7 things to check before you build a website
Seven things to decide before you choose a web agency. Settling them first can cut both cost and build time a lot.
Most website projects run late because of decisions, not development. Which pages you need, whether to show prices, who takes the photos: when these come up one by one in the middle of the build, the schedule stops each time. Settle the seven things below in advance and one meeting is enough to finish the order form.
1. Say what you want the website to do in one sentence
"I want to take bookings." "I want fewer calls asking about prices." "I want to show up in search." Once you have one goal, what goes on the first screen decides itself. With three goals, the first screen splits into three, and visitors click nothing.
2. Count only the pages you really need
For most shops, five pages are enough: about, menu (services), prices, location and opening hours, and contact (booking). Customers rarely read a "company history" or a "message from the owner". The more pages you have, the more you pay and the more you have to keep up to date.
3. Decide whether to show your prices
Showing prices means fewer phone enquiries and more bookings. If competition makes it hard to list everything, at least give a range, like "from KRW 100,000". With no prices at all, AI has a hard time citing your shop when someone asks about prices.
4. Check whether you have photos and a logo
10–20 photos taken on your phone are enough to start. If you have no logo, your shop name in a clean font is enough. If you are short on photos you can add AI image creation as an option, and logo design if you have no logo, so don't put off starting because of this.
5. Choose a domain name
Keep it short: your shop name in English letters. If someone already uses it, add your area or your trade. The rule is to register the domain in your own name. If it is registered in the agency's name, moving it later gets difficult.
6. Write down five questions you get often
"Is there parking?" "Do I need to book?" "Can I bring my kids?" The questions you hear on the phone every day are exactly what your website must include, and they are the sentences AI likes best to quote in its answers.
7. Decide who will look after the site after launch
When a price changes, who updates it? Whose email gets the domain renewal notice? If you will do it yourself, get shown how to make changes. If not, it is easier on your mind to include a maintenance subscription from the start.
It's fine if you haven't settled all seven. We can decide them together in the meeting. But if you come knowing "these are the things to decide", the meeting gets much shorter.