Website strategy: what to decide before designing anything

A new website often begins with a collection of references. Someone likes a particular navigation, another wants more interactivity, and someone else has seen a competitor doing something impressive. What isn't always clear is what the website needs to accomplish.

Design matters. But it becomes considerably more effective when the decisions behind it have been considered. Website strategy connects business objectives, audience needs, content, technology and the experience people should have when interacting with a business.

These are the decisions worth making before opening the design file.

Establish what the website needs to achieve

A website often starts with a collection of references. Someone likes an engaging section, another wants more animation, management wants it to feel premium. Before long, everyone agrees on what they like and very little about what the website needs to do.

Start with the business objectives. Is the site primarily meant to generate enquiries, support customers, explain services or sell products? Define what success looks like and prioritise the outcomes.

Deliverable: agreed objectives and measurable success criteria.

Understand the people using it

Customers, investors and partners are categories, not explanations of behaviour. One visitor may be comparing options, another needs a document, another is ready to get in touch.

Review sales enquiries, support questions, existing analytics and customer conversations. Good research should challenge what we assume about an audience, not simply confirm what we already believe.

Deliverable: priority audience needs and user journeys.

Decide what needs to be said

Content often arrives after the design. Then the elegant three-column layout meets three paragraphs of very different lengths and a headline nobody has approved.

Establish the messages and supporting evidence early. Your brand positioning should inform the website, not be invented halfway through the homepage. Audit existing content and identify what's missing and who owns it.

Deliverable: content inventory, messages and page requirements.

Build a structure people understand

Visitors shouldn't need to understand your internal departments to find what they came for.

Organise content around needs and relationships. Nielsen Norman Group's guidance on information architecture is a useful reference for planning structure and navigation.

Deliverable: sitemap, navigation and key user flows.

Define functionality before choosing technology

A designer prefers Webflow. A developer recommends WordPress. Someone else likes a different platform. These are preferences, not requirements.

Start with what the site needs to do: content publishing, languages, integrations, forms, bookings, customer accounts or structured project information. Then decide how it will be maintained. If using a CMS, define content types and relationships before developing templates.

Deliverable: functional requirements, CMS model and platform criteria.

Plan for search and accessibility

The Google SEO Starter Guide explains how to make content useful and easier to find, while the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines establish standards for making digital experiences accessible to more people.

Search intent, structure, readable copy, contrast and keyboard navigation belong in the requirements, not a list of corrections before launch.

Deliverable: SEO, accessibility and technical requirements.

Know who owns the website after launch

Someone will need to update a service, change a form or repair an integration. Who has access? Who approves changes? Who knows how the system works?

A good launch means little if the business can't operate the result. Confirm ownership of domains, hosting, analytics, CMS access and integrations, plus documentation and training.

Deliverable: an ownership, maintenance and handover plan.

Set priorities and write the brief

Every stakeholder has another feature worth including. Together, they can turn a focused project into an expensive one with no obvious end.

Separate essential features from useful additions and future possibilities. Bring objectives, audiences, content, structure, technical needs, ownership, timing and success measures into a shared brief.‍

Deliverable: an agreed brief and realistic first-release scope.

Before the first design review

Not every decision needs to be final before design begins. Some will evolve through research and testing. What matters is understanding what needs to be decided, who is responsible and what information supports the decision.

Before collecting another twenty website references, establish what the business needs, what its audiences expect and what the organisation can realistically maintain. Then give design a proper job to do.