May 17
What is needed to create a Web Design Agency?
Have you ever thought about what it takes to create a Web Design agency? Building one is not an easy task and requires many steps to consider. However, if the proper steps are taken, creating a successful agency will proceed much smoother. Whether you want your company to be known and spread across the country or stay local, you first must start with your goals. Goals are like our dreams but broken down into small steps that can be achieved and brought to life. Once your objectives are known and set, moving on to the phase will naturally. Everything in this world has steps that need to be followed, and when you follow these steps, your destination will arrive considerably smoothers than trying to take shortcuts.
What is a Web Design agency?:
Creating goals and knowing where you want to head is the first step toward building your agency. However, before you even set your pen to the paper or fingers to your keyboard, understanding what a web design agency is, lies higher on your list of things to do. A web design agency focuses on the looks and aesthetics of a web page. Although this may sound like creating a web page, it is different. Constructing a web page from how it runs to the functionality is the responsibility of the web development team/agency. Web development works with code such as HTML or PHP to produce a web page. As for a web design agency, you will find a graphic designer team who works on the logos, color schemes, branding, and any other aspects where color and style are essential.
Within a web design agency, there are eight principles that designers adhere to, and they are:
- Alignment — clean and organized design
- Hierarchy — creating a page that emphasizes important aspects by changing the style of elements
- Contrast — draws attention through differences in components/mediums
- Repetition — keeping the page organized by tying pieces together.
- Proximity — logically keeping things organized
- Balance — visual flow and stability of a website
- Color — tying the elements and page together — sets the mood
- Space — helps to highlight important information — limiting distractions
Following these eight principles allows the designers to integrate all of their requirements from the client and create an attractive web page that will draw in users and portray the message that the clients want their users to know.
Goals for the company:
Once you understand what a web design agency is, you can move on to setting your goals. Setting goals for yourself and your company is like drawing a blueprint for a house. Without a blueprint, constructors wouldn't know where to start or build the house, which applies to creating a company. With no goals in mind, you wouldn't know where to start or how to take your ideas to the next level. However, not just any kind of goal can be written down and put into action. To start, you need to think of your company's mission, what you want to achieve, and why you create a web agency? Then you want to think about your clients, such as how do you want them to find you? When do you want to land your first project? How many clients can you take on each month, or how many clients do you want each month?
After setting your short-term goals and ensuring they are attainable, you can move on to your long-term goals. Setting goals one year or five years later can be considered long-term. The base questions for the long term would be, where do you want to be in one or five years? After you have all of your goals in place, you can move to the next step of creating your brand.
Create a website and online portfolio:
Now that you have moved past the foundation steps of the journey, it is now time to get creative. Knowing what path you want to follow is excellent, but not knowing what style you want to portray yourself can affect your web agency's efficiency. When constructing your website and portfolio, you want to keep in mind that this is the first impression that viewers will have of you. Designing a website isn't just about looks. It is also an extension of yourself and who you are. Creating a website that displays your skills and creativity will show how your agency is better than others. A website is the first thing viewers will see when they click on the link. However, the next place that will be visited is your portfolio.
There is no better way to impress your future clients than having a well-crafted portfolio. A portfolio is a place to display the various skills that your team of web designers and graphic designers have mastered. This is also the place that gives your clients a better view of your company. Just like how credibility can be proven with authority, displaying your past work will build your credibility, allowing customers to trust and want to work with you in the long run.
What types of jobs are in the agency?:
Being a web designer is more of a general term for the various available jobs. Web design isn't just about making a website look pretty. There are also many other aspects to it. These different aspects will have different job titles, and together all these positions build a website. Some of these jobs include:
Account Director/Manager
Account Director/Managers are in charge of the customer service, whether it is working out the contract or answering questions about the company. This is the person who is the middleman between the clients and the agency. These are the people that clients will meet up with and discuss their plans and ideas before it makes their way to the drawing board.
Art Director
The art director is the overseer of the projects in the studios. They are in charge of ensuring that the webpage is to the client's requirements, and the clients will see nothing until it has their approval.
Creative Director
The creative director is in charge of the overall quality of the projects. Their job is to lead the team with a keen eye and develop new and innovative ideas to satisfy the client's requirements.
Graphic designer
Graphic designers are in charge of corporate branding and logo design. Their job is to develop creative strategies that will accompany the rest of the web page. They must be able to adapt to any given assignment and successfully produce logos with various elements incorporated.
UI/UX designer
A UI/UX designer is in charge of anything screen-based. They are not only to make the page look good, but they must also make sure that it works correctly. A website has many different parts to it, and it is the designer's job to ensure that any problems that may happen will be solved to help businesses run smoothly.
Digital Marketers
Digital marketers focus on getting the website noticed online. There will usually be a sub-set of skilled individuals: SEO expertise, web analytics, content writers, and social media professionals.
Each one of these positions plays a role in creating a successful website. However, the jobs are not limited to only these five.
Experiences needed:
Being prepared and knowing what positions will be offered in your agency is excellent. However, you can't just let anyone take on those positions. Before posting these jobs, you need to set out requirements for them. Experience will vary throughout the careers, but having the basic requirements listed is the foundation that can later be built upon. One of the most fundamental skills that any web designer should know is how to use design using software such as Photoshop, Sketch, and Illustrator. Mastering this software allows you to bring the best of your abilities and produce the best work possible. The software is here to assist you in creating drafts or final products. Although some designers will create directly on the web page, using the software will help you be ahead in your creations' quality.
Another skill set that web designers or, more specifically, those who are putting together the website should have is the ability to code. Web designers need to be proficient in HTML as this is the program from which web pages are created. While HTML builds the page's structure, CSS is code used to style and format the web page. CSS can help you change colors, fonts, background, and many other elements on a website. Lastly, designers should be able to use JavaScript. Although web designers are not required to master the program, it is still necessary for them to be able to use the language to create interactive web pages. When web designers can have these skill sets under their belt, they will be able to withstand the competition within the industry, proving to your clients that your agency is capable of satisfying their demands.
Able to use design software and to have the ability to code are not the only skills that web designers will need. However, these skills are the foundation for web designers. Other skills such as teamwork, research, problem-solving, and communication can be improved when working within the industry.
Services provided
Now that you have all of your internal steps set into place, you can work on the external actions. The steps aren't just finding clients and signing contracts with them, but also the services you will provide to them. Some services that are commonly offered are:
- Logo design — Creates logo designs for the website or company brand
- Photography — Doing photoshoots for the clients. Images will be used on the website
- Videography — Creates videos for advertising and marketing purposes
- Content writing — Creating content not just for text-based content but also for blogs and social media posts
- Marketing — Taking your brand to your users. Supervises all stages of the project
- Studio managing — Ensuring everything suns well in the studio by taking care of the admins
- Brand strategy — maintains brand through research and analysis of trends
- Copywriter — In charge of coming up with slogans and scripts for the studio
There are many different services offered to clients when working with your web agency. Not all companies will use the same services or provide them in the same way. Every company has its own goals and values, which will affect what they offer. But as long as you stick to your path and align them to your services, it will be easier to work with your customers.
Cost:
Now that you have most of your plan set out and your agency created, it's time to consider the cost. Not all websites created will be charged at the same price. There are many different types of websites, and there are various categories that they fall into. Each class will have its criteria that set its price. For example, some of the types to consider and their prices are:
- Small business website(8 to 16 pages) — $2,000 to $9,000
- Large business website(25 to 75 pages) — $10,000 to $35,000
- E-Commerce website(100 to 1,000) — $5,000 to $55,000
- Database website(20 to 2,000) — $6,000 to $75,000
Although some criteria overlap, further talk and planning will help you and your customer decide which class their web page will fall into. Also, not every agency will charge the same price for the same type of website. It is also good to consider the side services, what they will cost, and the final cost with everything put together.
Takeaway on Web Design Agency
Building your web design agency is not an easy task. However, some steps can be taken to help ease the process. Everything in this world has a path and way that it must follow, and creating a web design agency is not an exception. As long as you follow these steps starting your own company from scratch won't seem as intimidating as it appears. So, when you are ready to create your own company, try to follow these steps and see where they will lead you.
