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Questions to ask a web designer before hiring

What it costs 6 min read

Eight questions that tell you what a web designer will actually be like to work with, what you will own at the end, and who answers when something breaks.

You are about to hand a stranger the front door of your business and a sum of money, on the strength of a phone call and a portfolio. You have quoted work yourself, so you know what a good quote feels like from the other side, and you know that the price is the least interesting part of it.

These are the questions that tell you what the next two years will be like. The cost questions matter too, and they are covered separately in the piece on what a cheap website really costs.

What you are actually hiring for

What you are buying is the ability to be found and reached, and then to change what is found, indefinitely, without a fight.

So you are hiring two things at once: a piece of work and a relationship. The work is done in a few weeks. The relationship is what you live with, and it is the part nobody asks about because it has not started yet.

Every question below is aimed at that second part.

Do I own the site and the domain, in writing

Ask it plainly and ask for the answer in an email, not on a call.

The domain name should be registered in your name, with you listed as the owner, on an account you can log into. The site should be yours to take elsewhere. Both of those are normal and easy to agree, and the moment to agree them is now, while somebody still wants your business.

The answer you are listening for is a simple yes with the details. The answer to be careful of is one that explains why it is easier if they hold it. It may well be easier. It is easier for them.

Who writes the words

This is the question that most often goes unasked and most often causes the delay.

Some designers write everything. Some write a first draft from a conversation with you. Some hand you a document with twenty empty boxes in it and wait. All three are legitimate, and they are wildly different amounts of your time.

If the answer is that you write it, ask how much, in what form, and by when. A site that is nine tenths finished for four months is almost always waiting on words, and knowing that in advance is how you avoid it.

Who takes the photographs

Same question, different problem, and it is the other reason projects stall.

Stock photographs of somebody else's van will make your site look like a placeholder no matter how well it is built. Your own photographs make it look like a business. Somebody has to take them.

Ask whether they will come and take them, whether you are expected to, or whether stock will be used. If it is you, ask what they need, because a list of eight specific shots is a different job from being told to send some photos.

Can I see something you built that is live now

Ask for the address of a real site, not a picture of one, so you can open it on your own phone, right now, on the call.

Then look at it the way a customer would. How long does it take to find the phone number. Does the menu work with a thumb. Does it load quickly on mobile data rather than office wifi. Is the content clearly about that business, or could it be about anybody.

If they cannot show you a live one in your kind of trade, that is not disqualifying. If they cannot show you a live one at all, ask why.

Who changes the phone number in March

This is the most useful question on the list.

Websites need small changes forever. New number, new hours, a price that moved, a service dropped, a member of staff gone. Ask exactly who does that, how you ask for it, and how long it normally takes.

There are three honest answers and you can work with all of them: you do it yourself in an editor they will show you, they do it and it is included, or they do it and it is charged. What you want to avoid is discovering months later that the answer was none of the above.

For what it is worth, mine is $149 a month for Website Care, which covers exactly this. If you do not want a monthly anything, say so and ask what the alternative looks like, because there should be one.

What happens after it goes live, including when it breaks

Sites break. A certificate expires, a host has a bad night, a form quietly stops sending. None of that is anybody's fault and all of it needs somebody to notice.

So ask two things. First, what happens in the week after launch, because that is when the small errors surface. Second, if the site is down on a Saturday, who finds out and how, and what do you do about it.

Then ask the awkward one: what happens if you go on vacation, or get ill, or take on too much work. A one person operation is not a problem, and I am one, but you are entitled to know what the arrangement is when that person is unavailable.

The eight questions, in one place

Read these out. Every one can be answered in a sentence, and the ones that cannot are the findings.

If the answers are vague

You do not need to know anything about websites to judge these. You need to know what a straight answer sounds like, and you already do from quoting your own work.

A good answer is specific and comes quickly, because the person has thought about it before. A weak answer explains why the question is complicated, moves to a different subject, or reassures you without adding a fact. Somebody who cannot tell you today who changes your phone number next spring will not be able to tell you next spring either.

And if the honest answer to all of this turns out to be that you do not need a designer at all, that is a fine result too. Plenty of one van trades are well served by a builder they fill in themselves.

Questions people ask

What should I ask a web designer before hiring them?

Ownership, who writes the content, who takes the photographs, who makes changes afterwards, and what happens when something breaks. Price matters, but those five decide the next two years.

How do I know if a web designer is any good?

Open a live site they built on your own phone and try to do what a customer would do. That tells you more than a portfolio image or a list of technologies.

What if the web designer stops replying?

It happens, and it is the reason ownership matters so much. If the domain and the site are in your name, you can hand the whole thing to somebody else and carry on.

How much should a small business website cost?

A Carverpoint build is $1,450, once, and you own it. Others price it differently, and the comparison only makes sense once you know what each one includes afterwards.

Do I need a designer at all?

Not always. If you need a single page with your number, your hours and some photographs, and you have the evenings, a builder you fill in yourself is a sensible answer.

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