Planning a Website: The Step-by-Step Roadmap for SMEs

A new website rarely fails on the technology. It fails because no one thought beforehand about what it is actually for. Suddenly the texts are missing, the images are blurry, and the project drags on for months. Yet exactly that can be avoided if you plan your website before the first line of code is written. Here is the roadmap I work with myself, in the order in which the steps build on one another.

Step 1: Define the goal first

Before it comes to colours or fonts, one simple question stands in the room: what should the website do for your business? "Just to be there" is not an answer. A good answer is concrete.

• Win enquiries: visitors should call you or fill out a form.
• Create trust: customers who are referred to you check you online before they get in touch.
• Be found: anyone searching in the region for your service should land with you.

Write down one or two sentences about how, a year from now, you will recognise that the site was worthwhile. This goal is the yardstick for every later decision.

Step 2: Understand your visitors

A website isn't there for you, but for the people who land on it. Consider who that is and with which question in mind someone arrives. Is the person looking for a price? Do they want to see whether you've solved their problem before? Do they quickly need your phone number?

If you know the two or three most common questions of your customers, you've already planned half the site. Because those are exactly the questions the website has to answer, calmly, clearly and without anyone having to search for long.

Step 3: Define structure and pages

Now the goal becomes a framework. List the pages you really need, not the ones others have. For many SMEs surprisingly little is enough:

• Home page: who you are and what you offer, clear in the first few seconds.
• Services: what you concretely do, in the language of your customers.
• About us: the face and the story behind the company.
• Contact: easy to reach, without hurdles.

Sometimes a single, well-built page is enough (a onepager from CHF 890), sometimes several subpages make sense (from CHF 1,900). The structure is decided by the goal, not by gut feeling. If you're unsure whether a website builder or a coded site suits you, you'll find more articles on this in our blog.

Step 4: Gather content, the underestimated step

This is where most projects lose time. Texts, images, logo, references, all of that has to exist at some point, and it doesn't appear by itself. My advice: start early, in parallel with the design.

You don't have to write perfect advertising copy. Note down honestly what you do and why customers come to you, the polishing is my part. For images the rule is: real photos from your business have a stronger effect than any stock photo. Anyone who takes this step seriously spares themselves weeks of waiting later.

Step 5: Design and build

Only now do design and technology come into play, with a clear foundation behind you. A good design isn't the one with the most effects, but the one that guides your visitors effortlessly to their goal. Fast loading times, a presentation that works just as well on mobile as on the computer, and a clearly visible route to making contact count for more than any gimmick.

In this phase you see for the first time how everything comes together. Give honest feedback, better one more round now than after the launch.

Step 6: Check, test, go live

Before the launch, a calm final check is worthwhile. Go through the site as if you were a new customer:

• Do all the links and the contact form work?
• Does everything look clean on mobile?
• Are the legal notice and privacy policy present?
• Are the texts, phone number and opening hours correct?

After that the site goes online, and the work isn't quite over. A website is a living tool: a new project, a changed service, a fresh reference belong to it over time. That is precisely why it pays to plan cleanly from the start.

How long does all this take?

A simple onepager can be ready in two to three weeks, a multi-page website needs rather four to eight. The biggest lever almost always lies with the content: if texts and images are ready, it moves along briskly. If they are missing, even the best concept waits.

Planning a website doesn't have to be complicated, it just needs someone who asks the right questions in the right order. That is exactly what I'm happy to do for you. Tell me briefly about your project via the contact form, and we'll go through the roadmap together, honest, without technical jargon and at your pace.