Looking for a checklist to build a website — what items should I prepare before talking to an agency?

We made the exact same mistake last year. Paid 55,000 TL assuming the agency would write the copy. Since they knew nothing about our industry, they just copy-pasted generic text from the web. When we rejected it and decided to write it ourselves, the project got delayed by 4 months. Having your text ready upfront saves at least 60 days.

Whatever you do, don't let them host it on the agency's shared server. If you become unhappy and want to leave later, they charge exorbitant migration fees or drag their feet on giving you backups. Keep everything on an independent server account registered to you.

When buying the domain, complete the registration with your official company documents. If you manage DNS through a free service like Cloudflare, you can redirect records yourself in 5 minutes whenever you switch servers or email providers, without having to rely on the agency.

Visuals are everything in the furniture business... I mean if you don't have well-lit photos of your workshop and products, even the world's best code will make the site look like a cheap template... If needed allocate 10,000 TL of that budget to a solid product photographer; it'll make the agency's job so much easier.

Clarify intellectual property rights during the contract stage. The contract must explicitly state who holds the rights to any fonts, licensed stock photography, and custom software modules used on the website. Otherwise, your business will bear direct legal liability for third-party copyright claims.

if you're getting a com tr domain you don't even need paperwork anymore takes 5 mins with your id number, just grab it yourself don't give the agency control

The most practical thing you can do right now is open a spreadsheet. List the pages you want in the menu, and next to each one, link the corresponding text and photos. If you walk into an agency with that sheet in hand their quote will drop by twenty percent on the spot.

Are you planning to sell products directly through the site, or will it strictly be a corporate showcase for quote requests and catalogs? That distinction completely changes the tech stack, security certificates, and contract scope the agency will propose.

Exactly like that. Everything goes well for the first three months; problems arise in the fourth.

The answer varies greatly by industry; there is no one-size-fits-all rule. Just leaving this note, it might be useful.

Thanks for writing this that's the right way... Weekly written progress reports are much more useful than asking for dates.

Payment schedules should be tied to project phases not calendar dates.

I'm curious too.

My questions are cleared up thanks.

theres a common mistake peple make when doing this and most time waste accumulates in tasks waiting for approval.

of course, it varies if your situation is different.

Good call starting this thread. The cheapest quote is usually the least thought-out one.

That's all, sorry if I went on too long.

Noted, thanks.

This thread is archived. In legacy systems, the most expensive thing is unknown dependencies.

If you have questions, write them; I'll answer as best I can.

I didn't know that.

I've been dealing with this for a long time. Every "we'll look at it later" in a meeting means unbilled work.

Correct me if I'm wrong.