Company website content: what to prepare before design

Build around customer questions

Write down five questions people ask before ordering. Who is the service for? What is included? How do we start? What affects the estimate? What do we need to supply? The answers create an information plan, rather than a menu full of unexplained service names.

Give every planned page a main purpose: make contact, inspect work, compare options or buy. If its purpose is unclear, combine it with another page or leave it for a later stage. A smaller set of useful pages is easier to maintain.

Describe the scope as you would in a conversation

Replace broad claims about innovative, comprehensive solutions with a concrete problem and deliverable. For a catalogue, that might mean organised product information, photographs and a print-ready edition. Separate the standard scope from optional work agreed for a particular order.

You do not need a public price list when projects differ. Explain what affects the quote: versions, languages, source material, integrations or production. Customers can then include relevant information in their enquiries instead of trying to guess your process.

Collect materials with a clear purpose

Gather the original logo, photographs, work examples, service descriptions and current contact details. For each project, add a name, your actual contribution and what may be shown publicly. Publish results and testimonials only when they can be verified and used with permission.

Avoid an unexplained folder called “new photos”. Group files by service or project, identify versions and mark preferred images. If there are no suitable team or premises photographs, say so. A considered design can use real work and typography instead.

Agree who approves and maintains the content

Appoint one person to approve the offer, company details and revisions. Collect comments in one place. Several people editing separate documents can easily introduce an old telephone number or an outdated price.

Decide who will update the site after launch. Services and projects need usable editing fields. During handover, try a real text, image and contact-link change rather than relying only on a written promise that editing is easy.

Start with an honest working version

A draft with labelled gaps is more useful than an empty presentation. It provides a basis for planning structure, photography and editing. Confirm facts and responsibilities before publication; the first document does not have to be polished.