Web design: what to settle with an agency before the first mock-up

Start with what the site has to achieve: enquiries, bookings, online sales, recruitment, or simply a credible place to send people after a meeting. That goal decides the structure far more than your taste in colours. Then list the pages you expect, the languages, and who will write and update the text. Agencies can write copy, but it is usually charged separately, and a designer waiting for text is the most common cause of delay.

Say whether you want to edit content yourself through a content management system, and how often. A site edited weekly by several staff needs a different set-up from one that changes twice a year. For an online shop, the platform matters more than the look: a hosted shop system is quicker to launch and maintained for you, while a self-hosted one gives more freedom but leaves updates and security with you or the agency.

• the main goal and who the visitors are
• number of pages and languages
• who supplies text, photos and product data
• whether you need a CMS and how many editors
• bookings, forms, payments or links to your CRM
• the existing domain, hosting and email set-up
• brand guidelines, if you have them

The accepted benchmark is the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, currently WCAG 2.2, at level AA. Public sector bodies are legally bound to it under the public sector accessibility regulations and must publish an accessibility statement. Private businesses are not covered by those regulations, but the Equality Act 2010 requires service providers not to discriminate against disabled people, and a website that cannot be used with a screen reader or keyboard can shut customers out.

In practice, ask the agency to design and test against WCAG 2.2 AA and to say how it tests: automated checks catch only part of the problems, so manual keyboard and screen reader testing should be included. Accessibility is far cheaper to build in than to retrofit. If you sell to consumers in the EU, the European Accessibility Act may also apply to your online shop.

Source: legislation.gov.uk

Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations, cookies and similar technologies need the visitor's consent unless they are strictly necessary for the service the visitor asked for, such as a shopping basket. There is now also an exception for storage used only to collect statistics about how your own site is used in order to improve it, provided visitors are told clearly and can object easily and free of charge. Advertising and retargeting cookies are not covered by that exception.

Ask the agency which third-party scripts the site will load, from fonts and maps to video players and chat widgets, and how the consent banner blocks them until the visitor agrees. Contact and booking forms collect personal data, so you also need a privacy notice that says what you do with it. The ICO is revising its cookie guidance, so check its current version when the site goes live.

Register the domain in your company's name, with a company email address you control, not in the agency's account. The same applies to hosting, the CMS administrator account, Google Search Console and your analytics account: the agency can have access, but you should hold the master login. Businesses regularly lose their domain because it was registered years ago by a freelancer who can no longer be reached.

Check what you are actually buying. The design itself is protected by copyright, and it stays with the agency unless the contract assigns it to you in writing. Premium themes and plug-ins are often licensed per site and need renewing. Stock photos and fonts come with licence terms, and an image lifted from a search engine can lead to a demand for payment from the rights holder.

Replacing an existing site is where search traffic is most often lost. If page addresses change, every old address needs a permanent redirect to its new equivalent, otherwise links from other sites and bookmarked pages lead to errors and search engines have to rediscover your content. Ask the agency for a redirect map before launch, and keep your analytics and Search Console running across the switch so you can compare.

Also agree what happens to content that is being dropped, and whether email is hosted with the website. Moving hosting without checking the mail records has taken down many a company's email on launch day.

Tell us the type of project, the rough number of pages and languages, whether you want a CMS and when you want to start. After you confirm your phone number and email address, web design agencies in your region see the request without your name or contact details. Only one agency can buy it, and it pays Offrano for that, not you. We then email you the agency's name, address and phone number before it gets your details.

Nobody is obliged to buy a request, so we cannot promise a quote, and a request that finds no buyer is withdrawn after 21 days. We check that the buyer is a registered business; we do not judge its design work, so look at sites it has built and test one of them on a phone yourself.