Building and maintaining an effective website requires a significant investment of time and resources. Websites that are built without planning or evaluation of user needs can become confusing, cluttered, and outdated – a source of frustration for both website owners and visitors.

Before you begin building your website, take a step back to answer some fundamental questions, and develop a strategy to guide the process.

• What are the main goals for the website?
• Who are the primary audiences, and why are they visiting the site?
• Who is responsible for site’s strategic direction, producing content, and updating it after launch?

To help you answer these questions and develop a strategic approach, we encourage you to use this project charter template.

The template includes a series of prompts to help you think through the issues listed above, as well as others central to the website planning process. Completing the charter will result in a strategic framework you can use as a guide while working on your organization’s website.