Writing
What to have ready before asking for a website
You do not need to know any code to ask for a website. You need to know what you do and who for, and to have a handful of things to hand.
Published One Other
Do you need to know what you want before talking to anyone?
No. You need to know what you do and who you do it for.
The rest comes out in conversation, which is what the conversation is for. Anyone asking for a feature list in the first email is starting at the end.
What should you have to hand?
Not much, and most of it already exists.
- One sentence on what you do, the way you would tell a friend.
- Three websites you like, and what you like about each.
- What you already have, such as a logo, photographs, texts, social accounts and a domain.
- What you want someone to do once they land on the site.
What if you have no texts and no photographs?
That is the usual situation. Say so straight away, because it changes the work and the timeline.
Texts can come out of a recorded conversation with you. Photographs can wait for a shoot, or the site can launch without them and take them in later.
How much of your time will it take?
More at the start and at the end. At the start, to explain what you do. At the end, to go over the texts and learn to change what you will want to change.
In the middle the work is ours, and you only answer a question now and then. Having someone on your side who decides and replies within two or three days is what moves a project along most.
Whose name should the accounts be in?
Yours. The domain, the hosting and the email belong in accounts you own, even if someone else looks after them.
That way, if you ever change who builds your site, everything leaves with you. If you want to start there, write to us.
Start with an email.
The six questions come next.
What you send us stays between us, and it leaves here as your files.
The notes also come by email, one a week. Get them by email