What to Look for Before You Hire Someone to Build Your Website
By Jim McFadden, Founder
You know you need a website. Maybe you've been running without one, or maybe the one you have looks like it was built in 2014 — because it was. So you start looking for someone to build it.
This is where most small businesses make expensive mistakes.
The $5,000 brochure problem
The most common outcome of hiring a web developer is paying $3,000–$8,000 for a site that looks fine on launch day and slowly falls apart. The design is custom, the photos are nice, but six months later the contact form is broken, and the SSL certificate expired.
You didn't buy a business tool. You bought a brochure that's already going stale.
Questions you should ask before you sign
"What happens after launch?"
This is the most important question and the one most businesses forget to ask. A website isn't a one-time project — it's infrastructure. It needs hosting, security updates, SSL renewals, performance monitoring, and content updates. If the quote doesn't include ongoing maintenance, ask what that costs separately. If there's no maintenance plan at all, that's a red flag.
"Can I see it on a phone?"
This sounds basic, but it still catches people. Over half of web traffic for local businesses comes from mobile. If the developer isn't showing you the mobile version alongside the desktop version, they're not prioritizing how most of your customers will actually see it.
"What does the site actually do besides look nice?"
A website that just displays your phone number and address is a billboard, not a tool. Ask whether the site will have online booking, a contact form that actually works, clear calls to action, and basic SEO so people can find you in the first place. If the answer to all of those is "that's extra," you're talking to a designer, not someone building a business tool.
"How do I show up on Google?"
A site that isn't optimized for search might as well not exist. Ask what the developer does for on-page SEO — page titles, meta descriptions, page speed, mobile performance. If they shrug or tell you "SEO is a separate engagement," they're building you a pretty page that nobody will find.
Red flags to watch for
- No timeline. "It'll be done in a few weeks" means nothing. You want milestones and a launch date.
- They don't ask about your business. If the first conversation is about colors and fonts instead of what your business does and who your customers are, they're going to build something generic.
- The portfolio is all flash, no function. Animations and parallax scrolling don't matter if none of those sites convert visitors into bookings.
- They disappear after launch. Check references. Ask previous clients what the post-launch experience was like.
What "done right" actually looks like
A website for a local service business should do three things on day one:
- Be built to rank. Proper on-page SEO, fast load times, and mobile-first design so that when Google does index it, you're not starting from zero.
- Make it easy to book or get in touch. Online scheduling, a working contact form, a click-to-call button. No friction.
- Stay maintained. Hosting, security, updates, and content changes handled without you chasing someone down.
That's not a premium package. That's the baseline. If the person you're talking to treats any of those as add-ons, keep looking.
Quicklight Software builds and maintains bundled web AI driven booking solutions for local service businesses — hosting, SEO, updates, and AI-powered booking included. See what's included →