Deadlines aren’t missed because of the developers. In most projects, the longest delay is waiting for text, photos, and access credentials from the client. Here’s what you should have ready before launch: having the materials prepared in advance cuts development time by weeks and significantly reduces costs.
1. Business objectives, not a list of pages
The most helpful thing you can give a contractor is an answer to the question “why.” Not “I need a five-page website,” but “we want to receive requests for installation; right now, everything is handled over the phone and on Instagram.”
Please state the following in writing:
- what a visitor should do on the website—submit a request, make a purchase, sign up, or review the terms and conditions;
- Who is your customer, and how do they make decisions: in five minutes or after a month of comparing options;
- where visitors will come from—ads, search, social media, referrals;
- Based on which metric will you say in six months that the website was a success?
2. Examples of websites I like
Three to five links and one sentence for each: what exactly they liked. “I like how the prices are displayed,” “the catalog is easy to use,” “I like the understated style—no flashiness.”
Examples of the “opposite”—what’s annoying—are just as useful. This saves several rounds of design approval.
3. Competitors
Three or four companies that customers compare you to. Not to copy them, but to see how you differ and what you should highlight on the first screen.
4. Texts
This is the most difficult part and the most common cause of delays. Options:
- Write it yourself. It's cheaper, but usually takes longer than it seems.
- You provide the invoice, and the contractor writes the texts. Ideally: you provide the services, prices, terms, and frequently asked questions from customers; we provide the wording.
- Temporary "fish." The worst-case scenario: You have to redo a design based on placeholder text once the actual text becomes available.
The minimum required to get started: a list of services with descriptions, prices or estimates, information about the company, contact information and business details, and answers to the five questions customers ask most often.
5. Photos and Videos
Real photos of projects, the team, the production process, and the facilities work far better than stock images: a visitor recognizes a stock image instantly, and trust plummets.
Take photos horizontally and in high quality—we can resize them down, but not up. If you don’t have any photos, schedule a separate photo shoot: it’s a normal part of the project.
6. Logo and Corporate Identity
I need the logo in vector format — .svg, .ai or .pdf. An image from a website or a business card in print quality won't work: it will look pixelated on large screens.
If you have a brand book, please send it to us. If not, it’s enough to decide on the colors and overall vibe.
7. Access
Get everything ready in advance; this is often the most time-consuming step:
- access to the domain registrar—where the domain is paid for;
- access to hosting;
- the admin panel of the old website, if there is one;
- analytics and Search Console;
- Data for integrations: payment system, delivery service, CRM.
If you don't have the access credentials and don't know who has them, let us know right away. Recovery through the registrar can sometimes take weeks, and it's better to start the process before the launch rather than on launch day.
8. Who Makes the Decisions?
One person on your side who has the final say. A classic reason for delays is when five people are approving a design, and each subsequent person reverts to the previous version.
Agree on a response deadline as well: if it takes two weeks to approve the layout, the project will take exactly that long.
9. Budget and Timeline
Stating your budget range isn’t a disadvantage in negotiations—it’s a way to get a relevant proposal. Knowing the parameters, the contractor will propose a solution that fits within them, rather than coming up with ideas that you won’t order anyway.
We discussed guidelines for different types of projects and the structure of a cost estimate in the article How much does it cost to develop a website?. You can calculate the cost of your project in three steps.
What You Don't Need to Cook
Don't waste time on a detailed technical specification describing every button—that's the contractor's job. Don't draw page layouts in Word. Don't choose a CMS for us: first the task, then the tool.
In a nutshell: checklist
- a business objective formulated in writing;
- 3–5 examples of websites with comments;
- competitors;
- list of services, prices, terms and conditions;
- real photos;
- logo in vector format;
- access to the domain, hosting, and analytics;
- one person to make decisions;
- budget range and desired timeframe.
It's at least half done—we can get started. Turnkey Website Development, online stores, landings: Describe the task, and we'll get back to you with a work plan.
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