How to Choose a Website Design Company in 2026
The process, content, accessibility and handover questions to ask a website design company before you sign.
Key takeaways
- 01Ask to see a design process with research, wireframes, reviews and testing, not only finished screens.
- 02Clarify who writes the content and who handles SEO, analytics and redirects at launch.
- 03Check that the design meets accessibility standards, and ask for a test report.
- 04Agree handover, code or CMS access and post-launch support before design starts.
Look at the process, not only the portfolio
A portfolio shows finished designs. A good design company also shows how it reaches them: research with your users, a sitemap, wireframes, a clickable prototype, rounds of review and testing before launch. Ask to see a project from brief to launch, and ask who on the team does each step.
Clarify who does what
Many website projects stall because nobody owns the content. Agree who writes the copy, who supplies the photos and who approves the text. Also agree who handles the launch tasks that affect search: redirects for old URLs, meta titles and descriptions, analytics tags and an XML sitemap.
Check accessibility
Accessibility is a requirement for many organisations and a good practice for all. Ask the company to test the design against WCAG 2.2 AA, to fix the issues it finds, and to share a written report. A claim of "accessible by design" is not enough without a test method.
Plan the handover
Decide what you will own at launch: the design files, the code or the content management system login, the hosting account and the domain. Ask for a short training session for the people who will update the site, and a document that lists how to make common changes.
Red flags
- A portfolio with no information about the process or the team.
- A quote that does not say who writes the content or handles launch tasks.
- No accessibility testing, or no plan for it.
- Ownership of the domain, hosting or design files left unclear.
Questions to ask
- Can you walk us through one project from brief to launch?
- Who writes the copy, and who supplies the images?
- Who handles redirects, metadata, analytics and the sitemap at launch?
- How do you test accessibility, and can we see the report?
- What do we own at handover, and what support is included after launch?
How Elgrith approaches website design
We start with the goal and the users, agree the content plan with you, and test the design with real people before we build it. We agree the launch checklist, the handover and the post-launch support in writing, and we give a fixed quote after a free 30-minute call. For the SEO side of a redesign, see our website redesign SEO checklist.
Frequently asked questions
Should a design company also build the site? Often yes, because design decisions affect how a site is built. Check that the company can do both, and that it hands over the code and content in a usable form.
How long does a website take? It depends on the number of pages, the content and the integrations. The content work usually sets the timeline.
