Developing a website requires the involvement of many specialists, including programmers, designers, marketers, copywriters, SEO experts, legal professionals, and others. Each works at their own pace and uses their own tools, yet they are all aiming for the same release.
Web development projects are also unique in that the result is visible to everyone. Consequently, everyone, from interns to CEOs, has an opinion on the matter.
The scope of work almost always expands as a project progresses. New ideas often emerge when a team sees a working prototype for the first time.
That is precisely why work on websites so often stalls for months at the stage where, it would seem, “there’s hardly anything left to do.”
Planning doesn’t eliminate these challenges, but it makes them visible early on — while changes are still just a matter of discussion rather than a need to redo half the project.
How can you define specific planning steps and follow them to achieve success?
Below is a sequence that works equally well for a brief landing page and a large corporate portal.
8 sequential steps to effectively plan website projects
The steps listed here are best performed in the order shown, as each one builds on decisions made at the previous stage.
Step 1. Choose an appropriate online planning tool
Even in the era abounding with innovative tools, many managers still rely on email and instant messaging systems for planning.
If this sounds familiar, it’s definitely time to choose an online program where a project schedule is visible to all team members in one place and in real-time.
Gantt chart-based platforms, for instance, map tasks on a timeline, identify dependencies, assign resources, and provide a visualization of team workloads.
You can try GanttPRO — the easiest Gantt chart maker online — which provides these features and more. The software also includes collaborative access for clients or managers, comments at the task level, and basic time tracking.
Step 2. Make a schedule
When you have a reliable planning service, it’s possible to build a timeline on a Gantt chart. It takes into account not only tasks and due dates, but also dependencies, milestones, and the critical path.
Once you’ve set up all links and priorities, a diagram will automatically show the sequence of tasks that sets the launch date: the critical path. Remember that delays in this pathway will delay the release date.
Milestones also help to communicate with management, as they don’t need to know the technical details.
Be realistic with your schedule. It needs to account for weekends, holidays, vacations, and any days a client is physically unable to provide approvals.
Step 3. Assemble a team and assign responsibilities
It’s crucial at the start of any project to determine exactly who will perform the work and who will be responsible for each stage of it.
It’s also vital to establish who will approve the deliverables at each stage. Otherwise, the approval process can turn into a loop involving four people, each waiting on the others.
Take team members’ availability into account and agree on a workflow rhythm. Identify the roles within the chosen online tool. This will help everyone to understand their role and responsibilities in a project.
Step 4. Plan the structure of your website before designing
Ideally, the site structure should be mapped out as a list of pages: Home, About us, Services, Case studies, Documents, Contact, and so on.
Check how many clicks it will take for a user to reach a specific page and what they will see along the way.
Create rough prototypes of key pages. Remember that making changes at this stage costs very little, whereas altering a finished design mockup can take days.
Get the structure approved in writing, as it defines the scope of all subsequent work.
Step 5. Break your processes into manageable stages
It’s important to break a project down into phases. These are usually research, market analysis, planning, design, coding, content population, testing, and launch.
Break each stage down into tasks that can be completed in a few hours to a couple of days, no more.
Evaluate the probable outcomes of each activity. It can be, for example, a mockup in an agreed-upon format or a coded page verified across different browsers.
Estimate durations in collaboration with the people doing the work, rather than doing it for them.
Step 6. Research your target audience and competitors
Researching your potential users and competitors may take a couple of days, but it will significantly influence every decision made before launch.
Before planning a site structure, analyze who will visit your pages and what their intentions will be.
Make up some scenarios. For example, a job seeker looking for a job, or a manager checking current prices. Write down what the person wants to know and what they need to do next for each situation.
Learn about your competition. You may be able to look at their sites to see which pages are driving the most traffic and where users are falling off.
Step 7. Estimate of budget and team workload
Once you have built and approved a schedule, you need to work out the budget. Luckily, many PM tools online do this automatically, considering the hours spent by each specialist and external expenses.
You’ve got to think about the ongoing costs once the site is live. You will have to pay for it monthly to keep it running. Best to figure this out in the planning stage.
Pay special attention to team workload. Planning tools can also provide a clear visual indication of when team members are overloaded.
Make a buffer. This is typically 10-15% of the budget and schedule depending on how clear the requirements are.
Step 8. Define risks and develop change management rules
Things don’t always go according to a plan. So, it’s essential to think about possible risks and plan appropriate responses and action plans at the beginning of a project.
List the most probable threats. They can include a key developer falling ill, forgetting passwords, or problems with linking to a CRM.
Clearly define the change management process. Determine who can propose a new task, who will assess its impact on a timeline and budget, and who will make the final decision.
Decide in advance who will be responsible for the site during the first two weeks after launch. From that point on, your plan ceases to be merely a document and becomes a working tool for the team.
The steps outlined above may seem complex at first glance. However, most of them involve decisions that have to be made regardless. The only difference is whether you make them upfront over the course of a few days or midway through a project over several weeks.
Plan your website projects from initial idea to launch without unnecessary hassle
A project plan rarely unfolds with 100% accuracy. Yet, its true value lies not in predicting the future, but in organizing workflows and enabling you to quickly spot any deviations.
The suggested steps need to be gradual, and no detail should be missed.
A website doesn’t end on launch day. The goal of your plan is to get a working live version, not to achieve perfection. This version will work and give you results so you can make future improvements based on real data, not assumptions.
If your team knows this from the start, the process of planning the website will run smoothly, and the website will be running flawlessly right from the start.