Winning websites involve strategic planning from day one. They require scalable systems that are designed to grow with your business. And they need continual monitoring and optimization to maintain performance. These activities aren’t limited to a splashy launch, but need to happen before, during, and long after you hit “publish.” 

We got firsthand intel on what this kind of work actually looks like from Josh Jacobs, Staff Designer at leading AI platform Jasper, and Wilian Iralzabal, founder of Webflow Enterprise Agency of the Year Zabal Media. As an in-house web designer and agency founder, respectively, they bring distinct perspectives to building successful websites. But they agree on this: a winning website is one that delivers measurable results over time.

Read on for seven of their top tips, or watch their full Webflow presentation for every insight.

Tip 1: Avoid developing before you design

While it may seem obvious, Iralzabal believes it’s worth spelling out: “Development before design is something we should avoid like the plague.”

Just as you wouldn’t shoot a movie without a script, the same principle applies to your website. Starting development before completing strategy, content, and design is a recipe for wasted time and resources.

Tip 2: Get everyone aligned on project objectives

From day one, Jacobs advises, winning website teams get everyone aligned on the project’s goals and objectives. His team at Jasper uses the SMART framework to set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound goals. But that’s just the first step.

“Once you’ve locked in your goals, I like to literally copy and paste them into every document,” Jacobs says. “Every project requirement, every Figma file, my Webflow project — to help everyone stay on track and focused on that specific goal.”

Tip 3: Plan to measure before you design

According to Jacobs, it’s crucial to lay the foundation for how you’ll measure website success before you start to design. He provides three specific action items to help website teams “plan to measure”:

1. Identify your analytics platforms, so you can immediately start gathering and surfacing insights upon launch.
2. Assign clear ownership for setup and maintenance — if you don’t, inevitably, it will fall through the cracks.
3. Define which dashboards and metrics you'll need, so you can map key datapoints (like conversions or clicks) to the relevant tools.

“Understanding the trends from those first minutes, hours, and days that your website is live is how you succeed through and past launch,” Jacobs says.

Tip 4: Create journeys first, not pages

Websites that win for the long-term don’t just launch successfully, but continually draw visitors back with positive user experiences and relevant content — which requires scalable systems. Iralzabal’s number one tip for scalability: start by creating user journeys, not website pages. 

"You need to start defining the user journeys before you actually start to move pixels on the screen," Iralzabal says. “It’s like having the blueprint to a home before you do the interior design.”

With critical user journeys mapping out how visitors will navigate across the site — from the homepage to content to conversion — you can then build a logical sitemap. This approach ensures you're building a cohesive experience rather than just a collection of pages.

Tip 5: Use motion as a business tool

Motion on your website isn't just about aesthetics — it's a powerful way to capture attention and drive engagement. According to Zabal Media’s data, strategic use of motion, including video, can increase the average user’s time on page by 88%. 

“Using motion as a competitive advantage is one of the most important things we do at Zabal,” says Iralzabal. “It’s a business tool — not just something that is beautifully useless.” 

Tip 6: Develop a cadence for monitoring and maintenance

Once your site is launched and humming along, the slightly less glamorous — but critically important — work of maintenance and optimization begins. Jacobs recommends putting maintenance on your calendar to build a regular cadence of monitoring for, identifying, and addressing issues. 

At Jasper, he allocates 30 minutes every morning to review analytics data and check for anything that’s broken. He also conducts a broader weekly review, looking at site speed and performance scores, and cleaning up any unused styles, assets, or interactions in Webflow.

He compares these daily and weekly rituals to an exercise habit: "When it's done often and done well, your systems and your website will be stronger and healthier because of it." 

Tip 7: Always be testing and iterating

Josh and his team at Jasper don’t just maintain a cadence for monitoring — they have a built-in practice of testing and iterating. Ideas and suggestions for improvements, sourced from employees and user feedback, populate a backlog of hypotheses. Every two weeks, they launch a new test to ensure continuous optimization. 

He believes this is crucial to maintaining a winning website, because if users come back to your site and don’t see anything new, they’re more likely to bounce without converting.

“If you’re not constantly iterating, or if your site becomes stagnant, that’s going to lead to a direct dip in performance,” says Jacobs. 

The paint never dries on a winning website

Building a winning website isn't a one-time project — it's an ongoing journey. As Iralzabal says, "If you're doing the bare minimum to launch and go to market, you're never going to reach your site's full potential."

The key is to keep climbing, keep pushing to make things better, and keep looking for ways to improve. 

Want to learn more about building websites that win? Watch Josh and Wilian's full presentation.