What to prepare before a website project

A developer can design a page without your text, but not a page that is right for your customers. Many delays come from material that exists somewhere in the business but has not been gathered yet. Collecting these before the project starts shortens the schedule.

Facts about the business

What you sell or offer, written the way a customer would ask for it. List every product or service that should have its own page.
Who it is for. The kinds of customers you serve, and what they usually ask before they buy.
What makes you different, stated as facts: years in operation, certifications you hold, materials you work with, areas you serve. A visitor should be able to verify these.
Your contact details exactly as they should appear: name, phone number, address if you publish one, opening hours.
The action you want. A call, a WhatsApp message, a quotation request, a visit. Pick the main one.

Documents

Anything a buyer asks for before deciding belongs on the site. Gather what you already hand out in sales:

Brochures, price lists, product data sheets, specification tables and catalogues.
Certificates and licences you are allowed to publish.
Terms you want shown, such as minimum order or delivery areas.

If a document exists only as a photograph of a printed page, say so early. Retyping takes time that needs to be planned for.

Photographs and logos

A logo in its original file form, not a screenshot of it.
Photographs of the work, the product, the premises or the people, taken in good light and in the highest quality you have.
Permission to publish photographs that show other people or other companies’ property.

Do not assume pictures downloaded from other sites are yours to use. If you need stock photography, ask the developer whether it is included or whether you buy it.

Accounts and logins

Your domain name. If you have one, who registered it, and can you log in to the account? If you do not have one, agree who will buy it, and make sure it is registered in your business name.
Your hosting, if you already have it.
Your existing website, if there is one: where it is hosted, who built it, and whether you have the files.
Your Google accounts, if search tools or analytics will be set up for you.

Finding a login late is one of the common reasons a launch date slips. Do it now.

Decisions

Who approves each stage. One named person saves the most time. A group of five with different opinions is another common cause of delay.
How fast you can respond. A realistic answer is better than an optimistic one.
What must not change. An address on a printed brochure, a phone number customers already know, a page that brings in enquiries today.

If you sell many products: one product sheet

A spreadsheet with one row per product saves weeks. Columns that most catalogues need:

Column	Example of what goes in it
Product name	The name a buyer would type
Family or category	Where it belongs in your range
Specifications	Each property in its own column, with units
Data sheet	The file name of the document for this product
Photographs	File names, and which one is the main picture
Used for	The applications or industries it suits
How to order	Minimum quantity, pack sizes, delivery areas, if you state them

Fill it in once, check it with whoever knows the product best, and send it before the design is approved. Corrections after pages are built cost more than corrections in a spreadsheet. How to organise a product catalogue website explains how the rows become pages.

If you are short of something

Say so at the start. A developer can plan around “I have no photographs yet” far more easily than around photographs that arrive halfway through the build. If you cannot write the text yourself, ask whether the developer writes it, how that is charged, and who checks the facts, because only you can confirm that what a page says about your business is true.

The note on what a business website project includes shows where each of these items is needed in the sequence.