How to Choose a Website Developer for Your Small Business

Hiring a website developer is confusing. You’ll find agencies quoting $15,000, freelancers quoting $500, and your nephew who “knows Wix” offering to do it for free. How do you know who’s going to deliver something that actually works?

I’ve been building websites for over a decade. Here’s what I’d tell a friend who’s hiring a developer for their small business.

What to look for

They show their work

A good developer has a portfolio of live websites you can visit right now. Not screenshots. Not Photoshop mockups. Real, working sites you can click around and test on your phone.

When you look at their portfolio, check:

Do the sites load fast? (Test on your phone over regular cellular data.)
Do they look good on mobile?
Are they for businesses similar to yours?
Do the sites actually look different from each other? (Cookie-cutter portfolios are a red flag.)

They ask you questions

Before a good developer quotes you, they want to understand your business. They should ask about your customers, your goals, what’s working now, and what isn’t. If someone gives you a price without understanding your needs, they’re selling a commodity, not a solution.

The best developers act more like consultants than order-takers. They’ll push back on bad ideas (politely) and suggest approaches you hadn’t considered.

They explain things clearly

You shouldn’t need a computer science degree to understand what your developer is doing. A good one explains technical decisions in plain language. “We’re building this as a static site because it loads faster and costs nothing to host” is better than “we’re leveraging a JAMstack architecture for optimized TTFB.”

If someone can’t explain their approach simply, they either don’t understand it themselves or they’re trying to confuse you into thinking it’s more complex (and expensive) than it is.

They talk about what happens after launch

Building a website is only half the work. What happens when you need to update your hours? Change a photo? Add a new service? A responsible developer talks about post-launch maintenance before you sign anything.

Good questions to ask:

How do I make simple content changes?
What does ongoing maintenance cost?
Do I own the code and domain?
What happens if we stop working together?

Red flags to watch for

”We’ll build it on our proprietary platform”

If a developer wants to build your site on a platform they own, you’re locked in. If the relationship goes south, you lose your website. Always ask: “If we part ways, do I keep the site and the code?”

The answer should be an unequivocal yes.

No written contract

Even for a $500 project, you need a written agreement covering scope, timeline, deliverables, revision rounds, and payment terms. Any developer who resists putting things in writing is someone you shouldn’t trust with your money.

They promise SEO magic

Building a website with basic SEO best practices (proper titles, meta descriptions, fast loading, mobile-friendly) is standard. Promising to “get you on page 1 of Google” is a different thing entirely, and it’s not something anyone can guarantee.

Be skeptical of developers who bundle aggressive SEO promises into a web build. Good technical SEO is table stakes. Ranking for competitive terms takes months of ongoing work.

They won’t give you a timeline

“It depends” is a lazy answer. Yes, timelines vary by project scope. But a developer should be able to give you a range. “A site like this typically takes 2-3 weeks” is honest. “It’ll be done when it’s done” is someone who doesn’t manage their time well.

They charge monthly for a static site

If your site is pure HTML/CSS (no CMS, no database, no custom backend), hosting is free or nearly free. A developer charging $50-100/month to “host” a static site is overcharging you for something that costs them nothing.

Monthly fees only make sense if they include ongoing work: content updates, performance monitoring, or active maintenance of a complex system.

Questions to ask before hiring

Here’s a cheat sheet. Ask these before you commit:

Can I see three live websites you’ve built? (Not mockups. Live sites.)
What platform or technology will you use, and why?
Do I own the code and domain?
How do I make changes after launch?
What’s included in the price, and what costs extra?
What’s the timeline from start to live?
How many revision rounds are included?
What does ongoing maintenance look like?
Can I move the site to a different host if I want?
What happens if we need to part ways?

A good developer will answer every one of these without hesitation.

The budget reality

For most small businesses, here’s what things actually cost:

Simple 4-page site (template-based): $0-$1,500
Custom-designed site: $3,000-$10,000
Site with custom features (booking, e-commerce, portals): $5,000-$20,000+

If someone quotes significantly above or below these ranges, ask why. There might be a good reason. But there might not.

For a complete breakdown of pricing options, read our website packages for small business guide.

If you’re not ready to hire

You don’t have to hire a developer right now. You can start with a free template, get your site live, and upgrade later when you have the budget and the clarity on what you need.

A simple site that’s live today is better than a perfect site that’s coming “soon.” Your customers are searching for you right now.

Check out our small business website guide for a full overview of all your options, or browse our free templates to get started today.

How we work

I’ll be honest: we’re a small studio, and we’re selective about the projects we take on. We work best with business owners who know what they want and are ready to move.

Free templates: Over 100 options for local businesses. Browse them here.
Done-for-you packages: We customize a template with your content and handle hosting. Starting at $397.
Custom builds: Designed and built from scratch. Starting at $3,000.

We don’t lock anyone into proprietary platforms. You own everything. And if you decide to take your site elsewhere someday, you take it with you. That’s how it should work.