How to Hire a Web Designer: 15 Questions to Ask Before You Sign

01Why the Questions Matter More Than the Portfolio

A portfolio tells you whether a designer has taste. It does not tell you who will own your domain, what happens when you need a change in month fourteen, or whether the price you were quoted includes the words on the pages. Most website projects that go badly do not fail on design. They fail on assumptions nobody said out loud.

That makes the first conversation the most useful hour of the whole project. You are not only judging the designer. You are finding out how they work, what they include, and what they expect from you, while it is still cheap to walk away.

It also matters locally. When we looked at seventeen firms that appear in search results for web design around Sarasota, Lakewood Ranch, Bradenton and Venice in September 2026, three published any prices on their sites. For most businesses here, then, the details that decide whether a project is a good fit only come out when you ask. The fifteen questions below are grouped by what they protect: ownership, scope and cost, process, and life after launch.

02Ownership and Access

1. In whose name will the domain be registered?

The answer you want is your business, in an account you can log into. A domain registered to the designer "to keep things simple" is the single most common reason owners get stuck later. If the relationship ends, you want to be able to point your address somewhere else without asking permission.

2. Will I have my own login to the website platform?

Whether the site is built in Framer, WordPress, Squarespace or something else, you should hold an owner or administrator login of your own, not a shared password. Designers often need their own access too, and that is fine. The point is that access flows from you to them, not the other way round.

3. If we stop working together, what do I take with me?

This answer depends on the platform, and a good designer will explain it plainly. Some platforms let you move the whole site to another account in a few clicks. Others only let you export the content, and the design has to be rebuilt elsewhere. Neither is wrong, but you should know which one you are buying before you pay.

4. Who owns the design, the copy and the photos?

Ask whether you receive full rights to the finished work, and how stock images and fonts are licensed. Stock photos bought under the designer's account, or fonts licensed to their studio rather than your business, can become a problem the day you change providers.

03Scope and Cost

5. What exactly is included, page by page?

A proposal that says "five-page website" can mean very different things. Ask for the list of pages, what each one contains, and which features are in or out: forms, booking, a blog, a menu, a gallery, online payments. The more specific the list, the fewer surprises at the end.

6. Who writes the words?

This is where more projects stall than anywhere else. Many quotes assume you will supply the text. If you would rather not write it, ask whether copywriting is included, offered separately, or not offered at all. A beautiful layout waiting weeks for paragraphs is one of the most familiar sights in web design.

7. How many rounds of revisions are included, and what counts as one?

A round of revisions usually means a batch of adjustments to an agreed design. A new section, a new page or a change of direction is normally a change of scope. Neither side should have to guess where that line sits, so ask to see it in writing.

8. What will this cost each year after launch?

The build price is only part of the picture. Ask about the platform or hosting plan, the domain renewal, business email, and any maintenance or support fee. A site that looks inexpensive up front can cost more over three years than one that looked expensive. Our article on what a professional website costs in Sarasota covers the build side in more detail.

04Process and Timeline

9. What do you need from me, and when?

Photos, logins, service descriptions, team bios, reviews you have permission to publish. Most delays in a website project sit on the client's side of the table, usually because nobody said early enough what would be needed. A designer who hands you a clear content list in the first week is doing you a favor.

10. What does the timeline look like, and what happens if I fall behind?

Ask for the stages and roughly how long each takes: discovery, design, build, review, launch. Then ask what happens if your content arrives late. Some designers pause the project, some move you to the back of the queue, some charge to restart. None of these is unreasonable, but it is better to know now than in week six.

11. How will I review the design?

You want to see the site as your customers will, which means on a phone as well as a laptop. Ask whether you will review static images, a clickable prototype or a live preview link. For a local business, where most visitors arrive on a phone, the mobile version deserves at least as much of your attention as the desktop one.

05Launch and Everything After

12. What happens to my current website and its presence on Google?

If you already have a site, pages on it may be appearing in search and collecting visits. Ask how the old addresses will be handled, and whether the designer sets up redirects from old pages to their new equivalents. Skipping this step is a quiet way to lose traffic you already had. If you are unsure whether a rebuild is due at all, our guide to signs a Sarasota business has outgrown its site is a reasonable place to start.

13. Will I be able to make everyday edits myself?

Hours change, menus change, staff change. Ask which edits you will be able to make on your own, and whether a short training session or a recorded walkthrough is part of handover. Paying someone every time your holiday hours change gets old quickly.

14. What support is included after launch, and what does it cost after that?

Ask how long the post-launch support window lasts, what it covers, how quickly they typically respond, and how later requests are billed. Hourly, monthly and per-request arrangements all exist. The right one depends on how often you expect to need help.

15. Can I see sites you have built that are still live?

A live site tells you more than a screenshot. Open a few on your phone. Check how fast they load, whether the contact details work, and whether they still look cared for a year or two later. If the designer can put you in touch with a past client, even better.

06Answers That Should Make You Pause

Most designers answer these questions easily, because they hear them often. A few answers are worth a second look.

• A promise of first-page or number-one rankings on Google. Nobody controls how Google ranks pages, so no honest designer or agency can guarantee a position.
• The domain or platform account registered in the designer's name, with no plan to transfer it to you.
• Reluctance to put scope, revisions and ownership in writing.
• A single price with no breakdown, and no clear answer about yearly costs.
• No mention of how the site will work on a phone.

None of these automatically rules someone out. They are prompts to ask one more question. A designer who welcomes the conversation, and answers in plain language rather than jargon, is usually the same designer who will be easy to work with when something needs fixing after launch.

Bring this list to your next call, write the answers down, and compare them side by side. If you would like to see how we answer the same questions, the pricing section of our homepage and the start a project form are the next stop.