How to Pick a Web Designer in Louisville: 7 Questions

Louisville has no shortage of web designers. These seven questions help you sort the ones who will build you a site that works from the ones who will build you a site that just looks nice.

Key takeaways

• Ask who will own the domain, site, and accounts before anything else.

• Get pricing broken into line items, including monthly costs after launch.

• Look for a designer who asks about your customers and your leads, not just colors.

• Get the plan for support and changes after launch in writing.

Search for a web designer in Louisville and you will find freelancers, small studios, large agencies, and marketing companies that do a bit of everything. Prices and promises vary wildly. How do you choose without getting burned?

The best tool you have is a short list of good questions. Here are the seven we would ask if we were hiring a designer ourselves, what a good answer sounds like, and the red flags to watch for. We are a veteran-owned agency in LaGrange, Kentucky, and you can see how we answer these on our Louisville website design page. Use the list either way.

Question 1: Who will own the domain, the site, and the accounts?

Ask this first. Your domain name, hosting account, and site files should be in your name or your company's name. If a designer registers the domain in their own name, you may have a hard time leaving later.

Good to know: A good answer

"Everything is registered to you. We get access as a user, and you can remove us any time."

Heads up: Red flag

"We handle all that, don't worry about it," with no clear answer about whose name is on the accounts.

Question 2: What exactly does the price include?

Ask for a quote broken into line items: number of pages, copywriting, design, features like booking or forms, search setup, and launch. Then ask what you will pay each month or year after launch for hosting, domain, updates, and edits.

Get every quote in the same format so you can compare.

Our prices are public. Websites start at $1,500 (see our pricing page), and SEO is a separate monthly service if you want it.

Question 3: Can I see sites you built for businesses like mine?

Ask for two or three live examples, ideally in your industry or a similar one. Open them on your phone. Do they load fast? Is the phone number easy to tap? Can you tell what the business does in five seconds?

Pro tip: Call one of their clients

If they are comfortable with it, ask for a client you can contact. A two-minute conversation about how the project went tells you more than any portfolio.

Question 4: What will you ask me about my business?

A good designer asks about your customers, your services, the towns you serve, how leads reach you now, and what a good month looks like. A designer who only asks about colors and fonts is building decoration, not a sales tool.

Checklist

Questions a good designer asks you

• Who are your best customers?

• Which services do you want more of?

• Which towns or areas do you serve?

• How do leads reach you now, and what happens next?

• What do your competitors' sites do well or badly?

Question 5: How will the site help me get found on Google?

Every site should launch with search basics in place: a clear title and description for each page, sensible headings, fast load times, mobile-friendly layout, and a page for each main service. Ask how they handle each one. Also ask whether ongoing SEO is included or separate, so you know what to expect after launch.

Be careful with anyone who promises a specific Google ranking by a certain date. Nobody controls Google. An honest designer will explain what they do to give you a good start and how you can keep improving.

Question 6: What happens when a lead comes in?

This is the question most owners never ask. When someone fills out a form or calls from the site, where does that lead go? Does it reach your phone right away? Does the customer get a confirmation? Is there any follow-up if you do not respond?

A website that brings in leads you never see is not much better than no website. Some designers stop at the form. Others, like us, can connect it to software that texts back missed calls, puts every lead in one inbox, and sends reminders. Ours is $111/mo, software only.

Question 7: What does support look like after launch?

Websites need small changes all the time: new photos, updated hours, a new service, a seasonal promotion. Ask how changes are handled, how fast they happen, and what they cost. Ask who you will actually talk to when something breaks.

Locking down support

1. Get the support terms in writing Response times, what is included, and the hourly or plan rate for extras.

2. Know who to call A name and a way to reach them, not just a ticket system.

3. Ask about backups How often, and how fast they can restore the site.

4. Ask about leaving If you move on, how do you get your files and access?

Putting the answers side by side

Once you have talked to two or three designers, put their answers in one table. The right choice is rarely the cheapest or the most expensive. It is the one with clear answers, fair pricing, proof of good work, and a plan for after launch.

Print this and fill it in after each call.

If you have worked with an agency before and felt it was not helping, our post on signs your marketing agency is not helping may help you avoid a repeat. And for what a full-service partner should offer, see what services a real marketing agency should offer.

After you hire: how to keep the project on track

Picking the right designer is half the job. The other half is being a good client. Projects stall most often because content and feedback are slow, not because the designer is slow.

Checklist

How to keep your project moving

• Gather your logo, photos, service list, and towns before kickoff

• Name one person on your side who approves work

• Answer questions within a day or two

• Give feedback in one list per round, not a trickle of emails

• Test the site on your own phone before you approve launch

Agree on a launch checklist too: forms tested, phone links tested, Google Business Profile pointing to the new site, analytics in place, and old page addresses redirected to new ones so you do not lose the search history you already have.

Louisville-specific things to mention

If you serve the Louisville area, tell your designer exactly which parts. Louisville is big, and customers search by neighborhood and nearby city: St. Matthews, Middletown, Jeffersontown, the Highlands, Prospect, and across the river in Jeffersonville and New Albany. A designer who builds pages around where you actually work, rather than one generic Louisville page, gives you a better chance to be found by the right customers.

Also mention whether you serve Southern Indiana. Many Louisville businesses do, and it can make sense to treat those towns as their own pages, since customers there often search with their own city names.

When to walk away

Sometimes the right move is to keep looking. Walk away if a designer will not put ownership in your name, will not itemize the price, pushes you to sign the same day, or promises rankings by a date. Also walk away if they never ask how leads reach you. Those are signs the project will be about their process, not your business.

Take your time. A website is something you will live with for years. A week spent comparing two or three designers is a small price for getting it right, and the seven questions keep that week focused.

A note on price

It is tempting to pick the lowest quote, and sometimes that is the right call. But compare quotes on what they include, not just the total. A cheaper quote that leaves out copywriting, town pages, or lead follow-up may cost more once you add those back. A higher quote that includes everything you need may be the better value. The comparison table above makes that easy to see at a glance.

Whoever you hire, keep your answers to the seven questions on file. They are the promises you can point back to later.

A designer who only asks about colors and fonts is building decoration, not a sales tool.

Frequently asked questions

How do I choose a web designer in Louisville?

Ask who owns the accounts, get itemized pricing, look at real examples on your phone, and make sure the designer asks about your customers, search basics, lead follow-up, and support after launch.

How much does a web designer in Louisville cost?

It varies widely by scope. At American Dreams Marketing, websites start at $1,500. Get every quote broken into line items so you can compare fairly.

Should I hire a freelancer or an agency?

Either can work. What matters is clear answers to the seven questions, especially ownership, pricing, and support.

Do I need a local Louisville designer?

It helps if you want to meet in person, but it is not required. We are in LaGrange and work with Louisville businesses and clients nationwide.

What should a web designer ask me?

About your customers, services, service area, how leads reach you, and what success looks like. If they only ask about design taste, keep looking.

Is SEO included in web design?

Search basics should be part of every build. Ongoing SEO is usually a separate monthly service. Ours starts at $500/mo.

Want to see how we answer all seven?

Book a free discovery call. Ask us every question on this list, and we will give you straight answers and a clear quote.

Book your free discovery call