> Guides to choosing a web design or SEO studio: what to ask before you sign, whether SEO pays, what a monthly report should show, and what stays in your name. - Canonical: https://hadalmedusa.com/topics/hiring-a-studio/ --- # Hiring a studio, and reading its reports How to choose a web or SEO studio and what to ask before you sign, what a monthly report should show, and how to keep your accounts, your domain and your figures in your own name. ## Where to begin Most of what goes wrong between a business and the studio it hires is settled before any work starts: what was asked, what was promised, what the report would show and whose name the accounts are in. Each of those can be checked in an afternoon, and these guides show how. Begin with the guides on choosing, which give the questions to ask and what a sound answer sounds like. The guides on figures explain what a monthly report should contain and where its numbers come from, so a report can be read rather than taken on trust. The last two are about ownership: the accounts, the domain and the site itself stay yours. ## Before you sign ### [How to choose a web design company](https://hadalmedusa.com/guides/how-to-choose-a-web-design-company/) Three checks to run before you sign, the questions to ask, and the warning signs. ### [Questions to ask before you hire an SEO agency](https://hadalmedusa.com/guides/questions-to-ask-an-seo-agency/) Ten questions, what a good answer sounds like, and the warning signs to walk away from. ### [Is SEO worth it for a small business?](https://hadalmedusa.com/guides/is-seo-worth-it-for-a-small-business/) Three conditions that make SEO pay, the cases where it does not, and a check to run first. ## Reading the figures ### [What a monthly SEO report should show](https://hadalmedusa.com/guides/what-a-monthly-seo-report-should-show/) The figures that matter, what each one means, and how to tell a report that informs from one that fills pages. ### [How to see how much traffic your website gets](https://hadalmedusa.com/guides/how-much-traffic-does-my-website-get/) Where to read the figures, why two tools disagree, and which numbers are worth watching. ### [How to add Google Analytics to your website](https://hadalmedusa.com/guides/how-to-add-google-analytics-to-your-website/) Create the property, find the ID, add it to the platform, and confirm data is arriving. ## What stays yours ### [How to share Search Console and Analytics access safely](https://hadalmedusa.com/guides/share-search-console-and-analytics-access/) Add an agency as a limited user in two minutes, without sharing a password, and remove it when you like. ### [Who owns your website and its domain, and how to check](https://hadalmedusa.com/guides/who-owns-my-website-domain/) The three things that are owned separately, how to look each one up, and what a business should hold itself. ## What these guides do not do Each guide here describes what to ask of any studio, this one included. No guide says which studio to choose: that depends on your market and on the comparison, and our own terms are stated on the service pages. - [New websites: what the service includes](https://hadalmedusa.com/services/website-design/) - [On-site SEO: what the service includes](https://hadalmedusa.com/services/seo/) - [Monthly care: what the service includes](https://hadalmedusa.com/services/monthly-care/) - [Redesigns and rebuilds: what the service includes](https://hadalmedusa.com/services/website-redesign/) - [How the guides are written](https://hadalmedusa.com/laws/) ## Free competitor gap report A report is the plainest way to judge a studio before any work is agreed. Name up to three competitors and we measure your site against theirs, then send you what we found and the order we would work in. 1. Speed and technical health, side by side 2. On-page SEO and site structure 3. The content they are found for and you are not 4. Who holds the searches that matter in your market 5. A prioritised list of what to fix first [Request your free report by email](mailto:contact@hadalmedusa.com?subject=Competitor%20gap%20report%3A%20Topic%3A%20Hiring%20a%20studio%2C%20and%20reading%20its%20reports&body=Website%3A%0D%0A%0D%0AWhere%20you%20compete%20(area%2C%20country%20or%20countries)%3A%0D%0A%0D%0ACompetitors%20to%20compare%20against%20(up%20to%20three)%3A%0D%0A%0D%0AAnything%20else%20we%20should%20know%3A%0D%0A%0D%0A) - **Address** — contact@hadalmedusa.com - **Include** — your site; up to three competitors; where you compete ## Other topics - [AI search and answer engines](https://hadalmedusa.com/topics/ai-search/) - [Website platforms: fixing one, or leaving it](https://hadalmedusa.com/topics/website-builders/) - [When a website is not doing its job](https://hadalmedusa.com/topics/site-problems/) - [Local search, Maps and reviews](https://hadalmedusa.com/topics/local-search/) - [When Google Ads is not working](https://hadalmedusa.com/topics/google-ads/) - [When a site is not showing on Google](https://hadalmedusa.com/topics/not-on-google/) - [Search basics: results, keywords and markup](https://hadalmedusa.com/topics/search-basics/) - [All guides](https://hadalmedusa.com/guides/)