First of all, make sure that your website designer has some knowledge of search engine marketing or search engine optimization. Web design is very competing market so never be afraid to say no if you don’t feel the website designer is right for you because there are plenty of website designers in London. You want your website to get to the first page of Google or Yahoo, so if your designer cannot assure you he can do this, what’s the point of hiring him for your marketing exposure? After all, the whole purpose of the website is promote your business, right?

Ask about their fees. Expect to pay them around £20 per hour, and a seven-to-fifteen-page web site usually costs somewhere between £70 and £75 on an average. Of course, that’s for a simple design. Higher rates apply to web sites with more features. Also ask about the method by which you are going to pay them and the written bill they can provide you to monitor the costs. Also pay extra attention to whether they stick to your budget or they keep recommending additional features that can increase the price of your site. If you can talk with their recent clients, that’s an easier way to know all these stuff. Also ask about maintenance of the site and domain name registration.

Ask if your web designer can meet your target deadline. Give considerations if he was previously booked already for a 6-week project. Nevertheless, a good website designer is prompt on his deadlines to ensure client satisfaction, because time is important for most people. It’s always best to find out if he or she cannot meet your deadline from the very beginning, that way you can always find someone else to do the job for you. You can always tell by how quickly he replies his emails or phone calls. Anything over 3 days I would say it’s time to find someone else for the job.