How to choose a web design agency in the UK

Picking a web design agency is a bit like picking a builder. They’ve all got a nice van, and you only find out who was any good after you’ve paid.

I’ve run an agency in Barnsley since 2010 and a lot of our clients arrived after a bad experience somewhere else. One told me they’d spent £3,000 on two separate websites and both were “utter shit”. So I’m biased, obviously (I would say this, wouldn’t I?), but here’s what I’d check if I was on your side of the table.

Start with their prices

If an agency shows its prices, you can rule them in or out in about a minute. If it doesn’t, you’re booking a call and waiting for a proposal just to find out whether you can afford them.

That tells you something about how they’ll treat you as a client, too. If an agency won’t talk about money up front, don’t expect straight answers later either.

As a rough guide for a custom business website in the UK, anything under £3,000 is the danger zone, £5,000 to £6,000 is about the minimum for proper work, and most established businesses end up somewhere between £8,000 and £12,000. I went through the reasons in how much a website costs in the UK.

Look for proof, and read it properly

Every agency has a portfolio. Pretty screenshots don’t tell you much.

Look for case studies that say what changed for the client. More enquiries, faster load times, more sales, with actual numbers. Look for Google reviews from real businesses you could ring up. If an agency’s case studies are all “we delivered a stunning, modern website”, ask what happened after it went live.

It’s worth checking a couple of their live websites too. Open them on your phone, on mobile data. If the agency’s own work is slow and confusing, yours will be.

Find out who’s actually doing the work

Some agencies are a sales team and a project manager, and the actual design and build gets passed to freelancers or sent overseas. That can work, but you should know about it before you sign.

Ask who’ll design your website, who’ll build it, and whether you can speak to them. If you only ever get to talk to an account manager, that tells you something.

Ask what happens after launch

Launch day is where the real work starts, and loads of agencies disappear once the invoice is paid. Ask them:

• Will you redirect our old page addresses to the new ones? (If they don’t, you can lose the Google rankings you’ve already got. It’s one of the most common things I see skipped.)
• Will analytics and enquiry tracking be set up and tested before we go live?
• Who looks after hosting, security, backups and updates, and what does that cost each month?
• If the contact form stops working in six months, who notices?

Ask who owns what

You should own your domain name, your content and your website. Check that the domain is registered in your name, and ask what happens if you want to move to another company later.

It’s also worth knowing what the website’s built on. On a hosted website builder like Wix or Squarespace, you’re renting your website, and the day you want something the platform can’t do, you’re starting again. On something like WordPress you can take it wherever you like.

Questions I’d ask on the first call

• What’s a typical price for a project like ours?
• Can you show me a website you built that brings in enquiries, and what the numbers look like?
• How will you make it obvious what we do within five seconds of landing on the homepage?
• How fast will it load on a phone, and how will you check?
• Who writes the words? If it’s us, what help do we get?
• How long will it take, and what do you need from us to hit that?
• What happens if we’re not happy?

A good agency will answer those plainly. You’ll learn as much from how they answer as from what they say.

Red flags

• A “fully custom” website for £3,000 or less. That’s a £50 theme with your logo on it.
• Guarantees of “page one on Google”. Nobody can promise that, and anybody who does is guessing or fibbing.
• All talk about traffic and bounce rate, nothing about enquiries. Visitor numbers don’t pay your bills.
• Content that reads like ChatGPT wrote it, on their own website or in their proposal. If they cut corners on their own words, they’ll cut them on yours.
• “We’ll just copy your competitor’s website.” You’ll end up as a cheaper version of somebody else.
• No mention of what happens after launch.

Does it matter if they’re local?

Less than it used to. Loads of good work happens over Zoom. Some clients still like being able to sit in a room with the people building their website, and an agency that knows your area can help when you’re trying to show up in local searches.

Pick the one that shows you real proof and tells you the price without making you ask twice. If you want to see how we do it, our pricing and work are both out in the open.