Website Planning Guide for Canadian Businesses

A good website is one of the best investments your business can make. A bad one is an expensive liability.

Most websites flop because nobody planned them properly. They got built, launched, and then... nothing

This guide walks you through the questions to answer before you spend a dollar.

Start With the Purpose

What's the website actually supposed to do?

Answer this before anything else. Seriously.

Bring in leads

Show off what you do

Back up your sales calls

Sell products online

Educate your customers

Make you look the part

Understand Your Audience

Your website is for your customers, not for you. Build it for them.

Who's actually visiting your site?

What are they trying to find?

What problem are they trying to solve?

What would make them trust you enough to call?

Core Pages Your Website Needs

Home Page

What you do

Who you help

Why choose you

The homepage tells folks who you are, what you do, and where to go next. That's it.

Services or Products

What's included

Who it's for

Benefits

How to start

One page per service. What it is, who it's for, why it works, how to get started.

About Page

Who's behind the business? People trust people.

Case Studies

Real projects with real results. Nothing builds trust faster.

Contact Page

Phone, email, form. Make it dead simple to get in touch.

Lead Generation Strategy

Every business is different, but most setups include:

Quote request forms

Booking links so people can grab a time

Useful guides or checklists folks can use

A way to follow up automatically

Clear next-step buttons

Think About the
Customer Journey

Hardly anyone calls on the first visit.
Give them what they need at each step.

Discovery Stage

Just finding you for the first time? They want:

Clear explanation of what you do

Examples of your past work

Reviews from other customers

Decision Stage

Getting ready to pull the trigger? They want:

A ballpark price

How long it takes

What they're actually getting

Essential Considerations

Content Needs

Content is usually what holds projects up. Figure out what you've got and what you still need.

Service descriptions

Testimonials

Photos & videos

Case studies

Mobile-First

More than half your visitors are on their phone. Your site has to look great there or you lose them.

Realistic Timelines

Most website projects take 4 to 12 weeks. The phases:

Planning

Testing

Design

Launch

Development

Budget Wisely

Your website should pay for itself many times over. Treat it as an investment, not a cost.Price depends on: how many pages, how custom, what features, and what it has to connect to.

Avoid These Common
Mistakes

Starting design before defining goals

Figure out the goal before anyone opens Figma.

Underestimating the importance of content

Content kills more projects than anything else. Start writing early.

Building too many pages without clear purpose

More pages doesn't mean more business. Cut the fluff.

Focusing only on appearance

A pretty website that doesn't bring in customers is just an expensive painting.

Questions to Ask Before Starting

Having clear answers makes the entire project easier

What should the website actually do for our business?

What content (photos, copy, testimonials) do we already have?

Who's our ideal customer?

What do we want the site to push the hardest?

How NerdySpider Helps

We build websites that do more than look pretty.
They're built to back up your business and bring in real work.

Bringing In Leads

Customer Communication

Looking The Part

Growing The Business

Ready to plan yours properly?

Tell us what you need, what's not working, or what you're trying to build. We'll help you figure out the next step.

Book Your Free Discovery Call

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Website Planning Guide