Make an informed choice
What should you ask
a web designer?
A clear conversation about the work and the support behind it is a useful way to start. These questions will help you prepare.
What is included in the work?
Ask for a written outline of the pages, features and content included in the quotation. A gallery, a catalogue and a shop can look similar at first glance but involve different work.
Explain what a customer should be able to do on the website. The designer can then recommend an approach instead of guessing from a list of technical terms.
Who prepares the words and images?
Clarify whether you are supplying finished content, rough notes or existing pages to adapt. Discuss photography, image permissions, stock licences and any writing help before work starts.
Agree who checks business details, service descriptions and specialist information. You know your business; a designer can help organise that knowledge into useful pages.
How will you review the website?
Ask how you can see the work in progress and give feedback. If you already have a website, discuss how it will remain available while the replacement is prepared and how important pages and addresses will be handled.
What happens after launch?
Separate software maintenance from changes to your words, images and services. Ask what hosting includes, who handles backups, how to report a problem and how extra development is quoted.
Which accounts and assets will you control?
Discuss the domain, hosting, email, editing access, artwork and any third-party licences. Ask how a future transfer would work, what can be exported and whether any charges or licence restrictions apply. Put the agreed arrangements in writing.
A useful first message
“We provide these services to these customers. We have this website already, and we want visitors to do this. Here is what is ready, and here is where we need help.”
Make the next conversation easier
A few answers.
A clearer starting point.
You can be unsure about the details. The planner helps you work through them.