An impressive presentation can make several agencies look equally convincing. The useful differences emerge when you ask how a visitor will complete a task, how your team will update the site and how a problem will be handled six months later.
This guide is for UK businesses choosing a partner for a new business website or a rebuild. It offers a practical way to collect evidence and make a decision. For budget planning, start with our separate UK business website cost guide; here, the focus is on evaluating the people and proposal.
Give every web design agency the same brief
Start with a customer task rather than a list of visual preferences. For a local service business, that might be finding the relevant service, understanding the area covered and sending an enquiry with enough detail for a useful reply. For a membership business, joining and managing an account may matter more.
Write a short brief that sets out the audience, main customer tasks, existing content, required integrations and who will maintain the website. Separate essential launch requirements from ideas that can wait. Include the budget you can actually allocate and any deadline that has a real business consequence.
Ask each provider to return its assumptions as well as its price. If one proposal assumes that you supply finished copy and another includes writing, their totals are not yet comparable. Resolve that difference before choosing.
A helpful first conversation should leave you clearer about the project. Ask the agency to explain one requirement it would challenge, one dependency that could delay delivery and one feature it would postpone. The reasoning is more useful than an enthusiastic agreement to everything.
Request evidence of work that resembles your problem
Relevant experience is about the task and constraints, not simply a familiar industry logo. A team that has made a complicated booking journey understandable may have useful experience for a business with a different audience but a similar process.
Request a walk-through of a suitable completed project. Establish which parts the agency delivered and whether the people involved would work on yours. A polished screenshot does not tell you who wrote the content, implemented the functionality or maintained it afterwards.
For each example, ask what changed, why that decision was made and what the team would do differently now. If a result is quoted, request its definition, comparison period and relevant context. An increase in enquiries could also reflect different advertising, seasonality or a changed offer.
Where permission allows, speak to a previous client about decisions, communication and the handover. Avoid requesting access to private customer records or another business’s analytics account. A redacted explanation can be enough to understand the method.
Turn quality promises into acceptance checks
Words such as fast, accessible and search-friendly need a shared definition. Ask for the pages and journeys to be tested, the method, the evidence you will receive and the person responsible for resolving problems. Put these checks into the proposal so they can guide delivery.
Accessibility: ask how people can use the site
Ask the agency to demonstrate navigation with a keyboard, visible focus, usable form labels and errors, and content that remains readable when enlarged. Agree the accessibility standard and scope of any specialist assessment required for your audience.
The W3C Easy Checks are useful for an initial review, but W3C explicitly explains that they are not a complete assessment. A clean automated report alone is not sufficient evidence that every customer can complete the important journeys. Ask what manual evaluation is included and how unresolved barriers will be documented.
Performance: understand what the measurement represents
Request checks on representative pages, including a content-heavy page and a form, using the agreed integrations. A stripped-down demonstration may behave differently once images, tracking and third-party tools are added.
Google’s Web Vitals guidance covers loading, responsiveness and visual stability. Ask whether evidence comes from a controlled test or measurements from real visitors, which devices it covers and when it was collected. These answer different questions. Agree what will happen if real-user evidence is not yet available, and when performance will be reviewed after launch.
Search: distinguish delivery work from outcomes
Ask for a list of search-related deliverables: understandable page structure, useful titles, crawlable content and an agreed approach to existing URLs on a rebuild. Define who checks the live site after launch and who owns ongoing content work.
Google’s SEO Starter Guide explains that following its guidance does not ensure indexing or a first-place ranking. Evaluate an agency’s method and reporting rather than a promised position. A website build and a continuing search programme can have different scopes; ask where the boundary sits.
Compare proposals using a simple evidence table
Create one table and fill it in for every shortlisted provider. Record the actual answer, the document supporting it and anything still unresolved. A blank answer remains an open question, not an assumed inclusion.
| Decision area | Evidence to request | What to clarify |
|---|---|---|
| Customer journeys | Page and functionality list linked to the brief | Which tasks are included at launch? |
| Content and design | Named responsibilities and review stages | Who supplies copy, images and approvals? |
| Technical delivery | Platform rationale and testing plan | Which integrations and constraints were considered? |
| Commercial scope | Itemised proposal and recurring-cost schedule | What triggers extra work or a revised estimate? |
| Ongoing operation | Support terms and handover inventory | Who maintains the site and controls access? |
Use your own priorities rather than an arbitrary universal score. A business that updates its site every day might place editor usability near the top. A site with a complex integration may place greater weight on technical support. Some requirements should be essential: a strong visual concept cannot compensate for an unsupported business-critical function.
Compare total commitments over the same period. Include the build, hosting, maintenance, licences, content work and any compulsory subscriptions. Ask whether figures include VAT and whether renewals or usage limits can change the cost. A fixed project fee, subscription or time-based arrangement can each work when its boundaries and exit terms are clear.
See the editing experience before selecting the platform
Ask for a demonstration of a routine task your team will perform: changing a service description, replacing an image or adding a useful page. Watch how the system handles mistakes and previews changes. The person who will maintain the site should take part.
Discuss the trade-offs between a familiar content management system, a hosted website platform and a custom build. Ask what the proposed choice makes easier, which features require extra services and what skills are needed to maintain it. A platform name alone does not establish quality.
Agree how training will be delivered and what documentation will remain available afterwards. Check whether the proposal includes reusable templates for future pages and whether content can be exported in a usable form. These details affect everyday independence and the cost of future changes.
Agree access, support and handover while the scope is clear
Make a list of the domain, hosting, website administration, design files, source code, analytics and third-party services involved. For each, document the account holder, your access, recovery arrangements and what can be transferred if you change provider. Identify licensed components separately from assets created for the project.
Ask who pays renewal charges and what happens to agency-managed licences after the relationship ends. Do not assume that every subscription, design asset or platform feature can move unchanged. If contractual wording about rights or termination is unclear, obtain appropriate advice before signing.
Define support in practical terms. Who receives a broken-form report? What are the service hours? How are urgent problems prioritised? Distinguish an acknowledgement time from the time required to fix a fault, and clarify which changes require a separate estimate.
Request a handover checklist covering access, training, dependencies, backup responsibilities and outstanding issues. Ask how a backup would be restored and who is authorised to do so. The aim is a site your business can operate, with responsibilities that remain understandable after the project team moves on.
Make the final decision with the unresolved questions visible
Before accepting a proposal, send back your understanding of the scope, responsibilities, costs and acceptance checks. Ask the agency to correct it in writing. This small exercise can expose a different interpretation of a feature before it becomes an expensive disagreement.
Choose the provider whose evidence and working approach fit the project you have defined. If a critical requirement remains unanswered, resolve it before committing rather than assuming it will be sorted during development.
If you are considering Alchemist Media, review our web design service information and current pricing options, then send your brief and questions. Ask us to confirm the scope, relevant examples and support arrangements for your project. Treat that response as part of the same comparison you make with any other provider.
Frequently asked questions
Should I choose a local agency or work remotely?
Decide how you need to collaborate. In-person workshops may matter for some projects; reliable remote meetings may be sufficient for others. Confirm availability, working hours and who will attend key decisions. Location alone does not establish suitability.
How many proposals should I compare?
Compare enough credible options to understand the trade-offs without creating more work than you can evaluate. A small shortlist using the same brief is more useful than many unrelated quotes. Add another provider if a critical requirement is not covered.
Can I keep my current website while the new one is built?
Ask for a staging and launch plan that explains how development stays separate from the live site. For an active business, discuss content changes during the build, the cutover, verification and recovery arrangements. Do not assume these are included unless the proposal says so.
Sources
- W3C: Easy Checks — A First Review of Web Accessibility.
- Google web.dev: Web Vitals.
- Google Search Central: SEO Starter Guide.
Sources checked on 24 October 2026. The comparison method is editorial guidance; agree the requirements for your own project in writing.
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