AI & Automation
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Short-term (< 3 months)
I once watched a manager spend two full weeks debating whether every heading on their site should start with a verb. Two weeks. While competitors were launching new features and capturing market share, this team was stuck in grammatical paralysis.
This wasn't an isolated incident. Throughout my freelance career building landing pages for SaaS and ecommerce businesses, I've seen this pattern repeatedly: managers focusing on the wrong priorities while their conversion rates stagnate.
Here's what I learned after countless projects: Most businesses treat their website like a digital brochure when it should be treated as a marketing laboratory. Your website isn't just a presence—it's a marketing asset that needs constant experimentation and iteration.
In this playbook, you'll discover:
Why traditional wireframing creates beautiful ghost towns
My conversion-first framework that actually drives results
How to build wireframes that enable rapid testing, not perfect design
The specific elements that turned 0.8% conversion rates into 3.2%
Why your wireframing process is probably killing your marketing velocity
This isn't about choosing ugly over beautiful—it's about building beautiful websites that people actually find and use. Let me show you the framework that transformed how I approach website design.
Industry Reality
What every business owner has been told about wireframing
Every web design agency and consultant will tell you the same thing about wireframing: start with user flows, map out every page, perfect the information architecture, then worry about traffic later.
The traditional wireframing process looks like this:
Research phase: Analyze competitors, create user personas, map customer journeys
Architecture phase: Build site maps, define navigation structures, plan content hierarchy
Wireframe phase: Create detailed layouts for every page, perfect the user experience
Design phase: Add visual elements, branding, and polish
Development phase: Build the perfect website
This approach exists because it feels logical and comprehensive. It gives stakeholders confidence that every detail has been considered. It creates beautiful presentations that get approved by committees.
The problem? This process optimizes for internal approval, not external results. You end up with websites that everyone inside the company loves but nobody outside the company finds.
I've seen businesses spend months perfecting wireframes for pages that will never rank, never convert, and never drive meaningful business results. They're building world-class sales reps to work in empty neighborhoods.
The conventional wisdom treats websites like static assets when they should be treated as dynamic growth engines.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
The wake-up call came during a project with a B2B SaaS startup. We followed the traditional process perfectly—spent weeks on user research, created detailed wireframes for every conceivable page, and built what looked like the perfect website.
The client was thrilled. The design was clean, the user experience was smooth, and every stakeholder approved. We launched feeling confident we'd created something special.
Six months later, the site was getting less than 500 monthly visitors. The conversion rate was 0.8%. Despite having a "perfect" user experience, nobody was experiencing it.
That's when I realized the fundamental flaw in my approach: I was wireframing for users who would never exist. I was designing beautiful pages that nobody would ever find through search engines.
The traditional wireframing process assumes traffic will appear magically. It starts with the homepage and works outward, assuming users will follow your carefully planned navigation paths. But in reality, most users don't enter through your homepage—they land on random pages through search engines, social media, or direct links.
After analyzing the data from this "failed" project, I discovered something crucial: the few visitors we did get were bouncing because they landed on pages that weren't designed for their specific search intent. Our beautiful wireframes had created a perfect user journey for a journey that users weren't actually taking.
This experience forced me to question everything I thought I knew about wireframing business websites. The competitor who was succeeding in this space had a "worse" design but better search visibility and more targeted landing pages.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
I completely restructured my wireframing approach around a simple principle: distribution comes before perfection. Instead of wireframing for the perfect user experience, I wireframe for the most likely user discovery paths.
Here's my new framework:
Step 1: SEO-First Page Mapping
Before touching any wireframing tools, I identify what pages can actually rank and drive traffic. I start with keyword research to understand what potential customers are actually searching for, then map those search intents to specific page types.
For the SaaS client, this meant discovering that prospects were searching for "integration with [specific tool]" far more than generic product features. Our original wireframes had allocated one paragraph to integrations buried on a features page. The new approach meant creating dedicated pages for each major integration.
Step 2: Entry Point Optimization
Every page gets wireframed as a potential first impression. Instead of assuming users will read your carefully crafted "About" page, I design each page to immediately communicate value to someone who has never heard of your company.
This means every page needs context-setting headlines, clear value propositions, and multiple pathways deeper into the site. No page assumes prior knowledge.
Step 3: Conversion-First Layout
Traditional wireframes optimize for information consumption. My approach optimizes for action-taking. Every page gets wireframed with a primary conversion goal and secondary engagement goals.
For example, integration pages weren't just designed to inform—they were designed to capture emails from people evaluating multiple solutions. Each wireframe included lead magnets specific to that integration's use case.
Step 4: Testing Infrastructure
Instead of wireframing static pages, I wireframe testing systems. This means planning for multiple headline variations, different CTA positions, and modular content blocks that can be easily rearranged based on performance data.
The wireframes include notes about what elements should be easily A/B testable without developer intervention. This shift from "perfection" to "optimization" changed everything.
Keyword Research
Map search intent to specific pages before wireframing any layouts
Testing Infrastructure
Design wireframes that enable rapid experimentation, not just static layouts
Entry Point Design
Wireframe every page as a potential first impression with immediate value communication
Conversion Goals
Include primary and secondary conversion objectives in every page wireframe
The transformation was dramatic. The same SaaS client that struggled with 500 monthly visitors reached over 3,000 monthly visitors within three months of implementing the new wireframing approach.
More importantly, the conversion rate jumped from 0.8% to 3.2%. This wasn't just about getting more traffic—the SEO-first wireframing approach attracted more qualified visitors who were actively searching for solutions.
The integration pages alone generated 40% of all qualified leads, despite representing only 15% of total site pages. By wireframing around actual search behavior rather than ideal user journeys, we created pages that prospects actually wanted to find.
The biggest surprise was how much faster we could iterate. Because the wireframes were built for testing rather than perfection, the client could try new headlines, CTAs, and page layouts without major redesigns. This velocity led to continuous improvements rather than periodic overhauls.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
The most important lesson: wireframing is strategic work, not just design work. The moment you start wireframing, you're making decisions about what traffic you'll attract and what actions users will take.
Key insights from this approach:
Distribution beats design: A "worse" wireframe that attracts 10x more qualified traffic will always outperform a "perfect" wireframe that nobody finds
Every page is a landing page: Stop wireframing user journeys and start wireframing individual page conversions
Speed trumps perfection: Wireframes that enable rapid testing create better long-term results than wireframes that try to be perfect immediately
Search intent drives structure: The way people search should influence your information architecture more than your internal organization
Context is everything: Users arriving from search engines need different page structures than users following internal navigation
Wireframes should assume ignorance: Every page should work for someone who has never heard of your company
Conversion goals must be explicit: If your wireframe doesn't define what success looks like for each page, you're designing aimlessly
This approach works best for businesses that need to generate leads and revenue quickly. It's less suitable for companies where brand perception is more important than direct response metrics.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups: Start with problem-based landing pages rather than feature pages. Wireframe around specific use cases your prospects are searching for. Include trial signup flows on every page, not just your homepage.
For your Ecommerce store
For ecommerce stores: Wireframe category and product pages for SEO discovery first. Include related product recommendations and email capture on every page. Design for mobile-first discovery patterns.