Hiring a web designer is one of those decisions most owners make once every few years, so it's hard to know what good looks like. Portfolios all look nice. Proposals all promise "modern" and "mobile friendly." The difference shows up months later, when a form stops working or you try to leave. These twelve questions bring that difference out before you sign.
Before you hire a Houston web designer, ask who owns the domain and hosting, how forms get tested, what happens to your Google rankings, and what the site costs after launch. Good designers answer plainly and put it in writing. Vague answers to these questions are the best warning sign you'll get.
Ownership and money
Start here, because these answers affect you long after the project ends.
1. Who will own the domain, hosting and website files?
A good answer: "You do. The domain is registered in your name, hosting is in your account or clearly transferable, and you get admin access on day one." Be careful with any answer that includes "we'll hold it for you."
2. What exactly is included in the price, and what isn't?
A good answer is a written scope with a page list, who writes the content, how many revision rounds you get, and what counts as extra. Whatever the number is, it should be on paper before work starts. If you want a sense of typical ranges, we broke them down in our guide to what a website costs in Houston.
3. What will I pay every month or year after launch?
Hosting, domain renewal, updates, backups and support. A good designer lists each one with a price. If the answer is "don't worry about it," worry about it.
Leads, forms and tracking
This is where websites quietly fail. A site can look great and lose leads every week.
4. How do you test that forms actually reach me?
A good answer: "We send real test submissions before launch and confirm they land in your inbox, not spam, and in your CRM if you use one." A CRM is software that tracks your leads and customers. Watch out for "the form plugin handles that."
5. How will I know where my leads come from?
A good answer covers analytics plus tracking for calls and form fills, so you can see which pages, searches or ads produced the lead. If they only mention installing Google Analytics, ask what they'll actually measure.
6. What happens if a form breaks after launch?
Listen for monitoring or regular testing. Forms break when email settings change, when plugins update or when a spam filter gets stricter. Someone should be checking.
Google, speed and your existing site
7. If I already have a site, how will you protect my Google rankings?
A good answer mentions a redirect plan. Redirects are rules that send old page addresses to the new ones so Google and visitors don't hit dead pages. Google documents this in its site move guidance. A designer who hasn't thought about it can cost you traffic you spent years earning.
8. What will you do for local search in Houston?
Look for specifics: your Google Business Profile, consistent name, address and phone across the web, pages for your services and areas, and structured data (code that tells search engines your business type and location). Nobody can honestly guarantee rankings, so be wary of anyone who does.
9. How fast will the site load on a phone, and will you show me?
A good answer is a specific target and a willingness to run a test in front of you. Speed matters. According to Portent's research, "a site that loads in 1 second has a conversion rate 3x higher than a site that loads in 5 seconds."
Process and after launch
10. Which platform will you use, and why that one for me?
A good designer explains the choice in terms of your business: who edits the site, how often, and what it needs to do. WordPress is a great fit for some businesses and a burden for others. If every client gets the same platform no matter what, that's a habit talking.
11. Who does the work, and who do I call when something's wrong?
You want a name and a response time. Ask whether the work gets handed off to someone else, and who picks it up if your contact leaves.
12. If we part ways, what do I walk away with?
A good answer: "Everything. Your files, your content, your logins and a clean handoff." Put this in the contract. It's the question most owners forget and the one they wish they'd asked.
The short version to print
Bring this to every meeting. Tick each one off only when you have a clear answer, ideally in writing.
- Who will own the domain, hosting and website files?
- What exactly is included in the price, and what isn't?
- What will I pay every month or year after launch?
- How do you test that forms actually reach me?
- How will I know where my leads come from?
- What happens if a form breaks after launch?
- If I already have a site, how will you protect my Google rankings?
- What will you do for local search in Houston?
- How fast will the site load on a phone, and will you show me?
- Which platform will you use, and why that one for me?
- Who does the work, and who do I call when something's wrong?
- If we part ways, what do I walk away with?
Red flags to listen for
You'll hear these more than you'd expect. None of them is automatically a dealbreaker, but each one deserves a follow up question.
- Guaranteed first page rankings or a set number of leads.
- The domain registered in the designer's name "for convenience."
- No written scope, or a price that only exists in an email thread.
- No plan for redirects when replacing a site that already ranks.
- Forms that are "set up" but never tested with a real submission.
- Monthly fees with no clear list of what they cover.
How we answer them, and where to start
It's only fair that I answer my own list. At HEX Web Design, you own your domain, content and data. We test every form end to end before launch. We plan redirects before we move anything. And you get the exact price in writing before any build.
If you want to see those answers in practice, look at our website design and builds and our care plans for what happens after launch. Our concept sites show the kind of work you'd be getting.
You don't need to hire anyone to start asking good questions. Take this list to your current designer, or run through it yourself for the site you already have. Most owners find at least one answer they don't like.
If you'd like a second opinion, our free Lead Leak Check is a quick, honest look at your current site. We test your forms, your phone speed, your tracking, your Google basics and what AI answers say about your business. Get your free Lead Leak Check.
