How to plan a website that converts

Good websites start with clear goals. Before a single colour or font is chosen, the best projects agree on what the site is for and who it is for. This article walks through the simple process we reuse on every project, from the first call to the day the site goes live.

Start with the outcome

Decide what a visitor should do before you design anything else. A booking, a quote request, a newsletter sign-up: pick one main action per page and let everything else support it. When two actions compete for attention, visitors often choose neither.

Write that action down in plain words and keep it visible during the whole project. It settles more design debates than any style guide.

Questions worth asking first

• Who arrives on this page, and from where?
• What do they need to know before they act?
• What would make them leave without acting?

Map the journey, not the pages

A sitemap lists pages; a journey shows how people move between them. Sketch the three or four paths most visitors will take and make sure each one ends at the main action in as few steps as possible.

Every page should answer one question: what does the visitor need to do next?

Maya Collins

Keep the steps short

Each extra click loses people. Combine pages that always come together, put the contact details where the questions arise and remove anything a visitor would have to read twice.

Write before you design

Real words change layouts. A headline that needs eight words will not fit a design drawn for three, and a price list with notes needs more room than a placeholder suggests. Draft the copy for the key pages first, then design around it.

1. Write the headline and the one-line promise for each page.
2. List the proof: numbers, quotes, examples.
3. Add the main action and what happens after it.

Measure what matters

Once the site is live, track the main action and little else at first. If people reach the page but do not act, look at the copy and the offer; if they never reach it, look at the journey. Small, regular changes beat a redesign every two years.