Preparing website content becomes straightforward when you know what’s needed. This checklist covers text, images, structure, and technical setup before design or development begins. Applies to both WordPress and Shopify.

Core pages

Most websites need:

  • Homepage: Hero headline, intro, key benefits, services overview, testimonials, CTA
  • About: Your story, purpose, team (if relevant), CTA
  • Services: Each service needs a clear description, who it’s for, benefits, process, FAQs, CTA
  • Contact: Form, email, phone (optional), social links, opening hours

See What pages your website needs for structure.

Include:

  • Privacy policy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookie policy

If you publish content, define initial topics and category structure before build.

Brand and messaging

Prepare:

  • Mission and values
  • Unique selling points
  • Tone of voice
  • Ideal customer profile

Consistent voice across pages reduces rework.

Images and media

Gather early to avoid delays:

  • Hero images
  • Team photos
  • Service-related visuals
  • Product photos (ecommerce)
  • Logo files (SVG preferred)

Ensure images are high quality, consistent in style, and correctly sized. See How to gather website images.

Technical setup

Before build:

  • Domain: Access confirmed
  • Hosting: Chosen and configured. See How to choose hosting
  • Email: Provider set (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, etc.) if emails use your domain
  • SSL: Included with quality hosting. See How SSL works

Define:

  • Menu structure
  • Dropdown structure (if used)
  • Footer structure
  • Page hierarchy

Clarity wins over clutter.

Per-page content

For each page:

  • Headline
  • Subheadline
  • Intro paragraph
  • Main body
  • Benefits and features
  • FAQs
  • Internal links
  • CTA

For ecommerce, add product names, descriptions, variants, pricing, categories, images, shipping, and returns policy.

Optional but useful

  • 3–5 testimonials
  • Case studies with results
  • First 3–5 blog topics
  • Downloads or lead magnets (if used)

Final checks

Before design or development:

  • Domain access confirmed
  • Hosting chosen
  • Content drafted
  • Images gathered and organised
  • Navigation structure approved
  • Service pages defined
  • One clear CTA per main page
  • Duplicate or unnecessary content removed

This removes most delays.

Organising for your developer

Use folders:

  • /Homepage
  • /About
  • /Services
  • /Contact
  • /Images
  • /Branding
  • /Blog
  • /Legal

Use simple filenames: homepage.docx, about.txt, service-web-design.txt.

Start with a website audit →

Need help with content structure or strategy? Get in touch →