Start with the job, not the menu
Avoid starting by copying another site's menu: Home, About, Services, Blog, Contact. Those labels may end up on your site, but they are the result of planning, not the start of it.
Start with one sentence about what the site must do for the business. For example:
- "Get enquiries from homeowners within 20 miles for kitchen fitting."
- "Let regular clients book and move their own appointments."
- "Sell our prints to people who met us at a market."
That sentence is the test for every page. A page earns a place if it helps the site do that job.
List the questions customers ask
Next, write down the questions people ask before they buy. Use real ones: things you hear on the phone, in emails or face to face. If you are new to business, ask five people who might buy from you what they would want to know.
Group the questions. Questions about what you sell belong together; so do questions about price, about where and when, and about trust. Each group is a candidate page, or a section of one.
| Question group | Likely page |
|---|---|
| What do you do, and is it what I need? | Services or products |
| How much does it cost? | Prices, or how pricing works |
| Where are you, and when can I come or book? | Contact, Find us or Book |
| Who are you, and can I trust you? | About |
| What happens after I get in touch? | How it works, or a section on the contact page |
| Detailed questions that do not fit elsewhere | Questions and answers |
Give each page one purpose
Write one line for each page saying what it is for and what a visitor should be able to do after reading it. "Services: explain the three services, who each suits, and how to ask about one." If you cannot write that line, the page probably does not need to exist yet.
Google's SEO Starter Guide describes a good page title as unique to the page, clear and concise, and an accurate description of what is on it. Writing a one line purpose for each page makes that title easy to write, and it keeps pages from overlapping.
Pages UK rules expect
Some pages come from rules rather than customer questions:
- A privacy notice. If the site collects personal data, for example through a contact form, people must be told what is collected and why. The ICO's guidance on the right to be informed explains what to include.
- Company details. A limited company must show its registered name on its website, and its registered number, the part of the UK where it is registered and its registered office address, under the 2015 trading disclosure regulations. They can sit in the footer or on the about page.
- Cookie information. Needed if the site uses cookies or similar technologies.
- Terms of sale. Needed if you sell online.
The legal pages guide covers each one.
Decide what to park
A parked page is one you might want later but cannot fill well now. A blog is one example: a blog with two posts from three years ago tells visitors the business is not paying attention. Park it until you know who will write and how often.
Other candidates for the later list: a gallery without photos you own, a team page for a business of one, or a page per town when you have nothing different to say about each town.
Write the structure down
Once you have the list, sketch how pages connect. A small site may need only one level: every page linked from the main menu. A larger one may group services under a services page. Keep the main menu to the pages people look for first; put policies and smaller pages in the footer.
Write the list into the planner. It becomes the core of your brief and the list a builder prices.
A worked example
Here is the method applied to an invented business: a one-person mobile dog grooming service covering a few villages.
Goal: "Get booking requests from dog owners in our villages, and stop answering the same three questions by text."
Questions owners ask: Do you come to my village? What does a groom cost for my breed? How long does it take? Do you need water or power from me? Can I see your van?
| Page | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Home | What the service is, the villages covered, and a button to request a booking |
| Prices | Prices by size of dog, and what changes the price |
| How a visit works | Length of a groom, what the van needs, what owners do before and after |
| About | Who does the grooming, qualifications and insurance |
| Request a booking | A short form: dog's size and breed, village, preferred days |
| Privacy notice | What the form collects and why |
Parked: a gallery, until there are photos of dogs whose owners have agreed; a blog, until there is time to write one.
Every page on that list answers a question the owner hears. Nothing is there because other grooming sites have it.
Check the list against the job
Read the page list next to your one sentence goal. Does each page help? Is anything missing that a customer would need before contacting you? Is anything there only because other sites have it? Adjust, then move on to content.
Sources checked for this page