What to get ready before you hire a web designer

To prepare for a web designer, get your domain login, a few lines on what you do and who it is for, your prices, your logo, your own photos and a list of the questions customers ask you. You do not need finished text or a plan, just the raw material and the answers only you know, because a build can only move as fast as the content arrives.

None of this needs to be polished. Rough notes in an email are fine. What matters is that it exists before the work starts.

Your domain and access

Your domain, and whose name it is in

If you already have a domain, find out where it is registered and whose name it is in. If it turns out to be in a former designer’s name, it is much easier to sort out before a new site is waiting for it. How to find out who owns your domain name shows you how to check.

If you do not have one yet, think about the name you want, but register it in your own name rather than letting anyone else hold it for you. Find out where your business email runs as well, if you have one, because your email depends on settings held with your domain.

Access, without sharing passwords

A designer will need access to some of your accounts. Where an account lets you invite someone, do that rather than handing over your password.

Your Google Business Profile is a good example. Google lets you add someone as a manager: go to your Business Profile, select More, then Business Profile settings, then People and access, select Add, enter their email address, choose Manager and select Invite (Google help, checked October 2026). A manager can do almost everything you can, except add or remove people or remove the profile, so you stay the owner.

What you do and what you charge

What you do, who it is for, and where

Write a line or two about each thing you sell, the kind of customer you want more of, and the towns or areas you cover. Say who you do not work with too, if there is anyone. It saves you phone calls you do not want.

Your prices, or how you price

If you have prices, send them. If every job is different, explain how you price instead: a call out charge, a starting figure, a free visit to quote. Give people some idea of cost before they get in touch, even if it is only a range.

The questions customers ask you

Write down the questions people ask you most, and how you answer them. This is the most useful thing on the list. Those answers are usually what belongs on the site, and they are already in your words.

Words, photos and reviews

Words: rough is fine

You do not have to write a website. Once the deposit is paid, I send what I call the page by page list, which takes each page in turn and asks plain questions about it. You fill in answers rather than staring at a blank page.

I then shape what you send: cut it down, put the important part first, and write the headings and buttons so each page reads well. What I do not do is invent what your business says about itself, because you know that better than I do. If you would rather someone wrote it all for you, that is a copywriter’s job.

Photos and your logo

Real photos of you, your work and your premises do more for a small business site than stock photos. Send the best ones you have, at full size, straight from your phone or camera rather than screenshots of them.

Only send photos you have the right to use. GOV.UK explains that copyright protects photographs automatically, without anyone applying for it, and that you cannot use someone else’s work without permission (GOV.UK, GOV.UK, both checked October 2026). The Intellectual Property Office adds that a photo with no name or copyright symbol on it is not free to use for that reason, and that when you pay a professional photographer, the copyright usually stays with them, so agree a licence that covers your website, or have the copyright assigned to you in writing (GOV.UK, checked October 2026).

For your logo, send the original file if you have it, from whoever designed it. If you do not have a logo, your business name set neatly in type suits most small businesses anyway.

Reviews you already have

If customers have reviewed you on Google or anywhere else, note where. Reviews on a website should be the customer’s exact words, with a link to where they posted them, so anyone can check. How to get more Google reviews without breaking the rules covers getting more.

What you like, and your budget

Sites you like, and why

Find two or three websites you like, from any trade, and say what you like about each: the layout, the photos, how quickly you could find the phone number. It is far easier to work from examples than from a description.

A budget and a date

Know roughly what you can spend, and whether there is a date that matters, such as old hosting closing down or a busy season starting. Your web host is closing down. What to do first covers the urgent version of this.

My prices are fixed and published, so you can work out a budget before you speak to me.

Questions to ask whoever you hire

• Whose name will the domain and the hosting be in?
• Who owns the site at the end, and when?
• What will it cost each year once it is live?
• What happens to my site if you stop trading?

My answers to all four are in my terms. If you are being offered a monthly contract, Is a pay monthly website worth it? has more questions worth asking before you sign.