> answers/choosing
How do I choose a web design agency?
UPDATED OCTOBER 30, 2026
Choose a web design agency by asking seven questions before you look at a single portfolio image: Is the price fixed or hourly? Who owns the code and domain afterwards? Can I visit live sites you built, not mock-ups? How fast does your own site load on a phone? Who writes the words? What exactly happens after launch, and what does it cost? And who, by name, will I actually talk to? An agency that answers all seven plainly is one you can work with.
The seven questions, and the good answers
- Price: fixed, in writing, before work starts.
- Ownership: everything in your name; you leave with the code.
- Proof: live links to real client sites, with what was built and what happened.
- Speed: run their own site through a speed test. If they cannot make theirs fast, they will not make yours.
- Words: someone writes them with you. A site with placeholder copy is not finished.
- After launch: a clear care plan with a price, or a clear statement that you need none.
- Contact: a person, not a ticket queue.
Warning signs
- Templates presented as custom work.
- Monthly fees you cannot explain.
- A portfolio with no live links.
- Their own site is slow, or ranks for nothing.
> faq
Related questions
- Should I pick a local agency?
- Only if being in the same room matters to you. The work is remote everywhere now; what matters is responsiveness and the quality of the questions they ask.
> open_channel.exe
Tell us what you need. Any budget.
Say what you have in mind and what you can spend. You get back what we would build for it, how long it takes and a fixed price, usually within one business day.
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