What to prepare before a small business website build

1. Decide what the site is for

Pick the one action you most want a visitor to take: call, send an enquiry, book, or visit. Every page should make that action easy. If you can’t choose, write down where your best customers came from last year; that usually answers it.

2. Write down who it’s for and what they ask

List your main types of customer and the questions they ask before buying: price, how long it takes, whether you cover their area, what happens first. Those questions become your headings and FAQs, and they’re the words people type into Google.

3. List your services, plainly

One line per service, in the words a customer would use, not internal names. Note which ones you want more of. A separate page for each main service usually works better than one long list, both for visitors and for search.

4. Gather the words you already have

• Your existing site, leaflets, quotes and emails: they often hold good explanations you’ve already written.
• Real reviews or testimonials, with the customer’s permission to use them on the site.
• Qualifications, memberships and insurance you can genuinely show.

Don’t invent anything. Made-up statistics or stock “team” photos cost trust as soon as someone notices.

5. Photos

Real photos of your work, premises and people beat stock images. Phone photos are fine if they’re sharp and well lit. Collect the best 15 to 30, and make sure you own them or have permission to use them.

6. Logins and access

• Domain name: who it’s registered with, and the login. If someone else registered it for you, get it transferred into your own name.
• Current hosting and website: logins, so content can be copied and old pages redirected.
• Email: where your business email is hosted, so it isn’t broken when the site moves.
• Google Business Profile, Search Console and analytics: who has access today.

7. If you’re replacing an old site

Make a list of the pages people actually use, and any that bring in enquiries. Old addresses should be redirected to the closest new page, so links and search rankings aren’t thrown away. Ask your builder how they’ll handle this before you agree a quote.

8. Agree who looks after it afterwards

A site needs updates, backups and small changes after launch. Decide whether you’ll do that yourself or pay for a care plan, and check you’ll own your domain and content either way.

9. Set a realistic timeline

Allow time for you to review drafts and supply content. A simple site can go live in a few weeks; most delays come from waiting for words, photos or decisions. Having this list done first is the quickest way to shorten that.

A quick checklist

• The one action you want visitors to take
• Customer types and the questions they ask
• Services list, in customers’ words
• Existing text, real reviews (with permission), credentials
• 15 to 30 real photos you have rights to
• Domain, hosting, email and Google account access
• Old pages that need redirecting
• Who maintains the site after launch