Getting started
Your first brief
What to tell Lenexa in your first message, an example brief you can copy, and what happens next until your site is live.
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What should I say in my first brief?
It depends on what you have, but one or two sentences is enough to start. Name the business, say what it does and who it serves, and add anything that must be on the site: your phone number, hours, service area, prices. If you have an existing site or a site you like the look of, give the address. You don't need to list pages, pick colors or know any technical words. Lenexa asks for anything important she can't work out.
Brief: your message to Lenexa saying what you want built or changed, in your own words.
Write the brief
Open your Studio. At the bottom is the message box to Lenexa, with a few quick-start chips above it such as Build a new site. Pick one or just type. Talk to Lenexa the way you would to a person you just hired.
Make a website for Sam Rivera Plumbing in Olathe, Kansas. We do repairs, water heaters and drain cleaning for homes, with emergency calls 24/7. The phone number is (913) 555-0142. I want people to call or book from their phone.
Swap in your own business. That example works because it names the business, the place, the services, the one action that matters and a fact the crew can't guess.
Send your photos
The Website Designer works from your real photos when you have them. Attach logo files and photos of your work, your team or your shop to the same message. Without photos, the designer uses a drawn illustration or a clearly labeled placeholder you can swap later. It never passes off made-up photos as yours.
What happens next
Lenexa writes the plan
She replies with a short plan and makes a card for each step on your Board. If something important is missing, she asks first.
The Website Designer builds a design
You see the pages in Preview, on desktop or phone sizes, before anything is written in full or published.
Needs you: approve the design or ask for changesThe crew builds the rest
The Content Writer, Lead Developer and Marketer work through their cards. You can watch on the Computer or carry on with your day.
Deployment asks before it publishes
When the site is ready and your hosting is connected, Lenexa asks for your go-ahead. Then Deployment publishes and checks the live address.
Needs you: give the go-ahead to publish
No hosting connected yet?
The crew can design and build without it. Publishing waits until you add your hosting login. See connect your hosting.
What it uses
A first site is one of the bigger jobs, so it uses more credits than an edit or a blog post. The usage meter at the top of your Studio shows how much of this month's plan you have used. The welcome credits in your first month give a new site extra room.
For more on briefs, read write a brief that lands.