Most people are surprised to learn that the design and build are usually the quick part of a new website. The slow part is gathering the words, photos and details that go on the pages. A website content checklist helps you get those ready before the build starts, so the project keeps moving.
You don’t need everything polished. You just need to know what’s coming and who’s doing what.
Why content holds up most website builds
A designer can set up page layouts fairly quickly. But they can’t finish a services page without knowing what your services are, or a team page without photos of the team.
At Inversit, a standard build typically takes 21 business days once we have the content. “Once we have the content” is the important bit. When content arrives in dribs and drabs, the timeline stretches, and it’s usually nobody’s fault. Business owners are busy, and writing about your own business is harder than it sounds.
Getting organised early means fewer emails back and forth and a launch date you can actually plan around.
Your website content checklist
Work through these in any order. Print this website content checklist, tick off what you already have and make a note of anything you’ll need help with.
Business basics
- Business name exactly as you want it shown, plus your ABN if you display it
- Phone number, email address and physical or postal address
- Opening hours, including any seasonal changes
- The towns and suburbs you service
- Links to your social media pages and Google Business Profile
Branding
- Your logo in the best quality you have, ideally SVG, EPS or a large PNG
- Brand colours and fonts, if you have them
- A tagline or short description you like to use
If your logo only exists as a blurry image from an old flyer, say so early. A properly drawn logo makes a big difference to how the finished site looks.
Words for each page
- Home: a short summary of what you do and who you do it for
- About: your story, how long you’ve been operating and what you care about
- Services: a section or page for each main service, with what’s included
- Frequently asked questions, taken from what customers really ask you
- Any testimonials or reviews you have permission to use
Photos and media
- Photos of you, your team, your premises and your work
- Product photos, if you sell products
- Any videos you’d like to include
Legal and admin
- A Privacy Policy, especially if your site has forms that collect personal details
- Terms and conditions, if you take bookings or sell online
- Access to your current website, domain and hosting accounts, shared securely
If you’re unsure what your Privacy Policy needs to cover, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has plain-English information on privacy for businesses.
Writing the words without the stress
Plenty of business owners find writing about themselves the hardest part. A few tips help:
- Write the way you talk to customers. Plain words beat clever ones.
- Start with the questions people ask you on the phone, then answer them.
- Keep paragraphs short. Most people skim, especially on phones.
- Don’t worry about perfect grammar in a first draft. Get the facts down first.
Rough notes are fine. A good designer can shape them into page copy, as long as the facts and details come from you. If you can talk about your business for five minutes, you’ve got enough to work with.
Getting your content to your designer
How you hand content over matters almost as much as the content itself. A tidy handover saves a lot of back and forth.
- Use one shared folder. Put everything in one place rather than scattering it across emails, texts and Facebook messages.
- Name files clearly. “About page.docx” and “Team photo Sarah.jpg” are much easier to work with than “IMG_4821”.
- Send original photos. Photos saved from social media are often shrunk and blurry. The originals from your phone or camera look far better.
- Pick one decision-maker. If three people need to approve every page, agree early on who has the final say.
- Flag anything that’s still coming. A quick note saying “pricing to follow next week” lets the build carry on around it.
You don’t have to send everything in one go, but sending it in a few organised batches is far easier than a trickle of single files.
Real photos make the biggest difference
Photos are usually the item left until last, yet they shape the whole look of the site. Stock images can fill a gap, but real photos of your team and your work build trust in a way stock can’t. We’ve written more about this in real photos vs stock photos.
If your own phone photos aren’t quite there, Bella, our photographer and graphic designer, can shoot your business, team and products. Booking brand photography early means the photos are ready when the pages are.
If you don’t have it all yet
That’s normal, and it shouldn’t stop you starting a conversation. Plenty of businesses come to us with a logo and a phone number and not much else.
What matters is being clear about the gaps. During a free consultation we can go through your website content checklist with you, work out what you already have and suggest what to prioritise. You’ll get a clear written quote before any work starts, and you can read more about how our web design process works.
If you’ve tried building a site yourself before, you’ll know content is often where things stall. Our article on how long a DIY website really takes looks at why.
Ready to get your content sorted?
Book a free consultation and we’ll help you work out what you need before the build begins, so there are no hold-ups later. Get in touch or call 02 6610 9202, Monday to Friday, 9:30am to 4:30pm.
