Where to find high quality (affordable) web designers?
-
Hi everyone,
I am looking for find high quality web designers that are affordable. I am open to many options.
There are several things I have looked into.
1. I have looked for designers via CSS galleries, but I don't really know how to get in touch with designers or find them. Rand recently talked about this in a webinar, but if anyone has specific insights on how to find people this way, please let me know.
2. I have also looked into website design contests from sites such as:
I haven't used these services and I was wondering if anyone has experience with design contests.
3. I have looked into the option of hiring a freelancer on oDesk or a similar freelancer site. I don't really know the cost, how to find a good designer, how to avoid inexperienced but cheap designers and all the other such roadblocks that come along with freelancers.
If anyone could provide insight into this, it would be greatly appreciated.
-
Spec work is terrible and undervalues the industry. I say you get what you pay for. http://www.no-spec.com/
-
I think it's about what you want to get and for how much.
It all starts from there.
For example:
budged : 1k - for a 8-10 page website with no complex features you should be able to find good designers.
budged : 300 - for a 8-10 page website with no complex features you should be able to find poor designers that could still do the job.
It's also about luck to find a quality and reliable designer. (depends on background, location, etc)
Hope it helps.
-
Around $500 for now. The project I am working on is a family one so I didn't charge them nearly as much as I normally would.
-
I've always had a great experience with 99designs but you want to make sure you give a lot of requirements and inspiration if you want to get exactly what your looking for. I've only used them for logo work though so i can't give much feedback for other types of projects. What are your price points?
-
Probably best to say where you are based, then get personal recommendations from that area and meet the designer in person.
I can give you great designers in London and I know Luke Jones is a great UK based designer and also contributes to SEOmoz a lot, so maybe get hold of him via DM www.seomoz.org/users/profile/139920
You could try here as well http://www.seomoz.org/marketplace/resumes/service/2 <- people who have tagged themselves with design (altho its a bit spammy)
-
Any insight on the design contests? They seem interesting.
-
Very good points, I will take everything you said into consideration when going into this web development project.
-
Email sent
-
I have had some experience doing this, like when shooting a video, I find an intern at a local TV station who has access to nice equipment and have them shoot some video for me, it worked out great!
I like the reminder!
-
This is so true and what makes this designer recruitment process even harder. Finding that balance and even someone that is near my area that is good.
-
One quick opinion:
We have used a number of developers from eLance.com and have always been satisfied. As with any design project, the more information you are able to provide (in terms of what you want), the happier you will be with the finished product. Most designers will have a portfolio with samples of their previous work.
Prices will vary depending on the scope of the project, time frame, and how experienced/qualified the designer. You can get an idea of what people are paying for different projects by searching the job listings that other people have posted, and how much they are offering.
In our experience, eLance and similar sites are best when you know exactly what you want and the scope of the work is relatively small. Often times those developers are in different parts of the world and communication can be difficult (time zones, language barriers). For large, detail-intense projects, you might do better to find someone local or at least within the U.S. It might end up costing a bit more, but like Steve mentioned "you get what you pay for" and if you end up with a website that you don't like, the money you saved won't matter.
-
email me!
I have an intensive design background, but am fully aware of and skilled in SEO and SEM.
-
You could always check for colleges around your location that offer interns/co-ops for college credit. Normally there is good design talent with relatively affordable prices.
-
High quality and affordable don't always go hand in hand. The whole thing of "You get what you pay for" is usually the case so I'd be careful if it's too cheap. Even if the designs are awesome, maybe their customer service is bad.
Anyway, I'd get a real live person who you can meet with if I were you, instead of a random off a website that you only deal with via email. Design is way too subjective to not have face-to-face meetings in my opinion.
I know some great web designers but they're here in the UK, and not so cheap... but then if they were cheap maybe they wouldn't be so great
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Looking for a new Web Developer and Graphic Designer - Where to look? Job Description in Post
Hi All, I know I can go to Guru.com, etc. but is there a place here that I can look for a web dev that can help with my tasks? I have a good bit of work to offer them and my current web dev who has been a great asset has suffered from health problems and it has affected his output, so I'm sad to say I need to look for someone that can help me get caught back up. If anyone has any suggestions on someone that is a knowledgeable web developer that has access to their own graphic designer (or can do graphic design themselves as well) please let me know. I am not opposed at all to hire a separate graphic designer to send work over to the web developer. SOMEONE WITH SEO EXPERIENCE WOULD BE VERY HELPFUL AS WELL AS MY CURRENT WEB DEVELOPER HAD IT AS WELL. The current projects going on are: Changing the header graphics on the home page to meet compliance. Constantly adding and editing my websites with small tweaks almost daily. Creating PDF's with content we give and uploading them as well as images to the sites. Keeping in mind that editing the site can affect responsiveness and we have to make sure our logo is a certain size compared to other metrics, etc. Creating web banners, tile ads, etc. Creating facebook main photo for biz page. I will be happy to share any info via PM or if anyone can point me in the right direction in finding someone that would be awesome! Thanks!
Web Design | | Veebs1 -
Good web design layouts
Hello, Where do you guys go to get inspiring new ideas for web design layouts. I'm making a portfolio and need one more design. I'm thinking 4 is enough sample sites. So far I have 3. Thanks!
Web Design | | BobGW1 -
Web development - License CSS/Markup/Code
In development of a website, is it typical for the developer to retain rights to the CSS, Markup and other Coding? If so, why is this done?
Web Design | | DemiGR0 -
URLs appear in Google Webmaster Tools that I can't find on my own site?!?
Hi, I have a Magento e-commerce site (clothing) and when I had a look through some of the sections in Google Webmaster Tools I found URLs that I can't find on my site. For example, a product url maybe http://www.example.co.uk/product-url/ which is fine. In that product there maybe three sizes of the product (Small, Medium, Large) and for some reason Googlebot is sometimes finding a url like: http://www.example.co.uk/product-url/1202/ has been found and when clicked on is a live url (Status code: 200) with is one of the sizes (medium). However I have ran a site crawl in Screaming Frog and other crawl tests and can't seem to find where Googlebot is finding these URLs. I think I need to: 1. Find how Googlebot is finding these urls? 2. Find out how to keep out of index (e.g. robots.txt, canonical etc.... Any help would be much appreciated and I'm happy to share the URL with members if they think they can have a look and help with this problem. I can share specific URLs which might make the issue seem clearer, let me know? Thanks, Darrell
Web Design | | clickyleap0 -
Website Design Structure
When having a website designed, is it best to have a Responsive Design with Media Queries or is it best to have a Website designed for laptops andDesktops and a second mobil website? What are the SEO benefits of each strategy and Which is best for the user experience?
Web Design | | bronxpad1 -
Turning my Design Business site into a site to promote SEO
I need advice on retooling my website for my SEO biz. I have shifted my business model from graphic designer who does websites, to "internet marketing consultant who does graphics too". My main website and domain name is over 10 years old, so I've made the decision to keep it, even though it has no keywords in the name. The name works well for the new business, otherwise. The site has a PR3 and I rank well for small business advertising terms, which gets me graphic design business. I intend to keep doing graphic design, but that is a smaller part of my income. I had considered making 3 satellite sites with keyword domain names to cover my offerings of graphic design SEO, website development, and internet marketing. But am leaning against it for several reasons (that all of us SEO's know) but mainly the fact that I cannot keep up with both working for my clients and blogging on multiple sites and link building for multiple sites. So my question is (you knew there was one coming, right?), what is the best approach to building categories of web development, internet marketing, and SEO into my existing graphic design/advertising oriented website? This is slightly embarrassing to ask as an SEO, but given the multiple approaches possible, and knowing the importance of doing it right the first time, it's best to get an consensus perspective on the BEST approach. My main concerns are the navigation system and the links from the homepage into the site. I have too many pages I've identified as essential to link off of the home page and navigation menus? (Website development, social media marketing, link building, keyword research, pay per click, online advertising, graphic design, brochures, catalogs, Logos, Branding, SEO, keyword research etc.) I've always tried for the ratio of one link off of any page for every 100 words of content. Do I create a home page that is of monster proportions? Do I just have the 4 basic areas linking off the home page then create a "landing zone" of 4 folders and create down from that? I am concerned about URL length as I go deeper with that approach. Or, does it make more sense to have a dozen second-level pages, and not link them all off the home page, and build from beneath (and relying on external juice). Next issue is the nav system. It will be huge. Am I best off just keeping it to 4-6, and creating subnavigation on everypage within the site according to section (PITA)? I've read dozens of blog opinions on how much nav systems do or do not hurt link juice. I've always thought footer links were right next to worthless to pass any juice, but given this situation, does it make sense to make a footer link for each major page (about 20)? Thanks for your opinions.
Web Design | | JCDenver0 -
Google News we were dropped and need help finding ot why
Hi i have a site called in2town lifestyle magazine http://www.in2town.co.uk/ and up until two months ago we were with google news and for a long time. But then all of a sudden we were dropped which left us with no confidence about our site and led us to make changes to the site, some good and some bad to try and find out what was wrong with our site and why we were dropped. We have now been concentrating on sorting the site out which has led in a drop in traffic due to not updating it as we should because we are more concerned in trying to make it a quality lifestyle magazine and get back in google as well as making it a good experience for our readers.. I would like your help and finding out what you feel is wrong with our site so we can then work on it and change it and try and find out what went wrong with google news. we have spent years on the site but now we have gone in the wrong direction because we were more worried about google news. If you can advise us on how we should change the site and sort the site out and make it into the professional site it was once more then that would be great.
Web Design | | ClaireH-1848860