How to plan a corporate website project

The way to plan a corporate website well is to put goals, scope, sitemap and content ownership in writing before any design starts. Once those four decisions are clear, design, development and launch become predictable; when they are not, delays and budget overruns are almost inevitable.

1. Goals and scope: start with "why"

A website exists for a purpose: generating enquiries, finding distributors, supporting recruitment, or reassuring investors and trade-fair visitors. These goals decide what the site should measure and which pages matter most.

A scope document should cover at least:

• Primary and secondary audiences
• The main actions you want visitors to take (quote request, call, brochure download)
• Launch languages
• Required integrations: CRM, email, maps, analytics, cookie consent
• Who will manage content, and what must be editable in the admin panel
• What is explicitly out of scope

The last point is often skipped, yet most later disputes begin with "we assumed that was included".

2. Sitemap and page templates

The sitemap is the skeleton of the site. Services, case studies, about, contact, legal pages and any insights section are arranged hierarchically at this stage. Giving each service its own page helps visitors find what they need and helps search engines understand your areas of expertise.

For planning, the number of templates matters more than the number of pages. Twenty service pages built on one template are effectively one design and development task, while the homepage, project detail, contact and careers pages each need their own.

3. Content: the part that usually runs late

A consistent lesson from practice: the thing that most often delays a corporate website is not code but content. Decide early who writes the copy, which images will be used, whether project photography exists and who approves translations.

A simple method is a content sheet for every page in the sitemap: purpose, main heading, required text blocks, images, owner and due date. Designing with real content also prevents layouts that look fine with placeholder text and break at launch.

4. Project phases

Whatever the scale, a healthy corporate website project usually follows this sequence:

1. Discovery and scope: goals, audience, competitor and current-site review.
2. Information architecture: sitemap, templates, URL structure.
3. Design: key templates first, then remaining pages; mobile designed from the start.
4. Development: admin panel, content model, forms and integrations.
5. Content entry: copy, images, translations and SEO fields.
6. Testing: browsers and devices, forms, speed, accessibility, redirects.
7. Launch and monitoring: redirects from old URLs, analytics, Search Console checks.

When replacing an existing site, planning permanent (301) redirects from old to new URLs is the most critical technical step; without it, accumulated search visibility can be lost.

5. What drives cost and duration

A website budget and timeline are shaped by variables, not a single figure:

• Number of distinct page templates and the level of design originality
• Scope of the admin panel and which fields are editable
• Number of languages and who handles translation
• Integrations: CRM, ERP, booking, payments or third-party services
• Content readiness, and whether copywriting, photography or video is needed
• Migration of content and URLs from an existing site
• Speed of client approvals and the number of decision-makers

Accessibility and performance are not add-ons: planned from the start they are inexpensive, fixed afterwards they are costly.

How Grafikare approaches it

We start corporate website projects by working through scope and sitemap together with the client, and we settle content ownership before design begins. On projects where brand and website are handled together, such as Marrony.com, we follow the same order: strategy and structure first, then design and development, then testing and a controlled launch.