16 Things You Need BEFORE Getting a Website for Your Business

Getting a website built is one of the best investments a business can make. But walk into the process unprepared and you'll waste money, waste time, and end up with something that doesn't actually work for your business.

We've built websites for dozens of Iowa businesses since our launch in 2022. The ones that go smoothly — and get results — are the ones where the business owner showed up ready. The projects that drag on for months or cost more than expected usually come down to one thing: the business wasn't prepared going in, and let's discuss how you can ensure that your website project goes smoothly!

This list is your shortcut. Get these 16 things sorted before you talk to a web designer, and you'll save yourself a serious headache as you navigate the next steps.

Before Getting a Website: The Foundation

1. A Clear Understanding of What You Want the Website to DO

A website isn't a brochure. It should have a job. Before you spend a dollar, answer this question honestly: what do I want a visitor to do when they land on my site?

• Call you?

• Fill out a contact form?

• Book an appointment?

• Buy a product?

• Read your menu and come in?
  

2. Your Domain Name (Secured and Owned by YOU)

Your domain is your web address — yourbusiness.com. You should reserve it before the build starts, and it needs to be registered in your name, not your designer's.

This sounds obvious, but it causes real problems. We've seen business owners lose control of their own domain because a previous web person registered it under their account and disappeared.

Register your domain through a reputable provider (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Squarespace Domains {formerly Google Domains}, Wix) and keep the login credentials somewhere safe. This is non-negotiable.

3. Your Business Email Address

Your website should display a professional email — not a Gmail or Yahoo address. Nothing undermines credibility faster than a business card or website that says coolplumbing1987@gmail.com.

Get a professional email set up at your domain (hello@yourbusiness.com, info@yourbusiness.com) before your site goes live. Most hosting providers include this, or you can use Google Workspace for about $6/month (depending on plan and number of users). If you already started your business with a 'CoolPlumbing1987@Gmail.com' email - no worries! It's very easy to set up email forwarding so that your old leads land in the correct inbox.

4. Your Core Business Information — Written Down and Accurate

Sounds basic. You'd be amazed how many website projects stall because the owner isn't sure of their exact hours, doesn't have a consistent address written down, or hasn't settled on their official business name.

Before you start, confirm and write down:

• Official business name (exactly as it appears on your license)

• Physical address (if applicable)

• Service area (if you travel to customers)

• Phone number(s)

• Business hours

• Year established
  

This information will appear in multiple places on your site and needs to match exactly — for both professionalism and SEO.

Your Brand

5. A Logo (In the Right File Format)

If you have a logo, great. But your designer needs it in the right format. A photo of your logo taken with your phone won't cut it.

What you need:

• SVG or AI file — vector format, scales to any size perfectly (ideal)

• PNG with transparent background — works for most web uses

• At minimum: a high-resolution JPG (300dpi+)
  

If you only have a low-res version or a photo, budget for a logo refresh before or alongside your website project. A pixelated logo on an otherwise clean website is like showing up to an interview with a great suit and muddy shoes.

6. Your Brand Colors and Fonts (If You Have Them)

If you've already invested in branding, bring your brand guidelines to the project. At minimum, know your primary color(s) — ideally with their hex codes (e.g., #C04B24).

If you don't have established brand colors yet, that's okay — your web designer can help. But the more direction you can give, the faster and cheaper the process goes. See our article on The Branding Basics

7. A Clear Sense of the Feeling You Want to Convey

Words like "professional," "trustworthy," and "modern" are a start — but dig deeper.

Look at websites you admire (even outside your industry) and note what you like about them. Is it the clean white space? The bold photography? The friendly tone?

The more specifically you can describe the feeling you want visitors to have, the better your designer can deliver it.

Your Content

8. A Written Description of Every Service or Product You Offer

Your web designer is not a copywriter (and if they are, you're paying extra for it). Plan to provide written descriptions of everything you offer.

For each service or product, prepare:

• What it is

• Who it's for

• What problem it solves

• Why customers should choose you for it
  

A designer, unfortunately, can't accurately build a services page without understanding what you actually offer and the way that your offering is unique compared to your competitors.

9. High-Quality Photos

This is where more websites fall apart than anywhere else. A beautifully designed site built around blurry phone photos or generic stock images will not perform the way you want it to.

You need:

• Photos of your actual work — before/after, finished projects, products

• Photos of your team — real people build trust faster than stock photos

• Photos of your location (if customers visit you)
  

If you don't have good photos, budget for a professional photographer. A half-day shoot typically runs $300–$600 in Iowa and will pay for itself many times over in the trust it builds. We have TONS of local photographers that we can recommend for your project.

10. Customer Testimonials or Reviews

Social proof is one of the most powerful conversion tools on any website. Before your site goes live, collect at least 5–10 written testimonials from real customers.

The best format: a sentence or two about the specific problem they had, and how you solved it. Generic "Great service!" quotes are fine but weak. Specific stories convert.

If you have Google reviews, those can often be pulled in. But having a few hand-collected testimonials gives your designer more to work with.

11. An "About" Story

People do business with people they trust. Your About page is one of the most visited pages on most small business websites — and one of the most neglected.

Write out (or be ready to answer):

• How and why you started the business

• What makes you different from competitors

• Who's on your team

• What you genuinely care about

• How you actually serve your customers
  

It doesn't have to be long. It does have to be real.

The Business Side

12. A Google Business Profile — Claimed and Verified

Your website and your Google Business Profile work together. Before your site launches, make sure your Google Business Profile is claimed, verified, and filled out completely.

Why does this matter before the website? Because your web designer may optimize your site around local SEO signals that need to match your Google profile exactly — business name, address, phone number. Getting these consistent from day one saves cleanup headaches later.

13. Clarity on Your Target Customer

Who are you building this website for? A site designed for homeowners in their 50s with disposable income looks and reads completely differently than one designed for property managers or commercial contractors.

Before you start, define your ideal customer:

• Age range and demographic

• What problem they're trying to solve

• What questions they have before hiring someone like you

• What would make them choose you over a competitor

• How they process and move forward with information

• What they consider to be most valuable
  

The more specifically you can answer these questions, the more targeted — and effective — your website will be.

14. A Budget (And an Honest One)

Web design pricing in Iowa ranges from a few hundred dollars (DIY platforms) to $15,000+ (extensive custom builds). Know what you're working with before you start getting quotes, and be honest about it with your designer.

A good web designer won't laugh at your budget — they'll tell you honestly what's achievable within it and what trade-offs you'd be making. What they can't do is design something to spec and then find out halfway through that your budget is a third of what the project requires.

Also budget for the ongoing costs: hosting ($10–$30/month), domain renewal ($15–$20/year), maintenance packages, ongoing SEO work, and any platform subscriptions.

15. A Plan for Getting Traffic to the Site After It Launches

This one surprises people. A website doesn't automatically generate traffic. It's not like opening a physical storefront on a busy street — it's more like opening a storefront in the middle of a field. You have to tell people it exists.

Before your site launches, have at least a basic plan for:

• SEO — how will you rank in Google searches over time?

• Google Business Profile — linking your site and keeping it updated

• Social media — announcing the launch and driving followers to it

• Paid ads — if you want immediate traffic

• Email — notifying your existing customers
  

A great website with no traffic strategy is still just a digital business card that nobody sees. The build is just the beginning.

16. Realistic Expectations About Timelines — and Your Role In Them

Here's something most first-time clients don't realize: the biggest factor in how long a website takes to launch is usually responsiveness during the process.

That's not a criticism — it's just reality. A great designer can have your site ready to review in 2–4 weeks. But if it takes you 3 weeks to send the photos, another 2 weeks to review the draft, you have provided your designer with an unfinished (or incomplete) questionnaire, provided a new website 'inspo' halfway through the project, and it took a month to get back with feedback — a 6-week project very easily becomes a 6-month project.

And here's the part nobody in the industry likes to say out loud: it's not always just your delays that affect your timeline, either. Most agencies are juggling multiple projects at once. When the client ahead of you goes quiet for five weeks and then resurfaces with "okay, I'm ready!" — everyone behind them feels it. The schedule shuffles, availability shifts, and your "we start Monday" quietly becomes "we start when we can come up for air." It's a domino effect, and it is a very real thing. The best thing you can do — for yourself and honestly for everyone else in the queue — is show up responsive and prepared when it's your turn. Life happens for everyone.

The businesses that get the best results are the ones who stay engaged, understanding, and responsive during the process.

Before you start, set honest expectations with yourself about two things:

How long will a quality website actually take?

A professional website built the right way takes time. Here's a realistic timeline for a small business site (5–8 pages):

• Discovery and planning: 1–2 weeks

• Design and build: 2–4 weeks

• Your review and feedback: 1–2 weeks (this is on you)

• Revisions: 1 week

• Final approvals and launch: 3–5 days

Total: 6–10 weeks from start to launch, assuming everyone stays responsive.

If someone promises you a complete, custom website in 72 hours — be skeptical. Fast and cheap almost always means a template you could have set up yourself, or a site that looks fine on day one and causes problems for years.

What will actually be expected of YOU during the process?

This surprises a lot of first-time clients. Getting a website built isn't a "hand it off and come back when it's done" process.

You'll be needed at several key stages:

• At kickoff: Providing your content, photos, logo, and brand direction

• At the first design review: Giving clear, specific feedback — not "I'll know it when I see it"

• At the content review: Approving or correcting all the text on your site

• Before launch: Doing a thorough final walkthrough on both desktop and mobile

• At launch: Being available for same-day questions in case anything needs a quick fix
  

The more responsive and decisive you are at each of these stages, the smoother and faster the project goes. Plan for it like any other business commitment — block time on your calendar, loop in anyone else who needs to approve things, and don't let review rounds go dark.

A website project is a collaboration. The businesses that get the best results are the ones who stay engaged throughout.

Ready to Build? We're Ready to Help.

If you've worked through this list and you're ready to move forward — or even if you're still figuring some of it out — Creative Ghost can help!

We work with Iowa businesses at every stage: from "I have nothing but an idea" to "I just need someone to take what I have and build it." We'll tell you exactly where you stand, what you need, and what it'll cost.

No runaround. No jargon. Just honest work from a local team.

👉 Talk to Creative Ghost — Free Consultation →

Creative Ghost is an Iowa-based digital marketing and web design agency. We help small businesses across Iowa build websites that actually work — and then make sure people can find them.