Everything we need from your team to start cleanly: goals, brand assets, access, content, compliance, and launch planning.
Work through this list before design and development start. Completing it keeps the project faster, clearer, and aligned with your goals.
Kickoff checklist
- Project goals and outcomes: What the website should achieve (leads, applications, sales, brand awareness), plus 2–3 simple success measures. Example: “Increase quote requests by 20%” or “Launch before the trade show on Oct 14.”
- Target audience and messaging: Who you serve first, and the main message or value proposition for each audience.
- Primary contacts and approvals: Names, emails, roles, and who has final sign-off for design, copy, and launch.
- Budget and timeline: Budget range, key milestone dates, and any fixed launch windows (events, campaigns, fiscal deadlines).
- Brand assets: Final logos (SVG preferred), approved colour palette (HEX), fonts or font licenses, and a brand guideline PDF if you have one.
- Page list and sitemap: The pages you need (Home, About, Services, Contact, and so on) plus any special landing pages or microsites.
- Final content (copy): Approved page copy, headings, CTAs, service descriptions, bios, and page titles/descriptions for search results. If copy is still draft, mark which pages are final versus placeholder.
- Images and media: Highest-quality originals (JPG/PNG/RAW), clear file names, captions/alt text, and signed releases for people or property. We handle web optimization.
- Website access details: Domain/login access, DNS access, hosting or CMS admin (or staging), and any SSO requirements. Access is enough; you do not need to understand every setting.
- Tracking and business tools: Access to analytics (GA4), Search Console, Tag Manager, CRM, email platform, payments, and existing forms/API connections. Share who owns each tool if you do not have the login.
- Legal and compliance: Privacy policy, terms of use, cookie consent preferences, accessibility expectations (target WCAG level), and Canadian privacy notes (PIPEDA) if applicable.
- Current site and page redirects: Important existing URLs, pages that must keep working after launch, and old addresses that should send visitors to new ones. This protects rankings when URLs change.
- Forms and where submissions go: Contact/lead form needs, destination (email, CRM, webhook), required fields, and a few sample responses if available.
- Existing site migration: Export or access to current site content (if migrating), plus a prioritized list of must-keep pages and downloads.
- Testing and sign-off: Devices/browsers that matter most, accessibility checks, performance expectations, and who signs off before launch (and when).
- Launch plan and go-live window: Preferred launch date/time, staging approval step, DNS change window, and a simple rollback plan if needed.
- Post-launch and maintenance: What you want to monitor after launch, support hours/SLA expectations, and who will update content going forward.
- Optional extras: Social sharing image (1200×630), favicon set, email signatures, press release copy, and campaign UTM naming if you run ads.
