Before you invest in your new Shopify website, get everything else ready.

Introducing a practical prep guide for product-based brands who know a website relaunch is coming, but aren't quite ready to hand it over to a designer yet.

This isn't a:
 logo ✓
 photos ✓
products ✓
kind of checklist.

It's designed to help you understand what actually needs to be ready before your Shopify website project begins (and why).

You'll learn what your photographer needs to capture to give your website great imagery, what your website needs to communicate before someone even reaches a product page, how to organise the content and assets your designer will need, and how to tell whether you're actually ready to invest in a redesign.

Work through a final readiness check to see whether you're in a good position to invest in your new Shopify website, or whether there are a few things worth sorting first.

Make sure your visual identity is ready to translate into a website that feels as considered, distinctive and recognisable as the rest of your brand

01 - Brand Foundations

Get specific about who you're selling to, what makes your product worth choosing and why your messaging needs to sound as confident as you are about what you've built.

03 -  messaging & positioning
07 - readiness check

Your website's job isn't simply to “sell products”. Get clear on the bigger goal behind your new site, so your designer can build an experience that actually supports the direction.

05 - website goals

Know what information and content you'll need across your key website pages, so you're not still hunting for copy, FAQs or product information when you're trying to launch.

04 - website content

Know exactly what imagery you'll need for your website, from product details to lifestyle photography, so your customers can see, and imagine themselves using it.

02 - photoshoot planning

Get your product information, imagery, brand files and other website assets organised and ready to hand over, instead of digging through your camera roll and Google Drive halfway through your project.

06 - business assets
What's Inside?
  • You're planning a Shopify redesign

  • You're preparing to launch or relaunch your product-based brand

  • You know you'll invest in professional web design, even if you're not ready just yet

  • You want to understand what's needed before approaching a website designer

  • You want to get organised and make the most of your website investment
This is for you if...
  • You're looking for a tutorial on how to build a Shopify website yourself

  • You need someone to create your branding for you

  • You're still figuring out what your business actually sells

  • You're looking for a full website strategy or DIY services
It's not for you if...
Hey! I’m Jada!
I'm the Shopify web designer and strategist behind JAL Studios, and I've been designing websites for the past six years.

I created this guide because I've seen what happens when a business is ready for a new website, but the pieces around it aren't quite ready yet. The branding is still being figured out, the photoshoot hasn't happened, the website copy is being pulled together at the last minute, or you're still unsure what you need the website to achieve.
If a new website has been on your mind, start here.
And when you're investing £££ into a website that's supposed to support the next stage of your business, you don't want to be figuring all of that out halfway through the project.
So I created this guide to help you get prepared before you invest.

Work through it on your iPad, print it out, or keep it beside you as you get everything ready for your relaunch.

Then, when it's time to build, you'll know you're starting from a much stronger place.

Everything you need to get your brand, content, assets and website goals organised before you start your next Shopify project.

Instant digital download. Work through it at your own pace.

Get the Shopify Website Prep Guide