What to Prepare Before Your Website Project Starts
The clients who get the best results come prepared. Here is a practical checklist of everything to gather before your project kicks off so nothing slows you down.
The fastest, smoothest website projects I have worked on share one thing in common: the client came prepared.
Not perfectly prepared. Not with everything figured out. But with the basics gathered and ready to hand over.
Here is a checklist of what to pull together before your project starts. Having these things ready from day one can cut two to three weeks off a typical project timeline.
Your brand assets
Logo files You need your logo in a vector format (SVG or EPS) or at minimum a high-resolution PNG with a transparent background. Not a screenshot. Not a JPEG cropped from your letterhead.
If you only have a low-quality version of your logo, now is a good time to get that fixed before the project starts.
Brand colours If your brand has official colours, find out the hex codes. They look like this: #E6AACE. Your designer or whoever made your logo should be able to give you these.
If you do not have official colours, pick 2 to 3 that you like and bring examples. Screenshots from websites you like, screenshots of brands you admire, anything that shows me the direction.
Fonts If your brand uses specific fonts, find out their names. If you do not have brand fonts, do not worry. Choosing good typography is part of what I do.
Your content
About section Write 2 to 4 paragraphs about your business. Who you are, what you do, who you do it for and what makes you different. It does not need to be perfect. First drafts are fine. Blank spaces are not.
Services or products Write a description of each service or product you want on the site. What it includes, who it is for and what the outcome is. If you have prices, include them, even if they are ranges.
Photos Real photos of you, your team, your workspace or your product perform significantly better than stock images. If you have professional photos, great. If not, even decent phone photos in good lighting are better than nothing.
If you have no photos at all, let me know early so we can factor that into the plan.
Your accounts and access
Domain name Know who your domain is registered with (GoDaddy, Namecheap, etc.) and make sure you have login access. If you do not have a domain yet, buy one before the project starts.
Hosting If you have existing hosting, have your login details ready. If you are starting fresh, your developer will usually recommend and set up hosting as part of the project.
Existing website If I am replacing an existing site, give me access to it. I need to review the current structure, content worth keeping and any SEO considerations before we start.
Social media links Have your handles ready for LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or wherever you are active. These usually go in the site footer.
Your goals and references
The primary goal What do you want visitors to do when they land on your site? Book a call? Send a message? Buy something? There should be one primary answer to this question, not five.
Reference sites Find 3 to 5 websites you like. They do not have to be in your industry. For each one, note specifically what you like about it: the layout, the colours, the way it uses photography, the simplicity of the navigation.
What you do not want If you have strong feelings about anything, tell me early. Hate autoplay videos? Do not want a chat widget? Want to avoid a certain colour? Say it upfront.
A note on copy
The single biggest cause of project delays is waiting for the client to write their website copy.
If writing is not your thing, we can discuss options. I offer copywriting as an add-on service and I have a degree in English and Literary Studies so the quality will be solid. Alternatively you can use a separate copywriter. Either way, plan for this before the project starts, not halfway through it.
The more of this you have ready on day one, the faster your project moves, the fewer delays there are and the better the end result.