Portfolio alone is not enough
Every web design agency has a portfolio page. The sites look polished. The screenshots are well-framed. None of this tells you whether the sites perform.
A beautiful website that loads in 8 seconds, ranks for nothing, and converts at 0.5% is a liability. The questions that matter are below the surface: how fast does it load on mobile, does it rank for the terms the business needs, does the copy convert visitors into enquiries, and what happens after launch.
The difference between a template reskin and a custom build
Template websites use pre-built themes with your colours, logo, and content dropped in. They are fast to produce and inexpensive, typically £1,500 to £4,000. For some businesses, that is fine.
The limitation is structural. Template sites carry unused code that slows them down, restrict your layout options to what the theme allows, and make it difficult to implement the structured data and content architecture that search engines and AI engines require.
A custom build is designed around your specific business: your audience, your services, your conversion goals. Every section earns its place. The code is clean because there is no unused framework underneath. PageSpeed scores are high because nothing loads that does not need to.
The price difference is real (custom builds typically cost £6,500 to £12,000 in the UK) but the performance difference over 12 months is larger.
What “conversion-focused” actually means
Many agencies claim to build “conversion-focused” websites. In practice, this often means they added a contact form and a few call-to-action buttons.
Real conversion-focused design means the copy and layout work together to move a visitor from scepticism to enquiry. It means understanding buyer psychology: what your visitor is worried about, what they have tried before, what would make them trust you enough to get in touch.
This is the difference between a site that looks good and a site that generates enquiries. The design should lead the visitor through a story, not just present information and hope they find the contact page.
Questions to ask your shortlisted agencies
Who writes the copy? If the answer is “you provide the content”, the agency is building a container, not a conversion tool. Good agencies either write the copy themselves or work with a copywriter who understands search intent and buyer psychology.
What CMS will you use? The answer matters for long-term maintenance. WordPress is flexible but requires ongoing security updates. Modern frameworks like Astro or Next.js produce faster sites but need a developer for content changes. Some agencies use proprietary CMS platforms that lock you in.
Who hosts the site and what happens if we leave? Ensure you own the domain, the hosting account, and the code. Some agencies host on their own infrastructure and will not release the files if you leave. Get this in writing before signing.
What does post-launch support include? A website is not finished at launch. Content needs updating, analytics need monitoring, and SEO work needs to continue. Ask what support is included in the first 90 days and what ongoing retainer looks like.
What is your PageSpeed target? If the agency does not mention PageSpeed, they are not building for performance. Ask for their target score on mobile. Anything below 85 on Google’s PageSpeed Insights is below professional standard.
Price ranges in the UK market
Based on current UK market rates for small to mid-sized business websites:
Template/theme-based (£1,500 to £4,000): Pre-built theme customised with your content. Quick turnaround, limited flexibility, harder to optimise for search.
Semi-custom (£4,000 to £8,000): Custom design on a standard framework. Better performance, more flexibility, but often still carries some framework overhead.
Fully custom (£6,500 to £15,000): Designed and built from scratch. Clean code, high performance, full control over SEO and conversion architecture. This is where Qyliq’s web design work sits.
Enterprise (£20,000+): Complex sites with integrations, portals, multiple user types, or regulatory requirements.
Why the cheapest quote usually costs more in year two
The initial build cost is the smallest part of a website’s lifetime expense. A cheap build that loads slowly, ranks for nothing, and does not convert will cost you in lost enquiries, SEO retrofitting, and an earlier-than-necessary redesign.
The GOV.UK accessibility requirements are a useful benchmark even for private-sector sites: if the site is not accessible, it is not reaching part of your audience. Retrofitting accessibility into a poorly-built site is more expensive than building it correctly from the start.
The same is true for SEO foundations, AI visibility, and conversion optimisation. Building these in from day one costs nothing extra. Adding them after launch costs thousands.