I Have No Logo and No Photos. Can I Still Get a Website?

The logo is not the blocker you think it is

A lot of small businesses delay their website for months because 'we need a logo first'. It is a costly delay for something that changes very little.

On a one-page site, your business name in a good typeface at the right size and colour reads as deliberate, not as missing. And if you make a logo later, swapping it in takes a minute. It is not a decision you have to make now, and certainly not one worth paying a designer for before anyone can see your site.

Photos are where the effort is worth it

This is the one thing worth pushing on. Five to ten good photos of your actual business change a site more than any text, colour or animation.

A site with real photos looks like a business. A site with stock photos looks like a template — and customers recognise those images instantly, even when they cannot say why.

• Your phone is enough — recent phones shoot at more than adequate quality
• Shoot in daylight and clear clutter from the background
• No photographer and no equipment required

If you genuinely have nothing to photograph

This happens — a brand new business, or a service with nothing visual to shoot such as consulting, translation or insurance. In that case the site is built typographically: text, colour, spacing and perhaps one abstract background element.

That works well for professional services. It works less well for visual businesses — a restaurant, a bakery, a salon, a renovation company. There, photos are the thing that convinces, and going without means losing your strongest argument.

Frequently asked questions