What to prepare before you commission a website

A website is usually late because it is waiting for content, not because of the design. The copy has not been written, the photos have not been taken, and nobody has agreed which pages there will be. Settle the seven things below first and you get a more accurate quote and a faster project.

1. What is the one job of the site?

Pick the single thing you want a visitor to do: ask for a quote, book an appointment, call you or buy a product. That choice decides the order of the page, the wording of the buttons and what gets the spotlight. If the answer is "all of them", none of them stands out.

2. Which pages will there be?

Write the page names on a sheet of paper: home, services, about, contact and so on. Does each service get its own page or do they share one? If you are not sure a single page is enough, read website or landing page.

3. Who writes the copy?

Copy is the part that holds everything up. It does not have to be perfect: a few bullet points per page, in your own words, saying what you want to get across, is enough. Nobody can describe your business better than you; tightening and editing come later.

Have ready: a two-sentence description of what you do, a list of your services or products, and the questions customers ask you most often.

4. Are your visuals ready?

• Logo. You need the vector file; a screenshot or a small image falls apart when enlarged. If you are not sure which file is the vector, check the logo file guide.
• Photos. Your premises, your products, your team. Your own photos always build more trust than stock images everyone else uses.
• Past work and references. Examples you can show and clients who have agreed to be named.

5. Who owns the domain?

Your domain (the address of your site) should be registered in your name and in your own account. A domain sitting in someone else's account becomes a problem the day you part ways. The same goes for your company email addresses. The glossary explains domains and hosting in a few lines.

6. Who will update the site later?

You do not want to call someone every time a price, an opening hour or a service changes. Say who will update the site at the start, so it is built for that. We hand over sites in a state where you can edit the text and images yourself.

7. Two or three sites you like

Note the addresses of sites you like and what you like about each: the simplicity, the photos, the menu? Not to copy them, but to describe your taste. An example you dislike is just as useful.

Put it all in one place

You can answer most of these questions in a few minutes with the design brief tool and attach the result to your enquiry. The starting price and timing for a website are on the Services page.