Commissioning a website is a decision for years, not weeks. You commit to a technology, to people and often to a hosting contract. These ten questions help you clarify what you are signing up for before you sign, whether you end up with us or with another agency.
In short
- Ask about ownership: the domain, content and code should belong to you.
- Ask about the time after launch: maintenance, updates, a named contact.
- A good agency answers all ten questions without dodging.
The ten questions
1. Who owns the domain, content and code?
The domain should be registered to you or your business, not to the agency. For content and code: get it in writing that you can take them with you if you part ways. Listen closely if you hear “The domain runs through us, it is simpler that way.” It is simpler mainly until the day you want to switch.
2. Which system will it be built on, and why?
WordPress, another CMS, a site builder or custom code: every choice has consequences for cost, loading time and maintenance. The agency should be able to explain why a system fits your project, rather than simply using whatever it always uses.
3. Can I change content myself?
Ask which content you can maintain yourself, and have them show you. Opening hours, team, news: you should be able to change those without a ticket. If you would rather not change anything yourself, that is fine too. Then it belongs in the maintenance contract.
4. How is SEO planned in?
Search engine optimisation is not a plugin you install at the end. Page structure, headings, loading time, meta data and local signals are created during the build. Ask specifically: who writes page titles and descriptions? Will Google Search Console be set up? For a relaunch, is there a URL map with redirects?
5. What happens after launch?
Updates, security, backups, small changes: who takes care of them, what does it cost, and how quickly does someone react if the site goes down? A quote without an answer to that is incomplete. How we handle it is described under support and maintenance.
6. Which references match my project?
Pretty screenshots say little. Ask for projects of a similar size or industry and look at the live sites: do they load fast? Do they work on a phone? Are they still maintained? If the chance arises, talk to one of the agency’s clients.
7. Who actually works on my project?
Sometimes one person runs the first meeting and the build happens somewhere else entirely. That is not necessarily bad. But you should know who builds your site and who stays your contact afterwards.
8. What is in the quote, and what is not?
Copy, photos, revision rounds, legal notice and privacy policy, cookie banner, multiple languages, hosting: have them list what is included. The differences between two quotes almost always sit here. Which prices are realistic is covered in What does a website cost in 2026?
9. How does the project run?
Is there a clear process with phases, dates and sign-offs? How much of your own time is needed, for content and feedback for example? A realistic timeline is worth more than a fast one that then does not hold.
10. Can you reach the agency when it matters?
A lot works well over video calls. Still, it helps when someone can come to your business for a photo shoot or sit down with you for an afternoon. For businesses in Tyrol that means: an agency from the region knows the winter and summer seasons, the distances between Innsbruck, Schwaz and the Zillertal, and the businesses there that are your customers.
How to use the list in a meeting
Send the questions ahead by email. That gets you considered answers instead of spontaneous ones. Have the important points, above all ownership, maintenance and scope, written into the quote. What was only said in a meeting is hard to prove two years later.
Do not compare only the total. Put the quotes side by side and mark what is in one and missing from the other. Often the expensive quote turns out to be the complete one, and the cheap one a quote where half the work costs extra later.
Get two or three quotes, not ten. More mainly costs you time, and the differences do not get any clearer. More important than the number is that every agency gets the same brief: what the website should do, for whom, by when and with roughly what budget.
Answers worth digging into
- “We register the domain in our name.”
- “We will do SEO once the site is live.”
- “You don’t need maintenance, it runs by itself.”
- “We don’t hand out the login details.”
- A fixed price before anyone has asked a single question about your business.
None of these answers automatically means the agency is bad. They do mean you should ask more before you sign.
And us?
Feel free to ask us these questions too. How we work as a web agency in Tyrol, from the first meeting through technology and SEO to maintenance, is laid out openly on our web development page. And if your answers point to a smaller scope, a website subscription such as EasyWeb may be a better choice than an agency project.
We are based in Schlitters in the Zillertal, in the middle of the Schwaz district. For businesses between Innsbruck, Schwaz and the head of the valley we are on site quickly. More under web development in the Zillertal.
In closing
You recognise the right agency less by its portfolio than by its answers to uncomfortable questions. An agency that answers clearly and in writing on ownership, maintenance and SEO is serious about working together for years. If you want to have a website built in Tyrol, take this list into every first meeting.
Want to put the ten questions to someone right away? Feel free to ask us. We take time for a first conversation, with no obligation. Book a first conversation
