How to choose a web agency or designer (without regrets)

A website isn't just an expense; it's a tool you expect to bring you customers for years. That's why the decision of who you commission it from carries so much weight. The good news is you don't need to understand code to choose well. You need to know what to ask and what to pay attention to, and that really is within your reach.

Agency, freelancer or your nephew: what suits you

All three options exist and all three can go well or badly. The important thing is to understand what each one offers:

• A freelancer (self-employed web designer). They tend to be more affordable and more personal: you talk directly to the person doing the work. The risk is capacity: if they get ill, overloaded or disappear, your website is left half-finished. For simple projects and tight budgets, it can be the perfect choice.
• An agency or studio. It has more hands and more disciplines (design, copywriting, SEO, support), so it can handle more ambitious projects and doesn't depend on a single person. In return, it usually costs more and, if it's very large, you can end up being «just another client». A small studio like ours aims for the middle ground: direct contact and several hands behind it.
• A friend or relative who «knows about this». It's the cheapest on paper, but it mixes business with a personal relationship, and if something goes wrong there's no one to hold to account. For a website that puts food on your table, think twice.

There's no universal answer: it depends on what's at stake with the website and on your budget. What shouldn't change are the questions you ask before signing.

What to ask before signing anything

These are the questions that separate a good commission from a disappointment. Ask for them in writing, not verbally:

• Will the website really be mine? That the domain and the hosting are in your name, not theirs. It sounds obvious, but it's the most common hijack: if one day you want to switch providers, you have to be able to take your website with you without asking permission.
• What happens once you hand it over? Will you be able to change text and photos yourself, or will you depend on them for every comma? Is there maintenance afterwards? A living website needs care, and it's worth knowing who'll do it.
• Who writes the copy and where do the photos come from? Design is half of it; the other half is what the website says. Clarify whether they write the copy, you provide it, or it comes from a generic template.
• Will the website be built to show up on Google and work on mobile? A pretty website that doesn't look good on a phone or that Google ignores is a shop window in a dead-end alley.
• What exactly does the price include and what's paid separately? Make it clear what's included (number of pages, copy, contact form, etc.) and what the extras are, so no surprises appear halfway through.
• Will you show me real work and can I speak to a client? A genuine portfolio and a reference you can call are worth more than a thousand promises.

If you want to see how we answer all these questions, you'll find it in web design, and who's behind it in the studio.

What a web designer does (and what they don't)

There's a common confusion worth clearing up, because it helps you know what you're asking for. A web designer handles how your website looks and is used: the appearance, the order of the information, that it's easy to navigate and that it invites people to get in touch. A developer, on the other hand, builds more complex custom features (a store with a lot of logic, a private area, connections to other systems). Many small-business projects are solved well by a good web designer; others need both pairs of hands. Knowing what you actually need stops you paying too much for things you won't use, or too little for something that later falls short.

What it costs and why it varies so much

It's the question everyone asks and the one that gets the least clear answer, because «a website» can mean anything from a simple page to a store with hundreds of products. The price depends, above all, on how many pages it has, on whether you provide the copy and photos or they do, on whether it includes special features and on the level of finish. Be wary of both extremes: the one who gives you a number over the phone without asking you anything (they don't know what they're going to do) and the one who's suspiciously cheap (someone loses out, and it's usually the website). We publish our starting prices clearly in plans, precisely so you can compare without having to guess.

An honest piece of advice: don't just look at the price, look at what you get for it. A website 300 euros more expensive that includes carefully written copy, maintenance and that's truly yours usually works out much cheaper than a «bargain» you have to redo within a year.

Warning signs

There are red flags worth spotting before you sign:

• They promise you'll be «first on Google» in no time or guarantee you a number of customers. No one can honestly guarantee that.
• They don't want to put in writing what the work includes or the deadlines.
• The domain or the hosting end up in their name «for convenience».
• They don't show you real previous work, or all their examples are identical templates with a different logo.
• They talk only about how pretty it'll look and nothing about what it's for: who it has to attract and what you want a visitor to do.
• They disappear or take days to reply even during the quote. If that's how they treat you while selling to you, imagine once you've paid.

How to decide with a clear head

After talking to two or three candidates, don't just go with whoever you liked best or who was cheapest. Compare what really matters: whether they understood your business and who you're targeting, whether the website will be yours, what the price includes and what happens after handover. And notice how they've treated you during the process, because that's a preview of what working together will be like. You'll have the website for years; choosing the right person to make it is half the job.

If you want a no-obligation starting point, we can give you a free audit of your current website (or of what you need if you don't have one yet) so you know where you stand before deciding anything.