The fastest website projects are not fast because the designer is quick. They are fast because the client turned up ready. This is the list I send every client before we start, and if you have these eight things, any decent designer can move in days instead of months.
1. One sentence about what you do and who it is for
Not a paragraph. One sentence, the way you would explain it to a friend at dinner. "I help first-time managers stop dreading their one-to-ones." "We fix aircon in the east, same day." If you cannot say it in one sentence, that is the first thing to fix, and a good designer will help you find it on the first call.
2. The one thing you want a visitor to do
Book a call. Message on WhatsApp. Sign up for the waitlist. Buy the thing. Pick one. A page that asks for five things gets none of them. Everything on the page gets built around this single answer, so decide it before the design starts, not after.
3. Your words, rough
People stall for weeks trying to write "website copy". Do not. Open a note on your phone and write how you would explain your offer to a customer: what it is, what it costs, what happens when they say yes, what they usually worry about. Messy is fine. Tidying it into headlines and clear sentences is the designer's job. Rough words on day one beat polished words in a month.
4. Photos and a logo, if you have them
A photo of you, a few of the work or the place, and your logo files if a logo exists. If it does not, say so. A good designer can work with a clean wordmark and the right colours, or build you a small brand kit alongside the site. What stalls projects is "I will send the photos next week" for six weeks.
5. Proof
Screenshots of messages from happy customers. Reviews. A number, if you have one ("42 students since January"). Names of companies you have worked with. This is the most persuasive thing on any page and the thing most people forget to collect. If you have nothing yet, say so; there are honest ways to write a page before the first review.
6. Where your domain and accounts live
Do you already own a domain? Where is it registered, and can you log in? Do you have a Google account you want the site tied to? Knowing this before you start saves a surprising amount of time, and it avoids the worst outcome, where the domain turns out to be in an old web shop's name and nobody can get it back.
7. Where the visitors will come from
Ads? Instagram? A WhatsApp broadcast to your existing contacts? Word of mouth? This changes the page. A visitor from an ad needs to be convinced from scratch. A visitor from a referral already half trusts you and needs the details. Tell your designer, and if they do not ask, that is worth noticing.
8. A date
Not "soon". A date. A launch, a campaign, a talk you are giving, the day you hand in your notice. Projects with a date finish. Projects without one become the thing you are "sorting out" for a year.
What this looks like with me
I turn this list into a one-page checklist and send it before we start. You fill in what you have, we spend 15 minutes on the call deciding the rest, and the 72-hour clock starts only once that is done. That is the whole reason a page can be live in three days: the thinking happens up front, and nobody is waiting on anybody. If you are not sure you have enough to start, message me anyway. Working out what is missing is exactly what the free chat is for.