Every week I speak to a small business owner who’s been burned. They paid a few hundred quid — or a few thousand — to someone who promised them the world, delivered something half-finished, then vanished. Or the site looked decent on a laptop but was completely broken on a phone. Or they handed over full payment upfront and never heard back. It happens more than you’d think, and it’s almost always avoidable.
Choosing a web designer isn’t just a financial decision — it’s a decision about who you’re trusting with your business’s front door. Done right, a good website will generate leads, build credibility, and save you time. Done wrong, it’ll cost you money twice: once to build it, and again to fix it. Here’s how to get it right the first time.
Know What You Actually Need Before You Start Looking
This sounds obvious, but most people skip it. Before you approach a single designer, you need to be clear on what the website is supposed to do. Not what it’s supposed to look like — what it’s supposed to achieve.
Are you trying to get phone calls? Sell products? Book appointments? Build an email list? The answers to these questions should drive everything from the structure of the site to the designer you hire. A portfolio-style site for a photographer is a completely different animal from an e-commerce store or a service site for a local tradesperson.
Also, be honest with yourself about your budget. If you’re not sure what a realistic investment looks like, take a read through my guide on how much does a website cost — it’ll give you a grounded sense of what different types of projects actually cost and why.
Look at Their Portfolio — Really Look at It
A portfolio is the single most important thing you can evaluate. Anyone can write a great proposal or talk a good game on a call. What they’ve actually built tells you everything.
When you view my portfolio, you’ll notice I focus on clean, functional design that works for real businesses. That’s intentional. When you’re reviewing any designer’s portfolio, here’s what to actually look for:
Does the work look current?
Design trends move quickly. A portfolio full of sites built five or six years ago — with heavy gradients, cluttered layouts, or tiny mobile text — suggests someone who hasn’t kept up. The web has shifted enormously in the past few years, particularly around mobile-first design and page speed.
Do the live sites actually work?
Click through to the real URLs. Load them on your phone. Check how fast they load using Google PageSpeed Insights — it’s free and takes about ten seconds. A site that scores below 50 on mobile performance is a red flag, full stop.
Is there variety — or does everything look identical?
Some designers have a signature style, which isn’t necessarily bad. But if every site in their portfolio looks like it was built from the exact same template with the colours swapped out, that’s worth noting. You want someone who listens to their clients, not someone who applies the same design to everyone.
Ask the Right Questions on the First Call
A good designer should ask you more questions than you ask them. If someone jumps straight into pitching their services without understanding your business, your customers, or your goals — be cautious. Here’s what you should be asking them:
Who owns the website when it’s done? You’d be surprised how many designers retain ownership of the code or files, leaving clients dependent on them forever. You should own your website outright.
What platform will you build on? There are solid options out there — WordPress, for instance, powers a huge proportion of the web for good reason — but you want to understand what you’re getting and whether you’ll be able to manage it yourself. Wix and Squarespace are popular choices for simpler sites, though they come with trade-offs in flexibility.
What’s included in the price? Does it include copywriting? Photography? Ongoing maintenance? How many rounds of revisions? These details matter enormously when comparing quotes.
What does the handover look like? Will they train you to update the site? Will they document everything? Or will you be left guessing?
Do you have client references I can contact? Any designer worth their salt should be able to provide references. If they hesitate or can’t, move on.
Understand the Difference Between Design and Development
This is where a lot of small business owners get confused. “Web designer” and “web developer” are not the same thing, and depending on your project, you may need both — or someone who does both well.
A designer focuses on how the site looks and feels: the layout, the typography (tools like Google Fonts give designers enormous flexibility here), the colour palette, the visual hierarchy. A developer builds the underlying functionality — the code that makes things work. Resources like MDN Web Docs and CSS-Tricks are where developers go to stay sharp, and they’re a good indicator of a developer who takes their craft seriously.
For most small business websites, you need someone who can do both competently, or a team that covers both. For complex e-commerce or web applications, you’ll likely want dedicated specialists. Be explicit about your requirements and make sure the person you hire has genuine experience in that area — not just a passing familiarity.
Red Flags to Watch Out For
In my experience, most bad outcomes are predictable. Here are the warning signs I’d tell any client to watch for:
They ask for 100% payment upfront. A reasonable payment structure is typically 50% to start, with the remainder on completion or in agreed milestones. Full payment upfront removes all incentive to finish the job.
They can’t explain their process. A professional designer should be able to walk you through what happens from brief to launch. If the answer is vague or changes every time you ask, that’s a problem.
They promise ridiculous turnaround times. A quality website takes time. Anyone promising a fully custom site in three days is almost certainly using a template and calling it bespoke.
They don’t mention SEO, mobile, or speed. These aren’t optional extras — they’re fundamentals. Research from the Nielsen Norman Group consistently shows that usability and performance have a direct impact on whether users stay on your site or leave. A designer who doesn’t bring these up hasn’t thought about what makes a website actually work.
Their own website is poor. It’s not a dealbreaker — some designers are so busy with client work they neglect their own site — but if their own web presence looks outdated, loads slowly, or is hard to navigate, it at least warrants a conversation.
Don’t Ignore the Ongoing Relationship
The website launch is the beginning, not the end. Technology changes, your business changes, and your site will need updates. Before you sign anything, think about what support looks like after go-live.
Will the designer be available for small updates? At what cost? Are there maintenance plans available? What happens if something breaks? Articles on Smashing Magazine regularly cover best practices for ongoing web maintenance, and it’s an area most small business owners underestimate until something goes wrong at the worst possible time.
Also consider: if the designer disappeared tomorrow, could you manage the site yourself or hand it to someone else? You should never be so dependent on one person that you’re held hostage if the relationship breaks down. Make sure you have access to all your own files, hosting accounts, and domain registrations from day one.
Think About Fit, Not Just Skill
Technical ability matters enormously, but so does the working relationship. You’re going to be going back and forth with this person for weeks, explaining your business, giving feedback, making decisions together. If the communication feels off from the very first conversation — if they’re dismissive, slow to respond, or seem uninterested in what you actually do — that’s not going to improve once the money changes hands.
The best client relationships I have are built on clear communication and mutual respect. I ask a lot of questions because I want to understand my clients’ businesses properly. I expect the same openness in return. Look for a designer who seems genuinely curious about your business, not just keen to close the deal. Understanding web design principles at even a basic level can also help you have more informed conversations with your designer from the outset.
Ready to Find the Right Fit?
Choosing a web designer doesn’t have to be a gamble. Ask the right questions, look beyond the surface of a portfolio, and pay attention to how someone communicates before you’ve even given them a penny. Those things will tell you more than any sales pitch.
If you’re a small business owner looking for straightforward, honest web design without the jargon or the runaround, I’d love to have a conversation. Head over to the contact page and get in touch for a free, no-obligation quote. I’ll ask you a lot of questions — because that’s where good work starts.