How to Hire a Web Designer: What to Ask Before You Pay a Deposit

Most people hire a web designer once or twice in a decade, so there’s no muscle memory for it. That’s exactly why the bad experiences keep happening: you don’t know what to look for, and the person across the table knows it. Here’s the version of this I’d give a friend, based on building sites for small businesses for over twenty years.

Start with what you actually need, not what someone’s selling

Before you talk to anyone, write down three things:

• What the site has to do (take bookings, show a menu, generate quote requests, sell 40 products).
• Who updates it after launch. You, an employee, or the designer on retainer.
• Your real budget range, including a cushion for the stuff you didn’t plan for.

That third one matters more than people admit. A five page brochure site and a site with a customer portal are not the same project, and no honest designer will quote them the same way. If someone gives you a firm number before asking you any questions, that’s a red flag, not efficiency.

The portfolio test (and how to actually run it)

Everyone has a portfolio. Most of them are useless because they show screenshots. Screenshots hide everything that matters.

Instead, ask for live URLs and open them on your phone. Then:

• Run each one through PageSpeed Insights. Look at the mobile score and the Core Web Vitals. If every site they’ve built scores in the 40s, that tells you something.
• Tab through the page with a keyboard. If focus jumps around or disappears, accessibility wasn’t part of their process.
• Check the page source. If you see a theme name like a commercial WordPress theme and nothing custom, you’re hiring a theme installer. That’s fine if that’s what you’re paying for. It’s not fine at custom-build prices.
• Click “Contact” and see where the form goes. I’ve seen sites where the form posted to an email address the owner stopped using in 2021.

Ask one more question: “Which of these did you build from scratch, and which did you start from a template?” The answer should be immediate and specific. Hesitation here is the whole answer.

Questions that separate the pros from the resellers

These aren’t gotchas. Any competent designer answers them in plain language without getting defensive.

“Who owns the domain and hosting account?”

The correct answer is you. Always you. Your domain should be registered in your name with your email on the account. If a designer insists on registering it for you and keeping it in their account, walk. I’ve watched businesses pay four figures to get their own domain back from a former vendor. It happens constantly.

“What happens if I want to leave?”

You want to hear: here’s the repo, here’s the hosting login, here’s a copy of the database, and here’s the documentation for how it’s all wired together. If the answer involves “I’ll export it for you when the time comes,” that’s a hostage situation waiting to happen.

“How do you handle mobile?”

If the answer is “it’s responsive” and nothing else, push. Ask what breakpoints they design at, whether they test on real devices, and what the site does at 320px wide. Mobile traffic on local business sites usually runs 60 to 75 percent. It’s not a checkbox.

“What’s your process, week by week?”

You’re listening for milestones you can hold them to: discovery, wireframes, design comps, build, content load, QA, launch. If the process is “I’ll send you a link when it’s done,” you have no visibility and no use.

“Do you write the content or do I?”

This is where projects stall for months. Decide up front. If you’re writing it, ask for a page-by-page word count and a deadline you both agree on. If they’re writing it, confirm whether SEO copywriting is included or extra.

The contract stuff nobody reads until it goes wrong

Get these in writing, even in a short email thread:

• Scope. Number of pages, number of revision rounds, what counts as a revision versus a new request.
• Timeline. With dates, and with a line about what happens if content from your side is late.
• Payment schedule. A deposit is normal. Fifty percent up front is normal. A hundred percent up front is not.
• Post-launch. How many days of bug fixes are included, and what the hourly rate is after that.
• Ownership. You own the design, code, content, and accounts once final payment clears.

One specific thing to check in 2026: ask how they handle AI-generated content and images. Some designers now load pages with AI copy that reads fine to a search engine and terrible to a customer, and some stock libraries are full of synthetic images with unclear licensing. You want a straight answer about what’s original and what isn’t.

What it should cost, roughly

I won’t quote you someone else’s rates, but here’s the shape of the market for a small business site in the New York area:

• Template-based, 5 to 8 pages, you supply content: low four figures.
• Custom design, 10 to 20 pages, copywriting included: mid to high four figures.
• E-commerce, booking systems, custom functionality: five figures and up, often with ongoing maintenance.

Anyone quoting dramatically under those numbers is either new, outsourcing to a content farm, or planning to make it up on change orders. Anyone quoting dramatically over should be able to explain exactly what you’re getting for the difference.

A technical gut check you can run yourself

You don’t need to be a developer to spot a site that was built carelessly. Open the homepage in your browser, right-click, and view the page source. Search for the word “viewport.” You want to see this near the top of the head section:

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">

No viewport tag means the site isn’t built for phones at all. Now look for the title tag. Every page should have a unique one. If you see the same title repeated on every page, or something like “Home | Website,” SEO wasn’t part of the build.

One more: check whether the site loads over HTTPS and whether HTTP redirects to HTTPS. If you can still reach the plain HTTP version, that’s a five minute fix nobody bothered to make.

Local versus remote, honestly

You do not need to hire someone in your zip code. I work with clients all over the country and it’s fine. A good remote designer will do a video call, share a staging link you can click any time, and answer email within a day.

That said, there’s a real argument for someone nearby if you want to sit down together, if you have a physical location and need photos or signage coordinated, or if you just prefer knowing you could drive to their office. If you’re on Long Island, local knowledge helps with things like Google Business Profile setup for a specific town, or understanding that your customers are searching “near me” from a phone in a parking lot. If that’s the case, it’s worth looking at Long Island web design options and comparing them against remote bids. Just don’t pay a premium purely for proximity. Pay it for the work.

Red flags, in order of how fast I’d run

• They register your domain in their own account.
• They can’t or won’t name a single past client you can call.
• Every portfolio site looks identical because it’s the same theme with different colors.
• They promise page one of Google. Nobody can promise that.
• They ask for full payment before starting.
• They get annoyed when you ask about ownership or handoff. That reaction is data.

The short version

Ask who owns the domain. Ask what leaving looks like. Look at live sites on your phone, not screenshots. Get scope, timeline, and payment in writing. Pay a deposit, never the full amount. And trust the answer to “how do you handle mobile” more than anything in the sales pitch.

If someone passes all of that, the price is almost secondary. You’re buying a working relationship, and the ones that go bad almost always went bad on process, not talent.

FAQ

How much should I expect to pay for a small business website?

For a template-based site with 5 to 8 pages where you supply the content, low four figures is typical. Custom design with copywriting included runs mid to high four figures. Anything with e-commerce, booking, or custom functionality starts at five figures.

Do I need to hire a designer near me?

No. Remote work is normal and often better, since you get a wider pool of people. Hire locally if you want in-person meetings or need help with a physical location, but don’t pay extra just because someone is in the same county.

What should be in the contract before I pay a deposit?

Scope with page counts and revision limits, a dated timeline, the payment schedule, what post-launch support is included, and a clear statement that you own the domain, hosting, design, and code once the final invoice is paid.