Questions that reveal everything
- Who specifically will work on the project and can I speak to that person.
- What happens if I need a change two years after handover.
- Whose name are the domain, hosting and all accounts in after handover.
- Can I see a site you built two years ago that still works today.
- Who writes the copy and who supplies the photographs.
The last question is the most useful: a portfolio full of new projects with nothing older than a year usually means clients do not stay.
What the offer must state
A list of pages and features, a deadline, a fixed price or a clearly defined basis of calculation, and a sentence about ownership. If the offer stops at one figure and a date, every later discussion will be about what was included. Ask what happens with changes after launch too, because that is where unpleasant surprises usually appear.
Red flags
A guaranteed first position on Google, because nobody can promise it, as covered in the piece on SEO cost. A price given over the phone before anyone has seen the scope. Refusal to register the domain in your name. And silence about who maintains the site after handover, because a site without maintenance ages faster than it looks.
Agency size is not quality
A large team means more people and process, but also that your small project probably will not be worked on by the people you met. A small studio means direct contact, but check what happens when that person is on holiday. Neither is better in itself, just ask them to tell you which of the two you are buying.
With us you work directly with the people building the site, and what that means in practice is on the studio page.