PLANNING YOUR WEBSITE SERIES
Part of our collection of practical guides designed to help business owners make informed decisions before investing in a new website.
Website Planning Checklist
Before you invest in a new website, take a little time to plan. Answering a few simple questions now can save time, reduce costs and help create a website that genuinely works for your business.
Fundamentals
Planning a website isn’t about choosing colours or fonts.
It’s about understanding your business, your customers and what you want your website to achieve.
We’ve put together this simple checklist based on the questions we ask every client before we begin designing.
You don’t need all the answers straight away, but thinking about these questions will give your project a much stronger foundation.
1. What Is The Purpose Of Your Website?
Start by asking yourself:
- Why are you creating a new website?
- What do you want it to achieve?
- What would make it successful?
Perhaps you want to:
- Generate more enquiries
- Promote your services
- Refresh your brand
- Replace an outdated website
- Give customers confidence
2. Who Are You Trying To Reach?
Think about your ideal customer. Ask yourself:
- Who do I want to attract?
- What problems are they trying to solve?
- What information are they looking for?
- What would encourage them to get in touch?
Your website should be written around your customers, not your business
3. What Do You Want People To Do Next?
Every website should encourage visitors to take the next step. That might be:
Send an enquiry
Book a consultation
Request a quote
Call your business
Visit your premises
If you know the destination, it’s much easier to design the journey.
4. What Pages Will You Need?
Think about the information visitors will expect to find. For most businesses this includes:
- Home
- About
- Services
- Portfolio
- Contact
You can always add more pages later as your business grows.
5. What Makes Your Business Different?
This is often the hardest question. Consider:
- Why do customers choose you?
- What do they compliment you on?
- What do you do differently?
- What experience do you bring?
These answers often become the strongest messages on your website.
6. What Questions Do Customers Ask?
Think about the conversations you have every week.
What do people regularly ask before becoming a customer?
Those questions often make excellent website content.
If one person asks something, chances are many others are wondering the same thing.
7. Gather What You Already Have
Before your project begins, collect together anything that might be useful. For example:
Your logo
Brand colours
Photographs
Existing website content
Testimonials
Case studies
Social media links
Having everything in one place makes the process much smoother.
Remember…
You don’t need every answer before you begin. That’s one of the reasons we spend time getting to know your business before we start designing.
Planning a website is something we do together.
Key Takeaways
Your goals.
Your customers.
Your services.
Your key messages.
The next step you want visitors to take.
Continue learning
Planning a website doesn’t end here. Explore more practical guides to help you make informed decisions before you build.
Ready to plan your website?
Whether you’re starting from scratch or redesigning an existing website, we’ll guide you through the planning process and help turn your ideas into a website that works for your business.
A quick conversation to explore your options.
07765 087 126