What are the red flags when hiring a web designer?

Promises nobody can keep

“Page one in 30 days” or “guaranteed rankings” is the clearest warning sign in the industry. Nobody controls Google. A competent designer can set up strong technical SEO and explain what tends to move rankings, but an outright guarantee usually means either a tiny search term nobody types, or a promise that can’t really be kept.

Vague scope and pricing

• A price on the first call, before they know how many pages, who writes copy or what features you need.
• A one-line quote with no list of pages or exclusions.
• Hourly billing with no estimate or cap.
• A very low build price tied to a long, expensive monthly contract.

None of these is automatically dishonest. They just leave room for surprises, and surprises in web projects are rarely cheaper.

Control and ownership

Watch for a designer who registers your domain in their own name, builds on a system only they can edit, or won’t put ownership terms in writing. Same for refusing to share logins “for security”. You can have good security and still hold the keys to your own business. See who owns my website.

Portfolio and communication

Mockups but no live sites. Live sites that are slow or broken on a phone. Slow, vague replies before you’ve signed, which rarely improve afterwards. And high-pressure tactics: discounts that expire tomorrow, or reluctance to let you talk to a past client.

The test I’d use is simple: ask a hard question and watch what happens. “What would make this project go badly?” A good designer has an honest answer, usually about content, decisions or scope creep. A risky one changes the subject.

I’d also check two or three of their sites from a year or more ago. If those are still fast and working, the designer builds things that last.