Budget web designers are easy to find and hard to compare. The adverts use the same words: modern, SEO, mobile, affordable. The difference shows up in the questions they can answer without sending you a brochure. If you are hiring someone for a small London site, you are not buying a brand campaign. You are buying a set of pages that a customer can use, at a price you can see.
Use this list in the first conversation, including with us. A designer who will not answer it before a deposit is asking you to buy the process instead of the site.
What the role actually is
A budget designer plans the page list, writes or edits the words with you, builds the pages, and puts them on a host you can log in to. They connect the form, the phone link, and the basic details a search engine needs. They do not need to be a full marketing department. If the offer is “we will run your ads, your social feeds, and your site” for a small monthly fee, ask which of those three they will actually do this month.
For a local firm, the designer should also understand the Google profile. The website and the listing have to name the same business. That is covered in local SEO. It is a normal part of a small build, not a separate career.
Questions worth asking
How many pages are in the price, and what happens if we add one? Who registers the domain, and whose name is on it? What do we pay in the second year, and to whom? Can we change the phone number ourselves? Where do form messages go? Will the old addresses redirect if we already have a site? Is there a monthly fee to keep the design, or only the hosting renewal?
Ask for the price of the thing you need, not a range that starts low and ends somewhere else. Our published bands are £150, £295, and £495, explained in how much web design costs in London. Year two is typically about £60 to the providers. If another designer’s year two is a large monthly bill, you are comparing different products.
How to read an example
Open the example on your phone. Can you find the service in one tap? Is the phone number a link? Are the photos of a real business or of a handshake? Does the page say where the business is, in words a person would use? A beautiful homepage that never names a service is a weak example for a local firm, however current it looks.
Ask whether the example is a client or a demo. A demo is allowed if it is labelled. It is not proof that a London business used it to get calls. We would rather show the structure we will use for you than a fictional case study with a growth percentage.
Answers that should stop you
Be wary of a guaranteed ranking, a price that excludes the mobile layout, a contract you cannot leave, and a site you cannot edit. Be wary of a designer who wants a page for every borough before they know where you work. Be wary of Latin placeholder text left in a “finished” example. Be wary of a quote that will not say whether SSL is included.
Also be wary of silence about accessibility. Readable text and a labelled form are not a premium. They are described in accessible website design. A budget build that ignores them creates support work later.
How we answer them
You own the site. The first year of domain, hosting, and SSL is in the package. Care afterwards is optional, through website care. We will tell you if the page list does not fit the starter price. Send the services and the area and we will answer the list above in writing before you decide. The companion on price, rather than on people, is cheap web design in London.
Frequently asked questions
Should I hire the cheapest designer?
Hire the one who can state the pages, the year-two cost, and the ownership. The lowest advert is often missing one of those.
Do I need a designer based in my borough?
No. You need a site that states your area correctly. The designer can work remotely.
Can I see the price before a call?
Yes. Starter £150, business £295, growth £495, with the first year of domain, hosting, and SSL included.
