How to choose a web designer without getting stung

Ask who owns what

The domain should be registered in your name, on an account you control. The hosting should be in your name. The site files should be yours. None of this is unusual to ask for and a reluctance to answer is the single clearest warning sign in this industry.

Businesses regularly discover they cannot move their website because the designer owns the domain, and the negotiation from that position is unpleasant.

• —Is the domain registered in my name, on my account?
• —Is the hosting in my name?
• —Can I move the site elsewhere without your permission?
• —What happens if you stop trading?
• —Can I edit text and add photographs myself?
• —What does it cost to make a change after launch?
• —How fast will the site be on a phone on 4G?
• —Who writes the copy?

Ask about speed, specifically

Ask what the site will score on mobile and what page weight they are targeting. A designer who has no answer builds slow sites, and slow sites lose enquiries silently.

This matters more in rural Ireland than most designers allow for. A beautiful site that fails on poor coverage is a worse site.

Ask who writes the words

Many quotes assume you will supply the copy, and most business owners never do, which is why so many sites launch with placeholder text still on the about page.

If writing is included, ask to see an example. If it is not, price the fact that you will need to do it or pay someone else.

Be careful with monthly website deals

A website for €99 a month with no upfront cost can be reasonable or can be a lease you never stop paying, where you own nothing and leaving means starting again.

Read what happens at the end. If there is no point at which the site becomes yours, you are renting, and you should price it as rent over five years rather than as a website.

What a fair arrangement looks like

A one-off build cost, the domain and hosting in your name, the ability to edit your own content, and a clear rate for changes. Anything that makes leaving difficult is designed to make leaving difficult.

Good designers are relaxed about all of this, because their clients stay for the work rather than for the lock-in.