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Planning a Business Website

Time spent planning results in a website that's logical, intuitive, and easy to navigate. Skip this stage and go straight to building, and the usual result is a confusing, poorly structured site that frustrates visitors into a quick exit — no amount of good design fixes a fundamentally unclear structure.

Start With Objectives, Not Design

Before any design or build decisions, get clear on what the site actually needs to achieve: will it sell online (see our e-commerce guide if so)? Will visitors need to find specific information quickly? Is there value in collecting an email address or other visitor details? The answers to these questions should shape the entire structure — a site built without them tends to reflect whatever felt intuitive to the owner rather than what actually serves visitors.

Define Your Subject Areas

A key planning task is deciding what the site will cover and how, if at all, individual sections relate to one another. This is where a business's actual services or product categories should map directly onto the site's structure — a mismatch here is one of the most common causes of visitors struggling to find what they came for.

Map It Before You Build It

A simple sitemap or diagram — sections, the links between them, and the path a visitor is meant to take toward a specific goal (an enquiry, a purchase, a sign-up) — is worth doing on paper or in a simple diagram tool before any building starts. Moving items around at this stage costs nothing; restructuring a built site can mean real rebuild cost. A visual layout also makes it easy to spot an unbalanced site — too much content crammed into one section, or an important area that's underdeveloped.

From Plan to Build

Once the structure is clear, see our guide to building a website for the practical decisions — DIY builders versus a developer, budget, and realistic timelines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Time spent planning results in a site that's logical and easy to navigate; skipping straight to building typically results in a confusing structure that frustrates visitors into leaving. Planning is also far cheaper to change than a built site — moving items around on paper costs nothing, while restructuring a live site can mean real rebuild cost.

What is the site's core objective — informational, lead generation, or direct online sales? Will visitors need to find specific information quickly? Is there a reason to collect visitor details, such as an email address? The answers shape the whole site structure, so they come before any design or build decisions.

Start by defining subject areas — what the site will cover, and how (if at all) those sections relate to each other. A simple sitemap or diagram showing sections, links between them, and the path a visitor is meant to take toward a specific goal (a purchase, an enquiry, a sign-up) makes it much easier to spot gaps or overly complex navigation before any building starts.