What to ask whoever builds your website: 8 questions

Almost every problem with a website shows up after delivery. The domain expires and nobody knows who registered it. The agency closes and it was the only one with the admin password. You want to change supplier and find out the site isn't yours. These things are decided earlier, in the quote and in the contract. Here are eight questions to ask whoever builds your website, with the answers we give.

If you are comparing quotes and want a second reading, send them to us on WhatsApp at +39 389 591 6034. We tell you what's missing, even if you then choose another supplier.

1. Whose name is the domain in

The domain is the address of the site, and whoever it is registered to owns it. Agencies often register it in their own name to save time. While the relationship is good, nobody notices. When you change supplier, getting it back can take weeks.

Ask three things: who the registrant is, which registrar it sits with and when it expires. The right answer is: in your name, with your own login at the registrar. That is how we register it, and the same goes for hosting.

2. Which logins you get on delivery

A website has several doors. The hosting panel, the site's admin area, Google Analytics, Search Console, the Google Business profile. On delivery you should have access to each of them, or at least know where they are and who manages them.

On Analytics and Search Console the owner of the property should be your Google account. The agency is added as a user. If it is the other way round and the agency disappears one day, you lose years of visit data.

3. Who owns the code

With a subscription builder the site is rented: stop paying and the page disappears. With a custom site the code can be yours, but it has to be written down. Ask for a precise sentence in the quote: code, content and data belong to the client.

In our offers full ownership is a written item, from the landing page from €399 to the eCommerce shop. A practical example: we built the website for Spazio Casa, a Finstral installer with branches in Nicosia, Catania and Syracuse. Today an outside agency updates its content. That works because the site and the logins belong to the company.

4. What is included, item by item

"Complete website" means nothing without a list. A clear quote says how many pages, how many languages, who writes the text, who supplies the photos, which forms there are and where enquiries end up.

Also ask for the opposite list: what would raise the price. In our offers this list is public. For a landing page, for example, extra sections, extra languages or text written from scratch are additional items. Knowing it upfront avoids the argument later.

5. What it costs every year after delivery

The price of the site is a one-off. The annual costs are the ones you carry for years. Typical items are hosting, domain, any plugin or theme licences and maintenance, if you want it.

Ask for them to be written one by one, with the amount and the provider you pay. With us, hosting and domain are running costs you pay directly to the provider, with no mark-up. Maintenance is a separate, optional contract.

6. How you see the work while it's being done

A site handed over all at once at the end is a surprise, sometimes a bad one. Ask whether you will see a preview and when. Good practice is a private address where the site grows, with a review at each stage.

This is how we work: design proposal, review together, development with a preview, launch. For a photographer's portfolio, two to three weeks pass from receiving the photos to going live.

7. How fast it is, measured

"The site is fast" is an opinion. The PageSpeed Insights score is a number. Ask for the site to be measured on mobile and desktop before launch, and for the results to be sent to you.

Speed matters most on mobile, where most visits come from. For photo-heavy sites, also ask how images are handled. We convert them to AVIF and WebP and generate one size per screen: an 8 MB JPEG drops to a few hundred kB.

8. How you'll know how many enquiries it brings

A website is there to make people write or call. Ask whether contacts are measured: form submissions, WhatsApp clicks, phone clicks. Without that you can't tell whether the site is working.

For Vincenzo Ingrassia, a luxury wedding photographer, the site has an enquiry path built for international clients. Since launch new contacts and work opportunities have come in. With contacts measured, you know how many enquiries come from the site and from which page.

Frequently asked questions

Can the domain be in my name even if you register it?

Yes, and that's how we do it. We register it in your name, with your details, and give you the registrar login. If you change supplier one day, the domain stays yours.

If I change agency, do I lose the site?

Not with us. Code, content and data are yours in writing, and we hand over the logins. The new supplier can pick up the work where we left it.

How much does a website cost with you?

A landing page starts at €399, a photographer's website at €499, a B&B website with bookings at €599, an eCommerce shop at €699. They are one-off projects. Details for business websites are on the website development page. After the first call you get a fixed quote in writing.

Send us your quote, or ask for one

If you already have a quote, send it to us and we'll tell you which of these eight answers are missing. If you want one from us, tell us about your business and what the site has to do. Message us on WhatsApp at +39 389 591 6034 or use the contact form: we reply within one working day.