Website content checklist
The facts only you can supply, gathered before anyone writes a page. Missing items delay the draft more than fonts do.
A designer can invent a layout. A designer should not invent your services, your hours, or a result you cannot stand behind. The slow part of most small-business sites is not the picture. It is the week the owner meant to send the menu, the town list, and three honest photos, and did not.
Artol writes the pages. That is the turnkey part: we write, design, build, launch, and host it, for $0 down and $249/mo hosting. 12-month ownership terms: 12 months of hosting at $249/mo, then month to month. Leave earlier and the remaining hosting or a buyout of the build is due. Writing still starts from your facts. This checklist is the pile to gather before kickoff, so a site can be live in less than a week instead of waiting on a folder.
What you are collecting
You are not writing the final site in a blank document. You are handing over the raw material a writer should not guess. A deep business audit on our side turns that material into pages. Competitive market research tells us what nearby sites already say, so we do not repeat their filler.
If a fact is sensitive, say so. Medical, dental, legal, and tax pages must not promise an outcome, invent a credential, or give advice. We can describe the kind of visit or matter you take. We cannot claim a result. Prices go on the site only when you supply them and you want them public.
The business, in your words
- The services you want more of, and the jobs you decline
A cleaner who will not do hoarding jobs, or a landscaper who does not install pools, saves a page from attracting the wrong call. Write the no as clearly as the yes.
- Who the customer is
Homeowners, a landlord, a restaurant manager, a family booking a dentist. One primary reader per page. If you serve two very different buyers, say so, and we will not mash them into one paragraph.
- The towns or counties you cover
A real list. Not every place within a day's drive. This becomes the service area on the site and on the profile.
- Hours, season, and what an emergency means to you
If you answer nights for no-heat calls, say that. If you do not, say that too. Do not let a template imply a 24-hour desk you do not staff.
- How a customer should take the next step
A form, a booking link you already pay for, or a visit to the shop. Tell us which one is real. We will not add a second system you do not check.
- Policies in your language
Deposits, cancellations, estimates, and whether a price on the site is a starting point. If you do not have a written policy, describe what you actually do. We will not invent a legal clause.
Proof you already have
- Photos you have the right to publish
Jobs, the shop, the food, the team, as they look. Name any customer who asked not to be shown. Stock is a last resort and will be labeled as stock, never as your work.
- A short history that is true
When you started, who runs it, and what changed. Skip invented awards, invented years, and quotes you cannot source. We do not publish testimonials on these pages.
- Credentials you can point at
A license type, a board, or a certification, named accurately. If you are not sure of the wording, send the document and we will not paraphrase it into a bigger claim. A lawyer's site will not promise a verdict. A dentist's site will not promise a painless visit.
- Prices, menus, or service ranges only if you want them visible
A restaurant can send the current menu. A salon can send the bookable list. A contractor who quotes after a look should say that, instead of a made-up range. We will not publish a number you did not give us.
- The businesses you lose work to, if you know them
Names or just the pattern. This feeds competitive market research. It is not an invitation to copy their sentences or their layout.
What to leave out
- A phone number or street that belongs to us
The studio is in Yardley, PA. Your site publishes your contact path, not ours. We never print a sample address as if it were a client.
- Statistics you cannot show a source for
No invented percentages about how people search, and no star-rating claims without the reviews to stand on. Research pages on this site are the place for sourced public figures, not your homepage.
- A store, a portal, or a custom app slipped into the copy
Those are outside $0 down. If the content only makes sense with a cart or a client login, stop and look at packages before the draft pretends otherwise.
- Another company's sentences
Do not paste a competitor's page or a manufacturer's article. We will rewrite from your facts. Copied paragraphs are how sites get dull and how owners get complaints.
After the pile arrives
We turn it into a draft on a private link. You mark what is wrong. Two small content updates a month, included in the $249/mo hosting, cover the ordinary edits after launch: a changed hour, a new service you already discussed, a photo swap. Daily backups and SSL sit in that same hosting. The team is 100% US-based, made in the USA, and we reply within one business day.
When the draft is true, move to the launch checklist before the domain changes. If you are still choosing who should write at all, the questions for a designer belong first. Trade cost pages, such as website cost for restaurants or website cost for hair salons, show how this pile changes by business.
Writing included, compared
Three common ways to get a small business website, side by side.
| Compare | Artol Web Studio | Typical agency | DIY website builder |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upfront cost | $0 down | A build fee, often partly due before work starts | No build fee, but you pay with your own time |
| Monthly cost | $249/mo hosting with 12-month terms | Hosting and maintenance are often billed separately | A plan fee, plus paid add-ons |
| Time to launch | Less than a week | Depends on the agency's schedule and your revisions | Depends on how many evenings you can give it |
| Who does the work | We write, design, build, and launch it | The agency, with you managing the project | You do |
| Design | Fully custom | Custom or template, depending on budget | A template you adapt |
| Business audit and market research | Included | Sometimes, often as a paid discovery phase | Not included |
| Backups and updates | Daily backups and two small content updates a month | Depends on the maintenance plan | Depends on the plan, and updates are on you |
| Google Business Profile | Setup included | Sometimes, as an add-on | Not included |
| Support | Reply within one business day from a 100% US-based team | Depends on the agency | Help center and support tickets |
Ask any provider, including us, for the full terms in writing before you sign.
Questions we get asked
What if I have almost no photos?
Say so at kickoff. We can design around a small set, and we can mark stock as stock. We will not pretend a stock crew is your crew. A few real pictures beat a folder of generic ones.
Do I have to write the pages myself?
No. You supply facts and you correct the draft. We write. If you would rather hand a finished manuscript to a freelancer, that is a different arrangement, described in Artol vs a freelancer.
Can you write medical or legal claims if I am busy?
No. We can describe services in plain language. We will not invent outcomes, coverage, dosing, or legal results to fill a page.
How does this connect to the 12-month term?
The term covers the build and the hosting, including the writing. It does not cover a separate copywriter's invoice. The sentence in the introduction is the whole early-exit rule. We do not add a second fee for the first draft.
