The Website Planning Guide

Let’s get started with the Website Planning Guide!

So you have downloaded The Website Planning Guide and are looking into DIY’ing your own website? Wonderful!

Here are some tips and tricks to get the most out of the guide.

Don’t know what I am talking about? Grab your copy here and let’s go!

Get clear on your site goals.

Every site needs a clear reason to exist. Use this section of the guide to write out your website’s goal. We will refer back to this goal often to make sure we are on track with our strategy and design.

☞ What is your site’s main purpose?

Know Your Brand

Get clear on your brand’s purpose, ideal audience, and visual vibe. If you haven’t already done a branding exercise like this for your business, now is the time. Answer the following questions on the guide:

☞ What do you do and why?

☞ Who is your ideal client?

Mood and Visuals

Be sure your visuals align with your purpose and resonates with your audience.

☞ What vibe do you want your brand to communicate?

Consistent fonts and cohesive colors communicate the mood of your brand, ensuring your website makes a memorable impact. Keep note of your font pairings and your color hex codes in this guide, to make sure everything stays consistent.

Need help finding your hex codes? I use this chrome extension.

Content Planning

It is hard to begin designing a site if you don’t know what pages you will need to create and how they will link and interact with each other. I like to start the design process by outlining the primary pages and website navigation.

☞ What pages do you need and what purpose will they serve? List yours:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

It would be silly to do all the hard work of planning and designing a site and not spend some time learning about SEO. This is how your website will be found online through organic Google searches. This is such a large topic it could be its very own post and guide, but for our purposes you should start thinking about and collecting SEO keywords.

☞ Brainstorm strategic keywords and compile a list of the most powerful and descriptive terms to help leads find you on Google.

Check out Ashlyn Writes Youtube video on the topic of SEO. Super helpful if you are just getting started with writing your messaging and SEO.

Website Messaging

AKA “website copy.” Copy dictates design so, it’s helpful to have all your strategic messaging ready to go before you begin the design process. Gather your copy page by page and keep it in a folder on your computer or Google Drive. This makes it easy to access once you’re ready to begin building.

☞ Define your website messaging.

Wireframe

A wireframe is a sketch of a website that outlines key elements of the page. Your homework?

☞ Sketch and layout how you envision the design of your core pages to look.

BUILD!

Now that you have planned out your content and gathered the essentials you can start building. Pick your platform and make it come to life following the blueprint of your wireframe.

Need help picking a platform? Make a list of your needs and wants. Which features and functionality are non-negotiable for your website? Which are not necessary but would be nice to have? Pick a platform that can give you what you need and most of what you want. I suggest Squarespace or Showit.

Need Help?

Prioritizing your online presence is a smart move and I’m here to support you every step of the way!

Use this website planning guide to get clarity on your goals and plan your site in one easy to use document.

Questions? Let’s chat!

I’ll help guide you through the design process and take care of the technical side too. Would love to work with you!