How to choose a web design agency: a buyer's guide

Web design agencies have websites that look alike; they all say they're "creative," "user-focused" and "results-driven." Those phrases don't help you tell anything apart. What helps you tell them apart is asking the right questions and looking for concrete evidence in the answers. The headings below set out what to look at on the road from a first meeting to a contract.

Read the portfolio correctly

A portfolio is the most reliable evidence, but it can mislead if you look at it on the surface. Pretty screenshots say nothing — what matters is whether those sites still work live, whether there's work at a scale similar to yours, and whether they show consistent quality across different sectors. An agency doing only one type of work isn't necessarily bad; but seeing an example similar to your own job makes it easier to predict the result you'll get.

• Do the examples open live, or are they just images?
• Is there work at a scale and complexity close to yours?
• Do they work well on mobile too — open a few from your phone.
• Is the work all the same, or does each brand carry its own identity?

Ask about the process: how do they work?

A good agency has a clear process and can explain it to you without jargon: what gets discovered first, what stages the design goes through, how many rounds of revisions you have, who writes the content, how testing is done. An agency whose process is vague — one that says "don't worry, we'll handle it" — will keep you outside the process in the weeks that follow too. Good design comes out of a flow where it's clear who does what and when; and at the center of that flow stands the discipline of user experience design.

Don't skip the technical side

Visual design is the visible part of the iceberg. Underneath lie the technical foundations: site speed, mobile compatibility, a search-engine-friendly structure and accessibility. Ask an agency how they handle these topics. Saying "our sites are fast" isn't enough; they should be able to explain how they measure it and which steps they apply as standard. An agency that takes the technical side seriously can explain it with concrete examples.

Talk about what happens after handover

A site's life begins the day it goes live; it doesn't end that day. Browsers update, content changes, small bugs appear. So it's important to clarify the terms of post-handover support before the contract: is there a warranty period, how are small fixes handled, who do you reach in an emergency? If the framework for post-launch maintenance and support isn't written down, it usually means there is none.

What to look for in the contract

Good intentions are no substitute for a bad contract. Having the following written into the contract prevents most of the disputes that could arise later: a clear definition of scope, the delivery schedule, revision rights, the payment plan, and most critical of all — ownership. Whether the domain, hosting access and source code will be handed over to you after launch should be stated plainly. If these are clear, you'll largely know how the relationship will go down the line.

Red flags

Some signs are enough to stay away, however attractive the price. The most dangerous is an agency that guarantees a specific ranking in search results: no agency can guarantee Google's ranking, because the one who decides that ranking is Google, not the agency. Such a guarantee is either ignorance or deliberate deception; neither is good news.

• A "first-page guarantee" or a promise of a definite ranking — it isn't realistic.
• Being unable to explain the process and price clearly, leaving every question vague.
• Being unable to show references or a live example.
• Being unwilling to hand over source code and domain ownership to you.
• Competing on price alone and never mentioning the scope of the work.

The right agency isn't the one trying to impress you, but the one that asks the right questions and answers clearly. How many questions an agency asks you is often the earliest sign of how well they'll do the work.