Stage 1: Planning

How well you plan your site determines how successful it will turn out to be. The result of your planning is a detailed content plan, which will keep you focused on your goals and help you make the inevitable tradeoffs. During this stage, you:

Define the site's purpose. Your site goals dictate the type and amount of content you'll need.
Identify your audience. Who they are and what they want shape how you present the content.
Start a content plan. This is a record of all the decisions you make during the planning stage, along with an inventory of the content your site will contain.

Stage 2: Design

In the design stage, you figure out how to organize and present the site's content so that information is easy to find and use. During this stage, you:

Organize information at the site level. Structuring content into logical categories is called "information design."
Structure page layout. Page organization depends on whether the information will be skimmed or read line by line.
Define functionality and layout. Make your content dynamic and interactive.

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Stage 3: Building

Building entails creating the words, images, and other content that make up the site itself. During this stage, you:

Create the content. Writers research and write, while editors make the text Web-ready.
Maintain the content. Your authoring and publishing processes should enable you to produce fresh content as often as your site goals and audience demand.
Promote the site. Email newsletters are one way to keep your audience returning.

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