How to choose a web designer in Warwickshire

There are a lot of people in Warwickshire who will happily take your money to build a website. Some are excellent. Some will hand you a template with your logo dropped on it and disappear. Here is how to tell them apart before you pay anything.

Ask to see live sites, not screenshots

A portfolio of pretty images means nothing. Ask for addresses you can visit right now, the way mine are all listed. Then open them on your phone. Are they fast? Do they work properly? Is the contact form easy to find? If a designer cannot show you three live sites, that tells you something.

Ask who writes the content

This is the question that catches most projects out. If you assume they are writing it and they assume you are, the project stalls for two months and everyone gets annoyed. Get it agreed in writing before you start.

Ask what happens after launch

Who fixes it when something breaks? What does a small text change cost? Is there a monthly care fee, and is it optional? A good designer will answer all three without hesitating.

Ask who owns what

The domain should be registered to you. The hosting account should be in your name. You should have the logins. If any of that sits with the designer only, you are handing over control of your business address to a stranger.

Red flags

• Guaranteed first place on Google. Impossible to promise. Anyone who does is either lying or does not understand how search works.
• A quote with no detail. 'Website: £2,000' is not a quote, it is a number.
• Pressure to sign today because the price goes up tomorrow.
• No written scope. If it is not written down, it will be argued about later.
• They will not tell you the price without a discovery call. Fine for a big build. Suspicious for a five page site.

Does local actually matter?

Most of the work happens remotely, so in a technical sense no. But there are two real advantages to using someone local.

The first is that they understand the area. Knowing the difference between the trade in Rugby and the trade in Leamington Spa, or whether you should be visible in Warwick as well, shapes the site in useful ways.

The second is accountability. Someone working locally lives on their reputation. That is a much stronger guarantee than any contract with an agency three hundred miles away.

Agency, freelancer or one man band?

An agency gives you a team and a process, and you pay for the office. A freelancer gives you direct access to the person doing the work, usually for a third of the price, but they can only take on so much at once.

For a small local business, a good freelancer is nearly always better value. You talk to the person building it. Nothing gets lost through an account manager.

What a fair quote looks like

It lists the pages. It says who writes the copy and who provides photos. It gives a fixed price and a rough timeline. It states what happens after launch and what support costs. It fits on one page and you can understand all of it.

That is how I quote, and the numbers are already on the pricing page so there is nothing to prise out of me. If you want to compare mine against someone else's, do. A designer confident in their work will not mind.