How to choose a web designer without getting burned
The questions that separate a designer who will finish from one who will not, and the warning signs that show up before you pay.
Most people choosing a web designer have no way to judge the work, so they judge the price. That is how you end up with the two most common outcomes: a site that never launched, and a site that launched and then went quiet.
Look at what they have shipped, not what they have designed
A portfolio of images proves someone can use Figma. Ask for live URLs. Then open two or three on your phone, on mobile data, and count the seconds until you can read something. If their own client sites are slow, yours will be too.
- Are the links live, or only screenshots? Screenshots hide sites that were never launched.
- Do the sites still exist a year later? A portfolio full of dead links tells you how those relationships ended.
- Is the work theirs? Ask which parts specifically. Subcontracting is fine; not knowing what you bought is not.
Warning signs, in rough order of severity
- They register the domain in their own name. This is the single worst thing that can happen to you, and it happens constantly. The domain is your business asset. It goes in your name, on your email, with your card.
- The quote has no scope attached. A number with no list of what it covers is not a quote, it is an opening position.
- They cannot tell you what happens after launch. Silence here usually means there is no plan.
- Everything is discussed on WhatsApp and nothing is written down. WhatsApp is fine for talking. The scope still needs to exist as a document.
- They agree to every request immediately. Someone who never pushes back is not going to tell you when your idea will cost you enquiries.
Questions worth asking out loud
- 01What will you need from me, and when? A designer who cannot answer this will blame you for the delay later.
- 02What is not included in this price?
- 03Who writes the words?
- 04How will I edit the site afterwards — and if I cannot, what does a change cost?
- 05Can I speak to a client you worked with last year?
On price
The cheapest quote is usually cheap because it excludes the work you have not thought of yet — the writing, the photographs, the revisions, the launch. It is not a lower price for the same thing. It is a lower price for less, and the difference gets negotiated later, when you have already paid a deposit and have no leverage.