Plan the website and content

Website redesigns often start with “a fresh look”, but visitors rarely leave because a site is not pretty enough. They leave because they cannot find what they need, or still do not know how you can help after reading.

Planning a website means answering three things first: who comes, what they want to get done, and what we hope they do next. The structure and content grow from those answers.

You may be seeing this

• Content has piled up over the years; there are more pages and they are harder to find.
• The home page tries to say too much, and nothing sticks.
• The copy uses internal language visitors do not understand.
• The site is rarely updated because nobody knows what to write or who writes it.

How we approach it

• Clarify audiences: list the main visitor types and the problems they most often want solved.
• Plan the structure: organize navigation and pages around visitor tasks, not the org chart.
• Design the content: give each page a purpose, key messages and a next step.
• Write plain copy: in the visitor’s language, say what you do, how, and why you can be trusted.
• Plan ongoing content: set themes and a publishing rhythm so the site grows with the business.

What you get

• Visitor types and their tasks.
• A sitemap and navigation structure.
• Content outlines and copy for key pages.
• Content themes and a publishing rhythm.
• Page requirements ready for design and engineering.

How to tell it works

Watch what visitors do: do they reach key pages faster, and more often go on to contact you or take the next step? Asking a few target visitors to use the site and noting where they get stuck often reveals more than numbers alone.

A good website quickly tells the right people what you can do for them.