To many businesses, building a website looks like a job you do once and forget. Yet whether the site ends up useful depends largely on decisions made before design even starts. In this article we have gathered what we suggest you settle on your side before working with an agency or a freelancer, and the questions you can ask while comparing offers.
Clarify the goal and the audience first
Who is the site for, and what should a visitor do there? The answers to these two questions shape everything from the page structure to the choice of images.
Give the site one main job
Ask for a quote, call you, find your address or browse your products. Wanting all of it at once usually means doing none of it well. If you pick one main job, every page can serve it and visitors do not have to work out what to do.
Know your visitor
Is the visitor a supplier, an end customer or a business partner? What questions do they arrive with, and what language do they use? Writing down the five questions your customers ask most often is a good starting point for the content.
Prepare the content before the design
Design takes its shape from the content. If texts and photos are not ready, the designer works with placeholder text, and when the real content arrives the layout can break or the project can stall. Content is usually what delays a project the most.
Before you start, we suggest gathering:
- Short, clear descriptions of your services or products
- Your logo, and real photos of your team and workplace
- Phone, email, address and opening hours
- Frequently asked questions and their answers
- References and work samples you are allowed to share
If writing the texts is hard for you, say so at the start. Agreeing early on how much content support is included reduces surprises later.
Mobile support should be the default, not an option
Many visitors will open your site on a phone, so mobile support is a basic expectation rather than an extra. And it means more than fitting a small screen:
- Text should be readable without zooming
- Buttons and links should be large enough to tap comfortably
- The phone number should be callable with one tap
- Forms should be easy to fill in on a phone
When you receive a quote, ask whether the site will be checked on real phones and across screen sizes before launch.
Do not overlook speed
On a page that opens slowly, visitors lose patience. Speed is mostly affected by heavy images, unnecessary plugins and careless code. You can measure your site yourself with Google's free PageSpeed Insights tool. Read the result as a signpost rather than a single fixed number; it varies with network conditions and the device.
You can also ask the person quoting how images are optimised and whether unnecessary code is kept off the page.
Set up basic SEO from day one
Being found in search engines is not a decoration added later; it starts with the structure of the site. The basics that should be in place from day one are:
- A separate, clear title and description for each page
- One main heading per page and logical subheadings
- Readable addresses (URLs)
- Descriptive alternative text for images
- A sitemap and a Google Search Console registration
Be careful with offers that promise rankings. Nobody can guarantee a particular position in search results; building a solid foundation and improving the content over time is the realistic path.
Do not forget the details that build trust
A visitor often decides within a few seconds whether to trust a business. Making the phone number, the address or service area, and the opening hours easy to find builds that trust. Real photos are more convincing than stock images.
If the site has a contact form, remember that it collects personal data. In that case, the notices about privacy and the protection of personal data need to be on the site. We suggest consulting a legal professional about what those texts should say.
Domain and hosting should be in your name
This item looks dull, but it is one of the topics that causes the most trouble later. The domain name, hosting, Google accounts and analytics tools should be opened in the business's name, with the business's email address.
When accounts are opened in the name of an agency or a single person, getting access to your own site can become difficult once the working relationship ends. During the quote stage, make these points clear:
- In whose name is the domain registered, and when does it renew?
- Who owns and administers the hosting account?
- Will the administrator login details be handed over to you?
If the answer to these questions is "you", that is a good sign. Checking together how accounts will be opened is something we do at the start of every project as well.
Plan for what happens after launch
The work does not end when the site goes live. Contact details change, a new service is added, software updates come out. Knowing from the start who handles what prevents surprises:
- Who makes small content changes, and how quickly?
- How are security updates and backups handled?
- Whom do you contact when something goes wrong, and through which channel?
- Are these services included in the quote, or separate?
If maintenance and support are not written into the quote as a separate item, ask about them directly.
Questions to ask when comparing quotes
Comparing two quotes only by the total figure can mislead, because the scopes are often not the same. Before comparing, ask every offer the same questions:
- How many pages and which features are in scope?
- Is there a prototype or an approval stage for the design?
- Who will prepare the texts and photos?
- How will the site be tested on mobile?
- Are basic SEO settings included?
- In whose name will the domain, hosting and other accounts be opened?
- How will support and maintenance work after launch?
- Will a ready-made template be used, or is the design made for you?
Price and timing vary with the number of pages, the features you want and how quickly the content is ready. So compare the scopes of two quotes before comparing their figures. "It varies, it depends on the scope" is not an evasion but an honest answer; the ones to watch are quotes that give a fixed figure without pinning down the scope first.
In closing
A good website does more than look good: it helps visitors find what they need quickly and take the next step. Settling the goal, the content and the responsibilities up front is much easier than fixing them later. If you would like to go through these points together for your own project, you are welcome to write to us.