You’ve decided to get your website sorted. Now comes the harder bit: finding someone who’ll actually do it properly.
This is where most small business owners get stuck. Not because there aren’t enough web designers. Because there are too many. And from the outside, they all look roughly the same.
Everyone’s got a portfolio. Everyone says they build “stunning” websites. Everyone promises a smooth process and a great result. Then you commit, hand over your money, and find out whether any of that was true.
I build websites for small service businesses, so I’ve got a horse in this race. I’m not going to pretend otherwise. But I’ve also seen what happens when someone picks the wrong designer. I’ve rebuilt those sites. I’ve had those conversations with people who’ve been left with something they hate and nowhere to turn.
So here’s what I’d actually look for. And what should make you close the tab.
They ask about your business before they mention design
This is the single biggest green flag.
A good web designer wants to understand your business before they start talking fonts and colours. Who are your clients? What do you actually do for them? What’s the one thing your website needs to achieve?
If someone jumps straight to “what style do you like?” or “pick a template,” that’s not strategy. That’s order-taking. And an order-taker will build you exactly what you describe, which is a problem when you don’t know what you need. That’s not a criticism of you. Working out what a website needs to say and do is the designer’s job. If they skip it, the result will show.
I wrote about this in Why Your Website Isn’t Converting (And It’s Probably Not the Design). Strategy is the bit that makes a website work. Everything else is just making the strategy look good.
They can show you work for businesses like yours
Not just any work. Work for businesses that look and feel like yours.
A portfolio full of restaurant websites and ecommerce shops tells you nowt about whether they can build a site for a one-person consultancy. A recruiter running a two-person outfit in Leeds needs a different website to a bar in Shoreditch. Obvious, but a lot of designers don’t think about it that way.
Ask for examples of work they’ve done for small service businesses. If they can’t show you any, that doesn’t make them bad. It just means they’re untested for your situation. And you’re the one taking the risk on that.
They’re upfront about pricing
If you have to book a call just to find out what something costs, pay attention to that.
Some designers don’t publish prices because every project is genuinely different. Fair enough. But they should still be able to give you a ballpark without making you jump through hoops. If the pricing conversation feels more like a negotiation than a straight answer, that’s a preview of how the rest of the project will go.
I wrote about the full pricing picture in How Much Should a Website Cost in 2026?. For a small service business, you should be looking at roughly £1,500 to £4,000 for strategy, copy, design, and build done properly. More or less than that and it’s worth asking why.
They talk about copy, not just design
A website is mostly words. The way those words are written, the order they appear in, the message they get across. That’s what makes someone pick up the phone or close the tab.
Most web designers don’t write copy. They’ll build you a beautiful site and leave you to fill in the words yourself. If you’re a strong writer who understands positioning, that’s fine. Most people aren’t. And that’s not a dig. Writing about your own business is genuinely one of the hardest things to do well. You’re too close to it.
If copy isn’t included, ask who’s going to write it and what support you’ll get. If the answer is basically “you,” factor in the cost of hiring a copywriter on top. Or find a designer who includes it.
They build for independence
After the website goes live, can you update it yourself?
This one matters more than most people realise. Can you change a phone number without emailing someone? Add a testimonial without waiting a week? Update a photo without paying for a “content change”?
If the answer is no, you’re not buying a website. You’re renting someone else’s time. That might not bother you in month one. By month twelve, when you need three things updating and the designer takes a fortnight to reply, it will.
Ask what CMS they use. Ask whether you’ll be trained on it. Ask what happens when you need to make changes after launch. The answers will tell you whether you’re getting something you own or something you’re stuck with.
Red flags that should send you running
Some things should make you walk away. Not reluctantly. Quickly.
No process. If they can’t explain how the project works from start to finish, in plain language, they’re winging it. That might turn out fine. It usually doesn’t.
No contract. A written agreement protects both of you. If someone wants to crack on with just a handshake, they’re either naive or they’re keeping things loose on purpose.
They can’t explain their pricing. Not just what it costs. Why. What’s included, what isn’t, what happens if the scope changes. Vague pricing is how you end up with a surprise invoice three months in.
They disappear between milestones. If you’re chasing for updates during the sales process, imagine what it’s like once they’ve got your deposit.
They badmouth other designers. Confidence doesn’t need to put anyone else down. If someone’s spending the sales conversation slagging off the competition instead of showing you what they can do, that tells you plenty.
They want a retainer before the site’s even built. Monthly retainers for ongoing maintenance are normal and often worth it. But if someone’s pushing a retainer before they’ve even understood your business, they’re selling their business model, not solving your problem.
The question underneath all of this
When you’re choosing a web designer, you’re really asking one thing: can I trust this person with something that represents my business to the world?
That’s not a small thing. Your website is often the first proper look someone gets at you after a mate’s said “you should talk to so-and-so.” If the website doesn’t back that up, you lose them. They won’t tell you about it either. They’ll just quietly go somewhere else.
If you’ve been burned before, I get it. I wrote about that specifically in I’ve Been Burned by a Web Designer Before. How Is This Different?. The scepticism is earned. But the right person does exist. You just need to know what you’re looking for.
