Questions about strategy and experience

  1. How will you learn about our customers and objectives? Discovery should cover audiences, competition, content and success measures.
  2. Can you show relevant work? Look for evidence of solving comparable challenges, not an identical visual style.
  3. Who will work on the project? Understand whether strategy, design and development are delivered internally or outsourced.
  4. How is the structure planned? Navigation and page priorities should follow customer needs and search intent.

Questions about design and development

  1. Is the design bespoke or template based? Either can be valid, but the proposal should be explicit.
  2. How will mobile and accessibility be handled? Ask for responsive testing, keyboard use, contrast and semantic markup.
  3. What is included for SEO? Clarify titles, redirects, schema, performance, analytics and content responsibilities.
  4. Which platform will you use and why? Technology should fit editing, integration and security needs.

Questions about ownership and support

  1. Who owns the domain, content and website? Important accounts should remain under your business's control.
  2. What ongoing costs apply? Request hosting, licence, maintenance and support costs in writing.
  3. How are changes and delays managed? The proposal should define scope, feedback stages and additional work.
  4. What happens after launch? Confirm training, backups, updates, warranty and routes for future improvements.

Watch for warning signs

Be cautious about guaranteed Google positions, unclear ownership, pressure to sign immediately, portfolios without context and quotes that omit content or migration. The cheapest proposal may simply exclude work another supplier has made visible.

Ask for plain English

A good supplier should explain decisions and trade-offs without hiding behind technical terminology.

Choose the working relationship too

Web projects require honest feedback and timely decisions. Select a team whose communication style gives you confidence as well as one capable of producing attractive work. Review Evolvenet's website design portfolio approach or contact the team to discuss a relevant shortlist of examples.