What should I ask a web designer before hiring them?

Ask who owns the domain, hosting, and code; what the process and timeline are; whether pricing is fixed; how many revision rounds are included; who writes the content; how SEO and performance are handled; and what post-launch support is included.

Should I hire a freelancer or an agency for my website?

Freelancers suit small, well-defined sites with a modest budget. Agencies or studios suit projects that need design, development, content, and SEO coordinated with a documented process and post-launch support. Ask both the same 25 questions and compare answers.

What is a fair price for a web designer?

Customised templates cost $149 to $399. Custom small business sites from a fixed-price studio cost $2,499 to $6,000. Freelancer hourly rates range from $50 to $150 per hour, which for a full site often exceeds a fixed quote.

How do I know if a web designer is good?

Check five live sites on your phone and in PageSpeed Insights, confirm they can explain how the design serves your business goal, verify they transfer full ownership, and ask for two client references from the last year.

25 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Web Designer

The right questions before hiring a web designer save you from the wrong project. This list is grouped by topic so you can use it in a call or paste it into an email. Under each question we note the answer you want to hear, because a confident question is only useful if you can judge the response.

Ownership and control

1. Will I own the domain, hosting account, source code, and design files outright?

Want to hear: Yes, all four, transferred on final payment. Anything less is a rental.

2. Can I move the site to a different host or developer without your involvement?

Want to hear: Yes, and here is the handover documentation we provide.

3. Is the site built on a proprietary platform?

Want to hear: No. Standard technologies any developer can maintain.

4. Who registers the domain, and in whose name?

Want to hear: You do, in your own account. We can guide you.

Process and timeline

5. What are the phases of the project and what do I approve at each one?

Want to hear: A named sequence with deliverables. See our documented process as a reference.

6. How long will it take if my content is ready on day one?

Want to hear: A specific range, typically four to six weeks for a small business site. Compare to our launch timeline guide.

7. What happens to the timeline if I am late with content or feedback?

Want to hear: An honest answer that the schedule shifts, plus a plan (placeholder copy, copywriting add-on) to keep momentum.

8. Who is my single point of contact and what is their response time?

Want to hear: A named person and a commitment, such as one business day.

9. Who will actually design and build my site?

Want to hear: Named team members, ideally available to meet before signing.

Pricing and contract

10. Is this a fixed price, and what exactly is included?

Want to hear: Fixed price with a written scope: page list, features, revision rounds, and deliverables.

11. What is the payment schedule?

Want to hear: A deposit around 50% with the balance tied to milestones, never 100% upfront.

12. How are changes outside scope priced?

Want to hear: A written change-order process with rates agreed in advance.

13. How many revision rounds are included, and what counts as a revision?

Want to hear: A number per phase and a definition that distinguishes tweaks from redesigns.

14. Are there ongoing fees I must pay to keep the site live?

Want to hear: Only standard hosting and domain renewal, which you control. Read what hosting should cost.

Design and build quality

15. Can you share five live sites launched in the last eighteen months?

Want to hear: URLs, not screenshots. Test them on your phone.

16. Is this a custom design or a customised template?

Want to hear: A straight answer either way. Both are valid; misrepresenting one as the other is not.

17. How do you approach mobile design?

Want to hear: Mobile first, tested on real devices, with a target Core Web Vitals score.

18. What accessibility standard do you build to?

Want to hear: WCAG 2.2 AA, with specifics like contrast, keyboard navigation, and alt text.

SEO and performance

19. What SEO work is included before launch?

Want to hear: Unique metadata per page, heading structure, structured data, XML sitemap, redirects, image optimisation, and Search Console setup. See our SEO-optimized design scope for a full example.

20. Can you show structured data on one of your live sites?

Want to hear: Yes, and they open Google's Rich Results Test to prove it.

21. What page speed target do you commit to?

Want to hear: A specific number, such as a mobile PageSpeed score above 85.

22. How will you handle redirects from my current site?

Want to hear: A URL map with 301 redirects so existing rankings are preserved.

Support after launch

23. What support is included after launch, and for how long?

Want to hear: At least thirty days of bug fixes. Lifetime bug-fix support, which we include, is better.

24. What does ongoing maintenance cost, and is it optional?

Want to hear: Clear tiers and yes, optional. Benchmark against our maintenance cost guide.

25. Will I be trained to update the site myself?

Want to hear: Yes, with a recorded walkthrough or written guide.

How to use these questions

Send the list by email to every agency you shortlist. Written answers are easier to compare and harder to walk back. Score each response, weight ownership and SEO double, and choose on total value rather than lowest price. If you spot evasive answers, cross-check against our web design red flags. And if you would like our answers to all twenty-five, they are on the custom website design page and the FAQ.