What to look for in a website before you pay

Who owns what

Ask this first, and get the answer in writing. The domain should be registered in your business's name. The hosting account should be in your business's name. You should have the logins to both, plus your own Google Search Console and analytics accounts.

This matters most the day the relationship ends. If your domain sits in someone else's account and they stop answering the phone, you're negotiating for your own business name. Ask directly: if I leave, what do I take with me, and who hands it over?

How it behaves on a phone

Most of your visitors are on a phone, often outdoors, in a hurry, one-handed. Before you approve anything, open it on your own phone and try to call the business in two taps. If you have to pinch to read the text, or the phone number isn't tappable, it isn't finished.

How fast it loads

Speed is mostly decided by what gets stuffed into the page: giant images, sliders, video backgrounds, half a dozen tracking scripts, a page builder that ships code nobody reads. Ask what the site is built with, and ask to see a live page rather than a design mockup.

Whether a customer can reach you from anywhere

Every page should make it obvious how to get in touch: a tappable phone number, an email or a form, and the areas you serve. A visitor who has to hunt for the contact page is a visitor you may lose.

What's set up for search before launch

You don't need an SEO package bolted on afterwards. You need the basics done as the site is built:

• A separate page for each service you want to be found for, not one page listing them all
• A real page title and description on every page, not the same one repeated
• A sitemap, and Google Search Console connected so you can see what Google does with the site
• Structured data telling Google what kind of business you are
• Nothing accidentally blocking search engines when the site goes live

Ask for those by name. If the answer is vague, that's your answer.

Whether people can actually read it

Thin grey text on a white background, text sitting over a busy photo, and tiny type all cost you customers, including the ones with perfectly good eyesight. Readable colors, real text instead of words baked into images, and descriptive text on images are cheap to get right while a site is being built and annoying to retrofit.

What you can change yourself

Find out before you sign. Can you update your hours, prices, and photos without paying someone? If not, what does a small change cost, and how long does it take? Plenty of businesses end up with a site they can't touch, so it slowly goes out of date.

What happens after launch

A website isn't finished at launch. Ask who handles updates, backups, and security patches, who fixes it if something breaks, and what that costs. Get the monthly number, if there is one, in writing, and be clear about what it covers.

Red flags

• A promise of rankings. Nobody controls Google. That kind of promise is either a technicality or something that can't be kept.
• No written plan or price. If you can't tell what you're buying, you can't tell whether you got it.
• They keep the accounts. Your domain, your hosting, your analytics, your name on all of it.
• The site disappears if you stop paying. Some arrangements work that way, which can be fine, as long as you know that up front.
• A demo full of someone else's photos and filler text. Ask to see a real site they built for a real business.

The short list to ask

1. Whose name is the domain in, and do I get the logins?

   Yours, and yes.

2. Can I see it on my phone before I approve it?

   You should be able to see the real thing, not a picture of it.

3. What's set up for search at launch?

   Titles, descriptions, a page per service, a sitemap, Search Console.

4. What can I edit myself, and what does a change cost?

   Get it in writing.

5. What happens if I leave?

   You take the files and the accounts, and they help the next person get started.

How we answer these

We put the same answers on our own website design page, including what you own and what happens if you leave, and we won't promise you rankings. If you already have a site and you're trying to work out whether it needs fixing or replacing, send it over. That's what the free review is for.