Plaudit Design
Plaudit Design is a bootstrapped, privately held web design and internet marketing agency founded in 1998, serving enterprise, mid-market, and SMB clients across diverse verticals from offices in St. Paul, Minnesota and New York City through professional services, interactive experience design, and SEO/PPC offerings.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1998
- HeadquartersSt Louis, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Plaudit Design does
Plaudit Design is a privately held, bootstrapped web design and internet marketing agency founded in 1998 by brothers David Schlotfeldt and Michael Schlotfeldt. The firm operates from two U.S. offices — a headquarters in St. Paul, Minnesota and a regional office in New York City — and serves a horizontal mix of enterprise, mid-market, and small business clients across verticals including healthcare, telecom, manufacturing, real estate, nonprofit, legal, hospitality, and retail. The company's service portfolio spans professional web design (discovery, UX, custom development, CMS, hosting), interactive experience design (VR, 3D virtual environments, 360 video, interactive tradeshow tools), and internet marketing (SEO, PPC, paid social, email, retargeting), with an emerging Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) offering.
Its underlying technology stack is centered on responsive web design, custom web programming, and third-party system integration, supported by capabilities in e-commerce development with subscription and loyalty features, and POS integration. The interactive experience line includes novel architecture such as an offline-capable 3D virtual city used for trade-show product demonstration (deployed for Clearfield Connection).
Plaudit's business model combines project-based professional services (multi-year contracts with discovery, strategy, design, development, and launch phases) with subscription-style recurring retainers for ongoing CMS hosting, support, and marketing services. Go-to-market is sales-led and enterprise field sales, with client acquisition via direct outreach, referrals, and inbound inquiries. Pricing is custom and quote-based with no public tiers. Quantifiable client outcomes cited include 89% lead conversion lift for Lang Nelson, 38% more users / 57% fewer bounces for Premier Communications, and 111.7% traffic / 98.8% sales lift with 25%+ lower CPA for Plastic Resource. The company is actively hiring for an Account Executive and a Content/SEO/GEO Specialist, signaling sales formalization and adaptation to AI-driven search.
Plaudit Design firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Plaudit Design
- Legal name
- Plaudit Design
- Website
- https://plaudit.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1998
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Plaudit Design is a bootstrapped, privately held web design and internet marketing agency founded in 1998, serving enterprise, mid-market, and SMB clients across diverse verticals from offices in St. Paul, Minnesota and New York City through professional services, interactive experience design, and SEO/PPC offerings.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Plaudit Design industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Web Design Services
- NAICS
- Graphic Design Services (541430), Graphic Design Services (54143)
- SIC
- Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Digital Creative & Experience Design Agencies (Web/App/UX) (MPAAAAAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Environmental & Experiential Brand Design (Retail/Exhibit/Signage) (MPAAAEAG)
Keywords
Where Plaudit Design is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- St Louis
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices2 records
Markets served
Plaudit Design business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales
Revenue model
- Web Design and Development Services: Custom website design and development services including responsive web design, interactive experiences, and web programming. Project-based work with discovery, strategy, design, development, and launch phases.
- Internet Marketing Services: Digital marketing services including SEO, pay-per-click advertising, paid search and social, email marketing, retargeting, and social engagement. Ongoing retainer arrangements for continued marketing support.
- Ongoing Support and Retainers: Turn-key CMS and web hosting, ongoing support, and retainer options for continued website maintenance and marketing services.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Other | Multi-year contract | Custom project-based pricing |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Plaudit Design product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Plaudit Design is a web design and internet marketing agency founded in 1998 that delivers custom web design, web development, interactive digital experiences, and internet marketing services. The agency operates from offices in Minneapolis/St. Paul and New York City and serves mid-market and enterprise business clients.
Product overview
Plaudit Design offers a unified suite of digital design and marketing services organized around three core offerings: Professional Web Design Services (including discovery, UX, development, and CMS hosting), Interactive Experience Design (including VR, tradeshow displays, and 360 video), and Internet Marketing Services (including SEO, PPC, and email marketing). The company also provides a Client Portal for account management and a Newsletter subscription service. These services are delivered as professional agency services rather than standalone software products, with all work performed by an integrated team of designers, developers, and marketers.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Web Design Custom website design service delivered to mid-market and enterprise business clients, producing tailored visual and information design rather than template-based sites.
- Web Development Custom web development service building and maintaining websites for mid-market and enterprise business clients, typically paired with the agency's web design work.
- Interactive Experiences Interactive digital experiences service covering engagement-driven web and digital experiences for mid-market and enterprise business clients.
- Internet Marketing Services Internet marketing services including search engine optimization and online marketing support for mid-market and enterprise businesses seeking to drive traffic and conversions from their websites.
Quantifiable outcome
- 38% more users, 57% fewer bounces, 22% more pages per session, 15% more pageviews for Premier Communications redesign
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use Plaudit Design
Customer profileNamed customers25 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Plaudit Design technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature4 records
Plaudit Design partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators2 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Plaudit Design competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Huemor: Web design and development agency specializing in B2B website redesigns, e-commerce, and digital marketing; directly comparable service offering and customer profile to Plaudit Design.
- WebFX: Full-service internet marketing and web design agency combining custom website development with SEO, PPC, and content marketing; directly comparable to Plaudits integrated design-plus-marketing model and mid-market focus.
- TheeDigital: Digital marketing and web design agency providing responsive web design, SEO, and PPC services to mid-market businesses; comparable service mix and customer profile to Plaudit Design.
- Dotlogics: Custom web design and development agency serving mid-market and enterprise clients with strategy, design, and digital marketing services; comparable to Plaudits service model and customer tier focus.
- Blue Fountain Media: Mid-sized digital agency providing web design, branding, and digital marketing services to enterprise and mid-market clients across multiple verticals; closely comparable in service mix and customer profile to Plaudit Design.
- Velocity Partners: B2B-focused digital agency offering web design, web development, and digital marketing services with similar mid-market enterprise customer focus and integrated team model as Plaudit Design.
- SmartSites: Full-service digital agency offering web design, SEO, PPC, and internet marketing to SMB and mid-market clients; closely comparable integrated service model to Plaudit Design, though typically serving smaller average deal sizes.
- Big Drop Inc: Custom web design and digital marketing agency serving mid-market and enterprise clients with branding, web development, and SEO services; similar agency positioning and service breadth to Plaudit Design.
- Lounge Lizard: Boutique web design and digital marketing agency offering custom website design, branding, and internet marketing; comparable in size, service mix, and mid-market enterprise targeting to Plaudit Design.
Broad incumbents
- Perficient: Large digital consultancy offering end-to-end web design, development, and internet marketing services to mid-market and enterprise clients; comparable to Plaudits full-service agency model but at significantly larger scale across more geographies.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Plaudit Design social profiles
Digital presencePlaudit Design financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Plaudit Design leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Plaudit Design funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Plaudit Design M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Plaudit Design
What does Plaudit Design do?
Plaudit Design is a web design and internet marketing agency founded in 1998 that delivers custom web design, web development, interactive digital experiences, and internet marketing services. The agency operates from offices in Minneapolis/St. Paul and New York City and serves mid-market and enterprise business clients.
Is Plaudit Design a public or private company?
Plaudit Design is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Plaudit Design founded?
Plaudit Design was founded in 1998. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Plaudit Design based?
Plaudit Design is headquartered in St Louis, United States, in the North America region.
How does Plaudit Design make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Web Design and Development Services are the primary driver. The others are internet Marketing Services and ongoing Support and Retainers.
Who are Plaudit Design's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Huemor, WebFX, TheeDigital, Dotlogics, Blue Fountain Media, Velocity Partners, SmartSites, Big Drop Inc and Lounge Lizard. Perficient is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Plaudit Design have an API?
No public API is recorded for Plaudit Design.
What industry is Plaudit Design in?
Plaudit Design's product category is Web Design Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAAAAAD, Digital Creative & Experience Design Agencies (Web/App/UX), with a secondary code of MPAAAEAG, Environmental & Experiential Brand Design (Retail/Exhibit/Signage). Its NAICS code is 541430 and its SIC code is 7311.