Hiring a WordPress agency is hard specifically because the buyer usually can’t evaluate the work. A proposal full of confident language and a portfolio of nice screenshots tells you almost nothing about what the codebase will look like or whether anyone answers email in month seven.
Here are the ten checks that actually separate professional shops from the ones whose work we get paid to redo.
The 10-point checklist
1. They show results, not just designs
Screenshots prove they can make something pretty. Case studies with numbers (load times, ranking changes, conversion lifts) prove the pretty thing worked. Ask for three projects like yours with outcomes. Here are ours, so you can hold us to the same standard.
2. Verified third-party reviews
Clutch verifies that reviewers are real clients of real projects. A 4.8+ rating across dozens of verified reviews is hard to fake. Testimonials on the agency’s own site are marketing; treat them accordingly.
3. Fixed pricing on a written scope
Hourly billing on an undefined scope is how $8,000 projects become $23,000 projects. Professionals define the scope in writing, quote it fixed, and price changes separately when you ask for them.
4. Clear ownership terms
When the project ends, you should own the site, the code, the content, and the accounts (hosting, domain, licenses). Any agency that keeps the hosting account in their name and ‘manages it for you’ without giving you access is building a hostage situation.
5. A real process they can describe
Ask how a project runs. A professional shop answers instantly: discovery, scope, staging builds, review cycles, QA, launch checklist, post-launch window. Vagueness here predicts chaos later.
6. Performance targets in the contract
A site that scores 40 on PageSpeed is a defective deliverable in 2026. Ask what score they commit to on mobile, on real pages, before launch. If they won’t commit to a number, they’ve told you what to expect.
7. They ask about your business first
Weak agencies pitch templates and deliverables. Good ones ask what the site is supposed to produce (leads, sales, bookings) and design backward from that. You can hear the difference in the first call.
8. Who actually does the work
Some agencies sell senior and deliver junior, or subcontract everything. Ask who will work on your project and whether you can talk to them. At Mineweb your point of contact is the person who knows your build; that’s a deliberate structural choice, not a coincidence.
9. Post-launch support in writing
What happens when something breaks in week three? A defined warranty window (we do 30 days) plus an optional maintenance plan with response times in writing. ‘We’ll take care of you’ is not a support plan.
10. They’ll tell you no
The strongest signal of a trustworthy shop is hearing ‘you don’t need that’ during the sales process. An agency willing to shrink its own invoice is optimizing for the relationship, not the transaction.
Red flags that end the conversation
- A quote without a written scope behind it
- No live sites they’ll show you, or portfolio pieces they ‘can’t discuss’
- Guaranteed #1 Google rankings (nobody can guarantee this)
- Hosting held in their name with no access for you
- Pressure to sign this week for a discount
Use this against us: Genuinely: take this checklist into a call with us and make us pass every point. We wrote it because we pass it, and because the industry gets better when clients ask harder questions.
Evaluate us with this exact list.
Book a call and ask every question above. You’ll get direct answers, three relevant case studies, and a fixed quote if there’s a fit. No pressure tactics, no expiring discounts.
