Large Web Design Agencies and the 'True Cost' of Web Design in Singapore

Why do they charge so much?

Large web design agencies in Singapore have massive overhead (fixed operating costs). To ensure their continued survival, these agencies MUST pass that cost down to YOU, the client. There is no way of getting around this.

1. They need to pay for the rent of office space and utilities which can easily cost upwards of $10,000 a month.
2. They have dedicated teams handling multiple client accounts, and they need to pay employee salaries. Employees with titles such as Senior Project Manager, Senior Business Analyst, Assistant Project Manager and Sales Manager would be earning upwards of $4,000 a month each.
3. They hire foreign workers, so they need to pay a foreign worker levy to the government each month. A foreign worker levy is a pricing mechanism to regulate the number of foreign workers in Singapore. For a single foreign worker earning say $2,200, the levy would be $600 a month.

You can see that they really do need to convince you that a 'good' website will cost you $3000+ and that anything less is unworthy of your consideration. How else would they make enough money to stay afloat?

We're here to tell you — you don't need to pay $3000+ for website design in Singapore.

At Hypermagix Studios, we've been custom designing websites in Singapore for the past 15 years that provide both the design and functionality of websites that cost $3000+.

How is this possible?

We have revised, refined and scaled our business model significantly over the years past 15 years, reducing our costs while maintaining high standards of consistently creative and highly effective website design. This has allowed us to blast away the coal and reveal the diamond that is The True Cost of Web Design in Singapore.

We've worked hard to set a price point for web design in Singapore that works for both you and us. We're not a one-person show, but we've managed to keep costs low and reasonable by working smart, while still providing a completely customised and personalised experience.

Ask our clients. The common testimonials you'll hear about our websites are:

• "exceeded my expectations"
• "a truly formidable, unexpected experience"
• "finished website meets my expectations and beyond"
• "better than I expected"
• "outcome was even better than what I have thought"
• "product delivered was above and beyond the promise"
• "quality of work is beyond the price tag"
• "never thought it would be this good"
• "we have worked with big web agencies in the past, but never again"

Why is it that clients are so surprised by the quality of our work?

Simple. Large web design agencies in Singapore have convinced clients that they need to pay $3000+ to get a good, functional website.

They've been so effective over the years in pulling the wool over clients' eyes, underperforming and underdelivering while smiling and charging exorbitant fees, that this has now become the industry standard.

Corporate clients, government agencies, and SMEs are particularly vulnerable to the deceptive narratives perpetuated by these by these large agencies. These agencies employ various industry jargon, such as the necessity for milestones, mood boards, wireframes, prototyping, and more, all of which escalate costs.

Large web design agencies in Singapore aren't even web design agencies. Most of the time, they brand themselves as 'digital marketing agencies', and they offer a wide range of services such as:

• Copywriting
• Web Development
• Mobile App Development
• Multimedia & Graphic Design
• Marketing Services
• Consultation Services
• Experience Design

Are you starting to see how the costs add up? They need tons of staff and teams working across multiple, varied disciplines and they've factored this cost into every project.

In our experience, small business owners prefer working with a dedicated and focused web design company in Singapore that understands their requirements and needs.

Hypermagix Studios offers web design and development services in Singapore at a fraction of the cost while still providing creative, engaging and effective website design. We provide a collaborative experience, which means we build your website with you.

The 6 Myths about Small Web Design Companies

Now, let's bust some myths that large web design agencies in Singapore have been (falsely) perpetuating about smaller companies for years to try and win you to their side:

Myth #1 — Small web design companies provide unacceptable design and layout quality.

Truth: At Hypermagix Studios, we guarantee 100% custom website design from the ground up. We don't use free or paid themes or free, open-source content management systems (CMS) like WordPress.

We use the latest web technologies, ensuring all code is valid and compliant. All our websites are built mobile-first using responsive design. Websites are thoroughly tested on a multitude of devices — mobile, tablet and desktop — and the latest web browsers to ensure compatibility.

Now, a lot of large web design agencies claim to create custom websites, when in reality they use free or purchased pre-built themes, basically customizing other people’s templates.

Even if they do offer completely custom WordPress builds for your website, you'd still have to contend with code bloat and the lack of security and stability associated with WordPress. These agencies will try to tell you otherwise, but WordPress security should be a major concern.

WordPress constitutes the single most attractive target for cybercriminals. Check out this post on Forbes and read how 60 million WordPress websites worldwide were potentially compromised in 2019.

And how's this for a frightening fact? An estimated 90% of hacked sites online are running WordPress, and those hacks happen on mostly up-to-date installs. It's the most targeted and vulnerable CMS on the internet today. It's built on an old code base whose plugin system leaves it consistently open to attack. If you don't have a developer dedicated to keeping your site up to date, you are vulnerable. Emergency developer support to recover or restore your site can be expensive, on top of lost business from an exploited site or data leak.

Are you willing to let your website be a statistic?

Myth #2 — Small web design companies have a limited portfolio, and they misrepresent themselves and their work.

Truth: We have an extensive portfolio of web design projects in Singapore which we are glad to share with you, as 90% of our projects are still online after many years. Each project has a distinctly different style as we don't use templates but custom code all websites from the ground up to suit your business.

Myth #3 — Small web design companies will either steal or leverage your domain name & web hosting against you, denying access and holding you ransom.

Truth: We don't hide your domain, web hosting or content management system (CMS) ownership from you. You have complete access, and we provide all usernames/passwords and login credentials upfront, meaning you could even lock us out if you wanted to.

Myth #4 — Small web design companies have hidden costs or charges that are not included in the agreed fees.

Truth: All our clients pay the exact same fixed price. The services and functionality we provide are clearly outlined in our 20-page letter of agreement. There are no hidden costs, fees or nasty surprises down the line. For example, we provide up to 20 stock images per project as part of the package and even let you choose the photos from our repository.

Not only are we upfront and transparent in terms of pricing, but also in the way we work:

• We have a page titled Don't Hire Us on our website that will give you an idea if we are the right fit for your project.
• Our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section also contains practically every question you could think of to ask.

Myth #5 — Small web design companies don't offer ongoing website maintenance and support after launch.

Truth: We offer unlimited, lifetime email and phone support relating to website/CMS technical issues after your website is launched without any additional charges.

Besides, our websites are rock-solid in terms of security and stability. They do not need to be frequently 'updated' or 'patched' to fix security issues or malware like WordPress which has numerous vulnerabilities, with more cropping up each day. Most website hacks are done through SQL Injection. Our custom CMS doesn't use a database, thus eliminating most forms of automated attack.

Also, our websites are fast and lean and don't contain tons of bloated and useless code that's present in WordPress themes.

Myth #6 — Small web design companies lack knowledge in every aspect of web development, including SEO.

Truth: Our team is highly versatile and up to date on the latest website development standards.

All our websites are custom built on Laravel, known as "The PHP Framework for Web Artisans". It is the number one PHP framework available today and the most popular backend framework on GitHub (a cloud-based code hosting platform). We use Javascript frameworks such as Alpine JS and utility-first CSS frameworks such as Bootstrap and Tailwind for implementing custom designs from the ground up.

In terms of SEO, many of our client websites rank organically for their desired keywords on pages #1-3 of Google Search.

True, rising in search rankings organically definitely takes more time, but it also signals that your website's structure and content is fully optimised. Organic search rankings are where your long term focus should be.

Design, technical, on-page and local SEO are often the most overlooked aspects of SEO. Big agencies would rather charge you for SEO and overpromise and underdeliver than get these aspects of SEO right. And this is where we excel.

So, what's your alternative to large web design agencies in Singapore - Hypermagix Studios!

At Hypermagix Studios, we've had enough of the smoke and mirrors. For 15 years, we've been on the front lines, challenging the notion that quality web design in Singapore must come with a jaw-dropping price tag. Our mission is simple: to deliver unparalleled value without the unnecessary financial burden.

We're ready to go toe-to-toe with any of these bloated design agencies that have been exploiting the average person's limited knowledge of web design to impose hefty premiums for web design services in Singapore.

We take exception to these poor ethics and bad behaviour. At Hypermagix Studios, we firmly believe that EVERYONE deserves access to a stunning, feature-rich, and fully functional website.

And of course, don't you deserve to pay The True Cost of Web Design? With Hypermagix Studios, you will. And you'll sleep better at night too.

We assume you've researched other web companies in Singapore. You'll have realised by now that we're nothing like them. This is true both in the way in which we operate, and the level of service we provide to our clients.

Our relationship is a partnership with you. If you've invested the time to read this far, you care about your business enough to research exactly who you want to work with. You're our kind of client, and we're excited about exceeding your expectations.

So, if you're looking for the quality and dedication your project deserves, contact us today.