How to choose a web designer: questions to ask and red flags to spot

Choosing a web designer is harder than it should be, partly because much of the advice on it is written by web designers. This is written from the buyer's side. It covers what to decide before you start looking, how to read a portfolio, the questions that prevent overruns, and the red flags that can cost a business its domain, its content or its search rankings.

Decide what the site is for, before you look

Designers can only quote properly for a job that has been described. Before you contact anyone, write down:

• What you want visitors to do: enquire, book, buy, call. One or two things, not ten.
• Who the site is for, and what they need to know before they act.
• What exists now, and what works or does not.
• What you will update yourself, and how often.
• Your budget range and deadline, with the reason for the deadline.

Our guide to what a website costs includes a fuller brief, and it helps with this step. If you only need one page doing properly, such as the page your ads send people to, a landing page may be all you need.

Read a portfolio for results, not looks

A portfolio shows what a designer can make look good. It does not always show what works. When you look through one:

• Look for businesses like yours. A beautiful site for a fashion brand says little about building one for an accountant.
• Visit the live sites, not the screenshots. Are they fast on your phone? Easy to use? Clear about what the business does?
• Ask what changed for the client after launch: more enquiries, more bookings, better rankings. A designer who can tell you is thinking about results.
• Ask to speak to a client, ideally one whose site launched a year or more ago.

The questions that prevent problems

Many website overruns and disputes come from something nobody asked about at the start. Ask these before agreeing anything:

Scope

• How many pages, how many designs and how many rounds of changes are included?
• Who writes the words, and who supplies the photos?
• What happens if we need something not in the scope?

Platform and ownership

• Which platform will it be built on, and why that one for us?
• Will we be able to update the content ourselves without breaking the design?
• Who will own the domain, the hosting account and the logins? They should be in your business's name.
• If we part ways, can we take the site elsewhere?

Replacing an existing site

• Will every old page address redirect to its new equivalent? Google's guidance on site moves recommends permanent redirects, and warns of temporary ranking fluctuation while Google recrawls. Without redirects, pages that used to rank can simply disappear.
• Will the existing content, and any tracking, be carried over?

Quality

• How will the site be tested on phones, and for speed? Google's Core Web Vitals define what counts as fast.
• How will you make it accessible? The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines set out what that means in practice.
• Will page titles, descriptions and headings be set up properly for search?
• Will enquiry tracking be set up and tested before launch?

After launch

• What support is included, for how long, and what does it cost after that?
• Who applies software and security updates?
• Where are backups kept, and how would we restore one?

What a good process looks like

A good designer will describe their process before you ask. The names vary, but the stages should be recognisable:

1. Discovery. Questions about your business, your customers, what the site must do, and what exists now. If this stage is missing, the site is being built on guesses.
2. Structure. The pages, what goes on each and how they link, agreed before anything is designed. Simple sketches or wireframes are common here.
3. Words. Written, or supplied by you and edited, before or alongside the design. A design built around placeholder text often has to change once the real words arrive.
4. Design. How it looks, applied to real content, with a set number of rounds of changes.
5. Build. The site built on the agreed platform, with content added and redirects set up if it replaces an old site.
6. Testing. On phones and computers, for speed, for accessibility, for forms and tracking, and for broken links.
7. Launch. Going live, with the sitemap submitted to Google and Bing and a check that the old addresses redirect.
8. After launch. Fixes for anything found in the first weeks, training so you can update it yourself, and the support you agreed.

Ask where you are needed at each stage, and for how long. Delays in website projects often come from waiting for content or approvals, so knowing what is expected of you, and when, is as important as knowing what the designer will do.

Red flags

• Registering your domain in their own name. Your domain should be registered to your business. Check it before you pay.
• A platform only they can edit. If you cannot update your own content, or move the site elsewhere, you are tied to them.
• No written scope. "We will build you a website" is not a scope.
• No mention of redirects when replacing an existing site.
• Guaranteed search rankings. Google's own guidance on hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a number one ranking.
• A price that silently leaves out the words and photos. Ask directly who provides them.
• No questions about your business. A designer who quotes without asking about your customers is quoting for a template.
• Pressure to sign quickly, or large payments before anything is agreed in writing.

Comparing quotes

Line quotes up on the same points before comparing prices: number of pages and designs, words and photos, platform, redirects, tracking, testing, support, and ownership. A cheaper quote that leaves out the words, the redirects and the support is not cheaper once you add them back. We explain the three-year cost of owning a site, which is a fairer comparison than the build price, in how much a website costs.

Freelancer, studio or agency?

Any of them can build a good small-business site. A freelancer is often more affordable, and you deal directly with the person doing the work. A studio or agency has more people and more cover, and can handle larger builds. More important than the label are relevant experience, a clear scope, and that you own everything at the end. Our guide to choosing marketing help covers the trade-offs in general.

Before you sign

The ticks are saved in this browser.

• I have written down what the site is for and who it is for.
• I have seen live sites they built for businesses like mine.
• I have spoken to a past client.
• The scope lists pages, designs, rounds of changes, words and photos.
• Redirects from old pages are included, if replacing a site.
• Tracking will be set up and tested before launch.
• The domain, hosting and logins will be in my business's name.
• I can update the content myself.
• Support after launch is defined and priced.
• Nobody has promised me guaranteed rankings.

If you would rather start with the page that matters most, our landing page sprint is a fixed £3,500, and full sites run from £3,500 to £15,000. Either way, the questions above are the ones to ask us too.