What planning a website actually includes
Planning is a set of decisions made before mockups and code exist. Visual design answers how the site looks; planning answers what you show, in what order and for what purpose. Without that layer, the designer follows personal taste, the developer guesses the logic, and the owner approves the work on gut feeling.
The output of this stage is not a pretty picture. It is a set of materials that everyone on the project can work from:
- site goals and measurable success indicators
- a customer profile and the paths people take
- a page map with the structure of each page
- a clickable prototype without styling
- a technical brief listing features and integrations
Start with the goal and the numbers
The first question is what the site must deliver. For a shop it is orders, for a clinic it is appointments, for a construction firm it is calls and quote requests, and for a manufacturer it is inquiries from wholesale buyers. That answer shapes page length, button placement, forms and whether you need a catalog or a calculator.
Agree on how you will measure success before work begins: cost per lead, the share of visitors who reach the form, the number of inquiries from a particular channel. A goal like “we want a modern website” cannot be checked, so a disagreement with the contractor at the end is almost guaranteed.
Know your audience and how they arrive
It matters where a person comes from and what state of mind they are in. Some arrive from Google with a specific query, others click an Instagram ad without having decided anything, and others come from a Telegram channel, OLX or Uzum while already comparing you with competitors. Each path needs a first screen that answers a different question.
Write down language and habits separately. Part of your audience reads Russian and part reads Uzbek, and this is not about translating one button: headlines, service names and search phrasing differ between the two. Many customers in the regions browse on a phone with an uneven connection, so light pages are a project requirement, not a nice extra.
Structure, prototype and copy
Build the structure around customer tasks, not around how your company is organized. Sections like “About us” rarely settle a purchase, while prices, examples of work, delivery and payment terms often do. List the questions a person asks before getting in touch and place the answers where they will look for them.
Next comes a prototype: schematic screens with blocks and buttons, no color and no photos. It makes an extra step, confusing navigation or a hidden request form easy to spot. Changing a prototype takes hours; changing finished layouts takes days. Write the copy in parallel, otherwise placeholder text goes into the design and the real headline will not fit later.
Technical choices to make early
Some decisions are expensive to change later, so they are fixed during planning:
- Uzbek and Russian versions and the URL structure for both
- the phone as the primary screen
- payment via Click, Payme or whatever your audience prefers
- routing leads to a CRM, a Telegram bot or a manager’s chat
- an admin panel where your team can edit prices and text
- a basic SEO structure: headings, page addresses, metadata
Analytics and the usual mistakes
Counters and goals are set up together with the project: form submissions, clicks on phone numbers and messengers, sources of inquiries. Without them you cannot tell whether the site pays back or the budget is simply spent. Connecting analytics “later” means losing the first weeks of data.
The same mistakes break projects again and again: starting with visuals before defining the goal, copying a competitor’s site along with its problems, trying to fit everything on the home page, not naming a decision maker on the client side, and forgetting about support after launch.
How to approach it in practice
Begin with a short brief: goal, product, audience, acquisition channels, and examples of sites you like and dislike. Then ask a contractor how they document decisions and report results. A good sign is a conversation about metrics, not only deadlines and mockups.
If you want to talk through website design for your niche, the markdev team can go over the task with you and suggest a structure before development starts.
FAQ
How is planning different from web design?
Planning defines goals, structure and page logic, while design handles the visual side. Planning comes first; otherwise a good-looking design has to be reworked to fit real business tasks.
Can a small site skip the planning stage?
A simple business-card site can use a lighter version: a goal, a list of pages and one diagram. Skipping it entirely is risky, because even a small site without a clear task rarely brings inquiries.
Who should take part in planning?
On the business side, an owner or sales lead who knows the customers and their objections. On the contractor side, an analyst or project manager, a designer and a developer.
What does the client receive at the end of this stage?
A description of goals and audience, a page map, a prototype, a list of features and integrations, and an analytics plan. These materials also make it easier to compare offers from different contractors.
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