Designfirms.org is a directory of web designers, developers, and marketing professionals located all around the world. There are over 20,000 companies listed in the Designfirms.org directory.
Basic directory listings are free and include a profile page with product and services descriptions, contact information, a website link, links to social media feeds, and a portfolio gallery. In addition, companies that are listed at Designfirms.org can get reviewed, post jobs, answer questions, upload videos, and post classified ads.
Upgrades begin at $4.95 per month.
Companies, portfolios, and people that are listed in the directory at Designfirms.org can be searched by geographical location, by services offered, by platform, by software used, and by industries served. Company listings are also searchable by rating and by price. There is also a search box in the middle of the home page that can be used for locating companies.
Designfirms.org offers several other features to help individual companies gain additional exposure. These include advertising opportunities, design awards, and company verification services.
There are several other aspects of Designfirms.org that make it even more useful to site visitors. There is a free online price calculator to help a user determine what it would cost to build a website based on the site's features. Designfirms.org offers free image hosting and a free page rank checker. The Marketplace at Designfirms.org offers project leads, job leads, and free classified ads.
The overall appearance of Designfirms.org is very professional and elegant. The header is black with the name of the website stylized in gold and silver metallic text. The basic background of the site is white, with black and olive separators delineating various sections of the site. The text is in gray, olive, or white, and the fonts used are easy to read.
There are banner ads that rotate throughout the website, but they do not interfere with the look or the usability of the site. The toll free number and the link to the online chat are displayed prominently at the top and bottom of every web page.
With all of these wonderful features, you may wonder what, if anything, is there not to like about Designfirms.org? On various pages throughout the site there are small banner ads, or text listings, that are listed under titles such as "Top Web Designers," "Directory's Choice Best of Breed Design Firms," "Elite Firms," or "Premiere Agencies - Highly Recommended By Designfirms."
Based on the fact that Designfirms.org offers awards and reviews, I thought that the companies listed under these titles were actually selected by merit. However, when I read the advertising section, I realized that the companies listed under these titles had purchased ads.
The titles used for these advertising sections should be clarified to let site visitors know that the companies listed under them are paying for advertising space. In addition, it would be nice if the template used for the Designfirms.org site was adjustable based on screen size. I viewed the site on a large screen, and the right hand side of the site was cut off on every page. Lastly, the link to the link shortener tool doesn't work.
