Smart Design is a web design company and website development company for US businesses: custom-built websites, webshops and apps that are fast, accessible and priced in dollars, with calls in your morning and code you own.
We are based in Haarlem, the Netherlands, six hours ahead of the East Coast and nine ahead of the West Coast. So we schedule calls in our afternoon and evening, and we work while you sleep: yesterday’s feedback is waiting on the test site when you start your day.
Custom Laravel and Vue · iPhone and Android apps · English and Arabic
Hiring an agency on the other side of the Atlantic feels like a risk. These are the concerns we hear most often, and how we deal with them.
Calls between 3 pm and 9 pm Dutch time: that is your morning on the East Coast and your early morning in California.
One dedicated contact who speaks fluent English, a weekly update and a reply within one business day.
A written agreement in English, payment per milestone and invoices in euro, payable by wire transfer or an international payment service.
The domain is registered in your name and you get access to the source code. You are never locked in.
No template, but custom work in Laravel and Vue, tested on every screen and built for speed and accessibility.
A three-month warranty on bugs, daily backups and then maintenance or help on request.
The time difference with the US sounds like a drawback, but in practice it often works in your favour. You send feedback at the end of your working day, we handle it in our morning, and by the time you are back at your desk the change is ready.
For meetings we set a fixed slot in the overlapping part of the day; early and late calls are normal for us. Keep in mind that the US and Europe change their clocks on different dates, so for a few weeks in March and in the autumn the gap is one hour smaller. We keep track of that in the schedule.
What you can expect:
Overlap with the Netherlands
In the US, digital accessibility is taken seriously. Many businesses want a site that works well with screen readers and keyboards, partly because it reaches more customers and partly because complaints about inaccessible websites are common there.
We build with WCAG level AA as the target: sufficient colour contrast, alt text on images, a logical heading structure, labelled forms and a site that can be used entirely by keyboard. Whether your site meets specific legal requirements is something to have assessed by a lawyer or a specialist auditor; we do not give legal advice.
$ run accessibility check
→ colour contrast text and buttons
→ heading structure H1–H3
✓ all images have alt text
✓ forms have labels
✓ keyboard navigation works
legal review by a specialist
American buyers expect prices in dollars, pay by credit card, Apple Pay or PayPal, and want to see exactly what shipping and sales tax cost at checkout. Because sales tax differs by state, we connect your webshop to a calculation service such as Stripe Tax; which states apply to you is something to settle with your accountant.
Shipping rates from USPS, UPS or FedEx appear in your checkout, orders and customers can flow into QuickBooks or HubSpot, and you manage everything in your own admin panel.
In the US a large share of your customers use an iPhone. We build iOS and Android apps that work together with your website or webshop, from ordering and booking to an app for your staff. Mobile apps start from €3,500.
From Dearborn to New York and Houston, many US business owners serve both English- and Arabic-speaking customers. We can discuss your project in Arabic and build an English and a full Arabic version.
A standard website is usually live within 10 to 20 working days. Webshops and apps get their own schedule.
A video call in your morning about your business, your customers and your goals. You then receive a fixed proposal.
You review a clickable design and give feedback whenever it suits you, asynchronously if you like.
We build on a test site, check speed and accessibility and test on every screen size.
The site goes live on your domain, we walk through the admin panel together and the three-month warranty starts.
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Yes. We schedule calls between 3 pm and 9 pm Dutch time, which is your morning or early afternoon. We answer messages within one business day.
You pay per milestone against invoices in euro, by international wire transfer or an international payment service. Your bank or service converts from dollars.
You do. The domain is registered in your name, you get access to the source code and there is no mandatory maintenance contract.
We build with WCAG AA as the target and test with keyboard and screen reader. Have a specialist give a legal assessment of your situation.
As a European agency we work under the GDPR: collect little data, ask consent for tracking and store data securely. That is a solid baseline, also for US privacy rules such as California’s.
Mobile apps start from €3,500, depending on the features. For websites and webshops you receive a fixed proposal after a short call.
You get a three-month warranty on bugs and daily backups. After that you choose maintenance and new features, or help on request.
Tell us about your business and what you want to build. You will get a personal reply within one business day, in English or Arabic.
