What to gather before a website project

Most website projects slow down for the same reason: the person building the site is waiting on something only the owner has. A login, a photo, a decision about what to call a service. None of it is difficult, but it is spread across old emails, a phone camera roll and somebody’s memory.

If you gather a few things before the first conversation, the project moves faster and the first design is much more likely to fit. Here is what helps most, roughly in order of importance.

Your domain name and who controls it

Your domain is the address people type, such as yourbusiness.com. Find out three things:

Which company it is registered with. Search your email for words like “domain renewal” or “registration”. The receipt usually names the registrar.
Who has the login. Sometimes it is a previous web designer, a relative or an employee who has since left. It is much easier to sort this out now than on launch day.
When it renews. A lapsed domain can take the website and email down with it.

If you do not have a domain yet, write down two or three names you would be happy with. We can check what is available together.

The basics customers look for

Write these down in one place, exactly as you want them to appear:

Business name, spelled the way you use it on signs and invoices
Phone number and email address customers should use
Address, or the area you serve if customers do not come to you
Opening hours, including anything unusual, such as closing early on Sundays
How people order, book or get a quote

It sounds obvious, but these details are often slightly different on a Facebook page, a Google listing and a business card. Choosing one version now avoids confusing customers later.

What you sell, in your own words

You do not need polished copy. A plain list is better than nothing:

Your main products or services, and a sentence or two about each
Prices, if you publish them, or a note on how you price
The questions customers ask you most often, and your usual answers

That last list is especially useful. The questions people ask on the phone are the questions other people have but never ask. Answering them on the website saves you time and helps customers decide.

Photos and your logo

Real photos of your work, your premises and your team make a website feel trustworthy in a way that generic images do not. Recent phone photos are usually fine if they are in focus and well lit. Gather the best ten to twenty in one folder.

For your logo, look for the original file from whoever designed it. A file ending in .svg, .ai, .eps or .pdf is ideal. If all you have is a small image from social media, that is fine to start with; just mention it.

Make sure you have the right to use every photo. Pictures taken by you or your staff are the safest choice. Images copied from other websites usually are not yours to use.

Existing accounts and listings

Make a note of the places your business already appears online: social media pages, review sites, a Google Business Profile, a booking or ordering service. The new website should link to the ones you want customers to use, and the details on all of them should match.

If you already have a website, note where it is hosted and who can log in. Even if you are replacing it, there may be pages worth keeping or redirecting.

The one thing you want the site to do

Ask yourself what a visitor should do after reading your homepage. Call you? Book a table? Ask for a quote? Visit the shop? A website that tries to do everything equally tends to do nothing well. Pick the main action, and perhaps one or two secondary ones.

What you will want to change yourself

Think about the details that change in your business: a menu, prices, listings, opening hours, news. These are the things worth being able to update yourself, without sending a request and waiting. Knowing them up front means the site can be set up so those changes take a minute.

You do not need everything on day one

If some of this is missing, do not let it hold you back. A good first version with accurate basics is better than a perfect site that never launches. Photos can be added, pages can grow, and wording can improve once you see it on the screen.

If you’d like help putting it together, tell us about your business and we’ll go through it with you.