Websites have over the past years been a great treasure for many businesses and here you will know how to create a website plan. This is because of their ability to attract more customers even during the non-working hours. This has not only made it essential for enterprises to invest in websites but also made it mandatory for websites to engage in proper planning. This is why creating a website plan is a good place to start in the planning of your website.
The good thing is that tools like WordPress services have made it easier to come up with new websites. These design software are easy to use and with a few clicks, you will have the site up and running. However, for a successful site, there is more to be done.
A great and well-functioning website that will bring more customers and leads needs good planning. This is why you need to know the crucial steps for this. In this article, we will show you how to create a website plan.
What is a Website Plan?
A website plan is a step-by-step blueprint of the resources, activities, and all preparations needed to have a great website. The plan can vary in size depending on the project size. Moreover, this plan is one of the essentials that help to make a better website quote.
It is therefore needed for all website projects and WordPress outsourcing services. The responsibility to create a website plan goes to the project manager and the development team. They need to sit down and come up with a clear blueprint. This needs to be approved by the managerial team.
In the process of creating any website plan, the team needs to look at the specific needs of the company. This will ensure that the team focuses on the key objectives to ensure effectiveness from the start to the end.
Steps of Creating a Website Plan
Now that we know it’s vital for a company to have a website plan. We can now look at how to create a website plan. We will focus on the main features and activities in the planning stage. This will ensure the plan is useful for any website by either an individual freelancer or an agency.
Here are the steps for creating the plan that will work:
- Prepare for the project
- List the features and what the site will do
- Outline how the website will look like
- Plan on the navigation through the site
- Decide on the Deployment Steps
Prepare for the Project
In this step, the key highlight is to plan the general attributes of the website. Answer questions like who are the users of the site, the objective, and the purpose of the site. This step is important even before you go looking for a domain name. When you prepare you will be at a point to proceed with a clear vision.
The IT department/ development team needs to do the following.
- Identify the main target audience – Think about the users who will need your product or services. Then think of an effective way to attract their attention. Then as you create the website plan, have their needs in mind. Answer questions like which user interface they are going to like.
- Set the goals for the website – What will the website do/ Will users buy products or will they be referred to a physical location, etc. All these goals should be clear and on point.
- Choose the correct website tone – The tone of the site is key to determining the content and designs. Is it an educational tone or is it a sales tone? This will determine the choice of words and the call to action.
- Research from the functioning of other similar web applications – As you prepare, look at the websites of the competitors. The aim is not to duplicate their idea but to have a view of what is expected. You can also spot improvement areas.
Website Features and activities
Part of creating a website plan is to figure out the features for your site. You should list the website features that will assist the target audience on the WordPress, WooCommerce, or self-coded site. The best way is to use the goals to come up with features. For example, you will need an Email Newsletter for an educational site.
Moreover, you need to check on the activities to be added to the site. From this decide the activities that will need the web developers to note. In some cases, you may need to integrate services and APIs to include the activities. In the plan, you need to consider such. Then list them to ensure the development team knows what to do.
Some examples of features and activities are:
- User Reviews
- Testimonial
- Blog Page
- FAQs
- Share Buttons to Social Media
Design the Website Outlook
During the planning, you need to consider the design of the site. Luckily there are many templates to help you come up with great designs. Tailor the designs according to the needs of the site visitors. Think about colors, fonts, images, and videos to use for the site.
Planning how the site will look will help in the web development process. This is better than coming up with codes for a site that has no design. You can use tools like Adobe XD, Figma, and Sketch. This will help to have an idea of the site designs. Consider simulating the designs for all the pages.
The website plan with the design overview is also effective in determining and estimating the development time. Therefore, you need to ensure you include everything, especially the custom designs that are not in any template.
Here are additional things to consider in the plan.
- Consider the responsive designs across different platforms
- Determine the number of images and the sources of the images.
- Match the site to its business model and audience
- Use friendly font and colors
Plan on Navigation through the Site
Planning how the users will navigate through the site is also part of this phase. This is one of the key areas that need an emphasis. This is for easier Human-Computer interaction. The navigation design entails ensuring you plan on the way to place the header and important access points like links and buttons.
Moreover, there needs to be a blueprint of the activities from one page to another. Consider the needs of the administrator and customers. So that the customers have all they need from their end, the same for the administrators.
When planning for the navigation ensure you highlight some critical activities. This will involve activities that can cause issues for the users.
Plan on The Deployment Needs
Deployment is important to focus on before making the site live. It also ensures the site will continue working. When creating a website plan consider planning for the deployment factors like finances, deployment tools, etc. Decide on the domain name, the hosting service providers, etc.
Another thing to plan is the WordPress website Migration needs that may arise if it’s a WordPress site. For other sites consider the same. Then craft documentation to help in this. Also, in case of errors occurring in the future, you need to plan how the enterprise will debug the site.
Some other key things to plan for deployment are:
- How SEO will be done
- Renewal of service like domains
- The Theme and Plugins
- Web Hosting
Importance of a Website Plan in a Business
Having a website plan is a good way to ensure all development projects start and end successfully. This is within the time frames and with the right amount of funding. All this is assuring the quality users will get from the site. Thus, creating a plan for a website is important. Many benefits come along.
In a business, a website plan ensures that before the development starts the website has the right projection. This will ensure the web application brings value. In case there are factors to consider you can determine them earlier during the planning. This will avoid making mistakes.
Conclusion
When you create a website plan you ensure the project starts and ends well. From the above it’s evident planning for a project is key. The above steps will help you plan better for any web-based project. This will ensure the site achieves the business goals and objectives. Here at Web Help Agency, we ensure you plan well to get the best WordPress products.
