Hiring someone to build your website can be confusing, especially if you don't know much about websites yourself. Here are the questions worth asking before handing over your money.
Most small business owners don't know whether a web developer is good at their job.
And why should they?
If you're a plumber, builder, accountant, consultant or small business owner, you're probably not particularly interested in hosting, responsive design, DNS, SEO, SSL certificates or content management systems.
You just want a website that works.
The problem is that almost anyone can call themselves a web designer or developer. AI and modern website builders have lowered the technical barrier even further.
That's mostly a good thing, but it makes knowing who you're actually hiring more important.
Here are the questions I'd ask.
1. Can I See Websites You've Already Built?
Start with the obvious one.
Ask to see previous work.
Don't just look at whether the websites are pretty. Open a few of them and actually use them.
Look at them on your phone.
Can you immediately tell what the business does?
Is the text easy to read?
Can you find the phone number or contact button?
Does the site feel professional?
Does it load reasonably quickly?
A website isn't a piece of artwork. It's a tool for the business.
Good design should help the visitor understand the business and take the next step.
2. Who Will Actually Build My Website?
This is particularly important when dealing with agencies.
The person selling you the website isn't necessarily the person building it.
Ask:
Who will actually be doing the work?
Some companies outsource parts or all of their web development. That's not automatically bad, but you should know what you're paying for.
If you're hiring an independent web designer, the answer is usually much simpler.
You're talking directly to the person doing the work.
That can make communication considerably easier.
3. What Exactly Is Included in the Price?
Get this clear before work begins.
Does the quote include:
- Website design
- Development
- Mobile optimisation
- Contact forms
- Content or copywriting
- Images
- Basic SEO
- Analytics
- Domain configuration
- Hosting setup
- Security
- SSL
- Revisions
- Ongoing support
A cheap quote can become expensive if half the things you assumed were included turn out to be extras.
Likewise, an expensive quote may make more sense once you understand everything included.
Compare what you're getting, not just the number at the bottom of the quote.
4. Will My Website Work Properly on Mobile?
This shouldn't really need to be asked anymore, but ask it anyway.
Your website needs to work across phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers.
Mobile design isn't simply shrinking the desktop version until it fits.
Buttons need to be easy to tap. Text needs to be readable. Menus need to work. Important information shouldn't be buried.
For many businesses, a potential customer will first encounter the website while holding a phone.
That experience matters.
5. Do You Understand SEO?
Your web developer doesn't necessarily need to run a massive SEO campaign for you.
But they should understand the fundamentals.
Ask how they approach things such as page titles, headings, URLs, page structure, internal links, image optimisation, mobile performance and search-friendly content.
If you're a local business, ask specifically about local SEO.
There's little point having a fantastic website if Google has difficulty understanding what you do, where you do it and which searches your pages should appear for.
SEO should be considered while the website is being built, not bolted on as an afterthought.
6. Who Writes the Website Content?
This is a big one.
A website can have beautiful design and terrible messaging.
Ask whether you're expected to supply all the text yourself.
If so, what guidance will you receive?
Your homepage shouldn't simply say:
"Welcome to our website. We pride ourselves on providing quality service."
That could describe practically any business on Earth.
Your website needs to quickly communicate:
What do you do? Who do you do it for? Where do you operate? Why should someone trust you? What should they do next?
Modern AI tools can help enormously with website copy, but someone still needs to understand your business and recognise whether the resulting messaging is actually any good.
7. Are You Using AI to Build My Website?
I'd actually ask this now.
And I wouldn't consider "yes" a bad answer.
I use AI myself.
AI has become an incredibly useful tool for development, troubleshooting, research, content, SEO and many other parts of building websites.
The better question is:
Does the person using AI understand the work AI is producing?
Someone with web development experience using AI can become dramatically more productive.
Someone with very little experience can also use AI to produce something that looks convincing without understanding what's happening underneath.
AI is a tool.
The knowledge of the person using it still matters.
8. What Happens After the Website Goes Live?
This is one of the most overlooked questions.
A website isn't necessarily finished the day it launches.
Ask:
Who looks after it afterwards?
What happens if something stops working?
Who handles security?
Who monitors the website?
Can you contact the developer six months later?
How much do changes cost?
Is ongoing support included?
This is one reason I offer managed hosting rather than simply building a website and disappearing.
My hosting is $30 per month or $360 per year and includes Australian-hosted infrastructure along with monitoring, analytics, security, suggestions, email support and ongoing consulting.
More importantly, you've still got someone to contact.
Or, as I like to put it:
You've got someone to blame if something goes wrong.
9. Where Will My Website Be Hosted?
Ask where your website actually lives.
You don't need to become an expert on servers, but your developer should be able to explain their hosting arrangement in plain English.
Ask where the servers are located, what the ongoing cost is, what support is included and who you contact when there's a problem.
I use rented Australian server infrastructure for the small business websites I manage.
For Australian businesses, keeping things local can also make support and administration considerably simpler.
10. Who Owns My Domain Name?
You should.
Your domain name is an important business asset.
Ideally, it should be registered in your name or business name, and you should know where it's registered.
Make sure you can access the account.
You don't want to discover three years from now that an old web developer controls your domain and nobody knows the password.
The same general principle applies to important accounts connected to your website.
Know what you own and know how to access it.
11. Will I Have Access to My Website?
Ask what happens if you decide to move to another developer in the future.
Can the website be transferred?
Will you receive the necessary files, logins and access?
Are you locked into a proprietary platform?
There's nothing inherently wrong with platforms such as Wix or Squarespace, but you should understand what you're committing to.
Changing web developers shouldn't mean losing control of your business's online presence.
12. How Will We Measure Whether the Website Is Working?
A website being online doesn't mean it's successful.
At a minimum, you should have some idea of how many people are visiting it and what they're doing.
Ask whether analytics are installed.
Depending on your business, useful measurements might include:
- Website visitors
- Traffic from Google
- Popular pages
- Contact form submissions
- Phone enquiries
- Searches bringing people to the site
- Visitor behaviour
You don't need to become obsessed with statistics.
But you should have some way of knowing whether anyone is actually using the thing.
13. What Do You Need From Me?
This question can save everyone a lot of frustration.
Ask what the developer needs before starting.
That might include your logo, business information, services, photographs, contact details, testimonials, service areas and examples of websites you like.
Also ask how much of your time the project will require.
Some developers expect the customer to supply virtually everything.
Others will guide you through the process.
Know which arrangement you're getting.
14. How Long Will It Take?
Get a realistic timeframe.
A simple small business website shouldn't necessarily take months, but delays often happen because content, photos, approvals or information haven't been supplied.
Ask what the developer's expected timeframe is and what could delay it.
Also find out how revisions work.
You don't want to discover halfway through the project that every small change costs extra.
15. Can I Actually Talk to You?
This might be one of the most important questions on the list.
Websites involve communication.
Your developer needs to understand your business before they can represent it properly online.
Cheap overseas development can sometimes work brilliantly, and there are excellent developers everywhere in the world.
But when choosing purely on price, you don't always know what you're getting.
Time zones, language differences, outsourcing and support can also make communication more difficult.
There's value in being able to email or call the person who actually built your website.
For local and regional businesses, there's also something increasingly unusual available:
We can actually meet face to face.
The Question Behind All the Other Questions
Ultimately, you're trying to answer one bigger question:
"Can I trust this person to look after an important part of my business?"
Technical ability matters.
Design ability matters.
SEO matters.
Price matters.
But so do communication, reliability, transparency and whether the developer understands what you're trying to accomplish.
You're not just buying five webpages.
You're hiring someone to help present your business to potential customers.
Looking for a Web Developer?
I specialise in websites for small businesses and sole traders, with priority given to local and regional businesses.
Using modern AI tools alongside years of web design and development experience allows me to do work that once might have required several specialists, without the overhead of a traditional agency.
Many standard small business websites I build come in at under $1,000, with managed hosting available for $30 per month or $360 per year.
And if you already have a website, I'm happy to take a look at that first.
Contact me for a free website assessment. I'll tell you what I think could be improved, what probably doesn't need changing and whether I think I can help.