Showing a client the right version of their website
How a one-person AI agency makes sure a client approves the right version of their website: name each version, send a fixed link, check what goes live.
A bakery owner opens the link to her new website on her phone between batches. The prices look right, the photos look right, and she replies "Looks great, go ahead." The site goes live that evening with last month's prices. The link she opened was from the second round, still sitting in her messages, and nobody noticed that "looks great" was about a version that no longer existed.
Nobody lied and nobody was careless. Two people talked about "the website" as if there were only one. In a one-person AI agency, where an agent can make a new version in minutes, that happens easily.
To make sure a client approves the right version, give each version a number and a date, send one link that always shows exactly that version, say what changed, and ask for approval by the number. Then check that what goes live matches what they approved. It takes a few extra lines per round, and it prevents most "that's not what I signed off" conversations.
Why do clients approve the wrong version?
Because a website keeps changing while people talk about it. Near the end of a project you might make three rounds of changes in a week. Each one leaves traces behind:
- Old links. Every round you send a link. The client's messages keep all of them, and the newest isn't always at the top.
- Saved copies. Browsers and phones keep copies of pages they've shown before, so a client can reopen a link and see yesterday's page.
- Screenshots. A client forwards a screenshot to their business partner, who replies to that instead of the site.
- "Latest" links that move. A link that always shows your newest work sounds helpful. But if you push a fix while the client is reading, they might approve a page that changed under them.
Each of these is small on its own. Together they explain why client approval of a website version has to name the version, not the site.
How do I make sure a client approves the right version?
Use the same four steps every round.
- Name the version. A number and a date is enough: "Version 4, 6 May." Keep numbering from the first draft to launch. Don't restart for a new round.
- Send a link that doesn't change. Many hosts can publish a preview of each version at its own address. Cloudflare Pages, for example, gives every preview its own unique address and keeps older previews reachable at their original addresses, while the live site stays untouched. A link like that shows version 4 today, tomorrow and next month.
- Say what changed. Three to six short lines: "New prices on the menu page. Opening hours updated. Gallery photos swapped." This tells the client where to look, which matters more than it sounds. Most clients won't read every page again.
- Ask for approval by number. "If you're happy with version 4, please reply 'I approve version 4.'" A reply that names the version is far easier to rely on later than a thumbs up.
If your host doesn't give each version its own address, send a dated file export or a short screen recording of the pages that changed. What matters is that the thing the client looks at can't quietly change.
Before any version goes to the client, check it yourself. If an AI agent built part of it, reviewing an AI-built website covers what to look at before a client ever sees it.
What should the approval message say?
Keep a short message you can reuse each round. For example:
Hi [name], here's version 4 of your website, dated 6 May: [link]
What's changed since version 3:
- Menu prices updated to the new list you sent
- Saturday opening hours now 8 to 2
- Contact form now sends to the shop email
Please look at those pages on your phone. If you're happy, reply "I approve version 4." If you'd like changes, send them as a list and they'll go into version 5.
Two things make this work. The client knows exactly what they're looking at, and they know how their answer will be used. The same approach works when you ask for sign-off on a single page, a logo or the words on the home page.
Keep every approval with the client's other details: the version, the date, the link and their reply. If a question comes up in six months, you'll have a clear answer instead of a memory.
What if the client wants changes after approving?
Then there's a new version. Make the changes, give it the next number, show it to them and ask again.
This can feel fussy for a one-word fix. It isn't. An approval covers the version it names. If you change the site after that and publish it, the client is now looking at something they never approved, and you're the only one who knows it. Most of the time a small fix is harmless. The one time it isn't, the approval won't help you.
A simple rule keeps it light: small fixes can be batched into the next version, and nothing goes live that the client hasn't seen by number.
How do I make sure what goes live is the approved version?
Approval is only half the job. The other half is publishing the same thing.
On launch day, compare the live site with the approved version before you tell the client it's done:
| Check | How |
|---|---|
| Is the live site the approved version? | Compare the version number or date on your side with what you published |
| Are the changes from the approval list there? | Open each page listed in the "what's changed" note |
| Did anything else change? | If you made any fix after approval, it's a new version: stop and ask |
| Do forms and links work on the live address? | Send a test enquiry and tap the phone number on a phone |
Then run your usual launch checks. A website QA checklist covers them in a set order.
Finally, tell the client which version went live and when: "Version 4 is live as of 6 May, 5pm." That one line closes the loop. If the bakery owner had received it, she'd have spotted the old prices within minutes.
What does this look like across a whole project?
Laid end to end, a small business website might run like this:
- Version 1: first draft of the home page and menu. Client comments, no approval yet.
- Version 2: all pages drafted. Client sends a list of changes.
- Version 3: changes made. Client approves the design and asks for new photos.
- Version 4: photos swapped, prices updated. Client approves version 4.
- Launch: version 4 goes live, and you confirm it in writing.
Every step names a version, and every approval points to one. Approving one exact version is the short definition to share with a client who asks why you work this way.
Where Volant fits
Volant has version history for every website, so you can compare versions and go back to any earlier one. You choose which one goes live. Your agent builds the site, and each version stays with the client next to their approval. The page on building, reviewing and delivering client websites shows how it works.