Planning a New Website? Sort These Things Out First

A new website project can turn into a long discussion about appearance. Someone shares a competitor’s homepage, another person wants animations, and the marketing team has a few ideas for the mobile layout.

They can wait a little.

Start by working out what isn’t working for the business today. The new website should address that problem.

A new design won’t automatically fix any of those problems. These are the things worth sorting out before development begins.

1. Work Out What’s Actually Wrong With the Existing Site

Start with the complaints people have been making.

A consulting firm might receive plenty of website traffic but very few inquiries. Its service descriptions may be unclear, or incoming leads could be landing in the wrong inbox. A redesigned homepage won’t fix those issues on its own.

Online stores could have different problems. Staff are changing stock levels manually, product pages leave out details buyers need, and comparing items on a phone is a frustrating experience.

Write down the issues before putting features into the project brief. Use that list to shape the project brief and evaluate each proposed feature against an actual business need.

2. Don’t Approve a Vague Project Brief

A brief that says “10-page responsive business website” leaves plenty of room for disagreement.

Does the site need a content management system? Who will update the pages? Are customer accounts involved? What happens to the old URLs? Will the website connect to a CRM or another internal system?

These details can change the amount of work involved.

Content migration is a good example. Copying text across 15 ordinary pages is one thing. Moving thousands of product listings with images, prices, variants, and existing URLs is another.

Get the scope clear before comparing proposals with a web development company. Otherwise, a feature you assumed was included may arrive as an additional cost later.

3. Choose What Makes It Into the First Release

It is easy for a first website release to become much bigger than the original project.

An online store may eventually need subscriptions and a mobile app, depending on the requirements of its e-commerce website development project. A service company might later want customer logins or an appointment dashboard.

This doesn’t mean every feature belongs in version one. 

Make sure visitors can find information and complete main tasks the site was built for. Businesses can then decide what deserves attention in the next release.

Only spend money on the ones the business has a reason to build now.

4. Check Which Systems the Website Must Connect To

The customer sees the finished page. Businesses still have to manage everything that happens behind the scenes.

Take a business that sells the same products online and from a physical store. Both needs accurate stock information. If the systems update at different times, a customer could order an item that’s already been sold.

Systems behind the sales channels should work together.

Identify the systems that send and receive data. 

Booking software and CRM connections need same attention. Decide what the website should do if a reservation fails, a payment remains pending, or a customer update doesn’t go through. 

5. Work Out What the Website Will Cost Over Time

A cheaper quote isn’t necessarily the better deal. 

One may include content migration and post-launch support. Another may cover only the initial build. The initial quote may leave out recurring expenses such as hosting software licenses.

Go through the proposal with the developer and clarify which tasks are covered.

That doesn’t mean the most expensive proposal is necessarily the better choice. A small business with straightforward needs could manage perfectly well with an established platform instead of funding a custom system.

The sensible comparison is between the work each proposal delivers and the costs the business will continue to carry after launch.

6. Keep the Mobile Experience in the Project Scope

Mobile design shouldn’t be a final adjustment once the desktop version has been approved; it should be considered from the beginning of the website design process.

A popup could cover the contact form on a phone. Checkout page might make it difficult to enter delivery details. 

Test the site on a phone yourself. When evaluating the mobile experience, follow Google’s mobile-first indexing guidance to understand why the mobile version of a website matters for search.

Start with mobile pages that matter most to the business. Investigate what is stopping people from submitting the form.

7. Keep Control of Your Website After Handover

A business should retain control of its essential accounts and assets.

That includes the domain, hosting account, source code, and administrative access. These shouldn’t depend entirely on one employee’s personal email address or the development partner’s account.

Maintenance needs a plan as well.

Who updates software? Who fixes a broken form? Let the agency say what its maintenance fee covers.

Launching the site is only one part of the job. Someone must remain responsible for updates.

8. Check the Website Before Launch Day

Put testing on the project schedule before launch day.

Submit each form and confirm that its message reaches the right customer. Click through main links and verify that analytics records the actions it should. 

Don’t rely on a few neat demo entries.

Content also needs a final review. Check prices, service descriptions, phone numbers, and contact details. Remove draft text.

A few things should be settled before work begins.

• What must the first release include?
• Which systems need to connect to the website?
• Who supplies content and approves changes?
• What will maintenance cost after launch?

The useful question isn’t simply whether the new website looks better. It should address the problems customers and employees face with the current one.

The design discussion will be much more useful once those decisions are clear.