We published the first version of this list about ten years ago. Most of the questions held up, but the answers didn’t. Platforms changed, Google changed, and now almost every web designer you talk to is using AI for something, whether they mention it or not.
Here’s the updated list of questions to ask a web designer before you hire one. Use it on the phone, in an email, or across the table. Under each question you’ll find the answer we’d want to hear. Since we build websites for South Bay businesses ourselves, those are also the answers we give.
1. What’s your process?
Anyone who’s built websites for more than a few months has a process, and they should be able to describe it without making it up on the spot. The process is what you’re really paying for. Plenty of folks can build a website. Fewer can produce one that does what you needed, on time, without you chasing them for it.
Best answer: “Discovery first: your goals, your customers, your competitors. Then content and site structure, then design, then build, then testing and launch. You approve each stage before we move to the next. Here’s a one-page outline of how it works.”
2. Have you built sites like ours? Can I see them, and talk to one of those clients?
Size alignment matters. A five-person business hiring a 60-person agency gets the junior team and a slow queue. A growing company hiring a solo freelancer has everything riding on one person’s calendar. Ask for live sites, not screenshots, and click around to make sure they still work. Then ask to talk to a client. Anyone who’s been at this a while has a few who’ll take your call.
Best answer: “Sure. Here are three live sites for businesses about your size, and here’s the owner of one of them. Call her. And if we’re not the right fit, we’ll tell you who might be.”
3. Who’s doing the work, and when?
The team selling you the site isn’t always the team building it. Some shops quietly subcontract or offshore the work. That isn’t automatically bad, but you should know who’s touching your project and who you call when something breaks. Ask about timing too. “We’ll add you to the queue” can mean next week or next quarter. Estimates are rarely exact, but the answer tells you whether they’ve thought about it.
Best answer: “You’ll work directly with me. Any specialists on the project are named in the proposal, so you know who they are. We can usually start within two weeks of signing, and most small business sites launch in six to eight weeks. The biggest challenge is how content comes together.”
4. What platform will you build on, and why that one?
The platform is the engine your business runs on. It decides how easily you can make changes, what everything costs, and whether another developer can pick it up if you part ways. Be wary of anything proprietary or so heavily customized that only the original developer can touch it. We used to call that cowboy code. It’s still out there.
Best answer: “Usually WordPress or Webflow, and we’ll recommend one based on your situation. WordPress runs a huge share of the web, has a plugin for nearly everything, and fits content-heavy sites or anything with deep integrations. Webflow is cleaner to design in, easier for you to edit, and needs less upkeep, which makes it a strong fit for most small business marketing sites. Either way, any competent developer can take it over.”
5. How do you handle SEO, and are you thinking about AI search?
Content drives design. If a designer hands you a gorgeous mockup full of placeholder text, you’ll be rewriting the site the week before launch, and it’ll show. Search also has a new layer. People now ask ChatGPT and Google’s AI results who to hire, and those answers favor sites that say plainly what the business does, where, and for whom. Most of what helps with classic SEO helps here too. Your designer should know that and build for it.
Best answer: “We start with research: what your customers search for and what your competitors rank for. That becomes a content plan before design starts. Every page gets proper structure, titles, and descriptions. We write so search engines and AI tools can tell what you do and where. You’ll do some homework too, because you know your business better than we do.”
6. Do you use AI? For what?
Almost every designer does now, in some form. That’s fine. AI is useful for research, first drafts, image cleanup, and writing code. The real question is whether a professional reviews what AI produces. A site assembled entirely by AI tends to look like every other site assembled by AI. And the copy reads like Hal 9000 wrote it. You want someone who treats AI as a tool and can tell you exactly where they use it.
Best answer: “Yes, for research, first drafts, and speeding up development. Strategy, design decisions, and final copy always go through a person. If the AI wrote something that doesn’t sound like your business, it doesn’t ship.”
7. What do you need from us?
Some of the work falls on you: content, photos, feedback, and access to your domain and existing accounts. Most stalled website projects are waiting on the client, and nobody enjoys that conversation. Find out up front what you’re responsible for and when it’s due.
Best answer: “You’ll get a project plan in the first week with your tasks and due dates marked. The big ones are usually photos, a couple of feedback rounds, and access to your domain. If writing isn’t your thing, we can draft the copy.”
8. Will the site be fast, mobile-friendly, and accessible?
Mobile used to be its own question. It’s not anymore. Google looks at the mobile version of your site first, and for most local businesses, visitors are on a phone. The questions now are speed and accessibility. Slow sites lose visitors and rankings. Inaccessible sites, ones that don’t work with screen readers, use low-contrast text, or can’t be navigated by keyboard, box out customers.
Best answer: “Yes on all three. We design for phones first, test load speed before launch, and build to WCAG accessibility guidelines. No site is lawsuit-proof, but we’ll get you on solid ground and show you how to stay there as you add content.”
9. Who owns the domain, hosting, and logins?
This is the question we wish more people had asked their last web developer. We regularly meet owners whose domain is registered to a former vendor, whose hosting sits on someone else’s credit card, and who have no admin login to their own site. Getting all those back can take weeks, and occasionally requires a lawyer. Your domain, hosting, analytics, and site admin should be in your name, with your designer added as a user.
Best answer: “You own all of it. Everything is registered in your name, and we’re users while we work. At launch, you get a document listing every account and how to get into it.”
10. What will it cost, and what happens after launch?
Talk about fees early. If your budget is $5,000, say so. It saves everyone time and gets you a proposal that fits. Ask whether the price is fixed or hourly, what counts as a change, and how changes get priced. Then ask about life after launch. Something will need to be fixed or updated, so find out whether there’s a warranty, what ongoing support costs, and whether you can make simple edits yourself.
Best answer: “Most projects are fixed price against a defined scope. Building a website is a lot like building a house: if you want something outside the plans, you get an estimate before any work starts, and you decide. Before launch, we’ll walk you through editing your own site. Anything we built carries a 30-day warranty. After that, you can pay as you go or choose a monthly service for updates, backups, and security.”
Leave A Comment