The web design industry has a low barrier to entry and a high variance in quality. Anyone with a laptop and a Wix account can call themselves a web designer. That makes choosing the right agency genuinely difficult — especially when every agency's own website looks polished and their testimonials are glowing.
1. Can you show me live examples of sites you've built — not just screenshots? Screenshots can be cherry-picked and outdated. A live URL lets you check the actual page speed, mobile experience, and whether the site is still maintained. If an agency can't point you to live work, that's a red flag.
2. Do you build bespoke or use templates? This is the single most important technical question. Template-based builds (WordPress themes, Wix, Squarespace) are faster and cheaper but come with performance ceilings, design limitations, and code bloat. Bespoke builds are engineered specifically for your business and consistently outperform templates on Core Web Vitals.
3. How do you handle SEO during the build? SEO shouldn't be an afterthought or an upsell. A quality agency builds semantic HTML structure, proper heading hierarchies, Schema.org markup, canonical tags, and mobile-first performance into the site from day one. If they treat SEO as a separate service you bolt on after launch, walk away.
4. Who actually builds the site? Many agencies outsource development to cheaper overseas contractors while charging UK rates. Ask directly: is your development team in-house? Who will I be communicating with throughout the project? Knowing who's actually doing the work matters for quality, communication, and accountability.
5. What happens after launch? A website isn't a one-off product — it needs ongoing maintenance, security updates, performance monitoring, and content changes. Ask what post-launch support looks like, what it costs, and what the SLA is for fixing issues. An agency that disappears after handover is a liability.
6. What do you need from me, and when? Good agencies have a clear onboarding process. They'll ask for your brand assets, copy, target audience, competitor examples, and business goals before they start designing. If an agency starts designing before they understand your business, the result will show it.
7. Can you explain your pricing clearly? Vague quotes with lots of asterisks are a warning sign. You should know exactly what's included, what's excluded, what the payment schedule is, and what happens if the scope changes. Transparent pricing is a proxy for transparent working relationships.
