Website project planning is deciding what a site is for, what it needs, and in what order it gets built, before design or code starts. A good plan covers the goal, the audience, the pages, the assets, the technical setup, the timeline, and how you'll know it's working.
Why planning comes first
The NewsBeauty build is the clearest example I have. The request on paper was simple: build a website. The first real question had nothing to do with HTML. What was the business actually called? The company was NewsBeauty, LLC. The brand was NewsBeauty. The domain was hairbynb.com. And the name people kept saying out loud was HairByNB.
That confusion had already spread into social bios, flyers, and the old site. Settling it became a rule the whole build followed: the brand everywhere that matters, the domain as the domain, and the legal entity wherever the law cares. No template would have caught it, because it isn't a design problem. It's an understand-the-business-before-you-build problem. The full story.
The website project workflow in seven phases
This is the order I work in. Each phase produces something the next one depends on, which is why skipping ahead costs more than it saves.
- BriefPurpose, audience, what the visitor should be able to do, and what success looks like.
- InventoryEvery asset that exists: logos, photos, prices, legal names, contact details. Checked, not trusted.
- ArchitecturePage list, hierarchy, navigation, and one search intent per page.
- Content planWhat each page says, who writes it, and what it hands off to next.
- Design and buildVisual system from the brand's real assets, then templates, then pages.
- Quality checkContrast math, real phones, forms, links, schema, and every business detail.
- Launch and reviewDeploy, verify on the live domain, submit the sitemap, then review search data.
Phase three is where planning meets website architecture, and the one-intent-per-page mapping comes from SEO site architecture. If the project is a rebuild rather than a new site, add an audit and a redirect map before phase three, as described on website redesign.
What goes in a website project plan
My plans fit on a few pages. They're short on purpose, because a plan nobody reads doesn't plan anything. Eight sections:
Questions to ask before building a website
These come before any design conversation. The answers shape every phase after.
- What should a visitor be able to do here? Book, buy, compare, call, understand. Pick the main one.
- What does the business actually sell, and how? Bella Passion Creations prices as grab-and-go rentals, tiered packages, and event bundles, so that became the structure.
- What's the legal name, the brand name, and the domain? If they differ, decide now where each one appears.
- Which assets exist, and which are out of date? Ask for every version, then compare them side by side.
- Are there people details that need care? Titles, names, and photos sometimes carry privacy or professional reasons. NewsBeauty's lead stylist needed a specific public title everywhere.
- What happens after someone takes the next step? Who answers the form, the phone, the order? A working site with nobody behind the button still fails.
Website planning checklist
Before design starts, every item here should have an answer written down.
Purpose written in one sentence and agreed.
Legal name, brand name, and domain usage decided.
Phone, email, address, and hours confirmed by the owner.
Real logo and photos in hand, or a clear note that they're coming.
Page list with one job and one intent per page.
Prices and packages checked against how the business actually sells.
Hosting, domain access, and deploy location confirmed.
Form destination and who responds decided.
Legal pages identified: privacy, terms, and disclosure if needed.
Analytics chosen and a review date set after launch.
Timeline realities
Planning timelines slip in the same places on almost every project I've done. Budget time for these:
- Collecting correct assets. Real logos, current photos, and confirmed details arrive later than anyone expects.
- Changes that touch every page. A single title change at NewsBeauty had to reach page titles, schema, credential cards, and alt text, correctly, everywhere.
- The punch list after it looks done. Bella Passion Creations shipped at B+, 86 out of 100, with a form backend, image weight, and legal review still open. Plan for that tail.
Planning mistakes I've made
Building around placeholder assets
I designed an early identity around a monogram I'd invented while waiting for the real logo. When it arrived, the placeholder work had to go. Mark placeholders as placeholders in the plan. The Bella rebuild.
Trusting one source for a detail
Two NewsBeauty flyers showed different phone numbers. Comparing them side by side caught it before launch. A build working from one flyer would have shipped the wrong number to every page.
Not planning the deploy
The first NewsBeauty upload extracted one folder too deep and showed a 404, and a search bot crawled it while broken. Confirming the exact deploy location belongs in the plan, not on launch day.
The seven-phase workflow as a fill-in template: project definition, scope, a business details table, build plan, launch readiness, and an iteration log. Printable and fillable PDF, $18.
Get it for $18See all five products
Sold through the IGNE Publishing shop, my business entity.
Real projects
Each of these shows planning decisions that shaped the build, for better or worse.
NewsBeauty
Make a local beauty brand useful beyond a single service page.
View the projectBella Passion Creations
Rebuild around the client's real services, pricing, brand assets, and trust signals.
View the projectBizCredX
Make a business-focused property easy to search, scan, and navigate.
View the projectTaxRefundSeed
Turn a generic "what to do with your refund" topic into a real decision framework, then make sure the product behind it actually works end to end.
View the projectWebsite project planning FAQ
What is website project planning?
Website project planning is deciding what a site is for, what it needs, and in what order it gets built, before design or code starts. It covers the goal, the audience, the page list, the assets, the technical setup, the timeline, and how you'll know the site is working.
What should a website project plan include?
A clear purpose, the audience and their main questions, a page list with one job per page, an asset inventory with who owns each item, technical decisions like hosting and forms, a timeline with dependencies, a launch checklist, and a short list of success measures.
How long does it take to plan a website?
For a small business site, a few focused sessions. For a large content site, planning can take as long as the first build phase. The parts that take longest are rarely the ones people expect: collecting correct assets and deciding what each page is for.
What is the difference between a website plan and a sitemap?
A sitemap is one part of a plan. It shows which pages exist and how they relate. The plan also covers why those pages exist, what content and assets they need, who provides them, how the site gets built and launched, and what success looks like.
What questions should I ask before building a website?
What should a visitor be able to do here? Who are they, and what do they ask first? What must be true for the business, like legal names, prices, and contact details? Which assets exist and which are out of date? What happens after someone takes the next step?
Do I need a plan if I'm redesigning an existing site?
Yes, and the plan starts with an audit of what exists. A redesign plan adds a decision for every current page and a redirect map. The redesign process is covered in detail on the website redesign page.
Worth thinking about
- Could you state what your next site is for in one sentence that a stranger would understand?
- Which detail about your business do you assume is correct everywhere, and when did you last check?
Page history
- The companion product is now available through the IGNE Publishing shop.
- First published: seven-phase workflow, project plan contents, questions to ask before building, planning checklist, timeline realities, mistakes, and FAQ.
Starting a new site? I begin every build with the plan, so the expensive decisions get made on paper, not in code.
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