The website prep list

Chip builds the first version of your website from a few quick answers. The website prep list is an extra for later. It's a short PDF, made for your kind of business, that asks about the things that make a website feel complete. You don't need it to get a website, and you can always just tell Chip what to change in the chat.

What it asks

• About your business: your name the way it should look, a short line to go under it, your story, where you are or the area you serve, your hours, and your team if you'd like them on the site.
• How people reach you: phone, email, street address (or only the area you serve), a booking or ordering link if you already have one, and your social pages.
• The main button: what most visitors should do, like book, call, order or visit.
• What you offer: questions for your trade. A bakery gets asked about its menu, custom orders, lead times and allergens. A massage therapist gets asked about massage types, session lengths and prices, the first visit and cancellations. A plumber gets asked about services, estimates, emergency work, licenses and insurance.
• Questions customers ask: a few common ones for your kind of business, plus room for your own.
• Reviews: real ones only, in the customer's words, with the name to show and a box to tick when the customer said it's OK. Chip never writes reviews for you, and he leaves out any review whose box isn't ticked.
• Photos to gather: a checklist for your trade, with tips for taking them on a phone.

Whatever Chip already knows is filled in for you, so you only need to check it.

Getting the list

After your first website is ready, Chip offers the list once in the chat. You can get it any time after that:

• in the Builder, under the message box: Website prep list
• on your website's Overview page
• by asking Chip: "can I get the prep list?"

Filling it in

Open the PDF in a PDF app, like Preview on a Mac or the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, type in the boxes and save. Some web browsers show the boxes but don't save what you type, so if your answers disappear, download the file and use one of those apps.

Answer what you can and leave the rest empty. Boxes marked "(optional)" are the easiest to skip.

Sending it back

• Drop the saved PDF into the chat with Chip, or
• open Website prep list and use Send it to Chip.

Chip reads your answers and tells you what he'll change (for example your contact details, your services and prices, two reviews and answers to common questions). Nothing changes yet. When you're ready, press Update my website under his message, or type "yes" or "go ahead", and he updates the website you already have, keeping its design. Undo works as it does for any change, and nothing goes live on the Internet until you choose Make it live.

Not ready? Press Not now. Your answers stay saved, and you can press the button later or tell Chip "use my prep list". If you send a new copy of the list, it replaces the one waiting. If you send the list before your first website is built, Chip keeps your answers and uses them for that first build.

We read the answers from the PDF and don't keep the file itself. Your answers are saved with your website so Chip can use them later.

Photos

Photos don't go in the PDF. When yours are ready, add them in Photos, videos and files, or drop them into the chat and tell Chip where they go.

If something goes wrong

• "Its answer boxes can't be read anymore": the PDF was printed and scanned, or saved as a flattened copy. Download a fresh list, type your answers into the boxes and save it. You can also just tell Chip your answers in the chat.
• "Every box is empty": the program didn't save what you typed. Try Preview or Adobe Acrobat Reader.
• "That PDF isn't a website prep list": send the list you downloaded from DollarSite, not a copy made in another program.