Capture each finished job the week it ends: the problem, the decisions and why, the numbers, the photographs and the customer's own words. Twenty minutes then beats an afternoon of guessing months later.

The page that never gets written

Most service businesses agree that finished jobs make the best pages on their website. They show real work for real customers, close to home.

Many also have a projects page with three entries, the newest from two years ago.

The write-up was always going to happen later, when things were quieter. By then the details have gone: the measurements, the problem that made the job interesting, which photographs exist, what the customer said at the end.

The fix is timing. A write-up done the week the job ends takes twenty minutes. Done six months later, it takes an afternoon and still comes out vague.

What fades first

The second is what makes a write-up persuasive, and it is the first to go. A reader choosing a business wants to see how it thinks, and the reasons behind a choice are forgotten within weeks.

Five answers on the Friday

At the end of the week a job finishes, whoever led it writes down five things, or says them into a phone's voice recorder.

The customer's problem when they first called. The decisions made and why. The numbers that describe the job. Anything that went wrong and how it was dealt with. And what the customer said at the end.

It does not need to be good writing. It needs to be accurate and specific, and it needs to happen while the person still remembers.

Photographs during, not after

The photographs that make a write-up are rarely taken at the end. The before, the problem, the work in progress and the finished result each have a moment that passes.

Decide at the start of each job who takes them and where they go: one shared folder per job, named with the date and the place.

Take more than seem necessary, from the same spot for before and after. Phone photographs are fine; a picture that tells the story beats one that is merely well lit.

Ask before photographing inside a customer's home or workplace, and keep faces, house numbers and paperwork out of frame unless they agree.

The customer's words

The best sentence on a project page is often one the customer said: in an email, on the phone, or standing in the finished space.

Write it down the same day, word for word, and ask whether you may use it, with their name or without. Asking while the job is fresh is easier for both sides than asking a year later.

Never improve the quote. Trimming is fine, but adding words the customer did not say is not, and under Canada's rules on misleading advertising, testimonials have to be genuine.

A worked example

A corporate caterer cooks in a commissary kitchen in an industrial park and delivers breakfasts, working lunches and event menus to offices across the city.

Its website had a page of past events, a few lines each, written months afterwards. Most said something close to a delicious lunch for a technology company.

Last autumn it fed two hundred guests at a product launch in a converted warehouse with no kitchen and two electrical outlets.

The launch was on a Thursday, and the event lead wrote her five answers the next afternoon.

The menu had been built around food that holds at room temperature for an hour. Service ran in three waves, and the coffee was brewed at the commissary and brought in insulated urns.

She had photographs of the empty warehouse, the setup and the finished tables, and an email from the client's office manager thanking the crew for keeping the line moving.

The write-up took half an hour, and the client agreed to the email being quoted without names. It is now the page the caterer sends whenever someone asks whether they can cater a site with no kitchen.

Write it for the next customer

A write-up is not a diary. It is for the person reading it next year who has a similar problem and is deciding whom to call.

Lead with the problem in the words that person would use: no kitchen on site, a tight deadline, an old house with plaster walls. That is what they will recognise, and often what they typed into a search.

Then the decisions, briefly, then the result and the photographs. Three or four short paragraphs is plenty.

Use real numbers wherever you have them: the headcount, the days on site, the size of the room. A specific figure is more believable than any adjective.

A routine, not a project

The habit works when it belongs to someone and has a fixed day. Friday afternoon of the week the job ends is a good default.

Keep a simple list of finished jobs with a column for the write-up: done, waiting for permission, or skipped. Not every job deserves a page.

Someone close to the work should capture the details, and whoever writes for the website should turn them into the page.

Send the notes and photographs the same week. A page built from good notes is quick to write; one built from memory rarely is.

The counter-case

Some work cannot be shown. Confidential clients, private homes and jobs whose results are invisible make poor project pages, and are better left out or written without identifying details.

And a business with a steady stream of repeat clients may need only a few strong examples, kept current, rather than one for every job.

For everyone else the rule is about timing. Capture the details the week the job ends, even if the page goes up later.

The Friday routine

  1. Name the person who leads each job.
  2. Book the Friday after each job ends.
  3. Write the five answers while memory is fresh.
  4. Gather the photographs into one job folder.
  5. Copy down the customer's words exactly.
  6. Ask permission to quote them and show the work.
  7. Send the notes to whoever updates the site.

Step five is the one that cannot be recovered later. Details can be rebuilt from invoices and photographs, but what a pleased customer said in the moment is gone once nobody wrote it down.

A projects page whose newest entry is two years old has the same problem as the footer still says copyright 2013.

Frequently asked questions

Why write up a job straight away?

Because the details fade within weeks: the problem, the reasons behind decisions, the numbers, the photographs and what the customer said. Twenty minutes that week beats an afternoon later.

What should a project write-up include?

The customer's problem in their own terms, the decisions and why, the numbers that describe the job, anything that went wrong, the photographs, and the customer's words.

When should photographs be taken?

Throughout the job: before, during and after, each from the same spot where possible. Agree at the start who takes them and which shared folder they go into.

Can I use what a customer said?

Yes, with permission, word for word. Trim if needed, but never add words they did not say, since testimonials must be genuine under Canada's misleading advertising rules.

Does every job need a page?

No. Confidential or invisible work is better left out or written without identifying details. A good write-up a month is more useful than a backlog nobody finishes.

Who should write the final page?

The person who led the job captures the details, and whoever writes for the website turns them into the page. Send them the notes and photographs the same week.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Projects page stuck at three entries?

Send us the notes and photographs from your last finished job. We will turn them into a page this month.

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