Starting a new web design project can feel pretty overwhelming. You’re handing over your time, your money and a big part of how your business presents itself to someone you may only have met once. It can be difficult to know how to approach the project so that it ends well.
I’ve been building websites for UK small businesses for over 20 years now, and I’ve seen the same handful of things separate the projects that run smoothly from the ones that drag on for months. None of them are complicated. Most of them come down to preparation and communication.
So what do you need to have in place before working with a web designer? Here are the five things I’d put at the top of the list.
1. Know what you want before the project starts
When you first start working with a web designer, having a clear plan of action is vital. The more you can tell me at the beginning, the fewer surprises there are later, and surprises are usually what push a project over budget or past its deadline.
You don’t need a 40-page document. A short brief that answers a few questions will do the job:
- How many pages do you want? A five-page brochure site and a 30-page site with a blog and a booking system are very different jobs.
- What does the website actually need to do? Take enquiries, sell products, let people book appointments, show off a portfolio? Each of those changes the build.
- Do you have branding already? A logo, brand colours, fonts, photography? Or does that need creating alongside the site?
- Are there websites you like? Not to copy, but as a shorthand for the style and feel you’re after.
- What will count as a success? More enquiries, more online sales, fewer phone calls asking the same questions?
Having a clear brief lets you and the web designer stay on the same page throughout the project, and it helps you get an accurate quote in the first place.
How I handle this at Webalogic
Before I quote for anything, I send over a short questionnaire and then we have a call. The questionnaire covers the practical things: pages, features, branding, content, deadlines. The call is where I find out what’s really driving the project. Sometimes a client comes to me asking for a redesign when what they actually need is a couple of new landing pages and some SEO work. It’s better to find that out before any design work starts.
One thing worth mentioning: this applies just as much to SEO as it does to web design. If you’re asking someone to improve your search rankings, be clear about which services and which areas matter most. “More traffic” is not a brief. “More enquiries for commercial cleaning contracts in East London” is.
2. Find a web designer you can trust
Once you know what you want, take the time you need to find the right person to deliver it. Working with a web designer is a relationship, and like any relationship it goes better when you actually get on.
Ask questions, and pay attention to how they’re answered. Are they happy to explain things in plain English, or do you come away more confused than when you started? Do they ask you questions in return? A good designer is curious about your business, because they can’t design something that works without understanding it.
Read their testimonials and, if you can, look at the sites they’ve built. Don’t just look at how those sites look. Try using them on your phone. Fill in a contact form. See how quickly the pages load.
Red flags to watch out for
A few things that should make you pause:
- Pricing that seems far too low for the scope. Someone quoting a few hundred pounds for a fully custom, multi-page site is either going to cut corners, disappear halfway through, or come back with a long list of extras.
- No questions. If a designer sends a quote without asking anything about your business, your customers or your goals, they’re quoting for a template, not a solution.
- Vague answers about ownership. You should own your domain name, your hosting account and your website files. If a designer won’t confirm that in writing, walk away.
- No mention of what happens after launch. Websites need updates, backups and security patches. Ask what support looks like once the site is live.
- Pressure to sign quickly. A limited-time discount on a web design project is a sales tactic, not a reason to rush a decision.
How I handle this at Webalogic
Almost all of my work comes through referrals, which means most clients arrive having already spoken to someone I’ve worked with. I still encourage everyone to book a call before committing to anything. If we’re going to spend the next couple of months building something together, we both need to be comfortable with that.
3. Have an action plan with agreed milestones
Having a timeline in place is crucial for a project to run smoothly. Without one, web design projects have a habit of drifting. The designer is waiting on content, the client is waiting on a design, and nobody is quite sure whose turn it is.
Agree specific milestones with your web designer so that each phase of the process stays on track. A typical project might look something like this:
- Discovery and planning. Brief confirmed, sitemap agreed, content requirements listed.
- Design. Homepage concept first, then the remaining page layouts once the direction is approved.
- Build. The design is turned into a working WordPress site on a staging area.
- Content and review. Text, images and any integrations go in. You review the whole site.
- Testing and launch. Checks across browsers and devices, then the site goes live.
- Post-launch. Search Console set up, analytics checked, any snagging sorted.
Each milestone is a natural point to check in and make sure you’re both happy with the progress so far. It’s far easier to adjust the direction after the homepage concept than after all 15 pages have been built.
A word on content
In my experience, the single biggest cause of delay on any web design project is content. Not the design, not the build, but the words and images that need to go on the pages. If you’re writing the content yourself, block out time for it early. If you’d rather have it written for you, say so at the start so it can be built into the plan and the quote.
How I handle this at Webalogic
Every project I take on has a simple timeline with dates against each milestone. I share a staging link as soon as there’s something worth looking at, so you’re never waiting weeks to see progress. If something slips on my side, I’ll tell you. If something slips on your side, I’ll gently chase.
4. Have a clear budget and agree what’s included
Agree a budget with your web designer before any work starts, and make sure you both understand what that budget covers. Most disagreements I’ve heard about between clients and designers come down to one side assuming something was included when the other side assumed it wasn’t.
Your quote should spell out:
- The number of pages and the features being built
- Whether content writing, photography or stock imagery is included
- How many rounds of design revisions are covered
- What happens with hosting, domain names and email
- What ongoing maintenance or support looks like after launch, and what it costs
If you think you might want additional features or changes later, agree now that these will be quoted for separately. That’s not a designer being difficult. It’s how you avoid an awkward conversation halfway through the build.
Don’t be tempted by the cheapest option
I understand the appeal, especially for a small business watching every penny. But a website is not a one-off purchase. It’s the thing that’s going to be working for you 24 hours a day for the next four or five years. A cheap site that loads slowly, breaks on mobile, or can’t be updated without calling the designer back will cost you far more in lost enquiries than you saved on the build.
That doesn’t mean you need the most expensive option either. It means you need a quote that matches the scope, from someone who has explained what you’re paying for.
How I handle this at Webalogic
My quotes are fixed price for the agreed scope, itemised so you can see what’s included. Anything outside that scope gets a separate quote before I do the work, not after. For SEO, I work on a monthly basis with a clear breakdown of what’s being done each month, and I report on it using the data from Google Search Console rather than vague promises.
5. Be prepared to give feedback
Feedback is the lifeblood of a good web design project. A designer can only work with the information they’ve been given, and silence is the least useful information of all.
Try to give feedback at every stage, not just at the end. If the homepage concept isn’t quite right, say so before the rest of the pages are designed around it. If a colour feels off or a page is missing something, mention it as soon as you notice.
How to give feedback that’s actually useful
The best feedback is specific and explains the why. Compare these two:
“I don’t like it.”
“The header feels a bit corporate for us. Our customers are mostly families, and we want it to feel warmer and more approachable.”
The second one gives the designer something to work with. It also stops them guessing, which is where projects go round in circles.
A few other things that help:
- Gather feedback in one place. If three people in your business have opinions, collect them together before sending them over, and decide who has the final say.
- Separate taste from function. “I’d prefer a different shade of blue” is taste. “Customers won’t be able to find the phone number” is function. Both are valid, but function should always win.
- Test the site yourself. Click every link, fill in every form, and try it on your phone. You know your customers better than anyone.
How I handle this at Webalogic
I build sites in WordPress on a staging area you can access at any point, and I’d rather have too much feedback than too little. Once the site is live, that conversation doesn’t stop. Most of my clients are on a maintenance plan, which means the site keeps being looked after and there’s always someone to call when you want something changed.
Working with a web designer: a quick checklist
If you only take one thing from this post, make it this. Before you start working with a web designer, make sure you have:
- A clear brief covering pages, features, branding and goals
- A designer you’ve actually spoken to, whose previous work you’ve tested
- A timeline with milestones and check-in points
- A fixed budget with the scope written down, and an agreement on how extras are handled
- A plan for giving feedback at every stage, including who has the final say
Get those five things in place and the project will run more smoothly, cost less in surprises, and end with a website that does what you needed it to do.
Need a hand putting any of this into practice? Take a look at my WordPress web design services, or book a call and we can talk it through.
