Before launching a website, you need to create a website strategy that considers your client's goals, target audiences, and potential roadblocks to the site performance. This proactive approach helps you set your client up for success by building a website that meets all their needs. 

Learn how to create a solid strategy and ensure every aspect of your client's site works to achieve their business goals.

What’s a website strategy?

A website strategy is a business plan centered around your client's site. It helps create, organize, and manage site content. 

For example, you can plan how to present your client's product or service, optimize user experiences and customer service, and implement marketing initiatives to drive traffic. By setting clear objectives and aligning them with your client's overarching goals, you can attract target audiences and increase conversions.

How different website types impact your strategy

There are several types of websites, each with a specific purpose — and understanding their nuances and functions helps you create an effective strategy. Here’s how strategizing differs for each kind of site.

Business websites

A business website is your client's primary online presence, showcasing their products and brand identity. A strong strategy for a business site involves clear messaging and search engine optimization (SEO).

For example, you can highlight project case studies and customer testimonials to build credibility and generate leads. Performing keyword research also improves brand messaging within these sections.

Ecommerce websites

Ecommerce websites are platforms for selling products or services online. An ecommerce-focused website strategy revolves around optimizing the shopping experience, from legible product listings and intuitive navigation to secure checkouts.

An online apparel store, for instance, would benefit from high-resolution images, detailed product descriptions, and faceted navigation to increase customer satisfaction and sales.

Portfolio websites

Creative professionals like designers, writers, and photographers use portfolio websites to showcase their work. A website strategy for these sites should include creating appealing layouts, categorizing projects, and providing contact information so potential clients can reach out.

Media websites

Media websites share informative content like news articles and videos. In planning a media website’s content strategy, you’d consider factors like audience engagement and monetization methods.

A news outlet’s strategy might prioritize timely updates, compelling headlines, and social media integration to inform readers of the latest happenings. To monetize their site, they could sell a subscription service for exclusive additional content.

Nonprofit websites

Nonprofit websites raise awareness and support for various causes. An effective strategy includes an emotion-evoking story, clear calls to action (CTAs), and transparent financial information for initiatives like sponsorships and donation drives.

For example, a nonprofit focusing on environmental conservation can use their platform to share success stories, announce volunteer opportunities, and offer public donation gateways.

Educational websites

Educational websites provide courses and resources for learners. Strategies for these sites involve organizing content logically, leveraging gamification features, and designing for accessibility.

An online academy could have interactive quizzes and weekly challenges to improve the learning experience and encourage friendly competition among the community.

Infopreneur websites

Infopreneurs are organizations that sell informational products such as ebooks, courses, and webinars. Their website strategies center around creating valuable content and optimizing the sales funnel.

An infopreneur offering digital marketing courses can use their website to provide free resources and capture leads as they build their customer base. Simultaneously, they can upsell by promoting their premium content to increase revenue.

How to create a website strategy: 8 best practices

Here are eight best practices to implement as you build a website strategy and set your client up to succeed.

1. Determine the website’s main goals

The first step is identifying and prioritizing your client’s goals for the site. Whether they’re looking to increase brand awareness through SEO or drive sales through compelling CTAs, clear objectives guide every site development decision.

Create a roadmap by setting SMART goals to ensure clarity. For example, "increase newsletter signups" is ambiguous without clear steps. A SMART goal provides attainable tasks, such as "increase newsletter signups by 20% within the next three months through a new marketing campaign."

2. Identify target audiences

Target audience preferences guide most design and content-related decisions. Knowing who you're targeting helps you tailor the website to meet their expectations, solve their problems, and provide value.

Create detailed buyer personas to represent various psychographics within the target audience. For example, millennials might prefer mobile-friendly, responsive layouts with modern features like animations and interactive buttons. 

Use analytics tools and heatmaps to visualize user behavior on your site and identify patterns. This data can inform design changes, such as placing specific elements in areas that different demographics interact with most, ensuring a user-centric design that maximizes engagement and conversions.

3. Create and maintain your client’s brand image

Consistent branding across your website reinforces your client's online identity, building trust and recognition among their customers. This brand image should weave into all aspects of the website's design and content, whether you’re showcasing products, services, or projects.

Define the brand's logo, color scheme, voice, typography, and iconography, and apply these elements across all pages for a uniform aesthetic. Regularly update your client's branding guidelines to reflect changes.

4. Tell the brand’s story

A winning website tells a story that reflects the company's vision statement, brand identity, and unique value propositions. This narrative should resonate with your client's audience to build trust and encourage engagement with the organization.

To make the story more credible and leverage social proof, you can add a human touch to your storytelling by featuring customer testimonials and case studies. Refer to your client's style guide when making web design and messaging decisions. 

5. Build a content inventory

Creating a content inventory helps you understand your client's existing assets — like blog articles, images, and videos — that will be added to the website. This process gives you a view of the content landscape, so you'll know what you have and what you need. By understanding your client's content, you're setting yourself up for a more strategic, efficient website launch and content distribution strategy.

Use a content management system to manage, update, and publish content efficiently. Tag and categorize each piece so it's readily available to find and update. Regularly refresh the content bank by adding new resources or removing those that are no longer relevant.

6. Leverage personalization

When you build your website strategy, factor in ways to personalize your site visitor's browsing journey to increase conversions and engagement. Tools like Webflow help you customize the web experience based on your visitor's preferences. 

For example, you could offer personalized content that guide potential customers to the most relevant features or products. Analyzing visitor data and creating segments within your client's target audience also lets you personalize the user experience.

7. Optimize site performance

In website strategizing, site performance optimization involves developing fast-loading pages, mobile-first designs, and accessibility for all visitors. This optimization ensures that all aspects of the website work, from SEO practices to customer-facing functionalities.

• Improve loading speeds by compressing images, minimizing HTTP requests, and browser caching. 
• Create a mobile-first responsive design that ensures the site performs well on all devices, regardless of operating system or screen size. 
• To enhance website accessibility, refer to WCAG guidelines and checklists.

8. Analyze and adjust

Regularly reviewing and adjusting your client's website will help you understand what's working and what’s not. Making changes based on performance data ensures your client's site remains relevant and valuable.

Use tools like Google Analytics to monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) like traffic, bounce rates, and conversion rates. If the site needs updating, A/B testing allows you to experiment with different elements to see what works best.

Strategize and succeed with Webflow

A website strategy covers everything from ideation to execution. By implementing these best practices, you’ll ensure your client's website attracts visitors, creates positive impressions, and encourages repeat business for long-term success.

With Webflow, you can build and maintain professional, high-performance designs that align with your client's website strategy. From localization tools to SEO, Webflow offers all the solutions you need to create effective sites without relying on developers.

Execute your website strategies today with Webflow.