When helping our (very smart) clients with website development planning, many of them are already aware of a key fact: a company’s website is usually the first impression a customer has of the brand. Knowing that—and how important it is—is what made them choose Mascola as their web development agency in the first place.

That first impression with customers is key, and a great first impression requires eye-catching, creative website design paired with clear, goal-oriented content. It also necessitates a tech stack that ensures the functionality needed to complete conversion actions. Oh, and it all needs to be wrapped in a UX design and strategy that makes audiences feel like you’re brand’s online presence is adding value to their lives.

That seems like a tall order, but it just takes planning. So, if you want to learn how to begin getting ready for your brand’s next web development project, read on.

Align on the Internal Needs

Website development planning works best if you start at the very beginning…which means figuring out what you need before you do anything else. To get yourself on the right track, wrangle your internal project stakeholders and document answers to the following questions that everyone can co-sign:

• Who’s your audience? Knowing the target user for your website is essential for how you present content (do they learn through reading or watching?) or user interface design choices (what’s the best use of color to speak to the emotions that motivate a user to seek you out?).
• What’s the purpose? If you clarify what business goal your website is supposed to achieve, your colleagues or web development agency can more easily accomplish a creative website design that marries a beautiful interface with an effective user experience.
• What are the required features? A solid UX design and strategy is clear about the primary action you want your audience to take. Knowing what’s necessary versus what’s nice to have will help your team prioritize efforts—saving them time and stress—while ensuring that your site is effective for your needs at launch.
• What’s your timeline? Look at your project’s creative and technical needs. Then (try) to be realistic. What’s the soonest you can have the site in the market? And how much time is needed to make your site a functional, appealing, viable product for end users?

Lay the Groundwork

After figuring out those essentials, there’s one more step to a project’s website development planning stage. That involves creating your site’s basic infrastructure and deciding on elements that include:

Your Sitemap

What pages will your site include, and how will they connect? Answer these questions for yourself and your team with a sitemap. This document will make it easier to achieve a creative website design by visualizing the site’s architecture for stakeholders and project team members. Content creators will know what they need to produce copy or video for, designers will know how many page templates they need to produce, and developers will understand where they need to focus their attention for each functional requirement agreed on in the previous planning stage.

Your Content

At this part of the process, you or your web development agency should have an outline of what each page listed in your sitemap will include. This will differ depending on what you think your audience needs (simple paragraphs, video, product images, etc.), but it should generally include headlines, calls to action, and a general idea of how much space a designer needs to provide for content in each section of a page. On the tech side, your team should also be aligned on a content management system that will help you easily upload and update your final content.

Your Wireframes

With your copy outline in hand, you or your agency will create this basic expression of your site’s UX design and strategy. Typically presented in black and white with simple blocks showing where images, headlines, or copywriting will sit, wireframes present the basic flow of content and how a given page will direct users toward the action you need them to take. Aligning on these will empower your team to more easily bring finalized designs to life.

Looking Ahead—and Looking for Support

These steps make up the website development planning stage, but they’re hardly the end of your project. From here, you get to see your website come to life with beautiful designs, troubleshoot the UX design and strategy as you begin testing, and eventually prepare for launch.

With so many moving pieces, website development can feel overwhelming, but that’s where an agency like Mascola Group can help. More than a web development agency, we are a full-service marketing partner that backs development know-how with best-in-class creative and strategic expertise. Our work consistently exceeds client goals, and we have a feeling we’ll be able to do the same for your online needs.

If those are the results you want, get in touch to begin your website development planning today.