A website prototype before you pay. The phone number is made up, the layout is not

On the screen is the website of a renovation company in the USA. You scroll to the section about how a job runs, and on a drawing of a room the tiles go down row by row. Further on there is an estimate form that asks one thing at a time. The phone number on this site is made up, and so are the reviews. It is a website prototype we built for that one company.

This is how we start work on a website. After a conversation we build a prototype for your business. It is free, and you get it before you pay anything. Below we explain what it is, what it is not, and what it gives you.

What a website prototype is

A prototype is a working draft of your site that you open in a browser on your phone and on your computer. You can scroll it and click it. It shows the layout, the order of the sections, the look, and the path your customer takes from the first screen to the phone number or the form.

We build it after a conversation, for one specific business. We ask what you do, who your customers are, and what someone should do once they land on the site. The prototype is our answer to that conversation. Instead of a description in an email, you get a link.

The data on the screens are examples. The phone number, the figures, the reviews and the project names are there so you can see where things will go. On the finished site those places will hold your real details.

What a prototype is not

It is not a finished website. It does not have your text and photos yet, and those decide a lot about how the site turns out.

It is not a picture in a PDF either. A design mockup shows how a site looks at one moment. A prototype shows what happens when you scroll, click and fill in the form. On a phone you see straight away whether a button sits where your thumb can reach it.

And it is not a concept. A concept is our design starting point for a whole industry, with an invented business. We show it publicly before we have talked to anyone. A prototype only comes after a conversation, and only for you. One example of a concept is Obłok, a website for a grooming salon.

Why seeing a prototype before you pay lowers the risk

It usually goes like this. A business picks a web developer by looking at other people's projects and a description of the offer, pays, and sees its own site only when it is almost done. If something does not fit, the fixes eat time and patience on both sides.

With a prototype the order is reversed. First you see your site, then you decide. Changing the layout at this stage costs a conversation, not a rebuild of a finished site.

You can send the link to your business partner, or to the person who answers customer calls. They know best what customers ask, and they will quickly spot what the site is missing.

If the prototype does not suit you and you do not want to go further, you pay nothing. You have only spent the time for one conversation.

What the prototype for the renovation company looked like

Back to the company in the USA. The section about how a job runs has five steps, from the first visit to measure up to the final walkthrough of the finished room. Next to them is a drawing of the room with its dimensions. As you scroll, the next step lights up and the drawing changes with it. First an estimate appears, then an approval stamp, and at the end the tiles go down row by row.

The estimate form does not throw every field at you at once. It starts by asking which room the job is about, with a choice of bathroom, kitchen, living room, yard or patio, or something else. Beside it a short summary of the job fills in as you answer, and nothing goes to the company before the last step.

A prototype like this makes it easy to talk about specifics. For example, whether the steps follow the order you actually work in, and whether the form asks what you need for an estimate. That is hard to judge from a picture.

A site built from the start for one business is also less likely to look like the sites of its competitors. We wrote about why template websites look the same in a separate piece.

What to prepare for the conversation

You do not need to write anything or collect photos. It is enough to answer a few questions:

• What you do and what matters most to you.
• Who your customers are and where they find you today.
• What someone should do on the site. Call, send an enquiry or book a visit.
• What customers ask most often on the phone.

If there is a website you like, show it to us. We will not copy it, but we will know what appeals to you.

Before you pay anyone for a website, ask for something you can click through on your own phone. With us that is the prototype, and it is free. You can read more about how we work on our websites page.