Hiring the person who'll build your website is a decision you live with for years. I've been on both sides: hiring, and being hired. This is what I'd look at.
Look at the portfolio, but look properly
Don't stop at whether you like it. Open the sites they show and check three things: that they're still live, that they load fast on your phone, and that you can tell what the business does. If the portfolio is pretty images but the links are dead, you already know enough.
They should listen more than they present
In the first conversation, someone who'll do good work asks about your business before talking about design: who you sell to, where your clients come from now, what went wrong before. Someone who arrives with the quote already written hasn't understood the problem yet.
Seven questions before signing
- What exactly is included and what isn't? Copy, photos, translations and content migration are usually what falls outside and costs later.
- Whose name will the domain and hosting be in? Yours. Always.
- What happens after delivery? Who updates it, who takes backups, who do you call if it goes down on a Sunday.
- What will you build it on? And above all: will I be able to edit it without depending on you?
- How will we measure whether it works? If nobody mentions analytics or goals, the site will be judged on whether people like it, which is the worst criterion.
- How long will it take and what does that depend on? A deadline with no conditions is a deadline that won't be met.
- Can I speak to a client of yours from two years ago? Not two months. What's interesting is what happened afterwards.
Signs you should keep looking
- A one-line quote. "Corporate website: €2,500." Without a breakdown you don't know what you're buying or what to claim.
- They ask nothing about your business.
- They keep the domain or hosting in their name. It's the most common way to tie you in.
- They promise Google rankings. Nobody can guarantee those.
- A price far below everyone else. It usually means a template, a rush job and no maintenance.
About price
A website doesn't have a market price: it has a cost that depends on how much work sits behind it. The expensive thing isn't paying more, it's paying twice because the first one didn't work. Get two or three itemised quotes and compare what's inside, not the final number.
Got quotes on the table and can't decide?
Write to [email protected]. I'll go through them with you and tell you what each one is missing.