I'm going to be upfront: I'm a web designer writing a guide to choosing a web designer. That's an obvious conflict of interest and I'm aware of it. Take this with that in mind. My aim is to give you genuinely useful criteria, not to talk you into hiring me specifically.
With that said: I've seen a lot of websites. I've seen what goes wrong and I know what to look for. Here's a buyer's guide that should be useful regardless of who you end up working with.
things that actually matter
Do they have a portfolio of real sites? Any web designer worth hiring should be able to show you websites they've built for actual clients. Not mockups. Not demo sites with Lorem Ipsum text. Real businesses with working URLs. If the portfolio is thin or nonexistent, that's a meaningful signal.
Can you speak to them? A web designer who won't get on a call before you commit is a designer who's difficult to get hold of after you've committed. The working relationship matters. You want someone who listens, asks good questions about your business, and gives you straight answers about what's possible and what it costs. A discovery conversation before any money changes hands is normal and expected.
Do they explain what they're actually building? Will the site be on WordPress, Wix, a hand-coded framework, or something else? Who hosts it? What happens to the site if you stop working with them? You should know the answers to these questions before you sign anything. A good designer explains this clearly. A bad one doesn't.
Do they include SEO in the build? A website that doesn't show up in search is a brochure nobody reads. Basic on-page SEO (title tags, meta descriptions, heading structure, schema markup, page speed) should be part of any professional website build, not an expensive add-on. Ask whether SEO is included and what specifically that means.
Are the ongoing costs clear? Website builds often have a hidden monthly tail: hosting, maintenance, software licences, domain fees. Ask for the full picture upfront, including what happens to those costs if you move on. A good designer is transparent about this. A bad one buries it.
red flags worth running from
Guaranteed first-page Google rankings. Nobody can guarantee this. Google's algorithm isn't for sale (well, beyond Google Ads, which is a different thing entirely). Anyone who promises guaranteed rankings is either lying or selling something very different from what you're imagining.
No fixed price. "We'll quote once we understand the scope" is sometimes legitimate for complex projects. For a small business website, you should be able to get a clear price upfront. Scope creep is real, but an experienced designer knows how to scope a five-page small business website. If they won't give you a number, that's a negotiation tactic, not a technical requirement.
You own nothing. Some designers build your site on their hosting account, with their domain registrar, using their platform login. You're renting from them indefinitely. When you want to leave, you find out you have no site to take with you. This is more common than it should be. Make sure your domain is registered in your name and your hosting account is in your name, or that you have a clear path to full ownership.
No contract or written agreement. A proper engagement has a written scope, a price, payment terms, and clarity on what happens if things go wrong. A handshake deal or a brief email chain is not sufficient. It's not about distrust. It's about being clear so disputes don't arise.
The cheapest quote by a significant margin. This one cuts against conventional wisdom, but it's real. The market has a floor for professional work. If someone quotes you £100 for a business website, ask what's actually included. Often the deliverable is a template drag-and-drop site, built in an hour, with no SEO, no custom copy, and a platform that charges you £20/month indefinitely. The cheapest quote is sometimes the most expensive outcome.
The right question isn't "who's cheapest?" It's "who will build me a site that does what I actually need it to do, on a platform I understand, with costs I can predict?"
how to judge the portfolio
When you look at a designer's portfolio, don't just ask "does it look nice?" Ask:
- Does the site load quickly? (Open it on your phone on mobile data.)
- Does it work on mobile without horizontal scrolling or tiny text?
- Is the copy written for the business or is it clearly filler?
- Does it show up in search for relevant terms? (Try searching the business type + location.)
- Is the contact form working?
A website that looks great in a screenshot but loads slowly, breaks on mobile, and ranks for nothing is not a portfolio piece. It's a warning.