Advice
How to choose a web designer (and what to ask them)
You are buying something you cannot judge until it exists, from an industry with no qualifications. These nine questions do most of the work, and two of them decide whether you can ever leave.
Choosing a web designer is difficult because you are buying something you cannot judge until it exists, from an industry with no qualifications and no barrier to entry. Anyone can call themselves a web designer this afternoon.
These are the questions worth asking. You do not need to understand the technical answers. You need to notice whether you get a straight one.
1. Who writes the content?
Ask first, because it is the biggest hidden variable in any quote. If the answer is “you supply the copy”, you are being quoted for half a project, and the other half is the half that stalls.
Be honest with yourself. If you have not written the words for the site you have been meaning to build since 2023, you will not write them for this one either.
2. Who will the domain be registered to?
The correct answer is “you”. Anything else is a red flag, and it is the single most common way small businesses end up trapped with a supplier they no longer want.
A domain registered to your designer means that when the relationship ends, and it will eventually, even amicably, you are negotiating for your own address. People have lost their business email over this.
3. Do I own the website at the end?
Some arrangements are a rental: you pay monthly, and if you stop, the site disappears. That can be a legitimate model and it is not necessarily a rip-off, but you must know which you are buying, because after three years you may have paid more than the site cost and own nothing.
Ask directly: “If I stop paying you, what happens to the website?”
4. Can I move it elsewhere?
Related, and different. A site on a proprietary system that only one company can host is not portable regardless of who owns it. WordPress and similar can be moved between hosts.
You may never move it. Being able to is what stops the relationship becoming captive.
5. What does a small change cost?
Prices change, staff leave, services shift. You will need edits.
Ask what a text change costs, whether there is a minimum charge, and how quickly it gets done. A designer who charges an hour’s minimum for a five-minute edit will produce a website that quietly goes out of date because you cannot face asking.
6. Can I edit it myself?
And will you be shown how. Even if you never do, being able to fix a phone number at nine on a Sunday is worth having.
7. Can I see sites you built that are still live?
Note the wording. Not a portfolio of images, but live sites you can open and use.
Then open two of them on your phone, on mobile data. Are they quick? Can you find the phone number without hunting? Does the writing sound like a person? That is a better assessment of a designer than any amount of conversation.
8. What happens after it goes live?
Websites need updating, backing up and keeping secure. Find out whether that is included, extra, or not happening at all, the third being the most common and the reason so many small business sites eventually get hacked or break after an update.
9. What is the total cost in year two?
The build price is not the price. Add hosting, maintenance and the changes you will realistically ask for. A cheap build with expensive everything-else can cost more over three years than a build that looked twice the price.
Warning signs
- Guarantees you first place on Google
- Will not give a price without a meeting, then a second meeting
- Cannot show you a live site they have built
- Wants the domain in their name “to make it easier”
- Answers questions with jargon rather than plain English
- Pressure to decide today
What matters less than people think
Where they are. Nice if you can sit down together, and genuinely not necessary. Most of a website project happens over email regardless.
How big they are. For a five-page website, a large team is overhead you are paying for and will not use. For a complex project with several stakeholders, it is exactly what stops it going wrong. Match the supplier to the job.
Which technology they use. WordPress, Squarespace, something custom. It matters far less than whether the site is fast, findable and editable. Be wary of anyone who leads with the technology rather than with what it will do for you.
The short version
Ask who writes the words, who owns the domain, what happens if you leave, and what year two costs. Look at two of their live sites on your phone. If you get four straight answers and the sites are good, you have probably found the right person.
