Many businesses wonder how long it will take to complete a site. The honest answer: it depends on what’s involved. Is it a build from scratch or a redo of an existing site? Is it an e-commerce site — which involves setting up an entire shop, cart system, and checkout — or your online brochure? Do your clients need a separate login portal, or will the owner be the only one requiring access?

Most importantly, your deadline needs a real conversation with the prospective designer. Is she just starting a handful of other site builds, or did you catch her when several projects just completed? Ask to have completion milestones set for various phases of the build — from design approval to testing and launch.

If she’s not available to meet your business deadlines, consider searching elsewhere for a designer who can deliver in your required timeframe. A designer who overpromises and underdelivers on timing will cost you more than just time.

Answer this question only after a detailed conversation about what will be included in the scope of work. Have your own checklist of “must haves” that you can verify will be included. Be sure you’ve covered all the basics: Home, About, Products/Services, Contact, and any specialty pages your business requires.

If one designer fills all those requirements and another does not, you’re not comparing apples to apples. Either determine whether all those components are truly necessary — or recognize that the lower bid simply doesn’t include everything you need.

Discuss your budget up front. Any designer worth working with will be able to tell you whether your expectations are realistic for the stated budget — and if a component doesn’t fit, she should explain exactly why and what it would cost to add it.

Think about a website the way most people think about house painting: 90% preparation, 10% execution. If you don’t properly prepare the walls before painting, the final result won’t last. Websites require the same extensive behind-the-scenes work before launch. Specific features — e-commerce, membership portals, booking systems, custom integrations — can add considerably to a budget. Ask.

It is not uncommon for some sites to require hundreds of hours of behind-the-scenes work to launch. If yours fits that category, expect to pay accordingly. A $500 site and a $5,000 site are not the same product. Understanding the difference is the first step to making a smart investment.

Every designer will require different payment terms. Some ask for 10% down to start; others ask for 50%. Longer build times may require payment in multiple phases.

Be sure you understand when the final payment is due. Some designers ask for it the day the site launches; others allow a grace period. Ensure you’re comfortable with the specified terms before signing anything.

For my own clients, I guarantee their sites are delivered free of malware, with all operating files fully up-to-date. I maintain and update the site for 30 days after launch. After those initial 30 days, clients should secure a maintenance agreement to ensure the site stays current, clean, and malware-free.

Ask any prospective designer what their warranty covers — and what it doesn’t. Software running your website is regularly updated by third-party producers, and when major security breaches are discovered, all “downstream” software requires updates as well. A site without ongoing maintenance is a site that ages badly and becomes vulnerable.

This is the question to answer nearly last, after you’ve reviewed all the comparative options. What does your gut say about the working relationship? If you have any hesitations, clear them up before signing an agreement.

A website build is a collaborative process. You’ll be sharing your business goals, your brand voice, your customer data, and your vision. The right designer isn’t just technically capable — she listens, asks the right questions, and makes you feel confident that your business is in good hands. If something feels off in the sales conversation, it won’t get better once the project starts.

Every designer has her own process. A key element of success is understanding who’s responsible for what — and when it has to be delivered. My own process goes like this:

I outline the site contents, pages, and features, and provide a final estimate so we’re clear on the full scope of work. Once we agree on content and price, I provide a contract for both parties to execute, incorporating all terms including deposit and payment schedule.

Next, I provide the client with a customized Client Website Workbook, which includes a guide for what goes on each page — headers, footers, and blanks for the client to complete. The client completes their sections of the workbook. (This can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks, depending on the client.)

After reviewing the completed workbook and confirming I have all the content needed, I begin building. Clients can view progress on a development site throughout the process and ask questions; we can tweak design, colors, fonts, menus, and navigation as we go, minimizing backtracking.

Finally, the client conducts a final review on the staging site and authorizes launch. We publish the site, I monitor it for the first 30 days, and make updates as necessary to meet the warranty terms.

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.

The platform your site is built on matters more than most business owners realize. WordPress powers approximately 43% of all websites on the internet — it’s the industry standard for good reason. It’s flexible, well-supported, and designed so that site owners can make changes without needing a developer for every update.

Ask any prospective designer why they recommend their preferred platform. If the answer is “it’s what I know,” that’s not a sufficient reason. The platform should serve your business goals, your budget, your team’s technical comfort level, and your long-term growth plans.

Avoid platforms that lock you in — where you can’t export your content, transfer your site to another designer, or own your own files. (More on ownership below.)

Responsive design — meaning a site that automatically adjusts its layout for different screen sizes — is no longer a feature. It’s a baseline requirement. Every site built in the past decade should be fully responsive. The question to ask in 2025 is not “is it responsive?” but rather: how does it perform on mobile?

Specifically, ask about:

• Page load speed on mobile — slow mobile sites lose visitors and rank lower in Google search results
• Core Web Vitals — Google’s set of performance metrics that directly affect your search ranking
• Mobile vs. desktop optimization — a lean, fast mobile experience sometimes requires different design decisions than the desktop version
• Touch-friendly navigation — buttons, menus, and forms should be easy to use on a phone screen without pinching or zooming

A beautiful site that loads slowly on a phone is a liability, not an asset.

This is a question many prospects forget to ask. Some designers handle everything themselves; others outsource development, copywriting, or design elements to contractors or offshore teams.

Neither approach is inherently wrong — but you deserve to know who will actually be doing the work, what their qualifications are, and who your point of contact will be if something goes wrong. If the person you’re meeting with is primarily a salesperson and the actual build is handed off to someone you’ve never spoken to, that’s worth understanding before you sign.

This question is more important than most business owners realize — and the answer is not always obvious.

You should own your domain name, your hosting account, your website files, and all content on the site. Some designers register domains in their own name, maintain hosting accounts in their own name, or use proprietary platforms that make it difficult or impossible to transfer the site to another designer.

Ask explicitly: If I want to move to a different designer in the future, can I take my site with me? Who holds the login credentials for the domain registrar and hosting account? Make sure the answers are in writing in your contract.

A website is not a one-time project. It’s a living business tool that requires regular maintenance to stay secure, fast, and functional.

Ask any prospective designer what their post-launch support looks like. At a minimum, ongoing maintenance should include:

• WordPress core, theme, and plugin updates — outdated software is the most common cause of security breaches
• Regular backups — stored off-site, with a tested restoration process
• Security scanning — tools like Wordfence, combined with your hosting provider’s built-in scanner (SiteGround’s SiteScanner, for example), provide layered protection against malware and intrusion attempts
• Uptime monitoring — so you know immediately if your site goes down
• Content updates — who handles them, at what rate, and how quickly?

A site without a maintenance plan is a site that will eventually break, get hacked, or fall behind. Budget for it from the start.

A common misconception is that a site doesn’t need serious security if it’s not an e-commerce site. This is false. All sites need security — and the consequences of a breach range from embarrassing to legally and financially serious.

A comprehensive security setup should include:

• SSL certificate (HTTPS) — this is a baseline requirement; Google flags non-HTTPS sites as “not secure”
• Firewall and malware prevention — tools like Wordfence provide active protection
• Regular security scans — both plugin-based and through your hosting provider
• Login security — two-factor authentication for admin access, strong password requirements, limiting login attempts
• Regular backups — with off-site storage and a clear restoration process
• Privacy compliance — if you serve California residents, your site must comply with the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). This includes a cookie consent mechanism, a Privacy Policy, and in some cases a “Do Not Sell My Information” option. Similar requirements apply under GDPR for European visitors. Ask your designer whether privacy compliance is included in the build — and don’t assume it is.

Having made a substantial investment in your website, you’ll want to know how well it’s performing. This is where analytics and tracking come into play.

At a minimum, your site should be connected to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) — the current standard for website analytics. GA4 tracks not just page views, but user behavior, conversion events, traffic sources, and more. Basic reporting should include:

• Number of site visitors and sessions
• Source of those visitors (organic search, social, referral, direct)
• Which pages they land on and how long they stay
• When and where they leave
• Goal completions — form submissions, phone clicks, purchases

Beyond GA4, ask whether the designer sets up Google Search Console (which shows how your site appears in search results) and whether conversion tracking is configured — so you know which marketing channels are actually generating leads.

A site without analytics is a site you’re flying blind. For my own clients, I always install Google tracking tools and configure GA4 from day one.

Many designers do not provide search engine optimization (SEO) unless it’s specifically requested — and some charge substantially more for it. But without at least basic on-page SEO, the chances of your site being found in search results drop dramatically.

Basic SEO that should be included in any professional site build:

• Page titles and meta descriptions for every page — these are what appear in Google search results
• Image alt tags — which help search engines understand your images and improve accessibility
• Header tag structure (H1, H2, H3) — properly organized for both readability and search indexing
• Schema markup — structured data that helps Google understand your business type, location, reviews, and more
• Google Search Console submission — so Google knows your site exists and can index it promptly
• Core Web Vitals compliance — Google uses page speed and user experience metrics as ranking factors

Note: Ongoing SEO work — the kind that moves a site from page 3 to page 1 in search results — is a specialty unto itself and is typically not included in a standard site build. If that’s a priority for your business, ask about it separately. For e-commerce sites especially, ongoing SEO investment is not optional.

This is one of the most important questions on this list — and one that most business owners forget to ask.

Many web designers are technically skilled but are fundamentally order-takers: they build what you tell them to build, put what you give them on the page, and hand it over. What they rarely do is help you think through what should be on the site, how it should be organized to guide a visitor toward taking action, or what words will actually persuade someone to call, book, or buy.

This is the difference between a website that looks good and a website that works.

Ask any prospective designer: Do you provide content strategy? Will you advise on page structure, navigation, and messaging? Do you write copy, or is that entirely on me?

At Cornucopia Creations, content strategy is built into every project through our Persuasion Architecture approach — meaning the site is designed from the ground up to guide visitors toward a specific action. I also provide copywriting for most of my clients, because the words on a website matter as much as the design. A beautiful site with weak copy is a missed opportunity.

Not all websites are simple brochures. Depending on your business, your site may need to connect with a range of third-party tools and platforms. Ask any prospective designer about their experience with:

• Email marketing platforms — Mailchimp, Klaviyo, Constant Contact, and similar tools; including lead capture forms, list segmentation, and automated sequences
• E-commerce systems — WooCommerce, Shopify, or other cart and checkout platforms
• Google Merchant Center – Product discovery and management
• Booking and scheduling tools — reservation systems, appointment schedulers, class registration
• Client portals and membership software — password-protected areas for clients, members, or subscribers
• CRM integration — connecting your site’s contact forms and lead capture to your customer relationship management system
• Specialty calculators and tools — mortgage calculators, quote generators, configurators, and similar interactive features
• Payment processing — Stripe, PayPal, Square, and similar gateways

The more your business relies on these integrations, the more important it is to verify that your designer has hands-on experience with them — not just a general familiarity.

Google uses a set of performance metrics called Core Web Vitals as a direct ranking factor in search results. These measure how fast your site loads, how quickly it becomes interactive, and how stable the layout is as it loads. A site that scores poorly on these metrics will rank lower than a comparable site that scores well — regardless of how good the content is.

Ask any prospective designer:

• How do you optimize for page speed on both desktop and mobile?
• Do you run Lighthouse or PageSpeed Insights tests before launch?
• How do you handle image optimization? (Large, uncompressed images are the most common cause of slow load times.)
• Do you use caching, a content delivery network (CDN), or other performance tools?
• How do you balance a rich, visually engaging design with lean, fast performance — especially on mobile?

A designer who can’t answer these questions clearly has likely never prioritized them. Today, page speed is not a nice-to-have. It’s a business requirement.

Website accessibility — ensuring that people with disabilities can use your site — is both a legal consideration and a moral one. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has been interpreted by courts to apply to websites, and businesses of all sizes have faced lawsuits over inaccessible sites.

WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) provide the technical standard. Key requirements include:

• Sufficient color contrast between text and background
• Alt text on all images
• Keyboard-navigable menus and forms
• Properly labeled form fields
• Captions on video content

Ask any prospective designer whether accessibility is considered during the build — and what tools they use to test it. A site that passes basic accessibility checks is not only legally safer; it’s also a better experience for all users, including those on slow connections or older devices.