What Information Should You Have Before Starting a Website Project?

September 15, 2026

Starting a website project is easier when some basic decisions have already been made.

You do not need to know what technology should be used, how the website should be built, or exactly what every page should look like. Those decisions can come later.

The useful preparation happens before the technical decisions.

The goal is to have a clear understanding of the business problem, the people the website needs to serve, and the information and capabilities they need.

The Government of Canada’s Digital Standards (opens in a new tab) emphasize understanding users, their needs, and the problems being solved, then using ongoing testing to guide design and development.

Here are some of the most useful things to think about before starting a website project.

What Is the Website Supposed to Accomplish?

This is about the business outcome, not the technical features.

A website should have a purpose beyond simply being online.

For one business, the main goal may be generating inquiries. For another, it may be explaining services, supporting existing customers, taking bookings, selling products, or establishing credibility.

It can help to ask:

What business problem is the website expected to help solve?
What should someone be able to understand after visiting the site?
What action would you ideally like them to take?
How would you know whether the website is doing its job?

There can be more than one goal, but identifying the most important ones helps keep the project focused.

Who Is the Website For?

Knowing your audience affects almost every website decision.

A site aimed at homeowners may need different language, information, and navigation than one aimed at business owners, government organizations, or technical professionals.

You do not need a detailed marketing profile to get started.

You should, however, have a reasonable idea of:

who your typical customer is;
what they are usually looking for;
what questions they tend to ask;
what information they need before contacting you or making a decision.

A website becomes easier to plan when it is built around what visitors need rather than simply around what the business wants to say.

This also aligns with Google’s guidance on creating people-first content (opens in a new tab): content should be created for an intended audience and should help visitors accomplish their goals.

What Content Do You Already Have?

Content is often one of the largest parts of a website project.

Before work begins, it is useful to identify what already exists.

This may include:

service descriptions;
company information;
photographs;
logos and brand materials;
staff biographies;
testimonials;
frequently asked questions;
pricing information;
policies;
downloadable documents;
existing website content.

It is also worth identifying what is missing.

A project can slow down considerably when pages are designed before anyone knows what information will actually go on them.

The content does not need to be finished before the project starts, but knowing what exists and who is responsible for producing the rest makes planning much easier.

What Does the Website Need to Do?

Once the goals are clear, the next question is what functionality is actually required to support them.

This is different from deciding what the website should accomplish.

For example, if the goal is to generate more qualified inquiries, the site may need clear service pages, a contact form, or online booking.

If the goal is to sell products, the site may need product pages, a shopping cart, payment processing, and order confirmation.

Examples of functionality might include:

contact forms;
appointment booking;
online payments;
e-commerce;
customer accounts;
document uploads;
event registration;
newsletter subscriptions;
searchable information;
integrations with existing business systems.

It is useful to separate features that are genuinely required from features that would simply be nice to have.

That distinction can affect the complexity, cost, and timeline of the project.

Who Owns the Important Accounts?

A website often depends on more than the website itself.

There may also be:

a domain registrar;
DNS settings;
hosting;
business email;
analytics;
Google Business Profile;
social media accounts;
advertising accounts;
third-party services and subscriptions.

Before starting a project, it is worth knowing who controls these accounts and whether the business has access to them.

This becomes especially important during a redesign, migration, or change of service provider.

A website project can be delayed simply because nobody knows where the domain is registered or who has the login credentials.

Who Will Make Decisions?

Even a relatively small website project involves decisions.

Someone needs to approve content, design choices, functionality, and changes.

For a small business, that may simply be the owner.

For a larger organization, several people may be involved.

Before starting, it helps to know:

who will provide information;
who will review the work;
who can approve changes;
who has final decision-making authority.

Clear responsibility helps prevent conflicting feedback and unnecessary delays.

Planning guidance from the World Wide Web Consortium also emphasizes establishing responsibilities and involving the right stakeholders (opens in a new tab) as part of an effective website process.

Who Will Look After the Website Afterwards?

Launching the website is not necessarily the end of the work.

Over time, information changes.

Services change. Staff change. Prices change. New photos are added. Policies are updated. Pages may need to be created or removed.

It is worth deciding early who will be responsible for maintaining the website.

That could be:

the business owner;
an employee;
an external provider;
a combination of these.

This can also influence how the website should be built.

A business that regularly publishes new information may need a different approach than one whose website changes only a few times per year.

Ongoing maintenance also matters because websites do not remain static. New content, features, and changes can introduce new problems over time, which is why ongoing review is part of established web-management guidance (opens in a new tab).

You Do Not Need to Have Everything Figured Out

Preparing for a website project does not mean designing the website yourself.

You do not need to choose the programming language, hosting platform, content management system, framework, or technical architecture.

The useful preparation happens at the business level.

If you understand your goals, your audience, your content, your required functionality, your existing accounts, and who is responsible for decisions, you already have much of the information needed to start a productive website project.

The technical decisions can then be made based on those requirements rather than the other way around.

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