Plan before you build: purpose, audience, five starter pages

Most beginners start by choosing a default or a random theme. It’s fast and lets you hit the ground running, but it often leads to rebuilding later. Fifteen minutes of planning on paper saves hours.

Answer these first:

What’s the site for? Pick one main goal, such as getting enquiries, selling products or sharing your writing.

Who is it for? Picture one real visitor and what they want to find.

What should they do next? Call you, buy something or subscribe.

Then sketch your pages. Many small sites can start with these five:

Home: what you do and who it’s for.
About: why someone should trust you.
Services or Products: what you offer.
Blog or Resources: optional, if you’ll keep it up.
Contact: how to reach you.

That list is a starting point, so add or remove pages to suit your goal. A smaller site that’s finished is more useful than a bigger one that isn’t.