Your shared content doc needs a master you never send
Keep one website content template in Google Docs as your master, then create a separate copy for each client. The free template below is ready to paste into a blank document. It includes a project index, a repeatable page block, an asset register, and a place to record exactly which draft was approved.
You don’t need a complicated setup. You do need to stop the reusable instructions, client answers, and approved copy from becoming one document that nobody can confidently build from.
How do you turn this into a Google Docs template?
Copy the template between the start and end markers below into a blank Google Doc. Name it “Website content master.” Replace the square-bracket instructions with your agency’s defaults, leaving the client-specific answers empty.
Keep that master in an agency-only location. For each new project, use File → Make a copy, give the copy a project-specific name, and choose its destination. Google’s copying instructions confirm that you can choose a name and location for the new file. You don’t need a public template-gallery listing to reuse your own document.
Before sending the client copy, remove pages outside the agreed scope and prefill facts you already have. Turn each website page name into a heading so the document has a consistent structure. Use a separate page block for each page you’re building; don’t leave every service under one heading if the site has separate service pages.
This is a paste-in template, rather than a hosted Google Doc that asks you to request access. Once you’ve copied it, your agency controls its master and its client copies.
Copy the website content template for Google Docs
The template assumes your agency drafts the copy from the client’s answers. Change that instruction if the client has a writer. Keep the answer area separate from the website draft so a developer doesn’t accidentally publish a note meant for your team.
Template starts here
Project instructions
Website: [Client and project name]
Working document: [Link to this client copy]
Source files folder: [Link to the project asset folder]
Agency contact: [Name and email]
Client coordinator: [Name and email]
Copywriter: [Name]
How to use this document: Answer in the “Client source answers” area of each page. Short notes and links to existing material are enough. Our writer will use them to draft the website copy in the separate draft area. Keep internal notes out of that draft.
If you can’t answer yet: Write “Waiting for [person or decision]” beside the exact item. Return the parts you can finish.
Where files go: Put original files in the linked source folder. Add each file’s name and link to the asset register below, with the page and section it belongs to. Don’t use an image pasted into this document as the only handoff of that image.
When you’re ready: Tell [agency contact] which page is ready for review and which items remain open.
Website page index
[Replace these sample page names with the agreed sitemap. Add the date you need each page’s inputs, using a written month to avoid date-format confusion.]
| Website page | Client contributor | Input due date | Current position | Next unresolved item |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | [Name] | [Date] | [Collecting / drafting / reviewing / approved] | [Item or none] |
| About | [Name] | [Date] | [Position] | [Item or none] |
| [Offer detail page] | [Name] | [Date] | [Position] | [Item or none] |
| Contact | [Name] | [Date] | [Position] | [Item or none] |
Website page: [Public page name]
[Duplicate this whole block for every website page.]
Planned URL: [Path]
Purpose: [What a visitor should understand or do after reading this page]
Section order: [The agreed sections in reading order]
Client source answers
Section: [Name from the section order]
- What must a visitor learn here? [Answer]
- Which exact details must the draft include? [Names, conditions, dates, quantities, or other facts]
- What existing material should the writer consult? [Source link and the relevant part]
- Which file belongs here? [Asset register reference]
- What still needs a decision? [Open item, person responsible, and expected answer date, or none]
[Repeat the section questions for the remaining sections on this page. Delete prompts that don’t apply.]
Visitor’s next action: [Action and its destination URL, email, or public phone number]
Agency website draft
[Writer: place only proposed website copy here, under the same section names. Include proposed headings, body text, and button labels. Keep source answers above for reference.]
Review and approval record
Person authorized to approve this page: [Name]
Version submitted for approval: [Named document version or dated snapshot link, identifying this page]
Items still open: [List, or none]
Approval statement: “I approve the [page name] website copy in [version or snapshot] for the build.”
Approval received: [Approver, date, and link to or location of the approval message]
Changes after approval: [Requested change and whether a new approval is needed]
Asset register
[One row per original file. Link the specific file rather than only its folder.]
| File name and link | Website page and section | What it shows or contains | Publication permission and credit | Replacement needed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [File name linked to original] | [Page / section] | [Description] | [Who confirmed use and required credit] | [No, or exact replacement request] |
Open decisions
[Use this for decisions that affect several pages. Keep a page-only question beside that page’s source answers.]
| Decision | Affected pages | Person confirming | Answer expected | Confirmed answer and date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [Question] | [Pages] | [Name] | [Date] | [Answer, or waiting] |
Template ends here
The page block deliberately doesn’t contain a full question bank for every possible website section. For detailed Home, About, Services, and Contact prompts, adapt the page-by-page website content template to your sitemap before sending this document.
Who needs editing access to the client copy?
Give editing access to people who will enter source answers or write the draft. A reviewer who only needs to discuss wording can have commenting access instead. Google’s file-sharing guide distinguishes Viewer, Commenter, and Editor roles; choose the role around the person’s task.
Share the client copy with the intended people, rather than making your master editable through a broadly shared link. Check the source folder separately. Access to the document doesn’t establish that the same person can add files to a different folder or open every linked image.
Folder placement matters too. Google documents that files inherit access from their parent folder. Keep your agency master outside the client-editable folder, and review the actual folder permissions before treating a file as restricted. Work or school account policies can also limit external sharing.
Name one working copy in your kickoff message. If the client downloads it, edits a local version, and emails it back, you now have a reconciliation task. Bring the returned answers into the designated copy and tell the client where the next changes belong.
How should you connect copy with the original files?
Consider a fictional locksmith website. Its “Emergency lockout” page needs a van photograph and a confirmed service window. The client adds a picture to the document and writes “same hours as the leaflet.” The page looks populated, but your designer still lacks the original image and your writer still lacks confirmed hours.
Use the register to make those two gaps visible. Record mobile-locksmith-van.jpg as the file for “Emergency lockout / introduction,” with a link to the original. Keep the hours as an unanswered source item until the client confirms them. A photograph doesn’t make the accompanying claim ready.
In this example, the owner confirms 07:00–22:00 daily and says overnight calls aren’t offered. Those are fictional sample details, but they show why the draft area must stay separate: the writer can replace a vague “always available” line with the actual service window without losing the source answer.
For images, request the original file through the agreed folder and record publication permission once in the register. A document preview is useful context. It shouldn’t be your only record of which image belongs to which section.
How do you approve a page inside a changing document?
A shared document keeps changing after someone writes “looks good.” That message needs a page name and a version reference before it can guide the build.
When a page is ready, record a named version in Google Docs or create a dated snapshot for review. Google’s version-history guide explains how to name a version and return to earlier content. A version name helps you identify the text; the client’s approval message records the decision.
For the locksmith example, a useful label is “Emergency lockout copy for approval, October 21.” Because a named version covers the document, the approval record must still identify the page. Approval of that page doesn’t imply approval of About or Contact.
Keep unresolved source items outside the proposed copy. If the service window remains unanswered, don’t insert a plausible guess and ask the client to approve the whole page. Hold the relevant section until the answer arrives.
After approval, record any requested change against that page. Your developer should be able to identify the accepted wording without interpreting a chain of comments.
When does a shared Google Doc stop being enough?
A document works while someone can maintain the page index, reconcile file links, and follow up on open decisions. It starts costing more when every delivery requires checking the document, folder, and inbox to work out what changed.
For the locksmith, that could mean the owner replaces the van image while a colleague corrects the service hours by email. Both changes are manageable. Across several active websites, the same coordination can become a recurring job that the document itself doesn’t perform.
If you collect client inputs through a content collection system organized by website page, look for answers, original files, and review decisions to remain connected to that page. That is the workflow we’re building with PageIntake, which currently has a waitlist. Until a tool fits your project, keep the index and approval record explicit in the document you already use.
Start with the reusable master, send one client copy, and build from identified approved text. The template is useful when the next person opening it can tell what they should answer, what they can use, and what still needs a decision.