Website planning is essential for most businesses and organizations. In practice, many people fail to plan their websites.
Sometimes the ever-busy, dynamic nature of running a business is to blame; there are so many operational demands that proper time is not allotted to projects. But this often happens because people fail to recognize that planning for the Web is just as important as planning for anything else in a business.
Let’s start with an analogy, courtesy of Ben Seigel’s extensive work on the subject. In this analogy, you’re building a deck. In this case, since you’re hosting your site, and therefore likely doing the work designing and building it, we’ll assume that the deck is for you, on the side of your own home. You initially assume it’s a pretty simple process, and head to the lumberyard to get materials. Once you arrive, you’re greeted by a friendly clerk who asks if you’d like treated or untreated wood, in pine, oak, or cedar.
Not knowing any better, you unintentionally select wood that does not perform well in your climate. When you start building, you create your frame, lay down some boards, and feel pretty good about how things are going, until you realize that you’ve covered up the exterior door; you forgot the stairs. So you fix the problem by creating some stairs, but because they are of a particular length and require extra support, they collapse when you test them out. Then the rain hits. Your wood is soaked and splitting, your leg is badly bruised, and your confidence isn’t doing so hot either. And all this consternation arises over something as simple as a deck.