What to prepare for a small business website.

1. Pick the main action a visitor should take

Decide what the website needs to help a customer do: understand a service, request a conversation or send a project inquiry. Describe who that customer is and what they need to know first. A single clear action is a better starting point than adding features without a purpose.

2. Collect accurate business information and assets

Bring the approved business name, contact details, service descriptions, logo and photos you are allowed to use. Mark what is ready and what still needs writing. Only include a client testimonial or project result when you have permission and evidence; a realistic illustration should not be presented as a photograph of completed client work.

3. Map the domain, hosting and email

List where your domain is registered, who manages its DNS, where the current site runs and which provider handles email. Do not email passwords. Arrange appropriate account access during the project. If the website moves, preserving the mail records is a separate check from making the new pages load.

4. Decide what happens after an inquiry

Choose which information the form needs, who receives the request and where it is tracked. The confirmation shown to a visitor should accurately describe what happens next. Test the form's delivery path with a clearly identified test request; a successful-looking screen is not evidence that the business received it.

5. Agree how you will review the draft

A hosted preview lets you test a draft from your own browser. Decide who can access it and who has the final approval. Useful feedback identifies the version, page, section and requested change. Check the draft on a real phone as well as a desktop, especially navigation, text size and contact controls.

6. Define the first release and ongoing care

Separate the must-have launch features from changes that can follow later. Ask who updates content, maintains the website, monitors the inquiry path and owns the domain and accounts. Hosting, provider fees and ongoing support should have clear boundaries in the proposal. Share your desired launch date, but agree a schedule only once the scope and dependencies are understood.

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