00 Corporate website development
A corporate website has to serve buyers, candidates, investors and partners, be updated every week by people who are not developers, and stay fast and findable for years. Comtau designs the structure, the publishing system and the engineering together - then documents them and hands them over.
01 Definition
A corporate website is the public, permanent record of what a company does and how to work with it. It is read by people who are deciding something - to buy, to apply, to invest, to partner - and it is maintained by a team that changes over time. That is why design alone does not hold it together.
Presents the company consistently to every audience: a design system of type, color, components and page templates rather than a set of one-off page designs.
Lets the company say many things clearly for years: an information architecture, a content model and naming that new pages fit into without restructuring.
Moves buyers from first visit to a qualified conversation: paths per audience, calls to action that match intent, forms that reach the CRM with context.
Fast, secure, accessible and stable: frontend engineering, hosting and CDN, monitoring, and a release process that does not depend on one person.
Found by the right queries and kept findable through change: metadata, structured data, sitemaps, canonical rules and redirects built into templates.
Updated by marketing, communications and HR without developer tickets: a CMS with structured content types, roles, preview and approvals.
Connected to the systems around it: CRM, marketing automation, analytics, consent management, careers, search.
02 Scope
Twelve deliverables, each with an owner and an acceptance check. Scope is agreed against this list, so nothing important is left implicit.
Discovery record
Goals, audiences, constraints and success measures, agreed in writing.
Content inventory
Every existing page and asset with an owner and a keep, merge, rewrite or retire decision.
Sitemap and navigation
The page tree, URL patterns and primary navigation, tested against audience tasks.
Template set
Wireframes for each page template - not each page - with module rules.
Design system
Tokens, components and modules in the design tool and in code, with usage notes.
Content model
CMS content types, fields, validation and relationships, documented.
Built website
Production frontend, CMS configuration, environments and deployment pipeline.
Integrations
CRM, analytics, consent, search and other agreed connections, with event specification.
SEO foundations
Metadata rules, structured data, sitemaps, canonical rules, redirect map where needed.
QA record
Accessibility, performance, browser/device and content checks with results.
Launch plan
Cut-over steps, rollback, DNS and monitoring for the first weeks.
Handover pack
Editor guide, technical documentation, decision records and training sessions.
03 Information architecture
Most corporate sites grow by accretion: a page for each request, a menu item for each department. The result is navigation that mirrors the org chart and pages nobody owns. We start the other way round - from the questions each audience arrives with and the decisions they need to make.
The output is a site tree, URL patterns and a small set of page templates. A typical corporate site runs on eight to fifteen templates, which is what keeps it consistent when it grows from fifty pages to five hundred and when you add a language or a business unit.
If your site is mainly a sales tool for a complex offer, the B2B website design page goes deeper on buying groups; firms selling expertise should read website design for professional services.
Plate 1 markers - audience entry points
Prospects
Arrive on service and industry pages from search; need scope, proof of method and a next step.
Technical evaluators
Read resources and documentation; need specifics on integration, security and delivery.
Investors and press
Need company facts, leadership, filings and news - current and dated.
Candidates
Enter through careers; need roles, culture and an application path into your ATS.
Sales handoff
Every form records source, page and consent, and lands in the CRM.
| Audience | Arrives with | Needs to find | Typical entry |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prospective buyer | A problem and a shortlist | Scope, approach, fit, a low-friction next step | Service or industry page from search |
| Technical evaluator | A checklist from the buyer | Integration, security, delivery specifics | Resources, documentation, security page |
| Candidate | A role or the company name | Roles, team, culture, how to apply | Careers, from job boards |
| Investor or analyst | A filing date or news | Facts, leadership, reports, contacts | Investors or newsroom |
| Partner or supplier | A referral | Programmes, requirements, contacts | Partners page, footer |
| Press | A story | Boilerplate, media kit, spokesperson | Newsroom |
04 Design system
Page designs age the day they are approved. A design system does not, because it describes the parts and the rules for combining them: type and color tokens, components such as buttons and forms, modules such as a feature list or a case summary, and the templates built from them.
Your team then makes new pages by choosing modules inside a template rather than commissioning layouts. Designers stay in control of the rules; editors stay inside them.
Tokens
~40–80 values
Components
~20–40
Modules
~15–30
Templates
~8–15
Pages
Hundreds
05 CMS and publishing
The CMS decision is made after the content model, not before. Once we know your content types - services, industries, people, articles, jobs, locations - and who edits and approves each one, the platform choice is usually clear.
Whatever the platform, editors get structured fields instead of a blank page, reusable modules, preview before publishing, scheduled releases, role-based permissions, and an editor guide written for your content rather than a vendor manual. Multilingual sites add translation workflow and per-locale URLs to the model from the start.
06 Engineering
Speed, accessibility and search visibility are properties of templates, so they are decided once and inherited by every page an editor creates. We render pages to HTML wherever the content allows, keep scripts to what an interaction actually needs, and treat third-party tags as a budget, not a free resource.
Largest Contentful PaintTarget - at most
2.5 s
At the 75th percentile of real visits, mobile and desktop - Google’s “good” threshold.
Interaction to Next PaintTarget - at most
200 ms
Responsiveness to taps, clicks and typing at the 75th percentile.
Cumulative Layout ShiftTarget - at most
0.1
No content jumping as fonts, images or embeds load.
AccessibilityWorking target
WCAG 2.2 AA
Tested with keyboard, screen reader and contrast checks; we do not issue compliance certificates.
Real headings, landmarks, lists and tables, so assistive technology and search engines read the same structure people see.
Title and description rules, structured data, canonical URLs, XML sitemaps and internal linking generated from content, not typed by hand.
HTTPS everywhere, security headers, least-privilege CMS roles, dependency updates and form spam protection.
Separate development, staging and production, with content and code promoted on purpose.
07 Integrations
Each integration is specified as a flow - what moves, in which direction, and who owns it - before it is built. Leads arrive in the CRM with the page, campaign and consent that produced them.
08 Process
Most corporate websites take three to six months from discovery to launch. A focused site of a few templates can be faster; multiple languages, business units or a large migration add time. Content is the usual critical path - not design or development - so we plan it from week one.
Interviews with stakeholders and sales, analytics review, content inventory, technical audit of the current platform.
Deliverables
Gate Goals, audiences, scope and constraints signed off.
Sitemap, navigation, URL patterns, template list and content model. Platform recommendation with reasons.
Deliverables
Gate Structure tested against audience tasks; CMS chosen.
Visual direction, tokens, components and modules, applied to every template at desktop and mobile widths.
Deliverables
Gate Templates approved; nothing left as “to be designed later”.
Frontend and CMS built in parallel with content production and migration; integrations connected in staging.
Deliverables
Gate Content complete in staging; integrations verified end to end.
Accessibility, performance, device and content checks; redirect validation; launch with rollback plan.
Deliverables
Gate Acceptance criteria met; launch approved by the owner.
Editor training, documentation, decision records, post-launch review of search and analytics data.
Deliverables
Gate Your team publishes independently.
Replacing an existing site? The redesign process adds a URL inventory, redirect map and post-launch monitoring - see website redesign services.
09 Cost
There is no honest single price for a corporate website, so we do not publish one. We quote after a brief, with a fixed price for a defined scope. These are the factors that move that number, and they apply to any supplier you compare us with.
| Factor | Keeps cost down | Pushes cost up |
|---|---|---|
| Number of templates | A small template set reused across many pages | Many unique page types and one-off layouts |
| Content | Final copy supplied by your team | Writing, rewriting or migrating large volumes |
| CMS and content model | Standard content types and one editorial role | Complex relationships, approvals, several roles |
| Languages and sites | One language, one site | Multiple locales, regions or brands |
| Integrations | Forms to one CRM, analytics | ATS, search, DAM, single sign-on, custom data |
| Migration | New site, few existing URLs | Hundreds of URLs, rankings to protect, legacy CMS export |
| Design | Working within an existing brand system | New visual identity, illustration, motion |
| Compliance | Standard accessibility and privacy practice | Regulated content review, audit trails, formal testing |
A single campaign or launch page is a much smaller engagement - see landing page development. If the site also needs application functionality such as logged-in areas or custom data, see custom web applications.
10 Specialised engagements
11 After launch
Platform and dependency updates, security patches, backups and uptime monitoring, on an agreed schedule.
New modules, template adjustments and fixes from a monthly allowance, without a new project each time.
Search, analytics and Core Web Vitals reviewed against the goals agreed at discovery, with a short written report.
If your team or another vendor will run the site, the handover pack is written so they can - no dependency on us.
Comtau’s position
12 Questions
It depends mainly on the number of page templates, the volume of content to write or migrate, the CMS and content model, the number of languages and the integrations required. We give a fixed price for a defined scope after reading your brief, and we explain which of those factors drives it.
Typically three to six months from discovery to launch. Smaller sites with few templates can be quicker; several languages, business units or a large migration take longer. Content readiness is usually the deciding factor, so it is planned from the first week.
It turns business goals into a working website: discovery and information architecture, a design system and page templates, CMS configuration, frontend development, integrations, SEO foundations, accessibility and performance testing, launch, and training. Comtau also documents the decisions so your team can run the site afterwards.
Yes, for many marketing-led corporate sites. It is mature and widely supported. It works best with structured custom blocks and a short, maintained plugin list. If you publish to several sites or channels from one source, a headless CMS may fit better. We recommend after the content model is defined.
That is a design goal from the start. Editors work in structured fields and reusable modules inside templates, with preview, scheduling and role-based permissions. New page types or new modules still need development; new pages and content do not.
We plan content structure, page by page, and can write or edit copy as part of the scope. Many clients supply subject-matter content and we shape it into the templates. Either way, content is planned from discovery because it is usually the critical path.
You do. Code, designs, content and documentation are delivered to accounts and repositories you control. Hosting and CMS licences are in your name wherever the provider allows.
Optionally: updates and security patches, monitoring, a monthly allowance for small changes, and a quarterly review of search and performance data. If you prefer to run the site in-house, the handover pack is written for that.
Next step
A few structured questions - audiences, content, platform, integrations, timing. It takes about ten minutes and makes the first conversation specific.
Send a website briefA senior lead reads it
Comtau engagements are led by senior people, and the brief goes to them rather than to a sales queue.
Specific questions
Questions about scope, content and platform in writing, or a short call if that is faster for you.
A proposal, or a straight answer
Phases, deliverables, acceptance criteria and price. If Comtau is not the right fit, we say so.
