There are many ways to pick the wrong digital agency. The most common is letting yourself be impressed by the portfolio instead of asking how the work actually happens.
This article is seven concrete questions to ask any agency before signing a proposal. They aren't trick questions. They're questions where a vague answer is the main red flag. Good agencies answer them in seconds with specificity. Bad agencies answer with generalities.
1. Who's going to write the website content?
This is the question most agencies avoid answering early, and the one most clients don't realize is critical.
Good answer: "We'll discuss it on the discovery call. There are three options — you give us content, we write it based on what you give us, or we hire a specialized copywriter. Each has a different cost. We recommend option X for your case, and it's budgeted at Y."
Red-flag answer: "Content comes later. We focus on design first." This means design built before content — i.e., decoration with lorem ipsum. The result is typically a beautiful site that needs copy rework before it can launch.
2. What stack are you going to use, and why?
A direct question. Expect a direct answer.
Good answer: "We'll use X (e.g., Next.js, Astro, WordPress with a custom block), for these reasons: A, B, C. This choice costs you Y in long-term maintenance vs. Z in another stack. We don't recommend W for your case because…"
Red-flag answer: "We use what makes sense for your project." Translation: we use what we know, which is probably WordPress by inertia. If the agency can't articulate why it prefers a stack, it's because it picked the stack without thinking.
Useful follow-up question: "What other stacks did you consider, and why didn't you pick them?" If they can't name at least two alternatives, they're missing technical context.
3. Who owns the code, the domain, and the content?
The expected answer is simple: you. Always.
Good answer: "Everything in your account from day one. Code in your GitHub. Domain in your registrar account. Content in your CMS. Hosting credentials in your account. If at any point you want to stop working with us, you walk away with everything and can hire another agency without issues."
Red-flag answer: "We handle the infrastructure for you." Translation: you're a hostage. If one day you want to leave, you'll discover the domain is registered in the agency's account, the repo is private and locked, the hosting is on a shared sub-account with 30 other clients.
Always ask for it in writing, in the proposal: "All ownership — code, domain, content, credentials — belongs to the client from day one." If the agency hesitates to write this, don't sign.
Ownership is where most clients get trapped after the fact. Resolve this before any other discussion.
4. Does the price include technical SEO, or is it an extra?
There's a bad practice, common in Portugal, of delivering technically weak sites (no schema, no proper sitemap, no performance optimization, generic meta tags) and then selling "SEO" as an add-on.
Good answer: "Technical SEO is part of the site, not an add-on. Every page has unique meta title and description, appropriate schema.org, dynamic sitemap, robots.txt configured, Core Web Vitals optimized, hreflang if applicable. Included in the price."
Red-flag answer: "SEO is a separate service we offer after launch." Translation: you'll pay twice — once for the site, again to make it minimally findable. In 2026, this isn't acceptable. We talked about it in the article on schema.org — schema is minutes of work per page, not hours.
5. How does post-launch maintenance work?
Sites aren't finished on launch day. There are updates, fixes, small changes.
Good answers (any of them):
- "We offer a monthly retainer at €X/month covering [specific list of inclusions]."
- "We work by the hour, €Y/hour, 30-minute minimum increments, monthly invoice."
- "We don't do ongoing maintenance. We recommend you hire internally or with another agency. We hand over the repo with proper documentation."
All valid. What matters is that the answer is specific and serious.
Red-flag answer: "We'll see how it goes as needs arise." Translation: they'll bill case by case at prices they decide on the spot. You'll have surprises.
6. Who's my single point of contact on your side?
When you need an answer to a question, you want to know who to ask.
Good answer: "I myself am your point of contact from discovery call through past launch." (At a boutique agency.) Or: "João is your account manager, guaranteed by contract. If he leaves, you have the right to a supervised transition." (At a bigger agency.)
Red-flag answer: "You speak to the person relevant for each moment — designer, developer, marketing." Translation: you'll have to re-explain your context to 4 different people at different moments. Each explanation costs you time, and every human interface is a break point.
7. Can I see 3 projects you've delivered, all in production?
Pretty portfolios are easy to fabricate. Live projects, accessible, with real traffic, are the only valid evidence.
Good answer: "Here are three public URLs. Each has been live since [date]. You can see the actual site, you can contact the clients (links below). If you want to talk to 1 or 2 of them directly, we'll happily make the introduction."
Red-flag answer: "We have many cases in our portfolio. I can send mockups." Translation: some projects may have never launched, or the clients don't want to be named, or — worse — the sites are no longer online because they were poorly maintained.
For each referenced project, check:
- Is the site still live and working?
- How long has it been online?
- Does it load fast (test at pagespeed.web.dev)?
- Does it have proper schema.org (test at search.google.com/test/rich-results)?
- Was the copy actually written for that client, or is it translated template?
Bonus: the most revealing question
If you want a quick test for any agency:
"In what situation would you recommend an agency that wasn't you?"
Good answer: "For enterprise projects with more than 50 internal users and SAP integration, we recommend X. For e-commerce with more than 10,000 SKUs, we recommend Y. For government or banking compliance sites, we recommend Z."
Red-flag answer: "We do everything." Translation: either there's no self-awareness (dangerous) or there's a willingness to take any project without thinking (more dangerous).
Serious professionals know what they don't do.
Our own answers to the same 7 questions
For the sake of coherence, here's exactly how we answer:
- Content: you, us, or external copywriter — your choice, with explicit budget for each option.
- Stack: Next.js + Tailwind + headless CMS when it makes sense. We don't do WordPress for new projects. Reasoning on our Web Design page.
- Ownership: everything yours, always. In writing in the proposal.
- Technical SEO: included in the price. Always.
- Maintenance: optional monthly retainer, or hourly work. We discuss what makes sense.
- Point of contact: me. Black Bean is solo boutique, with specialist collaborators for specific needs.
- Portfolio: 10 projects in our portfolio, all in production, all with public URLs.
And to the bonus question: for enterprise projects with SAP integrations, we recommend colleagues at bigger agencies. For government and banking portals, we're not the best choice. For everything else — institutional sites, mid-complexity platforms, SaaS tools, e-commerce up to 500 SKUs, content + SEO — we're exactly the right choice.
Ready for a discovery call? Get in touch. 24h response guaranteed.