What should I ask a web designer before hiring them?

Ownership and access

• Whose name is the domain registered in? It should be yours, at a registrar you can log in to.
• Do I own the code or the site files? On a builder, ask whose account the site lives in.
• If we part ways, what do I get and how? A good designer has an answer ready.

These questions feel awkward to ask a stranger you’re hoping to like. Ask anyway. Anyone confident in their work won’t mind.

Process and scope

• Who will I be talking to, and who builds it?
• How many rounds of revisions are included?
• Who writes the copy, and who sources the photos?
• What isn’t included in this price?
• What’s the realistic timeline, and what usually delays it?

The “what isn’t included” question is the most useful one on this list. It surfaces the extras before they become invoices.

Search, speed and AI

Ask what they set up for search at launch: title tags, a sitemap, schema markup, Search Console. If you’re replacing an existing site, ask how they’ll handle redirects so your current rankings survive. Ask how fast their recent sites load on a phone and whether AI search tools can read the content.

You’re not testing their jargon. You’re checking whether search is part of the build or an upsell for later.

After launch

Ask what happens on day two. Who hosts it? Who updates it? What does a small change cost, and how quickly does it get done? Is there a monthly plan, and can you cancel it without losing the site? A designer who’s vague about life after launch is often hard to reach once it arrives.

If I were hiring someone, I’d send these questions by email before the first call, so the answers arrive in writing. Then I’d listen on the call for how they talk about trade-offs. Every project has them. A designer who says yes to everything hasn’t thought about your project yet.

These are the same questions I’d want a client to ask me. Most of my answers go straight into the written scope so nobody has to remember them later.