Hiring a web designer is a decision most businesses make only a few times in their life. With so little practice, getting it wrong is normal. And the mistakes take months to surface: the website doesn't bring in clients, loads badly or nobody knows where the logins are.
I'm Nico, a freelance digital marketing consultant in Seville. Since 2021 I've launched 32 websites and, above all, I've inherited plenty built by others. This guide sets out what I'd ask before paying.
Few websites, little practice
The data helps explain the problem. Only 37% of Spanish microbusinesses with an internet connection have a website, according to the latest survey by Spain's INE on ICT use in businesses. Among companies with 10 or more employees, it's 84.5%.
And when a small business goes digital, it almost always goes it alone. 85% manage their digital marketing in-house, and in 45% of cases the owner does it. Only 29% think they have the know-how they need, according to a Beedigital study published in July 2026.
In plain terms: whoever commissions a website usually does so with no benchmarks and without knowing what to ask. The designer knows this. A good one makes up for it by explaining. A bad one takes advantage.
What I see when I inherit a website
Part of my work is maintaining websites other people built. That's where you see the consequences of hiring badly.
The figure that comes up most: 28% of the clients who come to me don't have the logins for their domain, their hosting or their WordPress. It was all set up by “the guy who built the website”, who no longer replies. Getting it back takes weeks, and sometimes money.
And one situation that stuck with me. A video game studio hired me for their new website. When we reviewed the old one, we found it hadn't been loading in eleven Southeast Asian countries for some time: the hosting was blocking them and nobody knew. Before designing anything, we switched hosting. Without that review, the new website would have inherited the same problem.
Both problems started the day the designer was hired, long before anyone opened Photoshop.
Before asking for a quote, decide what your website has to do
A website without a goal gets commissioned on looks and judged on looks. And looks don't pay the bills.
Write down in one line what you want it for: receiving quote requests, getting calls, selling online, taking bookings. One website, one main job. Then decide how you'll know whether it's doing that job: forms a month, calls from the website, bookings. That's the bar you'll measure the designer and the website against.
The way I work, the website is the operations hub: social media, ads and Google feed it, and it converts. Once that role is clear, the rest of the decisions fall into place.
The nine questions I'd ask before signing
They're the ones I ask when I'm the one being hired, and the ones I'd like to be asked. If the designer gets uncomfortable with any of them, you already have an answer.
1. Whose name will the domain, hosting and website be in?
The right answer is “yours, with your own logins”. Domain in your account, hosting in your account and an admin user for you. If the designer wants to manage it, great, but as a guest in something that's yours.
2. What technology will it be built with, and who will maintain it?
WordPress, a template, custom code or a closed platform. Each option makes sense in its context. What matters is that you know what you're getting. If you depend on a closed platform, the website disappears when you stop paying the fee. If it's WordPress, it needs updates every week and a backup that someone keeps an eye on.
3. Who writes the copy?
It's the question that breaks the most quotes. Many designers assume you'll provide the copy, and many clients assume the opposite. Clarify who writes, who reviews and where the photos come from. And be wary of filler. Google rolled out its latest spam update between 18 and 21 August 2026. Generic content churned out in bulk is exactly what it targets. Your website needs copy that talks about your business in your own words.
4. How will it load on an ordinary phone?
Ask for a measurable commitment. Google assesses page experience with three metrics, the Core Web Vitals. Main content loaded in under 2.5 seconds. A response to each interaction in under 200 milliseconds. Visual stability below 0.1. You can check them for free in PageSpeed Insights. Ask for the website to meet them on mobile before handover.
5. What gets measured from day one?
Three things, at a minimum. Google Analytics 4 with the events that matter: form submitted, click on phone or WhatsApp. Search Console verified. And forms tested from a phone. Without this, a year from now you won't know whether the website works. You'll find what to look at and how to set it up in my guide to digital marketing KPIs.
6. “SEO included”: what exactly does it mean?
Ask for a breakdown: titles and descriptions for each page, heading structure, speed, and a sitemap submitted to Search Console. If you're redesigning, also redirects from the old URLs. That's the basics, and it should be included in the price. Ranking is something else: nobody can guarantee you a position on Google, and anyone who does is selling you hot air.
One more warning, because I'm seeing it in quotes: “optimisation for artificial intelligence” as an extra. Google's official guidance on generative AI search, updated in July 2026, is clear. Optimising for its AI features means doing the same SEO as always. You don't need any special file like llms.txt, because Google doesn't use it. If they charge you extra for it, ask what exactly they're going to do. And yes, Google's AI Mode is already live in Spain. I explain what actually counts for showing up there in how to show up in ChatGPT and Google's AI as a small business.
7. What about the legal side?
Legal notice, privacy policy, cookie management with genuine consent, and forms that collect only what's necessary. Ask beforehand, because if the designer doesn't account for it, someone will have to sort it out later.
8. What happens after launch?
A website is a living system. Ask who updates WordPress and the plugins, who makes backups, who responds if the website goes down on a Saturday, and how much that service costs. I offer it as monthly website maintenance from €120, and it's where I save my clients the most problems.
9. What does the price include, and what doesn't it?
Number of pages, rounds of revisions, copy, photos, training so you can edit, deadlines and payment terms. In writing. Most of the conflicts I've seen between clients and designers stem from something one side assumed was included and the other didn't.
Red flags
- They don't give you the logins, or they make excuses about handing them over.
- They guarantee you the first page of Google.
- They give you a fixed price without asking anything about your business.
- They can't show you real, live websites you can visit today.
- There's no scope in writing.
- They charge extra for things that are basic: mobile version, speed, measurement or technical SEO.
A single red flag doesn't rule anyone out. Three do.
How much it costs and why it varies so much
There's no official rate. The price depends on the number of pages and on whether there's copy and photos to create. Also on whether it's an online shop, on the integrations (bookings, payments, CRM) and on what happens after launch.
| Type of website | Price benchmark | What it should include | Typical timeframe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website for the self-employed (home, services, about me, contact, blog) | From €1,000 (my starting price, excl. VAT) | Technical SEO, forms, GA4 and Search Console, training, 30 days of support | 20 days on average across my projects |
| Corporate website, 5 to 10 pages | Between €1,500 and €4,000 (my own judgement, freelance in Spain) | All of the above, with copy, measurement and basic SEO | Set in the proposal; depends on copy and photos |
| Online shop | From the range above, upwards | Catalogue, payments, shipping, e-commerce legal requirements | Depends on the catalogue |
The €1,500 to €4,000 benchmark is my own judgement after years of quoting. Below that range, something from the nine-question list is almost always missing. Ask what.
Freelancer or agency: what really changes
I work both ways: directly with businesses, and white-label for agencies that need extra hands.
| Freelancer | Agency | |
|---|---|---|
| Your point of contact | The person who designs and builds | An account manager; another team builds |
| Process | Depends on the person: ask for it in writing | Usually defined; ask to see it anyway |
| Price | No overheads to pay for | Overheads are built into the price |
| When it fits | Service websites with a tight budget and quick decisions | Volume, several brands or large integrations |
| Risk | That they disappear: hence the logins in your name | That you get assigned to the newest hire |
What I've learnt is that the size of the provider matters less than three things. Who your point of contact will be. Whether there's a clear process: diagnosis, structure, content, design, measurement and launch. And whether the website is yours at the end.
How I build a website
In case it helps as a reference. I start with a diagnosis: what the website has to achieve, who will visit it and what's failing now. Then the structure and the copy, and only then the design. It goes live with GA4, Search Console and tested forms, with the logins in your name and a maintenance plan. Since 2021 I've launched 32 like this, with an average delivery time of 20 days. I go into detail on my web design page. Is your business in Seville? In what a digital marketing consultant in Seville does I explain how I fit the website in with the other channels.
If you have a quote on the table, I'll look at it with you
Book my free Diagnostic Session. I prepare it in advance: I review your current website if you have one, the quote you've been given and your competitors. In 30 minutes, I'll tell you what I'd ask and what I'd change. I open 2 slots a week. Book yours or email me at comunicacion@auvenico.es.
Sources
- INE, Survey on ICT usage and e-commerce in companies 2024 – first quarter 2025 (22/10/2025): https://www.ine.es/dyngs/Prensa/ETICCE20241T2025.htm
- Beedigital, study on how small businesses manage digital marketing (Jul 2026, via Pyme Actual): https://www.pymeactual.es/noticias/20260707/-60-pymes-espanolas-preve-aumentar-su-inversion-en-marketing-digital-aqui-2030
- Search Engine Roundtable, Google Webmaster Report September 2026 (August spam update): https://www.seroundtable.com/sept-2026-google-webmaster-report-41979.html
- web.dev, Core Web Vitals: https://web.dev/articles/vitals
- Google Search Central, Optimizing your website for generative AI features (updated 10/07/2026): https://developers.google.com/search/docs/fundamentals/ai-optimization-guide
- Google Spain, El Modo IA llega a España (October 2025): https://blog.google/intl/es-es/productos/la-busqueda-de-google-el-modo-ia-llega-a-espana/
- My own data: Auve Nico web project log, 2021-2026 (32 websites, average timeframe and clients without logins).
Freelance digital marketing consultant in Seville. I work on the digital presence of professionals and small businesses with one simple principle: your website as your operations hub. Building websites, doing SEO and running social media with my own hands since 2018.
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