Articles · Getting Started · Updated July 2026
Two bad options and one good one. The questions to ask, the red flags to avoid, and who should own your domain — an honest guide for expats hiring a web designer in Panama.
You need a website for your Panama business and you have two bad options and one good one. Hire back home: you pay US/EU rates for someone who's never heard of Yappy and works in the wrong time zone. Hire locally on price alone: affordable, but every revision and invoice happens in Spanish through a translator app. The good option is a local team that works in English — but how do you tell the good ones apart?
1) Is the domain registered in MY name? The right answer is yes, always. If a designer registers your domain under their own account, they can hold your web address hostage. This is the single most important question.
2) What exactly does the price include — and exclude? Get it in writing. "All included" with no detail is how surprise charges start.
3) What are the recurring costs after year one? Hosting, domain renewal, maintenance. A website is a subscription, not a one-off. Know the real annual cost before you commit.
4) Can I see real sites you've built, live? Not mockups — working websites with real clients you could contact.
5) Will it be mobile-first and have WhatsApp? In Panama both are non-negotiable. If a designer doesn't mention them, they don't understand the market.
💡 TD Solutions tip: Ask for everything in writing: scope, price, recurring costs, who owns the domain, and what happens if you part ways. A serious agency gives you this without being asked. An amateur says "we'll figure it out as we go."
Prices far below everyone else with no explanation (someone pays the difference later — you). Impossible timelines. Zero questions about your business. No contract or terms. And the worst: your domain, hosting or files registered under the designer's name instead of yours.
Even if your customers are mostly English-speaking expats, some will be Panamanian — and a website that's clumsy in Spanish loses them. A genuinely bilingual team gets both sides right, and can build you a proper bilingual site with correct international SEO so each visitor sees the right language on Google.
You don't need the cheapest designer or the most expensive one. You need one who owns nothing of yours, puts everything in writing, understands how Panama actually buys, and talks to you in your language. That's the whole checklist.
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