01 / Insights
Why website projects rarely fail at the design stage
A failed website project usually breaks weeks before anyone opens a design tool. It breaks when a business hires the wrong web design agency for the wrong reasons, usually the lowest price, the loudest promises or the prettiest showreel. The symptoms are always the same: scope that keeps drifting, silence between milestones, a launch date that slips twice, and a site that looks acceptable but changes nothing for the business.
Choosing an agency is a decision most companies make once every four to six years, so almost nobody gets to practise it. This guide gives you the questions, the warning signs and a one-page briefing method so you can compare studios on substance instead of surface.
02 / Insights
The 12 questions to ask before you sign
You are hiring for an outcome, and these questions show how a studio works day to day. A serious one will be happy to answer them:
- Who will do the work: the people in this call, or a team I never meet?
- Can you show me three live websites you built, and talk about what they achieved?
- Is the quote a fixed price, and what does it include?
- What happens when the scope changes mid-project?
- Who owns the domain, the code and the content after launch?
- How many feedback rounds are included, and how do you run them?
- What do you need from me, and by when?
- How is the timeline structured, and what are the milestones?
- What does “SEO included” mean here: technical foundations or ongoing work?
- What happens after launch in terms of support, updates and costs?
- Tell me about a project that went wrong. What did you change afterwards?
- Why does this cost what it costs?
03 / Insights
How to read a portfolio properly
Screenshots are decoration; live websites are evidence. Click through to every reference site, open it on your phone, and run it through a free speed test. A studio that ships slow, broken or abandoned work will ship the same for you; the portfolio just hides it better.
Then look past the visuals. A credible case study explains the problem, the approach and the result, not only the colour palette. Check whether the clients are businesses roughly your size: an agency that only shows venture-funded brands may be a poor fit for a five-person company, and vice versa. Finally, ask who on the team did each project. Portfolios routinely outlive the people who built them, and concept work from Dribbble or Behance is not client work at all.
04 / Insights
Seven red flags that predict a painful project
Any one of these is a reason to slow down. Two or more is a reason to walk away:
- Guaranteed Google rankings. Nobody can promise positions, and whoever does is either naive or lying.
- A portfolio without clickable links, client names or a single site you can visit.
- A quote without a written scope: no page list, no deliverables, no feedback rounds.
- You do not own your domain, hosting account or code: a rental model holds your website hostage.
- An instant price before a single question about your business or goals.
- No named contact person, so every conversation starts from zero.
- Pressure tactics: today-only discounts and project slots that are always about to run out.
05 / Insights
What the market charges in 2026
Broad European ranges, so you can place any quote you receive: a DIY website builder costs €10–40 per month plus a lot of your own hours. Freelancers typically charge €800–3,000 for a small business website. Studios and small agencies mostly quote €1,500–15,000 depending on scope, content work and e-commerce, and large agencies start well beyond that. The main price drivers are the number of pages, whether content exists or must be created, languages, custom functionality and a shop.
For orientation from our own practice: at Tanomedia, focused landing pages start at €1,500, most projects go live in 2–6 weeks, and payment is 50% upfront, 50% at launch. Whichever studio you talk to, insist on the same shape: a fixed written quote after a proper discovery conversation, never a price plucked from the air.
06 / Insights
Local agency or remote studio: what matters
For most projects, geography is the least important variable. What predicts a good collaboration is process: overlapping working hours, a named contact, interim states you can see in the browser instead of slide decks, and milestones with dates attached.
Tanomedia is itself a remote studio: founded in Düsseldorf in 2023, based in Lisbon today, working with clients across Europe, with on-site meetings arranged when they help. Judge any studio, local or remote, by how it communicates during the sales phase, because that is the best service you will ever get from it.
07 / Insights
Prepare a brief an agency can quote
A good brief fits on one page and turns vague estimates into comparable offers. Write down:
- One paragraph on your business: what you sell, to whom, and what makes you different.
- The single action a visitor should take: call, buy, request a quote, book.
- A rough page list and the state of your content: which texts and photos already exist.
- Three websites you like, with one sentence each on why.
- A budget range. It filters partners early and saves everyone weeks of back and forth.
- Your deadline and the reason behind it.
- Who decides: one name rather than a committee.
08 / Insights
Comparing quotes that look incomparable
Before you compare numbers, normalise the scope: same page count, content included or not, technical SEO included or not, how many feedback rounds, what support after launch, and who owns what. Then compare the three-year cost, including hosting, maintenance and licences, instead of the signature price. The cheapest offer on day one is frequently the most expensive by year three.
Finally, read the agreement. A serious contract names the deliverables, the milestones, the payment schedule, the ownership of domain, code and content, and what happens if either side wants out. If a studio resists putting that in writing, it has answered your most important question already.
FAQ
Common questions
01How much does a web design agency cost in 2026?
In Europe, freelancers typically charge €800–3,000 for a small business website, while studios and small agencies quote roughly €1,500–15,000 depending on scope, content and e-commerce. At Tanomedia, focused landing pages start at €1,500, always with a fixed written quote after a discovery call.
02How long does a professional website project take?
A well-run small to mid-size project typically takes 2–6 weeks from kickoff to launch. The biggest variable is usually how quickly content and feedback arrive, so agree on milestones and your own to-dos before the project starts.
03What is the biggest red flag when hiring a web design agency?
Guaranteed Google rankings, because no serious provider can promise positions. A close second is not owning your own domain, hosting or code: rental models make every future decision expensive and every exit painful.
04Do I need a local agency, or can I work with a remote studio?
Remote collaboration is standard practice in 2026. What matters is process: overlapping hours, a named contact, visible interim states and fixed milestones. Judge a studio by how it communicates before you sign rather than by its address.