Illustration: organising the information behind a useful business website.
You know your business needs a better website. Perhaps the current one looks dated, customers keep asking questions it should answer, or there is no independent website at all. Then someone asks how many pages you need, whether the content is ready and which functions must be included. Suddenly, a straightforward request feels like homework.
It does not have to. You do not need a finished website plan before starting a conversation. You do need a reasonably clear picture of the business, the customer and what you want the website to accomplish.
This guide is a practical preparation exercise, not a technical specification. Work through what you know, mark the uncertain parts and bring those questions with you. The aim is a quotation based on the actual job rather than two people imagining different projects.
Start with the customer’s next step
Before choosing colours, pages or features, finish this sentence: “When the right person visits our website, we want them to…”
The answer might be to call about a repair, request a quotation, understand which service suits them, arrange a meeting or check whether the business serves their area. There can be more than one useful action, but decide which matters most.
“We want a modern website” describes an appearance. “We want homeowners to understand our services and send the information needed for an estimate” describes a job. That second version gives the designer something to organise the site around.
Write down who those customers are and what they are usually trying to solve. A trade customer checking capabilities may need different information from someone buying a service for the first time. If both matter, say so. There is no need to invent detailed customer profiles; a few realistic distinctions are more useful than a fictional biography.
Explain the business as if the reader has never met you
Business owners often leave out the very information a new customer needs because it feels obvious. Your location, service area, typical work and preferred contact route may be second nature to you. They are not second nature to a visitor.
Prepare a short explanation covering what you provide, whom you help and where you work. Add anything that regularly causes confusion. Do you visit customers, work from your premises or arrange work remotely? Are there services people assume you offer that you do not?
Keep the explanation concrete. “Complete solutions for every requirement” gives a designer little to work with. A plain list of the work you actually accept is much more useful.
Also explain what has changed. A redesign may be necessary because the business now serves different customers, has stopped providing an old service or wants to present an established service more clearly. Those are content and structure decisions, not simply a fresh coat of paint.
List information before counting pages
You might think you need five pages because a similar business has five. That is a starting point, not a requirement. First list what a customer should be able to find.
Useful items might include your main services, examples of completed work, who the service suits, practical enquiry information, business background and contact details. Then ask which subjects deserve their own space and which can be explained together.
Separate services may justify separate pages when customers have different questions about each. A small business with one focused offer may need a simpler structure. There is no benefit in creating pages that repeat the same promise with slightly different headings.
Bring a rough list rather than a rigid page count. Mark your three most important services. If you have an existing website, identify pages customers still use and pages that no longer reflect the business. This helps the conversation move from “How many pages?” to “What does each page need to do?”
Take stock of the content you already have
Content is more than written paragraphs. It includes photographs, logos, service details, questions customers ask, project examples and documents that explain how your business works.
Gather the useful material in one place. Do not worry about making it elegant. A rough explanation in your own words can be more valuable than polished text that says very little.
Separate material into three groups: ready to use, needs updating and needs creating. A photograph might be suitable but require a clearer caption. A service description may need correcting. A page about a newer service may not exist at all.
Decide who will supply missing information and who will approve the final wording. If several people need to check the content, choose one person to collect their comments. Otherwise, a project can end up with conflicting versions of the same page and no clear decision.
It is fine to need help. What matters for the quotation is distinguishing content supplied by the business from content planning, writing or image work that needs to be included.
Bring images and logos you are entitled to use
Look for the best available version of your logo, not just the small image saved from a social profile. If you are unsure which file is useful, bring the versions you have and explain where they came from.
For photographs, identify which images belong to your business and which have a licence or permission for website use. An image being visible online is not the same as having permission to copy it.
Make a note of customers, staff, names, addresses or other identifying details visible in the material. Decide what should be shown, concealed or excluded before selecting images for the site.
You do not have to invent a photographic portfolio if one does not exist. Explain the gap. The important thing is that a website image should help customers understand the business without pretending to document work, people or premises it does not actually show.
Describe functions through real situations
“We need bookings” can mean several different things. It might mean an enquiry form requesting a preferred date, or a live system that checks availability and confirms an appointment. Those are different requirements.
Instead of naming a feature alone, describe what the customer should do and what should happen afterwards. For example: “A customer chooses a service and a preferred day. We review the request and contact them to confirm.” That makes the intended process much clearer.
Use the same approach for payments, product enquiries, file uploads, customer accounts and connections to other software. Who receives the information? Does someone approve it? Which existing system must it reach? What happens if the customer makes a mistake?
Mark features as essential, useful later or simply an idea. This separates the necessary first version from an expanding wish list. Do not assume a particular third-party product will be suitable until its requirements and responsibilities have been assessed.
Explain what exists already
If you have a website, bring its address and explain what you want to keep. That may include useful pages, photographs, project information or an established way customers contact you.
List what is not working with specific examples. “Customers cannot find our opening hours on a phone” is more actionable than “It feels old.” Screenshots can help, but the explanation matters more than a collection of images.
Also identify the domain name, hosting arrangement and business email setup as far as you understand them. You do not need to know every technical term. “We pay this company each year, but I do not know which services the invoice covers” is a useful fact to bring.
Do not send passwords in an initial enquiry. Establish which accounts exist and who controls them first. Access can then be arranged appropriately for the agreed work. An existing website replacement should not begin with assumptions about what can be transferred or recovered.
Do not forget the work around the website
A website project can involve more than the visible pages. An existing domain may need attention. Content may need moving. A contact form needs a destination. Someone needs to check the information before launch.
Write down anything connected to the website that the business relies on. Examples include enquiry emails, downloadable documents, existing booking tools and links printed on cards or signs.
This is not a request to include everything in the build. It is a way to avoid accidentally excluding something important. Ask what will be handled within the project, what will remain with another provider and what needs separate investigation.
Accessibility also belongs in the planning conversation rather than being treated as a final decorative check. The W3C’s accessibility planning guidance recommends integrating accessibility throughout the production process and assigning responsibilities. Discuss the requirements, evaluation and ongoing content responsibilities for your particular project. Do not confuse that discussion with an unsupported promise of universal compliance.
Give a real deadline and its reason
“As soon as possible” communicates urgency, but not the reason behind it. Explain whether the website is connected to a business opening, an event, a campaign or an existing website that has stopped working.
Distinguish a fixed date from a preferred date. If you have a launch in six weeks, say whether every planned function must be ready then or whether a clearly defined first version would serve the immediate need.
Content and approvals belong in this discussion too. A schedule is difficult to assess when nobody knows when photographs, service information or decisions will be available.
Be candid about your own availability. If you cannot review material during a busy period, that is better known early. A useful schedule reflects both the production work and the decisions the business needs to make.
Decide what happens after launch
Who will update opening hours, add a new service or replace an old photograph? How often is that likely to happen? Who should be contacted if a form stops behaving as expected?
You do not have to decide every future arrangement immediately, but explain how you expect to use the website. A site that changes occasionally has a different maintenance conversation from one needing frequent new material.
Ask which ongoing services are proposed, what they cover and what they do not. Keep renewals, hosting, support and later content changes distinguishable from the initial project. The point is not to assume every business needs the same package; it is to understand who is responsible for keeping the agreed website useful.
Compare quotations by scope, not just the final figure
Two quotations can describe very different jobs even when both use the words “business website”. One might assume you supply finished text and images. Another might include substantial preparation. One may include moving existing content; another may be for a new build without migration.
Read the assumptions and exclusions. Look for the pages, functions, content responsibilities, review stages and ongoing arrangements. Ask for clarification wherever the language leaves you unsure.
The fairest comparison is between defined projects. That does not mean choosing the largest proposal. It means understanding whether each proposal addresses the customer need you started with.
A quotation should help both sides know what has been agreed. It should not require you to guess whether an important part of the project is included because it was mentioned informally during a conversation.
A short brief you can copy and complete
You can begin with these headings. Short answers are enough; “not sure yet” is a useful answer when it identifies something to discuss.
- Business: name, location and what we provide.
- Customers: whom the website needs to help.
- Main action: what visitors should do next.
- Project: first website, redesign or replacement.
- Information: services and subjects the site must explain.
- Functions: essential actions and what should happen afterwards.
- Existing setup: current website, domain and relevant systems.
- Content: what is ready, missing or needs correcting.
- Deadline: desired date and why it matters.
- After launch: expected updates and support needs.
Add one or two websites you find useful and explain why. Perhaps their navigation is clear or their examples answer a question. “We like how this works” is more helpful than asking for a copy of another business’s identity.
You do not need every answer before getting in touch
The preparation is there to make the discussion easier, not to stop you having it. Bring what you know, explain what is uncertain and keep the focus on the person who will use the website.
At Time for Designs, website projects are assessed individually around the pages, content, design, functionality, migration, integrations and support required. Annual services are quoted separately. Specialist requirements and the intended schedule must be agreed rather than assumed.
Read about our website design service for small businesses, then call 062 61524, send the essentials by WhatsApp or visit 98 Friar Street, Cashel. Start with the business, whether a website already exists, the customer’s next step and any genuine deadline.
The best first brief is not the longest one. It is the one that makes the real job easier to understand.