Website planning checklist: from idea to launch
This checklist is for the decisions that need to happen before and during a website build. Use it as a quality check, not a reason to delay forever.
Purpose and audience
Define the website’s commercial or organisational goal, the priority audience, the problem they are trying to solve and the main action you want them to take. Record what success will look like after 30, 90 and 180 days.
Research and positioning
Review direct competitors and useful inspiration. Note the conventions customers expect, the claims everyone repeats, gaps you can own and the evidence needed to make your promise believable. Do not copy a competitor’s sitemap without understanding its job.
Structure and journeys
Choose essential pages, group them into simple navigation and map the routes for your most important visitors. Include useful error, thank-you, confirmation and policy pages—not just the glamorous ones.
Content, SEO and accessibility
Assign a search intent and one clear topic to each indexable page. Draft headings, calls to action, metadata, image needs and internal links. Plan readable contrast, keyboard access, form labels, alt text and plain language from the start.
Functionality and launch
Document forms, payments, bookings, integrations, permissions and notifications. Test on mobile and desktop, check every key journey, connect analytics and search tools, confirm privacy and cookie handling, then schedule post-launch checks.
Quick check
- Goal agreed
- Audience and offer clear
- Competitors reviewed
- Sitemap approved
- Page briefs written
- Content owners assigned
- SEO mapped by page
- Accessibility considered
- Forms and integrations specified
- Analytics events defined
- Mobile and desktop tested
- Post-launch review booked
Turn the advice into your finished website plan.
The £14.99 Website Planning Kit gives you a printable planner, editable workbook, visual planning board, completed example and your own planning SuperAgent.
See the Website Planning Kit