Parts and requirements of a website

The parts of a website (the visible structure)

A website's structure reads from top to bottom in blocks. Each part serves a specific purpose and, when well organised, guides the visitor from the moment they arrive until they do what you want them to do (call you, book, buy). Not every website includes every block, but these are the elements that show up on almost any professional page.

Think of them as the rooms of a house: the header is the entrance and the signposting, the hero is the living room that makes the first impression, the sections are the rooms where the content lives, and the footer is the tidy storage area with the service information. If one of these parts is missing or they're out of order, the visitor gets lost.

What a website needs: the requirements to get it online

Having a website is about more than the design. For it to exist on the internet and work, several pieces need to come together. These are the requirements for creating a website, ordered from the most technical to the most visible. If any one of them is missing, you either have no website at all, or one that causes problems.

The key thing is that none of these requirements is optional on a serious website. The difference between a site that works and one that throws a security error, runs slowly or doesn't show up on Google almost always comes down to one of these points.

• Domain: the name of your website (yourdomain.com). It's the address people type in. A .com usually costs around 10 €/year, depending on the extension and the registrar.
• Hosting: the server where the website's files live. It determines the speed and whether the site is always available.
• SSL certificate (HTTPS): the padlock in the browser. It encrypts the data between the visitor and the website, and today it's considered the minimum security standard.
• Design and structure: laying out the parts (header, hero, sections, footer) so they adapt to mobile, tablet and desktop.
• Content: text, optimised images and, where relevant, video. It's what the visitor actually reads and sees.
• Form or contact method: so people can call, message or book without friction.
• Legal notice, privacy policy and cookies (GDPR): mandatory in Spain for any company or professional website.

Legal requirements in Spain: GDPR without the headaches

This is the area most local businesses overlook and, at the same time, one of the ones that can lead to the biggest fines. If your website collects any data (a contact form, an email, a booking), you're required to comply with the GDPR and the LSSI. It isn't complicated, but it has to be there.

You don't need to be a lawyer to get it in order, but you do need to include these pages and notices in a visible way, usually linked from the footer. A professional website comes with them as standard.

• Legal notice: identifies the owner of the website (name/company, tax ID, contact details).
• Privacy policy: explains what data you collect, what for, and the user's rights.
• Cookie policy + consent banner: if you use analytics or third-party cookies.
• Consent checkbox on your forms: the user must accept how their data is handled before submitting it.
• Clear text on where the data goes: never collect emails without saying what they're for.

Actionable checklist: does your website have all the parts and requirements?

Use this list to audit your current website or to review a commission before signing it off. If you can tick every point, your website is complete in structure, technology, content and legals. If several are missing, it's probably time to improve or redesign it.

Run through it in this order: the technical side first (with no domain and hosting there's nothing), then the visible structure, then the content and, finally, the legals. It's the same sequence we follow when we build a new website.

New website or redesign? How to decide

If, when you run through the checklist, your website fails in several areas at once (it isn't secure, it doesn't display on mobile, it has no legals, the structure is disorganised), a custom redesign usually works out better than patching it up. A website that's dragging fundamental problems rarely performs well, no matter how many tweaks you make.

If, on the other hand, only one specific point is off (you're missing the SSL, or the images are too heavy, or you don't have a cookie policy), that can be fixed without rebuilding anything, through a maintenance or optimisation job.

The rule of thumb: if the structure and the technical foundation are solid, improve it; if the website is outdated, slow and doesn't convert, consider redesigning on a structure planned from scratch.

• Redesign recommended: the website isn't responsive, it's slow, it doesn't build trust or its essential parts aren't well organised.
• Optimisation/maintenance only: the structure works but one specific technical or legal detail is off.
• Brand-new website from scratch: you don't have an online presence yet, or you're working from a generic template that doesn't represent your business.

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