Choosing a website designer can feel surprisingly personal. You’re trusting someone with the business you’ve built, the way you show up online, and a project that will require your time and decisions along the way. Of course you want to like their work, but you also need to know what working together will actually be like.
I’ve been on the designer side of these conversations for more than a decade, and I’ve seen how much easier a project feels when expectations are clear from the start. Here’s what I’d look at before hiring a website designer for your small business, along with the questions I’d bring to that first call.
Prefer to listen? This article expands on my podcast episode about choosing a website designer. You can play it here or listen to the episode on Buzzsprout.
1. Look Beyond the Portfolio Photos
Start with the designer’s portfolio, but don’t stop at a grid of beautiful homepage screenshots. Open a few full websites, including one for a business unlike yours. Can you quickly tell what each business offers? Can you find the services, important details, and next step without working for it? Does each site feel suited to its client, or do they all seem to follow the same formula?
A strong designer should be able to explain the thinking behind the work. For example, the brand and website for Activate Fitness in Woburn needed to reflect the personality and quality of its training facility. The website for Mateus Law had a different job: presenting the firm’s areas of practice clearly while feeling professional and approachable. Looking at those decisions tells you more than asking whether you like a color palette.
Ask: “Can you walk me through a project with goals similar to mine and explain the decisions you made?”
2. Notice the Questions They Ask About Your Business
A discovery call should give the designer a chance to understand what has changed in your business, who you want to reach, what your current website is doing well, and where visitors get stuck. If the conversation jumps straight to colors and page count, you may not yet have a shared understanding of what the new site needs to accomplish.
Listen for questions about your services, your customers’ concerns, the inquiries you want more of, and what you want people to do after visiting your site. You should leave the call feeling that the designer understands the problem, even if you haven’t settled every detail of the solution.
Ask: “How do you decide what pages and content my website needs?”
3. Find Out Who Is Responsible for the Content
Content is one of the most common places for a website project to slow down. A designer may provide a page outline, prompts, editing guidance, full copywriting, or none of those things. Each can be a reasonable approach, but you need to know which one you’re buying.
Ask when your words and photos need to be ready, what guidance you’ll receive, and whether a copywriter is available if you need one. If you’re writing the content yourself, find out who will help you decide what belongs on each page. Having a clear content plan makes it much easier to give a designer what they need and keep the project moving.
Ask: “What will I need to write or gather, and how will you help me prepare it?”
4. Get Specific About the Scope and Price
Two website proposals can show very different prices because they include different work. One might cover five pages using an existing brand and client-provided copy. Another might include brand identity, keyword research, copywriting, several service pages, and booking or email integrations.
Look for a written scope that names the pages, features, content responsibilities, review points, and work that would cost extra. Ask what happens if you discover you need another page or change direction after design begins. You should understand both the starting price and how the final price could change.
If you’re working out a budget, my guide to small business website costs in the Boston area walks through current starting prices and the decisions that affect a quote.
Ask: “What is included in this proposal, and what would trigger an additional charge?”
5. Ask What “SEO Included” Actually Means
SEO can refer to basic setup, such as page titles and indexability, or to deeper work that starts with keyword research and shapes the site’s pages and content. Neither phrase tells you enough on its own.
If being found through search matters to your business, ask whether the designer researches the terms your customers use, plans pages around relevant searches, writes or reviews SEO titles and descriptions, and checks technical basics before launch. Also ask what, if anything, happens after the site goes live. A new website can be built with search in mind, but no designer can promise a particular ranking.
Ask: “Which SEO tasks are part of this project, and which would require separate ongoing work?”
6. Understand the Timeline and Feedback Process
“Your site will be done in four weeks” only means something when you know when those four weeks begin and what needs to be ready first. Find out how long content preparation usually takes, when you’ll see the design, when you’ll give feedback, and who makes the final decisions on your side.
You should also know how revisions work. A clear process gives you room to respond thoughtfully without leaving either of you in an open-ended cycle of changes. In my projects, we prepare the content first and set the launch date before the focused four-week design and build begins. Other designers may use a different schedule; what matters is that you understand it before signing.
Ask: “What do you need from me at each stage, and what happens if content or feedback is delayed?”
7. Make Sure the Working Relationship Fits
You’ll be making decisions together, so pay attention to how the designer communicates before you hire them. Do they answer your questions directly? Can they explain their recommendations in words you understand? Do you feel comfortable saying when something doesn’t feel right?
Looking at testimonials can help, especially when clients describe the process rather than only the finished site. You can also ask for a reference when that would help you make a decision. Find out whether past clients felt heard, knew what was expected of them, and felt confident using the website afterward.
Ask: “How will we communicate during the project, and how often will I hear from you?”
8. Know What Happens After Launch
Your website will need changes over time. You might add a service, update a team member, change a price, or publish an article. Ask whether you’ll receive training, what you can update yourself, and what support is available if you’d rather have help.
Be clear about ownership, too. You should understand who controls the domain, hosting, website files, and content, and whether any ongoing fee is required to keep using the site. These may not be the most exciting questions to ask during a design call, but the answers matter long after launch day.
Ask: “What will I own, what can I update myself, and what ongoing costs should I expect?”
Choosing the Right Website Designer for You
The best fit isn’t necessarily the designer with the flashiest portfolio or the lowest quote. It’s someone whose work meets your needs, whose process you understand, and whose guidance helps you make good decisions for your business.
Bring your questions to the first conversation. Tell the designer what isn’t working now, what you want your website to help you do, and where you’re unsure. A good discussion should make the next steps clearer, whether you decide to work together or not.
If your business has outgrown its current site, you can explore my website design process and current options. I work with established small businesses in the Boston area and beyond, and I’d be happy to talk through what your website needs.
