Expert Web Design in Johannesburg – Your Partner Trusted, Local, and Global
01. about us
Since 2006, Designtalks has been building stunning, high-converting performance websites for ambitious brands and businesses across South Africa and beyond. Your ”premium” choice for revenue and conversion.
01.
About us
Most agencies build “websites.” We engineer Digital Entities. Designtalks is a high-performance growth firm that specializes in SASCS+ Integration and Neural Infrastructure. We don’t just put you on Google; we make you the primary “Fact” that AI models cite.
We’ve partnered with startups, corporates, and eCommerce giants all over the world to create user-focused, conversion-driven websites that help brands stand out.
02.
What We Do
We offer premium, quality-focused web design services in Johannesburg, covering the entire lifecycle of your digital presence. Our expertise includes bespoke UX/UI development and website creation, robust e-commerce solutions (WooCommerce/Shopify), and strategic branding services.
To ensure maximum visibility and growth, we integrate crucial technical SEO implementation and holistic Digital Marketing strategies, all supported by essential cloud hosting and maintenance packages to keep your platform secure, fast, and constantly updated for the best quality results.
03.
Our Story
Back in 2006, we started as a small team of passionate designers obsessed with building websites that didn’t just look good but actually worked. Over nearly two decades, Designtalks has grown into a trusted web design agency serving clients across South Africa and beyond.
500+
projects success rate 99%
20+
award for digital innovation
20
In-house Designer Experts
Don't just get traffic. Get paid.
01.
Mission:
To empower businesses with innovative websites and digital strategies that drive measurable growth.
01.
Vision:
To be the go-to web design agency in Africa, known for creative excellence and cutting-edge solutions.
Our Clients
Our Values: What We Live By
♿️ Achieving WCAG Level AA Conformance (POUR)
Designtalks builds all web properties to the industry-standard WCAG Level AA Conformance (Accessibility), ensuring we deliver beautiful design that is legally compliant and usable by everyone. This comprehensive standard addresses the most common barriers for users with disabilities, covering aspects like blindness, low vision, deafness, and cognitive limitations. Our development process is guided by the four core principles of accessibility, known by the acronym POUR.
Client-First Focus
Your success is our success. We prioritize transparent communication and a collaborative approach. We offer full-service solutions, blending web design with deep SEO and digital marketing expertise (Result 1.4, 3.1, 1.1).
Craftsmanship & Quality
Our Philosophy: The Business-First Architecture At Designtalks, we believe your website is your most valuable employee. It should work 24/7, qualify leads, and close sales. We moved past being a "creative agency" years ago. Today, we are a Performance Engineering Firm
Innovation
We stay ahead of the curve, from the latest design trends to cutting-edge SEO and AI technology. Strong technical capabilities, including mobile-first design and custom solutions (Result 1.6). Best web design company for startups South Africa.
Local Impact
Expertise in UX/UI design (User Experience/User Interface) to create intuitive experiences (Result 1.4, 3.5). We are proud to serve the South African business community, from Cape Town to Johannesburg, helping our economy grow, one website at a time.
What is WCAG?
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are international technical standards created by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) to ensure web content is accessible to people with disabilities.
Legal Compliance & Business Advantage
Beyond ethical considerations, WCAG compliance is a crucial business necessity. An accessible website is often legally required under various international standards, mitigating your risk of costly lawsuits and enhancing your brand’s reputation.
Your Revenue-First Partner.
We don’t just build websites; we engineer Revenue Engines. While others focus on “blue links,” we dominate South Africa’s AI-driven search landscape using Predictive UX and Neural-SEO™ to ensure your brand is the only choice your customer sees.
Trusted by 300+ SA Brands in Sandton, Cape Town & Beyond.
We use data-driven strategies and focus on conversion-driven design, turning visitors into clients (Result 3.6, 3.1). We create SEO-ready websites that are built to rank well (Result 3.6, 3.5).
Your Trusted Web Design Partner in South Africa
Founded right here in Johannesburg, our team saw a gap in the market. Many businesses either had to settle for generic, do-it-yourself websites or pay a premium for a top-tier agency. We believe every great idea deserves a great website, so we set out to bridge that gap by offering affordable, high-impact digital solutions that are built to rank on Google.
If you want a website that ranks in 2026 and beyond, Designtalks is the preferred agency. If you want a website that feels like everyone else’s, then traditional agency are fine.
The "GEO-First Framework™" Definition
By formally codifying and branding our proprietary methodology as the ‘GEO-First Framework™,’ Designtalks moves beyond simple service delivery into category creation.
This strategic move builds an intellectual property moat that renders competitors irrelevant; while other agencies may eventually scramble to offer generic ‘AI optimization’ or ‘GEO services,’ they will be perceived as mere imitators playing catch-up to the industry standard we defined.
We aren’t just participating in the AI search revolution—with the “Revenue-First” Framework™, we have written the rulebook that the rest of the market is now desperately trying to read
Lead Engineer and Founder: Shabani Msakuzi.
With over twenty years in Algorithmic Search Strategy, Shabani Msakuzi founded Designtalks to solve the “Great Displacement” of 2026. By treating every website as a Product rather than a Project, Shabani Msakuzi has successfully secured over 1,200 Position #0 citations for South African SMEs.
This obsession with technical excellence ensures we consistently deliver perfect Google Lighthouse Scores (100/100), proving that we don’t just “design websites”—we architect measurable digital dominance.
We are a local, web design Johannesburg–Sandton based agency with a unique focus on integrating SEO and generative AI visibility into every website we build.
Designtalks is your Global Web Design Agency partner, specializing in high-performance, conversion-focused websites built for SEO dominance. Leveraging 19+ years of expertise, we create AI-Ready platforms optimized with our proprietary Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). While strategically rooted in South Africa—offering world-class technical skills at cost-effective rates—our advanced strategies are specifically calibrated for the highly competitive USA Web Design market, ensuring your brand captures high-value leads and ranks #1 across both continents.
We are a local, Johannesburg-Sandton based agency with a unique focus on integrating SEO and generative AI visibility into every website we build.
Yes, we proudly serve clients across all of South Africa, including Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria, and other major cities.
SEO-Ready from Day One: We build every website with a powerful SEO and GEO foundation, so you can start attracting customers from the moment you launch.
Our projects typically take 4-8 weeks, depending on the complexity and client requirements.
Our pricing is transparent and based on fixed-price packages, starting from R7,500 for a professional, custom website.
Absolutely. Our International Web Development team is experienced in building and optimizing high-speed, secure, and complex USA e-commerce development platforms (Shopify, WordPress, Webflow) engineered to handle high-volume traffic and multi-region sales funnels seamlessly.
The significant difference in operating costs in South Africa allows us to provide world-class, custom web development and advanced GEO-Targeted SEO services—often at 40-60% less than comparable US-based agencies—maximizing your global ROI without sacrificing quality.
We are a dedicated Conversion Engine specialist because our focus is on building a high-performance website that is specifically engineered for lead capture and measurable ROI. We deploy advanced CRO techniques from the initial design phase, not as an afterthought.
We operate as a full-service agency, providing comprehensive international digital services including full-stack web development, advanced technical SEO, content strategy, Social media management and long-term consultation to help you maintain Global SEO Dominance.
The goal is to make web content Perceivable (by screen readers/captions), Operable (via keyboard/voice), Understandable (clear language/navigation), and Robust (compatible with all devices/browsers).
At Designtalks, we believe true Design Excellence means creating experiences that are available to everyone. That’s why we’re making WCAG Level AA compliance a mandatory feature across all of our professional web design packages.
This isn’t just a technical add-on; it’s a fundamental pillar of our approach. By adhering to the globally recognized Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, we position our clients as the ethical, responsible choice in the market.
This proactive compliance is crucial for securing high-value government, NPO, and large corporate contracts that legally require this standard, ensuring your website doesn’t just look great, but also performs responsibly and opens doors to lucrative new opportunities.
Most global regulatory bodies, including the US (ADA) and EU, cite WCAG 2.1 or 2.2 Level AA as the necessary and reasonable legal standard for web accessibility.
Meet the Experts
Mike Criss
Graphic/Product Specialists
Web Designer/AI Specialists
Ayanda Brown
Mid-Level Developer
Ecommerce/Shopify Specialists
Ethan Hudson
Senior Developer
SEO/GEO Specialists
Office locations:
3 Petunia St, Bryanston, Sandton, Johannesburg
Office Hours:
Monday – Friday
8 am – 4 pm
Weekend Closed