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One of the most commonly overlooked aspects of building a website is a proper architecture. It's really not anybody's fault it's just that most people want to "see" a design as quick as possible to really solidify their vision. Unfortunately skipping this step is one of the biggest mistakes you or your web developer or web designer can make.
Analogy incoming: Take for instance designing a room of a house. If you begin designing the house before the room is built you're asking for trouble. What if you pick a dark color for the room and it turns out to be a small space. What if you want to put a chair and a bed and a dresser, but there isn't enough space. Starting from architecture is the only reasonable solution.
So... how do we start. Lists are usually good for this:
Step 1: Know your target!
Short and sweet, identify which demographic you wish to target, if you have multiple demographics begin to think about ways to cater to those crowds.
Step 2: Get out your quill and ink.
Determine the content you wish to have on your website. I know this sounds like the last thing you want to think about because it can be daunting creating or gathering all of that information... some of which hasn't been edited for years. But it's critical to gauging the full extent of your web contents reach.
Step 3: Your typical user is not YOU!
Organizing content in a way that's best for your user! Not only your user... but the user that you want to reach, sometimes your most common user isn't the one your targeting. It can be tough to "get into the mind of a target user". You may even need a user study for this one, but your web design team should be able to help you gain a better understanding of your typical, and target demographics.
Step 4: Mock me please!
Test a mock version of your navigation structure before you begin design. Too often designers move on to design without truly knowing the best clickpaths and callouts for the design.
Step 5: Know how you will grow.
Once you have a good idea of how you will lay out your content it can be a good idea to think about how your website may grow. If you start with a topic based navigation, but plan on changing down the road, your archived content will need a place to live... hopefully without changing links, and ruining your search engine rank.
Starting with these 5 steps, your website will be in a much better place for both your users, and future growth. Now you can let the designers loose. Next Topic: Making sure form does not trump function!