Blueprints
Planning is key when you are about to create a website. One analogy for the importance of planning is to consider the planning stage to be equivalent to creating the blueprints for a house. Without blueprints, any complex problems cause the house to fall, or the website to be unsuccessful. Additionally, having these blueprints helps to ensure the client, designer, and any other team members are on the same page when starting a website.
User-defined
When designing a website, a designers client is the company, but the companies client is the consumer. It is important to consider the consumer when creating website. The consumer is the one who needs to be able to utilize the website in a way that fits their needs. Conducting usability studies or focus groups can help a client and/or a designer discover what the consumer is currently not getting out of a website, and work to resolve that issue. It is common for those involved with creating the website to forget that a consumer may not know as much on the websites topic, may have different questions than you previously assumed, or may even just have a lesser knowledge with how to navigate a website. Each of these, and more, factors needs to be considered as you create a website for not only the client, but the consumer.
Wireframes
Wireframes can be a useful tool for all designers, but especially when working with inexperienced clients. A wire frame is similar to the story board for a movie producer, in the sense that you can draw out the potential website layout (while having components of color, structure, and typography) and give a visual representation before going through the process of actually creating the website. This can help clients visualize the conversations that they have had with the designer, and designers communicate with one another on collaborative projects.