Canadian small-business website guide

What to give your website designer before work starts

Start with accurate services, contact details, your logo and photos you have permission to use. Add your current website and social links, plus the action you want customers to take. This checklist helps you gather what is needed without writing the whole website yourself.

Sudbury Pets homepage with an illustrated Sudbury landscape and pet-care branding, designed by Website Upgrade Canada
Sudbury Pets began as a focused one-page project. The current website shown here has expanded to include custom visuals, dedicated service pages and a request form, beyond the original starter scope. Read the case study.

Business essentials

Provide the correct business name, phone, email, service area, hours, services, customer actions and any legal or professional wording that requires approval.

Brand and visual assets

Send the highest-quality logo, original photos, approved team images, social links and any brand colours or examples that genuinely fit the business.

Ownership and access

Identify who controls the domain, current website, analytics, Google Business Profile and third-party booking, payment or listing tools before launch planning begins.

Hosting and email

No Website Upgrade Canada hosting subscription is required. The recommended hosting arrangement and any future third-party cost will be disclosed in writing before launch. No paid hosting service will be added without approval.

One address such as [email protected] can forward incoming messages to the client’s existing inbox. A full hosted mailbox or sending directly from that address may require a separate email service.