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

A lot of website disasters begin before anything is built, because nobody said what the site was for or who would own it at the end. So decide what it's for first, judge portfolios on results rather than looks, and get the scope, the ownership and the redirects in writing. And walk away from anyone who registers your domain in their own name, builds on a platform only they can edit, or guarantees you rankings.

Decide what the site is for, before you look

A designer 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 or 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 does or doesn't work.
• What you'll update yourself, and how often.
• Your budget range and deadline, with the reason for the deadline.

There's a fuller brief in our guide to what a website costs. And if you only need one page done 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, which isn't always the same as what works. As 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 and 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

Most website overruns and disputes come from something nobody asked about at the start. These questions are about the designer; the ones about money are in what a website costs. Ask all of them before you agree to 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 that isn't 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 that rankings may fluctuate for a while as Google reads the site again. 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 the 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 for you, 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 the 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 the site yourself, and the support you agreed. Before the switch, it's worth running through a website launch checklist of what to check before and after.

Ask where you're needed at each stage, and for how long. Delays often come from waiting for content or approvals, so knowing what's expected of you, and when, matters as much as knowing what the designer will do.

Red flags

• Registering your domain in their own name. Your domain should be registered to your business, so check it before you pay.
• A platform only they can edit. If you can't update your own content, or move the site elsewhere, you're tied to them.
• No written scope. "We will build you a website" is not a scope.
• No mention of redirects when an existing site is being replaced.
• Guaranteed search rankings. Google's own guidance on hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a number one ranking.
• A price that quietly 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 the quotes up on the same points before you compare prices: the 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 stops being cheaper once you add them back. The fairer comparison is the three-year cost of owning a site rather than the build price, and we work that out in how much a website costs.

Freelancer, studio or agency?

Any of them can build a good site for a small or medium business. 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. Relevant experience, a clear scope and owning everything at the end matter more than the label, and the same trade-offs apply when you're choosing marketing help of any kind.

Before you sign

Four checks are about the designer rather than the price:

• 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, and spoken to one of those clients.
• I can update the content myself, and they have shown me how.
• Redirects from old pages are included, if the new site replaces one.

The rest are the six checks every quote should pass: who does the work, who owns the domain, the hosting and the logins, the fee kept separate from other costs, the term and what support costs after launch, the measure and the date, and what you actually get.

Our landing page sprint is a fixed £3,500, and full sites run from £3,500 to £15,000. Ask us the questions above too: they apply to us as much as to anyone.