Before You Start: A Simple Checklist for Building Your Website
Thinking about building a website but not sure where to start? It can feel overwhelming without a clear plan. That’s why I’ve put together this simple checklist to help you get started with confidence and set your website up for success.
Download your own printable checklist at the end of the article.
Define Your Direction
The first step to building a great website is knowing its purpose. Ask yourself: Why am I creating this site? Is it to share information, offer services, or sell products? Having clear goals will help guide the design and content.
Knowing your target audience is key to building a website that works. When you understand their age, needs, and habits, you can create content that speaks to them. Ask yourself: What do I want visitors to do—fill out a form, book an appointment, make a purchase, or sign up?
Knowing exactly what you want your site to convey will help with the functionality, content and structure of the website ultimately hitting your goals.
Buy Domain and Hosting
Purchase your Domain and Hosting. A professional site should have a web address that’s easy to remember and reflects your brand. Web hosting is where your site lives online. Choose a reliable hosting provider that fits your needs, offers security, speed and good customer service support.
Collect Branding
Branding isn’t just a logo or colors—it’s the personality and story of your business.
It helps make your site memorable, builds trust with visitors, and guides design decisions so everything from your website to your business cards to your social media feels connected. Gather items such as logos, photos, brand colors and fonts really helps streamline the building process of the website. Having these handy means less time searching or researching when you’re in design mode. For more info on branding read my article on 5 Simple Steps to Build a Strong Brand Identity for Your Small Business
Create a Sitemap
A sitemap is a map of your website. It shows all the pages and how they’re linked together. It helps you stay organized when building the site. Think about your navigation menu, a clear simple navigation helps users find what they need quickly. It’s frustrating when you can’t find simple contact information on a professional website.
Sitemaps also make it easier for visitors to navigate your site and for search engines to find and index your pages. This improves user experience and helps boost your SEO.
Gather Design Inspiration
Getting design inspiration before building your website is super helpful. It gives you a sense of what styles you like, what’s trending, and what actually works. Looking at other websites can spark ideas, help you figure out the vibe you want, and make it easier to explain your vision if you're working with a designer. It also helps make sure your site looks good, feels on-brand, and gives users a smooth experience from the start. To learn more about design mistakes to avoid when building a website click here.
Set Up SEO and Analytics
It’s a good idea to set up SEO and analytics early on. Start by finding the right keywords and making sure your content, titles, and URLs are clear and optimized. Make sure the site loads quickly and works well on mobile.
For tracking, add Google Analytics to see how people use your site. Connect to Google Search Console to monitor how it shows up in search results. This helps you get found online and understand what’s working.
Think About Privacy Policy
Having a Privacy Policy and Terms of Use on your website helps protect your business and lets visitors know how their data is used. It also sets the rules for using your site.
It’s also key to make your website accessible by using alt text for images, and readable font sizes so everyone can navigate easily. If your site uses cookies, be sure to include a cookie consent notice to comply with privacy laws and keep users informed.
Timeline and Budget
When building a website, it’s important to set clear project milestones like design, development, review, and launch. This helps keep everything on track and makes it easier to manage each step without rushing.
It’s also smart to figure out your budget from the start—think about the cost for design, development, tools, and keeping the site updated. This helps avoid any surprises and makes sure your site runs smoothly once it’s live.
Getting all these essentials ready before you dive into building your website makes the whole process much smoother. It helps you stay organized and work better with your designer or developer. Plus, having a clear plan from the start means your website will turn out just the way you want—on time and on budget. So take the time to gather everything on this checklist, and you’ll set yourself up for success!
Want a great website?
Let us take the guesswork out of building a custom website for you.
