How to choose a website agency: 12 questions to ask before you sign

Choose the agency that gives you a fixed price, puts speed and accessibility in the contract, and lets you own and export your site. Ask the twelve questions below; an agency that can't answer them plainly before you sign won't be clearer afterwards.

Written by the nextwebsite.co team, and last checked on November 7, 2026.

Start with the price

Most agencies don't publish one. In a 2026 census of 42 agencies listed on the directories that rank for agency searches, 78.6% published no prices at all¹. That isn't a reason to rule them out, but it is a reason to insist on a fixed price in writing before you start.

The twelve questions

On price

Is the price fixed, and what does it include? Pages, forms, booking, content migration and revisions should all be listed. Anything billed by the hour should say so.
What will the site cost to run each month? Hosting, a care plan, plugin licences and updates. WordPress care plans alone commonly run $199 to $499 a month⁴.

On ownership

Who owns the domain, the content and the code? You should, in writing.
Can I take the site to another host or developer? Ask how, and what you'd receive.
Can I edit it myself? Ask to try the editor on a demo site before you sign.

On search

How will you keep our rankings? You want to hear about a list of every URL, and a permanent redirect for each one that changes³.
What happens to our page titles, descriptions and structured data? They should be carried across, not rewritten from scratch.

On quality

Will speed be in the contract? A Lighthouse score or Core Web Vitals pass on a phone, as an acceptance criterion.
Will accessibility be in the contract? WCAG 2.2 AA⁵, tested by machine and by a person, not by an overlay widget.
Who will do the work? Names, and who reviews it.

On after launch

What happens if something breaks? Response times, and who you call.
What's the plan for security updates? If the answer is a list of plugins to update every week, ask what it would take to need none.

How to read the answers

Good agencies answer these plainly before you sign, because the answers are their process. Vague answers on ownership and rankings are the ones that cost most later. And compare prices like for like: in a 2026 survey of 1,019 US sellers, agencies started at a median of $4,500, against $1,000 for solo freelancers², but the work included varies as much as the price.

Checklist

Get a fixed price in writing, with what's included and what isn't.
Get speed and accessibility targets written into the contract.
Confirm you own the domain, the content and the site's code.
Ask for a redirect plan for every URL that ranks today.
Ask what the site costs to run each month, and who updates it.
Ask to edit a demo site yourself before you sign.

Check your own site

The free scan reads what any visitor can see: security, speed on a phone, accessibility and search. It takes under a minute.