Most businesses choose a web designer the same way they choose a contractor: get three quotes, pick the middle one. It's a terrible way to make the decision.
Here's how I'd actually choose, having been on both sides.
Look at their own website first. This sounds obvious, but it's the single most-skipped step. If a web designer's own site is slow, has obvious design problems, or hasn't been updated since 2019, walk. Their own site is the best portfolio piece they'll ever ship — if it's not at the standard you want, nothing they make for you will be either. (We wrote a deeper version of this for non-designers in our hiring a web designer guide.)
Ask to see live sites, not screenshots. Designers cherry-pick the prettiest screenshots in their portfolio. Get URLs. Click through. Test on mobile. Run them through PageSpeed Insights. The portfolio JPG is just the hero — what's the rest of the site like? How does the navigation work? How fast does it load?
Ask about ownership. "Do I own the code? Do I own the domain? Can I take this elsewhere if I want?" Surprising number of designers lock clients into proprietary CMS or hosting they can't escape. Walk if the answer is anything other than "yes, fully yours."
Ask about post-launch. "What happens after launch? Do I have to come back to you for every text change?" The good answer: "We build on a headless CMS — your team can edit copy/images without us." The bad answer: "We charge $150/hour for changes." The first is empowering. The second is a parasite relationship.
Ask about SEO + performance — specifically. "What mobile load time should I expect? Is structured data included? Will the site come with sitemap.xml and robots.txt configured?" If the designer can't answer these clearly, they're not a designer — they're a templator. There's nothing wrong with that, but you should know which one you're hiring.
Look at their case studies. Real case studies have numbers. "We redesigned the site" is not a case study. "We redesigned the site, conversion rate went from 2.3% to 4.1%, organic traffic grew from 12K to 38K monthly visits over 9 months" is a case study. If their case studies are vibes, their work probably is too.
Talk to their clients. "Can you connect me with two past clients?" Then actually call those clients. Ask: Did the project finish on time? Did the budget hold? Was the team responsive? Would you hire them again? The answers are almost always more useful than the designer's own pitch.
Test their communication. The discovery call is the audition. Did they ask good questions about your business? Did they listen? Did they push back when you said something that didn't make sense? Or did they just nod and write down whatever you asked for? You're hiring a thinking partner, not an order-taker.
Get clear on what's NOT included. "What does this NOT cover?" Many quotes look great until you discover photography, copywriting, custom illustrations, post-launch revisions, and ongoing hosting are all extras. Pin down the scope before signing.
Beware of red flags. - Pricing that's too cheap ($500 for a "professional" site means you're getting a template + 4 hours of labor) - Pricing that's too expensive ($50K for a 5-page site means you're paying for agency overhead, not better work) - Long timelines (4+ months for a 5-page site = the agency is overbooked) - Vague deliverables ("we'll figure out the details as we go" = no scope, scope creep, blown budget) - No discovery process ("we'll start designing on Monday" = they don't know your business)
Beware of green flags too. - Specific opinions about your existing site - Real questions about your business model + customers - Willingness to tell you what they WON'T do (most healthy) - Fixed-fee pricing tied to deliverables - Real timeline with milestones - Named lead designer (not "our team")
The best designers are not the cheapest. The best designers are also not the most expensive. They're the ones who think carefully about your business, ship work they're proud of, and treat the engagement like a partnership. The bad ones are sales operations dressed up as design studios. The good ones are the opposite.
Pick accordingly.
