How to Choose a Web Designer in the UK: 12 Questions to Ask Before You Pay

Every town has more web designers than plumbers, and from the outside they all look plausible. Nice portfolios, confident language, a price that sounds reasonable. The differences that matter, the ones that decide whether you still have a working website in two years, are almost never on the homepage. They come out when you ask.

These twelve questions are the ones we would ask on your behalf. They apply equally to a freelancer, an agency, a website builder or a managed monthly service like ours. Take them to every conversation and write the answers down; the comparison at the end will be much clearer than any quote.

1. Who will own the website, the domain and the content?

Start here because everything else depends on it. The domain should be registered in your business’s name. The site should be built on something portable, so you can move it. The wording and your logo should be yours once paid for. Ask directly: “If we part ways, what do I take with me, and how?” A clear answer in writing is the only acceptable one. We wrote a full guide to this in who owns your website? because it is where the most painful surprises live.

2. Where will it be hosted, and who looks after that?

Hosting is invisible and important. Ask where the site will live, whether the hosting is in your name or theirs, what it costs per year, and who is responsible when it goes down. If the answer is “we’ll sort that later”, it will not be sorted later.

3. Who writes the words?

More projects stall on wording than on design. If the designer expects you to write every page, ask yourself honestly whether you will. If they write it, ask what they need from you and how they will learn enough about your trade to write it well. The best answer involves a short, structured conversation about your services, your areas and your customers, and a draft you review. The worst is a template with your name pasted in.

4. Can I see it on a phone before it goes live?

Most visits to a local business site come from a phone, often from someone standing in the middle of the problem they need you for. A design shown only on a large monitor tells you very little. Ask to review the draft on your own phone, and check the things that matter there: does the number dial when tapped, is the form usable with a thumb, can you tell what the business does within a few seconds.

5. How long will it take, and from when?

Timescales slip for two reasons: the designer is overcommitted, or the client has not supplied what was needed. Ask for a target and, more importantly, what starts the clock. A company that says “five working days from when we have everything we need” is being straight with you; one that says “two weeks” without qualification is guessing. PrimeStart’s own target is a first draft within five working days of a project being confirmed Ready to Build, which means from the point we have what we need, not from the date of payment.

6. What happens after launch?

A website needs updates, backups, security, a renewed certificate and small changes, for years. Ask who does each of those, whether it is included, and what it costs if not. This question separates a build from a service more clearly than any other. Our article on what a managed website actually means lists every job so you can check the answer against it.

7. What does a small change cost, and how do I ask for one?

A new phone number, a price, a photo of a finished job. If each costs an hour’s fee and a week’s wait, the site will fall out of date because you will stop asking. If reasonable small changes are included under fair use, find out what fair use means in practice. Either arrangement can be fine; not knowing is the problem.

8. Can I see three sites you built, and speak to the owners?

A portfolio shows what a designer can do on a good day. Three live sites, chosen by you from the list rather than by them, show what they do routinely. Visit each on your phone. Then ask whether you can speak to one of the owners. You are not checking the design; you are checking whether the phone is answered a year later. You can see the standard of site PrimeStart builds on our work page.

9. What am I committing to, and for how long?

Read the term. A one-off build may have a deposit and a balance. A monthly plan will have a minimum term; ours is 18 months at £49.99 a month, which is £899.82 in total, with a £0 upfront website design fee and the first £49.99 taken at signup. Neither is wrong, but you should know the number, the length, and what happens at the end. With PrimeStart, at the end of the 18 months the website is yours: stay at £49.99 a month on a rolling basis with no new minimum, or move it elsewhere, subject to the third-party licences every website relies on. If a company cannot tell you what happens at the end of the term, there may not be one.

10. What does “unlimited” actually mean here?

The word unlimited turns up a lot: unlimited pages, unlimited revisions, unlimited changes. In practice it never means without limit; it means “until we decide you’re taking advantage”, with the deciding done later, by them. A company that says “reasonable changes, subject to fair use” and then explains what that means is being more honest than one promising the moon. Ask what the limit really is, and what happens when you reach it.

11. What are you promising about Google?

This is the question that exposes the most. Nobody can promise a position on Google, a number of enquiries, or a number of new customers; the results depend on competition, your reviews, your area and a great deal that no designer controls. A company that promises “page one” or “top three” is either naive or dishonest, and both are expensive. The honest version of visibility work is ongoing: sensible foundations built into the site, then, if you want it, monthly work on agreed searches with clear reporting on what was done. That is what PrimeStart’s Website + SEO plan is, and it is described that way deliberately.

12. Who will I actually be speaking to?

The person who sells the project is not always the person who builds it, and the person who builds it is not always the person who answers the phone afterwards. Ask who your point of contact is now, during the build, and in a year’s time, and how you reach them. A named person with an email address and a phone number is the right answer. A ticket system is a warning.

Putting the answers side by side

After two or three conversations you will have a table of twelve answers per company, and the decision usually makes itself. A few patterns to watch for:

• Hedging on ownership almost always means the site is not portable or the domain will not be yours.
• Vagueness about what happens after launch means the running of the site will become your problem.
• Promises about rankings mean the rest of the promises are worth less too.
• Clear, unexciting answers about terms, changes and contacts are the best sign there is. Good web companies are slightly boring about the details, because the details are the job.

If you want to see how one company answers all twelve, how it works sets out PrimeStart’s process from signup to launch and beyond, and the Website page lists what is included and what is not. Hold us to the same questions you would ask anyone else.

Questions people ask

Should I choose a local web designer?

Only if being able to meet in person matters to you. The site itself does not benefit from the designer being nearby; it benefits from the designer understanding your area, your trade and your customers, which can be done from anywhere. What matters more is whether they answer the twelve questions well.

Is a freelancer or a company better?

Neither by default. A good freelancer can be excellent and personal; the risk is what happens when they are ill, busy or move on. A company offers continuity; the risk is being passed between people. Ask question 12 of both.

How much should I expect to pay?

It depends on the route, from a monthly plan to a one-off agency project, and the useful comparison is total cost over the same period with the same things included. Our article on what a small business website should cost works through it.

What is the single biggest warning sign?

A promise about Google results. It is the one thing no honest company can promise, so a company that does is showing you how it treats the truth.

Twelve questions is not many, and every good web designer has heard them before. The ones worth working with will welcome them, answer them plainly, and put the answers in writing. That, more than any portfolio, is how you choose.