How to Prepare Content for a Website: A Checklist for Owners

A design built around placeholder text often falls apart when real content arrives. Headlines run too long, photos do not fit, and pages you forgot to plan appear late. Designers frequently report that waiting on the client for text and images is the biggest cause of delay, and some charge extra for revisions that result.

Preparing content first has a second benefit: it forces you to decide what the business actually offers and who it is for. The budget guide, how much a website costs, assumes the client supplies content. If you want the designer or a copywriter to write it, expect to pay more, often roughly $100 to $400 CAD per page for professional copy.

Start with the page list. Most small business sites need Home, Services (a page per main service), About, Contact, and often Reviews or Projects and an FAQ. Our guide to how many pages a small business site needs explains how to decide.

For each page, write down five things:

• Purpose: what should the visitor do after reading?
• Headline: what you do and for whom, in one line.
• Body: the problem, your solution, how it works, and proof.
• Call to action: one button or phone prompt.
• Keywords: the words customers use, such as "furnace repair Halifax", written naturally.

Write in plain language. The guide on writing website copy gives a simple structure. Keep a Google Doc per page with the title as the filename.

Photos should be real, recent and high quality. Aim for 10 to 30 usable images: your team, your shop or vehicle, and finished work. Use landscape orientation for banners and keep original files, not screenshots or social media downloads.

• Take photos in natural light, with a clean background.
• Get written permission before showing customers, their homes or their faces.
• Name files descriptively, for example kitchen-renovation-ottawa.jpg, which helps image search.
• Gather your logo as a vector file (SVG, AI or EPS) or a high-resolution PNG with a transparent background.
• Write down your brand colours as hex codes and the fonts you use.

If you have no usable photos, budget for a half-day shoot, typically roughly $300 to $1,000 CAD. It is often the best money you spend on the site.

Gather everything that proves you are credible:

• Three to ten genuine reviews or testimonials, with permission to quote the first name and city.
• Licence numbers, insurance and association memberships. Quebec contractors may need an RBQ licence listed, for example.
• Warranty or guarantee terms, written clearly.
• Business hours, service areas, and the exact phone number and address you want everywhere.
• Prices or starting prices, and whether they include GST, HST or PST.

For legal pages, a privacy policy is expected under PIPEDA when you collect personal information, and Quebec's Law 25 sets stricter requirements. If you market to Quebec customers, Bill 96 expects French content. Ontario organizations of a certain size should plan for AODA accessibility. This is general information; for firm wording ask a lawyer or privacy professional.

1. Create one shared folder with subfolders: Copy, Photos, Logo, Legal, Reviews.
2. Number your pages in the order of the sitemap.
3. Mark placeholders clearly, such as [PHOTO NEEDED], rather than leaving blanks.
4. List who approves each page and set a deadline for feedback.
5. Keep one master document with your name, address and phone exactly as they should appear, so the details match your listings. See local directory listings.
6. Set aside time for review rounds. Slow feedback delays launch more than anything else.

• Waiting until the design is done. Content that arrives late drives up cost and delay.
• Copying competitors' text. It is plagiarism, and duplicate content ranks poorly.
• Writing about yourself only. Customers want to know what is in it for them.
• Low-resolution or stretched images. Always provide originals.
• Forgetting calls to action. Each page should lead somewhere.
• Skipping proof. Claims without reviews, licences or examples feel empty.
• Inventing credentials. Never claim awards or ratings you cannot document.

A landscaping company in southern Ontario plans a seven-page site: Home, Lawn Care, Garden Design, Snow Removal, Service Areas, About and Contact. Over two weeks the owner writes roughly 400 words per page in short evening sessions, sets up a shared folder, and schedules a half-day photo session in spring. They collect six customer quotes with permission, note their insurance details, and confirm their service towns. A friend proofreads. When the designer begins, nothing is missing, so the build takes three weeks instead of eight. Later, when you want help turning the finished site into steady local enquiries, lead4pro.com works with Canadian small businesses. For the build itself, the small business website checklist is a helpful final review.