Plan your project before you build

You’re about to get your business online with an AI tool. Before you ask it to build anything, spend half an hour on a short written plan. This guide walks you through it. At the end you’ll have one page that says who the site is for, what it needs, and what can wait.

Before you start

• A notebook, a document, or the notes app on your phone.
• About 30 minutes when you won’t be interrupted.
• Your logo, a few photos of your work, and your contact details, if they’re easy to find. You can collect the rest in step 4.

Want to do it yourself?

Difficulty

4 out of 10

Estimated completion time

45–90 minutes

Skills you’ll need: Decide your audience, pages, and main visitor action. Gather real copy and images; no coding is required.

I’ll do it myselfI’d rather get help

How this helps your brand

A website brief connects your brand’s offer to the action customers should take. Planning both the visible page and what happens after a call, form, or booking gives the build a useful business purpose.

1. 1

   Step 1: Write one sentence about who the site is for

   AI tools build what you describe. If you describe “a website for my bakery”, you get a generic bakery site. If you say who your customers are and what they want, you get a site built for them.

   Finish this sentence: “My website helps [type of customer] to [what they want to do].” For example: “My website helps local families order birthday cakes without having to call.”

   Tip: If you have more than one kind of customer, pick the one who brings in the most work. You can add the others later.

2. 2

   Step 2: Choose the one thing visitors should do

   Every page should point visitors towards one main action. That might be calling you, booking a time, asking for a quote, or buying something.

   Write down that action and how it should work today. For example: “Fill in a short form, and I get an email.” If you already use a booking or payment tool, write its name down. The AI will need to know.

   Plan the whole journey in one line: visitor reads the relevant page → takes the main action → the request reaches a named place → someone follows up. For a quote request, that might be Services page → enquiry form → enquiries inbox and job list → you reply within your stated working hours. A call can instead go directly to the person who answers it.

   If the site should generate enquiries, capture and follow-up belong in the must-have plan. Name the fields you need, where submissions will be stored or delivered, who owns the receiving account, and who handles each request. Decide separately whether the visitor gets an acknowledgement; that message is not the same as a personal reply.

   Illustrated exampleConnect the customer’s need to one clear action

   My website helps local families order birthday cakes without having to call.

   1. 01 · Customer“I need a birthday cake.”

      Make the next step obvious.

   2. 02 · Main actionSend a cake request

      Date

      24 June

      Servings

      12 people

      Reply to

      Customer’s email

      Example form details
   3. 03 · Your businessYou receive an email

      Reply to confirm the details.

   Write down both parts: what the visitor does and what happens next.

3. 3

   Step 3: List the pages you need now, and the ones that can wait

   Most small businesses can start with four or five pages. Write two lists: “Must have for launch” and “Later”.

   A common starting point looks like this:

   • Home: who you are, who you help, and the main action from step 2.
   • Services or products: what you offer, with prices or “from” prices if you share them.
   • About: your story and why customers can trust you.
   • Contact: phone, email, address or service area, and opening hours.
   • Reviews or past work, if you have some to show.

   Tip: Put a blog, an online shop, customer logins, and anything “clever” on the Later list unless your business can’t run without it. Each one adds weeks of work and more things that can break.

   Illustrated exampleDraw a boundary around your first version

   Must have for launchA small bakery websiteOne main action: send a cake request

   • HomeWho we help + cake request
   • CakesWhat we offer + from prices
   • AboutOur story + real photos
   • ContactHours + ways to reach us

   LaterKeep the ideas. Keep launch small.

   • Blog
   • Online shop
   • Customer logins

   These can wait while customers send requests through the form.

4. 4

   Step 4: Gather your words and pictures in one place

   An AI tool will happily invent text and use stock photos, but they won’t sound or look like your business. Real details make the site believable.

   Make one folder and put these in it:

   • Your logo and any colours you already use.
   • Five to ten real photos of your work, your team, or your premises.
   • A rough paragraph about your business, in your own words. It doesn’t need to be polished.
   • Your services and prices, contact details, and opening hours.
   • Two or three customer reviews you have permission to share.
5. 5

   Step 5: Note two or three websites you like

   Look at other businesses’ websites, in your trade or not. Pick two or three you like and write one line about each: what you like and why. “Clean, lots of photos, the phone number is always at the top” is plenty.

   This gives the AI a clear picture of the look you want, without you needing design words.

   Tip: Use them for inspiration only. Don’t ask the AI to copy another business’s words, photos, or logo.

6. 6

   Step 6: Decide the practical details, then let the AI tidy it up

   Write a short answer to each of these. “Not sure yet” is fine. It tells the AI where you need help.

   Write down any existing form provider, booking system, inbox, or customer list the site needs to connect to. Ask whether that system exposes a supported new-submission or new-booking event before planning downstream automation. Leave uncertain connections as decisions to resolve, with an owner, before calling the enquiry journey ready.

   • Your web address (domain name), if you have one. If not, the name you’d like.
   • Your budget for the year, including hosting and any paid tools.
   • When you’d like it live, and whether a date is fixed (an opening day, a trade show).
   • Who will update the site after launch.

   Tip: Buying a domain and connecting it to your site works differently in each tool, and the steps change often. When you get to it, follow your website tool’s official help pages rather than an old tutorial.

I run a small business and I want to plan a website before anything gets built. I’m not technical, so please use plain English.

My business: [what you do and where]
Who the site is for: [your main type of customer]
The one thing I want visitors to do: [call, book, ask for a quote, buy]
Pages I need at launch: [your must-have list]
Things that can wait: [your later list]
Websites I like and why: [two or three links, one line each]
Practical details: [domain name, budget, deadline, who will update it]

Before you write the plan, ask me up to five questions about anything that’s unclear or missing. Then give me a one-page website plan with: who it’s for, the main action, each launch page and what goes on it, what I still need to gather, and the decisions I still need to make. Don’t build anything or write any code yet, and don’t invent facts about my business.

For an enquiry-generating site, include the full journey from the relevant page to intake, captured record or inbox, acknowledgement, and human follow-up. Name the required accounts, what connects them, unresolved trigger support, and an end-to-end test. Treat these as launch requirements. If the main action is a call or an external booking link, describe that actual route instead of adding an unnecessary form.