Choosing a studio
, 3 min read
How to choose a web designer in India
Nine questions to ask before you pay anyone, and the answers that should make you keep looking. Including the ones that are awkward for us.
Hiring someone to build a website is hard because you cannot judge the work until it is done, and by then you have paid. Most people end up choosing on price, which is how they end up paying twice.
These are the questions that tell you the most, in the order we would ask them. We build websites, so read this knowing that. Where a question is awkward for us, we have said so.
The nine questions
- Can I see three sites you have built that are live right now? Not screenshots. Live URLs you can open on your own phone.
- Whose name will the domain and hosting be registered in? The only acceptable answer is yours.
- Exactly how many pages does this price cover? Everything else on the quote follows from this number.
- What is not included? A good answer is specific and slightly uncomfortable. A vague one means you will find out later.
- Who will actually do the work? If the person selling is not the person building, ask to speak to the builder.
- What does a change cost in month three? Every site needs one eventually. Find out the price before you need it.
- Can I edit the site myself, and if not, what does that cost? Assume the answer is no unless they say otherwise.
- What happens if I want to leave? If the answer involves anything other than handing over logins, walk away.
- What will you not do for me? Anyone who says they do everything does nothing especially well.
Answers that should worry you
- "We will get you to number one on Google." Nobody can promise a ranking. Anyone who does is either guessing or lying.
- "The price depends on your budget." That means the price depends on what they think you will pay.
- "We will register the domain for you, do not worry about it." Worry about it.
- "Unlimited pages" or "unlimited revisions". Neither is real, and both get quietly rationed later.
- A portfolio full of designs with no live links. Anyone can post an image of a website.
- A monthly fee for a brochure site, with nothing named that the fee actually buys.
The cheapest quote and the most expensive quote are usually both wrong. The useful signal is which one can explain its number.
How to compare two quotes that look nothing alike
Put them side by side and reduce each to four numbers: pages included, total price, cost of a change afterwards, and what you owe every year. Most of the apparent difference disappears once you do this, and what is left is the real comparison.
Then open two of their live sites on your phone, on mobile data rather than wifi. If a page takes more than a few seconds to show you something, that is what your customers will get too.
Freelancer, agency, or a builder you use yourself
| Option | Best when | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Do it yourself on a builder | Budget is genuinely zero and your time is free. | It will look like a template, and you own less than you think. |
| A freelancer or small studio | You want one person accountable and a price you can see. | One person can get busy. Ask what happens then. |
| A full agency | You need photography, copywriting and a large site at once. | You pay for the layers between you and the person building. |
Where we sit, plainly
We are a two person studio with fixed prices published on the site: ₹3,000, ₹5,000 and ₹10,000. Ashwani builds every customer site himself. The sites are static, which is why they are fast, and which also means there is no admin panel for editing text yourself unless you pay for one. Changes after launch are ₹2,000 for up to five.
We are also new, with no customer testimonials yet, and you should weigh that. Ask us the nine questions above. If someone answers them better, hire them.