WordPress Site Planning Systems

The Planning phase defines the non‑negotiable foundations of a WordPress site before any technical implementation begins.

Decisions made here determine how content is created, organized, governed, and maintained across the entire lifecycle of the site.

Purpose of the Planning Phase

Planning establishes the structural and governance decisions that prevent rework and ambiguity later in the build.

• Reduce structural changes after launch
• Eliminate ambiguous content decisions
• Prevent URL, taxonomy, and navigation conflicts
• Align content systems with long‑term maintenance

Scope Boundary

This phase covers:

• Site goals and functional intent
• Primary content types and usage boundaries
• Landing pages and navigation structure
• Category and taxonomy strategy
• Slug and URL naming rules
• Indexing, visibility, and SEO governance
• Editorial workflow and change control

This phase does not cover:

• WordPress installation or hosting configuration
• Theme or page builder setup
• Plugin configuration or performance tuning

How to Use This Section

Planning is executed as a fixed, ordered sequence. Each checklist must be completed and approved before moving to the next.

Do not skip ahead or reorder steps. Planning decisions are structural and long‑lived.

Start Here

Begin the Planning phase with: Planning 01 — Site Purpose & Scope Definition .

Planning Checklist Sequence

1. Planning 01 — Site Purpose & Scope Definition
2. Planning 02 — Content System & Page Model
3. Planning 03 — Navigation & Landing Page Map
4. Planning 04 — URL, Slug & Taxonomy Rules
5. Planning 05 — Indexing, Visibility & Crawl Control
6. Planning 06 — SEO Execution & Governance Rules
7. Planning 07 — Editorial Workflow & Change Control
8. Planning 08 — Performance, Maintenance & Lifecycle Assumptions
9. Planning 09 — Risk, Constraints & Assumption Review

Governance & Structural Change Control

All changes to planning structure, phases, or execution order must follow the documented governance rules.

• Governance Checklist — Adding New Phases & Steps

Completion

Completion of Planning 09 formally closes the Planning phase. All downstream setup and configuration assumes Planning decisions are locked.