Not being neither a professional analyst nor marketing specialist, I however I have a right to offer my own opinion on a question, which, as it seems to me, I more or less understand. In this case we will talk about web design or, if you like it more, about creation of sites. Self-made sites for yourself, your company, your lover, or for the Joe fish are out of fashion, thanks God, and people are back to their business (they are to be able to do at least something good), and web design is a privilege of specialists.

 Having looked over the enormous amount of sites of different companies engaged in a web design, I derived a few basic categories of people who sale web services:

1. Monsters, aurochses or, for example, leading light of web design.

Solid companies, enormous experience, voluminous portfolio, generated in the epoch of Mesozoic, and quite fantastic prices.
Believe me, to buy a 2 bedroom apartment in one of the central districts of New-York will cost you less than to order a corporate site at one of such monsters. If you do not believe me, try to find out the price of the site – introduction in the studio www.2advanced.com

 Well known web studios
Here we are faced with paradox, professionalism is the same and the prices are less. The same portfolio, a little less experience, but the price is also less. The price of the corporative site does not exceed 5 000 dollars and believe me, you will get everything possible from the web design.

1. Young teams or not bad known studios.

No advertised web studios professional and talented (site) or vice versa - hacks and dilettantes, but few the known people.

Almost complete absence of portfolio, low prices (rarely exceeding 1 000 dollars for a corporate site), and quite unforeseeable quality. For your money you have an excellent chance to get both a valuable professional site and certain misunderstanding getting in a network only on the oversight. And the thing is not in the price, it is just because somebody can work and somebody can not. If you do not have money to pay to the monsters you are to work with young specialists. The most important thing here is to make a right choice. Before working with young studios, find out the following things.

1. Presence of permanent designer, programmer, imposer. Many young studios consist of one person working permanently, and a few others, working remotely. It is the normal chart of work, simply sometimes it substantially multiplies time on creation of site.
2. find out if there is a model agreement and requirement specification on creation of web design of the site – in fact exactly on these documents will depend a quality of work
3. They must have some kind of portfolio. Look through it and see how was the work done  (crooked references, speed of loading etc)
4.  Call to the previous customers (certainly their telephones are on the sites proposed in portfolio) and interest, how well the studio made the work, whether everybody were satisfied and etc.
5.  Interest, where territorially there is their office. The presence of office is not obligatory, just in case, of having problems, you always will be able to find these people and say them the claims personally.

-Too young teams and web designers who work alone. It is recommended only at quite the limited budget (to 200 dollars) and only if you will advertise the project yourself. Honestly, from hundred similar projects just units bring in return, it is better save some more money and appeal somebody more professional.
 That is all I wanted to tell you about web design and people selling web services, an as always it is your choice.