How to Choose a Web Designer: 12 Questions

Short answer:every question on this list clusters into one of four things that actually matter when you hire a web designer: who owns the website when the work is done, how fast and findable it will be, exactly what is included in the price, and what happens after launch. Ownership, performance, scope, aftercare. A good designer answers all twelve questions on this page without flinching — clear answers, in writing, before you pay a deposit. A bad fit gets vague on ownership, dodges the speed question, or cannot say what maintenance costs. You do not need to be technical to use this list; each question below explains why it matters and the answer you want to hear, so you can judge any proposal in one meeting. Print it, ask in order, and pay attention to question one — it is where the expensive mistakes start.

Ownership: what is yours when the work is done

1. Who owns the website, domain, and hosting accounts when we’re done?

The most expensive disputes in this industry start here, which is why it is question one. Your domain name is your business address on the internet; if it is registered under the designer’s account, you do not control it — they do. The answer you want: the domain is registered in yourname, the hosting account is yours (even if they manage it), and you receive the complete site files or code repository. “We take care of all that for you” is not an answer — it is the thing you are asking about. Get the ownership arrangement in the contract, not in a conversation.

2. Can I edit content myself, and what happens if we part ways?

You will need to change hours, prices, staff photos, and seasonal offers for years after launch. Some businesses want to make those edits themselves; others would rather email someone. Either is fine — what you want is a designer who asks which you prefer and prices accordingly: a way to edit routine content yourself, or a stated turnaround and rate for small changes. The second half of the question matters more. The answer you want: if you part ways, you keep the site, the files, and every account, with no exit fee and no functionality that mysteriously stops working.

3. Is it built on a platform I’m locked into?

Some website platforms cannot be exported — if you ever leave, you rebuild from zero. Others, including hand-coded sites, move anywhere. Platform lock-in is not automatically a scam; some businesses happily stay on one platform for a decade. Undisclosed lock-in is the problem. The answer you want is a plain explanation of what happens if you leave: what comes with you (your domain, your content, your images) and what does not (the design, the platform features). A designer who explains the trade-off honestly is being straight with you; one who waves the question off is hoping you never ask it again.

Performance: how fast and findable it will be

4. What will my PageSpeed Insights score be on mobile?

Speed affects both your Google ranking and how many visitors stay. This is the one question you can verify before paying a dollar: take three live sites from their portfolio and run each through PageSpeed Insights, Google’s free testing tool — on the mobile tab, since that is what Google ranks. It takes a minute per site. Their past work is your future site. The answer you want is a confident number backed by what you just measured, not “speed isn’t everything.” A designer whose portfolio consistently scores well has nothing to dodge.

5. Is SEO setup included, and what exactly does that mean?

“SEO included” is the most elastic phrase in web design — it can mean a serious setup or literally nothing. Make them itemize it. The answer you want includes specifics: a unique title and meta description for every page, a sitemap submitted through Google Search Console, structured data so Google understands your business, pages targeting the services and towns you actually want to rank for, and help with your Google Business Profile if you are a local business. Bonus points if they ask what your customers search for — that question means the SEO is real and not a checkbox.

6. Will it meet accessibility basics?

Accessibility means the site works for people with impaired vision, motor difficulties, or screen readers — which is both a real slice of your customers and a legal exposure, since small businesses do receive ADA demand letters over inaccessible websites. You are not asking for a certification, just the basics: readable color contrast, descriptive text on images, forms with proper labels, and a site you can navigate by keyboard. The answer you want is that this is standard practice baked into how they build — not a surprised pause, and not an upsell line item called “accessibility package.”

Scope and price: what you are actually buying

7. What exactly is included — pages, copywriting, photos, revisions?

Most web design disputes are scope disputes: the owner assumed copywriting was included, the designer assumed the owner would supply photos, and the project stalls in the gap. The answer you want is a written list: how many pages, who writes the words, who supplies the images, how many rounds of revisions, and what happens — at what rate — if you want changes beyond them. Vague proposals produce vague websites and specific invoices. If the proposal does not say it, it is not included; treat anything verbal as a maybe.

8. What does it cost, and what costs extra later?

The number on the proposal is the build price; the number that matters is what the site costs you per year. The answer you want names both: the project total, plus every recurring cost — domain renewal, hosting, maintenance, email if it is bundled — with actual figures rather than “we’ll sort that later.” If you want calibration before you take quotes, we published a full breakdown of what a small business website costs — reading it first makes every proposal easier to judge.

9. Who writes the words?

Copy is the most underestimated part of a website project, and “client provides all text” buried in a proposal is a common reason projects stall for months — writing about your own business is genuinely hard. The answer you want is a clear plan, whichever shape it takes: they write the copy, they interview you and draft it for your approval, or you write it with their structure and editing. All three work. What does not work is discovering at kickoff that a finished website is waiting on twenty pages of text nobody scheduled, priced, or warned you about.

After launch: the part most people forget to ask

10. What does maintenance cost and what happens if I skip it?

Every website has some ongoing cost, but how much depends heavily on how it is built — some platforms need constant plugin and security updates, while simpler builds need very little. The answer you want is honest about both numbers and consequences: what maintenance costs for the kind of site they build, what it covers, and what realistically happens if you skip it. We wrote a plain-language guide to website maintenance costs if you want to know what normal looks like before someone quotes you a retainer.

11. Who do I call when something breaks?

Websites break at inconvenient times — a form stops sending, the site goes down on a Saturday, an update breaks the layout. The answer you want has three parts: a named person or channel to contact, a stated response time, and the rate if the fix is not covered by maintenance. “Just email us” is fine for a two-person studio if they actually answer; a ticket portal is fine for an agency if someone owns it. What you are listening for is whether they have thought about it at all — many have not, and you find out at the worst moment.

12. What do you need from me, and what’s the timeline?

This question tests honesty. A realistic designer needs things from you — content, photos, decisions, approvals — and most timeline slips happen on the client side, waiting for those. The answer you want is a list of what they need and when, milestones you can check progress against, and a straight statement of what happens to the schedule if either side runs late. Be suspicious of a timeline that requires nothing from you; either they are planning to invent your content, or the schedule is fiction. A designer who makes demands of you before taking your money is the one taking the project seriously.

Red flags that end the conversation

• Vague ownership answers. If question one gets a fuzzy reply, everything after it is built on sand.
• Guaranteed rankings.Nobody can promise a #1 spot on Google — Google itself says so. A guarantee is a sales tactic, not a service.
• No live portfolio you can speed-test. Screenshots and mockups cannot be run through PageSpeed Insights. Live sites can. Insist on links.
• Pressure to sign today. Discounts that expire tonight exist to stop you asking these twelve questions.
• Hosting only through them at inflated rates. Managed hosting is a legitimate service; mandatory hosting at several times market price is a leash.

Many owners only discover these problems years later, when the site has aged badly and they are reading our list of signs your website needs a rebuild. Ten minutes of questions now is cheaper than a rebuild later.

Freelancer vs. studio vs. agency: an honest fit guide

None of these is the right answer for everyone — all three produce excellent work and all three produce disasters. The twelve questions matter more than the label on the door. Here is the honest fit:

Our answers, up front

Since we are asking you to grill designers, here is how AKSIS answers the twelve: you own everything — domain, hosting, and code — from day one. Every site is hand-coded, so there is no platform to be locked into. SEO setup is included and itemized, not a vague line. And there is no mandatory maintenance retainer — we will tell you what upkeep your site actually needs and let you decide. If you are comparing proposals, send us the same twelve questions you are sending everyone else.

Common questions

How much should I pay up front?

A deposit of 30 to 50 percent up front is a widely used range, with the balance due at launch or split across milestones — half up front and half on completion is a common arrangement for small business projects. Larger builds sometimes break into thirds: deposit, midpoint, launch. What should make you pause is either extreme. A designer asking for 100 percent before any work exists has removed your only leverage if the project stalls; a designer asking for nothing may have no pipeline and no process. Whatever the split, get it in writing along with what triggers each payment — a date, a deliverable, or an approval from you. And confirm what happens to the deposit if either side walks away mid-project: a fair contract states you keep ownership of whatever was completed and paid for up to that point.

Should I hire local or remote?

Both work; the question is what you trade. A local designer can meet in person, photograph your shop, and probably knows your market — useful for a local business whose customers search with town names. A remote designer gives you a much larger pool to choose from, which often means better work for the same money. What matters more than geography: responsiveness, a portfolio you can verify, and a contract that covers ownership and aftercare. A local designer you can have coffee with but who never answers email is worse than a remote one who replies the same day. If you do go remote, insist on at least one video call before signing — you learn a lot from how someone explains their process out loud — and make sure their proposal covers local SEO specifically, since that is where small business visibility is actually won.

How do I check a designer’s past work?

Three checks, ten minutes, no technical skill required. First, ask for three live sites they built that are still online — not screenshots, not mockups — and confirm with the business owner that this designer actually built it — it is worth verifying. Second, run each site through PageSpeed Insightson mobile; consistent scores in the 50s or below tell you what your site will score too. Third, search each business the way a customer would — the service plus the town — and see whether the site actually appears. Then ask the references two questions: what happened when something broke after launch, and would you hire them again. The first answer tells you about aftercare, the second tells you everything else. A designer with nothing live and verifiable to show is asking you to be the first entry in their portfolio.

What if my designer disappears?

It happens — freelancers change careers, studios close — and how bad it is depends entirely on the answers you got to the ownership questions before you paid. If the domain registrar account, the hosting account, and the site files are all in your name, a disappearing designer is an inconvenience: any competent professional can pick up where they left off. If the designer owned the hosting, registered the domain under their own account, or built on a proprietary platform tied to their agency, you may be rebuilding from scratch — and in the worst case, fighting to recover your own domain name. Protect yourself now, while things are friendly: confirm the domain is registered to you, get login credentials for hosting and the registrar, and keep a copy of the site files or repository. Ten minutes of housekeeping today is the whole insurance policy.

AKSIS builds modern websites and runs practical SEO for small businesses — built from code, not templates. Get in touch for a plain-language site checkup.