How to Choose a Web Designer for a Small Business

Finding website designers for small business is easy, but choosing the right one is harder, because most owners buy a website only now and then and have little to compare the quotes against. A designer with a good portfolio may still leave you without access to your own domain, with a website nobody will update or with a monthly bill that keeps growing. The questions below apply whether you hire a freelancer, a local studio or a service built around website design for small and local businesses. They cover the work you can see and the arrangements you usually only notice when something goes wrong.

Most of these points take minutes to check and they are far easier to settle before you pay a deposit than after launch. Work through them with every designer on your shortlist and the right choice usually becomes clear on its own.

Decide What Your Website Needs to Do Before You Contact Anyone

Before contacting any web designer, write down what the website needs to do for your business and what you already have. A short list gives every designer the same starting point, so their quotes answer the same question and you can compare them fairly.

• The main thing you want visitors to do, such as call you, book a slot or send an enquiry
• The pages you need, such as your services, an about page, reviews and a contact page
• The words, photos and logo you already have and anything that still needs creating
• Any domain name you already own and who registered it
• The date you need the website live and anything that date is tied to

Keep the list to a single page and send the same version to everyone. A designer who reads it and asks sensible questions back is already showing you how the project will be run.

Know Which Kind of Web Designer You Are Talking To

Small businesses usually choose between a freelance designer, a design agency, a website builder they use themselves or a done for you service made for small businesses. Each can produce a decent website, but they differ in how much of the work lands back on you once the website is live.

None of these is the wrong choice in itself. The mistake is choosing on the look of a homepage alone and finding out later that the arrangement behind it does not suit how you run the business.

Whoever you speak to, ask who will do the work day to day. Some designers pass the build, the hosting or both to another company, which matters when something needs fixing quickly and the person you deal with cannot fix it.

If you need a custom design with features built around how your business works, bespoke web design is a different kind of project with a longer timeline. For a straightforward small business website, a simpler route is usually the better fit.

Look at Their Past Work on Your Phone

A web designer’s past work is the clearest evidence of what you will get, so open their recent websites on your phone rather than relying on screenshots. Google uses the mobile version of a website’s content for indexing and ranking, according to its guidance on mobile first indexing, so a website that only works well on a computer is a poor sign.

While you look, check that the pages load quickly, the menu is easy to use, phone numbers can be tapped and the contact form works. Then ask the designer whether those clients are still happy with their websites and whether you can speak to one of them.

Portfolios built only from mockups or designs that never launched tell you about taste rather than delivery. A designer with a small portfolio of real, live websites for businesses like yours is a safer choice than one with a gallery of polished concepts.

Questions to Ask a Web Designer Before You Agree Anything

The most useful questions to ask a web designer cover ownership, hosting, changes and timelines, because those are the areas that cause problems after launch. Ask them in writing and keep the answers, so everyone can be held to what was agreed.

Good designers answer these questions plainly and without hesitation. Vague answers, or a promise to sort it out later, usually mean the arrangement has not been thought through.

Write each answer down next to the designer’s name as you go. Comparing those notes side by side is usually more revealing than comparing the portfolios.

Make Sure You Own the Domain, Content and Website

You should own your domain name, your content and the website files, with a written agreement that says so. GOV.UK guidance on the ownership of copyright works explains that when you commission a work, the first owner of the copyright is the person or organisation that created it rather than you, unless you agree otherwise in writing.

The domain causes the most trouble when this goes wrong. If a designer registers it in their own name and then stops trading or stops replying, moving the website or even your email can become difficult, so ask for the domain to be registered to your business from the start.

With Rapid Websites from Priority Pixels, the domain, your content and the website files all belong to you. If you ever leave, the whole website is handed over and you can take it anywhere.

Ask Who Hosts the Website and Keeps It Secure

Hosting is where your website lives, so ask who provides it, who monitors it and what happens if it goes down. Some designers hand the website over at launch and leave you to arrange hosting yourself, while others host it and look after it for a monthly fee.

Either arrangement can work, provided you know which one you are buying. Ask whether an SSL certificate is included, since that is what puts the padlock in the browser. Check too whether it renews automatically or has to be renewed by hand.

Privacy belongs in the same conversation. If the website sets analytics or marketing cookies, the ICO’s guidance on cookies and similar technologies says you must tell visitors what the cookies do and get their consent, apart from a narrow exception for cookies needed to provide a service the visitor has asked for.

Accessibility matters for small businesses too. Businesses that provide services to the public have duties under section 29 of the Equality Act 2010. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are the international standard for making web content more accessible to disabled people, so ask which version a designer builds to and how they test it. Specialist website accessibility support can help if an existing website falls short.

Agree How Changes Work After Launch

How changes work after launch should be agreed before you sign, because every small business website needs updating sooner or later. Opening hours change, new services start and old photos stop reflecting the business you run today.

Ask whether you will update the website yourself or send changes to the designer. If you will do it yourself, ask to see the editing screens before you agree. If the designer makes the changes, ask how requests are sent, how they are charged and how quickly they are usually done.

Rapid Websites from Priority Pixels are designed for businesses that would rather the website was looked after for them. There is nothing to maintain. When something needs changing, you tell us and we change it.

Check the Timeline and What It Relies On

A realistic timeline relies on you as much as on the designer, so ask what they need from you and when. Delays on small business websites often come from waiting for words, photos and logins rather than from the design or the build.

Ask for the timeline in writing, with dates for your content, the preview and the launch. A designer who cannot say when you will see a first version has not planned the project properly.

A Rapid Website from Priority Pixels is live within five working days of kick off. The only thing that can slow it down is waiting for your content, so it helps to have your words, photos and logo ready before work starts.

Compare Quotes on What They Include

Quotes from website designers for small business vary because each one assumes a different amount of work, so compare what is included before you compare the totals. Line every quote up against the same list and note what each one leaves out or leaves vague.

The items that cause most disagreements later are the number of pages, who writes and loads the content, whether photos are included, whether hosting and the domain are covered and how changes are charged after launch. A lower quote that leaves out hosting or content often costs more by the time the website is finished.

Ask whether there are monthly costs and exactly what they cover. With Rapid Websites the build and the monthly hosting are agreed up front at a fixed low cost and nothing is added along the way.

Red Flags That Should End the Conversation

Some warning signs should end the conversation with a web designer, however good the portfolio looks. Most of them come down to a designer keeping control of something that should belong to you or promising results nobody can deliver.

Search promises are the most common example. Google’s own advice on hiring an SEO says no one can guarantee a top ranking on Google, so treat any web designer who promises first place with caution. Good rankings come from a well built website followed by ongoing search engine optimisation, not from a promise made in a sales call.

• The domain will be registered in the designer’s name rather than yours
• There is no written agreement covering ownership, hosting and changes
• Monthly fees are mentioned but never explained
• They cannot show you live websites they have built recently
• They promise top rankings on Google or a set number of enquiries

One red flag on its own may have an innocent explanation, so ask about it before ruling the designer out. Two or three together usually tell you how the project would go, which is far easier to learn before the deposit than after launch.

Larger or more complex projects follow the same principles with more at stake. Our guide to choosing a web design agency covers what to check when the brief involves several decision makers, integrations or a bigger budget.