Reviewed July 2026. This article was substantially updated to reflect current web standards and practices.
A portfolio can show visual range, but it cannot tell you whether a website was strategic, accessible, maintainable, or effective. Evaluate the partner's process and the result behind the pictures.
Write a useful brief
Describe the business, audiences, current problems, desired outcomes, required integrations, content needs, constraints, decision makers, timeline, and budget range. A clear brief leads to more comparable proposals.
Ask for relevant evidence
Review live work on mobile and desktop. Ask what the team owned, what changed for the client, how accessibility and performance were tested, and how the site has held up after launch.
Understand the working relationship
Clarify discovery, content responsibility, feedback rounds, project management, approvals, change control, quality assurance, launch, training, support, and who will actually perform the work.
Protect ownership and continuity
Confirm ownership of domains, accounts, source files, code, content, licenses, analytics, and credentials. The agreement should define portability, documentation, warranties, maintenance, and what happens if either party changes direction.
Compare proposals on the same dimensions
Ask each candidate to explain goals, scope, deliverables, responsibilities, timeline, assumptions, exclusions, fees, change process, launch, and support. A proposal should identify content and migration responsibility, integrations, accessibility and testing standards, analytics, redirects, training, and ownership.
Questions worth asking
- Who will work on strategy, content, design, development, and quality assurance?
- How do you learn about customers and test information architecture?
- How do you handle accessibility throughout the process?
- What performance and browser standards are included?
- How are content, redirects, forms, analytics, and search visibility migrated?
- What will our team be able to edit safely?
- How are bugs, support, updates, and future improvements handled?
- Can we speak with a client whose site has been live for at least a year?
Watch for warning signs
Be cautious with guaranteed rankings, unclear ownership, a price that omits content and testing, proprietary accounts the client cannot access, inaccessible portfolio work, or a process that starts with choosing a template before understanding the audience.
The best partner may challenge assumptions and narrow scope when evidence supports it. Good communication includes clear decisions, risks, and tradeoffs, not automatic agreement with every request.