Module 2: Strategy First
Goals before layouts. This module plans the new site on paper: one job per page, a sitemap built from real visitor behavior, and wireframes sketched before anyone opens a design tool.
One job per page
Every page on your new site gets exactly one job. The homepage's job: make the visitor understand and take one step. The pricing page's job: turn interest into a quote request. The about page's job: build trust. When a page tries to do two jobs — sell and educate, convert and entertain — it does neither well, and the visitor leaves to find a site that knows what it wants from them.
Write the job at the top of every page plan, in this format: "This page exists so that [visitor type] will [take this action]." If you can't fill in the blanks, the page doesn't earn a place in the sitemap. This is also how you kill pages: the audit probably found pages nobody visits that exist because someone once thought they were a good idea. A page with no job and no traffic is not content — it's clutter, and clutter makes every real page harder to find.
Rank the jobs. Your primary conversion (quote, booking, purchase) outranks everything. Secondary jobs — email signup, content download — support it. Tertiary — "learn about us" — comes last. When everything is the priority, nothing is. One page, one job, ranked.
When everything is the priority, nothing is
Rank the jobs
Example for illustration — not real results.
Build brief
List the pages your new site will have. For each, write its one job in this format: "This page exists so that [visitor type] will [take this action]." Which pages can't fill in the blanks?
Saved
The sitemap
The sitemap is the blueprint of your new site: every page, how they're grouped, and how a visitor reaches each one. Build it from your audit, not from your org chart. Start with the pages visitors actually use (Module 1's top-20 list), group them the way visitors think — not the way your company is structured. Customers think in problems ("I need a quote"), not departments ("Sales Division").
Three rules. Seven plus or minus two: no more than about seven items in the top navigation — more than that and visitors stop reading the menu entirely. Group the rest under clear parent pages. Three clicks: no important page should sit more than three clicks from the homepage — depth buries pages. URLs that read like sentences: plan the URL for each page now (/services/kitchen-remodeling, not /page?id=47) — clean URLs help visitors, help search engines, and make the redirect map in Module 4 possible.
Draw it as a tree on paper or a whiteboard: homepage at top, main sections below, sub-pages under those. Then walk through your three most important visitor journeys with a finger: new visitor to quote request, returning visitor to purchase, researcher to contact. If any journey dead-ends or loops, fix the map. The sitemap is the cheapest place to fix navigation — every fix here saves ten fixes later.
The blueprint rules
Sitemap in numbers
Build brief
Sketch your sitemap as a tree: homepage, main sections, sub-pages. Walk your #1 visitor journey through it with a finger. Where does it dead-end or loop? Write the fixes.
Saved
Wireframes on paper
Before anyone opens a design tool, sketch every key page on paper. Boxes and labels, no colors, no fonts, no photos. A wireframe answers one question: what goes on this page, and in what order? The homepage wireframe is the most important sketch you'll make: headline, proof, services, testimonials, call to action — in the order a stranger needs them.
Paper beats software here for a reason: it's fast, it's disposable, and it keeps everyone focused on structure instead of arguing about colors. Sketch three versions of the homepage. Show them to a stranger and ask: what would you click first? The version that guides the eye to the right action wins. You're testing information hierarchy, not art — ugly wireframes that convert beat beautiful ones that confuse.
Every wireframe needs: the headline zone (what + who it's for, above the fold), the proof zone (testimonials, numbers, logos — trust early), the offer zone (what you sell, plainly), and the action zone (one clear next step, repeated). If your wireframe has five different buttons asking five different things, go back to "one job per page." Design is how it looks. Wireframing is how it works. Work first.
Work first
Wireframes in numbers
Build brief
Sketch your homepage wireframe: headline zone, proof zone, offer zone, action zone. What's the ONE action a stranger should take? Write the order of the zones and why.
Saved
The homepage blueprint: zone order
Dan's new sitemap has 14 items in the top navigation because "every department needs visibility." His analytics show visitors use 4 of those pages. What's the strategic fix?
Your turn: Write the sitemap as an indented list (homepage → sections → sub-pages) with each page's planned URL and its one job. Flag any page deeper than 3 clicks from home.
Saved.
Your next 24 hours
Draw your sitemap tree on paper and sketch the homepage wireframe — four zones, boxes and labels. Show it to one stranger and ask what they'd click first.
Steal this template
PAGE PLAN (one per page)
Page: ___ | Planned URL: ___
One job: "This page exists so that [visitor] will [action]."
Rank: primary / secondary / tertiary
Wireframe zones: headline → proof → offer → action
Module 2 cheat sheet
- One job per page: "This page exists so that [visitor] will [action]."
- Sitemap from visitor behavior, not the org chart.
- Top nav: ~7 items max. Key pages within 3 clicks of home.
- Plan clean URLs now — they make the redirect map possible later.
- Wireframe on paper: headline, proof, offer, action — in that order.
- Test wireframes with strangers before anyone designs anything.