10 Questions to Ask Before You Hire a Web Designer

A good-looking website and a website that brings in customers are not the same thing. These questions help you tell them apart before you pay.

Most small business owners hire a web designer only once every few years. The designer does this work all the time. That gap makes it hard to know what to ask, so people compare portfolios and prices, and then guess.

Ten questions for the first call

Good answers are short and specific. A vague answer tells you something too.

1. Who will actually do the work?

Some agencies sell with one person and hand the project to someone you never meet. Ask who will write the pages, who will design them and who will build the site, and whether you can talk to those people directly.

Good answer: names, and a promise that you'll talk to them. Watch out for: "our team takes care of everything" and nobody you can name.

2. Is the price fixed, and what does it include?

Ask for a written quote before any work starts. It should list the number of pages, the rounds of revisions and what costs extra, like a logo, photos or online booking. Hourly billing can be fine if there's a cap, but "starting at" with no scope makes it hard to compare offers.

Good answer: a written quote with a page count and a list of what's not included. Watch out for: a price that only appears after you sign.

3. Who writes the words?

Many sites don't lose customers because of the design. They lose them because a visitor can't tell in a few seconds what the business does, where and how to book. Some designers expect you to send all the text. Others write it for you after a call about your customers.

Neither is wrong, but you should know which one you're paying for. If you're writing the words yourself, ask for a simple outline of what each page needs to say.

Good answer: a clear yes or no, and if it's yes, how they'll learn about your customers.

4. Will the domain, hosting and accounts be in my name?

Your domain, your website platform account and your Google Analytics should belong to you. The designer can work in them as a collaborator. If the designer owns them, leaving later can mean losing your web address or paying for a new site.

Good answer: "Everything is in your name from day one, and you pay those fees directly." Watch out for: "We host it for you" with no login of your own.

5. How will I know if the site is working?

A website's job is to bring in calls, bookings and messages. Ask how they will count them. At a minimum, form submissions and taps on your phone number should be tracked in Google Analytics from launch day.

Good answer: form leads and phone taps counted from launch day, in an account you own. Watch out for: reports full of visitors and "impressions" with no leads in them.

6. Can you show me a project like mine, before and after?

A portfolio of pretty screenshots tells you about taste. A before-and-after tells you what the designer actually fixed. Ask to see a site for a business like yours, and open it on your own phone during the call. Is the text readable? Is the phone number tap-to-call? Is it obvious how to book?

You can also run their live sites through Google's free PageSpeed Insights. Mobile scores are usually lower than desktop scores, but a very slow portfolio is a warning sign.

Good answer: a link you can open right now, with a before and after.

7. What happens to my Google rankings when the new site goes live?

If your current site has pages that people find on Google, the new site needs to send those old addresses to the new ones. This is called a redirect. Without redirects, visitors and Google land on "page not found", and rankings you worked for can drop.

Good answer: "We'll map every important old page to its new address and check your Google Business Profile link." Watch out for: "Rankings always reset after a redesign, that's normal."

8. How long will it take, and how much of my time do you need?

Ask for the steps and dates: first call, page plan, text, design, build and launch. Then ask what you need to do at each step. Most delays come from waiting for content and approvals, so a good designer plans for that up front.

Good answer: a schedule with dates, and what they need from you at each step.

As a rough guide, a refresh of a few key pages takes a few weeks, and a new site of five to ten pages takes one to two months.

9. Can I update the site myself?

Ask which platform they build on and why. Webflow, Wix, Squarespace and WordPress can all work well. What matters is that you can change your hours, prices and photos without calling anyone, and that someone shows you how.

Also ask what small changes cost after launch. Some designers charge by the hour, others offer a monthly plan.

Good answer: a platform you can edit, and a short lesson or video on how.

10. What happens after launch?

Every new site has small problems in the first weeks. Ask how long they'll fix them for free, what a monthly plan includes and how you cancel it. If the answer to question 4 was "everything is in your name", you can leave at any time and keep your site and your domain.

Good answer: a set number of days of free fixes, and a monthly plan you can cancel with notice.

Red flags worth walking away from

• A promise of the number one spot on Google. Google's own guide to hiring an SEO says: "No one can guarantee a #1 ranking on Google."
• Your domain or website account registered in the designer's name.
• No written quote, or a quote with no page count.
• A portfolio you can't open, or sites that are hard to use on a phone.
• Pressure to sign today to keep a discount.

How we answer these questions

At Markito you talk to the people doing the work: Alex, Alesia or Dima. You get a fixed quote before we start, we write the words, every account stays in your name, and we set up phone-tap and form tracking on every website we build or refresh. Our prices are on the website, with what each option includes.

Not sure what your current site needs? Send us your website and we'll reply within one business day with the three things we'd fix first. Free, no call needed.