What to prepare before your website project (checklist)

Timeline depends on scope, content readiness, integrations and approval speed. What most often decides whether a project launches on time isn't design or code. It's whether the content is ready. Use this website project checklist to gather everything before you start, whoever builds your website.

1. Business basics

• Business name exactly as you want it shown
• Contact details: phone, WhatsApp number, email, address or service area, working hours
• Social media links you actively use
• Registration details if relevant to your industry (for example, a registration number you must display)

2. Brand assets

• Logo in the best quality you have, ideally a vector file (SVG, AI, EPS or PDF) or a large PNG with a transparent background
• Brand colours and fonts, if you have a brand guide
• Two or three websites you like, and what you like about each. It's the fastest way to explain taste.

3. Page list

Decide which pages you need. A typical small-business site includes:

1. Home
2. About
3. Services (one overview page, or one page per important service)
4. Portfolio, gallery or projects
5. Testimonials or reviews
6. FAQs
7. Contact

Each important service deserves its own page if you want it to rank on Google, because one page rarely ranks well for five different services.

4. Written content

For each page, gather the raw material, even as rough notes:

• What you do, in one or two plain sentences
• Who you do it for: your typical customers
• Each service: what it is, who it's for, what's included, and roughly how it works
• Why customers choose you, with specifics (years in business, certifications, areas served)
• Common questions customers ask before buying. These become your FAQ.
• Team details, if you want an About or team section

Don't worry about polish. Clear notes can be shaped into good copy; blank pages can't.

5. Photos and videos

Real photos of your work, premises, team and products build far more trust than stock images. Send the originals, not WhatsApp-compressed copies. For products, a consistent background makes the whole site look more professional.

6. Access and accounts

• Domain: the registrar login, or permission for your developer to update DNS
• Existing website and hosting logins, if you're replacing a site
• Google Business Profile and Google Analytics / Search Console access, if you have them
• Business email provider, so the move doesn't break your email (and if you're changing email provider too, see moving business email to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365)

7. Decisions to make up front

• Who approves the design and content, and how quickly they can reply
• What visitors should do on your site: call, WhatsApp, fill in a form or buy
• Where enquiries should go (which email address, which WhatsApp number)

These last two decisions shape every page. Our guide to why websites don't get enquiries explains what makes visitors take that next step.

Ready to start?

If you have most of this list, you're in a good position to start. Missing some pieces? That's normal. Tell us about your project and we'll send you a simple outline of what each page needs, or read how our business website design process runs from brief to launch.