Website design FAQs
What services do web design agencies offer?
Web design agencies, like Think EQ, specialise in offering a range of services that help brands create websites, improve existing websites to enhance performance and user journeys and also support with web development and web hosting to ensure websites are live, operational and safe from hackers.
Typical core services include:
Website design (UI/UX) – creating a customer web design, wireframes and prototypes so you can see what the website will look like. The customer journey will be considered during this phase, and all designs will be created with a mobile-responsive mindset.
Branding and graphic design – If you need support with visual branding and developing a visual identity, we can support with that, too. Typical services may include logo design, colour palette selection, typography selection, marketing graphics and creating brand guidelines for future marketing collateral.
Website development – Web development turns visual designs into a working website. This includes front-end development (creating HTML, CSS, JavaScript) and back-end development (building databases and setting up servers), CMS development, creating custom functionality, and API integrations.
Following this, you can also request that your web design agency supports with web maintenance and hosting after the website has launched. This will ensure your website continues to operate safely with the right security updates, it helps to maintain performance by updating plugins, flagging and fixing bugs and monitoring performance.
Whether you’re creating a brand new website or want to give your current website a makeover, we can help. Get in touch for a website consultation to see how we can help you.
How much does web design cost?
The cost of a website depends entirely on the type of website you need and the type of functionality you need.
Typical web design agency pricing throughout the UK can range anywhere from £3k for a basic website through to £20k+ for a large e-commerce website.
To get an accurate cost, it’s beneficial to think about what you want from your website, the type of functionality you need and how involved your agency needs to be if you want to develop a new visual identity.
Thinking about what you want before a website consultation means a web design agency, like Think EQ, can appropriately scope out costs and give you a better idea of the total investment, including ongoing support with a monthly web maintenance package. So find examples of websites you love and competitor websites, take time to analyse the look, feel and functionality and use this as a starting point for direction.
How long does it take to build a website?
The time it takes to build a website depends on its size, complexity, and how quickly content and feedback are provided. It also depends on how much support you need with visual branding, and if you have content ready to go or if you need web copy creating. However, your web agency will be able to give you an estimated timeline at the briefing stage, so you know exactly how long the project will take.
Typically, a small website could be ready in less than two months, whereas large custom websites could go beyond six months, especially if you need customer development and complex integrations.
Typical phases to consider:
- Planning & strategy
- Design (UI/UX)
- Development
- Testing & revisions
- Launch
Common delays include:
- Missing content (text, images, videos)
- Slow feedback from the client
- Scope changes during development
- Complex features added later
How do I choose the right web design agency?
Like any business partnership, you want to ensure you’re working with a team of people who care about delivering an excellent service and can create the best website for your business.
Top tips for choosing the right web design agency:
- Review their portfolio: Take a look at recent designs, visit those websites and check out functionality. Especially if they’ve created websites for those operating in similar industries
- Check out reviews and testimonials: See what other people have to say about the work they have delivered and take a look at testimonials on their website, as well as Google reviews and those on other platforms.
- Read case studies: Take a look at case studies to understand the specific brief and how they achieved the end result for their clients
- Clear pricing structures: Make sure you know what you’re paying for (design, dev, hosting, etc.) and what would be billed as an additional cost. For example, if the project scope changes halfway through the build, you understand what the agency is willing to do within reason and what would be considered an additional fee. This ensures clear communication throughout and will help you to avoid scope creep.
- Clear processes: A good agency will clearly explain their workflows and timeframes, and will ensure you know when you will be needed for review and sign-offs to keep the project on track
At Think EQ, we place value on:
- Clarity: Ensuring you have a clear understanding of deliverables and timeframes
- Transparency and honesty: We’re upfront, communication is key and we provide honest insight to ensure you get the best end result; we don’t waste time or money and will always offer advice based on the right thing to do
- Supportive: Websites are a big project and sometimes you need additional support to keep stakeholders up-to-date. We’re on your side; we’re here to help.
- Flexible and agile: Sometimes things change, whether that’s timelines or scope and we’ll always do our utmost to be agile and flexible to deliver an outstanding product
- A partner you can trust: We see ourselves as an extension of your team. We embed ourselves into how you work, what’s important to you, what’s important to your customers and what’s trending in your industry so we can create a website that helps your brand stand out.
Ready for a new website? Get in touch; we’d love to help.
What industries do web design agencies work with?
Many web design agencies work with a wide variety of industries, but you may find that some only work with specific industries and specialise in those sectors.
At Think EQ, we work with a wide variety of clients, but there are some sectors, such as healthcare, that we have worked with more frequently, but ultimately, we specialise in:
- Web design and development for healthcare and social care
- Web design and development for property
- Web design and development for engineering and tech
- Web design and development for construction and regeneration
- Web design and development for law
- Web design and development for education and training
- Web design and development for recruitment
- Web design and development for charity
- Web design and development for entertainment and leisure
- Web design and development for marketing and creative
- Web design and development for e-commerce
- Web design and development for service industries
- Web design and development for destinations and events
View our full case studies for more info.
Do web design agencies also handle SEO?
Web design agencies should ensure that your website is SEO ready – this means ensuring your website design includes a basic SEO set-up, which means your website has proper heading structures (H1, H2, etc.), an XML sitemap set up, fast loading speeds, page titles and meta descriptions and a responsive design that ensures the website is mobile-friendly.
Typically, your website design agency can also support with technical SEO, which is ongoing site maintenance to fix crawl errors, ensure speed optimisation, and add structured data for search engines to understand and rank your site better.
However, if you need ongoing SEO support, your web design agency may not be able to support your ongoing SEO strategy unless it’s a full-service digital agency, like Think EQ.
As well as helping design, build and launch websites, we offer digital services, including SEO, which means we can support with:
- Keyword research
- Competitor and industry gap analysis
- SEO strategy
- Content marketing plans
- Content creation
- Blog writing
- Backlink building
- Monthly SEO reports
When you enlist the support of a web design agency, make sure you’re clear on what they can deliver and will deliver as part of your package. That way, if you need to enlist more support for fulfilment of your digital strategy, you’ll know exactly what direction you need to take.
Can a web design agency help with website redesign?
Yes absolutely – if it’s time for a complete website refresh, your web design agency can support with a redesign.
At Think EQ, we typically run workshops with clients to understand their needs so we can appropriately map out user journeys and propose new layouts, site structures and functionality to improve the experience for their customers online.
Slow, outdated websites that no longer serve the needs of your customers can not only impact SEO and relevancy scores – especially if customers are bouncing off your site quickly- but they can also impact brand reputation as customers might lose confidence in your ability to deliver on what you promise.
Having a clean website with a streamlined user journey is a valuable investment for any business. So, whether you need a full rebrand and new website design or a complete redesign to keep up with the evolving needs of your customers, Think EQ can help.
Do I need to provide web content, or can an agency create it?
It entirely depends on the type of agency and if it offers additional services beyond web design and development.
For example, Think EQ is a full-service agency, so we can also support with SEO-optomised web content to ensure your website has clear messaging and perfectly articulates your core services, USPs, and core propositions.
Having properly-written content means search engines can better understand and rank your website, whilst customers can clearly understand what you’re offering and how you can help them, which will ultimately help drive leads and enquiries.
We also support clients who want to write their own content but need help ensuring it’s optimised for search and makes sense from the perspective of the user journey and the site structure.
What platforms do web design agencies use?
The type of website platform recommended by your web agency will depend on the type of website your business needs, required functionality and budget.
One of the most commonly used websites in the world is WordPress. It has a user-friendly interface, it’s very flexible with thousands of themes and plugins available, it’s great for SEO, and it can easily be updated, so it can support your content and marketing strategies and grow with your business as you evolve.
Many online stores use WooCommerce with WordPress; however, if you want a website specifically built for e-commerce, Shopify is a popular platform. Used for online stores, retail brands and product-based businesses, Shopify offers secure hosting, built-in store features, and easy payment integrations.
Magneto is another popular option for e-comm, but it is more suitable for enterprise-level online stores with large product databases and complex feature structures.
Other CMS platforms you may have heard of include GoDaddy, Wix, and Squarespace, these are suitable for those who want to have a go at designing a basic website for their businesses or to showcase portfolios – they have basic set ups and themes that make them very user friendly.
