What we are building
A nanny agency site with two front doors. A family and a candidate each choose their route in the first screen, then stay inside a set of pages written for them, ending at a form built for them.
This is the build order we use. Done properly it is a day of structure work and a few days of writing, and it changes more than any redesign will.
1. Write the two page lists before touching a design
On paper, two columns.
Family route: how it works, vetting, fees, role types, areas covered, testimonials from families, enquiry form.
Candidate route: roles or role types, what we look for, how registration works, what we offer, testimonials from nannies, registration form.
Shared: home, about and team, contact, privacy, blog.
Anything that will not sit clearly in one of the three columns probably does not need to exist.
2. Design the first screen around one question
The top of the home page holds two blocks, side by side on a laptop, stacked on a phone. Each has a heading in the visitor's own words, one line underneath, and a button.
"Looking for a nanny" and "Looking for a nanny role" beats anything cleverer. Keep both blocks visually equal, because making one dominant sends the other audience away.
Above them, one short line saying who you are and where you operate. Below them, the short version of your vetting sequence, because that is what a family scrolls for next.
3. Split the navigation
The header carries the two routes as top-level items, each opening its own short menu. A visitor should be able to tell which side of the site they are on from any page.
The footer carries both routes as separate columns with their own enquiry links. Do not fall back to a single Contact link in the footer, because that is where a well built split usually leaks.
4. Write the family route in its own voice
Reassurance and detail. What happens, in what order, by when.
The vetting page is the centre of this route: application screening, identity, right to work, references taken up and spoken to, background checking named accurately for where you operate, qualifications and paediatric first aid, interview, and what you can show a family and when. Describe it as your agency's process and point families to the relevant official body for anything regulatory, rather than making legal claims on their behalf.
Fees sit next to it. Basis of the placement fee, what is included, replacement terms, how temporary differs from permanent. Hold the fee lines as editable records so you change them yourself.
5. Write the candidate route in its own voice
Practical and quick. What roles you place, what you look for, what registration involves, how long it takes, what happens after they register and when they will hear from someone.
Be specific about what a candidate should have ready. A CV, availability, two referees with contact details, qualification and first aid dates. A candidate who arrives prepared registers in five minutes and remembers you.
6. Build the two forms as separate things
Family enquiry: role type asked second so conditional sections can do their work, then children and ages, hours and days, location, start date, budget band, household notes, contact details and preference. Two steps with a progress indicator.
Candidate registration: CV upload, availability, areas, age groups, qualifications, paediatric first aid, driving, right-to-work position asked neutrally, referees offered.
Neither form takes identity documents, visas or certificate scans. Those are collected at registration through whatever secure route your agency uses, and the form says so in one line.
7. Wire both into the CRM
Post each form into your recruitment CRM or applicant tracking system as its own record type, assigned to the right consultant or queue. Confirm the integration method with your vendor first, since it differs by product and plan. If you are not on a CRM yet, at minimum send each to a separate mailbox with a separate reply routine, and agree a retention habit on day one.
8. Add scheduling behind the enquiry, not in front of it
Once an enquiry is qualified, a consultation or interview can be booked with Calendly or Acuity, embedded on a thank-you page or sent in the follow-up email. Keep it behind the form. A family who is asked to pick a time before they have described the role usually picks nothing.
9. Confirm, and state a reply window
On-screen confirmation and an email for both routes, each saying what happens next and roughly when. Put the reply window on the form page itself. One working day for families is a promise worth making only if you keep it, and a promise kept is most of what separates you from the agency the family enquired with at the same time.
10. Track the two routes separately
Set up family enquiry and candidate registration as distinct events, and look at which pages precede each. Within a month you will know whether the split is working and which role-type pages actually bring families. That ends the annual argument about the home page.
11. Test both routes on a phone
Wifi off, from cold. Run the family journey to submission, then the candidate journey including the CV upload. Then do both again inside the Instagram in-app browser, where uploads and embedded forms fail quietly and nobody tells you.
12. Set a review date
Twice a year, reread the fees, the role types and the vetting page, and confirm the wording still matches how the agency actually works. Held as records, that is a half-hour job rather than a developer ticket.
Where this sits
Two routes from the first screen, each with its own pages, voice and form, is the foundation of a nanny and au pair agency website as we build it, and the same structure work runs through our other childcare and family websites. What each package includes is on pricing. Build the split once and every page after it gets easier to write.