How to prepare for building a website as a business owner
Goals, audience, services, images, copy, brand, competitors, deadline, budget — a checklist for business owners.
Behind the most successful website projects isn't a clever agency, but a well-prepared client. This checklist helps you turn up to the kick-off meeting not with a puzzled look — but already knowing what you want to achieve. It makes the whole project faster and cheaper too.
1. Goals: what do you want to achieve?
First, the most important thing: what is the website for? 'To have one' isn't a goal. Set concrete, measurable goals: 20 new quote requests a month, launching online sales, collecting newsletter subscribers, automating 80% of online bookings.
Every design decision depends on these goals — the structure, the CTAs, the content, even the price. Don't let the agency figure this out for you.
2. Audience: who is it for?
Be able to state it in a single sentence: who your ideal customer is. Industry, size, role, what they're looking for. If possible, 2–3 concrete 'personas' — fictional but realistic descriptions of people.
This determines the tone (formal/friendly), the visual style (premium/approachable), and many content decisions. It helps a lot if you can point to 2–3 real customers whose type is typical.
3. Services, products, references
What exactly do you offer? List it out. Simply, clearly — not generically. For example, not 'IT consulting', but 'Microsoft 365 rollout for mid-sized companies'.
References: who's already alongside you that you can mention? It's worth putting together case studies in advance — what the problem was, what you did, what the result was. These are the most important building blocks of trust.
4. Images, copy, brand identity
What are you bringing? Do you have a logo? How many colours do you use? Are there professional photos of the team? Customer photos? Reference photos of your work?
If the raw material is incomplete, that's OK too — but know that producing it is extra cost and time. Professional photography, for instance, can be done in half a day, but it has to be planned in.
5. Features: what's needed, what isn't
Do you need a booking system? CRM integration? Multiple languages? A blog? Newsletter sign-up? Online payment? A customer portal? List what's needed now, and what would be nice later but isn't a priority now.
The 'let's make everything future-proof too' approach often makes the launch round more expensive. A well-designed modern website can always be extended easily later — don't build in now what you might never use.
6. Competitors, inspiration
Collect 5–10 websites you like (competitors or from abroad). Note what you like about them and what you'd want to avoid. This helps the designer and developer a lot in tailoring the work to your taste.
At the same time, look at your competitors' sites with a critical eye: where are they strong, where weak? Where could you give a more compelling answer?
7. Deadline and budget
When does it need to be ready? If there's a specific date (an event, a campaign, the start of a business year), say so up front — it helps with planning.
Budget: be honest. An agency won't be more expensive for knowing the budget — quite the opposite, it focuses the solution on that range. The 'you tell me how much' approach often just leads to a tense mood instead.
Request a strategy consultation
If you're at the start of a website project, it may be worth thinking through the points above in an expert conversation — before implementation begins.