How to choose a website developer in India: 12 questions to ask

Short answer: choose the developer whose past websites load fast on your phone, who puts pages, price, timeline and ownership in writing, and who can explain how the site will bring you enquiries, not just how it will look. The 12 questions below cover everything else.

Most bad website projects in India fail for the same few reasons: an unclear scope, a domain registered in the developer’s name, no plan for year two, and a site that looks fine on a laptop but crawls on a phone. Each question below is there to catch one of those early.

Questions about their work

1. Can I see three live sites you built for businesses like mine? Live links, not screenshots. Open them on your phone, on mobile data. If they are slow or broken there, yours will be too.
2. Who exactly will build my site? The person you speak to, a team, or a subcontractor? None is wrong, but you should know who to call when something breaks.
3. Which platform do you recommend for me, and why? A good developer picks WordPress, Shopify or custom code based on what you need, and can explain the trade-off in two sentences. See our WordPress vs Shopify vs custom guide.
4. How will this site bring me enquiries? Listen for specifics: call and WhatsApp buttons on every page, short forms, service pages that rank, Google Business Profile setup, and tracking so you can count enquiries.

Questions about price and scope

1. What is included in the price, in writing? Number of pages, rounds of revisions, who writes the content, SEO setup, contact forms, speed work, and how many months of free support.
2. What will I pay in year two? Domain, hosting, maintenance and any paid plugins. A cheap build with an expensive yearly renewal is not cheap. Our website cost guide lists typical yearly costs.
3. What is the payment schedule? A deposit to start and the balance at launch is normal. Be careful with 100% upfront. We take 50% to start and 50% when the site goes live.
4. What is the launch date, and what happens if you miss it? A real date, not “2–3 weeks, depending”. We write ours into the quote, with 10% off for every week we are late.

Questions about ownership and after launch

1. Will the domain be registered in my name? It should be. The domain is your business address online; if it sits in someone else’s account, you can lose it.
2. Will I get admin access? You should be able to log in, change text and photos, and add pages without depending on the developer for every edit.
3. How fast will the site be on mobile? Ask for a number. We guarantee a 90+ Google PageSpeed score on mobile at launch, or we optimise it for free.
4. Who fixes things after launch, and how quickly? Get the support period and response time in writing, plus the price of help after it ends.

Red flags to walk away from

• No live examples, or only mock-ups and templates.
• A price that changes every time you ask what is included.
• The domain and hosting “managed for you” with no login shared.
• Guarantees of “page 1 on Google in 30 days”. Nobody can promise rankings.
• No contract, no invoice, no GST details.

Freelancer or agency?

A freelancer is usually cheaper and fine for a simple site, if you check their work and keep ownership of the domain. A studio or agency costs more but brings a process, a team and accountability after launch. Either way, the 12 questions above protect you.