How to Choose a Web Design Agency in India: 12 Questions to Ask

Why Choosing the Wrong Agency Is an Expensive Mistake

A website built by the wrong agency costs you twice: once when you pay for a site that does not work properly, and again when you pay someone else to rebuild it. The rebuild cost is almost always higher than if you had chosen correctly the first time, because cleaning up someone else's technical decisions is harder than building cleanly from scratch.

In India's web design market, the range of providers is enormous — from individual freelancers charging ₹5,000 to registered agencies charging ₹5,00,000 for the same job title ("web designer"). The price alone tells you nothing reliable about quality, reliability, or post-delivery support.

The 12 questions below are not about catching agencies in a lie. They are about surfacing the information that separates agencies who will be good partners from those who will vanish after payment.

Questions 1–6: Credibility and Process

**1. Are you a registered company?** Ask for GST number and CIN (Company Identification Number). A registered company with verifiable credentials is significantly less likely to disappear with your advance payment than an individual with no paper trail. You can verify any Indian company's registration at MCA.gov.in.

**2. Can I see 5 live websites you have built in the last 12 months?** Not a portfolio page with screenshots — actual live URLs. Load them on your phone. Check how fast they are. Check if they look good on mobile. This is the most honest evaluation of what your site will look like.

**3. Who specifically will build my website?** Large agencies with impressive portfolios sometimes deliver your project to a junior team. Ask who handles design, who handles development, and whether these are employees or subcontractors. There is nothing wrong with subcontracting — but know who is building your site.

**4. What is included in the scope — in writing?** Vague scope leads to scope creep, delayed delivery, and disputes. Get a written scope document that specifies exactly: number of pages, which pages, what functionality on each page, whether copywriting is included, whether stock photos are included, and what "complete" means.

**5. What is the revision policy?** Most reputable agencies include 2–3 rounds of revisions. Know what a revision means (can you change the layout? the colour palette? the entire homepage design?) and what additional revisions cost.

**6. What is the payment structure?** Standard practice is 50% advance, 50% on delivery. Agencies asking for 100% upfront are a red flag. Agencies offering 0% advance are either desperate for work or have cash flow problems — both worth examining.

Questions 7–12: Ownership, SEO, and Support

**7. Who owns the domain, hosting, and code after delivery?** This is the single most important question in any web design engagement. The domain, hosting account, and all code files should transfer to your ownership on final payment. Get this in the contract explicitly. Agencies that retain domain or hosting credentials after payment are creating dependency by design.

**8. Does the website include SEO setup?** "SEO-ready" is not the same as "SEO done." Ask specifically: will all pages have unique title tags and meta descriptions? Will there be a sitemap.xml? A robots.txt? Schema markup? If the answer is "yes, all of those," that is a professional agency. If the answer is vague or defensive, the site will not rank without additional investment.

**9. What hosting do you recommend, and why?** A good agency has a view on hosting that goes beyond "wherever is cheapest." They should be able to explain why they recommend a specific provider, what the server specs are, and what happens if the hosting needs to change later. If they are reselling hosting at a markup on top of their project fee without disclosing it, that is worth knowing.

**10. What is post-delivery support?** Thirty days of post-launch support for bug fixes is standard. Anything less than that is short. Ask specifically: what counts as a bug (versus a change request), what is the response time, and what is the cost for support after the included period?

**11. Do you have a client who I can contact as a reference?** Any reputable agency should be able to provide one or two client contacts willing to take a short call. If no references are available "due to confidentiality," that is a red flag — most clients are happy to verify that a project was delivered competently.

**12. What happens if you close down or I want to switch agencies?** This is not a hostile question — it is responsible due diligence. The answer should be: "You own everything — domain, hosting, and code — so you can take it anywhere." If the answer is complicated, your exit from this agency will also be complicated.