Almost everyone who has been «burned» by a bad site didn’t make the wrong choice out of carelessness.
They simply didn’t know what to watch for.
And how would they? Nobody is born knowing what «who owns the code» means. When you don’t know the right questions, you judge based on price and nice words. And that’s exactly where the mistake happens. So let’s go through what to watch for before building your website, and what each answer reveals. Because what matters isn’t the question. It’s the tone of the answer.
«Who owns the site and the code?»
The answer has to be clear: you do. No preamble, no «yes, but».
If they get vague, if the site «lives» inside a platform you don’t control, or if you can’t take it and leave, be careful. You’re paying for something that will never truly be yours. Lovely house. Someone else keeps the key.
«What about backups, security and maintenance?»
A site isn’t a piece of furniture you set up once and you’re done. It needs care.
If the answer is vague or «don’t worry about that», do worry. Ask what happens if the site goes down, if it gets hacked, if data is lost. The serious professional has an answer, a boring and technical one perhaps, but an answer. The amateur changes the subject.
«How will it look and how fast will it be on mobile?»
Most of your customers will see the site on a phone. You’re reading this on one right now, aren’t you? Exactly. So if the conversation is only about how it looks on a desktop, something is missing.
Mobile speed isn’t a detail. It’s the reason people stay or leave.
«Will it be ready for Google and for answer engines?»
A site is no longer built only for people. It’s also built for Google, and for the artificial intelligence models that now recommend businesses.
If the person building your site hasn’t even thought about this part, they’re building you for yesterday.
«What happens when I want changes later?»
No business stays the same. You’ll want changes. Always.
Ask how easy and how expensive they’ll be. If every small change becomes an ordeal or holds you hostage, you know it now. Better now than on the day you want to change one phone number on your contact page.
Do they build sites or solve your problem?
This is, in the end, the big difference.
One hands you a site and disappears. Another understands your business, the problem behind the site, and builds something that actually performs.
The points above tell one apart from the other.
Ask me anything before you commission
Are you thinking about building or rebuilding your website?
Ask me exactly these questions. I’ll answer you directly, with no obligation and no vague technical talk. And if in the end you decide to go with someone else, at least you’ll know what to look out for. Because the goal was never to avoid getting «burned» by luck. It was to know what to watch for.