The most common reason a website project runs late isn’t design or code. It’s waiting for words, photos and logins. Use this checklist to gather everything before the build starts. Copy it into a document or print this page and tick things off.
Business basics
- Business name exactly as it should appear
- Phone, email and address (or service area)
- Opening hours, including holiday hours
- Logo files, ideally SVG or a large PNG with a transparent background
- Brand colours and fonts, if you have them
Access
- Domain registrar login, or the name of whoever manages it
- Current hosting details, if you have a site already
- Google Business Profile access
- Social media profile links
- Any booking, payment or CRM tools the site needs to connect to
Share logins through a password manager or a secure sharing link, never by email.
Pages and words
- A list of the pages you need
- For each service: what it is, who it’s for, how it works and common questions
- A short About section: who you are and why customers choose you
- Three to six customer reviews you’re happy to show, with permission
Photos
- Team photos
- Photos of your work, your premises or your products
- Before-and-after pairs, if relevant
Decisions
- The one main action you want visitors to take
- Who receives form enquiries
- Who approves the final site
Legal
- Privacy policy and terms, or details for whoever writes them
- Any industry rules about what you can say or show
Once these are gathered, a build can move at the pace of decisions, not the pace of chasing.