Build Things and Go Live with Claude

Define the finished thing first

Before building, write one paragraph describing what the finished thing is, who it is for, and what it must do. A landing page for a local service, a simple calculator, a one-page guide, or an internal checklist tool are all good first projects. A vague goal like a complete business platform is not. Small, finished projects teach you the process and give you something real to launch. You can always add features later.

List the must-have parts and the nice-to-have parts separately. The must-haves are the launch criteria: if they are not working, you are not ready. The nice-to-haves wait until after launch. This one decision prevents most projects from stalling, because it stops the scope from growing every time a new idea appears.

Build in small pieces

Ask Claude for one piece at a time: the structure first, then the content for each section, then the styling or behaviour. After each piece, look at the result and say what is wrong or missing before asking for the next piece. This loop is slower per request but much faster overall, because fixing a small piece is easy and rebuilding a large, tangled result is not.

Keep your requests concrete. Name the sections, the audience, the tone, and the action you want the reader to take. Paste any real content that must appear, such as your services, prices, or contact details, instead of letting Claude invent them. Real content in, real content out.

Test with real content

A page that looks fine with short example text can break with real text. Test with your longest headline, your longest service description, and a name with an unusual spelling. Click every link and button. Read the page on a phone as well as on a computer. If something is unclear, fix the wording before you fix the design: most launch problems are content problems, not technical ones.

Ask Claude to review its own work against your original brief. Give it the brief again and the finished draft, and ask it to list anything missing, anything that contradicts the brief, and anything that sounds vague. This second pass catches gaps you have stopped seeing because you have read the draft too many times.

Prepare the launch checklist

Write a launch checklist and work through it in order: title and description, contact details, links, images with sensible descriptions, a way for visitors to reach you, and a backup of the finished files. Check spelling and numbers one last time. Decide what happens after launch: who answers enquiries, how often the page is updated, and where feedback goes. A launch without an owner drifts within weeks.

Go live, then verify live

Publish the finished work on your chosen host or platform, following that platform's own steps. Then open the live address yourself, on a phone and a computer, and check that the page loads, the links work, and the contact details are correct. Do not trust a preview alone. If anything is wrong, fix it in the source and republish. Only when the live version matches the approved version is the project actually launched.

Build a one-page website for a small service business.
Business: [name, service, town or city]
Sections in order: headline, what we do, services with short descriptions,
why choose us, contact details.
Tone: plain and direct, no hype.
Rules:
- Use only the facts I paste below. Do not invent prices, reviews, or claims.
- Every button must link to the contact section.
- Keep each service description under 30 words.

Facts:
[Paste your real facts here]

Frequently asked questions