Do you like the designer’s work? Don’t overlook this simple but obvious step.

Review a handful of recent sites for visual appeal, clarity, and functional quality. Ask yourself: How quickly do I understand what this business does? Who is their target customer? How well does the site function? If one site is crystal clear and another is a mystery, ask what happened. If the message isn’t clear in someone else’s site, there’s a strong possibility yours won’t be either.

Be sure to view portfolio sites on both desktop and mobile. If a site doesn’t look and function well on a phone, that’s a serious red flag — every site built in the past decade should be fully responsive.