How To Plan Your Website Structure Before You Build It

All too often, Solopreneurs tend to dive in without a game plan because we want to “get things done.” Unfortunately, this is a horrible way to get your website launched. You’ll end up with an “alright” website, something that you’re not excited to share, a website that would sit dormant and ignored, and a site that you get frustrated with.

Avoid Website Frustration

One way to avoid being frustrated is to understand how to plan your website structure, from the start, before you build it. You want to build a brand asset that can be a hard-working promoter for you. Have a platform where you can showcase your skills, knowledge, work, and so much more. You may think “I can’t afford a tool like that,” but guess what? You may already have one…

Your website could be that prime time, promoting hustler for you!

Consider What You Want vs. Need

Before you build or revamp the site, think about how you want it to support your business and how you want visitors to feel once they are there; the user experience (UX).

What is the ultimate goal that you want to achieve with it? What experiences do you want people to have as they visit? How do you intend to keep them on and for what purpose?

Encourage engagement

Engagement is a word you’ll hear as a Solopreneur, and it’s all about building trust between you and website visitors. They want to know what you do, who you are, and how you can help them – be it entertainment or life-saving solutions.

Be helpful & user-friendly

No website visitor wants to feel like they are at a dead-end or are spinning their wheels into a black hole of useless clicks.

With this in mind, focus on how to plan your website structure for what you want to display and how it should feel. Consider the UX and pay attention to how current visitors are reacting and adjust accordingly.

Track actions on the site

Track how they move on the site, where are they clicking, when they enter and leave, are they breaking out as soon as they roll up?

Track their movements, so you can respond effectively. You can also ask visitors if they found what they needed or what you could add to improve their experience.

How To Plan Your Website Structure Before You Build It

No matter if you use an app or manually write this all out, map out the steps you’ll be taking to get your new website ready. Be sure to include a timeline and a deadline. Built-in some padded time in case of delays or technical issues. If you’ll be transferring between hosting or domain companies, add an extra week for transfer time. You won’t be able to rush that in any way.

Now that you’ve done historical tracking, it’s time to make the updates. Plan out any new pages you may need or pages that need updating.

Decide if you need to redo the entire layout or simply move things around.

If you need to get images and videos created, make note of the content and timeframes for those. Are you hiring people or doing all this solo dolo?

Get Your Content Ready

Now that you’ve planned things out you’re all set to collect the content you require. Be it writing new pieces for the blog, rewriting that bio, getting those images, or simply creating promotional items for social media and your email list; get all your content and digital assets ready now.

Once you have them ready, be sure to save them, so you can easily find them and share them with your team. This allows you to minimize time finding files and verifying updated information. You should also have your Brand Assets at the ready, so you can stay consistent in your content creation protocols.

The Rundown

There’s no reason to continue wasting your creative and productive energy building websites that don’t fit your business needs. Stop spinning your wheels, and before you start building, how to plan your website structure for a more concise and cohesive site. Make sure you have a game plan of what your website should be capable of doing so you can build your brand the right way.

Remember that you want to be clear on how your website should be of service to your visitors, and you want to avoid frustrating them. Having a game plan will save you tons of building time and reduce the number of revisions you need to do before launching your website to the public. This helps you and your web developer get the job done right and quickly!