Process
What to Have Ready Before a Website Project Starts
By the LA Web Design team6 min read
Website projects rarely stall on design or code. They stall waiting for material only the business owner has. Gathering it before the project starts is the difference between a build that finishes in weeks and one that drags out for months while everyone waits on a photo.
Access, first
Domain registrar login, hosting login, and access to the current website if there is one. Also your Google Business Profile and any analytics accounts. These are routinely the hardest things to find, because they were set up years ago by someone who's no longer around. Start looking early — tracking down a lost domain login can take weeks.
Content is what actually holds projects up
This is the one. Every other item here takes an afternoon. Writing the words for eight pages takes real thought, and it's the task that gets postponed. You don't need finished copy — rough notes about each service in your own words are genuinely more useful than polished text written by someone who doesn't know the business. But something has to exist.
Photos, and an honest look at what you have
Real photos of your work, your team, and your space beat stock every time, and customers can tell the difference instantly. Send the originals, not the versions already compressed for social media. If you don't have usable photos, say so at the start. That's a solvable problem with a week of notice and a serious one discovered in week six.
Logo files, if they exist
The actual logo files, not a screenshot taken from your own website. Vector files are ideal because they scale to any size without going fuzzy. If all that survives is a low-resolution image, that's worth knowing up front, because it may mean redrawing the mark.
A short list of websites you like, and why
Three or four is plenty, and they don't have to be in your industry. The useful part isn't the examples, it's the reason. “The menu is simple” or “their photos are huge” tells a designer more than a mood board. Include one or two you dislike as well. Knowing what to avoid saves a round of revisions.
What the website is supposed to do
Calls? Form submissions? Bookings? Online orders? Say it plainly, and say which one matters most. A website designed to generate estimate requests looks different from one designed to sell products, and that decision belongs to you rather than the designer.
Who signs off
Name the person with final say before anything gets designed. Projects slow down most when feedback arrives from four people with different opinions in three separate emails. One decision-maker and consolidated feedback move a project at a completely different speed.