What Do I Need to Build a Website?
Before you speak to a web designer, it helps to know what you will be asked for. So what do I need to build a website for my business? This checklist sets out what you prepare, what your designer takes care of, and how each piece fits together, based on how we work at Dynamic Web Development, a web design company in Sin Ming near Bishan.
To build a business website you need a domain name, hosting, and your content: the text for each page, photos, your logo and your contact details. A clear goal for the site and a few websites you like help the design. Your web designer handles the design, the build and the launch.
What Do I Need to Build a Website Before the First Call?
The most useful thing you can bring is a clear goal. Decide what the website must do for your business: bring in enquiries, take bookings, show your work or answer the questions customers ask every day.
Then think about who will visit. A website for parents booking lessons reads differently from one for companies comparing suppliers. Knowing your visitors shapes every page that follows.
Finally, collect two or three websites you like, from competitors or from any industry, with a note on what you like about each. Because we build each site from scratch, we can take the header from one, the layout from another and the colours from a third, and combine them into one design of your own.
A Domain Name and Hosting
Your domain name is your website’s address, such as yourbusiness.com.sg. Choose one that is short, easy to spell and close to your business name. If you already own a domain, you keep using it.
Hosting is the space where your website’s files live. Our website packages include 12 months of domain and hosting, set up on an account in your own name and email, so you own it from the start. If you already pay for hosting, send us the login details and we build on that account instead.
Owning your domain and hosting matters. It means you can change designers or add services later without asking anyone for permission.
Your Content: Text, Photos and Logo
Content is the part only you can supply. We explain it like a jigsaw puzzle: you give us the pieces and we put them together into a finished website.
Text for each page. What each service is, who it is for, what it costs if you show prices, and why customers choose you. Rough notes in your own words are fine to start with.
Photos. Your premises, your team, your products or your work. Your own photos build more trust than stock images. If you need new ones, our team also offers product and headshot photography.
Your logo. A clear version of your logo, ideally a large or vector file. If you do not have one yet, logo design can be added to the project.
Contact details. Your phone number, WhatsApp number, email, address and opening hours, written exactly the way you want customers to see them.
Answers to common questions. The questions your staff hear most often make an easy frequently asked questions page.
Decisions to Make Early
A few decisions shape the whole project, so it helps to settle them before the design starts.
How many pages. Most business websites need 10 to 15 pages. A single landing page suits one offer or campaign.
Special features. An online payment gateway, a booking system or a connection to another system all need extra planning and testing, so we quote them separately.
Who approves the design. One person giving feedback in one message keeps each design round short.
If you are unsure how the pages should be arranged, our website design page explains how we plan a site’s structure with you before any design work begins.
What Do I Need to Build a Website Myself?
Very little beyond the pieces above. Once you have them, the designer does the rest. With us, that means designing every page in Figma, with up to five rounds of revisions until you approve the design, then building the website on a test address where you can click through it in private. We check every page on desktop and phone, then move the site to your domain and go live.
After launch, we look after the website for six weeks, fixing anything that breaks and making small changes at no charge. Google’s guide to getting your website on Google explains what helps a new site get found once it is live.
The more of your content is ready at the start, the faster this goes. Our guide on how long it takes to build a website walks through each step and the usual three to six weeks it takes.
What It Costs
Our full website package covers 10 to 15 pages and starts from $2,400, up to about $3,000. A landing page starts from $580. Both include 12 months of domain and hosting and six weeks of support after launch, and prices are net, with no GST added. The details are on our web design packages page.
For what moves a quote up or down, read our guide to website design cost.
When your pieces are ready, or if you are still asking what do I need to build a website for your type of business, contact us or call +65 9684 2263 for a free consultation, or read more about Dynamic Web Development.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Building the site is our job, so you never touch any code. You only need to review the design, give feedback and approve each stage, and the finished website is handed over to you.
Can I start before all my content is ready?
Yes. The design can begin with rough notes and a few photos, and the final text can follow. Pages can only go live once their content is in, though, so missing pieces are usually what delays a launch.
Do you write the text for the website?
You know your business best, so you normally supply the main details. We shape them to fit each page, and for a landing page the copywriting is included in the package.
What if I already have a website?
Send us the address. We can reuse the text and photos that still work, keep your domain and existing page addresses where possible, and rebuild the design around them.
Click on the link to find out more about Dynamic Web Development. Chat with our business representatives today!
