What to Prepare Before You Hire a Web Designer

The first meeting that goes nowhere

There's a moment I've seen dozens of times in 25 years of design work.

A business owner sits down for a discovery call. They have a logo, maybe a business card, and the phrase "I just need a website." When I ask what the website should say, the answer is usually: "I was hoping you could tell me."

That's not a knock on them — they're experts at running their business, not writing web copy. But it creates a problem. A designer can't build what you haven't defined yet. The first meeting turns into a therapy session about the business instead of a creative brief. Time gets wasted. The project drifts.

The businesses that get the best websites don't necessarily have the biggest budgets. They come prepared. They've done a small amount of thinking before the first meeting that makes the whole project move faster, cost less, and turn out better.

Here's what that looks like.

1. Know your business name — and what it means

This sounds obvious, but it's surprisingly common for a business owner to still be deciding between names when they reach out for a website. A name isn't just a label — it sets the tone for everything: the domain, the logo concept, the brand voice, even the colour palette.

If your business name has a story or a meaning, write it down. If you're still choosing between options, try each one with your target client in mind. Does it sound trustworthy? Approachable? Premium? Playful? Would your best client say it comfortably in a conversation?

A name decision made before design begins saves you from rebranding mid-project — which is expensive, demoralizing, and the number one reason websites take twice as long as they should.

2. Know who your customer actually is

"Our product is for anyone who needs X" is the single most common answer I get — and it's the one that delays projects the most.

A website designed for everyone is designed for no one. The images, the copy, the tone, the call to action — all of it shifts dramatically depending on who you're actually talking to. A contractor targeting homeowners needs a completely different homepage than one targeting commercial property managers.

Before your first meeting with a designer, answer these three questions:

Who is your best client? Describe them — not just demographics, but what they care about, what they've already tried, what keeps them up at night.
What problem are they coming to you to solve? Not the service you sell — the problem they have when they find you.
What do they need to believe before they hire you? Trust? Experience? Proof of results? Price transparency?

Those three answers are your homepage. Everything else is detail.

3. Know what one action you want visitors to take

Every page on your website should lead somewhere. The most common mistake is building a site that informs but doesn't convert — it answers "what do you do?" but never asks the visitor to do anything about it.

Before you talk to a designer, answer this: what is the one thing you want a visitor to do when they land on your homepage?

Book a call
Request a quote
Come to your location
Buy now
Download something

It can only be one. Two is one too many. Everything on the page — the headline, the photos, the copy, the button colour — should make that one action feel like the obvious next step.

4. Know what pages you actually need

Most small business websites need fewer pages than owners think, and different ones than they ask for.

A reliable starting point for a Canadian SMB:

Home — the hook, the overview, the main call to action
Services — what you do, described in terms of outcomes, not features
About — who you are and why a stranger should trust you
Contact — how to reach you, with zero friction

That's it for most businesses. An "Our Team" page with one person is just an About page. A "Philosophy" page that no client will read is noise. A blog is only useful if you have a plan to write for it consistently — otherwise it's an empty shelf that makes you look inactive.

Knowing this before you walk into a meeting saves you from spending money on pages you don't need.

A faster way to work through all of this

Working through all of the above used to mean a few hours with a blank document and a lot of second-guessing. We built a free tool to walk you through it in about five minutes.

Launch Your Business Online is a five-step AI wizard designed for Canadian small business owners.

Answer five questions about your business, and you'll get back:

A suggested brand direction — colour palette, font pairing, tagline options, and brand voice
A complete set of website copy — hero headline, about section, services blurbs, and CTA text, rendered as a real website preview so you can actually see what it would look like
A suggested site map based on your business type

It won't replace your designer — that's intentional. The logo, the real visual identity, the custom design — that's the work we do together. But the tool gives you something concrete to react to, refine, and bring to that first meeting. The best discovery calls I've had recently started with a client saying: "I tried your tool. Here's what felt right, here's what felt off."

That conversation takes 20 minutes instead of two hours. And the website that comes out of it is sharper, faster to build, and more likely to actually work.

Try the free tool →