How to choose a web designer (without getting burned)

Hiring a web designer is mostly a trust exercise. You're paying real money for something you can't fully judge until it's built, in a field where every portfolio looks polished and every pitch sounds the same.

I build websites for a living, so I'm not a neutral party here. But I've cleaned up enough of other people's work to know where these hires go wrong. So here's how I'd choose, if I were sitting on your side of the table.

Start with what you actually need

Before you talk to anyone, get clear on the job.

Some businesses need a website that looks good and shows up on Google. A few solid pages, fast and mobile, that make you look as good as you already are. Others need the site to do work: take bookings, collect intake forms, handle payments, talk to the software you already run.

Those are different jobs, and they pull different prices and different builders. Knowing which one you need keeps you from overpaying for features you'll never use, or hiring someone who designs a lovely page but can't build the part that does the work.

Look at the work, not the pitch

Anyone can write “award-winning, results-driven web design.” Ignore all of it and look at what they've actually built.

Ask for real sites they've made, the live ones, and go visit them. Click around on your phone. Do they load fast? Do they work? Do they look like distinct businesses, or like one template with different logos dropped in?

That last question matters. A lot of “custom” web design is a single theme reskinned over and over. If three sites in a portfolio share the same bones, you're buying a template with a markup.

Watch how they price

How someone quotes a website tells you how they'll treat you.

A good builder talks through what you need, then gives you a fixed price in writing. You know the number before the work starts, and it doesn't move unless you change what you asked for.

Be careful with two patterns. The quote that won't appear until you're on a sales call, because the price is a moving target they'd rather set once they've read you. And the suspiciously low flat rate, which usually hides a template, a hard cap on revisions, or a monthly fee you can't get out of later.

If you want the long version, I wrote a whole piece on what a small-business website actually costs.

Find out what you'll own

Ask, in plain words, what you walk away with: the code, the domain, every account, all in your name.

This is the question most owners forget, and it's the one that costs the most when the answer is bad. A site you don't own is a site you rebuild the day you want to leave. I covered how to check it in do you actually own your website, so the short version here: if you can't fire your builder and take everything to someone else, you don't own it.

Know who's actually doing the work

Find out who builds your site, and who answers when something breaks at 8pm on a Friday.

At a lot of agencies, the person who charms you in the sales meeting isn't the one who does the work, and might not be the one who picks up the phone six months later. Your project turns into a ticket. It gets passed to whoever's free, often to someone you'll never speak to.

Smaller can be better here. When one person designs, builds, and maintains your site, there's no handoff to get lost in and no confusion about who's accountable. Ask whether they'll still be reachable after launch, because a website is never really finished.

The red flags

A few things that should make you slow down:

• Speed bragging. “Your site in 48 hours” sells convenience, and convenience usually means a template with your details poured in.
• A price with no conversation. A real quote comes after someone understands your business, not off a menu.
• Work you can't verify. Screenshots with no links, or “big brand” name-drops with nothing you can actually visit.
• Cagey answers about ownership. Ask what happens if you leave. A clear conscience gives a clear answer.

The questions worth asking

If you only ask a handful, ask these:

1. Can I see three live sites you've built, and talk to one of those clients?
2. Will I get a fixed price in writing before you start?
3. What exactly do I own when it's done, and how do you hand it over?
4. Who builds it, and who do I call when something breaks?
5. What happens after launch, and what does that cost?

A builder who's proud of how they work answers these easily. The ones who get vague are telling you something too.

Choosing well

Choosing a web designer is choosing someone to trust with how your business looks to everyone who checks you out online, and with the keys to it afterward. Give it the same care you'd give hiring anyone who touches something you depend on.

If you want to run these questions by someone, tell me what you need. I'll answer all five before you've decided a thing.