15 Questions to Ask Your Web Designer

Web design? What is that? Right. Living in a virtual world everyone uses the internet and for sure they know how to build a website.

Wrong!

Do you need a website? Do you know how to build a website?

Probably not, unless you couldn’t go out of the house as a child and your mother bought you old computers to practice rebuilding harddrives from the local reuse store. Even then, you may not be up-to-date on current trends in website building.

There are many questions to ask a web designer to see if you truly want to hire them. Some key components in business today are your business’ website and digital marketing.

Here are some questions you need to ask your possible website designer:

1. Is web design your only job?

This may seem like a personal question, but this will give you an understanding of their answers to the rest of the questions. If this is their only job, then you are probably their top priority as a customer. If it is NOT their only job, then you may have to consider that if items need to be changed/updated that they may not always be available.

2. Do you have a portfolio of your past work?

If they are a reputable company, then they should be happy to share past work with you. It is a digital world and they should be able to offer links to websites you can visit.

3. Do you offer services outside of web design?

This information helps, so you can know will they help maintain and optimize the site when there are issues. This shows if they are a partner in your business’ digital success or just a vendor you are getting a product from.

4. Do you specialize in a specific industry?

This is helpful to understanding if they will be familiar with your website’s needs. For example, if they only work with truck driving companies, then they may only be familiar with creating a web site that offers information. They may not be able to help you develop a site for your clothing boutique that will be customer-responsive that offers assistance like having a chat bot on your website.

5. How many landing pages will come with the web site?

This will allow you to begin to see how your website will be set-up for customer interaction. This will also allow you to ask about the cost of additional pages.

Most websites come with the four main pages:

Home

About Us

Services Page

Contact Us

6. Will my webpage be customized or templated?

Most web designers will be able to build a customizable website. However, there are some web designers that build the website from templates. Some web designers outsource the building of the website too. This is not a negative in itself. If the web designer has a standing relationship with their web developer, then this person is on their team, in their toolbox per se, and makes changes as needed. The downside is that if they outsource to whomever is cheapest or just available they may not be accessible to troubleshoot when problems arise. Also, if the website is templated, then there isn’t very much that can be changed outside of colors or layout if you are unhappy with it. Be sure to work with a web designer that will allow for changes.

7. Will my website be mobile-friendly?

A web designer should make sure to optimize your webpage for the varying mobile devices. You should feel confident knowing that your web page will come across the same way on an Apple or Android product.

8. What do you need from me prior to launch?

The web designer should know exactly what they will need from you for the website to be built prior to launch. This helps you feel confident knowing that you can check off all that may be needed from you. A novice designer may continue to ask you for things which can make the process drag on.

9. Who will supply the images for my website?

This is helpful to know from the beginning. The web designer should let you know if they will use stock photography or if they have a photographer that will take pictures that will be used on the site. They also need to inquire about do you have any pics or images that you would like to use specifically.

10. What platform will be used to build my website?

This question is very important. You need to know will your website be made in Wordpress or another website builder like Wix. Some web platforms do not allow you to own your website. You will pay for them into perpetuity. You need to be sure you can own your website.

11. Can the website be relocated easily?

You should be able to easily migrate your website between web hosts. If it is your website, then you should not be held hostage to use a certain web host.

12. What is your design process?

This is where your web designer should tell you how long before the website is built. This should include dates for checkpoints for you to review your website. This way if something is not to your liking, then it can be revised and updated prior to the official launch date.

13. Do you follow the SEO practices?

Search Engine Optimization helps your website rank on Google. This in itself can drive traffic to your website. In most cases, errors in coding can lead to issues with your SEO. It is best if your web designer knows this from the beginning because they can structure your site in a way to make this process seamless.

14. Do you monitor and optimize my page speed?

A web designer should be concerned with your page loading speed. This should be checked and monitored while building the site. 53% of mobile users leave a site that takes longer than three seconds to load. Each second it takes for your website to load you lose a customer. You can also check yourself on the web designer’s other pages that they share with you. Go to Pingdom and see how long it takes for their other websites to load. Then, you may be able to get an idea of how fast it took your website that they may build for you.

15. How will the content be developed for your website?

This may seem like a silly question. But, you need to find out who will write the words going on your website. The web designer may already have a content writer on their team that will write the content for your pages. Also, if you are interested, then they may offer content writing services for blogs that could go on your page. Just know, a web designer does not mean they are a writer. Be clear about where your content will come from for the site.