9 Questions to Ask a Perth Web Designer Before You Sign Anything

Most bad web projects are predictable from the first meeting. Not because the designer is dishonest, but because nobody established who owns what, who maintains it, and what happens after launch. These are the questions worth asking before money changes hands.

1. Who owns the domain name?

It should be you, registered in your business name, with you on the account. If your domain sits inside an agency’s account, changing providers later becomes a negotiation instead of an admin task. Ask to be listed as the registrant and make sure you can log in.

2. Who owns the website files and content?

Ask directly: if we part ways, do I get the site? Some arrangements are effectively rentals — a site built on a proprietary platform that you cannot take anywhere. That can be a perfectly reasonable deal, but you should know you are in it before you sign, not two years later.

3. What happens after launch?

Websites are not finished objects. They need updates, backups, security patches, and someone to call when something breaks at an inconvenient time. Ask what is included, what costs extra, and how fast you can expect a response. “We’ll sort it out” is not an answer.

4. Will the content be visible without JavaScript?

This sounds technical, and it is, but it has direct commercial consequences. Some modern sites deliver an empty page and then build the content in the visitor’s browser. Google’s crawler often does not perform that step immediately, so your content can go unseen for weeks after you publish it.

You do not need to understand the mechanics. You need to hear that the designer has considered it, and you can verify it yourself afterwards by viewing the page source and checking your headings are actually in there.

5. Which searches is this site meant to win?

A good answer is specific: these four services, in these areas, with a page each. A bad answer is “it’ll be SEO optimised”. If nobody can name the searches the site is built to compete for, nobody has checked whether anyone is searching for them.

6. Can I edit it myself?

Be honest with yourself about whether you actually will. Some owners want full control; others want to never think about it again. Both are fine. The failure mode is being handed a system you were told you could manage, that you then do not touch for three years while its plugins go out of date.

7. Who do I actually speak to?

In smaller Perth businesses this matters more than any feature list. Will you be dealing with the person doing the work, or a project manager relaying messages? Neither is wrong, but response times and clarity differ enormously between them.

8. What are the ongoing costs, in full?

Hosting, domain renewal, SSL, email, maintenance, licences for any premium plugins or themes. Get the annual total. Projects rarely go wrong on the build cost; they go wrong on the running costs nobody itemised.

9. Can I see a site you built two years ago?

Anyone can show you something launched last month. The interesting question is what their work looks like after it has been lived in — is it still up to date, still fast, still maintained? That tells you what you are actually buying.

A note on price

You will find Perth web design quoted anywhere from a few hundred dollars to well into five figures, and the number on its own tells you very little. What changes the value is scope, ownership, and whether anyone is still responsible for the site in year two. Compare those, not the headline figure.

How KFTMS answers these

You own your domain and your site. You deal directly with the person building it. The site is delivered so that its content is readable by search engines without waiting on a rendering queue. Hosting, updates, backups, and support are handled as part of a managed arrangement rather than left for you to chase.

If you are still working out what you need before you speak to anyone, start with our guide on choosing a small business website in Perth, or look at how we approach website design for Perth businesses.