Firstly, take a look at their portfolio and some of their recent projects. Do you like their style? Do their websites ALL have a similar look and feel or are they quite varied? 

Take a really good look at the copy on their site. Is it well written with good spelling and grammar which makes sense or is it mostly marketing cliches? There’s a good chance that you will have to rely on your web designer to help with text for your website, so this is an important consideration.

Choose a web designer that asks all about you and your business. They need to know who you are, what you do and why people should use you. If not how else can they create a website that reflects your business and reaches the right audience?

Make sure you get a good understanding of their fees and how much the estimated cost will be. Many web designers offer ‘pricing packages’ so it is import to ask exactly what you get for your money, as they might try to increase the cost of the website with add-ons. 

Are you going to want to maintain the website yourself? Ask them if they will develop the site so that it can easily be managed. You can have your site designed and developed on a platform like WordPress, which allows for this.

Ensure that the domain name is registered to YOU, even if your web designer purchases this on your behalf.

Make sure that any contract states that you own the copyright to the entire site (except for things like stock photos you may have purchased).

If you can, talk to some of their recent clients to see how well the process was. Did they meet deadlines, adhere to budgets and were they good to work with?  You’ll have to enjoy working with them!