Website design in Berlin: process, essentials and the right questions

What does the process look like when you have a website built?

In a well-run project the process is almost always the same. What matters is not the number of phases but that each one ends with a clear result you approve before the next one starts. That way there are no surprises at the end.

It starts with what the website should achieve: more calls, more reservations, more job applications or more enquiries from a particular district. Almost everything else follows from that goal, from the page structure to the label on the most important button.

• →First call: goal, audience, services, service area, existing content and access (domain, old hosting, Google profile).
• →Structure and content: sitemap, search terms per page, copy, photos, legal requirements.
• →Design: home page and one subpage as drafts, phone first, then desktop.
• →Development: build, forms, booking, consent-based tracking, structured data, redirects for old URLs.
• →Launch and care: testing on all devices, setting up Google Search Console, then regular updates and reporting.

What does a good business website need today?

Most visitors arrive on a phone, often straight from Google Maps or Google Search. The website then has a few seconds to answer three questions: am I in the right place, can I trust this business, and how do I reach it right now?

That leads to requirements that have little to do with taste and a lot to do with engineering. These belong on every business website, whether you run a restaurant, a law firm or a trade business:

• →Mobile first: text readable without zooming, buttons big enough for a thumb, a tappable phone number.
• →Speed: compressed images, no unnecessary scripts, good Core Web Vitals.
• →A link to your Google Business Profile: same name, same address, same phone number, linked both ways.
• →Your own contact or booking path: a form, appointment booking or reservations on your own site, not only through third-party platforms.
• →Clear service pages: one page per service instead of one long catch-all page.
• →Legal basics: a complete imprint, a privacy policy, a cookie banner where "Reject" is as easy as "Accept".
• →Accessibility: sufficient contrast, keyboard navigation, alt text for images.

Which SEO and AI basics belong in from day one?

Search engine optimisation is not an add-on that comes after launch. If structure, headings and URLs are right from the start, you save a lot of work later. Every page needs its own title, a description, exactly one main heading and a readable URL such as /services/bathroom-renovation rather than /page?id=12.

Then there is structured data based on schema.org. It tells search engines and AI systems, in machine-readable form, who you are: business name, address, opening hours, services, common questions. For a local business the key building blocks are LocalBusiness or a fitting subtype, Service and FAQPage.

For ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Overviews to be able to name your business, each service page should open with a short, clear definition that can be quoted word for word. Your robots.txt should not block AI crawlers, and an llms.txt file in the root summarises your offer for language models.

How do you brief an agency well?

A good brief is short and specific. It does not need to be a long document, but it should answer the questions that would otherwise come up again and again during the project. The clearer you are up front, the more precise the proposal and the faster the build.

• →The goal in one sentence: what should a visitor do in the end?
• →Audience and service area: for example private customers in Tempelhof-Schöneberg or companies across Berlin.
• →Services by priority: which bring in the most revenue, which should grow?
• →Existing material: logo, photos, copy, the old website, access to the domain and Google profile.
• →Languages: German only, or English as well for international customers in Berlin.
• →Features: appointment booking, reservations, shop, ordering system, staff area.
• →Timeline and one internal contact who can approve content.

Which questions should you ask in the first call?

The first call is where you check whether an agency fits your project. Good answers are specific and can be verified later. These questions help:

• →Who owns the domain, content and code after the project?
• →How is mobile load time measured, and what are the target values?
• →Which structured data will be added, and how is it validated?
• →How are old URLs redirected so existing rankings are kept?
• →Can you edit content yourself, and how much effort is that?
• →What happens after launch: updates, security, reporting, a named contact?
• →Can you see websites that are already live and being found?

What happens after launch?

A website is not finished at launch, that is when it starts working. In the first weeks Google Search Console shows which search terms your pages appear for and where errors occur. That defines the next steps: sharpen copy, add missing service pages, turn questions from customer conversations into FAQ entries.

Keep your Google Business Profile up to date as well, ask happy customers for reviews and keep opening hours identical everywhere. At Clieni Media, care and reporting are therefore a fixed part of the project, so the website grows with your business.

If you would like to know where your current website stands today, try the free website check at Website check. You get an assessment of load time, mobile view, SEO basics and AI visibility.