Ask a shortlisted agency to show a site with a similar customer journey, then explain what it actually delivered. A clear answer about forms, content updates, and launch checks is more useful than a promise that the new site will transform your business.
Give shortlisted companies the same brief and ask them to walk through one real journey on a recent project or prototype. Look for clear tradeoffs, inspectable evidence, and honest boundaries rather than an instant promise to reproduce every item on a wish list.
Related service: Website & E-commerce development- 01Write one audience, content, conversion, and constraint brief.
- 02Shortlist teams with relevant technical and content capability.
- 03Review a live site and one complete user journey.
- 04Ask for process artifacts and quality evidence.
- 05Normalize proposals and buyer responsibilities.
- 06Confirm accounts, source, content, and handover ownership.
- 07Contract around milestones, acceptance, launch, and support.
SECTION 01
Start with a brief that exposes the real work
State priority audiences, what they need, desired actions, current website, content condition, brand system, editor roles, forms, integrations, traffic or search constraints, analytics, compliance, launch driver, and internal approvers. Distinguish a new site from a redesign with migration risk.
Ask each company to identify missing decisions, recommend a first-release scope, and name responsibilities your team retains. If copy, photography, illustration, legal review, data entry, or SEO migration is excluded, capture who will supply it and by when.
SECTION 02
Use a website partner scorecard
Weight the criteria to match the website. A content-heavy publication needs strong modeling and editorial workflow; a lead-generation site needs message, form, routing, and measurement discipline; ecommerce needs catalog, transaction, security, and operations experience.
| Dimension | Evidence to request | Warning sign |
|---|---|---|
| Strategy | Audience journeys, conversion logic, measurable goal | Design starts before purpose is understood |
| Content | Inventory, model, ownership, workflow, real-content design | Placeholder copy until the end |
| Design system | Responsive components, states, reuse, editor constraints | Only desktop page mockups |
| Accessibility | Named target, keyboard and assistive-technology checks, remediation | An automated score is called compliance |
| Performance | Budgets, image and script policy, lab and field monitoring | A guaranteed score without content or device context |
| SEO migration | URL inventory, redirects, metadata, canonical and sitemap verification | SEO means only installing a plugin |
| QA and launch | Device matrix, forms, analytics, rollback, launch checklist | Testing begins after everything is built |
| Ownership | Buyer-controlled accounts, repository, CMS, documentation, exports | Domain or hosting is locked to an individual login |
SECTION 03
Review live work under realistic conditions
Choose a launched site relevant to the proposal. Navigate it on a phone, enlarge text, use a keyboard, submit a form with invalid data, examine focus and error messages, disable or delay scripts, and inspect content consistency. Ask what the company built, what another vendor supplied, and which compromises were made.
Use PageSpeed Insights or browser tools as a diagnostic, not a single verdict. Google identifies Core Web Vitals as real-world loading, interactivity, and stability metrics. Ask how the team monitors field data after launch and owns regressions introduced by content or third-party scripts.
Mobile journey
Can the priority task be completed with real content and touch controls?
Accessible journey
Can keyboard and assistive-technology users understand state, errors, and completion?
Operational journey
Can an editor publish safely and can staff recover failed form or integration work?
Measured journey
Do analytics record consent-aware events that match actual success?
SECTION 04
Ask how decisions and acceptance work
A useful process shows when audiences, sitemap, content models, copy, visual direction, components, integrations, and acceptance criteria are approved. It provides frequent working previews and uses real content before late QA. Ask who can make decisions and what happens when feedback arrives late or scope changes.
Request examples of a redirect map, component specification, CMS model, accessibility finding, test case, performance budget, analytics plan, and launch checklist. Sensitive information can be removed. The goal is to see whether evidence exists, not to obtain another client's private materials.
SECTION 05
Normalize website proposals
Compare discovery, information architecture, copy, visual design, component system, responsive states, CMS, content entry, integrations, accessibility, performance, SEO migration, analytics, consent, QA, browser support, launch, documentation, training, warranty, and maintenance. List third-party recurring charges separately.
Confirm ownership of domain, DNS, repository, hosting, CMS, analytics, tag manager, consent, email or CRM endpoints, licensed assets, and backups. Define what happens at termination, including exports, credentials, documentation, and reasonable handover.
SECTION 06
Ask questions that reveal judgment
Ask what the company would remove from your requested first release and why; how it would preserve search visibility during a redesign; what it does when a CRM rejects a form; how editors preview structured content; and how it determines whether a third-party script is worth its performance and security cost.
Strong answers identify assumptions and options. Be cautious with guaranteed ranking, guaranteed performance scores, instant precise estimates from a page count, inaccessible design presented as a later technical issue, or ownership terms that keep core assets under vendor accounts.
- 01
Ask for the riskiest assumption in your brief.
- 02
Ask how one failed form submission is detected and recovered.
- 03
Ask which accessibility checks require human evaluation.
- 04
Ask how current URLs and analytics will be verified after launch.
- 05
Ask how another team could operate the site after handover.
SECTION 07
Frequently asked questions
What should I look for in a website development company?
Look for strategy, content and CMS planning, responsive component design, accessibility, performance, SEO migration, integration handling, QA, analytics validation, transparent ownership, and post-launch support.
How do I verify a web agency's quality?
Test shipped sites under real mobile, keyboard, form, content, and performance conditions. Ask for sanitized process artifacts and have the team explain tradeoffs and post-launch results.
Should I choose the lowest website quote?
Choose the best fit and complete scope, not the lowest headline. Normalize content, design, development, migration, accessibility, performance, QA, ownership, and aftercare before comparing total cost.
What website accounts should my business own?
Your organization should control the domain, DNS, source repository, hosting, CMS, analytics, tag manager, consent tools, lead destinations, and key third-party services, with documented access and recovery.
PRIMARY REFERENCES
Sources and further reading
These references cover the standards, platforms, or published prices discussed in the guide. Worked examples and checklists are our editorial guidance.
- Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2World Wide Web Consortium
- Understanding Core Web Vitals and Google search resultsGoogle Search Central
- Application Security Verification StandardOWASP Foundation
- Web Security Testing GuideOWASP Foundation
- Secure Software Development Framework (SSDF) Version 1.1National Institute of Standards and Technology
EDITORIAL METHOD
About this guide
We use AI to assist with drafting and editing. Catapult AI Work is responsible for the published content. Examples illustrate possible approaches; they are not client case studies unless identified as such.
Budget examples are not Catapult package prices. Check linked provider pages for current fees and plan limits before making a purchase.
Read the editorial policy