What to prepare before you hire a web developer

Most projects that drift do so because the site is meant to do five things at once. Before you talk to anyone, write down the single result that would make the project a success: more enquiries, online orders, bookings, or a credible place to send people from your ads.

A developer can build for several goals, but they can only design for one first. Knowing which one saves rounds of revisions later.

Text and images are the most common cause of delay, and they are rarely the developer’s to write. Collect your logo, the photos you already have, your service or product list, prices, and the few paragraphs that explain who you are.

It does not need to be perfect. A rough draft lets the design be built around real words instead of placeholder text, which is far closer to how the finished site will look.

Two or three sites you admire and one you dislike tell a developer more than a page of adjectives. Say what you like about each: the layout, the tone, how quickly you found what you needed.

Competitors are worth including too, so the new site can be different from them on purpose rather than by accident.

Projects slow down when feedback comes from four people who disagree. Choose one person to give final answers, and agree on how many rounds of changes the project includes.

Also settle the practical things up front: your domain and where it is registered, who holds the logins, and who will update the site once it is live.