Take the time to view their work, before you meet with them. If you don't like what you see, chances are you're not going to be happy with any work they do for you. My work can be viewed in my Portfolio . Sit down with the web designer and share your ideas, ask questions and if you don't understand the answer be sure to say so. You should expect your designer to answer your questions in a manner that you can understand.
Communication is very important.
If you don't understand your designer or are unable to communicate your wishes about your web site it will only lead to problems in the long run. Give your designer copies of the information you've gathered and ask them to give you a proposal and a layout of the web site. In most cases it is recommended to allow the designer to go through the information and ideas that you've gathered for your site and have them put together a proposed layout and cost estimate to have your site designed and published online. The time it takes you to gather the information is only a small portion of the time it will take to put your site together. This is not done by scanning text into a scanner and it magically is displayed onscreen.