How to Choose a Web Designer (And Avoid Bad Ones)

A portfolio of live sites, not just mockups. Screenshots and design mockups can look amazing. But a real website needs to load fast, work on mobile, and function properly. Ask for links to actual live websites they have built. Visit those sites on your phone. How fast do they load? Are they easy to navigate? Do the contact forms work? A portfolio of pretty pictures means nothing if the real sites are slow and broken.

Experience with businesses like yours. A designer who specializes in local business websites understands what matters: clear service descriptions, strong calls to action, mobile optimization, local SEO, and conversion-focused design. A designer who mostly builds tech startup sites or artistic portfolios may create something beautiful that does not actually generate leads.

Clear communication. Pay attention to how they communicate during the sales process. Do they respond promptly? Do they explain things in plain language? Do they ask about your business goals, or do they jump straight into design talk? A designer who listens and communicates clearly before the project will do the same during and after.

SEO knowledge. Your website's primary job is to get found by potential customers. If a designer does not mention SEO, page speed, mobile optimization, or structured data during your initial conversations, they are focused on aesthetics only. A good website looks great and ranks well.

Post-launch support. What happens after the site goes live? Do they offer maintenance, updates, and support? How much does it cost? Websites need ongoing care: security updates, content changes, performance monitoring. A designer who builds it and disappears leaves you stuck when something breaks.

No portfolio or only "coming soon" sites. If they cannot show you finished, live work, they are either new (which is fine but risky for your money) or their previous clients did not keep the sites (which tells you something).

Their own website is bad. This sounds obvious, but check their website. Is it fast? Does it work well on mobile? Is the content clear? If a web designer cannot build a good website for themselves, they are not going to build one for you.

They want 100% payment upfront. Legitimate designers and agencies never ask for full payment before work begins. A deposit (25-50%) is standard. Full payment upfront gives them no incentive to finish the project or do quality work.

Unrealistic promises. "We'll get you to page one of Google in 30 days." "Your site will generate $10,000 in the first month." "We guarantee 100 leads per week." No honest professional makes guarantees like these. SEO takes time. Results depend on your market, competition, and dozens of other factors. Guaranteed rankings are either lies or black-hat tactics that will get your site penalized.

No contract or vague terms. If they resist putting the scope, timeline, and deliverables in writing, something is wrong. A contract protects both sides. Walk away from anyone who wants to work on a handshake deal.

They do not ask about your business. A good web designer should ask about your customers, your services, your goals, and your competition before talking about design. If they start showing you color palettes and font choices before understanding your business, they are building a pretty website, not an effective one.

"Can I see live examples of sites you have built?" Not mockups. Not PDFs. Live URLs you can visit and test on your phone.

"What platform do you build on and why?" There is no single right answer, but they should be able to explain their choice clearly. WordPress, custom code, Webflow, Squarespace: each has pros and cons. A good designer picks the right tool for the job and can explain the trade-offs.

"What is included in the price?" Design, development, hosting, domain, SSL, SEO setup, content writing, photos, revisions, post-launch support. Get the full list. The cheapest quote often has the most exclusions.

"Who owns the website when it is done?" Some designers retain ownership of the code or design. Some use proprietary platforms where you cannot take your site if you leave. Make sure you own everything when the project is complete.

"What does ongoing maintenance cost?" Websites need hosting, security updates, content changes, and performance monitoring. Get the monthly or annual cost in writing before you start. Some designers build cheap and charge heavily for maintenance.

"What happens if I am not happy with the design?" How many revision rounds are included? What constitutes a revision? What if the project needs to pivot mid-stream? Understanding the revision process prevents frustration later.

"How do you handle SEO?" At minimum, they should mention title tags, meta descriptions, mobile optimization, page speed, and schema markup. If they say "that is extra" or "we do not do SEO," understand that your site may look great but not get found.

Do not just look at the screenshots. Visit the actual sites. Here is what to check:

Load speed. Go to pagespeed.web.dev and enter the URL. A good score is 80+ on mobile. Great is 90+. If their portfolio sites score below 60 on mobile, that tells you something about their priorities.

Mobile experience. Visit the site on your phone. Is the text readable without zooming? Are the buttons easy to tap? Does the navigation work smoothly? Over 60% of web traffic is mobile. If the mobile experience is bad, the site is bad.

Clear calls to action. Can you easily figure out how to contact the business? Is there a phone number, contact form, or booking button visible without scrolling? A pretty site that makes it hard to take action is a failure.

Consistency. Do all their portfolio sites look different, or do they all look like the same template with different colors? A good designer creates unique designs for each client. A template shop produces variations of the same thing.

Content quality. Does the site content read naturally? Is it well-written and free of errors? Good designers either write good content or work with content writers. Placeholder text (Lorem ipsum) on a live site is a bad sign.

Every web design project should have a written agreement. Here is what to look for:

Scope of work. Exactly what pages, features, and deliverables are included. "A website" is not a scope. "A 7-page website with homepage, about, 3 service pages, gallery, and contact page with form" is a scope.

Timeline. Start date, milestone dates, and expected launch date. Without deadlines, projects drag on indefinitely.

Payment structure. How much upfront, when additional payments are due, and what triggers final payment. Monthly models (like the $99/month with a 12-month commitment that we offer at St Pete Sites) simplify this by bundling everything into a predictable cost.

Ownership. You should own the final website, code, and all assets (design files, images, content) when the project is complete. Some designers retain ownership as leverage. Avoid this.

Revisions. How many rounds of revisions are included, and what counts as a revision. This prevents scope creep and ensures both sides have clear expectations.

Ongoing costs. Hosting, domain, maintenance, and support fees after launch. These should be clearly stated in the contract, not revealed after the site is live.

For more on what websites actually cost, check our detailed website pricing guide and our web design pricing breakdown.

The best web designers are not just designers. They are strategic partners who understand that your website exists to grow your business. They ask about your customers before they ask about your favorite color. They talk about conversion rates, not just color palettes. They care about how fast the site loads, not just how it looks in a screenshot.

They build sites that work. The phone number is clickable. The contact form sends to the right email. The site loads in under two seconds on a phone. The Google Business Profile is linked. The meta titles and descriptions are optimized. The images are compressed. Schema markup is in place.

These are not flashy things. They are the fundamentals that separate a website that generates business from a website that just sits there looking nice. At St Pete Sites, every site we build includes all of this. It is not an add-on. It is how we work.