What to prepare before your website gets built

The checklist

1. 1Your services, written out, with prices or ranges.
2. 2Ten to twenty photos — your premises, your work, your team. Phone photos are fine.
3. 3Your logo, ideally as the original file rather than a screenshot.
4. 4Opening hours, including holidays, and all contact details.
5. 5Your domain registrar login, or confirmation of who holds it.
6. 6Three websites you like and one you dislike, with a note on why.
7. 7The name of the one person who approves the design.

Writing your services

• One short paragraph per service, in your own words.
• Say what it includes and what it does not.
• Add a price or a range, even if approximate.
• Note anything customers frequently misunderstand.
• Do not worry about polish — a designer can tidy your words, but cannot invent your services.

Writing this yourself takes an hour or two and saves both money and weeks of delay. Nobody can describe what you do as accurately as you can.

Photos: what to shoot

• The outside of your premises, so people recognise it.
• Inside, so they know what to expect.
• Five to ten examples of your actual work.
• You and your team, faces visible.
• Anything that shows scale or quality — tools, equipment, materials.
• Shoot in daylight, clean the lens, take more than you need.