Twelve things to prepare before your site is built
· 2 min read
Most projects are delayed waiting for information, not by design. Prepare these and your site launches days earlier.
Website projects are rarely delayed by design. They are delayed waiting for something ordinary: the correct phone number, a usable photo, a description of a service. Prepare the following and the work moves noticeably faster.
Company details
- Full legal name as it should appear on the site and in legal text.
- Address, phone, email — the ones to publish. Decide whether a mobile or landline is shown.
- Tax office and number, needed for legal pages and invoicing.
- Opening hours.
Content
- List of services. A heading and two or three sentences each. Use the words your customers use, not industry jargon.
- About text. How long you have done this, how big the team is, what separates you. Three paragraphs is enough.
- Frequently asked questions. Write down the eight to ten questions you answer most on the phone. This becomes the most-read part of the site.
- Past work. Six to eight examples: where, what was done, a photo if possible.
Images
- Logo, ideally as a vector file. Failing that, the largest version you have. Not a screenshot.
- Photographs of your own work. Even phone photos taken in daylight beat stock imagery.
Access
- Domain — account details if you have one, or two or three alternatives if you do not.
- Social accounts to link from the site.
And one more thing
Write the site's purpose in a single sentence: "What should a visitor have done by the time they leave?" If the answer is "called us", the site is built around the phone number. If it is "asked for a quote", the form comes first. If it is "placed an order", the cart does. Sites built without that sentence look fine and bring in nothing.