What to Prepare Before Hiring a Web Designer

You know you need a new website. You're ready to hire someone to build it. You've maybe even started looking at designers' portfolios or gotten a few quotes.

But here's what nobody tells you: the success of your website project depends on what you bring to the table as much as who you hire.

Show up unprepared, and you'll spend weeks (or months) in revision rounds, going back and forth on basic decisions that should have been made before design ever started. You'll pay for extra hours. Your launch date will keep sliding. You end up frustrated with a designer who's just as frustrated with you.

Show up prepared, and your project moves faster, costs less, and results in a website that actually works for your business.

Now, if you're working with someone who offers full-service web design (like us), they'll help you figure most of this out. We use brand questionnaires, draft content for you, and guide you through the decisions that matter. But even then, the more clarity you bring to the table, the better your end result will be.

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Here's what to think through before you reach out to a web designer.

Know What Problem You're Solving

"I need a website" isn't a project brief, it's a starting point.

What's actually wrong with your current situation? You don't have a website at all and you're losing customers to competitors who do. Your current website looks like it's from 2010 and people don't trust it. You're getting traffic but nobody's contacting you or buying. Your website is technically fine but doesn't match your business anymore. You can't update it yourself and paying someone $200 every time you need to change a price is unsustainable.

The clearer you are about the actual problem, the better your designer can solve it. "I need a modern website" gets you a pretty design. "I'm losing customers because my current site doesn't have online booking" gets you a solution.

Write down what's not working about your current situation, what success looks like (specific outcomes, not just "more customers"), and what you've already tried if anything.

Start Thinking About Your Content

This is the thing that derails more website projects than anything else.

Your designer can create a beautiful layout. They cannot magically know what services you offer, how you describe your approach, or what makes you different from your competitors.

If you're working with a designer who offers copywriting (we do), they'll draft everything for you based on conversations and questionnaires. But they still need the raw material from your brain. If you're hiring someone who just does design, you'll need to write everything yourself.

Either way, start thinking about what you offer and who it's for. What problems do your services solve? What do you want people to know about your business? What makes someone a good fit to work with you versus a terrible fit?

Gather testimonials and reviews, even if they're just text messages from happy clients. Collect photos if you have them - headshots, your work, your space, your team. These don't have to be professional (though that's great if you have them), they just need to exist.

The goal isn't to show up with everything written and perfect. The goal is to start pulling this information out of your head so it's ready when your designer needs it.

Get Your Brand Assets in One Place

We talked about this in depth in our brand guidelines post, but your designer needs your logo files, brand colors, and fonts.

If you have actual brand guidelines, send them over. If you have a folder with different logo versions and a note that says "I think the blue is #2E5266 but I'm not totally sure," that works too. If all you have is a low-res JPG of your logo and no idea what font it uses, just say that upfront.

A good designer will work with what you have. When we take on a full website project, we walk through brand questions with you - what vibe you're going for, what colors feel right, what websites you love the look of. We can build your visual direction from scratch if needed or refine what you already have.

But if you DO have brand assets, dig them up now. Find those logo files. Track down the hex codes. Locate the font names. It'll save time later.

Collect Examples of Websites You Like

"Make it look professional" or "I want it modern" doesn't give your designer much to work with.

But "I love how clean this site feels" with a specific example? That's actually useful.

Create a folder (or just a Google Doc with links) of 3-5 websites you like. They don't have to be in your industry. Screenshot specific sections that work - "I love how they show pricing" or "this contact form is so simple." Save examples of what you DON'T want too. "This feels too corporate for us" or "I hate when websites make me click three times to find a phone number."

This helps your designer understand your taste and expectations without playing the guessing game. You're not asking them to copy these sites, you're giving them direction.

Figure Out Your Must-Have Features

Walk through what someone actually needs to do on your website. Not what would be "cool to have someday," but what has to work from day one.

Do you need a contact form? Online booking? E-commerce? Photo galleries? A blog? Email newsletter signup? Integration with your scheduling system or CRM?

For each feature, think through whether you need it at launch or if it can come later. Do you have the backend set up? You can't add online booking without a scheduling system to connect it to. Who will maintain it? A blog you never update looks worse than no blog.

Be realistic. A 5-page website with solid content and one working contact form is better than a 20-page site with half-built features you'll "add content to later."

When we build websites, we help you figure out what features actually make sense for your business versus what sounds good in theory. Sometimes the thing you think you need isn't what will actually get you customers.

Track Down Your Technical Details

Your designer will need to know about your domain name, hosting, and email setup.

Do you own a domain? Where did you buy it? If you don't have one yet, what do you want it to be? Do you have hosting or will you need it set up? Are you using a custom email address and where is it hosted? What tools does your website need to connect to - scheduling software, payment processors, CRMs, email marketing platforms?

If you have no idea what any of this means, that's completely fine. Your designer can help. But if you DO have existing accounts, dig up those login credentials now. Nothing slows a project down like waiting three days for you to reset a password you haven't used in two years.

For our Squarespace projects, we handle most of the technical setup. You don't need to be a tech expert, you just need to be able to find your login information when we need it.

Know Your Actual Budget

Nobody wants to show their cards first. You're worried if you say "$3,000" and the designer was going to quote $2,500, you just cost yourself $500.

But web design can cost anywhere from $500 to $50,000 depending on what you need. If you reach out to designers without a budget in mind, you're going to get quotes all over the map and waste everyone's time.

Figure out what you can actually afford, not what you hope it costs. Can you do a one-time payment or do you need a payment plan? Are there ongoing costs you can handle like hosting and maintenance?

Be honest with designers about your budget. A good one will tell you what's possible at that number, what's not, and whether it makes sense to work together. A designer who shames you for your budget or won't talk numbers until you're "serious" isn't someone you want to work with anyway.

We're upfront about pricing because there's no point in having a discovery call if our services don't fit your budget. If what you need is outside what we offer, we'll tell you that too and point you toward other options.

Clear Your Schedule At Least a Little

Your designer can't build your website without you.

You'll need to review design concepts and give feedback. You'll need to answer questions about your business and services. You'll need to test features before launch and approve things before they move forward.

If you're going to disappear for three weeks on vacation right after signing a contract, say so upfront. If you can only respond to emails on Fridays, say so upfront. The timeline your designer gives you assumes you'll be reasonably available. If you take a week to respond to every email, your 4-week project is now an 8-week project.

Plan for an initial kick-off meeting, regular check-ins (frequency depends on your designer), review periods where you need to give feedback within a few days, and final testing before launch.

Get Buy-In from Decision Makers

If you're not the only person who gets a say in this website, loop them in now.

The absolute worst scenario: you go through the entire design process, love everything, approve the final version, and then your business partner sees it and hates it. Now you're back to square one, you've burned through your budget on revisions, and everyone's frustrated.

Before you hire anyone, make sure everyone who has veto power knows this project is happening. Get their input on goals, must-have features, and budget. Decide how feedback will work - will you be the single point person or will it be committee review?

Most designers include 2-3 rounds of revisions. If you're incorporating feedback from five different people who all want different things, you'll blow through those revisions immediately.

Understand What's Included and What's Not

Be clear about what's part of your website project and what's separate.

Is your designer writing all your content or are they just designing the layout? Are professional photos included or do you need to provide those? Does the project include ongoing SEO or just the initial setup? What about social media graphics or Google ads management?

These are all legitimate services, they're just not always included in "website design." If you need them, ask about them upfront so you know what you're paying for.

When we build websites, we draft all the content for you based on our brand questionnaire, existing literature from you, and discovery conversations. You review and give feedback, but you're not starting from a blank page. We also set up your foundational SEO, but ongoing SEO optimization is a separate service through our retainer packages.

Being clear about scope from the beginning means no surprise costs and no disappointment when you realize something you expected isn't included.

You Don't Have to Figure This All Out Alone

Here's the thing about this entire list: a good web designer will help you work through most of it.

If you're overwhelmed by the idea of writing content, gathering brand assets, or figuring out what features you need, that's exactly what discovery calls and brand questionnaires are for. The right designer will ask the questions that pull this information out of your head and turn it into a functional website.

But the more thinking you do upfront, the faster and smoother your project will go. Even just having rough answers to these questions will make your initial conversations more productive.

And if you're reading this list thinking "I have absolutely no idea where to start with any of this," that's fine too. Reach out anyway. Sometimes the best thing a designer can do is help you figure out what you actually need versus what you think you need.

Not sure what you need or what to prepare? Let's talk through it. We help small business owners figure out what kind of web presence makes sense for their actual business, not just what sounds impressive. Sometimes that's a full custom website. Sometimes it's something simpler. Either way, we'll help you get clear on what you're working toward.