How to plan your website in one afternoon

You do not need weeks to plan a website. You need one focused afternoon, a notebook and honest answers. This lesson gives you a four-hour plan: your goal and your customers, your pages and your content, the materials you have, and your look and your decisions. At the end you will have a one-page plan that you can hand to a designer, use to fill in a website builder or keep as your guide.

Why a plan saves time and money

Unclear briefs cause long email chains, repeated revisions and delays. A written plan answers most of a designer's first questions before they ask them, and it helps you compare quotes on equal terms. It also protects you from the most common trap: building a site around what is easy to show instead of what customers need to know.

What you need before you sit down

• Four hours. In one go, or in two sessions of two hours.
• A notebook or a blank document. Paper works best for sketching pages.
• Your phone. For notes, photos and for checking other websites.
• What you already have. Business cards, menus, price lists, brochures, old posts and the emails you have sent to customers.
• One decision maker. You, or at most two people who agree to settle things quickly.

Do not open a design app. Plan words first and pictures later. A website is mostly text, and a designer cannot design a page without knowing what it has to say.

Hour 1: decide what the site is for

Choose one main action

A site that asks everyone to do everything gets almost nothing. Pick the single action that matters most: call, book, request a quote, buy or visit the shop. Finish this sentence: "Visitors come to my site to find ___, and I want them to ___." Then choose one secondary action, such as joining your email list.

Some examples of a main action: a restaurant wants a table booked, a plumber wants a phone call, a photographer wants a date request, a shop wants a purchase, a dentist wants a booked visit and a consultant wants a scheduled call. Notice that each one is something a visitor does, not something they read.

Describe your two main customers

For each one, write who they are, what they need, what worries them before they buy and how they will reach your site, for example on a phone while they are out, or on a computer at work. Real customers beat imagined ones, so think about the last five people who bought from you.

List the questions they ask

Write down ten questions that people ask before they hire or buy. How much does it cost? How long does it take? Do you work in my area? What happens after I contact you? These questions become your pages, your sections and your FAQ.

A worked example

Here is a fragment of a plan for an invented business, a family plumber in Tampa. Main action: call, or request a quote for a repair. Customers: homeowners with an urgent leak who want someone today, and landlords who want a reliable plumber for several units. Biggest worry: will they show up, and what will it cost? Questions: Do you work weekends? Do you charge for the visit? How fast can you come? Are you licensed and insured? Do you give a price before you start?

Those answers decide the site. A phone number on every page. A page for emergencies. A clear note on how pricing works. A line about licenses and insurance near the top.

Hour 2: choose your pages and write one line for each

Take the page list from the previous lesson. For each page, write one sentence that says what the visitor learns and what they do next. For example: "Services: what we do and what is included, ends with a Get a quote button."

Then draw the site on paper as boxes. Put the menu across the top, the home page in the middle and the other pages below, joined by lines. If you have more than eight boxes, cut. Decide the order of the menu, and choose the one button that will sit at the end of it.

Next, plan the home page as a stack of sections. A common stack is: first screen, proof, a short look at your services, how it works, a few words about you, and a final call to action.

Hour 3: gather what you already have

• Logo. Any format you have, even a photo of a sign. Note where the original file is.
• Photos. Sharp, well-lit phone photos are fine. List the shots you still need: you at work, your team, finished results, your place from outside and inside.
• Texts. Brochures, old posts and the emails you send to customers. They are already written in your own words.
• Reviews. Copy the best ones from Google, Facebook and emails. Ask permission before using a full name.
• Facts. Years in business, licenses, certifications, insurance, service area and hours.
• Prices. Exact prices, or a "starting at" price, or a clear idea of how you charge.
• Links. Your social profiles, booking system, Google Business Profile and any tools you use.
• Legal details. Your legal business name, address and any required notices.

A few quick tips for phone photos: use daylight, hold the phone steady and sideways, wipe the lens first, and take more shots than you need. You can pick the best later.

Now make a "missing list": what you do not have, who will get it and by when. Most delays in a website project come from waiting for photos and texts, and a later lesson explains why. A missing list on day one prevents them.

Hour 4: look, feel and decisions

Pick three sites you like

Choose any industry. For each, write one line about why you like it: the colors, the photos, the white space, how easy it is to find things. Add one site you dislike and say why. These notes tell a designer more than a long description.

Choose three words for the tone

Do you want to sound warm, expert, direct, playful or calm? Pick three words and keep them. They guide the colors, the photos and every sentence on the site.

Make the practical decisions

Settle these now, so they do not block you later: your domain name, your professional email, whether the site needs English only or English and Spanish, who approves each stage, your budget range and the date you want to be online.

Your one-page plan

Copy this list onto one page and fill in each line. This page is the result of your afternoon.

• Business. Name, what you do and where, in one sentence.
• Main action. The one thing a visitor should do.
• Customers. Your two main types, with their main worry.
• Pages. The list, with one line for each.
• Questions to answer. Your ten customer questions.
• Materials. What you have, and the missing list with dates.
• Look. Three sites you like, one you dislike and three tone words.
• Practical. Domain, email, languages, approver, budget and launch date.

How to run the afternoon

• Set a timer for each hour. When it rings, move to the next part, even if you are not done.
• Write short. One line per answer. You can polish later.
• Decide fast. If you cannot choose in five minutes, write both options and move on.
• Silence the noise. Mute notifications, except for the notes on your phone.
• Take a break. Ten minutes between hours keeps your answers sharp.

How to tell if your plan is good

1. A stranger could read it and explain what you do and what a visitor should do.
2. Every page answers a question and ends with a next step.
3. Your main action is one action, not three.
4. You know who will provide each missing item, and by when.
5. You can finish the sentence "Choose us because ___" in one line.
6. You could give the plan to two designers and get quotes that compare.

Mistakes that waste the afternoon

• Starting with colors and logos. Look comes after message.
• Trying to say everything on the home page. Its job is to send people to the right page.
• Copying a competitor's structure without thinking. You will inherit their mistakes.
• Waiting for perfect photos. Start with good ones, and replace them later.
• Asking ten people for opinions. One decision maker keeps the project moving.
• Skipping the customer questions. They are the most valuable part of the plan.

What comes after the plan

With your plan in hand, three steps follow. Study how your competitors present themselves, which is the next lesson. Decide how to build the site, with a builder or with a designer. And ask for quotes using the same plan, so you can compare them fairly. You will find all three much easier with a clear plan than with a blank page.

How Good Sites Only uses your plan

Our process starts with a few short questions that you answer from your phone, almost all with one tap. You can upload your logo, photos and files in any format, or point us to your current site and your social profiles, and we take it from there. A plan like the one in this lesson makes those answers quick. Ready when you are: start your site.

Questions people ask