content website business plan

Website Design Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their website design businesses. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through a website design business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your website design business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start a website design business, or grow your existing website design business, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your website design business in order to improve your chances of success. Your website design business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Website Design Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a website design business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the lender will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business.

Personal savings is the most common form of funding for a website design business. Venture capitalists will usually not fund a website design business. They might consider funding a website design business with a national presence, but never an individual location. This is because most venture capitalists are looking for millions of dollars in return when they make an investment, and an individual location could never achieve such results.  With that said, personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for website design businesses.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

If you want to start a website design business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Below are links to each section of your website design business plan template:

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of website design business you are operating and its status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a website design business that you would like to grow, or are you operating website design businesses in multiple markets?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the website design industry. Discuss the type of website design business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of website design business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of website design businesses:

• WordPress website design : this type of business builds websites with WordPress, due to its capabilities, plugin options, and templates.
• Custom website design: this type of business involves developing both the front end and backend of a website using coding, programming, databases, forms, etc. without a content management platform.
• Other platform website design: this type of business uses a variety of other platforms to develop specific types of site, such as e-commerce. Platforms like Shopify or Squarespace make specific site development relatively easy.

In addition to explaining the type of website design business you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to question such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of websites launched, the types of sites developed, etc.
• Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the website design industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the website design industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your website design business plan:

• How big is the website design industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your website design business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your website design business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: large corporations, small businesses, nonprofits, government entities, and individuals.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of website design business you operate. Clearly, large corporations would respond to different marketing promotions than nonprofits, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most website design businesses primarily serve customers living in their same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.  

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other website design businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes individuals who prefer to use template-based platforms to build their website on their own, or from dedicated in-house design teams.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other website design businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be website design businesses located very close to your location.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

• What types of customers do they serve?
• Do they specialize in specific site types (i.e. content sites, e-commerce sites, etc.)?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you provide either a wider range or more specialized range of services?
• Will you offer features such as social media integration?
• Will you provide superior customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a website design business plan, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of website design company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to WordPress site development, will your website design business provide custom design options?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your website design company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, will you operate from a physical office, or will you primarily interact with clients online and/or at their home or place of business? In this section, discuss how your location will affect demand for your services.

Promotions : The final part of your website design marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertising in local papers and magazines
• Reaching out to local websites
• Signs and billboards
• Social media marketing
• Local radio advertising

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your website design business, including marketing, providing consultations, programming, troubleshooting, keeping abreast of new technology, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to launch your 100th e-commerce site, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to open a website design business in a new location.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your website design business’ ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing website design businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in programming, or successfully running small businesses.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you complete/launch one website per week, or will you have teams working on multiple projects at once? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your website design business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a website design business:

• Office build-out
• Cost of buying or leasing a company vehicle
• Cost of office supplies such as computers and software
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Taxes and permits
• Legal expenses

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office lease, or an overview of the services you offer.  

Putting together a business plan for your website design business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will really understand the website design industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful website design business.  

Web Design Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my website design business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your Website Design Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of website design business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have a website design business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of website design businesses?

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Web Design business plan?

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how a Growthink business plan writer can create your business plan for you.

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How to Create a Content Plan (Step-by-Step Guide + Examples)

Content marketing got you feeling like this?

I don’t blame you. If you care about the quality and efficacy of your content, there’s a lot to consider. 

But a content plan will simplify the process. It’ll help you figure out the who, what, when, where, why and how before you dive in (and help you stay in charge of it all when you do).

Here’s everything you need to know about content planning so that you can create quality content at scale and with ease:

What Is a Content Plan?

Why you need a content plan, how to create a content plan, content plan examples and templates, top tips for creating a content plan.

A content plan is where you map out and organize all of the tasks related to content creation and promotion. It should include content assets and/or campaigns along with deadlines or key dates.

If you’re in charge of a team, you’ll assign ownership of tasks or entire projects. You may also allocate resources and budget in your content plan. 

The best content plans contain defined processes and workflows for content creation/promotion. For example, you might outline the finer details of each activity and include templates or briefs. 

You may be wondering about the difference between a content plan and a content strategy. Well, your content strategy is a bit like your content marketing manual and your content plan comprises a significant chapter of that manual.

A documented content strategy contains your goals, research and analysis, the overarching methods you’ll use to achieve your goals, as well as your content plan. You’ll need to refer to the other elements, i.e. the research and so on, to put together your content plan.

Some don’t bother with a content plan because it seems like a lot of unnecessary, hard work. Others are like hummingbirds, flitting around, eager to just get started on content creation.

But, trust me, having a content plan will pay off. Here’s why:

1. Scale and Speed

You might feel like you’d need a time-freezing device to be able to scale content production. There’s a demand for quality content (and rightly so). Thus, it takes a long time to create a good infographic, email newsletter, blog post etc. 

For instance, we now spend 63% more time creating a blog post than six years ago.

Yet, the defined, repeatable processes within your content plan mean you can create more content within a given time period. And the automation features of many content planning tools save even more time.

2. Manage Content Easily

Create a lot of content? Manage a content team or group of freelancers? A content plan will help you allocate your time accordingly and/or delegate tasks to others easily, all while staying on top of everything. 

Four out of five of the most successful content marketers use an editorial calendar. So, there’s a lot to be said about being super organized in your approach.

3. Create Better Content

54% of marketers think their organization’s level of content marketing success is mediocre. 

We need to do better.

A content plan forces you to think carefully about each content asset or content marketing activity – how it’ll help your audience, how it fits in with your wider goals, how you can get the most from it and so on. This makes it almost impossible not to create better content.

Speedier production, easier management and better quality content – aren’t these three things what all content creators and marketers want at the end of the day? 

Here’s how to put your content plan together:

1. Choose Your Weapon

The very first step is figuring out the best way to document your content plan. Here are the main options:

• Regular Documents  

You might want to put all or some elements of your content plan, e.g. templates, in regular doc format. However, this is not the clearest nor most collaborative route.

• Spreadsheets

Spreadsheets work well for content management. You can keep all of the information you and/or your colleagues need well-organized.

• A Project Management Tool

Project management tools, such as Trello or Asana make collaboration and content management super easy.

• A Content Management Tool

There are some fantastic tools geared specifically towards content management and organization, such as CoSchedule and Contently . 

2. Weigh Your Content Strategies

What are your most important goals? 

You’ll create content assets or use content marketing tactics that’ll help you achieve every one of your goals, but you must give more weight to what’s most important. 

If it’s not immediately clear, you might want to use a scoring system e.g. rate how well an asset aligns with your goals or what kind of ROI it will produce.

To complicate things, *sigh*, you also have to keep best practices in mind. For example, you might only need to blog twice a month but tweet daily to get the kind of impact you hope to achieve.

3. Include the 5 Ws and 1H

Now we’re getting onto the good stuff… The actual contents of your content strategy. However you choose to document your plan, here’s what it should include:

You’ll need to assign tasks and responsibilities to the right members of your team (unless you’re a superstar that’s doing it all yourself). Make sure each person knows every step of content creation or promotion that they’re in charge of.

Add your content assets, campaigns and/or projects to your content plan. Include the types of content you’ll create e.g. infographic, blog post, video etc, as well as the topic, headline and any other information you think is relevant, such as calls to action.

Set realistic and achievable deadlines for your content projects. You may also wish to set deadlines for individual tasks, i.e. each step of creation and promotion.

Add the channels you’ll use to publish and promote content. Also, note when and where you’ll be able to repurpose content on other channels.

Outline the purpose of each content asset. Who are you targeting and why? What action would you like them to take?

It’s a good idea to include content templates, style guides and/or briefs to guide content creation. You may also wish to create workflows or checklists for content creation and promotion. These are examples of the kind of repeatable processes that’ll help you speed up your content marketing efforts.

Now you know what a content plan should include. But, what will it look like?

Here are some fantastic examples and templates you can use to create your own content plan:

Content Planning Spreadsheet

This example from Smartsheet covers most of the bases:

As you can see the content is split into categories in the first column according to format. The next columns establish the topic, ownership, important dates, the status of the piece and more. As you move across, there are also columns with metrics for measuring content performance.

This would be a great general overview to share with your team. Use Smartsheet’s content planning template or create your own custom version on Excel or Google Sheets.

Content Plan for Social Media

If you create a lot of native social media content or social media content takes up the lion’s share of your strategy, you may want to create a content plan that’s purely for social media.

Here’s an example from Content Marketing Institute:

For each social media channel, it covers goals, topics, a posting schedule, ownership, a mini style guide, calls to action and more. In other words, it covers the 5Ws and 1H pretty darn well.

You can use CMI’s social media plan template or create something similar for you and your team. 

Editorial Calendar Examples

Some of my clients like to use Trello to manage content projects and it works really well in my experience. Here’s an example of a blog editorial calendar on Trello :

Each block contains a piece of content, which you can move through the various stages of completion from “Writing” to “Ready to Upload”. This is a simple way to organize content and monitor progress.

Within each block, you can label the type of content, set a deadline, add custom fields e.g. the focus keyword and add a description. In the description field, you might want to outline the goals of the piece, the target audience etc. 

You can also add any attachments that the content creator might need, e.g. templates, outlines, guides, or resources.

And finally, you can place a checklist that acts as a workflow for content creation.

If you decide to use Trello to plan content, you could create more boards for the other types of content you create, e.g. video, podcasts etc.

I, personally, like to use Asana to manage my blog and other content projects. If you want to get started quickly, the tool has ready-made content and editorial calendar templates .

The big selling-point of Asana for me is the different view formats. You can use a calendar format for an overview of all your projects:

( Image Source )

You can move each individual piece of content through a kanban board as you’re working on it:

And there are more views you can use such as a simple list format or timeline for project milestones.

Similar to Trello, there’s lots you can do within each individual task block. Assign a task, set a due date, add a description, create sub-tasks and so on:

As an added bonus, a little rainbow unicorn sometimes flashes across the screen when you complete a task. *eek*

In my humble opinion, tools like these make content planning much easier. You (and your team) have all of the information you need set out clearly in one place. Plus, you can easily tweak your content plan as you go along.

Now you should have a good grasp of the practical side of creating a content plan. Here’s some further advice that’ll help you create the most useful and effective content plan possible:

1. Make Good Use of Your Research

There are some steps that come before creating a content plan. As part of creating your content strategy, hopefully, you’ve already carried out a content audit, audience research, goal-setting and so on.

As mentioned above, you really need to refer to this research and analysis when creating your content plan. It’ll not only make content planning easier but also more effective. 

MavSocial’s Kieran Driver told me:

“My number one tip for creating a content plan would be to understand who your audience is. The better picture you have of your audience, the more you will be able to plan, create, and publish content that they will be able to relate with and enjoy. Only then will you be able to effectively meet your audience’s expectations, have them come back for more and get them to remain engaged with your business.” Kieran Driver, Digital Marketing Associate, MavSocial

2. Come up With Ideas for High-Performing Content

The ideation stage or the “what” is one of the most important and time-consuming aspects of creating a content plan. But, you can use your research and analysis to come up with the content ideas that are most likely to perform well.

CoSchedule’s Ben Sailer shared his formula for generating first-rate content ideas with me:

“Put your customer’s needs first. Prioritize content that fits at the intersection of 1) the primary functions of your product or service and 2) your customer’s most pressing pain points.  If you can align those topics with solid keyword research, then so much the better (common problems often have high search volume and high difficulty, but don’t let that scare you away — just focus on providing the best content you can that meets those needs).  Uncovering these topics may be more complex than it seems on the surface, and they may change over time as your product evolves or your target market changes, but this is where everything should start at the most basic level. Not exactly a groundbreaking tip, but it’s imperative to get good at the fundamentals so you can build your content strategy on a strong foundation.” Ben Sailer, Inbound Marketing Director, CoSchedule

3. Make Sure Everybody Is on the Same Page

When you run a business or head up a content marketing department, you need to make sure your content plan is aligned with wider business goals and the activities of other departments. Not only that, it’s a good idea to make sure those departments or colleagues have a solid understanding of what you’re doing and why.

G2’s Lauren Pope explains:

“You must create content with intention. A lot of companies have a blog or they’ll do a periodic webinar, but they aren’t leveraging content marketing to the fullest extent. You need to know who your audience is and what action you’re trying to get them to take before the pen ever hits paper. This doesn’t mean you need to waste months crafting a meticulous content calendar. You just need a North Star for the goal of each piece before you begin. All of the content I create needs to fit into one of these buckets:  – Content that drives traffic (80%) – This is your long-form SEO content designed to rank for organic search. This content is perfect for reaching people who have a problem your product fixes, they just might not know it yet. – Content that drives opinions (10%) – These are your podcasts, career profiles, video series, and thought-leader hot takes designed to get people talking. This is the stuff that gets shared across social media. – Content that drives leads (10%) – This is the stuff your sales team wants. Why such a small percent? These are comprehensive guides where quality beats quantity. You don’t need a ton of these resources to do it right.  If someone asks me to create something that falls outside these existing buckets, I can sit down with them and figure out why. A lot of times we have existing content types for other teams’ needs, they just don’t know it. Internal education about our content strategy is just as important as the content we create for our readers. Taking the time to ensure our sales team knows what is available to them, how we can partner with them, and most importantly how content marketing can aid in winning deals totally changes the game.” Lauren Pope, Content Marketing Manager, G2

4. Be Flexible

Things happen that may mean you need to alter your content plan. To give you a totally random example off the top of my head, say a global pandemic occurred…

In all seriousness, there needs to be flexibility within your content plan for many reasons. Firstly, to account for trending topics. Also, you’ll need to measure content performance and tweak your content plan accordingly.

Jordan Teicher at Contently suggests organizing content around larger themes and leaving a decent amount of wiggle room for whatever comes up:

“My number one tip is to think in terms of content series and bigger projects. When you’re developing a new content plan, there’s a tendency to try to predict every single story you’re going to create over the next 12 months. That sounds good in theory, but it winds up boxing you in. A better approach would be to map out some major themes and then schedule a series of e-books, webinars, and videos around them. For example, when Contently’s marketing team met at the beginning of the year, we decided to organize our content based on our key industries. So in the first quarter, we’d focus on finance. In the second quarter, healthcare. Third quarter, B2B tech, and so on. For each quarter, I knew we’d need an industry report and an accompanying webinar. Those two big content series gave us major releases spread out during the year. They also gave us the freedom to explore relevant topics for one-off blog posts, videos, etc. that fit under those themes. This approach gives you good structure but still provides enough flexibility for new ideas that are timely.” Jordan Teicher, Director of Content, Contently

It’s tempting to dive right in and just start creating content. But, if you’ve got higher goals for your content then you need to use your brain and have some form of plan in place.

Set your intentions like a yogi and start putting together your content plan.

Bonus Material: Content Marketing Strategy Checklist

From goal-setting to research to content planning, make sure you cover every step of creating your content marketing manual:

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2 thoughts on “ How to Create a Content Plan (Step-by-Step Guide + Examples) ”

• 2 comments

Thanks for the great tips! I love how simple you make it. It’s not rocket science, but it does require an investment of time and a lot of marketers are intimidated just because they don’t know where to start.

Very true! I hope marketers will be able to use this post to make a strong start. Thanks for your comment, Alison.

How to Create a Content Creation Business Plan

If you’re starting a content creation business, one of the first things you’ll need is a content creation business plan. This will outline your goals and objectives for your business, as well as how you’re going to achieve them.

There are a few key elements that should be included in your content creation business plan. First, you’ll need to identify your target audience. Who are you creating content for? What needs or wants do they have that you can address with your content?

Once you know who your target audience is, you’ll need to determine what kind of content they want or need. What format will be most effective in delivering this information? How often will they want or need new content? Answering these questions will help you create a solid foundation for your business plan.

Finally, once you know what kind of content to create and how often to deliver it, the last step is determining how you’re going to monetize your efforts. There are many ways to generate revenue from content creation, so it’s important to choose the one that makes the most sense for your particular business model. With a clear plan in place,you’re on your way to success!

Defining your content creation business plan

If you want to make money from your writing, it’s important to have a content creation business plan. This doesn’t have to be complicated – but it is important to think about what you’re doing, and how you’re going to make money. Here are some things to consider when creating your content creation business plan.

1) What kind of writing do you want to do? There are many different types of writing, from articles and blog posts, to ebooks and courses. Decide what type of writing you enjoy most, and focus on that.

2) Who is your target audience? It’s important to know who you’re writing for – this will help you create content that they’ll actually want to read (and pay for!).

Consider who your target reader is, and what kinds of things they’d be interested in.

3) How will you monetize your content? There are a few different ways to make money from your writing – through advertising, affiliate marketing, or selling digital products like ebooks or courses. Decide which option makes the most sense for you, and focus on building up that revenue stream.

Why you need a content creation business plan

Creating a detailed content creation business plan is essential for any business that wants to produce online content. By laying out a clear plan, businesses can ensure that their content is high-quality and aligns with their overall marketing goals. Additionally, a well-crafted business plan can help businesses track their progress and measure the results of their efforts.

Without a content creation business plan, businesses may find themselves investing time and resources into producing subpar content that does not effectively promote their brand or engage their target audience. A solid plan will keep businesses focused on creating quality pieces that achieve desired objectives.

Businesses should consider various factors when developing a content creation business plan, including what type of content to produce, how often to publish new material, who will create it, and how it will be distributed. mapping out this strategy in advance can save businesses considerable time and money down the road.

The benefits of having a content creation business plan

Assuming you would like a blog titled “The benefits of having a content creation business plan”:

When it comes to content creation, whether for your own website or for that of a client, it pays to have a plan. A content creation business plan will help you keep track of your projects, ensure consistency in your output, and measure your success over time. Here are three key benefits of having a content creation business plan:

1. A content creation business plan helps you stay organized and on track. Without a plan, it can be easy to get lost in the details of each project and lose sight of the big picture. A good plan will help you manage deadlines, deliverables, and other important details so that you can focus on creating great content.

2. Consistency is essential for any successful online presence, and a content creation business plan can help you maintain it. By outlining your goals and objectives upfront, you can develop an editorial calendar that ensures your output is consistent with your brand identity. This level of planning also allows you to experiment with new formats or topics while still staying true to your overall strategy.

3) Measuring success is crucial for any business activity – including content marketing! – but it can be difficult to do without clear metrics in place from the start. A well-crafted business plan will include measurable goals so that you can track progress over time and make necessary adjustments to continue growing your audience

How to create a content creation business plan

There are a few key things to keep in mind when creating a content creation business plan. First, you need to identify your target audience and what type of content they would be interested in. Next, you need to come up with a strategy for creating and distributing that content. And finally, you need to make sure you have a solid business model in place so that your content creation business can be sustainable long-term.

If you can focus on these three areas, then you will be well on your way to create a successful content creation business plan.

What should be included in your content creation business plan

When it comes to creating a content creation business plan, there are a few key elements that you’ll need to include in order to ensure success. First and foremost, you’ll need to clearly define your target audience and produce content that appeals to them. You should also focus on SEO keywords and phrases in order to ensure that your content is easily found by those who are searching for it. Finally, make sure to set realistic goals and timelines for yourself in order to keep your business on track.

If you can cover these basics, then you’re well on your way to creating a successful content creation business plan!

Tips for creating an effectivecontentcreationbusinessplan

1. Define your goals and objectives: The first step to creating an effective content creation business plan is to define your goals and objectives. What are you trying to achieve with your content? Who is your target audience? What type of content will best appeal to them? Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, you can move on to developing a strategy for achieving them.

2. Research your competition: Before you can develop a successful content marketing strategy, it’s important to understand what your competition is doing. Take some time to research their content marketing efforts, paying close attention to the topics they write about, the tone they use, and the overall quality of their work. This will give you a better sense of what it takes to stand out in your industry.

3. Create a calendar: One of the most effective ways to maintain consistency with your content output is by creating a editorial calendar. This doesn’t have to be anything fancy – simply plotting out when you’ll publish new pieces, and what topics those pieces will cover, can go a long way towards keeping you on track. If possible, try to batch write several weeks or even months worth of content at once; this will make the actual publishing process much simpler down the line

If you’re looking to start a content creation business, congratulations! You’ve embarked on an exciting journey. However, before you get started, it’s important to develop a plan for your business. This will help ensure that you have a clear understanding of your goals and how you’ll achieve them.

Here are some tips for creating a content creation business plan:

1. Define your goals. What do you hope to achieve with your business? What kind of impact do you want to make? Be specific and realistic in setting your goals.

2. Research your audience. Who will be reading or viewing the content you create? What are their needs and interests? Knowing your audience will help you create content that resonates with them.

3. Determine your resources. What skills and knowledge do you bring to the table? Do you have any existing relationships with industry professionals or influencers? Do you need to outsource any part of the process? Having a clear understanding of your resources will help keep things moving forward smoothly

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Plan your website content in one place with Milanote

Follow this step-by-step guide to learn the modern process of planning website content in Milanote, a free tool used by top creatives.

How to plan website content in 8 easy steps

A great content plan is the most important step in creating an engaging website. It's where you map out the copy, imagery and structure you need so your team knows what to design and build.

But often, the planning is done in isolation. The copy is written in a Google Doc, the images are stored in a Dropbox folder and the Sitemap resides in a spreadsheet. It's hard for anyone on the team to see how it all fits together. A visual content plan solves all this and lets you plan everything in one place so your team and client have a clear vision for your new website.

In this guide, you'll learn the modern approach to planning content for your website using Milanote. Remember, the creative process is non-linear, so you may find yourself moving back and forth between the steps as you go.

1. Define the purpose of the page

We're going to tackle the content plan one page at a time. So pick a page on your website and try to define its purpose. Why does this page exist? What problem is it solving? What does it need to communicate? This simple exercise will lay the foundation for the content, tone and imagery on this page.

Create a new board for your first webpage plan.

Create a new board

Drag a board out from the toolbar. Give it a name, then double click to open it.

Add a note to describe the purpose of the page.

Drag a note card onto your board

Start typing then use the formatting tools in the left hand toolbar.

2. Draft your headline & introduction

Now that you have a clear goal for the page, start putting it into words. Create an engaging headline and introduction that helps your readers know they're in the right place. This will set the scene for all the content and imagery on this page.

Add a note to explore ideas for the introduction.

3. Write the body copy

Next, begin adding ideas for the written content that might appear on this page. It doesn't have to be the final copy but it will give everyone a feel for what you're aiming to communicate. Think about the key messages you want to communicate, sub-titles and even SEO keywords you need to include. Don't worry about the structure of it yet—just get it out of your head!

Add a note to explore content ideas.

4. Sketch the rough layout

If you have a picture in your head of head of how the page could be structured, grab a pen and sketch it out. Even if it's just some boxes and arrows, it's a great way to figure out which messages are more important than others. A simple sketch is also a useful reference for the developers who will need to build the website.

Click the Pen tool and sketch a rough page layout.

5. Add images and video

Next, think about the images that would suit this page. Again, these don't have to be the final images, but they'll help bring it to life. You can use images from the web or open Milanote's built-in image library to quickly find inspiring examples.

Choose example images from the image library.

Use the built-in image library

Search over 3 million beautiful, free photos then drag images straight onto your board. Powered by Pexels.

Embed video from Youtube.

Embed Youtube videos or audio tracks in a board

Copy the share link from Youtube, Vimeo, Soundcloud or many other services. Drag a link card onto your board, paste your link and press enter.

6. Add examples of animation

Animation is a great way to communicate how users could interact with your website. For example, if you're planning to include an image gallery that cycles from left to right, it's much easier to show it in action rather than trying to explain it in text. Grab some animated GIFs from Giphy or a video from YouTube or to help explain how the interactions could behave.

Upload animated gifs.

Upload a file or document

Click the "Upload" button or just drag a file onto your board. You can add images, logos, documents, videos, audio and much more.

7. Collaborate and build on your ideas

Whether you're working on a client project or collaborating with a team it can be helpful to bounce ideas off other people. As writer Louisa May Alcott said, "It takes two flints to make a fire."

A collaborative content plan is especially helpful for this step as you can easily connect and work together online. Bringing everyone onto the same page (figuratively and literally!) in real-time allows you to collaborate on copy, images and layout allowing you to create a coherent and engaging website.

Invite someone else to edit to your board.

Invite editors to your board

Open the "Share" menu from the title bar of your board. Add email addresses of the people you'd like to collaborate with—they'll receive an invitation via email.

Start a comment thread.

Start a comment thread

Drag out a comment from the toolbar on the left and place it on your board. Other editors can reply to your comment.

8. Repeat this process for each page

When you're happy with the content for your first page, take a step back and look at the overall structure of your website by making a Sitemap. This lets you organize the content for your entire website in one place. You can learn more about this process in our guide How to create a Sitemap .

Use the Sitemap template to structure the pages of your website.

And you're done!

Now that website content plan is complete, everyone on your team has a clear vision for how your website will fit together. And remember, you can continue to refine your content plan over time as your website grows. If you're starting a new website design project right now, use the free template below or read our full guide on How to plan a website design project .

Plan your website

Plan your content, imagery and website structure in one place.

Sign up for free with no time limit

• February 12, 2020

Building a Tangible Website Content Strategy: A Beginner’s Guide

Julia McCoy

Creator and Co-founder

Spinning business growth out of content marketing is achievable, but not for everyone . 🤷‍♀️

• If you only post mediocre content once in a while, you won’t see growth.
• If you publish one or two blogs and expect to earn thousands of likes, comments, follows, and customers right away, you won’t see growth. (Sorry, but you’re delusional.)
• If you decide to dip a toe in content marketing, you won’t see growth. (You need to commit. Period.)

What’s the necessary ingredient missing from all of these failure scenarios?

A website content marketing strategy . In other words, a plan that guides your execution of content .

A plan ensures commitment and excellence in content marketing. It also maps out direct paths to growth for your brand.

People who don’t commit to a website content strategy, who keep thinking they can game the system or cheat their way to success, will never find what they’re looking for.

Instead, the future of the web belongs to smart, strategic content hackers who create content with a growth mindset.

It’s not just about growing your business either. It’s also about:

• Growing your audience’s knowledge
• Growing your audience’s trust in you
• Growing your qualified, organic traffic (the people who actually care about what you have to say, who find you through Google search)
• Growing your reader base, and by extension, your leads, prospects, and customer base
• Growing your industry clout and influence
• Growing your reputation as a content creator

And, yes: A website content strategy helps you achieve ALL of that. 💯

That’s exactly what we’re discussing today:

• Defining content strategy and explaining why it could be your biggest growth booster
• What you need to create an effective digital content strategy, including steps to take to start planning
• The essential tools, resources, and elements of any good content strategy

If you’re ready to learn, dive in with me! Your content strategy template is right here . ✅

P.S. Short on time? We’ve got a free checklist PDF that summarizes today’s mega-blog. You’re welcome. Click below to get it. ⌚️

How to Build a Website Content Strategy: A Beginner’s Guide – Table of Contents

What Is a Website Content Strategy? Why Do You Need One?

What does it take to build a working website content strategy 7 elements you must not skip, 1. know your content strategy basics & goals (build a foundation), 2. research, identify, and get to know your audience, 3. learn seo and integrate it into your website content strategy, 4. commit to build authority in the right places, 5. establish content creation workflows and best-practices, 6. budget and promote, 7. maintain your website content strategy into the foreseeable future, the essential website content strategy assets + corresponding tools you need to succeed, 1. content calendar, 2. calls-to-action (ctas), 3. web pages, 4. lead magnets and ebooks, 5. emails and the email list.

If you plan to publish content of any kind on your website – blogs, videos, guides, case studies, etc. – you need a plan.

Think about it. You wouldn’t approach any other major task – work or otherwise – without a plan. So why wouldn’t your website content have one, too?

Overwhelmingly, carefully planning and strategizing works 100% better than flying by the seat of your pants or counting on luck. You don’t need any stats or data to know that’s true, either. You probably have plenty of evidence from your own experience to back that up.

How many times, when you approached any task with a solid plan, did you succeed? How many times, when you relied on luck alone, did you fail?

A plan makes a GIANT difference, no matter what we’re talking about.

Image source: Giphy

That’s what a website content strategy is: A plan that maps out how, when, where, and why you’ll publish content on your site.

Why Do You Need a Website Content Strategy?

You need a website content strategy because it’s proven to work better than having no strategy at all.

Let’s bring some stats into the equation. According to the Content Marketing Institute’s 2020 B2B Benchmarks, Budgets, & Trends Report , 69% of the most successful marketers report having a content strategy in place.

In the report itself, CMI specifically mentions this: “Our annual research consistently shows that a documented strategy is often a key indicator of content marketing success .”

Furthermore, content marketing tasks associated with strategy are ones successful marketers do:

• Setting KPIs (key performance indicators – similar to goals) to measure content initiatives
• Using metrics to measure content performance
• Measuring content marketing ROI (return on investment)

Publishing/posting content with a strategy in place WILL boost your efforts overall. You’ll have firm direction, including:

• A deeper understanding and connection with your audience.
• A goal-oriented, move-the-needle mindset behind everything you do.
• A plan for content creation and promotion that will make it easier.
• A strategy for building your audience and your list.
• A clearly outlined path to GROWTH for both your website and your business.

When we lay it all on the table like this, the answer to the overarching question is obvious:

Why build a website content strategy?

Why NOT build one?

It’s time to build.

A website content strategy needs each of the following elements to work. Leave out one, or skimp on some of the details, and none of it will work.

For content strategy to turn your content marketing into a mighty tool, you must do your homework. Let’s start on the ground floor and work our way up.

Consider this your content strategy flowchart.

First things, first. Do you know WHY you want to do content marketing and WHAT you hope to achieve with it? You should.

A. Decide on a Few Goals (or KPIs)

You shouldn’t do content marketing without a few goals in mind right off the bat. What do you hope to achieve with content? These objectives should drive your entire content marketing strategy.

Do you want to increase awareness around your brand? Get more traffic and leads? Increase revenue?

These broader goals can be considered in terms of KPIs (key performance indicators). KPIs can be tracked and measured, and indicate growth toward your goals. Here are some common KPIs in content marketing :

• For tracking growth in revenue – Leads, conversion rates, and ROI
• For tracking SEO – Organic traffic coming from search engines, keyword rankings, and backlinks
• For tracking user engagement – Shares, conversations, and comments

B. Define Your Content Differentiation Factor

Once you know your goals, you need to define your Content Differentiation Factor, or CDF .

When you push “publish” on those blogs and articles, what will differentiate them from the millions of other content pieces already out there? What will differentiate them from content published within your industry, by your competitors?

In other words, what will separate you from the pack?

The answer is your unique perspective.

More than likely, there are already TONS of blogs out there similar to yours. They cover the same topics and the same questions. What will set yours apart is how you help your audience differently thanks to your unique perspective in your industry:

• Your individual journey to a place of expertise.
• Your background and credentials.
• The unique mission you hope to achieve through your business (beyond making money).

Once you add up all these elements and think about them in terms of how they position you to help the customer as no one else can , your CDF should come into focus.

C. Outline Your Topic Area(s)

We’ve come to one of the biggest questions to answer in your digital content marketing strategy:

What are you going to write about?

This isn’t as easy to answer as it sounds.

Pulling random topics out of a hat and writing content about them will never lead to ROI.

Instead, you need to write about topics connected to:

• What you sell
• Your audience’s needs
• Your expertise in your industry

I call this your topic area – the place where your expertise + what your audience wants from content align.

Note that your topic area should be a broad subject with many, many facets. For example, the topic area of “selling running shoes” has tons of related sub-topics: Training, hydration, running events, warm-up exercises, and more.

(YOU may be an expert on running shoes, but your audience wants to hear about tons of other topics related to running. What your audience wants is always more important . We’ll talk more about discovering and paying close attention to your audience’s needs in the next section.)

Lastly, if the sub-topic you want to write about doesn’t fit into one of the major topic areas you defined in your content strategy, you shouldn’t write about it. It simply won’t be relevant to your brand, to your audience, or to what you sell.

Example: You want to write about the health concerns connected to wearing high-heels constantly. (Your topic area is “selling running shoes.”)

Nope. That’s totally unrelated – scrap that idea. It has nothing to do with running or running shoes.

Make sense? As you can see, the point of defining topic areas is to ensure your blog always stays relevant to your readers, who are coming to you for specific information. Stay inside your wheelhouse for the most cohesive, consistent blog presence your audience will come to rely on.

My FREE, 60-minute masterclass is a great resource on all things content strategy. It includes guidance on finding your CDF, outlining your topic areas for content marketing, and more. Sign up right here .

ALL of the pieces of a digital content strategy we’re covering are important, but this one is doubly so.

Successful content marketing hinges around knowing and understanding who you’re writing to . Without that knowledge, you’ll miss the mark, and your content will bring crickets rather than customers.

A. Do Audience Research

First up: audience research. It’s all about discovering who will be interested in your content (and by extension, your products or services).

Who needs what you have to offer? Who’s looking for a solution exactly like yours? This is what audience research works to uncover.

Common audience research methods:

• Social media monitoring (also called social listening )
• Focus groups
• Competitor audience analysis
• Conversations

My favorite method for audience intel is conversations – informal, off-the-cuff, casual exchanges. You can have these everywhere , at any time, as long as you stay engaged with your industry and community:

• On social media
• In-person at events, conferences, or meet-ups
• In meetings
• In comments and discussion threads
• Via email or DM
• Via Drift chats

In fact, you probably are having valuable conversations every single day that can help you learn more about your audience – you just need to listen actively and take notes on what you learn.

Speaking of notes 📝: Don’t let those conversations pass without taking physical notes on them in a place you can reference later. I recommend keeping a Google Doc with this information (or a note in Evernote , or in your phone’s native notes app – wherever you can access that info easily).

B. Identify Them with Personas

After you gather audience intel (and, by the way, this is a continuous process – never stop doing audience research, because your audience is not a static entity) – it’s time to take that information and turn it into a tool that will help with content creation.

Enter the audience persona.

“Persona” is just a fancy word for a tool you’ll use to better imagine your ideal audience member. Usually, a persona consists of an information sheet packed with details about this imaginary person.

Actually, a persona is a lot like a character card, like the ones you see in card games and video games. These include a picture of the character, their name, and some details about them that help you get to know them. For example, some versions of the game Clue come with character cards giving you greater depth and details about each suspect:

A persona is similar, but all the details come from research and represent an actual slice of your audience. In fact, a great way to think of a persona is to imagine taking a chunk of your audience and merging them into one person – who would that person be?

Audience persona example via Impact

Common information to include in your audience personas:

• Name (if you have multiple personas, naming them uniquely helps you differentiate them)
• Photo matching persona’s age and lifestyle (this helps you visualize your audience better)
• Demographics
• Career, position, and salary
• Habits and preferences
• Favorite brands
• Social media channels they use
• Pain points
• Worries/fears

One of the best things about audience personas: After you complete them, they become a tool anyone who touches your content can use. (Think writers, social media marketers, editors, branding experts, etc.) Personas are super-easy to update with new information as it rolls in, too.

Keep these in your website content strategy toolkit and refer to them often.

Content marketing online is nothing without SEO behind it. If you use search engine optimization in a smart, strategic way, you’ll gain SO much on auto-pilot.

The value of SEO lies in its ability to bring IN leads and customers without having to push your message OUT to the masses. Inbound marketing is truly something magical. ✨

However, you don’t want to bring in just any traffic. You want qualified traffic coming to your website – people who want what you offer, need the answers you provide, or are interested in the topics you cover. The way to target them with SEO is to consider their search intent .

A. Understand User Search Intent and How to Target It

Search intent describes the goal behind the user’s search when they type keywords into Google.

More often than not, they’re conducting an internet search because they need or want something: Information, answers, a specific product, a website URL, etc. Here are the various kinds of search intent via Backlinko:

For the best SEO, the trick is to find keywords that reflect the user search intent that points to your business. Then, you need to target those keywords in your content.

B. Learn to Do Keyword Research

Keyword research is all about discovering the best keywords to use in your content – the ones you have a high probability of ranking for, and the ones your audience is actively searching.

When you target the right keywords in your content, you’ll rank higher, earn more qualified traffic, and attract interested readers who may eventually become buyers.

Usually, the right keywords are both long-tail (AKA have at least 3-5 words in a phrase) and low-competition (they score low on a keyword difficulty [KD] rating of 1-100, with 1 being the easiest to rank for and 100 being impossible). They also MUST be relevant to your business, products, or services. I call this the keyword sweet spot.

How to do initial keyword research:

• Start with your favorite keyword research tool . I personally like KWFinder , SEMrush , and Ahrefs .
• In the search bar, enter a broad seed keyword (also called a head term ) related to your industry. For example, if you sell running shoes, you might start with “running shoes” as your seed keyword.
• Look at the list of related keywords in the results. Find long-tail versions (seed keyword + additional modifiers) with a low difficulty score. For example, when researching “running shoes,” I found the related keyword “cross country running” with a KD of 26. I could use this term plus “cross country running shoes” as a related term in my content.

• Repeat this process with different seed keywords related to your industry. Remember to note every possible keyword you could target in your content. Keep a running list handy whenever you’re brainstorming content ideas.

Keep in mind, this is a simple intro to keyword research. For more depth on this topic, I teach an intensive online course, The Practical Content Strategy & Marketing Course , that will give you the tools to become a keyword research machine . ⚡

By now, a few pillars of your digital content strategy are in place. It’s time to set up another biggie by answering this question:

Where will you build your authority online? Where will be your “home” on the web?

Fittingly, I call this part establishing your content house . 🏡

This is your web address where you will build authority. Ideally, it should be a domain you own exclusively. This is the place where you will focus on publishing most of your content. It’s what your website content strategy will focus on, too.

A. Building Your Content House – Why You Need a Domain

Why shouldn’t you build your online authority on, say, your Twitter or Instagram account? Why not on Facebook, or on a free website hosted by Wix, Weebly, or even WordPress?

Because all of these locations are proprietary . That means you don’t fully own any of the content you post there. If one of these platforms suddenly decided tomorrow to shut down, you would lose everything you built – all of your content, all of your followers, and all of your authority.

That’s why you need to purchase your own domain and hosting. It needs to be under your complete control, not at the whim of some faceless company.

I recommend Bluehost for hosting and your domain name, if you don’t have mega assets to manage and run (we use Vultr for my ecommerce brand, Express Writers, but only because we have  so  much to host — you’ll do great, and pay less, with Bluehost).

B. Why All Roads Should Lead Back to Your Content House

On top of owning your platform, all outside roads should point back to your content house, too. That includes:

• Guest blogs you post on other sites
• Your social media accounts (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.)
• Podcasts you contribute to or create
• YouTube videos
• Articles you create on Medium

Your domain/content house is the focus because, as long as you invest in upkeep, it will always be there. On the other hand, those proprietary platforms have no guarantees attached to them.

Social media platforms come and go, but only your owned domain has the unique ability to remain a center of gravity for your brand and business.

Yep, at this point, it’s time to start thinking about how to build your content.

Randomly writing blog posts and publishing them at whim is not a strategy. Instead, you need a content creation workflow, one you can reuse over and over that saves time and simplifies the process.

Luckily, you already have a great foundation laid out thanks to the previous content strategy steps.

A. Start with Keywords to Find Topics

Pull up that list of keywords you researched in step #3. This is one of the best places to begin content creation.

Why? Those keywords can easily turn into topics your audience is searching on Google and would LOVE to read about. You already know they’ll work, because the research is done.

For each keyword on your list, brainstorm a handful of potential content topics. Writing around a focus keyword ensures your content is super-relevant for that keyword, and thus a higher chance of ranking.

A few ways to find content topics using keywords:

• This gives you a great idea of what Google is looking for concerning the search intent of the keyword. If you write a post on this theme using your focus keyword, and you do it better than the top results, you have a great chance of ranking.
• Use tools like Answer the Public or KeywordTool.io to quickly come up with topics springing from your focus keyword. For example, when I enter the keyword “cross country running” into KeywordTool.io, it gives me a bunch of ideas I can run with (pun intended 🏃‍♀️):

Of course, there are other ways to come up with content topics, but starting with keywords gives you a good leg up on positioning your content to rank in Google. If that’s one of your main content marketing goals, definitely start there.

B. Use My 3-Bucket Topic Strategy to Map Content Topics to Goals

Once you have some content topics in hand, you can’t start writing yet. First, I highly recommend mapping your content topics to the goals you outlined in step #1.

Your goals might look different, but for my content marketing, my main goals are to build brand awareness, sales & connections, and SEO rankings. To move closer to each goal, I need to be creating specific types of content:

Before I move on to writing a piece of content around a topic I brainstormed, it must pass muster. Will it fit into one of my “content buckets”? Will that content piece help me reach my goals? If it doesn’t, I trash it. I call this process my “ 3-bucket topic strategy .”

For example, say one of the topics I came up with was a guide on how to find the best cross country running shoes (pulling from that keyword I found earlier, “cross country running”). This topic will land in my SEO rankings bucket, so I can move on to creating that content piece.

This process is one of the major keys to making your content marketing profitable and ROI-worthy. Don’t skip it.

C. Remember ICP – Ideation, Creation, Preparation

Any good content creation workflow is made up of three basic stages: Ideation, Creation, and Preparation.

Ideation is the part when you brainstorm content topics and research whether they’ll land with your audience. Ideation can begin with keyword research, from questions you see over and over from your audience/customers, from topic research on Google, and other sources.

Creation is the nitty-gritty part. This is where you take a topic you matched to your goals and start researching, outlining, drafting, writing, and editing.

• Keep in mind: You may not be the person this job falls to. If you hire content writers, editors, or other creators, you may have passed your content topic to them to turn into a blog post, article, or another content piece.
• Incorporating your focus keyword (+ any related or synonymous keywords) throughout your content piece.
• Including headings and subheadings for readability.
• Formatting for online readers (e.g. no walls of text, readable colors and fonts)
• Including both inbound and outbound links (links to other high-quality sites with high relevancy to your content)
• For more on optimizing your content, check out my video, My 8-Step WordPress Blog Post Optimization Checklist for SEO :

Preparation is the stage where you have a completed content piece (written, edited, and optimized) ready to be published and shared.

During this stage, you’ll schedule your post to publish at an ideal time (ideally using an editorial calendar like Airtable – more on that later). You’ll also think about where you can share your new post (on social media, via email, etc.) and how you want to do it.

D. The Benefits of Content Creation Workflows

As you can tell, the content creation workflow can get pretty detailed. If you don’t map out the steps as part of your content strategy, you’ll quickly lose yourself in the process and feel overwhelmed.

That’s why it’s so useful to have a set, repeatable workflow you can use over and over – whenever you ideate, create, and prepare content for publishing.

Sample content creation workflow with tasks and team roles via CMI

Document all the steps you use to ideate, create, and prepare content for the world. Refer to them often, and share them with anyone who joins your creative team. You’ll be glad you did.

For more information on the whys and hows of content workflows, this post from CoSchedule is a great resource: How to Develop Clear Content Marketing Workflows to Execute Better Work .

E. How Strategic Guest Blogging Fits into Content Creation

The final piece of content creation we need to talk about is guest blogging.

Guest blogging is a KEY way to build your authority and clout in your industry.

Don’t get me wrong – blogging on your own site should still be your main focus. That said , guest blogging once every few weeks (or once a month, or every other month) regularly will help build your reputation by leaps and bounds.

For instance, I regularly guest-blog on publications like Search Engine Journal, Content Marketing Institute, and Marketing Profs.

My guest blogging presence on Search Engine Journal .

However, you must have a strategy for this.

Document these rules for guest blogging in your website content strategy and follow them every time you consider a guest blogging opportunity:

• Only invest your time and energy in guest blogging when the publication is relevant to your industry and audience.
• Contact an actual human from the publication about guest posting, but first, make sure the site accepts guest contributions. If they don’t ever post guest blogs, there’s no point asking. If they DO, find the email address of the editor or managing editor to contact.
• Study the publication’s posting guidelines, especially for topics they accept/don’t accept. Don’t submit anything that breaks their posting rules – you’ll just waste their time.
• Carefully check where links back to your own site are allowed – just in your author bio? Once somewhere in the body copy, included naturally? Take note and include your links carefully – this is a huge opportunity for extra traffic and leads.

When it comes time to write content for a guest blog, use the same workflows you established for your main website content. Only submit the same type of amazing, high-quality content you would publish on your platform. Lots of guest blogging opportunities are sure to follow!

The last pieces of your website content strategy to finalize include setting up your budget, tracking and measuring, and promotion.

A. Figure Out What Content Marketing Will Cost, Then Set a Budget

Your investment in content marketing depends on who you hire to help out, which tools you use, and your ground-floor investment in website hosting.

Common content marketing costs:

• Staff costs : Writers, editors, graphic designers, project managers, admin, etc.
• Tool costs : Keyword research, topic research, email marketing, creative tools, subscriptions, tracking and measuring software, etc.
• Website costs : Monthly or yearly hosting costs plus the price of registering your domain name.

Figure out how much you need to spend to have everything you need. Then, look at how much money you actually have to work with.

Content Marketing Institute includes some valuable stats about budgets in their yearly report . For example, in 2019, 36% of all respondents said they spend less than $100,000/year on content marketing. Meanwhile, the average budget for small companies was $81,500/year.

B. Promote Your Content

SEO will help draw more traffic to your content, but it’s not the only way. You can also physically promote it to make sure as many people see it as possible.

Methods of content promotion:

• Email newsletters
• Social media posts
• Google Ads or other paid promotion tactics
• Influencer mentions
• Content sharing communities

You don’t have to use every method – you just need to use the ones that work best for your business, audience, and budget. For more on content promotion strategies, Buffer has a great guide that includes 11 tactics.

In general, make sure you document your chosen promotion/distribution methods in your website content strategy. Create a social media content strategy template. Follow the same procedure for every post and content piece.

Your content marketing won’t stay alive unless you maintain it. Going forward, to keep it thriving and healthy, you’ll need to continually check-in.

A. Commit to Tracking and Measuring Your Progress

Without tracking and measurement, you won’t have a clear idea of how far you’ve come with content marketing, or how far you still need to go to hit your goals.

Speaking of goals, that’s where you should start when figuring out what to track and measure. Return to the goals you outlined in step #1, and if you haven’t determined any connected KPIs (key performance indicators) yet, now is the time.

Once you know what you’ll be measuring (KPIs like organic traffic, engagement metrics, comments, social shares, etc.) you can determine the tools you’ll need to use to get that data in your hands.

Finally, make a plan to track those progress indicators regularly, over time.

B. Do Periodic Content Audits

Another part of maintaining your content strategy is keeping tabs on your existing, published content.

If your content is optimized and promoted well, then it will keep drawing traffic and leads in the background as you publish new pieces. That means, if the old content is outdated, irrelevant, or low-quality, your passive content marketing will suffer.

As such, create a schedule to audit your old content regularly. Check for:

• Quality and accuracy
• Relevancy to the intended focus keyword and user search intent
• Outdated or broken links
• Outdated facts or information

Remember: Google loves fresh content . Updating those old pieces may potentially give them a rankings boost!

C. Revisit the Strategy Regularly and Reassess

Change is inevitable. As the internet changes, as your goals shift and your audience widens, your content strategy will need to change, too.

Your strategy should never sit in a forgotten desktop folder or dusty drawer somewhere. Instead, you should reference it constantly . It should be a living, breathing document that guides your content marketing every day.

It’s not set in stone, either. If something isn’t working, make changes. Review, reassess, and revise.

After all, this is your content strategy. If you want it to be great, it’s entirely in your hands.

If a major part of content strategy calls for scheduling and publishing posts strategically (it does), you need a solid content calendar.

A content calendar will not only track your posting schedule, but also your content creation workflow. At a glance, it should tell you what phase of creation a piece is in, who’s working on what, which pieces are finished and scheduled for publication, and more.

I always recommend Airtable as a wonderful content calendar tool. It keeps my Write Blog content schedule organized to the hilt:

There’s a secret ingredient you can add to any web page, blog post, or content piece to make it more profitable. It’s a little tool called a CTA .

The call-to-action does exactly what it says: It calls your reader to a specific action. It encourages them to DO something after they have read your content.

Surprisingly and often magically, the CTA turns committed readers into email subscribers, followers, or even customers.

Great content without a CTA somewhere in it is a missed opportunity. That’s because readers WANT to take action after reading incredible content. You’ve wowed them, informed them, entertained them, guided them… or all four of those things. They’re excited! They’re fans!

Without a CTA, providing a way to act, they’ll be left in the dust with all that positive energy and nowhere to put it. It’ll fizzle, and they’ll click away from the page. That means you’ll lose.

The point is, you need to include CTAs on your web pages and blog posts to capture those excited readers.

Need examples? The homepage of Content Hacker is full of CTAs. Case in point:

Learn to create compelling CTAs – recommended reading:

• 7 Tips for a Killer Call-to-Action from Wordstream
• 50 Call-to-Action Examples from AdEspresso
• 31 Call-to-Action Examples from HubSpot

Did you know your web pages have the power to pull your visitors deeper into your orbit? A good web page can incite curiosity and entice your reader to stick around.

What makes a good web page? Two elements:

• Good design – The design of your web pages doesn’t just refer to the colors and images. It also refers to how easy it is to use, to read, and to carry out various actions (like finding your contact page or filling out a form). Content strategy for the web and UX ( user experience ) go hand-in-hand.
• Good writing – A well-written web page follows all the tenants of great online writing. It’s not over-complicated, speaks to the target user, and is formatted for readability.

Put together a well-designed, well-written web page PLUS a great CTA and you have a formula for conversion – the point when a person who was merely browsing turns into a bonafide fan of your business, or even a customer.

Here’s an example of an effective web page from Canva , which explains their infographic maker:

Learn to write & create awesome web pages – recommended reading:

• 9 Simple Tips for Writing Persuasive Web Content from Henneke Duistermaat
• How to Write Great Web Content from the Write Blog

Another way to nail conversions? Two words: lead magnets.

A lead magnet is a desirable piece of content that contains a bit more depth than your average blog post. It’s usually longer, for one, may contain custom illustrations, and includes information not found elsewhere on your website.

Lead magnets can be long or short. As long as they’re valuable pieces of content, length doesn’t matter. (Ebooks can be lead magnets, for instance. So can short tip sheets and cheat sheets.)

As such, a lead magnet is great to offer your readers as a bonus in exchange for their email address. A well-put together lead magnet can work wonders for pulling in subscribers.

Here’s an example of a lead magnet we offer on Express Writers :

I like to use ConvertKit to create landing pages and sign-up forms for my lead magnets. It’s super easy and looks professional every time.

Last but not least, emails are one of the BEST ways to keep your audience up-to-date on your newest blog posts and content.

As long as you use the list-building tactics and tools described above, building a list of email subscribers is pretty straightforward. And, once you build that list, suddenly you have a direct line to your audience, like they’re all on speed-dial.

One of the easiest ways to use email as a tool for your website content strategy is to send a message to your subscribers whenever you update your blog. It doesn’t have to be fancy or complicated, either. Just a friendly message + a link to your new content with a short summary is enough.

It’s a major tool to stay connected with your people. (Pssst… I use ConvertKit for emails, too.)

Here’s a simple example of an email promoting a new blog post:

How to write emails and built your list – recommended reading:

• 37 Tips for Writing Emails That Get Opened, Read, and Clicked from Copyblogger
• How to Build Your Email List from MailChimp
• 29 Simple Ways to Grow Your Email List from HubSpot

Your Website Content Strategy: The Key to Killer Content Marketing

You’re just starting out on your content marketing journey. You’re excited. You’re ready.

You know what I’m about to say…

You need a plan. 📋

That’s what your website content strategy is all about. It lays the groundwork for content marketing success. It maps out your trajectory and tells you exactly how to move forward to reach your goals.

Smart content hackers know that content strategy is the key to killer content marketing. By now, you do, too. Don’t leave home without one.

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Planning to DIY your Website? Use this 9-Step Website Content Plan

By the leadpages team    |    published jun 08, 2022    |    updated oct 06, 2023, by the leadpages team.

Editor’s note: This post was originally written in 2019 and, while the best practices remain as relevant as ever, the article has been updated to include even more insight into how to create the perfect website content plan for your business. Dig in!

Countless small business owners struggle to answer the question: “What should I say on my website?” Sure, you may understand that you need a basic “About Us” and “Contact Us” page, but what else? This is why it’s so important to develop a website content plan.

But how do you develop a strategy that caters to the needs of your audience and helps you grow your brand?

In this article, we’ll demystify the process of creating a content management plan and offer a step-by-step process for how to conceptualize and create all the content that you’ll include on your website. We’ll also cover topics like goal-setting, hierarchy, optimization, and scaling production.

In this article:

What is a website content plan, what content should i include on my website, how to create a website content plan, ready to create a website content plan.

A website content plan is an overarching strategy that governs all the content published on your site. It ensures that all your content is cohesive, addresses the needs of your audience, and is on-brand.

A good website content plan will:

• Identify what content already exists.
• Outline what new content is needed.
• Establish rules and guidelines for new content to ensure your quality remains consistent.

Oftentimes, the toughest part of creating content for your website is simply knowing where to start. However, once you have your plan in place you’ll have a clear roadmap of what needs to be done, making the process a lot easier.

As you prepare your website content plan you might also wonder what type of content you need for your site. This will differ from one business to another, but generally speaking, you should have the following content:

• Product(s)/service(s)
• Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
• Hidden pages like a thank you page, 404 page, and landing pages for special offers/lead magnets.

Start with your homepage, then move on to your top-level pages like your about page, products/services, contact, etc. Once all your web pages are complete start creating blogs to increase your content library and establish your authority.

Your website content is important. In fact, 66% of marketers plan to increase their content marketing budget in 2022 . So, if you want to keep up with the competition you’ll need a solid plan in place.

Luckily, creating a winning content plan is easier than you think. Just follow these nine steps.

1. Establish your content goals

When creating your plan you need to start by setting goals for your content. Pose the following questions as you get started:

• What do you want to achieve with your content?
• Is your goal to convert new customers into clients or drive awareness?
• How can your buyers’ journey inform what content your site needs to contain?
• What objections do you need to proactively address?
• Will your content educate/ inspire/ entertain? Where? How?
• How will you measure your success? (and know whether or not your content is working)?
• What is your target date for developing a content marketing plan?

These goals should be tied to key performance indicators (KPIs), as well as tactics to make them a reality. Select a series of three to four KPIs based on these goals. These should typically include conversion, referral, and/or share of voice-type metrics.

For example, let’s start with the question “what do you want to achieve with your content?” You might have a few different answers, including:

• Awareness: Introducing prospects to your brand and helping them recognize the need for your product/service.
• Research & education: Providing prospects with the information they need to make an informed decision.
• Comparison & validation: Showing how your solution compares to your competitors’.
• Sales: Converting prospects from leads to sales.

Once you have your answer you can choose a KPI. For example, if your goal is awareness, you’ll likely look at how much traffic your content generates. If it’s research you may look at something like email subscriptions. And for sales, well you’ll obviously want to track how many sales a piece of content leads to.

You can see a page's traffic, conversions, and conversion rate within your Leadpages dashboard .

2. Define your audience

Study your audience in microscopic detail. Gain customer insights through obvious sources like social media channels, digital monitoring, third-party websites, and customer support or sales inquiries.

Another foundational part of your content creation strategy is defining your audience. Every one of your pages or posts should speak to your core audience—both literally and figuratively.

Then step outside of your own mind and think like a website visitor. As you do so, consider the following questions:

• What are the demographics and psychographics of your core audience?
• What information does your audience need?
• What information does your audience want?
• What information does your audience need to convert into customers?

Targeting the right audience is key, so take your time with this step and ensure you have a firm grasp of who you’re creating content for.

3. Audit existing content

Hooray, you’ve reached the most boring part of this process—auditing. While kind of hum-drum, it’s actually super critical. In this step, you’ll want to list every single type of content piece you currently have and what you think you’ll need moving forward.

If you already have an existing website or other marketing collateral, it’s good to take a pulse of what content you’ve already produced. The goal is to gather, organize, and identify opportunities to repurpose existing content.

For those that don’t currently have a site, start with a competitive analysis. Look at what other marketers have created on websites and in print to help you generate ideas for your own website content plan.

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4. Map key content to a website content map

Once you’ve audited your content, create a visual website content map. Believe it or not, it’s quick to develop and easy to change as you go.

A website content map is a diagram that shows your website content’s hierarchy and structure. It helps to identify the relationships between pages—specifically where they reside and how they interact with other pages. It's also critical for creating a good user experience (check out these UX statistics for more insights on how to create a strong user experience).

You can start by bucketing your content by theme and importance. Stem top-level pages from one homepage, and then more robust and detailed content will fall under each of these top-level pages.

5. Create content for your website

Now to the arguably most important step—creating your content. Before you begin it’s a good idea to establish a website content template. This will help you maintain consistency and hit all of the essentials of each page.

Ensure all your content is on-brand, with the same tone, voice, and style throughout. Repeat your key messages often throughout each asset and always have a call to action, even if soft.

It’s also important to mix up the types of content you create. Blogs are great, but maybe your audience prefers podcasts or videos. Experiment with different mediums to see what performs best, or use all three so you have something for everyone.

Most importantly, your content needs to provide value. If you’re not answering questions or providing solutions for your audience, they won’t stick around. So, make sure everything you publish is bringing something valuable to the table.

6. Upload and optimize content assets

Once you have every page created, it’s time to upload your content to your website. This used to be the hardest step and would often require you to learn web design or hire an expensive developer. However, thanks to drag and drop website builders like Leadpages , this part of the process has become incredibly simple.

To build your website, choose a professionally-designed template and then use the no-code Drag & Drop Builder to customize your color, images, and text. When you’re ready, click publish to share your site with the world.

Once your website is published adding new content is easy. Simply create a new page, write or paste your copy into the text box, and upload photos or videos. You can return to the builder at any time to make updates and changes to your content as needed.

7. Consider SEO

While creating and uploading content you need to think about search engine optimization (SEO). Following SEO best practices will give your content a better chance of appearing in search results, allowing you to reach more of your target audience. 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine , so this is the best long-term strategy for generating traffic

Here are a few tips:

• Aim for at least 300 words per website page and over 2,000 words for blog posts . Give people something to chew on and let search bots crawl enough words to index your content.
• Perform research using tools like Google’s Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to find high-volume, low competition keywords that are relevant to your brand.
• Focus on optimizing each page of your site with one primary keyword per page, using a different keyword each time and incorporating it throughout your text.
• Metadata titles and descriptions
• Header tags (H1, H2, H3, etc.)
• Image alt text

Within the Leadpages Website Build select "Settings" and "SEO" to edit your meta title and descriptions.

Just remember that SEO takes time to have an impact. If you want to get eyes on your content right away then you’ll want to pay close attention to the next step.

8. Promote your content

Publishing a content asset is no small feat. In fact, it can take hours, days, and sometimes even weeks to ideate, research, draft, design, and optimize your page. So, don’t make this a wasted effort. Get more eyeballs on your website content by taking the time to promote it. You can do this in a number of ways, including:

• On your site: Promote content assets within your website with pop-ups and alert bars .
• Internal linking: Build links from other web pages and content on your site to your new content. This is also good for SEO.
• Social media: Share your content across all your active social networks. You can also seek out groups, communities, and forums where you can get your content in front of the people most likely to benefit from what you’ve created.
• Share internally: Have a team of employees, contractors, or collaborators? Invite them to engage with your content and help you amplify its reach online. You can make it easy for them to share your posts by providing pre-written swipe copy.
• Email: Share your content with your email list through regular newsletters and updates.
• Paid advertising: Use Google and Facebook ads to promote your content and grow your audience.

Long story short, just because you build it doesn’t mean they’ll come. Use the tips above to create a content distribution checklist that helps you create a standard process for promoting your work to ensure all your content is properly promoted.

9. Maintain and scale content

Just because your content is published and promoted doesn’t mean your work is done. For the best results, you’ll want to update your content regularly so it stays fresh and relevant. Check on your content at least once a year to see if the information is still accurate and make changes accordingly.

You’ll also need to keep planning for future content. Pay attention to the questions your audience is asking and do keyword research to learn what people are searching for. Based on this, create an editorial calendar to map future content, track ideas, and avoid duplicated topics.

Try to maintain a steady stream of content throughout the year. Adding new articles and videos monthly or weekly will ensure you stay top-of-mind with your audience.

Use the steps above the create your website content plan, then put it into action. Remember, building the plan is only the first step. You need to act on it and stick with it to make it work.

And of course, in order for your website content plan to work, you’ll need a website. If you don’t already have one set up you’re in luck. You can try Leadpages’ Website Builder free for 14 days and start creating your site today.

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Wondering what to read next?

Here’s what we suggest: →  What Are Lead Generation Websites? Everything You Need to Know (Plus 5 Examples) →  12 Different Ways to Use Website Pop-ups →  53 UX Statistics to Know for 2023

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Jump to Content

• Build your content strategy

How to create a content strategy

What you’ll learn

• A content strategy helps organize and streamline content creation and posting
• Defining a personal mission statement helps you scope what content you want to create and who you’re creating it for
• Use a content strategy to unify and plan across different content channels
• A content strategy prevents you from getting lost or distracted
• Look at past successes and failures to shape the direction of your content strategy

What is a content strategy?

A content strategy outlines how you plan, create, and deliver your content. There’s no one size fits all, one creator's content strategy will look completely different from the next. Even the one you build for yourself will change and morph over time as you grow.

Building a content strategy might sound like work about work, but the benefits highly outweigh the costs. A content strategy will help you:

• Organize your content creation process.
• Schedule when and where you post content.
• Scope potential topics and unify your voice.Measure content success.
• Measure content success.

Start building your content strategy

While no two content strategies are the same, there are unifying principles every creator can follow to start building theirs. Keep in mind that this strategy is for you! So, try to build it with tools you like and plan with your strengths and weaknesses in mind.

Define your personal mission statement

Your content strategy is designed to help you as a creator. The first step to creating one is to identify who you are, your brand, and then turning that into a personal mission statement. A personal mission statement might look something like this:

“I am Kimberly, an environmental activist who creates content about the local wildlife to encourage residents in my area to act sustainably.”

Try writing your own by filling in the blanks of our mission statement template:

“I am ___, who creates content about ____, for my audience _____.”

Organize content type and platform

Now that you know who you are, the topics you’ll cover, and the audience you want to reach, it’s time to think about the types of content you can create and what platforms to publish it to. While big key moments and events should be planned weeks or months in advance, a regular cadence may require more flexibility.

Let’s use Kimberly, our environmental activist, as an example. We can begin to brainstorm ideas she’ll make content about. Let’s start with three topics:

• A local frog species was recently classified as endangered
• Attending a sustainability conference
• Weekly volunteering at a wildlife sanctuary

Then, we’ll list the content delivery platforms Kimberly uses and how often she likes to post to them:

• 1 post per month
• 1 live broadcast per week
• 3 to 5 posts per week

Take a moment to identify the primary purpose of each platform you post to. This will help you figure out how much effort and how often you can and should be posting.

Next, we’ll think about the types of content we can create from each topic and what platform we can post it to:

• Blog post: details about the frog, what it means to be classified as endangered, how residents can help
• Instagram: photos of the frog with a caption explaining it’s endangered
• TikTok: videos of frog in the wild
• Blog post: breakdown of learnings after attending
• Instagram: Live updates while attending conference
• TikTok: Videos of sustainability tips and tricks learned from the conference
• Blog post: How to get started volunteering with wildlife
• Instagram: Live broadcast feeding cute baby animals
• TikTok: Videos of animals at sanctuary with fun facts

While this list is by no means exhaustive, it starts to paint a picture of how we can use the same topic across different platforms and the types of assets we’ll need for each kind of content.

Map your content creation and publishing cadence

Now that you’ve identified the types of content and where you’ll post it, you need to create it! When it comes to posting content and keeping your audience engaged, consistency is key. This step of your content strategy is about aligning follower expectations with your content creation process and abilities.

This is the stage where you turn content ideas into actionable steps.

Planning your content on a monthly basis gives you a good amount of foresight into what’s coming, but still gives you the flexibility to adapt as things change or unexpected things pop up. But, how far in advance you plan and schedule your content creation process and publishing cadence will vary depending on your platforms and goals.

A beginner’s approach to mapping your content to a calendar might look something like this:

• Kimberly has her weekly volunteer shift that includes a live broadcast. She immediately adds that to her calendar.
• Kimberly knows how often she creates content for each platform. She adds in tentative publishing dates.
• A local frog species recently classified as endangered is news, and Kimberly could potentially be the first to inform her followers of this update. She schedules time for research and writing her blog to ensure she posts it on time.
• Kimberly’s blog is her creator hub and she wants to drive traffic to it, so she’ll use some of her social media posts to promote her post when it’s published.
• Kimberly also knows when she’s going live each week. She’ll include posting reminders for her followers in her calendar.
• Kimberly likes to let users know what animals she’ll be featuring on her weekly broadcasts by posting a photo or video of them. She makes sure to schedule time to take and edit new ones, since she tries to avoid using assets she’s already posted.
• Kimberly gave priority to her established schedule and ideal posting cadence. Identifying the gaps in her schedule should now be easy and obvious.

Try this approach to map your content for the next month

Publish, measure and adjust

Now that you’ve got a content strategy outlined, all you need to do is follow it! Well, sort of. At this stage, you have a plan, but there’s a lot of moving parts. By tracking and measuring the success of your content you can better tailor the topics and types of posts.

For example, if Kimberly checks her blog analytics and sees a huge spike in traffic to her blog after going live on instagram, she may adjust her content strategy to make room for more live content. She could take it a step further and track if going live on TikTok provides more page hits than Instagram and then schedule around that.

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Options and Tips for Creating a Web Design Business Plan

Don’t get too intimidated by writing a web design business plan, a lot of it just means getting down onto paper things you likely have been considering anyway. According to Entrepreneur “Writing…

Estimated Read Time:   40 minutes

Don’t get too intimidated by writing a web design business plan , a lot of it just means getting down onto paper things you likely have been considering anyway. According to Entrepreneur “Writing out your business plan forces you to review everything at once: your value proposition, marketing assumptions, operations plan, financial plan and staffing plan.”

If I can do it – and go from 1 to 10 people in three years, you can too 😉 My wife will tell you… I’m no genius.

Table of Contents

Main Points in a Web Design Business Plan Outline:

1. business concept –.

What is the web design industry like in your immediate area and region? What are the high-level possibilities for the success of your web design business? What are the prime differentiating factors and how you will set yourself apart from the competition?

2. Who is the market for your web design firm?

Who are your customers? Are you serving only mid-sized businesses? Only editorial publications? Churches? Non-profits? Teenie tiny mom and pop shops? Fortune 500 companies? What niche are you looking to serve? What is the demand like for the service? And this leads us into our next question.. What does your pricing need to look like to serve these customers? And it’s not always getting your price down into affordability; maybe you need to price higher so that your company seems more professional and that you can offer above and beyond service. “Price high and justify.”

3. Income and Cash Flow Statement, Balance Sheet etc.

“Start by estimating the revenues generated by an average sale. Then subtract the costs that change with each transaction, like sales commissions and costs of producing the products sold. The result is your “unit contribution.” Next, predict your monthly overhead, or expenses that don’t vary directly with sales volume, such as rent, salaries, utilities, legal fees, and accounting expenses. Finally, divide your monthly overhead by your unit contribution. That number will tell you how many transactions you’ll need per month to break-even.” From this article on Inc. of The Basics of a Business Plan by the Numbers.

Get started with this One Page Web Design Business Plan

General Principles for writing a Web Design Business Plan:

1. Keep your business plan short and simple.

Go for it right now with this One Page Web Design Business Plan .

2. Use visual charts to quickly show key numbers.

3. Do what you do best, and make it look professional.

4. Ask key questions like what will be it’s annual revenue in a year, and in 5 years.

5. What things can I delegate? Sales, Technical or others? How will you attract these people to help, and what will be your key differentiators of process and culture?

6. Is the business plan going to help you raise money? 

7. How much of an initial investment will the business need?

Tools for Creating a Business Plan:

1. LivePlan.com – Visual planning tool, helpful if you really don’t know where to start. It will give you the sections and the template is already there.

2. The Art of The Start 2.0 (Book by Guy Kawasaki) – “It’s most relevant for technology or IT companies, but he has a way of writing that’s very clear, very to the point. There’s not a lot of pedantic info that you’ll find in textbooks.”

3. Score – Business Planning Templates –  Quickly assess your marketing plan, Free business listing list for search engine optimization, Marketing must haves etc.

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Other Links related to Web Design Plans:

• Web Design Sample Business Plan – Executive Summary
• 9 Steps to starting your freelance web design business – Business Tuts
• Plan a Web Development Business Part Two- BPlans
• How to Make a Business Plan for a Website Development Startup – Color Whistle

Getting Your First Web Design Clients

My first web design client was my future mother-in-law, a real doozie. A non-profit, I was paid $500 and an iPad. I’ve also been paid as little as – negative $ for making a website, because I was so eager for real world experience. Do you want a website? I want to give you one.. just let me pay for your hosting and I’ll make the website out of the salt from the sweat of my children.

Don’t sell yourself short. Charge a decent amount.

So the first real website I sold was a couple months later. I was just learning WordPress and I sold a site for 10 monthly payments of $250 dollars. Because it was a fairly simple marketing website and didn’t have a ton of custom features on it, this was actually a pretty solid deal for a starting out web designer.

The first half of selling yourself as a web designer is evidence. Let’s see the goods.

Make sure you have a decent portfolio out there, that you made yourself..

I don’t care if it’s on WordPress, straight HTML, or Ruby on Rails. Get that thing out in the open, give it the best you got and make sure it shows the best of your best work. Code up a non-profit’s website for free if you have to, and show as many real projects as you possibly can. I iterated on my website 3 times, with 2 live at my domain before I ever got my first real set of clients. It doesn’t need to be perfect, it just needs to exist.

Here’s my site I made in 2012 (click here to see it in the Internet Wayback Machine):

Here’s the site in 2013 (click here to see it in the Internet Wayback Machine):

Yes.. I agree my portfolio was a little weak at this point, but guess what? I was getting clients. I wasn’t by any means, raking them in, but people I knew were coming to me and asking if I could help with their website or help them make a new website. I was eager to be of service, and make enough money to stop bussing tables.

Let the world know you’re making websites now.

Change your job on Facebook to ‘Self Employed Web Designer’, change your LinkedIn –  don’t put Aspiring Web Designer in your Twitter profile, put Web Designer. You’re a big boy (or girl) now. I personally took a good hard running jump at web design, and with one client and one month covered in expenses jumped out into the market as a web designer. No more restaurant job (which for me didn’t pay THAT well anyways.) When people hear that’s what you do, and you take a friendly and helpful attitude when they reach out, or you offer your services you can quickly earn some awareness around the new service you offer.

Don’t wait until you have it perfected, just go for it.

I’m not suggesting you make the new 3M website, or try to sell yourself as a ten year veteran of website design. You can, however, say you will go above and beyond for a client as you are starting out fresh and will do everything in your power to make them an excellent website. If you’ve created a couple of examples, then that can help adjust expectations and although you may need to put ungodly amounts of time into your first couple websites you will earn your chops in the struggle. You’ll figure out how to z-index a logo over the top of overlapping nav div.

In defense of the designer-developer.

Yes, I’m suggesting you will have to write code. Can you sell a website for $2,500 dollars and give half of it away to a front-end developer when you’re starting out? Perhaps, perhaps not. I personally couldn’t, and so… I learned to code. Basics at first, how to modify WordPress themes ever so slightly with CSS. Then cutting and splicing bits of PHP, then eventually writing my own themes from scratch. This is why I suggest having a couple of websites under your belt before really having someone pay you for your web design services; you can find the rhythm that works for you. If you are an epic visual designer who can confidently charge $5,000 for your first website you could potentially find the right person to develop it for you and you can pay them adequately to make it good. It’s really to each is own, because I preach design/development, and you have an equally right  person 2 doors down who wouldn’t touch a CMS to save his life. Literally … my old neighbor above me would sell sites for 7-8k and I thought he was an internet god. He would write the HTML, CSS, and Javascript (In Dreamweaver, hello throwback,) and then outsource custom Content Management System development for 2k. I just wanted to learn how to not pay that 2k .

Other ways to promote your new web design business

• Look for ways to trade your services for advertising : I sold my services in an auction by a Minneapolis newspaper  in exchange for adspace in their lifestyle magazine VitaMN.
• Get every viable social media handle/url under the name you’re using to freelance , promote yourself vigorously on TWO of these, and understand you’re not going to do ALL of them well .
• Make a list of all the acquaintances who have small businesses, and that could use a website. Send them a quick note, and always be of the mind that you’re there to be of service – not sell.
• Go old school and create a flyer : I put boots on the ground and peddled my wares (a one page services sheet – without pricing on it) around every business that I could open the door to in my area of Uptown Minnesota. I focused on what I did that was different. Alot of times this is personal service, since you likely have less clients and more time and attention than alot of web design shops in town. – To be perfectly honest, this didn’t get me a client. Maybe what I’m really suggesting here is hustling your ass off and being as present as possible… take every opportunity to share what you do until you gain momentum.
• Put out content on a blog on your website and promote it on social media : Don’t sell dude. Don’t do it. You can still see my oldest posts on this blog that are salesy… it’s not going to kill your blog, but it’s really boring and no-one wants to read those. Just give as much value as you can, share your experiences and focus on the ONE SERVICE you are really trying to sell and things you’re learning in that discipline. Use it as an opportunity to dig deeper into your craft, and to share as you go.

Price High and Justify

After you promote the living shit out of yourself on social media, talk to your long lost friend with a supplement or house painting business, and make a few mistakes it’s time to price high and justify . You have to charge what people will pay, but as soon as you can push that number up as high as it can reasonably go. Why? If you have high prices it means you can make more excellent work! Justify the price with above and beyond service and you’ll feel great about what you do. Your work will mean more profitable businesses that benefit from the excellent websites you make. It feels good to help people feed their families by helping them get the word out about what makes their business special. And in the end, that’s what it boils down to for me.

Make Sure Your Process Differentiates You from Competitors

It’s important to recognize what your business’s competitive advantage is, and unless you want to build a business that depends upon what’s special about YOU as an individual you have to draw out and nurture the special things about your process. To focus on your own unique specialties alone builds a prison fortress around you, and if you ever want to hire or contract out parts of the business you’re stuck with a business that only works with you sweating away at the center of it; the wizard behind the curtain, slowly getting too tired to perform at the same level.

So for me the key pieces of my web design process as I am learning to define them are:

1. responsiveness to changes that clients need..

– Example: Client asks for a lighter color scheme in development, instead of fretting we work hard to satisfy the request and push back when appropriate to keep within a reasonable budget.

Key to fulfilling: Web design services should not be dirt cheap, and if they are they aren’t taking into consideration the time it takes to build something fully customized for the business’s needs. Templated solutions get generic unfulfilling results. (However, I still feel that for some customers templated solutions such as Squarespace.com and WordPress Themes from Themeforest without custom code can occasionally fulfill their needs and suggest that they try those routes if their budget doesn’t allow to really hire someone to do it right.)

2. Examining the overall market for the client and tailoring the content on the site to the scenarios that could be useful to their favorite kinds of clients.

– Example: Your site is serving people who just suffered hail damage to their home, we assess that a key to surprising and delighting these types of customers is serving up content that is about how to buff out hail damage on their car.

Key to fulfilling: It’s crucial we think about the psychology of the people coming into the site. This is the number one question we ask when making a website: “how can we serve your ideal customer with this content, this imagery, the messages we’re sharing and the story we’re telling.”

3. Building out the main service pages of the website in the hope that the content will attract new customers, making key items like ‘contact us’ and ‘buy now’ super easy to access on the main promos, sidebars, and at the end of content.

– Example: Adding bigger content pieces after key visual blocks on service pages so that the service page is indexable by Google and people who want to really dig into what you have that option. Big old juicy buttons that say “Contact us now” or “Request a quote” are super obvious and surrounded by trust factors such as positive testimonials, industry badges, a phone number, or 3 key differentiating features in bullet points.

Keys to fulfilling: It’s important not only to think about how people are going to perceive this site when they get there but how they are going to get there in the first place. By thinking about big content pieces that could provide big value for the client during the design process, the website can be built in a way that emphasizes and makes those big content pieces that are serving a real need available and to the forefront of the site with menu structure, and other pieces of navigation and structure.

4. Imagery is outside the box, and elicits a positive emotional response from key individuals your business is targeting.

– Example: A Death to Stock Photo image that feels less stock photo-esque and more candid than most stock photos.

Even better, you and your storefront, your set of tools. An ACTUAL satisfied client, smiling and holding your product or enjoying your work.

Keys to fulfilling: Often this involves imagining what a positive interaction between your business and your client will look like. Is it you sitting with them, them smiling, and a chart of upward momentum on the computer screen in front of you? Is it freshly cut grass without them lifting a finger, so they get to smile and sip fresh lemonade on their porch? This is the story we want to display. We want the imagery to feel candid, real and maybe even a bit unusual. But a visitor should be able to see it and think to themselves, I want to be there. They should be able to imagine themselves in the place of the person pictured on the site.

5. The copy is written in a way that quickly explains the core benefit/value from your product or service, invites the visitor to participate, and explains why it will be awesome for them.

– Example: A moving company could say “Your back will thank you, call us for a custom quote today.” A remodeling company could say, “You’ll feel as good as your home will look.” with a call to action button that says, “Get a quote for a fresh look.”

Keys to fulfilling: Never be generic! Shake out the cobwebs in your marketing brain right now. Seriously, every single product or service has a unique and special story behind it, and the customers you serve need to know why anyone would choose you . Why have they in the past? I speak to the business owners and people representing businesses in their marketing teams, and I ask: “Tell me the story of positive customer experience, that you’re aware of.” What does that look like. Tell that story on the site. The more you get curious about these stories and the core benefit a product or service is providing, very few things are truly boring. The more you get interested in the story of the product or service, and tell that positive experience story the more you’ll see that almost anything can be interesting.

And the moral of the story is:

As you can see, the key differentiating features of this design process is a personal connection, customizing the solution to the industry and those specific businesses prime differentiating features, and enthusiasm. That enthusiasm through every piece of the puzzle is crucial. It’s important to note at every step of the process that this is for a business composed of REAL PEOPLE, whose food and shelter depends on telling the story to the world, and REAL PEOPLE who benefit from the product or service being served. This is the real end value. So anyone I work with, or for feels that: the enthusiasm and the genuine intent to provide value. This is key to this design process. 

How to Speak About Design to Establish Trust

“I thought you might like the flourishes in the header, it has that bohemian, natural feeling you were talking about when we first met up to discuss the project.” = FIRE ME . “Thought you might like,” “Going for that feeling,” and “I was inspired to take a fun direction,” all scream of whimsical dainty little artist types who could literally die from the harsh realities of designing for real economic pressures. The real economic reality is that families food and shelter depends on the success of a business, and a key component of how a business does is how that business presents itself to the world through design.

I’m not saying you can’t feel a feeling and apply it to your work in design, but design isn’t art. It is meant to solve real world problems. So instead of focusing on your feelings while presenting to the client, focus on design principles, web design best practices, and the persona’s and scenario’s you established during your discovery phase. Focus the conversation around:

• Design Principles
• Web Design best practices
• Persona’s and scenario’s

Why do design principles even matter?

I’ve had a couple situations lately, where someone seems to be questioning why a font choice even matters. They rolled their eyes when I mentioned a study that called Baskerville the most trusted font. It got me thinking. How am I presenting this wrong? Because I know in my heart of hearts that design matters. <- FIRE ME,  but I can’t seem to always make it dead obvious to people I’m presenting work to.

I want to show them two ads side by side, one with high quality fonts that were chosen with serious intention and one with quickly chosen free fonts , and ask them which of them makes the product they represent seem more expensive, or which one makes the product seem more quality. Because good design does indeed represent products and services in a better light, and makes them seem more high quality. You know that, and I know that, but:

But how do we make the value of design dead obvious?

1. Resolve to help them find solutions to pain points. – Your website looks like shit on mobile, let’s fix that. Your logo has gradients and shadows in it to the point it’s hard to use on shirts and in other simple ways. Let’s address those and work from there how design can help solve problems you’re aware of now. Maybe it expands from there; as a designer, you’re a problem solver and the more you can identify and come up with creative and solid solutions for, the more design solutions you get to get paid for.

2. Dive into their world and become aware of what they value. – For web design you might realize the client cares more about looking cool than contact form submissions. You might realize they value their relationship with their family deeply, that a certain type of customer is their favorite . Once we realize what they care about deeply… pause pause pause …we can help them communicate those values through the design.  By diving in, visiting their shop, asking a lot of questions, and being present we can then better let them know how good design will help them do that.

3. Focus on the things they do understand like ‘Trust factors’, ‘color psychology’ and ‘telling the story.’ – ‘We have to tell the story of your business better,’ is going to resonate with some people better than my fascination with the font Baskerville. Even though I deeply care about typography, it’s just not always as accessible of a topic, or as interesting to clients. What they do understand is how adding a Better Business Bureau badge next to the contact form will help increase the likelihood of people contacting them, and how blue is associated with trust and how green get’s associated with natural, fresh, or innovative. This really depends on the particular client, as some clients can go deep without a lot of prep.

Let’s circle back for a bit and make sure you’re working with the right kind of client:

The client defines the value and the designer discovers it. Ask the client what their business or organization does and why is it important to their target audience. If they don’t give you a quick comprehensible answer they are not ready to work with a designer or an agency. If they do answer the question you should next ask them what success looks like and what their goals are. DO NOT lead them toward what you think success might be. Let them define it.

When you get their feedback, dig deeper. A good way to do this is by asking who their target audience is and what their target audience needs are. If they can’t answer this they are not ready for the value a designer or an agency will provide. The client needs to have experience communicating with their target audience in order to set proper goals. If there’s no goal, how will you know whether or not a project is successful? Here are some red flags to look out for in the beginning stages of communicating with a potential client. I asked a fellow designer, Brenna French to share some thoughts on this issue:

“You sit down at a coffee shop excited to talk to a potential client about the project and the first thing they say is, I want to build a website how much would that be? This is a red flag because this means their mindset is already focused on getting a deal and not on the value you can provide for their business or their target audience.

This goes both ways in the relationship by the way, you never want to position the project or conversation around money. If you talk about money right away this shows the client that you are money hungry or desperate for work. Remember you are a professional and you are serious about your work and the value you can provide. Positioning the conversation around value sets the tone for the whole relationship in a positive way.

Say you get past that money conversation and everything is going well so far so you start talking about the project. The client starts to explain that they are wanting a one-page website design and they also want the main colors to be blue and orange because to them those are beautiful colors, oh yeah they also want a picture of themselves in the main header. This is a red flag because they have too many ideas of what they are visually wanting the end product to look like.

As a design professional, I don’t want to execute the client’s wants in mind. I design the best possible solution for the client’s target audience so the client will reach their business goals. From my experience, a client that has a specific visual direction is difficult to work with. Position the conversation around value. By the end of the conversation, you both are excited to get started. You set clear expectations and attracted the client by positioning the conversation around value.”

– Brenna French

Ask these questions of new possible clients: Is the client sure of their target audience?

Is the client aware of their target audience’s needs?

Are they able to answer right away, what is it that you do and why is it important to your target audience?

Do they start talking about their budget right away? (If they do it might be a red flag – try to change the conversation to talk about value that you’ll provide, not an arbitrary number you come with on the fly without fully understanding the project.)

Do they give off the impression that they understand you’re the expert, that they understand that are only responsible for Content – and Business Goals?

Do they have alot of ideas already about how the website should look? – A possible red flag.

That last one is challenging, and occasionally working for small businesses it’s important to kindly educate your clients on what is your responsibility and what is yours. But needless to say, if they come out of the gate giving strong layout suggestions and explaining their specific vision for look and feel you’re being pigeon-holed into the position of technician implementing someone else’s design, not the dynamic problem-solving designer.

Ways to talk and words to use

Talk confidently and make sure to include examples of previous work where you solved a specific goal-oriented problem. Now is the time to ask what their primary objective is, and to set up a metric for the design you’re working on currently. 100 e-mail list subscriptions, 15 contact form submissions by legitimate prospects, 20 sales the first three months of launch. Make specific goals have a date attached to them. Gathering this information after the design should be part of what you’re being paid to do, and part of what you’re selling.

Do user testing on the old site when they come in, if it’s worth testing. Talk about testing critical things. Words and phrases to use: research, effective, goals, trust-worthy, tell your story, appeal to your core demographic. Always do research on their industry before getting into the site design. Their competitors, and brand positioning. By doing this you better understand what they are up against and you position yourself as the expert with a unique understanding of their dilemma. This is another reason to hold off giving a price for the work until you fully understand the problem at hand.

Share research. You don’t always have to have it on hand when you are discussing a particular issue. But you should do your due diligence, if they want a pop-up newsletter subscription box then you should be able to go find the research on which way of doing that is most effective (right away, timed, or exit intent,) or general tips on making a pop-up effective. I find it especially effective to share these bits of research right before you show the design at all. Come up with three pieces of research to support points that might be contentious or that push their comfort level on the design. Share them briefly before going over the design.

When you get into showing the design, avoid the real estate tour; ‘here’s the logo,’ ‘here’s the nav,’ etc. Go straight for the heart of why the design serves their goals. Talk about flow and conversions, and especially focus on how the design presents their story in a unique and compelling way to appeal to their core demographic. Never ask for feedback, ask if they have any questions. In this way, you can further ingrain yourself in their mind as an expert. I think of it as a bit of swagger. Humble swagger, but you have to have some swagger in this industry.

Content Strategy for Web Designers to Attract Ideal Customers

Devising a workable and effective content strategy can be difficult for any company or brand, as the needs and desires of readers, clients, and businesses always vary from individual to individual, and from day to day. With a bit of work and the following content strategy guide to get you started, you should be well on your way to developing a stellar web design content strategy ! The most important part is that you start, and these practical and actionable strategies will help you get your ass in gear.

Begin with an Introspective Evaluation

Before taking that first step down the road of content creation, the best tactic is to initially spend some time to evaluate where your company, your content, and your brand currently stand. Begin this evaluation by honestly answering a few simple questions:

How is our brand currently perceived in the marketplace?

What are good and bad aspects of the brand’s existing content?

What content-related goals would we like to achieve?

How does our brand match up to other web design competitors?

With these basic questions answered about your brand and where your company currently stands, you can move onto an overall content strategy design by answering “The Five Ws”:

Who is the audience of our content?

When should particular content be available?

Where (in which channels) should the content exist?

Why is the content relevant (or) why will the audience care?

What is the message or purpose of the content?

For example, throughout this article I’ll illustrate examples with a fictional up-and-coming web design firm called Green Lemon Design. The Green Lemon team — who are looking to establish themselves in the web design market as a talented, young, and energetic choice for lower to mid-tier web designs — might answer these questions in the following (simplified) form:

Potential clients: Users seeking low- to mid-range website design and consultation services.

Existing clients: Users who have worked with us in the past.

Most content on the website should be available 24/7, while content that is time-sensitive (such as a month-long new client special deal) can be temporary.

Onsite, Blog, Email, Twitter, Facebook

The audience should be seeking professional and affordable web design services that we can offer (for potential customers) or additional customer support and services (for existing clients).

To inform and educate our audience on the skills and capabilities of our brand, to impress with our past successes and portfolio, and to establish good rapport and relationships with both potential and existing clients.

Establishing Brand, Voice, and Tone Guidelines

With the basic questions answered that inform you of a need to change your content strategy , now is a good time to evaluate the brand, voice, and tone guidelines you’ll utilize throughout the content.

Brand guidelines can cover logo design to color pallette and everything in between. For content strategy , the best places to start are:

Fonts and typefaces : What fonts will be used throughout the content? How about sizes for various elements (paragraphs, headers, testimonials, etc)?

Colors and palettes : What colors best suit your brand or company and can be utilized throughout the content? – Example above includes a distinctive color palette that could be applied to other elements.

Images and logos : Which particular static images or logos should be prominent throughout the content? – It’s useful to repeat symbols such as the ‘greenish lemon’ throughout this piece. This may be particular to the content you put out on your site in general, or a particular blog post or content hub.

Videos and animations : As above, are there any video clips that should be frequent or readily available somewhere in the content?

Voice & Tone

Determine early in the process what kind of voice and tone you wish to attach to your content and thus associate with your brand. This can be difficult at first, particularly without much in the way of experienced writers on staff, but finding an appropriate voice can be a huge boon to your content strategy as a whole.

For example, Green Lemon Web Design may elect to take on a very informal, even humorous tone throughout their content. As a young and fresh company, they may feel most comfortable keeping their tone light-hearted and fun, to attract the business and clientele of smaller, younger companies like themselves.

Onsite Content: The Bread of Your Content Strategy Sandwich

Time to get down to the real core of your content strategy by first devising the outline of content that should exist onsite. Remember, anything  that exists on the company or brand website (with the exception of the blog) is considered onsite content and should be under your complete control.

For our fictitious Green Lemon Web Design, the outline for onsite content strategy might include the following sections:

Voice & Tone : Errors/alerts, testimonials, FAQ, portfolio should have a fun and humorous tone, while a more serious, business tone is necessary for transactional and billing-related messages.

Images : In addition to the logo and color palette established previously, we’d like some professional photography to splash through the core onsite pages (about us, contact us, etc), but with a refreshing twist: Each photo should contain a small green lemon strategically placed and tucked somewhere in the graphic, to bring a branded element into the design for brand awareness and maximum impact.

Portfolio : A list of clients we’ve assisted in the past with small testimonials from business partners from each when relevant.

About Us : Details about how Green Lemon came to be, including headshots of all employees with short, fun bios from each. Employees must provide a quote (think high school graduation yearbook quote, or ask a curious question to get your team showing their true colors.) In my experience looking at analytics for a lot of sites, people visit these pages more than you might initially think. It make sense, because we want to know about the people in your business. Tell us more, give us the inside scoop, tell your story.

Contact Us/Get a Quote : Standard form with name, email, and (optional) telephone fields for potential clients to get in touch. Should we include our company promise to establish return correspondence within 4 hours?

FAQ : Answer basic questions, primarily focused at potential customers. What is our typical turnaround time? What post-design support can we offer? Include a handful of fun and humorous questions at the end as well.

Services : Describe all services we offer, broken into categories (consultation, marketing, technology, industries, etc).

Errors & Alerts : 404 error should be squeezed green lemon with one final drop of juice falling out. Logged in clients with unread messages or invoices should see amusing flash message on each screen until dismissed. Little alerts and responses to contact form inquiries can be an opportunity to show a bit of the companies friendly, human character as well as display being adept with technology and attention to detail.

Blog Posts: That’s the Good Stuff

While strong onsite content is of course critical to the success of any strategy, very often the real meat and potatoes of your online presence is contained within the blog. The blog offers an avenue for expressing ideas and sharing content that is timely, relevant, and inspirational for the audience.

A blog is also a more appropriate channel to take risks — even slight ones — with the content your brand produces. Blog content can be anything from industry news and competitor-vs.-self comparisons to tutorials and how-to guides.

A successful blog is a channel for content that relates to the brand or company, but then extends well beyond the purview of the brand to provide relevant and interesting content for the audience to consume.

Don’t get caught in the old-school idea of a blog, where one or a handful of curators post personal stories and anecdotes. While that type of content is certainly acceptable and sometimes appropriate to a modern blog, try to expand the content well outside the bounds of that traditionally small umbrella.

For example, Green Lemon might highlight some potential blog ideas for their new web designer content strategy :

Leveraging Influencers

A post discussing highly influential creatives in the design space and how they have inspired Green Lemon and other designers. We should emphasize the great projects these creatives have worked on over the years to entice our readers by illustrating how Green Lemon understands the industry and that our team (or freelancer) strives to meet the same standards of excellence.

Discuss the importance of social media contact, even amongst these influences, by tagging them on Twitter with a link to the blog post. An ideal tactic is not to directly ask a question of the power user in question, but to ask a question of our general Twitter audience (e.g. “Designers: How has @Influencer inspired you in your own projects? #GreenLemonDreaming”).

Content Hub Posts

Posts that emphasize a highly-curated and relevant series of links and posts found elsewhere that relate to a particular topic, such as web design. Since a popular group of articles gathered in this singular “content hub”-style post will drive a lot of SEO traffic and referral linkbacks to our site, we can be confident that the effort in putting together these posts is worthwhile and will generate a great deal of buzz and traffic for Green Lemon.

Emphasizing Keywords

As a relatively new company, we cannot be afraid to try emphasizing localized keywords to drive interest and traffic to Green Lemon and bring in potential clients.

A great technique is to create a series of blog posts that highlight particular keywords and heavily focus the relevant aspects of the content on those keywords.

To drive localized traffic we can start with “Web Design in Minneapolis” and “Web Design in Minnesota,” which should feature some location-specific content mixed into the standard information. This can be as simple as pictures or mentions of local attractions in the city or state that residents of these areas who read the article will relate to.

Conversely, we’ll need more broad language and images to accompany our post about “WordPress Web Design,” which should shy away from localized content but instead contain information solely about the techniques and technologies (CMS organization, colors/typefaces, content release schedule, etc).

Inactivity is a Death Sentence

While the initial questions and answers when getting started in the content strategy process as seen above might seem at first to provide only a very rudimentary insight the steps to implement a strategy, there is one key lesson to learn when it comes to anything related to content: Don’t get bogged down by the minutiae and thus never take action .

The biggest mistake anyone can make when it comes to content strategy is to be too passive, to over-assess and over-plan to the point of inaction. Particularly in the online space — where content moves at the speed of light (both figuratively and literally) — failing to act at all on a new content strategy is far worse than taking action and modifying or adjusting the content strategy plan as you learn and grow along the way.

That’s not to say planning and strategy are not important, but in many situations for both companies and clients alike, it is far more important to just “get out there” with the content so the audience can begin to interact with the content or brand than it is to delay far too long with nothing to show for it from a public perspective.

Maintaining Your Flexibility

Content strategies come in all shapes and sizes and should not be solely thought of as a brand-wide, all-inclusive methodology for every piece of content the brand creates.

Instead, content strategies can and should be developed in a modular fashion. Similar to a well-crafted website, an interchangeable content strategy allows for flexibility throughout the process over time, as variables change and the success (or failure) of a particular strategy evolves over time.

This technique should most commonly be used to distinguish between the various channels in which your content resides. A strategy module that suits email campaigns is likely not as well suited for handling social media interactions on Twitter, just as the static onsite content used throughout the site will differ significantly from the content posted on a blog.

Embrace these differences and freely develop multiple modules of your content strategy to fit each appropriate channel. You can and should still maintain an overall parent strategy that infuses elements into every child strategy below that (fonts, colors, common logos/images, etc), but much of the content beyond that will shift as the medium changes.

The Necessity of Taking Risks

A very useful tool when first developing a content strategy is to evaluate the various levels of “risk” involved in any given style or example of content. That is, when a reader or user engages with that content, how likely are they to expect it versus how likely are they to be pleasantly surprised? Additionally as the content creator, how likely is a piece of content to feel standard and safe versus something risky that could fail or be taken poorly, but provide benefit if successful?

There are numerous risk strategies out there, but a solid standard for content strategy used by Portent, Inc. is the 70-20-10 rule .

This rule effectively states that 70% of your content should be safe and expected, 20% should be moderately risky and challenges the standard 70% of your content, and the last 10% should be very risky , such that it is entirely unexpected content or may horribly fail in some way (but will offer large benefits if successful).

For the fictitious Green Lemon Web Design, they have elected to disperse their content using the 70-20-10 rule in roughly this manner:

70%: Most onsite stuff, such as About Us, FAQ, Services, Contact Us/Get a Quote, etc.

20%: Most blog posts that relate to the industry; those that provide assistance to clients, potential customers, or casual readers.

10%: A handful of blog posts that go against the normal, such as emphasizing the great work our competitors have been doing in the past few months or a post about a seemingly unrelated topic to drive traffic and user interest (books, gaming, fishing, etc). We’d also like to add a comparison chart of services and pricing between Green Lemon and popular competitors, which may include features we are weaker at than others but may ingratiate readers to us for our honesty.

Whatever the exact risk assessment is that your own brand settles on, it is vital to not be too afraid of taking risks from time to time. Being a little out there or edgy with your content will make a lasting, memorable impression instead of the countless other examples that are boring and forgotten after a short glance.

A Handful of Content Examples

Below you’ll find a list of example content titles that a new web design firm like Green Lemon — or even you — might find useful to pursue, roughly categorized by intended audience and/or creators.

For Web Designers

Web-for-All: Accessibility for Modern Web Design

Why Improved Design Cannot Solve Content Issues

Content Optimization for Mobile Platforms

Why Email Requires a Responsive Design

And Dash of That..: How A/B Testing Dramatically Improves User Experience

A Bridge Too Far: When Additional Feature Requests Should Be Ignored

This Ain’t Your Granddad’s Pixel: How Modern Displays Are Changing Web Design

Creating Beautiful Graphics and Logos in Pure CSS

The Homepage: When Automation Must Take a Back Seat to Human Control

For Web Marketers

Identifying Your Audience and Content to Meet User Demands

Community is Everything: Why Building a Community is Critical to Content Strategy

Risk vs. Reward: Why Safe is Often the Least Safe

Cultivating Client Relationships

I Like You: Spreading Your Content via Third Party Services

Localization, Love, and Liberation: Why i18n is Critical to Content Strategy

For Clients

Miniature Adults: How Children Utilize the Web and Interact with Your Site

Stay Awhile and Listen: How to Genuinely Engage with Readers

Establishing a Content Strategy for Personal Websites

Online Trapdom: Why Free Services Rarely Are

Just You Being You: How Social Media Encourages a False Sense of Self

Look At All My Resources!

While this article should provide a great starting point to establishing your own web marketer content strategy , there are multitudes of resources online with great information to boost your knowledge and get you down the right path toward content nirvana.

Below are a handful of prime resources to chew through at your leisure, so please enjoy!

Creating a Content Compass : Explores the diverging content strategy of a particular web project across the entirety of a brand’s content universe.

The Magic Content Marketing Ratio: Email Conversion Rate

4 Keys to Capturing a New Audience for Your Content Marketing

Being Real Builds Trust : Discusses why trust with users and clients is among the most vital components of strong marketing content strategy .

Help Your Content Go Anywhere With a Mobile Content Strategy

Future-Ready Content : Developing a web design content strategy that is as future-proof as possible, not just technically but in the manner in which content is created.

Contently Comic: Sponsored Insanity : Explores the pitfalls and trouble that can come from unnecessary sponsored content.

The Most Important Audience for Your Content Marketing : Your Own Employees : How brand and businesses should ensure employees fully understand and adhere to the marketing content strategy .

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Content Creator Business Plan

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Content Catalyst

Value proposition.

Content Catalyst is a content creation service specializing in producing high-quality, engaging, and targeted content for businesses looking to outsource their marketing efforts. As an experienced content creator and influencer, we provide personalized content strategies and creations tailored to a company’s brand, audience, and marketing goals.

The Problem

Many businesses struggle to consistently produce high-quality content that resonates with their target audience, lacking the time, resources, or expertise to do so. This leads to missed opportunities for customer engagement, brand awareness, and revenue growth.

Content Catalyst provides personalized content marketing solutions, including custom content creation, influencer campaigns, strategy consultation, and performance tracking—tailored to clients’ needs and goals.

Target Market

Our target market includes small to medium-sized businesses seeking to outsource their content creation and marketing efforts. We aim to serve businesses looking for:

• A personalized approach to content marketing
• Authentic and engaging content
• A knowledgeable partner with a proven track record

Competitors and Differentiation

Key competitors include other content creators, marketing agencies, and freelancers. Content Catalyst differentiates itself by offering a unique combination of content creation, influencer marketing, and strategic consultation. Our personalized approach, backed by our own success as content creators, ensures that we understand the unique needs of our clients and deliver results that resonate with their audience.

Our experience, passion for storytelling, platform expertise, and commitment to genuine connections enable us to craft engaging content that drives results and keeps clients ahead in the content marketing landscape.

Funding Needs

We seek an initial investment of $50,000 to expand our content production capabilities, invest in marketing efforts to attract clients and enhance our analytics tools to better serve clients’ needs.

Sales Channels

Our primary sales channels include our personal website, social media platforms, and referrals from existing clients. We will also engage in outreach campaigns, targeting businesses in our niche with personalized content solutions.

Marketing Activities

To attract clients and showcase our skills, we will:

• Develop a strong online presence, with regular content updates and portfolio showcases.
• Network at industry events and conferences to build connections with potential clients.
• Offer free webinars and workshops to educate businesses on the value of content marketing and the services we provide.
• Utilize targeted advertising campaigns on social media platforms and industry-specific websites.

Financial Projections

Year 1: $120,000

Year 2: $200,000

Year 3: $300,000

Expenses/Costs

Year 1: $60,000 

Year 2: $80,000

Year 3: $100,000

Year 1: $60,000

Year 2: $120,000

Year 3: $200,000

• Secure initial investment and establish business structure.
• Develop a comprehensive marketing plan to attract clients.
• Reach $10,000 in monthly revenue within the first six months.
• Expand client base and develop long-term partnerships with businesses.
• Continuously refine content strategies and offerings based on analytics and feedback.

Key Team and Roles

Content creator and strategist, responsible for crafting engaging content, developing content strategies, and managing client relationships., social media manager, manages and maintains the online presence, engages with the audience, and tracks the performance of content..

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How to Build a Content Plan for Your Website

8 Minutes, 44 Seconds to Read

I’ve got some good news and some bad news…

The bad news is that getting your website live was the easy part. InMotion Hosting makes sure of that! The hard part is still to come… now you need to develop content for your site that will attract, engage and convert visitors into prospects and ultimately customers.

The good news is that there is a tried and true framework for developing a content plan to ensure that your site can attract qualified visitors and will engage those most likely to become customers.

In this post I’ll share this framework to help you evaluate your business and customers, and develop a strategic content plan to help you meet the needs of your target market, and in turn your own business objectives.

4 Steps to Building a Successful Content Plan

The following steps walk you through a research oriented planning process designed to build a content plan based on the needs of your target market. Rather than the usual brochureware and marketing speak we are aiming here to develop content that answers questions and helps potential customers reach a decision to buy from you. By the time you’re through with this process, you will have created a content plan designed to attract and convert the most qualified visitors to your website.

Step 1: Define the Buying Cycle in Your Business

Your business’ buying cycle in the simplest sense is the journey your customers follow in order to buy a product or service. The customer journey will be different for different industries, longer or shorter depending on the nature of the product. Generally speaking however, a buying cycle follows this basic process…

The breakdown itself is simple enough to understand, the question here is what does the buying cycle in your business mean for content? Let’s take a look at the buying cycle from both a customer’s and content strategist’s perspective to tackle each stage head on.

• Customer Behavior: A potential customer becomes aware of a problem or a need in their life, something they want to overcome or fix. They may not know you can help yet, but they are about to start looking for solutions. They’ll start by asking around and searching online for answers.
• Your Content: What are the questions that a potential customer might start researching related to the problem they are experiencing, and what content could you develop that might help someone with such problems? By answering these questions you can start to position your content as a solution and you can also influence the potential customers buying criteria when they start comparing specific options.
• Customer Behavior: At this stage, the customer has decided that they require a product or service similar to your own to meet their needs. They set about evaluating alternatives and comparing providers to find the one that best meets their criteria.
• Your Content: Your sales content needs to address all the likely questions and objections a buyer might have. Think also about the types of keywords that customers would use when comparing products, and then what kind of content you could produce to address this intent, eg. ‘compare…’, ‘alternatives to…’, ‘…benefits’ and ‘…review’ and type terms. Comparison pages and product reviews are a great example that applies to almost all categories of product. Reviews and testimonials from happy customers means you can rank for such terms but also provides excellent social proof which is proven to boost sales.
• Customer Behavior: The consumer has decided what type of product or service they want to address their need and they are ready to purchase.
• Your Content: Buying keywords like ‘…discounts’ or ‘cheap…’ might apply for certain categories of product, while other approaches such as product bundles and bonuses might work for others. Thinking about the typical consumer in your industry will help you figure out the most appropriate content to attract the buyer and convert sales.

With this buying cycle in mind, you need to think about the types of information that customers in your target market will be looking for at different stages of the buying cycle. Think also about the best mediums and channels to address these. For example, some industries (like DIY) generate loads of how-to type traffic and in this case video is probably a good option. The volume of ‘how to…’ queries on Youtube is huge and so it makes a great channel to reach potential buyers.

Step 2: Cover the Development of Personas

Developing buyer personas is another lens through which you can better understand your customers, and so deliver more value. In essence, what you’re trying to do here is define your target audience to help you determine what kind of content to create for them. Buffer has a wonderful guide on creating buyer personas to help you get started, and this is our own go to checklist for building simple, but insightful personas…

Some of the fundamental questions you’ll want to cover in the development of buyer personas are:

• What do they do? What’s important to them?
• What are their goals, values, and fears? Where do they congregate online?
• What problems do they have? What do they struggle with?
• What’s their go-to resource for solutions? What mediums and channels appeal to them?

Once you understand your target audience and what they expect from you, you can better create tailored content for them that will prove to be relevant to their needs and meet their expectations.

Step 3: Understanding the Keyword Market

Keyword research is an essential part of content strategy. With sound keyword research you can validate whether the market you’re targeting is viable or not, and more importantly gain insight into buyer intent and what your potential customers actually search for in relation to your products.

One of the best ways to do this is to use the Google Keyword Planner tool to uncover the most popular and relevant keyword terms. It takes some time, but you can start with some of the obvious terms and expand from there. One feature of the Keyword Planner that is often overlooked is the ability to enter a URL and let Google tell you what keywords it thinks are relevant for that page. You can use this feature on your competitor’s pages to see what terms they are targeting. Paid tools like SEMRush are also very useful for doing competitor keyword research.

Building on your assessment of the customer buying cycle you should frame your keyword research around the different stages of the cycle. This will help you uncover relevant research and consideration type terms which may be used at different stages of the buying cycle.

AnswerThePublic.com  is another great resource for understanding the questions that people are asking Google about the product or service you’re selling. Enter your product terms and it will return all the how, what, why, where, who and when queries that real people are asking Google in relation to your product or service. This is one of my favorite tools because every one of these questions is a potential blog post.

Leveraging the information gained from keyword research and putting it to good use in producing content for each stage of the buying cycle can help you deliver optimal value to your viewership. Since you already know what they’re looking for, you’re in a position to tailor your site’s content in a way that guides them in making an informed purchasing decision.

Step 4: Mapping Content to Channels and Mediums

So far you’ve outlined your customer’s buying cycle, developed buyer personas for them, and conducted valuable keyword research to determine what your target market is querying in search engines. Now that you have priceless insight into who your target audience is and what they’re looking for, you can move on to building a content plan for your site where the goal is to deliver just the right content in the most appropriate format to engage your target market.

Start by mapping your content to appropriate mediums such as infographics , whitepapers, e-books, videos , presentations , webinars , or podcasts. Certain types of content will suit different mediums, but in many cases you can repurpose content across multiple different mediums. For example you might write a detailed blog post to accompany an infographic, or you might write a blog version of a video presentation or webinar that you have recorded. On the WordPress hosting page at WP Dev Shed we combine video with a text version of the content so visitors can choose how they want to consume the information.

Your choice of mediums will also inform the available channels, as will your insight into buyer personas, ie. you’ll want to choose those channels where you are most likely to find your target consumer. Of course, if you have developed content such as a video it can easily be repurposed across multiple channels like Facebook as well as Youtube in order to reach more people.

Identifying the medium where your strengths and your target market’s preferences overlap is the best bet. Depending upon your product or service, you can make an educated guess into what medium and which channel would deliver the best results. For instance, if you have an interior designing firm, your target audience is more likely to have a preference for videos and presentations as opposed to podcasts or long form articles. Or if you are in the DIY space (selling power tools for instance) then how-to videos on home DIY projects will be an excellent want to help your customers and show off your products.

Wrapping It Up

Quite honestly developing content for your website that truly resonates takes a lot of practice, and to start with involves as many misses as hits. But, you stand a much greater chance of getting the mix right if you focus on the buying journey and developing content to meet the particular needs of your target personas. You’ll quickly learn what works and what doesn’t resonate and can build on the successes.

We hope that by following the four steps outlined in this post, you’ll be able to create a clear, purpose-driven content plan for your website.

Did you face any problems with the steps outlined in this post? Do you think we missed a step? We’d love to hear from you so let us know by commenting below!

One thought on “ How to Build a Content Plan for Your Website ”

Thanks for the great tips! I do have a question however that I think you could probably answer. I was wondering, What’s the different between the works of a web designer, a web developer, a front-end developer and a back end developer? Any insight would be greatly appreciated!

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Content Planning for Social Media: 8-Step Guide for Marketers

Content planning is more than scheduling. Run your accounts like a well-oiled machine with a strategic social media content plan.

How to create a winning content plan

Content planning is the most important factor in the success of your social media strategy. (There, I said it.) It’s much more than choosing a photo, writing a caption, and scheduling it to post.

You can have the world’s best social media marketing strategy, but it won’t be successful without proper content planning.

Here’s why that is, and the 8 steps anyone can do to plan effective, goal-crushing social media content.

OwlyWriter AI instantly generates captions and content ideas for every social media network. It’s seriously easy.

What does “content planning” mean for social media managers?

Scheduling your social posts ahead of time is great, but it’s only a small part of what makes up a content plan. Truly effective content planning focuses on the big picture: Your marketing goals.

Well-planned content is:

• Created in batches to optimize efficiency.
• Part of a cross-platform campaign and repurposed across all your channels for maximum impact.
• Connected to one or more marketing goals.
• Balanced between your own original content and curated content .

Why is content planning so important?

Which strategy is more likely to succeed?

• Chaotic social media content written and posted whenever inspiration strikes.
• Identifying your social media marketing goals and creating content in advance that aligns with and furthers those goals.

Your social media marketing strategy is what you want to achieve and how you will get there. Content planning is the process of designing content for those goals to actually get you there.

It keeps you organized

Batching your content is way more efficient than trying to come up with a post on the fly every day, or for a specific campaign. Batching means you’re taking the time to specifically write a bunch of social media content at once.

Besides being a more efficient way to write content, you’ll get more out of it. As you write each piece of content, extract pieces of it to repurpose. One post can quickly become five or more without much extra time. For example:

• Write an Instagram Reels script.
• Create a text caption from that script to use on text-based platforms like Twitter.
• Create an image or infographic from the Reel content to use as an alternative way to communicate the information.
• And, of course, the most basic: Make a note to save your completed Reel video in different sizes to use on other platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook Pages, TikTok, and more. Check the current recommended post sizes for each platform before saving.
• Plus many more options, including writing an article about the topic to a series of short Tweets of the key takeaways and everything in between.

Content planning saves time and gets you the most mileage out of your work.

It helps you avoid last-minute pressure (and writers’ block)

Oh, crap, it’s 10am on National Do A Grouch a Favor Day and you haven’t got anything scheduled to go out. (It’s February 16th in case you were wondering when you need to do me a favor.)

What will your customers think of you? Whether you post for every made-up holiday or only the real ones, content planning means you and your team will never stress out trying to create something last-minute because you forgot why this weekend is a long weekend.

More than the expected holiday observances, content planning ensures you do your best work. Planning ahead allows space for creative thinking, collaboration, and avoids burnout. All are important for creating a positive workplace culture where employees become brand advocates .

It connects your social media activity to marketing goals

Content planning keeps your eyes on the prize. You’ve got a formal marketing strategy, and hopefully a content strategy, too. (No? We’ve got a free social media strategy template for ya.) Your content planning process is what connects those big picture documents to the day-to-day marketing work your team does.

Each social media post = not that important on its own.

All your posts together = what determines if your social media strategy will sink or swim. Fail or fly. Crash out or cash in. You get it.

How to create a winning content plan in 8 steps

Content planning is the most important part of a social marketer’s job, but don’t sweat it: It’s easy once you’ve got the right process.

Your content plan brings together 3 key elements:

• Your social media strategy
• Your social media content calendar
• How often you’ll post

Let’s create your personalized content plan right now.

Step 1: Plan themes for your content

Before you can create content, you need to choose the categories you’ll post about. How many topics you have and what they are depends on your unique business, but as an example, Hootsuite posts about:

• Social media marketing tips
• Social network updates and best practices
• Marketing research and statistics, like the free Social Trends 2022 report
• Social media marketing experiments
• Product updates and features
• Company news
• Product education (tutorials, tips)

This is your content creation roadmap. If a post isn’t about one of the things on your list, you don’t post it. (Or, you rethink your marketing strategy and add a new category for it if it’s merited.)

Step 2: Brainstorm campaign and post ideas

With your topic list in front of you, create! Just… think! Write! Do it!

Write down all the ideas you can think of that meet the following criteria:

• It’s about one of the topics on your list.
• It’s connected to your marketing goals.

It’s not that simple to “think of ideas,” even for those of us who smash keyboards all day for a living. How you brainstorm is up to you, but here are a few ways I get inspired:

• Scope out your competition: What are they posting? Can you put your own spin on those ideas?
• Review the past: What campaigns have been most successful for you before? What elements of those campaigns were most effective? How can you replicate that for your new goal or campaign?

To know what’s worked before, you need top-notch analytics reports , right? Yes, you can piece together the information manually from each social platform, Google Analytics, and other sources… but why would you?

Hootsuite Analytics measures the real data you need to determine success, not just basic engagement metrics. It gives you a full 360 degree view of your performance across all networks with the ability to customize and run reports however you like, in real-time.

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Step 3: Decide when you will post

We’ve got our why and what , now we need the when .

• Why: Why are you posting this? (What business goal is this content serving?)
• What: What will you post? (The actual content you brainstormed.)
• When: When is the best time to post it?

Sometimes, the when is obvious: Holiday content, a product launch, etc. But there’s a lot more to the when than the day you’re scheduling it for. You also need to consider your overall posting frequency .

You’ll need to experiment with how often you’re posting every week, how many posts per day, and the times of day. And, platforms change their algorithms all the time so what’s working now might not in six months.

Thankfully, you can back up your experiments with personalized intelligence, thanks to Hootsuite’s Best Time to Publish feature. It analyzes your unique audience engagement patterns to determine the best times to post across all your accounts.

Going a step further, it also recommends different times for different goals. For example, when to post awareness or brand-building content, and when to push hard for sales.

Need to get your social marketing started quickly and hit the ground running? Add your posts, either individually or via bulk upload, hit AutoSchedule , and Hootsuite does the rest. Boom—your social media for the month done in under five minutes.

Of course, AutoSchedule is great for those pressed for time, but you should still experiment with different numbers of posts per week and times of day to find what works best for your target audience.

You can customize AutoSchedule to only post during set times or days of the week. Once you decide how often and when to post, either with Hootsuite Analytics or other tools, modify your AutoSchedule settings and now you have effortless social media post scheduling. Nice.

Only want to post once a day at a specific time? No problem.

Step 4: Decide on your content mix

There’s no need to reinvent the wheel daily. A successful social media and content marketing plan contains a mix of original and curated content . But what should you curate? Where from? How often?

Great curated content is:

• Relevant to your audience.
• Related to one of your content themes (from Step 1).
• Connected to a business goal.

How each piece and type of content fits in with your other social media content is more important than how much of it you share, but a standard content mix is 40% original and 60% curated . Of course, adjust that up or down depending on your preferences and production capacity for your own content.

Some weeks you may share more curated content than others, but on average, stick to your plan. A surefire method for ensuring you don’t overdo it? Share one post, create one post—repeat!

With Hootsuite, you can easily add content from around the web to build a library of quality content to share later. When you find something to share, create a new post with the link and save it to your Drafts section.

And, you can use Streams to easily capture content from social media accounts you follow to re-share later.

When it’s time to schedule out your content—more on that later—you can just drag and drop from Drafts straight into your editorial calendar in Hootsuite Planner.

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Step 5: Assign responsibilities

It can be easy to lose track of planning content ahead of time and end up in that familiar “Oh, crap, we need posts for tomorrow!” space, right? It’s the planner’s job to ensure the work that needs to get done flows down through to everyone else.

Clear expectations around who’s doing what are essential for content planning (and, so I hear, life). If you’re a lone content manager and don’t have a dedicated social marketing team with writers, designers, customer support peeps, and so on, now’s the time to build one.

If you’re on a tight budget, find freelancers to outsource tasks to as you need them so you can control expenses. For in-house and larger teams, you need to plan your planning. It’s redundant, and truly true.

So spell it out: Literally put it on your calendar. Assign a planner/strategist to manage the overall content planning process and assign each week or month’s work. Then, assign a designer, writer, project manager, etc to each client and/or campaign you’re managing.

Everything you need to make engaging content. AI support for captions, an AI hashtag generator, and access to Canva in Hootsuite.

Step 6: Write post captions

Whenever possible, it’s best to write your social media post content before the campaign goes off to the design team (the next step).

This has a few key benefits:

• It gives context to the designer so they can work efficiently.
• They will have a better understanding of the entire campaign’s structure and goals.
• While writing the posts, you may think of more ideas to add to the campaign to fill gaps.
• It saves time by allowing copyediting and approvals to happen simultaneously with design, so you can publish it sooner.

Did you know that Hootsuite comes with OwlyWriter AI, a built-in creative AI tool that saves social media pros hours of work?

You can use OwlyWriter to:

• Write a new social media caption in a specific tone, based on a prompt
• Write a post based on a link (e.g. a blog post or a product page)
• Generate post ideas based on a keyword or topic (and then write posts expanding on the idea you like best)
• Identify and repurpose your top-performing posts
• Create relevant captions for upcoming holidays

To get started with OwlyWriter, sign in to your Hootsuite account and head to the Inspiration section of the dashboard. Then, pick the type of AI magic you want to see in action.

For example, if you’re not sure what to post, click on Get inspired . Then, type in the general, high-level topic you want to address and click Get ideas .

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OwlyWriter will generate a list of post ideas related to the topic: 

Click on the one you like best to move to the next step — captions and hashtags.

Pick the caption you like and click Create post . The caption will open in Hootsuite Composer, where you can make edits, add media files and links, check the copy against your compliance guidelines — and schedule your post to go live later.

And that’s it! OwlyWriter never runs out of ideas, so you can repeat this process until your social media calendar is full — and sit back to watch your engagement grow.

Step 7: Create (or source) design assets

This is often where content plans get bottlenecked. You can think up all these amazing campaigns, but without the creative assets that get it noticed, like graphics and videos, you can be stuck in your drafts forever.

But this is exactly why assigning responsibilities is important. Having a dedicated person for each part of the content planning process keeps things moving along and everyone’s on the same page.

With Hootsuite Planner , you can collaborate with other team members on specific campaigns, view the overall calendar, and map out your content to identify opportunities and gaps to fill. Plus, approvals are a snap with a built-in review process so the only content that gets posted is the content that should be.

Here’s how everyone can work together inside Hootsuite to bring a campaign from idea to finished:

Step 8: Schedule content in advance

Last but very un-least, scheduling. I don’t need to tell you scheduling your content ahead of time is important for basic efficiency. But it’s also the one thing that can make or break your entire social media marketing strategy . No pressure.

But really, what’s the point of content planning and following all the steps here if you’re not going to schedule out that content ahead of time in an organized, efficient, strategic way? Exactly.

There’s always room for improvement, though. If you’re not already using Hootsuite, try it out and see how much time you’ll save scheduling posts. Plus: team collaboration, detailed analytics, ads management, social listening, and more—all in one convenient place.

You can create single posts in Composer or dial up your efficiency to 11 with the much-loved bulk upload tool, where you and 350 of your best posts can be scheduled in under 2 minutes flat.

Bonus: Download our free, customizable social media calendar template to easily plan and schedule all your content in advance.

Hootsuite is your content planning partner in success with robust scheduling, collaboration, analytics, and smart insights like the Best Time to Publish feature to make your job easier. Sign up for free today.

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As an ex-agency strategist turned freelance WFH fashion icon, Michelle is passionate about putting the sass in SaaS content. She's known for quickly understanding and distilling complicated technical topics into conversational copy that gets results. She has written for Fortune 500 companies and startups, and her clients have earned features in Forbes, Strategy Magazine and Entrepreneur.

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How to plan a website in 7 steps

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Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, blogger or small business owner, having a website is a must in today’s society. But walking blindly into the world of site creation can be a bit daunting. Fortunately, we’ve got you covered with a detailed list of to-do items to plan a website before you build it yourself or hire a professional to do it for you.

Use this post as a project plan that outlines exactly how to get your new website ready to launch.

Go from idea to online in minutes with GoDaddy Airo™

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Creating a website plan helps you organize your project, collect the assets you need, and start with an outline of your goals and a clear strategy for achieving them.

The website plan will serve as an anchor you can refer to for any later decisions as well as a roadmap that can be used to set deadlines and targets.

Read on for a website plan that will help you launch your site quickly, easily and strategically. If you're still in the early stages, have a look at this guide on how to start a business .

Related: How to build a website

1. Identify your website goals

Before you start building a website, you need to know why you are building it.

• What is your primary objective?
• What do you want your website to accomplish for your business?
• Is it strictly informational, or are you selling products ?
• Are you looking to increase engagement with customers via your site?
• Is your goal to leverage your website to bolster year-end profits?

Knowing the answers to these questions will help you create a plan that is strategically tied to your business goals , so it’s important to always start at square one: the purpose of your website.

Start thinking about the broad purpose of your website

The purpose of your website is the reason why you want to build it. It’s the somewhat obvious reason for what you think a website can do for you. You might think the purpose is to:

• Attract traffic and grow an audience
• Showcase your products
• Share what you know
• Advertise your business
• Entertain your readers

While those are good reasons to have a website, they won’t necessarily help you do anything specific, which is why you need to turn the purpose into a concrete goal.

Turn your purpose into a concrete goal

The goal is the real, concrete reason why you want (and need) a website. It’s what you want to happen as a result of having a website.

To find your concrete goal, start with the purpose that seems obvious and then keep asking yourself “why,” until you get to the real purpose. Examples of this might be:

As you can see in the examples, this exercise narrows your focus so you can define what you actually want your website to do. You can identify the conversion or action you want your audience to do when they are on your website.

Decide what your website needs to help you reach your goal

Understanding the goal for the website (the action you want to trigger) enables you to start designing a strategy that leads to that conversion.

When you plan a website, look at your goal and determine what your site needs to help you accomplish the objective.

For example, if your goal is to:

• Sell an eBook to your audience — You need to funnel users to your eBook product pages and have a way for them to make their purchase.
• Build authority and get speaking engagements — You need to highlight your expertise through blog posts and authoritative content and create a page that tells audiences why and how to hire you as a speaker.
• Build your newsletter subscriber base — You need to create interesting and engaging lead magnets and add opt-in forms on your site.

Break down your goal, and determine the elements you need on your site (such as opt-in forms, landing pages, etc.) to reach that goal. Then, design a funnel on your site that will drive audiences toward the action you want them to take.

2. Identify your target audience

Once you know what you want users to do on your site, you need to figure out who those users are.

It’s critical to clearly identify your website’s target audience when planning your website.

Only then can you create strategic plans to get website visitors to take action.

Why you need to know your target audience

If you’re trying to attract everybody to your website, you’re probably not going to attract anybody. Casting a wide, broad net does little to help with driving traffic, connecting with audiences, or driving conversions. So, you need to know exactly who you are trying to reach.

If you skip this step and fail to clearly identify your target audience, it can lead to a variety of marketing problems.

You won’t know how to talk to your audience. If you don’t know who your customers are and what they like, want and need, it’s difficult to know how to speak directly to them. When you can clearly visualize your audience, it’s much easier to create copy that resonates with them.

You will develop weak, vague branding. Great branding pulls in a specific target audience. If you don’t know your audience, you can’t design your branding to reach them. You will end up creating branding elements that target everyone, which end up being unmemorable, bland and boring.

You will struggle with building lasting customer loyalty and affinity. When your brand and marketing messages are weak and generic, they don’t resonate with customers. If you can’t connect with customers through strong messaging, you will struggle with building lasting brand affinity or loyalty.

You will attract the wrong customers. Vague messaging will not only prevent your target audience from being drawn to your brand, but it will also draw in the wrong type of customers. When your communication isn’t targeting the right audience, you may attract unqualified leads and customers who can’t benefit from your offerings.

You will blend into the competition. When you don’t know who you are trying to attract, you can’t build a brand with a point-of-view. And without a strong brand identity, you risk looking like everyone else in your industry. Your company won’t stand out or connect with customers.

You won’t be able to effectively use targeted advertising. Through targeted social media advertising campaigns , you can choose who sees your ads based on details related to demographics and interests. If you don’t know these things about your ideal audience, you won’t be able to launch effective ad campaigns that target the people most likely to buy from your brand.

Now that you can see why knowing your audience is so important, let’s look at some tips for getting to know your ideal customers.

How to get to know your target audience

You may think you already know who your target audience is. Maybe you have an idea in your head. Unfortunately, that image in your mind might be wrong.

A lot of brands and marketers make incorrect assumptions about their audience.

The only way to truly know who your audience is and what they want, think and need is to do research. To get insights into your target audience, you can do a few things.

Interview your customers. Get to know the people who are already buying from you. Conduct in-person interviews with readers and past customers and shoppers.

Interview your ideal buyers. Get to know the people you want to sell to. Identify people who would be your ideal customer and interview them as well.

Send out surveys. Collect feedback in a more streamlined way by sending out small surveys to your past customers and email subscribers.

See what customers are saying online. If you can’t get customers to talk to you, go to the places where they share their opinions online. Engage in social listening by browsing hashtags related to your brand or industry, and visit review sites to collect feedback.

See what your business data says. Business data is information about the products and services you sell as well as how customers engage with your offerings. Knowing what you sell, when you sell it, how often people buy and similar information will help you get to know your customers and see how they make purchasing decisions.

See what your website stats say. Google Analytics offers insights into how your customers use your website. Use your website data to see what pages customers visit, how often they visit your site before they buy and other metrics to get to know your audience.

Once you collect this information, you will get a better idea about who your customers are and what is going on in their heads. From there, you can create a clear and detailed description of your customer, also known as a buyer persona.

How to create a buyer persona

A buyer persona is a semi-fictional character you create to represent your ideal customer. It is a description of an imaginary customer who meets the criteria of your target audience.

To build a buyer persona for your brand, imagine your ideal buyer and then fill in the following information that describes him or her:

Demographic details

• Family situation
• Annual income

Professional details

• Company size
• Professional goals

Psychographics

• Personality traits
• Subconscious and conscious beliefs
• Motivations
• Favorite blogs/websites
• Favorite magazines/books
• Favorite thought leaders

Beliefs / Goals

• What do they believe strongly in?
• What are the characteristics of their personality?
• What are their personal goals?
• What keeps them up at night?
• What are their pain points?
• What challenges are they facing?

Buying process

• What is their role in the purchase process?
• How do they regularly buy?
• What are their objections to purchasing?

By filling in these details, you create a customer profile that describes your ideal buyer. Then, you can bring the details to life by turning it into a narrative that tells a story about your target customer.

Don’t just describe the persona as a list of details. Add a photo to the story and write a few paragraphs about who they are and what they need.

Having a narrative and photo of your target audience will make it easier to shape your marketing messages. You will keep this image in mind as you create your website.

3. Define your unique selling proposition

So far in your process of planning a website, you’ve determined your goals and defined your target audience. Now, you can start developing marketing strategies for reaching the audience and encouraging them to act.

The first step in that process is creating a unique selling proposition.

What is a unique selling proposition?

A unique selling proposition, or USP, is something special that makes your brand, products or services different from and/or better than your competitors.

It explains the selling points that get prospects to act and take a step closer to becoming your customer.

It grabs the attention of your ideal customers and is the reason why they choose you over all others.

You need to know your USP as you plan a website because your site will be positioned around your unique selling propositions. All of your copy and content will be positioned to subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) promote your USP and tell website visitors why they should choose your brand.

How to develop your unique selling proposition

To develop your unique selling proposition, think about your brand, products and services and answer the following questions.

• How are you different from your competitors?
• Why does that difference matter to customers?
• What specific benefit do customers get by choosing you over the competition?
• Why does that benefit matter to customers?

Don’t rush through this exercise. The things that immediately come to mind might be too obvious. Spend time really digging into how your offerings truly help your customers and solve their problems.

Related: How to find inspiration from your competitors (without stealing their ideas)

Tips for finding your USP

If you’re having a difficult time identifying your unique selling proposition, use the following tips for help.

• Think about what your customers value and how you help them get those things.
• Think about the problems your customers have and how you help solve them.
• Consider the unique strengths your brand brings to the table.
• Look at your competitors to see how you can differentiate your brand.

Remember, unique selling propositions aren’t specific to eCommerce sites and service-oriented businesses. If you’re a content creator or blogger, you’re “selling” information and want to establish yourself as a thought leader. The questions still apply — what are you doing to set yourself apart from the crowd?

For more tips, use this guide on finding your unique selling proposition .

4. Secure a domain name and hosting

Now that you have finished a big portion of your website plan, you can get ready to set up your site. Start the process by securing a domain name and hosting. 

What is a domain name and hosting?

For a website to show up online, it needs both a domain name and hosting .

• A domain name, also known as a URL (Uniform Resource Locator), is a web address used to locate and access a website on the internet . 
• Website hosting is the server space and resources that store a website’s files and data. 

Think of it this way: Your website is like a house. Your web hosting is the land the house sits on. And the domain is the street address.

You have many options for purchasing domain names and website hosting. The two items can be purchased from separate companies or purchased together. GoDaddy offers both domain names and website hosting , which can be purchased together or separately. 

Domain names and hosting may also be purchased along with website builder solutions — like GoDaddy Website Builder (more on that later).

Domain names and web hosting packages are purchased for set periods of time, and their pricing varies depending on a variety of factors. Domain name costs typically range from $2 to $20 per year and hinge on factors including the demand/popularity of the domain name and/or its extension. Hosting costs have a wide range of pricing. Costs can start as low as $2.99/month and go up depending on the amount of website traffic you expect, the complexity of your website, and the features you’d like to add. 

Related: What is web hosting?

Choosing a domain name

When you choose a domain, you have two pieces of the domain to consider — the custom phrase that comes before the “dot” and the domain extension. The domain extension includes the “dot” and the letters after it. In these examples, the domain extension is in bold.

• domainname .com

The most common domain extensions are .com, .net, .info, .co and .org. These were the first domain extensions that existed, which is why many sites use them. They are also in high demand because they are the most recognizable.

Related: Domain extensions guide — What you need to know before you pick a domain name

There are also hundreds of new domain extensions known as generic top-level domain names (gTLDs) . You can choose domain extensions that are highly relevant for your brand, such as:

• domainname .guru
• domainname .nyc
• domainname .photography
• domainname .marketing
• domainname .consulting

When you choose a domain for your site, you will need to come up with the phrase that comes before the “dot” as well as the extension that will come at the end of your website address.

Related: How to choose a domain name

Purchasing a domain means you register the domain for a set amount of time. You don’t buy it and own it forever. You need to continually renew the domain over the time that you want to keep and use it.

5. Pick a website builder

At this point in planning, you’re ready to choose how you will build your website.

You have a few options for building your site. You can: 

• Use a drag-and-drop website builder like the one from GoDaddy (take advantage of the power of AI website builders ).
• Use a more advanced content management system like WordPress that requires a bit more technical know-how (although GoDaddy's WordPress Hosting makes starting a WordPress site much easier).
• Use custom code and start from scratch rather than using a pre-designed template.
• Hire a professional web designer to do it all for you.

As you plan a website, take a closer look at what type of builder will best suit your needs. Ask yourself the following questions to get an idea about your needs.

• Do you want to blog?
• Do you want to collect visitor information?
• Do you want to sell products or services?
• Will you accept electronic payment?
• Will you use a calendar or schedule appointments?
• Do you want to track inventory and shipping?
• Do you want total control over the site’s code?
• Do you prefer an easy-to-use builder?
• Are you going to hire a professional?
• Are you going to design on your own?
• What’s your budget?

These answers will help you determine the platform that will work best for you.

Option 1: Drag-and-drop website builder

Website builders help you develop websites without extensive coding or technical skills. Builders provide a user-friendly interface that allows you to design, customize, and publish websites using pre-designed templates, drag-and-drop tools, and artificial intelligence (AI). 

With a website builder, you choose a theme (a premade website design) and customize it to suit your needs. You can add structural components (such as spaces, dividers, background images, custom headings, footers and menus) and design elements such as:

• Text blocks

With the introduction of AI tools, website builders can now aid you in the process of creating your site. During set-up, you provide answers to prompts about your type of business, website goals, and business information (such as contact information and details about products and services), and the website builder will deliver a site that matches your criteria. 

You can then customize the site using drag-and-drop elements and by adding your own branded elements such as images, color palettes, and fonts. 

GoDaddy Website Builder uses both AI and drag-and-drop features to help you easily create a website. With its swipe-to-style interface, dozens of industry-specific themes, professionally selected photos and more, you’ll have everything you need to build a site. GoDaddy’s solution is cost-effective, incredibly easy to use, and comes with many built-in features — like SEO tools, SSL and email marketing. Even better? You can try it first for free .

If you’re short on time (or money) or simply don’t want to add “web design” to your already overflowing plate of tasks, then a site builder might be in your best interest.

Related: Compare the top website building providers

GoDaddy Website Builder offers beautifully designed templates for myriad types of sites.

Option 2: Content management system (WordPress)

If you want more options and customization than what is available with a website builder, you may want to choose a more robust content management system (CMS) like WordPress .

Building a website using WordPress provides a balance between ease of use, flexibility and scalability.

Creating a website using a CMS like WordPress requires some intermediate tech skills. If you choose to go with the free version of WordPress, you’ll need to purchase a hosting account and install the WordPress files. You’ll also be tasked with installing plugins and maintaining your site’s security through any necessary software updates, backups, etc. 

If you want the customization and functionality that a WordPress site offers but don’t have the time or skills to handle the more technical aspects of creating and maintaining a WordPress website, a solution such as GoDaddy’s WordPress Hosting could be the answer.

GoDaddy’s WordPress Hosting comes with WordPress, plugins and design themes built-in. It supports ecommerce and offers a variety of tools and specifications that keep your site secure and running speedily and smoothly. 

A WordPress CMS also offers builders and themes that make creating your site easy, while also offering the flexibility for customization if you want and need it. Browse the theme gallery for GoDaddy Managed WordPress Hosting to view customizable themes available for just about every kind of website.

Option 3: Custom code

If you want the ultimate flexibility for your website, you can build it with custom code. But coding your own website requires specialized knowledge and is usually impractical for entrepreneurs who aren’t in the coding business.

To go this route, you need to use a web programming or scripting language that provides instructions for either the “client” side (a user’s web browser) or “server” side (the server where your site’s files are stored). Those languages include:

• ASP/ASP.NET
• Ruby on Rails

The operating system of your hosting account determines which languages you can use so if you choose to go this route, be mindful of what language you want to use when you purchase hosting.

Option 4: Hire a professional website designer

If you don’t want to go any of these routes, you have one other option. You can hire an expert web designer to create your website.

A professional web designer will take the information you have collected and construct your site for you. That site may be built through one of the options mentioned above. The designer may use a website builder, content management system or custom code for your site. The price of your site will be more expensive for custom projects and less expensive when designers use prebuilt themes and drag-and-drop tools.

Ask the designer what they will use to build your site to get an idea about their work, experience and pricing. Also, keep the following questions in mind as you research to find the perfect designer to work with.

• Has the designer committed to a career in web design?
• Does the designer provide direct access to their completed work?
• Are they good at communicating?
• Do they have references?
• Do they have a portfolio?
• Do you like their portfolio?
• Are their previous projects high-quality?

Before you hire a designer, get to know them and their work to make sure they are the right person for the job.

The pros at GoDaddy's Website Design Service can build a mobile-friendly, modern WordPress website that reflects your industry while following your lead and input. Check out the design gallery .

Once you’ve determined the type of platform you’re going to use, it’s time to start creating design elements. Go through the rest of this website plan post to make sure you have all of the strategic design and copy ideas you need to launch the right way.

6. Create and collect design elements

By now, you have a strategy, domain name and platform for where you will build your site. The next step in this website plan is putting together the content you need to fill your site. Start this process by creating and collecting design elements.

Create and collect brand design elements

Brand design elements are graphical representations of your business. They are the design elements that help customers get to know and remember you. These design elements define your brand personality and help customers feel what your brand represents through the use of:

• Fonts and typography
• Images and photos

If you aren’t sure what this means, look at competitor websites and sites you love for inspiration, in addition to website themes and templates available in website builders.

Pay attention to how other companies use branded design elements to tell a story about who they are.

Once you decide on the elements you will use to graphically represent your brand, outline all of these elements and standards in a brand style guide. When you have a brand guide, you can create consistency across your website and all of your other marketing materials as everyone on your team will have a guide to direct the look and feel of your content.

Related: How to choose brand colors and use them on your website

Pick out a theme/template you like

Even if you aren’t going to use a theme for your website, you can benefit by browsing through theme showcases.

The best way to figure out what you want out of your site is to look at what else is out there.

You can identify what you like and what you don’t and then use that in your development process.

If you are building your site using WordPress or a website builder , pick out a theme/template. Note that you don’t have to use the exact look of the theme. There are ways to customize the style and design to match your branding and preferences.

If you are hiring someone to build your site or doing custom coding , pick out two to five themes that have elements (such as color schemes, layouts, functionality, fonts, etc.) that you would like to see on your site. Provide these themes to your designer to show them what you like or don’t like. Or, use them as inspiration if you choose to code your site yourself.

Create and curate images

Images on your website are just as important as the copy that fills your pages. They visually display your offerings and help audiences get to know you.

Create and curate images that accurately and effectively represent your brand, products and services.

If you have products , take professional, high-quality photos of each item. Get three to four shots of each product to show it from different angles. Customers want to see what they are going to buy, so product images will be vital for driving sales and interest on your website.

If the website is about you (for example, a personal or professional blog, consulting website, etc.), get a few high-quality photos of yourself. Make sure whoever is taking the photos understands that you will be using these on a website. You will want a variety of shots and angles. The best photos for service professionals include a few shots where you (or your staff) are near the edge of the frame as well as in the center.

If you are selling a service that has an end result , take photos of your finished work. This would include screenshots if you are a designer or photos of a completed project if you are an artist.

If you are selling an abstract idea or lifestyle , find stock photos (that don’t look cheesy) that represent the feeling you want people to have about your brand.

If you can’t find existing images to capture your brand , hire a graphic designer to create custom designs for you. Or explore your options with AI-powered image generators that can produce graphics and illustrations based on your directions and descriptions. 

Create a file with all of your brand design elements and photos so it will keep them organized until you are ready to start putting your site together.

Related: Create eye-catching imagery for your brand

7. Create content for your core website pages

Now you have a plan for your website and almost everything you need to build it. You just need one final thing — your copy.

For a standard website, you should have content prepped for five key pages: the home, about, product/service, testimonial/review and contact pages. If you plan to have a blog on your site, you should also have at least one blog post ready to go.

Here are a few tips on creating the content you need on your site.

The home page is your first opportunity to tell your story and start driving website visitors toward the end goal you set out for the site (to get them to join your list, buy a product, etc.).

Lay out your home page content so it introduces who you are, what you do and how you help. This starts to lead visitors down your conversion funnel.

As you create your home page content, remember to:

• Keep it simple. Don’t go into too much detail. Use short, scannable blurbs and then drive users to longer pages for more information.
• Put important information first. Users typically don’t scroll very far down the page so put all of the most important information near the top of the homepage.
• Explain how you help. Catch attention right away by clearly stating what you do and how you help your audience solve a problem.
• Present your unique value propositions. Immediately show what makes you different from competitors.
• Include calls-to-action. Design strategic calls-to-action that move users through your site toward your end goal.

Your about page is a chance to go deeper into who your brand is, what you do and why you do it. Tell a story that answers the following questions:

• Who is the site for?
• What can visitors do on the site?
• Why is the site different from others like it?
• Why did you start this venture?
• Was there a moment or event that sparked your desire to bring your idea to the web?

Your about page will likely be one of the most visited pages on your site. So, if you are rushing to launch, get something up quick. But then when you have more time, go back and spend time fine-tuning your about page.

Product/service page

It’s likely that you are using your website to sell something, whether it is a service that clients must call to schedule or a product that customers can buy directly on the site. So you must have a landing page for your services or an ecommerce product page for your items for sale.

Use this page as an opportunity to showcase and promote your offers and provide:

• Information: general details about the product/service
• Assurance: the reasons why customers will benefit from the product/service
• Motivation: words that guide interested prospects to the next step toward doing business with you

Related: How to strategically use copy and visuals on product landing pages

Testimonial/review page

Customers need to learn to trust your brand before they will choose to do business with you.

You can build that trust by creating a page filled with customer testimonials or reviews.

Reviews and testimonials connect with readers in ways that sales copy cannot because the messages are authentic views of other people’s experiences with your brand.

Related: How to ask for testimonials and reviews from your clients

Contact page

The contact page may feel like a boring, afterthought page, but it is one of the most visited pages on a website. Plus, it’s usually one of the first touchpoints that customers encounter when they decide they are ready to work with or buy from you. So don’t overlook this page.

Starter blog posts

If you choose to add a blog to your site, it helps to have some content ready to go so you aren’t left with a blank blog page. Here are two types of posts to get you started.

Write a post about your launch. Tell readers about you, your inspiration, and what you hope to accomplish with your site. By welcoming readers and introducing yourself, you will start to build your relationship early on.

Write your first blog installment. Now that you’ve introduced why your site exists, write another blog post that will show readers what they can expect to find there in the future. Write a post that is an example of the type of content your readers can come to expect from your site.

Create your copy

If you choose to write the content yourself, read up on copy and blog writing best practices. Get tips for how to write a blog post that is engaging, interesting and formatted for online readers. Learn copywriting tips that help you write landing page copy that leads audiences through your online sales funnel and converts them into customers.

Consider supporting your copywriting efforts using AI content generation tools like ChatGPT and Copy.ai. Copy generators can help you come up with ideas, create first drafts, improve your copy and check for grammar errors. Just remember that you can’t rely 100% on AI-generated content. AI copy may include inaccuracies and bias. The copy may also not fully reflect your brand voice and tone, so always have a human review and revise copy produced by AI tools. 

If you don’t have the time or inclination to write your own website content, consider hiring a freelance writer to help you create awesome website content. Work with a writer who understands the importance of CTAs on each page and on-site SEO, and collaborate to create guidelines and outlines so your brand and business is accurately reflected on every page. 

Put your website plan into action

Phew! Now, you have everything you need to plan a website and start to build it.

This post helped you create a website plan template that:

• Identified the goals for your website
• Identified your target audience
• Defined your brand’s unique selling propositions
• Secured a domain name (and hosting) for your site
• Planned the best way to build your site
• Created and collected the design assets you need
• Created the copy content you need

Now all that’s left is putting your plan to work. Take the next steps to bring your business, idea or project to life and launch your site! Also, check out our video list on how to plan a website with GoDaddy, for a different view.

Get the tools you need to get your business online — including the right domain name , website builder and our AI-powered solution GoDaddy Airo — at GoDaddy.

*AI-assisted full website including all of the premium features like online store, appointment scheduling, and marketplace selling to name a few, requires paid subscription.

Social media marketing calendar available with GoDaddy Airo, some features will require paid subscription.

Professional Email through Microsoft Office 365 30-day free trial with an option to renew into a paid subscription beyond the promotional period.

While the LLC starter plan is free, there are likely some state and/or local filing fees associated with your filing which will be determined during the filing process.

The Ultimate Guide to Content Marketing in 2023

Discover how to create a successful content marketing strategy to help you reach your audience and boost conversions.

FREE EDITORIAL CALENDAR TEMPLATE

Plan and optimize your marketing content with these free calendar templates.

Updated: 07/06/23

Published: 07/06/23

In this guide, I will show how you can use content marketing to attract, educate, engage, and delight your target audience.

We’ve applied what you’ll learn for over a decade, causing us to attract millions of monthly visitors to HubSpot.com .

Image source

What Is Content Marketing?

Content Marketing Statistics

Types of content marketing, content marketing and seo, content marketing and social media, how does content marketing work.

Content Marketing Strategy

Content Marketing Examples

Traits of effective content marketing, best content marketing resources, best content marketers to follow on linkedin and x.

Besides our website content, our practical content marketing approach helps us get millions of YouTube views.

So, if you want to learn how content marketing can

• Improve brand awareness,
• Establish your company as an industry leader,
• Increase conversions,
• Get you more revenue,

— then this is the guide for you.

Whether you’re devising or refreshing your strategy, this guide will help you reassess your process and come up with new ways to create and share content with your audience.

What is content marketing?

The definition of content marketing is simple. Content marketing is the publishing of written and visual material online with the purpose of attracting more leads to your business.

These materials can include blog posts , ebooks , infographics , videos , web pages, and more.

However, content marketing is not the publishing of a thin piece of content that offers little value. The focus is on making valuable materials your audience can discover themselves while they browse.

Today, outbound marketing strategies (marketing tactics that interrupt your audience) aren’t as effective at resonating with and converting audiences. This is where inbound , the opposite of outbound, shines.

A common way of using inbound is by creating a narrative for your content — or telling a story. In doing so, your content will feel more authentic, engaging, and tailored to your audience.

So, what defines content marketing anyway?

Content Marketing

Content marketing is the planning, creating, distributing, sharing, and publishing of content via channels such as social media, blogs, websites, podcasts, apps, press releases, print publications, and more. The goal is to reach your target audience and increase brand awareness, sales, engagement, and loyalty.

Why is content marketing important?

2024 HubSpot research shows that 29% of companies use content marketing . Let’s explore some reasons companies do this:

1. Modern consumers prefer informational content over intrusive Ads.

Years back, the Content Marketing Institute found that 70% of consumers prefer to learn about a product or service via an article rather than an ad. This is still true today because 44% of buyers consume three to five pieces of content before engaging with a vendor.

According to 2023 HubSpot research, 29% of marketers use a blog or website for lead attraction and conversion.

These stats suggest consumers like me would actively avoid unsolicited marketing messages, such as cold calling and paid ads.

For instance, I didn’t mind buying a YouTube Premium subscription to block interruptive ads. And I’m not alone. One study revealed 290 million people use ad blockers on their desktops .

2. Less costly but more effective lead generation method.

Demand Metric established that content marketing generates over three times more leads than outbound marketing and costs 62% less on average. Anecdotal evidence proves this is still correct.

A popular entrepreneur, Alex Hormozi , recently revealed that he and his wife, Leila, spend about $70,000 monthly to produce 160 content pieces. This content saves the Hormozis over $2 million that they’d have spent on paid ads to get leads.

Besides the Hormozis, 67% of B2B marketers say content marketing was an effective lead generation strategy in 2023.

3. Builds Brand Awareness

Content marketing expands your reach and increases your chances of being discovered by a new audience. The result? You increase your brand recognition and recall.

To maximize this benefit, publish and distribute your content consistently.

4. Builds Trust and Establishes Brand Authority

Consistent sharing of educational content positions you as an expert advisor. It shows your audience that you value them and are interested in their success.

This grows brand trust, keeps you top of mind, and makes your audience more likely to choose you when ready to make a purchase decision.

In September 2023, HubSpot surveyed 1,400+ B2B and B2C marketers across 14 countries and 23 industries. Here is some of what they said:

• 30% of marketers will start using short-form videos in 2024.
• 56% of marketers using TikTok will increase their investment next year, the highest on any platform.
• 45% of marketers use AI for ideas and inspiration, 31% create outlines, 18% to draft their content, and 6% use AI to write content.
• 14% of marketers say creating content that generates leads is one of their top challenges.
• 87% of social sellers say social selling is effective, and 59% say they made more sales on social media in 2023 than 2022.
• 24% of marketers with effective strategies in 2023 list increasing revenue and sales as their top goal for 2024.
• 16% of marketers plan to try experiential marketing (engaging audiences in real life.
• with pop-ups and events) and influencer marketing for the first time.

To get more insights, download the 2024 State of Marketing Report .

Now let’s look at types of content marketing.

There are many types of content marketing you can incorporate into your strategy. Here are some of the most common.

5. Choose your content channels.

Once you’ve decided on the type of content you’ll market with, it’s time to choose your specific content channels. Where will you share your content? Where will it live and be shared from?

For some of the content types, the channel you need to work with will be obvious. For example, if you’re creating Facebook content, your channel will be the social platform itself.

6. Set a budget.

Now, set your budget. Think about the type of content you’re creating and which channels you’re marketing that content on.

Then, ask yourself the following questions to figure out your budget:

• Do you need to purchase any software or technology to create the content? Think about tools like Adobe Photoshop , a subscription to Canva , or a camera to take high-quality photos and videos.
• Do you need to hire any content marketers or designers (such as artists, writers, editors, designers)?
• Do you need to pay for ad space?
• Do you need access to specific tools or resources to enhance or measure your specific type of content?

Make note of how your responses impact your budget — whether that’s an increase or decrease in what you may have already estimated.

7. Create a content publishing schedule.

To ensure you’re consistently producing content and sharing it with your prospects and customers, use a social media calendar or an editorial content calendar .

This will help your team stay on top of all the content your team is creating as well as allow you to schedule it ahead of time.

Much of Dollar Shave Club’s video content has gone viral. Their marketing efforts are on-brand, humorous, and entertaining.

By establishing a name for itself via online video content, Dollar Shave Club has experienced impressive growth and brand recognition.

6. Example of Paid Ad Content Marketing

Neil Patel is a bestselling author, marketing expert, speaker, and website and SEO consultant. He’s a thought leader and industry expert in content and digital marketing.

His X page includes information about his training and services, industry trends, marketing strategy tips and resources, and questions/conversational topics meant to engage followers and other industry experts.

6. Guy Kawasaki

What Businesses Get Wrong About Content Marketing in 2024 [Expert Tips]

The Pros and Cons of AI-Generated Content

The State of Content Marketing in 2023 [Stats & Trends to Watch]

20 Content Marketing Examples That Stand Out in 2022

The 24 Best Websites to Cure Your Boredom in 2023

7 Content Marketing Metrics to Consider for Continued Success

The 19 Best Content Marketing Tools in 2022

16 Best Ways to Increase Content Reach [+Free Content Reach Kit]

4 Content Types That Get Non-Organic Traffic, According to Content Strategists

6 Content Marketing Skills That'll Only Get More Important

A Beginner's Guide to Applying Content Marketing to your Business

Marketing software that helps you drive revenue, save time and resources, and measure and optimize your investments — all on one easy-to-use platform

How to start a web design business in 7 steps

This guide will take you through all the steps necessary to start a web design business.

Illustration by Ashger Zamana.

Aaron Gelbman

13 min read

With the surge of online brands and services, now might be a better time than ever to start a web design business. But if you’re on the fence about whether to make this your full-time gig, then you’ll want to take the time to understand what you’re getting yourself into. 

After all, it’s not just about having the technical know-how; it’s about understanding the market, the challenges and the true value you can offer to your clients.

For web designer Derek Hairston, his ‘aha’ moment came with the realization that “most web design agencies leave clients in the dark with unexpected costs, delays, and no visibility into the process.”

“We bring our clients’ vision to life and give them peace of mind at every step of the way,” he says about his full-service agency, Olam Sites . “We specialize in building custom websites and features on Wix Studio.” 

Learn more about how to manage your agency on Wix Studio .

Below, we cover the essential steps of starting your web design business. Keep reading for tips on running an agency and finding your own conviction to get started. 

How to start a web design business

Every business is a little bit different, but in general, you’ll need to take these steps: 

Choose your niche

Decide which web design services to offer

Register and license your web design business

Create a business plan and set goals

Price your services

Build your portfolio or website

Promote and market your web design business

01. Choose your niche

To stand out in a crowded market, you’ll want to know your “who” and “why.” In other words, it’s a good idea to narrow down your focus and decide on the types of clients you’d like to take on. 

“Deciding on your niche is a blend of self-discovery and essentially asking the question, ‘Who would I be excited to wake up and serve every day?’” notes Brad Hussey, web designer and founder of the Creative Crew community. “You’ll be spending considerable time, energy and money being around these people at trade shows, on podcasts, writing content for, networking with—and ultimately producing solutions for.”

Remember that just because you decide on a particular niche now doesn’t mean you can’t broaden your reach and services later on. It’s much easier to start small than to start too broad, or to bite off more than you can chew.

If you’re struggling to decide on your niche, start by defining why you do what you do. For example, are you passionate about the restaurant industry and see an opportunity to build more professional online experiences for them? If so, start there. 

In the video below, Hussey gives additional tips for solidifying your niche and the “why” behind what you’re doing. 

02. Decide which web design services to offer

Once you’ve settled on your “who” and “why,” the “what” should come somewhat naturally. Decide what services you can (and want) to offer your clients. Your services could include:

Website design and development

Ecommerce solutions

User experience (UX) design

User interface (UI) design

Search engine optimization (SEO) 

Mobile app design and development 

Website accessibility  

Graphic design  

Custom web application development

Online branding 

Think about which services can be offered on a regular basis—such as graphic design or SEO—and thereby supplement larger one-off projects by bringing in recurring revenue. Also, consider ways in which you can package your services together to better service your clients. 

03. Register and license your business

Before diving into creative work, it's important to address the legalities of starting your own business. You’ll need to register your business with the relevant authorities. In most U.S. states, this will be your Secretary of State. 

To register your business, you’ll need to choose a business name  and decide on your legal business structure. 

Consider, how big do you plan on growing your team? Do you plan on managing the business alone or with a partner(s)? Ultimately, what is the vision for your business and how it will evolve?   The answers to these questions will help you choose between several structures, the most popular of which include:

Sole proprietorship : Owned and operated by a single individual. As the owner you have unlimited personal liability and business income is reported on your personal tax return.

Limited liability company (LLC):  Combines elements of partnerships and corporations, offering limited liability for owners (members) and flexibility in management. Income is typically passed through to individual tax returns.

Partnership : A business owned by two or more individuals who share profits and liabilities. There are general partnerships (equal sharing) and limited partnerships (with limited liability for some partners).

Corporation:  A legal entity separate from its owners, providing limited liability protection. Shareholders own the corporation and it can be taxed as a C corporation (double taxation) or an S corporation (pass-through taxation).

As shown above, each structure has its own tax obligations, protections and requirements. You’ll therefore want to make sure to thoroughly research your options and consult a business attorney, consultant or accountant before making a final decision. 

At this stage, consider whether you’ll need to apply for an Employer Identification Number (EIN)  from the IRS and open any business accounts with your bank to keep your finances in order. Make sure to obtain all necessary licenses, insurance and permits for running a web design business in your region, too.

04. Create a business plan and set goals

There are many other decisions you’ll have to make from both an operational and strategic side. A good place to start is by tackling your business plan. Your business plan will serve as your roadmap, outlining things like:

Your business description

Target market 

Competition 

Organization and management 

Services and products 

Goals and strategies 

Financial projections

Do your due diligence and don’t rush this step. As you build out your business plan, you may realize things you hadn’t before—like the need to secure outside funding.

“I started off as a penny-pinching bootstrapper, although I’m not convinced that’s the best way,” reflects Hairston on the early days of Olam Sites. “I projected revenue based on the potential customers in my immediate environment, but this limiting mindset put a ceiling on our earnings and scalability.” 

“My suggestion when getting started,” he adds, “is that your projections and confidence should justify raising funds for greater scalability. Otherwise, what’s the point?” 

Whether you need extra resources to expand your services, grow your team or invest in marketing—a business plan can help you decide when and how to raise money. It can also show where the money will go when approaching investors, banks or other potential backers. 

05. Price your services 

As your financial and personal goals for your business start to take shape, so too will your perspective on how to price your services. 

Oftentimes deciding on what price to charge can feel like taking a shot in the dark. Or, you may feel pressure to price your services low if you’re just starting out.

However, you’ll want to avoid selling yourself too short. At the same time, know what your competitors are charging. Identify your differentiators while weighing your expenses and ideal profit margin. Think about the different clients you plan to take on as well as the different web design pricing  models you can offer:

Flat fee (a.k.a. “Project-based pricing”): A fixed amount that you and your client agreed on at the start of the project.

Hourly fee: An hourly cost, ensuring that you get paid the agreed-upon amount for every hour you spend on a project. 

Monthly fee (a.k.a. “monthly retainer”): A contract, either measured in time or value, that involves monthly payments for a certain amount or type of work. 

Learn more: Choosing the right business model

06. Build your portfolio or website

A strong portfolio is key to attracting clients and showcasing your design skills. This is your chance to show (not just tell) future clients what you’re capable of creating online. 

When creating a website for your web design business, consider using a platform that can host both your website and your work for clients. This not only helps to keep everything in one place but also helps you to get ultra-familiar with the web tool you’re offering your clients. 

The most effective creative portfolios include sections, pages or CTAs like:

About : Introduce yourself and your team, including your credentials like any relevant education, industry awards and your value proposition.

“Our Work” : Showcase projects that represent your best work, and make sure there is a brief but clear backstory so that visitors understand how you solved your clients’ needs. Keep in mind that before uploading client projects, you should always get client approval in case projects are confidential or not yet live.

Services : List the different services you offer so that you’ll spend less time weeding through requests and more time connecting with relevant prospects whose needs match your skills.

Contact : Make it easy for people to contact you with any questions, and consider embedding a form into your site to collect useful information from prospects (such as their company name, current website’s URL, etc.). 

“Book a Meeting” : Offer high-intent prospects the opportunity to meet you face-to-face via an online booking feature.

A solution like Wix Studio, for example, is tailored for agency work. It brings together features—including AI tools—for web design, development, SEO,  eCommerce, website maintenance, CMS and more. Beyond having the tools to design cool, interactive sites for your clients at scale, you can enjoy built-in capabilities that allow you to expand your services. 

Build your agency site on Wix Studio with one of these responsive templates . 

07. Promote and market your web design business

Once you’ve published your site and opened yourself up for business, take steps to establish your brand and to proactively get in front of potential clients. 

“Building authority in your industry by creating content is like investing money in the stock market,” says Hussey. “When I started creating videos, writing blogs, appearing on others’ podcasts—those efforts may not have produced results in the immediate term, but over time, the benefits have paid me back in multiples.” 

Exercise your existing network and ask for referrals. Engage with folks on social media. Scour job boards, including LinkedIn, for any calls for help. Here Hussey suggests four additional ideas for your outreach:

Don’t forget to invest in your personal brand. Given how nearly 70% of consumers  trust influencers, friends and family over information coming directly from a brand, it’s always a good idea to use your own sphere of influence to connect people with your agency. 

Note that Wix Studio includes marketing integrations  that allow you to schedule social posts, send emails and track performance—both for your clients and yourself. Use these tools to your advantage as you spread the word about your business. 

Web design businesses and agencies built on Wix Studio to inspire your own

One way to jumpstart your business’s website creation is to follow the examples of established, successful agencies, like the sites below. In addition to providing fundamental information, each of these sites packs a creative punch and demonstrates the creative potential to future clients.

The Boathouse Agency

This creative design agency   shows that there is no limit to the growth potential of your web design business. The Boathouse Agency goes beyond web design and offers complete 360 creative and branding solutions for brands of all sizes.

Visual Identity

Visual Identity  is a web design studio specializing in site design, UI/UX, development and branding. Their site’s black-and-white design, typography and visual elements create a bold and impactful statement about their vision and purpose.

Scopetheory

Scopetheory  leads with results-driven design for their clients that involves taking branding to another level. The homepage makes it easy for prospects to see the agency’s results, with prominent callouts that highlight their clients’ accomplishments. 

What is a web design business?

A web design business is a type of design agency that specializes in creating and maintaining websites for clients. However, more often than not, it’s about more than just design; it’s about building functional, user-friendly online spaces that serve a specific purpose for a client. 

The scope of work involved in a web design business can be broad. They can range from simple static pages to complex web applications and everything in between. Whether it's an eCommerce platform, a personal blog or a corporate website, each project comes with its own set of design and development challenges and requirements.

Why start a web design business?

The web design industry offers a world of business opportunities for creative and tech-savvy entrepreneurs. Starting your own web design business not only taps into a field that blends art and technology but also positions you in a market with high demand for your services.

The benefits of starting a web design business are numerous. Here are some of the most compelling reasons to consider:

High demand:  In a digital age, nearly every business needs a website, increasing the demand for skilled web designers.

Flexibility : Running your own business means you can set your own hours and work from anywhere, be it your home office or a beach in Bali.

Creative freedom:  As the owner of a design business, you have the freedom to express your creativity and make decisions that align with your vision—from the clients you choose to take on, to the design and website niche you specialize in. 

Considerations when starting a web design business

Starting your own web design business is a big step professionally and it's often accompanied by a set of important considerations that any new business owner should be aware of. 

Is web design a profitable business?

The profitability of a web design business can be significant if managed correctly. Here's what you should keep in mind:

Demand for services: With more businesses going online, the need for professional web design services is on the rise. Tapping into that demand can mean a lot of work for a web design firm. You’ll need to think about things, such as your sales process for your web design business , amongst other key business needs.

Pricing strategy : Setting competitive rates that reflect the quality of your work and the value you provide is the key to profitability. To do this, you’ll need to have an idea of what your competitors offer and how they package similar services. Be mindful of value-pricing, which is setting your rates according to the value of your work, not just the time spent on it.

Marketing : You’ll need to promote your business to give yourself the best chance of securing long-term and profitable clients and projects. This could include networking or connecting with related online and offline communities to promote yourself and your business. Encourage your current clients to refer you to others who might need the same services and build your freelance community  along the way.

Diversify your services : Offer a range of services within the field, including content management and social media promotion, if relevant to your expertise.

Build client relationships : Establishing long-term relationships with clients is crucial to getting repeat business and securing more freelance design clients.

Stay updated with industry trends and changes : The web design industry is constantly evolving. Keep learning new skills and staying abreast of trends to remain competitive.

Can I start a web design business with no experience?

With no prior experience, starting any type of business can be challenging. However, focusing on education and growth from the outset can help you maintain momentum and see measurable development over time.

These steps can be a solid guide for your first few months:

Learn the fundamentals: To understand web design from the ground up, get familiar with user experience, content writing and responsive web design. While these days it’s not necessary to create websites with code, an online coding class  in HTML, CSS or JavaScript will help you understand the backbone of your websites.

Practice your skills: As you learn new concepts, put them to use. One option is to recreate websites you find online, down to the details of hover interactions and entrance animations. Practicing on Wix Studio can help you focus on your web design skills, since the platform has extensive no-code design capabilities .

Share your progress: Whether you’ve created wireframes, designs or live websites, share your real-time process and finished products on your social channels. You’ll receive encouragement and feedback from professionals, plus you’ll enjoy going back to your old posts to see how far you’ve come.

Connect with professional heroes and mentors: “Become an apprentice of someone who is already successful in the industry to gain the skills, experience and industry insight,” advises Hairston of Olam Sites. “ This could be in a variety of forms: employee, mentee or YouTube channel subscription.” Choosing a professional hero—someone whose style you admire and want to emulate—will give you a wealth of creative inspiration. Plus, it’s never a bad idea to get in touch with them; they might be happy to provide mentorship and feedback as you find your feet. 

Build your online presence: Now that you’ve completed a few projects, organize everything on a portfolio website. You’ll have one link that you can easily share to show off your past work, whether you’re looking to take on clients or build up your network. 

Can I start a web design business from home?

Starting your web design business from home brings great advantages like no commute time, significant cost savings and complete control over your work environment. 

And though this also comes with its challenges, you can overcome them with these best practices:

Enlist time management for work-life balance: Different from project management, time management helps you organize your day across your different tasks, including any personal tasks that you may have to take care of while at home. Set a clear start and end for your work hours, as well as offline times for lunch and screen breaks.

Create a Zoom-friendly space:  Video conferencing isn’t unique to working from home, but take notice of what’s behind you when you’re on camera for video calls. Make a good impression by clearing away laundry and dirty dishes, and find a space away from household interference.

Connect with online communities and local organizations: Without an outside office space, it can be more difficult to cross paths with like-minded professionals for shared learning and networking. But with a little effort, there’s a big payoff. Join online professional communities like Freelance Fam  for web design freelancers, and Creative Crew  for web design agencies. Find nearby events to attend via resources like Meetup .

Schedule in-person meetings:  While it’s comfortable and convenient at home, health experts encourage getting out of the house daily for physical and mental well-being. Do this by finding time to meet with colleagues or clients face-to-face, whether for business meetings or casual coffee chats. 

Learn more: Guide to Remote Work

Tips for managing your web design business

Effectively managing your web design business helps keep projects flowing—on time, on budget and on brief—and ensures a positive experience, both for your team as well as for your clients. First create a solid project management process and then choose a project management software that meets your needs and budget. 

Best practices for project management

Keeping projects on track ensures client satisfaction and repeat business.

Clear communication:  Establish open lines of communication with clients to manage expectations and keep them updated on progress.

Project management tools: Utilize software like Monday or Asana to organize tasks, owners, dependencies, deadlines and collaborations.

Hairston provides some insight into Olam Sites’s efficient management practices: “Our operations strategy is centered around standard operating procedures, leveraging efficient tools (Asana, Hubspot, Wix Studio, etc.), and a phenomenal project manager. Wix Studio centralizes all client websites and team access, making the deliverable handoff process seamless and scalable.”

With Wix Studio’s management tools , you can work from a unified workplace no matter how many employees are working together. And for teams on the go, the mobile app keeps everyone involved and up to date. Other features include a collaboration suite, handover resources and reusable assets. 

Business software solutions

Leveraging the right business tools can greatly enhance your efficiency as a business owner.

Invoicing and accounting:  Software like FreshBooks or the Wix invoice maker  can simplify financial management by helping you create invoices.

Time tracking : Tools such as Harvest or Toggl help you keep track of billable hours for each project.

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Vary your sentence lengths to improve readability.

While long, monotonous sentences lull readers to sleep, constant short bursts make them feel like they’re in choppy waters. Mix sentence lengths to create a reading experience that mirrors natural speech. This will subtly persuade readers to stay invested in your message.

In his book 100 Ways to Improve Your Writing : Proven Professional Techniques for Writing with Style and Power , Gary Provost shares two great examples of varied sentence length.

First, he writes in short, staccato bursts.

“ This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. ”

Next, Provost varies the length of his sentences from short to medium to long.

“ Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage them with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals—sounds that say listen to this, it is important. ”

Bottom line: Readers have short attention spans and a low tolerance for boredom. Constant short sentences? Snooze-fest. Relentlessly long blocks of text? Eyes glaze over. Mix it up to keep readers engaged. Your content (and your audience) will thank you.

2. Use active voice for authority and impact

Use active voice to add movement and momentum to your content.

You’ve heard of active voice? Active voice makes your writing more direct and lively, giving your words an authoritative ring. It’s your ally when you want to emphasize action and drive a point home.

• Before : A complete list of features can be found on our website.
• Question: Who can find the list? (Answer: You can.)
• After : Explore the list of features on our website.

The first example focuses on the list rather than the reader's actions. It also raises the question: Who can find the list of features? The second example uses the active verb explore because the reader is doing the action — exploring. It implies a discovery, making the content more engaging.

Here’s another example:

• The last few cookies were eaten last night.
• Question: Who ate the cookies?!
• Grandpa ate the last few cookies last night.

Watch for phrases with the following constructions, which often signal passive voice:

• can be verbed
• has been verbed
• were verbed

Before weeding out passive voice became second nature, I’d use my writing app’s Find function to search for phrases like can be , was , and has been . Do the same, and you’ll quickly learn to spot passive voice like a pro.

Bottom line: Using active voice isn't just about grammar. It's about infusing your marketing content with action and ownership, so ditch those pesky passives and give your words power.

3. Use vivid verbs instead of weak adverbs for precision

Use vivid verbs instead of weak verbs plus adverbs to power up your writing. And avoid weak ... [+] modifiers, which you can (often!) eliminate.

Weak adverbs clutter sentences and dilute your message. Instead, choose powerful verbs that stand alone, carry emotion, and paint a clear picture, making your writing more memorable and persuasive.

• Before : The CMO was very happy to see how the new content editor totally revamped her go-to-market content.
• After : The CMO was elated to see how the new content editor overhauled her go-to-market content.

Other substitutions that might come in handy:

• explained clearly -> clarified
• understood completely -> grasped
• increased rapidly -> surged
• decreased significantly -> plummeted
• worked together closely -> collaborated
• investigated thoroughly -> scrutinized
• improved greatly -> enhanced
• changed completely -> transformed
• planned carefully -> strategized

Also, beware of the following weak modifiers, which you can likely eliminate without hurting your content:

A final note on the adverb very : Mark Twain is thought to have said:

“ Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it, and the writing will be just as it should be .”

Damned good advice!

Bottom Line: Don't rely on adverbs to prop up weak verbs. Instead, choose powerful verbs that paint a clear picture, making your writing more concise, memorable, and engaging.

4. Use the rule of three to create memorable messages

Use the rule of three to make your content easier to remember.

Tap into the power of patterns to make your message stick. People tend to remember information better when presented in groups of three. This tip is particularly useful for creating marketing slogans and taglines. For example:

• I’m Lovin’ It
• Impossible Is Nothing

You can also use the rule of three to emphasize key points. Group your points in threes to make them more powerful and easier for readers to remember.

• Our new skincare line is natural, nourishing, nurturing.
• We’re committed to innovation, integrity, and impact.
• Join us on a journey to a healthier, happier, and more fulfilling life.

Bottom line : The power of three is simple and undeniable when it comes to crafting sticky messages. Use it for slogans, taglines, and when highlighting key benefits to create marketing content that lingers in the minds of readers.

5. Be specific and avoid generalities to increase credibility

Have you heard the saying, "Specific sell; generalities repel"?

Have you heard the saying, Specifics sell; generalities repel ?

Writing in generalities opens the door for readers to object and ask questions. It may even drive readers away, towards Closed Lost .

Writing with specificity answers reader questions and overcomes objections—in advance.

Concrete details build trust and draw readers into your world, whereas vague statements undermine your message. Specific details paint vivid pictures, making your content authentic and persuasive.

• Before : A lot of people like our product.
• After : More than 5,000 customers rated our product five stars, praising its ease of use and transformative results.

Here, the switch from the vague, a lot, to the specific, 5,000+ reviews, opens the door to instant trust. The added detail about what's liked makes the text even more persuasive and implies that the reader will have a similar, positive experience.

Bottom line : Specificity builds trust and overcomes objections before they even arise. Swap out vague phrases for precise details and numbers to make your content infinitely more persuasive.

Try it yourself—and stay tuned for Part 2

Inspired to give these tips a try? Share a sentence you've revised using these tips in the comments below.

And for even more guidance in crafting captivating content, sign up to receive the rest of the tips in this series.

In the next article, I’ll share five more writing tips to help you improve readability and add clarity and authority. Stay tuned!

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FACT SHEET: Delivering on the Biden- ⁠ Harris Administration’s Commitment to Democratic Renewal at the Third Summit for   Democracy

President Biden launched the historic Summit for Democracy in 2021 to strengthen democratic institutions, protect human rights, and accelerate the fight against corruption, both at home and abroad.  

At the first Summit, approximately 100 participating governments made over 750 commitments on a wide array of deliverables, including in the areas of advancing technology for democracy, media freedom, countering the misuse of technology, and improving financial transparency, gender equity and equality, and rule of law.  The second Summit built on these efforts, convening government stakeholders, youth voices, civil society, and the private sector to demonstrate the power of cross-sectoral collaboration and amplify the importance of including diverse voices in these spaces.  This year, the Republic of Korea hosted the third Summit for Democracy in Seoul under the theme “Democracy for Future Generations.”  

The U.S. delegation in the ROK, led by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, highlighted U.S. efforts to strengthen democratic resilience, respect for human rights, and good governance globally.  The Biden-Harris Administration has requested $11.8 billion in Democracy, Human Rights and Governance (DRG) foreign assistance, of which $5.8 billion has already been appropriated for Fiscal Years 2022 and 2023.  The Administration intends to provide the remaining $6 billion over the next two years, subject to the availability of appropriations.  During the Summit, the United States held a high-level, multi-stakeholder event on combatting the proliferation and misuse of commercial spyware, which not only threatens democratic institutions but also poses risks to global security.

Under President Biden’s leadership, the United States has taken concrete steps to advance previous commitments and initiatives launched over the past three years, which include:

Advancing Technology for Democracy:

• In March 2023, President Biden signed the ground-breaking  Executive Order Prohibiting the Use of Commercial Spyware that Poses Risks to National Security  to prohibit U.S. Government use of commercial spyware that poses risks to national security and has been misused by foreign actors to enable human rights abuses.
• In July 2023, the Department of Commerce imposed export controls on  four commercial spyware entities , building on an  initial tranche of Entity List designations in November 2021 .
• In October 2023, the U.S. Government worked with 59 other countries at the Human Rights Council in Geneva to issue a joint statement on  Heightened Risks Associated with Surveillance Technologies & the Importance of Safeguards .
• In February 2024, the State Department announced a  new visa restriction policy  for individuals involved in or financially benefiting from the misuse of commercial spyware.
• In February 2024, the Department of Commerce imposed export controls on  a company  that has enabled foreign governments to conduct mass web-monitoring, censorship, and surveillance of perceived political opponents and human rights defenders.
• In February 2024, the United States joined the United Kingdom and France-led  Pall-Mall Declaration , which brought together international partners and stakeholders to address the proliferation and irresponsible use of commercial cyber intrusion tools and services.
• In March 2024, the Treasury Department  imposed  unprecedented financial sanctions targeting five commercial spyware entities and their leadership that have enabled the misuse of commercial spyware. This was the first time that the U.S. Government sanctioned actors involved in the misuse of commercial spyware.
• In March 2024, the U.S. Government convened members of the investor community – during which the investors revealed voluntary principles and commitments – to discuss the role of trusted capital in advancing technology while promoting the values of free and open societies, including guarding against the misuse of commercial spyware and encouraging safe AI development.
• Since its launch at the first Summit for Democracy, the U.S. Government has contributed more than $46 million to the Surge and Sustain Fund for Anti-Censorship Technology, including $31 million in 2023 alone, to support 30 million users of circumvention tools such as virtual private networks (VPNs) each month.

Supporting Free and Independent Media

• USAID’s International Fund for Public Interest Media – announced at the second Summit for Democracy – has committed nearly $9 million in 32 grants across 16 countries to independent media outlets in urgent need of support and to strengthen their long-term sustainability.  The U.S. Government’s initial seed funding of $20 million has leveraged an additional $32 million from 15 governments, philanthropies, and corporate entities.
• The State Department launched two programs under its Journalism Protection Platform to combat impunity for violence against journalists and strengthen holistic security for journalists and independent media outlets, including those operating in exile.

Fighting Corruption

• In December 2023, the United States assumed the presidency of the UN Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) Conference of the States Parties (COSP).  At COSP, the United States secured consensus to adopt the U.S.-led Atlanta Declaration, which holds governments accountable to their UNCAC obligations and announced a new Presidential Proclamation restricting entry into the United States for those who enable corruption.
• In 2023, the Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on more than 130 individuals and entities engaged in corruption, spanning 17 countries, while the State Department issued public visa restrictions on more than 90 individuals from around the world for their involvement in significant corruption. 
• USAID kickstarted implementation of the Countering Transnational Corruption Grand Challenge for Development, with an initial focus on reducing corruption in the supply of green minerals. USAID also initiated new activities to seed a new investigative journalism network in Southeast Asia, strengthen public accountability in Zambia, and address Kremlin-backed strategic corruption in Eastern and Central Europe.
• In September 2023, the State Department expanded its Transnational Anticorruption Partnership with the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ International Corruption Unit, which places regional anticorruption advisors in the field to build partners’ capacities to investigate and prosecute transnational corruption cases.  This program, part of the U.S. Democracies against Safe Havens initiative to tackle kleptocracy, has upskilled law enforcement agencies in over 30 countries, resulting in dozens of new actionable leads, cases initiated, and instances of cross-border cooperation to hold kleptocrats and money launderers accountable.    
• In the past year, the United States has made historic strides in preventing corrupt and other illicit actors from laundering funds through anonymous companies and advancing rulemaking processes to guard against dirty money in the residential real estate sector and investment advising industry.

Bolstering Human Rights and Democratic Reformers

• Since the first Summit, USAID’s Partnership’s for Democratic Development (PDD) has allocated $53 million to deepen relationships with democratic reformers and accelerate democratic development in nine countries.  PDD will provide up to $52 million in additional funding in the coming year, subject to availability of funds, to expand democratic reform and ensure PDD partner countries are given the support they need to make their democratic transformation a reality.
• Since announcing the Advancing Women’s and Girls’ Civic and Political Leadership Initiative at the first Summit, USAID has allocated over $15 million in nine focus countries to build and sustain women’s participation in political and civic engagement. USAID will provide up to $10 million in additional funding this year, subject to availability of funds.
• The Community of Democracies (CoD) is working towards the 2024 launch of the global Youth Democracy Network, announced by the United States at the second Summit for Democracy.  Ahead of the launch, the CoD YouthLeads, who will serve as the inaugural advisory board for the Network, are driving discussion on youth engagement in elections, including a new series of articles, “A Blueprint for Youth Electoral Engagement,” to showcase effective strategies and policies from around the globe that enhance youth participation in electoral processes. Defending Free and Fair Elections
• Following a commitment made at the first Summit for Democracy, USAID has worked with more than 30 leading international organizations and elections networks to launch the Global Network for Securing Election Integrity (GNSEI) to promote electoral integrity in the face of critical threats to democracy.  In 2024, GNSEI intends to develop and promote two electoral integrity priorities: one on principles to support democratic electoral reform processes and the other on safeguarding election management bodies’ independence in their interactions with other domestic agencies.
• In 2023, USAID launched the Defending Democratic Elections Fund, which is helping to pilot and scale up approaches to addressing critical long-standing and emerging electoral integrity issues — including on strengthening information integrity and resilience – particularly during the period in between elections, when resources have often been scarce. This past year, USAID provided nearly $16 million in additional support across 17 countries to tackle issues like campaign finance reform, and barriers to women’s political participation.
• The State Department contributed $25 million in new funding under the Political Accountability, Inclusivity, and Resiliency Support mechanism to promote political competition by building stronger connections between political parties and citizens.  

At the third Summit for Democracy, the United States reiterated and expanded upon its commitment to bolstering democratic resilience and advancing human rights at home and abroad.  Specifically, the U.S. delegation announced several new commitments and initiatives to further progress in the years ahead: 

• On March 18, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Poland signed the Joint Statement on Efforts to Counter the Proliferation and Misuse of Commercial Spyware , which was launched by an initial group of 11 like-minded countries at the second Summit for Democracy, expanding the coalition of countries committed to implementing robust guardrails against misuse of commercial spyware. The Joint Statement affirms the threat posed by the misuse of commercial spyware and countries commit to working within their domestic systems to establish robust guardrails to counter the proliferation and misuse of this sophisticated surveillance technology.
• The Biden-Harris Administration aims to provide financial support, working with Congress and subject to appropriated funds, to committed partners like the Platform for the Engagement of Civil Society, to coordinate the ongoing work of the Summit, including future convenings, and to build networks among the existing democratic renewal architecture.
• The United States, led by USAID, will convene a meeting to galvanize momentum for the next Summit gathering and to show our continued commitment to democratic renewal around the world on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly session in September 2024. 
• On March 17, USAID launched the Advancing Digital Democracy (ADD) Academy, building upon the ADD initiative announced at the second Summit for Democracy.  In partnership with multinational technology firms, the ADD Academy will offer essential skills training in cybersecurity, data privacy, cloud computing, and responsible AI, among other topics.   In the initial phase, ADD Academy intends to work with technology partners Cloudflare, Google, and Microsoft. 
• On March 18, the State Department released U.S. Guidance for Online Platforms on Protecting Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) Online, which highlights best practices online platforms can take to prevent, mitigate, and provide remedy for actions targeting HRDs online, building on  joint guidance  recently released by the U.S. and the EU through the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council.
• Through the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, which was announced during the first Summit, the United States and UK are developing a response framework for coordinated, evidence-informed action to prevent, disrupt, and reduce the spread of targeted online campaigns against women political and public figures and human rights defenders, which will be informed through a first-of-its-kind global conference on countering gendered disinformation held in Kenya on March 25-27, 2024. Complementing the goals of this framework, in January 2024 the State Department announced a new Global Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) Rapid Response Fund for women politicians, political candidates, and civil society leaders who have experienced extreme forms and/or threats of TFGBV and need urgent access to flexible resources to meet their immediate needs.   
• On March 20, the United States released its second National Action Plan on Responsible Business Conduct, which outlines efforts to expand U.S. government guidance to and coordination with external stakeholders on responsible business conduct, strengthen federal procurement processes related to human rights, and promote access to remedy for those harmed by irresponsible business conduct.

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