshop to help guide you on any web project. 

Is it possible to design my Website and get someone else to develop it?

Usually, this process can decrease the overall website. It removes the value in what we offer in   our all in one solution. Alternatively, we can provide the design to your internal development teams with us staying on the project management team of the build at an hourly cost. We stay on as part of your team as some developers can inadvertently lower the quality of our website designs. This way we make sure that everything is on track and working well.

At Caria Watt we make the web designing process a good experience and high quality from beginning to end.

Can I build my website for free?

If you have an excellent coding knowledge and the optimization skills required to design and build your website, then you can build it yourself. And if it is not, there are thousands of free tools available online for you to get services like Squarespace or Wix.

But if you choose one of these platforms and build it yourself, you'll be locked in to that software forever - or until Google changes their algorithms - which they do quite often. For full control of your website, you will need a web design agency assistance. A web design agency can build your website using a CMS system like Wordpress, and convert the web files to  HTML for faster loading speeds.

Are there any extra costs after the website is built?

As we expect to have a long term relationship with your business, we must maintain and improve the site on a regular basis. We can even physically host the site and run a monthly payment for maintenance towards content uploads, technical and plugins updates and optimization (SEO). You can contact us about our Website support packages to see what’s included.

Why should I invest in a high converting website?

When you get a website that’s modern and is Google friendly, it is a considerable investment for your business. A website is not a set and forget type of deal. This investment will last for about five years, and this site is becoming your salesperson. Your website is the digital front line of your business, and with a great web designer, your business objectives such as lead conversions can be reached efficiently.

You can break down your Website's running cost into a few thousand dollars over its lifetime So you can start with a small investment to look after the minimal things required such as our hosting only package or you add content marketing and SEO options to gain warm leads. That is what our websites and plans can help do for you.

Read: Why you need a killer website & Web design FAQS

Things to think about

When a website is designed well it is simply a good business investment. This investment should last between three to five years and help you to increase leads and sales. But remember there are  many things that goes into designing a website. A good web design agency will explain the process and create a website that speaks directly to your customers to generate leads and sales. 

Reach out to us at Caria Watt and let’s talk about your website project.

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