10 Questions to Ask Before You Hire Someone to Build Your Website
Ask a few business owners about their last website project and you will hear the same stories: the developer registered the domain in their own name and now won’t respond. Every small text change costs money and takes a week. The site looked great in the demo but is painfully slow on a phone. It launched, and then nothing happened, because nobody planned how people would find it.
Almost all of this is avoidable if you ask the right questions before you hire someone. Here are the ten we would ask in your position, and what a good answer sounds like.
1. “Whose name will the domain, hosting and website be in?”
Good answer: “Yours. You’ll have your own login to the domain registrar, the hosting and the website, and we’ll work with access you give us.”
This is the single most important question. If your domain is registered in a developer’s or agency’s account, they effectively control your online presence. Make sure your business owns the domain, the hosting account, the website files and any ad or analytics accounts from day one.
2. “Can I see live websites you’ve built?”
Not mock-ups or templates: real, live websites for real businesses. Open them on your phone. Are they fast? Is it obvious what each business does? Is it easy to call or enquire? That is the quality you are likely to get.
3. “Will it be designed for mobile first?”
Most of your visitors will arrive on a phone. A good developer designs for small screens first (readable text, big tap targets, tap-to-call) rather than squeezing a desktop design onto a phone at the end.
4. “How will I update the website myself?”
Find out exactly what you will be able to change without help (text, photos, prices, stock, offers) and how. Ask for a short demo. For things that change often, a simple update page can be far more practical than a complex content management system you never learn to use.
5. “What happens after launch?”
Websites need occasional fixes, updates and changes. Ask who handles them, how quickly, and at what cost. Get clarity on whether ongoing support is included, charged per change or offered as a monthly plan, before you need it.
6. “Is SEO structure included, or is that extra?”
You don’t necessarily need an ongoing SEO retainer at launch, but the foundations should be built in: unique page titles and descriptions, proper headings, a page for each main service, fast loading, a sitemap and structured data for your business details. Fixing these later usually costs more than doing them right the first time.
7. “Will you set up analytics and conversion tracking?”
If nobody sets up tracking, you will never know whether the website is working. Ask for Google Analytics, plus tracking of phone clicks, WhatsApp clicks and form submissions, and, if you plan to advertise, the Google Ads conversion tag and Meta Pixel.
8. “Who writes the content?”
Many projects stall because the design is ready but the text isn’t. Agree upfront who writes headlines, service descriptions and FAQs, and who sources photos. Clear, specific words are what persuade a visitor to contact you; they deserve as much attention as the design.
9. “What exactly is included in the price, and what will I pay every year?”
Ask for a written list: number of pages, features, revisions, content, images, forms, integrations, tracking and training. Then ask about recurring costs (domain renewal, hosting, paid plugins or themes, email and support) so the first-year price doesn’t hide a much bigger second-year bill.
10. “How will this website actually get me enquiries?”
A website on its own is not a marketing plan. A good partner will ask how customers find you today and suggest how the new site will be found (through Google search, a Google Business Profile, social media or ads) and how the pages are designed to turn visitors into calls and messages.
Red flags to watch for
- They want to register the domain or hosting in their own account.
- They can’t show you live websites for real clients.
- They guarantee “first page of Google” or a specific number of leads.
- The quote is a single number with no list of what’s included.
- Nobody mentions mobile, speed, tracking or how you’ll update content.
- They talk only about design and never ask about your customers.
How we answer these at AdBoosters
Since we’re asking you to hold developers to this standard, here is where we stand:
- Ownership: your domain, website, ad accounts and data stay in your name, and there are no lock-in contracts.
- Real work: you can see live websites we’ve built, like Chandan Steel, Luxe Hardwares and Amore by Neha Kochar.
- Built in from day one: mobile-first design, SEO structure, structured data, and analytics and conversion tracking.
- Updating: a content management system where you need one, or a simple private page to update things like stock or notices yourself.
- Getting found: because we also run Google Ads and Meta Ads, we plan how people will reach the website, not just how it looks.
- No false promises: we don’t guarantee rankings or lead numbers. We do promise careful work and honest reporting.