Gather your homepage content before design starts

Key takeaways

A homepage content checklist lists everything a designer needs before work starts: words, photos, reviews, logos, accreditations and legal details. Gathering these first is the best way to keep a project on time, because late content causes more delay than anything else. Allow a week, and keep it all in one shared folder.

• Gather content before you book a designer.
• Keep everything in one shared folder.
• Name one person to chase what is missing.
• Check permissions for photos, reviews and logos.

What content do you need for a homepage?

You need your approved copy, a logo in vector or high-resolution form, real photos, reviews with permission, accreditation logos, business details and legal pages. Add tracking and account access for your site and domain. Most of these exist already, in scattered places, and the job is simply to find them.

• Approved copy for each section.
• Logo files, including a version for dark backgrounds.
• Real photos, at full resolution.
• Reviews, with names and permission.
• Accreditation logos and membership numbers.
• Company number, registered address and VAT number if relevant.
• Privacy notice and terms.
• Logins for website, domain and analytics.

• How to create a high-converting homepage for an SME
• What to keep, cut and rewrite before a redesign
• Write a first homepage draft in one sitting

Why does content cause so many delays?

Content comes from busy people. Designers wait for it, the launch slips and the last pieces are often written in a hurry. Treating content as the first deliverable, rather than the last, removes the main source of overruns. Some suppliers will not start until they have it, and that is sensible.

• How long does it take to create a homepage?

How should you organise everything?

Use one shared folder, with one subfolder per section and clear file names. Keep a simple list showing what is needed, who owns it and whether it is approved. Do not send material by email, because it gets lost, and old versions keep coming back to the page.

• Who you need to create a homepage

What about permissions?

Check permissions as you collect. Images may belong to a photographer, stock licences may have limits and customers should know their review or name is being used. Accreditation bodies often have rules for using their logos, and some require your membership to be current. Fixing this after launch is always harder.

• Using images from Google on your website: copyright risks
• Accreditation badges on your website: which to show

What if some content is not ready?

Decide whether it blocks launch. A missing photo can be replaced by a plain section; missing legal details cannot. Mark each gap as must-have or nice-to-have. Do not hold back a good page for a nice-to-have, and do not publish with placeholder text in the hope of filling it later.

• Placeholder text left on a live website: find and fix it
• The minimum viable homepage: what to ship first

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see: a project is ready to build, and work then stops for three weeks because nobody can find the logo file or the login for the domain. A one-hour audit at the start of the project exposes these gaps while there is still time to fix them.

• See client work
• Website Design & Development for UK businesses

Homepage content checklist

• Create one shared folder.
• List each item and its owner.
• Find logo files and account logins.
• Collect real photos.
• Gather reviews with permission.
• Confirm legal details.
• Mark gaps as must-have or nice-to-have.

• Homepage heading sizes that guide the eye
• A homepage photo shot list for a half-day shoot

Next step

Create the folder today and spend an hour filling it. What you cannot find is your real project risk.