What to ask before you pay anybody to build you a website

Even a good deal can be a bad fit if the wrong questions never got asked. Here is what to actually ask, whether you end up hiring me or somebody else entirely.

1. "Is this a landing page or a full site, and why?"

A landing page is one page: who you are, what you do, how to reach you. A full site handles more than one language, real business data like units or menus or inventory, content that changes, or more than one audience. Page count isn't the test. Depth is. Whoever you're talking to should be able to tell you which one you actually need, and why, without you having to ask twice.

2. "What does the price actually include?"

Not just the build. Hosting, who owns the domain, who can make changes later, and what happens if you want to add a page next year. A price with no scope behind it is just a number.

3. "Is there a monthly cost, and what does it buy me?"

A one-time build fee gets you the door. A monthly fee should be the actual business: updates, hosting, changes, someone answering when something breaks. If a monthly fee doesn't buy anything you can name, ask what it's actually for.

4. "Can I see real work, not a template demo?"

A stock template with placeholder text swapped for your business name is not proof of anything. Ask to see a site built for a real business in your area, ideally one you can recognize.

5. "What happens to my site if I stop paying you?"

You should own your domain and know exactly what you keep if the relationship ends. If the honest answer is "nothing, it disappears," that's worth knowing before you sign anything, not after.

6. "What's the anchor for this price?"

A fair price is priced against what your business is actually worth, or what you already spend on marketing, listing sites, or ads, not against how many hours the build took. If nobody can explain where the number came from, that's the question to keep asking.

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