How to Choose a Web Designer

Hiring the wrong web designer is expensive. Not just the money you pay them — the months of lost traffic, the customers who go to your competitors, the eventual cost of doing it again with someone competent. Here's how to tell the difference before you sign anything.

Red Flags: Walk Away

1. No Portfolio or Only Template Screenshots

If a designer can't show you live websites they've built, they either haven't built any or the ones they built aren't worth showing. Either way, you're the test subject. Ask for URLs you can visit — not screenshots, not mockups. Live sites you can test on your phone.

2. They Can't Show You PageSpeed Scores

Ask them to run Google PageSpeed Insights on any site in their portfolio. If it scores below 70, they don't know how to build fast websites. If they don't know what PageSpeed is, run. Site speed directly affects your Google rankings.

3. They Only Use Templates

There's nothing wrong with templates for certain projects. But if a designer charges custom prices and delivers a Wix or WordPress template with your logo swapped in, that's not custom work. Ask directly: "Will my site be built from scratch or from a template?"

4. No SEO Knowledge

A website that looks beautiful but doesn't rank on Google is a business card, not a marketing tool. If the designer doesn't mention meta tags, schema markup, Core Web Vitals, or site architecture, they're building you a pretty page that no one will find.

5. Vague Pricing

If they can't give you a clear price range before starting, you'll get surprise invoices. Good designers know what websites cost and can tell you upfront based on your requirements.

6. They Don't Ask About Your Business

A designer who jumps straight to colors and fonts without asking about your customers, your competitors, your goals, and your market doesn't understand what a business website is for. Design serves strategy, not the other way around.

7. No Contract or Vague Contract

No contract means no accountability. A vague contract means they can change scope, timeline, and deliverables at will. Insist on a written agreement that specifies deliverables, timeline, revision rounds, and what happens if either party needs to cancel.

Green Flags: This Is Someone Worth Hiring

1. Live Portfolio With Performance Data

The best designers will show you live sites and their PageSpeed scores unprompted. They're proud of their performance numbers because they know those numbers translate into Google rankings for their clients.

2. They Explain Their Process

Good designers have a repeatable process: discovery, design, development, testing, launch, post-launch support. They can walk you through each phase and tell you what to expect. If it sounds organized, it probably is.

3. They Talk About Results, Not Just Design

"We built this site and it ranks #1 for these keywords" is better than "We built this site and it looks beautiful." Both matter, but results pay your bills. A designer who tracks rankings, traffic, and conversions understands that a website is a business tool.

4. They Understand SEO and Performance

Ask them about Core Web Vitals. Ask about structured data. Ask about their approach to mobile-first design. A good designer will light up talking about this because it's what separates professional work from template work.

5. Transparent Pricing

They can tell you "a 5-page business site costs $X" without hedging. They've done it enough times to know what it takes. Transparency signals experience and confidence.

6. Post-Launch Support

What happens after the site goes live? Good designers offer maintenance, monitoring, and ongoing optimization. A website isn't a one-time project — it needs ongoing care to stay fast, secure, and ranking well.

Questions to Ask Before Hiring

Print these out. Ask them on a call or in an email. The answers tell you everything.

1. "Can I see live sites you've built?" — Not mockups. Live URLs.
2. "What do those sites score on Google PageSpeed?" — Should be 80+ minimum, ideally 95+.
3. "Do you build from scratch or use templates?" — Both are valid, but you should know which you're getting.
4. "How do you handle SEO?" — Look for specifics: meta tags, schema, site speed, content strategy.
5. "What's your timeline?" — A 5-page site should take 2-4 weeks, not 3 months.
6. "What happens after launch?" — Maintenance, SEO monitoring, support availability.
7. "Can you show me a client that ranks on Google?" — The ultimate proof of competence.
8. "What's included in the price and what costs extra?" — Hosting, domain, revisions, content writing.
9. "Who owns the code?" — You should. Always. If they won't give you the code, you're renting, not buying.
10. "What happens if I want to switch to a different designer later?" — If the answer involves losing your site, that's lock-in.

The Bottom Line

A good web designer is someone who builds websites that perform — fast load times, high Google rankings, and actual business results. They should be able to prove it with live examples and real data.

The design industry is full of people who make pretty pages that load slowly, rank nowhere, and generate no business. Don't hire based on the most impressive mockup. Hire based on the most impressive PageSpeed score and the most impressive ranking results.

Your website is an investment. Treat the hiring process with the same seriousness you'd use to hire an employee who represents your business to every potential customer.

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