10 Essential Questions to Ask Your Web Designer

Websites are quite the investment, and you want yours to be exactly as you want it to be. When you’re looking for a website designer, or web designer, you’re probably going to look at several places to find out which one has the best price, the best service, and the best quality and make your decision based on the importance of each factor. However, to help in your quest for your perfect web designer, you should be asking each and every company the following questions. These essential questions to ask your web designer will help you decide what’s best for your business needs and also requires the web designer’s willingness to involve you in the design process.

1. How much do you charge for website design?

This is a tough question and for web designers, it’s tough to provide an answer. In order to receive an accurate quote, a client needs to provide as many details to the web designer as possible so they know how many features you want and how many hours they’ll have to put in to make or incorporate those features into your website. Obviously, the more features you want, the more expensive your website will be. For a quick overview of how much websites typically cost, check out our previous post!

2. Are you good at search engine optimization (SEO)?

Make sure your website designer can help you with your website’s SEO and do a good job of it. Ask them to provide you with some case studies or examples of good SEO projects. In fact, look at the web designer’s website…does it reach the first few entries on your search engine?

3. What happens after the site is built? Who owns the copyrights?

All clients should understand that website designs are a form of art and the website company will be creating the design, unless they use a premade template. Always ask who will own the copyright to what after the project has been completed. At CryoDragon, for example, our clients own all copyrights to the design and website after the project has been finished.

4. Will you be training me on how to use the website and make edits? Can you help me make edits to content if I request it?

So you’re getting a new website. What happens after you get it? If you want to update something and you don’t know how to…that’s a problem. Ask your website designer whether they help train you or provide training documents for how to use the website after it’s finished. Also ask your website designer if they can help make any small or large edits, and whether there are fees involved. At CryoDragon, we provide hours of content update training after the website has been launched, and we have numerous maintenance plans to help those who require assistance in regular updates.

5. Can you provide me a detailed quote of the project?

All website designers should be providing you with a detailed quote. You should know exactly what you are paying for, and if you don’t…ask! At CryoDragon, we give extremely detailed quotes so that you know exactly how much time is spent into every component of the project.

6. Do you use website templates that clients can choose from, or are they custom-built?

This is a sore subject to touch on in the web design world as the definitions are blurred to each individual company. Usually, if you’re asking a website company to customize (change colour, logo, text, etc.) an already-built template, then they are using a template and the website will not cost as much as a custom-built one. For custom-built websites, the website company should be starting with a framework or from scratch and building the website to your needs. These are more expensive. At CryoDragon, we make custom-built themes but are also capable of customizing pre-built themes for clients. It really depends on your budget and requirements.

7. How long will the website design take?

Typically, a 5-page basic website should take 2-4 weeks. However, each website design company works differently. Be sure to ask how long you have to wait, and know that if you are required to supply any information or content, there may be delays depending on how long it takes you to supply this content to the designer!

8. Am I going to be a part of the design process?

Most web design companies will design a website for you and then give it to you for approval. Prior to the website design, ask how involved you will be in the design process. How much input will you have into the design and whether there are any checkpoints where you can look at and comment or request any modifications or revisions. At CryoDragon, we care about our clients so we always keep them in the loop and keep our clients up to date about not only our progress, but every aspect of our design process.

9. Can I meet with you or contact you to discuss the project?

This may seem like an unimportant question…but it’s actually quite crucial if you’re looking for a website designer with good customer care and support. Before getting into a relationship with a website design company, make sure you meet with them and see the people face-to-face, or give them a call to judge their response. Ask yourself whether you get a good vibe from these people, and whether they are passionate and trustworthy. Although CryoDragon is based in Kitchener-Waterloo, we like meeting with our clients and are willing to either travel or video chat with clients far away to help accomplish their web design goals.

10. What happens if your company goes under?

It’s a question nobody wants to hear, but it’s a necessary question. You should be worried about whether your web design company will go under and what will happen next. Make sure your website design company provides you with backup CDs or USBs or the website so that in case you were hosting your website with them, you can go to another website designer or web host provider and ask them to move your website over. CryoDragon provides you with a backup of the website design as soon as the website design project is over. We also help with site migration and website domain and hosting management.

Any more important questions you feel should be here? Comment below!