Questions to Ask a Web Designer Before You Sign

What is a web designer and how is that different from a web developer?

The distinction matters because many agencies blur the two roles in their sales pitch. A web designer focuses on layout, typography, color, spacing and user experience. They decide where buttons go, which fonts carry the brand voice, and how a visitor moves from the homepage to a contact form. A web developer handles the code, hosting, server configuration and functionality like forms, ecommerce checkout or API connections. The designer decides what the site should do, and the developer works out how to build it.

Some agencies that sell "web design" hand every page to a freelance developer with no design direction. Ask who will do the design work before you sign. If they cannot name the designer and show you that person's portfolio of live websites, push back, because mockups on visual boards are not proof of shipped work. Ask to see published sites that still load quickly, still look good on a phone, and have held their search visibility well after launch.

A small business often needs a hybrid designer-developer or a small team rather than a single solo freelancer. When one person does both roles, turnaround is often faster and there are fewer handoff errors. When two people share the work, you get deeper expertise in each area. Either way, ask for a written breakdown of who handles design versus development and request to see at least three live sites they have shipped in the last two years. For the wider process of shortlisting and comparing designers, see how to choose a website designer.

• Layout and spacing decisions

  Designer

  Yes

  Developer

  Rarely

• Font pairing and color palette

  Designer

  Yes

  Developer

  Rarely

• Mobile-responsive behavior

  Designer

  Yes

  Developer

  Yes

• HTML, CSS, JavaScript code

  Designer

  Sometimes

  Developer

  Yes

• Server hosting and DNS

  Designer

  No

  Developer

  Yes

• Content management system or ecommerce platform setup

  Designer

  Sometimes

  Developer

  Yes

• Page speed optimization

  Designer

  Sometimes

  Developer

  Yes

• SEO meta tags and schema

  Designer

  Sometimes

  Developer

  Sometimes

• Copywriting

  Designer

  No

  Developer

  No

• Photography direction

  Designer

  Yes

  Developer

  No

What questions should I ask about their design process?

The design process is one of the places projects most often go off track. A vague timeline with no milestones can turn into an open-ended engagement that drains your budget. A good designer walks you through each phase and sets expectations early. Ask how many revisions are included in the quoted price and what counts as a revision. A revision is a structured round of changes before sign-off.

Ask who provides the content for each page. If the designer expects you to write all the copy yourself, clarify whether they offer a content brief or template. If they expect to write it, confirm the scope of words per page and the review cycle. For small businesses with limited staff, having the designer handle content writing can save a lot of back-and-forth email.

Ask for a written timeline with milestones, not just a start date. A real schedule breaks the project into phases: discovery, wireframes, design mockups, development, testing, launch. Each phase gets a target date and a deliverable you can verify. Without this, the project drifts and you never know when it will finish.

Ask whether they use a shared project board so you can track progress. A shared board lets you see every task, who owns it, and where work is stuck. If they do not use one, ask how and how often they will report progress, and get that commitment in writing.

• How many revision rounds are included?
• What counts as a revision versus a new feature request?
• Who writes the page copy? Do they provide a template?
• What is the written milestone timeline?
• Which project management tool tracks progress?
• Can I view the live board during the build?

How do I know their pricing is fair and not a trap?

Pricing is another common place for web projects to go sideways. A designer quotes a flat fee that sounds reasonable, then charges extra for hosting, domain registration, copywriting, photography and SEO setup because those items were never listed in the original scope. Before you sign, ask whether the price is fixed or hourly and what triggers a change order. A change order is a formal document that lists the new scope, the additional cost, and the impact on the timeline. If a designer does not use them, you may face informal extra bills at the end of the project with little recourse.

Ask what is excluded from the quoted price. Hosting, domain, SSL certificates, professional photography, copywriting and basic SEO setup are common add-ons that surprise business owners. Get every exclusion in writing before you sign. A fair quote lists inclusions clearly and calls out exclusions upfront.

Ask for a payment schedule tied to milestones rather than the full amount upfront. A common structure is a deposit followed by payments at milestones such as design approval and launch. Be cautious if a designer wants most of the fee before you have seen any deliverable, because you should keep some leverage until the site works.

Compare three quotes from different designers before deciding. Price alone does not predict quality, but three quotes side by side show whether one designer is far above the others or suspiciously low. The lowest quote often excludes essentials like mobile optimization or page speed checks. The highest quote may include services you do not need. Compare the scopes line by line rather than the totals alone.

• Fixed project price

  Pros

  Predictable total cost

  Cons

  Less flexible if scope changes

• Hourly rate

  Pros

  Scales with complexity

  Cons

  Harder to budget; can spiral

• Milestone-based

  Pros

  Tied to deliverables

  Cons

  Requires clear milestone definitions

• Retainer after launch

  Pros

  Ongoing updates included

  Cons

  Monthly commitment regardless of need

What questions expose whether they can handle my content?

Content migration is one of the most common ways a redesign goes wrong. Moving from one platform to another can mean losing existing pages and spending weeks rebuilding what already existed. A capable designer or developer handles migration as part of the plan, not as an afterthought. Ask whether they can migrate content from your current site without losing SEO value. If they cannot answer this clearly, ask how they preserve URLs, meta descriptions, heading hierarchy and internal links during the transfer.

Request a content migration checklist and who is responsible for each step. A proper migration includes exporting old URLs, mapping them to new URLs, setting up 301 redirects, preserving image alt text, and verifying that every page renders correctly on the new site. Without a checklist, old URLs are easy to miss, and pages that return errors instead of redirecting can lose the search traffic and links they had built. A website redesign checklist that protects your rankings covers these steps in more detail.

Ask whether they provide a content brief or template for new pages. A brief defines word count targets, keyword focus, tone and structure before writing begins. Without it, copy gets written in isolation and rarely aligns with the design layout or your SEO strategy. Templates speed production and keep consistency across many service pages.

Ask about image sourcing and licensing. Do they use stock photos from a licensed library, help you shoot originals with a photographer, or expect you to provide everything? Stock images are fine when properly licensed. Unlicensed images can lead to a copyright demand letter or a takedown notice sent to your host, and you may have to pull the images or pay a licensing claim. Clarify the source upfront.

1. Export all existing URLs and metadata from the current site
2. Map old URLs to new URLs with 301 redirects documented
3. Verify heading hierarchy and internal link structure survives the move
4. Rebuild any missing pages using the provided content templates
5. Test every migrated page for correct rendering and load speed
6. Submit an updated sitemap in Google Search Console right after launch

What questions should I ask about SEO and post-launch support?

A beautiful site that no one finds is a wasted investment, so basic SEO setup should not be optional. Ask whether the designer includes meta tags, proper heading structure, page speed optimization, mobile responsiveness and schema markup as part of the build. These basics help search engines crawl and understand your pages, and they are much cheaper to get right during the build than to retrofit. A designer who treats on-page SEO as an add-on after launch leaves the site starting at a disadvantage.

Ask whether they offer a post-launch support plan and what it covers. A support plan typically handles plugin updates, security patches, broken-link monitoring and minor content edits for an agreed term after go-live. Without one, the site drifts into technical debt and the owner pays full hourly rates for small fixes months later.

Ask whether they can integrate your site with your CRM or email marketing platform. A contact form that sends submissions only to a generic inbox makes it easy for leads to slip through. An integration pushes submissions directly into your pipeline, the same idea behind integrating a CRM with your website, so inquiries do not sit unanswered. Confirm which platforms they support and whether the setup is included in the build price.

Ask for a written SEO setup process, not just a promise. A real process lists the steps: keyword research, competitor gap analysis, on-page optimization per page, a technical check of site speed and crawl errors, and a post-launch review. If they cannot write this down before you sign, do not sign.

• Is basic SEO setup included in the build?
• What does the post-launch support plan cover and for how long?
• Can you integrate my contact forms with my CRM or email platform?
• Will you provide a written SEO checklist before launch?
• Who monitors site speed and broken links after go-live?

What questions should I ask before I sign any contract?

The final vetting step protects you from scope creep and hidden costs. Before you hand over any money, ask for a written scope of work that lists every deliverable, every page and every feature. A scope of work is the contract's backbone. Without it, the designer can add pages, features or revisions at will and charge extra each time.

Ask who owns the final design files and whether you can take them elsewhere. You should own the source files: the design mockups, the exported code, and the content you paid to produce, and the contract should transfer that ownership to you in writing. Themes, plugins and fonts from third parties are licensed rather than owned, so ask which licenses stay with you. If the designer retains ownership and charges a release fee later, you are locked into their pricing for every future change.

Ask about the revision policy and what happens after the included rounds. Many designers include two or three structured revision rounds during the design phase. After final approval, changes usually become new features billed separately. If the policy is vague, you are likely to argue about what counts as a revision and lose time on a project that should already be done.

Ask for references from past clients and call them before signing. References often tell you more than portfolios. Ask a former client whether the designer hit milestones, communicated clearly when problems arose, and delivered on time. A designer who will not provide any references is giving you useful information.

• Is there a written scope of work listing every page and feature?
• Do I own the final design files and source code?
• How many revision rounds are included? What happens after?
• Can I call two past clients before signing?
• Are all exclusions and add-on costs listed in writing?

Bringing the Questions to the Interview

Take these checklists to every designer you talk to and compare the written answers side by side, since a clear, specific answer is a better signal than a polished pitch. Skyline offers web design and development for small businesses. Skyline's free website audit checks your site: enter your email and the report is sent to you automatically.