Ten questions to ask any provider
Including the agency you are also talking to. And including me.
This page does not answer them. The answers are commitments, and you should get commitments from the person who has to keep them.
- 01
Whose name is the domain registered in?
The domain is your address. If it sits in the provider's name, every future move needs their cooperation. Ask to be shown where your name appears in the registry.
- 02
Who owns the source code once the project is finished?
On custom work this is negotiable, and it often goes unnegotiated. Settle beforehand whether you get the code, whether you may pass it on, and in what form you receive it.
- 03
Where do the servers stand, and whose law applies there?
"In the cloud" is not an answer. For a practice, or anyone handling patient or customer data, location decides who can demand access and under what conditions.
- 04
What happens to my site if you are no longer reachable?
With individuals and small teams this is the most important question there is, and the most uncomfortable. A good answer says where the credentials live and who else could take the site over.
- 05
What are the running costs, who do they go to, and what happens if I stop paying them?
Hosting, domain, licences, maintenance. Ask which items sit directly with you and which run through the provider — and in the second case, what happens when the relationship ends.
- 06
What can I change myself, without asking?
Text, images, opening hours, prices. Have it demonstrated live rather than described. The difference between "possible" and "possible in ten seconds" decides whether you ever do it.
- 07
What does a change cost after launch, and how long does it take?
Ask for a concrete example: one new menu item, one replaced photo. Answers like "just get in touch" tell you nothing about price or response time.
- 08
What is it built on, and who besides you can maintain it?
You do not need to understand the answer. You need to be able to write it down, so that a second expert in three years can judge what they are looking at.
- 09
Which third-party services does my site load, and what do they see of my visitors?
Fonts, maps, videos, analytics, chat: every embedded service receives your visitors' IP addresses. You need the full list, because it is your privacy policy that has to account for it.
- 10
How fast is the site on a three-year-old phone on mobile data?
Not on the provider's machine on office wifi. Ask to see a measurement, and ask them to tell you which number counts as good and why.
Ask me these ten questions
I answer them in the first conversation without being asked. If you do not like one of my answers, you have saved an hour rather than a project.
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