What should you ask before building a website?

The type of site, whether it is a new build or a rebuild, the number of pages, the features expected, who provides the copy and the images, and who holds the domain and the hosting. The address of the current site, where there is one, is worth half the brief.

What do you do about a client with no copy?

Ask in the brief, with three possible answers: the copy is ready, the client still has to write it, or you write it and it is a line on the quote. The answer decides the schedule, and asking later means a project on hold for a month.

Websites: who writes the copy, settled before the first screen

Type of site, new build or rebuild, content ready or not, features expected, domain and hosting: asked at the start.

Create my studio for free See the questions

The project almost never stalls on the technical work. It stalls on the copy the client was going to send, on the logo they only have as a JPG, and on access to a domain bought six years ago with an email address that no longer exists. Those three get asked at the start or endured in the middle, and in the middle they cost three weeks nobody bills for.

This is a suggestion, not a standard. We do not do your job: this list is a starting point, to be added to, cut down and rephrased to suit the way you work.

The questions

17 questions. Brochure site, shop, rebuild. Five minutes of brief.

The project

What it is, and whether anything is online today.

What kind of site?
Dropdown · Required
The answers offered:
- Brochure site
- Online shop
- Blog or magazine
- Portfolio
- Booking site
- Web application
What is the site for?
Multiple choice · Required
Tick what really matters. This is what decides what gets built.
The answers offered:
- Getting known
- Receiving enquiries
- Selling online
- Taking bookings
- Informing my existing customers
- Recruiting
Who is it for?
Short text · Required
New build or rebuild?
Single choice · Required
The answers offered:
- New build, there is nothing today
- Rebuild of an existing site
The address of the current site
Short text · Optional
How many sections are you planning?
Number · Optional
An estimate is fine: home, about, services, contact is already four.

Your content

The answer that really decides the launch date.

Where are your copy and images up to?
Single choice · Required
The answers offered:
- All ready
- Some of it is ready
- Nothing yet, I will need help
Do you already have a logo and brand guidelines?
Single choice · Required
The answers offered:
- A logo and full guidelines
- A logo only
- Nothing yet
Logo, guidelines, copy and photos already done
File · Optional
Send what you have, even if it is incomplete. The rest can follow.

The features

What the site has to do, beyond showing itself.

What does the site need?
Multiple choice · Optional
The answers offered:
- A contact form
- Online payment
- Appointment booking
- A customer area
- A blog
- A newsletter
- Several languages
- A map and directions
The domain name
Single choice · Required
If you already have it, check that you can still sign in wherever it was bought.
The answers offered:
- I have it and I can get into it
- I have it, but I have lost the login
- It needs buying
- I do not know
Who will update the site afterwards?
Single choice · Optional
The answers offered:
- Me
- You, if you offer that
- We will see later

Your taste

Enough to head in the right direction first time.

Main colour
Colour · Optional
Sites you like
Long text · Optional

And finally

Your deadline, and anything that did not fit the questions above.

When do you need it?
Dropdown · Required
The answers offered:
- As soon as possible
- Within 2 weeks
- Within a month
- No particular deadline
Anything you would like to add?
Long text · Optional
A constraint, a question, a detail I ought to bear in mind.
Any other files to attach
File · Optional
On top of what is asked for above: screenshots, sketches, documents. HEIC from an iPhone is fine.

The colours to offer

A client who writes “blue” and a studio who reads “blue” are not talking about the same colour. A list of shades settles it straight away.

Midnight blue
White
Light grey
Link blue
Turquoise
Success green
Amber
Raspberry

How it works

1
You pick your trade
When you sign up, and the questions on this page are already in your account. You cut them down, add to them and rephrase them: nothing is fixed.
2
You send one link
Your client answers from their phone, when they can, and uploads their files. They install nothing, create no account and choose no password.
3
What follows stays in one place
The conversation, the chasing, the later rounds of questions, the deposit and the balance, and the delivery of the files, which can open on its own once the payment settles.

What it costs

Free up to five orders a month, with no card and no time limit. Past that a paid plan takes over, and nothing about the way you work changes.

See the plans

Frequently asked questions

What should you ask before building a website?: The type of site, whether it is a new build or a rebuild, the number of pages, the features expected, who provides the copy and the images, and who holds the domain and the hosting. The address of the current site, where there is one, is worth half the brief.
What do you do about a client with no copy?: Ask in the brief, with three possible answers: the copy is ready, the client still has to write it, or you write it and it is a line on the quote. The answer decides the schedule, and asking later means a project on hold for a month.

Think something is wrong?

A question that is missing, one that means nothing in your trade, a word that is not the right one: write to us and we will fix it.

Write to us at [email protected]

These questions are already waiting for you

Create your studio, pick your trade, and this brief is there. You send one link, your client answers once, and you follow what happens next in the same place.

Create my studio for free Read the blog