What to Look for When Hiring a Website Designer for Your Small Business

A website designer and a website designer who gets your business results aren't always the same person. Here's what actually separates them — and what to ask before you hire either one.

Ask to see real, live sites — not a portfolio slideshow

Anyone can show you polished mockups. What matters is sites that are actually live, actually load fast, and are actually built for businesses like yours. Pull one up on your phone while you're talking to them. If it's slow or looks broken on mobile, that's your answer.

Find out who you'll actually be talking to

At a lot of agencies, the person who sells you the project isn't the person who builds it — and isn't the person you'll reach when something breaks six months from now. Ask directly: who designs it, who builds it, and who do I call after launch? If the answer is three different people, or "whoever's available," plan on repeating yourself a lot.

Look for someone who asks about your business before your colors

• Do they ask who your customers are and what you want the site to accomplish, or just what colors you like?
• Do they mention SEO and mobile performance on their own, or only if you bring it up?
• Do they have a real plan for what happens after launch — maintenance, backups, updates — or does the relationship end at the invoice?
• Can they explain their pricing in plain terms, or does it stay vague until you sign something?

Local isn't a nice-to-have — it changes the work

A designer who can meet you, see your shop, and understand your actual customers builds a different site than one working from a form you filled out. It's not about hometown pride — local SEO, the tone of your copy, and the photos that actually represent your business all get better when the person building your site has seen it in person.

What I'd want you to ask me

If you're vetting me the same way: I design and build every site myself, I'm the one you call after launch, and every plan includes maintenance because a site nobody touches after launch isn't actually finished. See how the plans break down on the Websites page, or get in touch if you want to talk through what your business actually needs first.