How to choose a web designer in Las Vegas

Work out what you need first

Most bad outcomes start before anyone is hired, with a brief that says "we need a new website" and nothing else. Two businesses can say that sentence and need entirely different things.

• What is the website for? Phone calls, bookings, online sales, credibility for referrals that already come by word of mouth? These produce different sites.
• Who is the visitor? Someone in an emergency, someone comparing three quotes, someone who was referred and is checking you are real.
• What do you want them to DO? One primary action. If you cannot name it, the designer will pick one for you and it may not be the one you wanted.
• What already works? If anything currently brings in enquiries, say so early. Redesigns that quietly remove the working part are more common than you would think — see website redesign.

Eight questions worth asking

Not a trick list. These separate people who have done this often from people who have not.

• Who actually does the work? Some firms sell and subcontract. That is not automatically bad, but you should know whether the person you are talking to is the person building it.
• What happens after launch? The single most useful question. A site with nobody maintaining it is a liability within a year — out-of-date software, no backups, nobody to call.
• What do you need from me, and when? Content is what delays projects, almost every time. A designer who has done this will tell you precisely what they need and when, because they have been burned by it.
• How do you handle my existing rankings? If you have a site that ranks, the answer must involve URL mapping and redirects planned before launch. "We will set up redirects afterwards" is the wrong answer.
• What is not included? Ask directly. Copywriting, photography, stock licences, premium plugins, hosting, ongoing changes — any of these can be in or out.
• Can I update it myself? And if so, which parts? "Yes" sometimes means text only.
• What do you need access to? Domain registrar, DNS, hosting, Google Business Profile, analytics. A designer who needs none of these is probably not doing the technical half.
• Who owns what at the end — domain, content, files, design? Get the answer in writing before you start, from anyone you hire. It is cheap to ask now and expensive to discover later.

Answers that should worry you

• A guaranteed Google ranking. Nobody controls Google's results. A guarantee is either a misunderstanding or a sales tactic, and it is the clearest signal on this list.
• A quote with no questions first. A number produced before anyone asked what the site has to do is a number for a different project.
• No written scope. "We'll figure it out as we go" is how projects double and relationships end.
• A portfolio with no live links. Screenshots are easy. Ask for URLs you can open — and ask which were built by the person you are hiring rather than by a previous employer.
• Vagueness about hosting and ownership. Not necessarily malice, but you want it clear in writing either way.
• Pressure to decide today. Discounts with a deadline are a sales technique, not a business practice.
• They never say no. A designer who agrees with every request is not bringing judgement. You are paying for the judgement.

Comparing quotes that are not comparable

You will get wildly different numbers for what sounds like the same job. Usually they are not the same job.

Before comparing, normalise them. Write out, for each quote: number of pages, who writes the copy, who supplies images, whether hosting is included, what post-launch support exists and for how long, what happens to your existing URLs, and what a change costs in month four. The cheap quote frequently excludes four of those.

A useful habit: ask each quote the same single question — "what would make this go over budget?" The answers tell you more about how they work than the figure does.

For reference, ours are published: $3,500 to build and $250 a month to run, with what moves those numbers written out on the same page. You should be able to get that level of clarity from anyone you are considering.

Does local actually matter?

Less than local firms usually claim, and more than nothing.

It does not matter much for the build. Design and development work perfectly well over calls and email, and insisting on in-person meetings mostly costs everyone time.

It matters more when your CUSTOMERS are local. Someone who knows the valley understands why a Summerlin customer and a Henderson customer search differently, that half your competitors are national franchises with budgets you do not have, and that an HVAC company's year has two seasons. That is market knowledge, not geography — and you can test for it by asking.

It matters most for accountability. A local firm has a reputation in the same city you do.

If that is what you are weighing, our Las Vegas website design page covers how we work with businesses in the valley, including the local sites we have built and can link you to.

Before you sign

• Scope in writing: pages, functionality, what is excluded.
• Timeline, and what you owe them to keep it.
• Total cost, payment schedule, and what triggers extra charges.
• Who owns the domain, the content, the files and the design — in writing.
• What happens after launch, and what it costs.
• How changes are requested and how quickly they happen.
• Which accounts they need access to, and that those accounts are in YOUR name.

That last one is worth repeating: your domain, your hosting account where practical, your Google Business Profile, your analytics — all registered to you, whoever builds the site. It is the difference between hiring someone and depending on them.

If you want to put these questions to us, book a 15-minute call. If the answers send you somewhere else, the guide did its job.