What to prepare for your new website

You do not need to write the website first

Before you spend a weekend writing sales copy, check who is responsible for it. A website content checklist should reflect the work you have commissioned.

For our web development projects, we write the copy for the agreed pages. Rough notes, existing material and examples give us a starting point. You provide the business knowledge and check that the finished explanation is accurate.

With another provider, confirm who researches, writes and reviews the text. A design-and-build quote does not, by itself, settle that responsibility.

Useful inputs are often already in the business: quotes, sales presentations, service documents, project records and answers your team gives customers. Existing sales material can be a starting source, but check it before reuse. An old brochure may describe work you no longer want.

Keep your website brief alongside the collection. The brief explains the job; this preparation plan supplies the material needed to explain it truthfully.

Gather the facts your team needs to confirm

Start with information that changes what the website can say or ask a customer to do:

• Services and boundaries. The work you want to promote, where you provide it, what is included and what you do not take on.
• How the work happens. What the customer supplies, what your team handles and which details need checking before a recommendation or quote.
• Customer questions. Real questions from enquiries and sales conversations, with answers checked by someone who knows the work.
• Business and team details. Current names, relevant experience and credentials, with the correct scope and attribution.
• Brand material. Current logo files, available guidelines and approved brand assets. Flag old versions rather than leaving the designer to choose.
• Contact details. Public phone numbers, addresses where relevant, the destination for website enquiries and the person responsible for checking them.

Name the person who can resolve uncertainty in each area. The marketing lead may coordinate the collection while an operations manager checks service details. Those are different responsibilities.

Mark gaps plainly. “Service area needs confirming” is useful; a polished paragraph with an invented coverage claim is not.

For each service, collect enough detail to explain the customer's situation, the work involved and who handles what. The service-page content guide works through that explanation in depth.

Separate proof from material that explains the service

A completed-project photograph, a technical reference and a decorative image do different jobs. Putting them in one folder called “website images” can hide what is still missing.

Actual work needs a factual account

For a project you want to feature, collect the original images and a short account of the job. What did the customer need? Which parts did your company carry out? What can you accurately say about the result?

A finished photograph shows the visible work. It does not establish who handled every part of the project or prove a performance improvement. Confirm those claims separately, and label progress shots as progress shots.

Check the proposed use of photos, customer names, logos and feedback. Record the source, any restrictions and any permission still needed. Being sent a file is not the same as having its website use cleared.

An illustration needs an accurate reference

A drawing can explain an installation, a process or how a service works. The reference behind it might be an ordinary site photo, a sketch or a short demonstration video. It need not be polished enough to publish.

Have someone who understands the work check the explanation before approving the artwork. A well-designed diagram can still explain the wrong thing.

Decorative images cannot stand in for your projects

Stock imagery and custom visuals can support a design where their role is clear. They should not appear as evidence of work your company completed.

Keep generic and AI-generated imagery out of a section presented as “our work”. If you lack a usable project image, use an accurate written account or leave that example out.

Example content plan: a commercial landscaping company

Consider a fictional commercial landscaping company replacing its website. It has source material, but some facts and uses still need approval. Its preparation plan records the effect of each gap.

Keep the responsibilities with those rows, whether in the same sheet or a linked note:

• Service notes: the operations manager supplies them; the director confirms scope and coverage before the service copy is approved.
• Project material: the site supervisor supplies photos and job details; the project lead checks the account. The marketing lead confirms permitted use before publication.
• Illustration: the technical lead supplies a reference and checks accuracy before artwork approval. The designer handles its visual presentation within the agreed scope.
• Customer feedback: the account manager supplies the original source and confirms the proposed attribution and any required permission before it is used.
• Logo: the marketing lead supplies the source files; the director confirms the current version before visual design begins.
• Enquiry destination: the office manager supplies the address; the manager responsible for enquiries confirms it before the form is tested and released.

For this company, confirm service boundaries before approving the copy. Keep the uncleared customer comment out and let the illustration wait for its reference. The approved logo can already be used.

Those are different decisions. A single “content outstanding” status would not tell the team what can proceed.

When you have little usable imagery

First check what already exists. Ask project teams for original files and relevant job records, rather than relying only on the current website.

In one kickoff, the owner had genuine recent work available while the existing site used repeated generic imagery. The useful next step was to collect and assess that work, rather than immediately replace it with more filler.

Send promising originals to the designer with their context. An unedited photograph may contain a useful detail even if it will not work as a large opening image. The designer can assess its quality and crop; someone who knows the project should check its meaning.

If the gap remains, choose a response based on the job:

• Use a verified written project account when the facts are useful but no suitable image is available.
• Use an accurate illustration to explain a service, without presenting it as a completed customer project.
• Commission photography or video when there is something specific worth showing and the production is agreed.
• Leave out optional decoration when it adds no useful explanation or evidence.

A new photo shoot, video or illustration is separate production work to agree, not something to assume the website quote includes.

Keep collection, approval and launch checks distinct

Choose one person to coordinate the material, with subject experts checking their own areas. Store files where the team can find the current version and keep the intended use beside them.

Before launch, confirm service claims and contact details, clear the proposed material for use and test that enquiries reach the agreed destination. Do not publish an unsupported claim with a promise to fix it later.

Optional material can follow. Give it an owner and identify where it will be added, while keeping the launch version honest and useful. The website launch checklist covers the wider acceptance tests; this plan provides the approved inputs.

For an existing site, flag content, downloads and other material that must survive the move. Keep those requirements in the website rebuild checklist, rather than assuming every old file belongs on the new site.

Share account access through the agreed secure method. Do not put passwords, customer records or private project documents into the content sheet or a public folder.

Use this plan alongside the wider website planning guide. To discuss the build, bring your current material, the work you want to promote and the gaps you need help resolving.