What to prepare before a website project

Website projects stall less on code and more on waiting. Waiting for logos. Photos. Final hours. Who approves the words. “We will send content next week” that never lands. A short prep week saves real calendar weeks once building starts.

Use this as a checklist. You do not need perfection. You need enough to start without guessing.

1. Business basics in one place

• Legal name and public trade name (as customers say it)
• Primary phone (the one that should be tap-to-call)
• Email for public contact and form alerts
• Physical address and service area (towns and counties, not vague regions)
• Hours, including Saturday quirks and seasonal patterns if known

These should match your Google Business Profile draft. Mistakes at kickoff multiply later.

2. What the site must do

Write one sentence: “When someone lands here, they should…” Call us. Book. Request a quote. Visit the shop. Order for pickup. Different goals change the homepage and buttons. You can have secondary goals. Pick a primary one.

Also list must-have pages vs nice-to-have. A solid five-page launch beats a 20-page plan with empty shells.

3. Services in human language

Bullet the services people actually buy. Not internal product codes. Note anything you no longer offer so it does not return from an old brochure. If prices go on the site, say which numbers are public and which are “call for quote.”

4. Proof and why you

Why should a stranger trust you over the next result? Years in business. Licenses. Associations. Review highlights. Notable jobs. Guarantees. Family ownership. Same-day windows. Whatever is true. Provide links or files if you want review quotes featured.

5. Brand assets

• Logo files (vector preferred: SVG, AI, EPS; high-res PNG if that is all you have)
• Colors and fonts if you have rules, or honest notes if you do not
• Brochures, menus, truck wraps, or signs for visual reference
• Domains you already own, and who controls the registrar login

No logo yet? Say so early. “Temporary mark now, redo later” is a project decision. Not a surprise mid-build.

6. Photos and media

Real photos of people, place, fleet, food, work in progress, and finished work beat stock for local trust. Phone photos are fine if light and focus are honest. See Photos for your website.

Gather what you have into one shared folder. Label files if you can (before/after, location, dish). Note gaps. “We have no interior shots.” is useful.

7. Access and accounts

If anything is replacing an old site, collect:

• Domain registrar login, or willingness to reset ownership to the business
• Current hosting login (if moving)
• Google Business Profile owner access
• Analytics or ad accounts you want connected later
• Email hosting details if DNS will move

Missing access is the slowest “technical” problem on small projects.

8. Approvals and communication

Name one decision-maker. A committee that must approve every headline doubles the timeline. Agree how feedback arrives. One compiled email beats five conflicting text threads.

9. Content sources

Old site text, Word menus, PDFs, Yelp blurbs, and “what we say on the phone” all count. Rough notes are fine. Silence is not. If writing help is part of the project, still bring facts. Only you know the real services and limits.

What happens after prep

With this ready, builds move. Structure. Draft pages. Design. Review rounds. Launch. Checks after. Timelines still depend on feedback speed. See How long a website usually takes. They stop depending on “waiting for the logo on someone’s thumb drive.”

If you want a project with us, send what you have from this list. Incomplete is better than starting from zero twice.