Information Gathering
For the first step we’ll work together to understand the type of website you want to build, basically laying the foundations for a successful website. The most important task at this point is to get a clear understanding of your future website purposes, the main goals you wish to achieve, and the target audience you want to attract to your site.
Depending on your business type or size, developing a list of goals for your new website can be a simple or in-depth process, but the more detailed we can make these the more effective the results will be. Once decided these goals will be referenced at every stage of the design and build process, leading to a holistic methodology that ensures every element of the design is adding to the overall effectiveness of your site.
The next step is looking at the target audience. You’ll most likely already have a strong idea of this, which will lead us into a discussion on what these people are looking for and what they want to see (what excites them, what impresses them and, ultimately, what makes them click that ‘Buy’ or ‘Contact’ button!). This information will inform not only the content and SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) but also the whole website! We’ll design the website through their eyes, in the end what you or I see as good design is irrelevant! It’s all about impressing the potential customer, and leading them on a journey that finishes with the website achieving its goal, be that making a sale, developing a lead or building the correct awareness of your brand.
And finally we’ll concentrate on your content, this will inform the structure of the website. It’s good to get this sorted as early as possible, this will help build a well-structured website that allows users to easily navigate through the process, while also showcasing your USPs that are relevant to the user’s needs. From this information we can put together a sitemap and wireframe mockup to use as a base model for the site
Concept Design
This is where things start to take shape. The initial step is to decide on fonts, colours and image or graphic style. You may already have brand guidelines in which case we can review these to see how we can maximise your branding on the site. If you don’t we can discuss options and create website design guidelines to inform the design process.
Once decided we’ll move on to creating concepts for the home or landing page. This is an iterative process in which we listen to your needs, requirements and taste and keep improving the design until we hit the gold standard. Once you’re happy with this we’ll move onto producing designs for all other pages.
The concept design process also includes versions for bespoke mobile and tablet versions of all pages. Starting work on this at an early stage allows for a highly responsive website that looks beautiful on all types and sizes of screen. Building pages for secondary devices should never be an afterthought!
The whole concept design phase is a back-and-forth process, allowing you to have a say in every design aspect, if you wish. This allows for a natural evolution of the design, which in turn will ensure every aspect of the design is as strong as it can be. No website building or coding can start until you’re 100% sure we have the perfect design.
Content Copywriting
For some of our Clients this can be the hardest stage of the process, but in many ways it’s just as vital as any other. The copywriting should be started concurrently with the concept design stage to ensure a smooth and efficient project timeline. If you’re struggling with the content, or are short on time, we can offer Copywriting Services to ensure the copy is as engaging and effective as the rest of the website. Or alternatively we can also offer a review process to help you make sure your copy ticks all the boxes we discussed in the Information Gathering stage.
Hosting and Domain Name Registration
Buying your domain name is an exciting process and can really start the ball rolling. And when it comes to hosting your website (this is basically where on the internet your website is saved) you may already have a hosting plan set up from a previous website or you might prefer to organize these recurring payments yourself. In any case we’re more than happy to work on your choice of hosting platform, we’ve experience with working with all the main players in this field and will be happy to help or advise where needed.
However, we also provide our own lightning-fast hosting services that provide a high level of security and stability to ensure your email and website never goes down. And, in the very unlikely event that it does go down we monitor our servers 24/7 to ensure things are fixed and back up and running ASAP. If you’d like to know more feel free to drop us an email.
If you’d like to know more about setting up a domain or hosting then you’re in luck! We’ve also written an article dedicated to just that. You can read that here.
Building
Right, we’ve got the content, the structure, the navigation and the designs all ready to go… Let’s get building! Carlito.Design will now begin the process of building and coding. We’ve over 15 years’ experience of building websites and are happy to build your website on your platform of choice. We know you’ll be as excited as us so will keep you updated with progress and provide milestones and send you links to completed pages so you’re confident things are going to plan and timescale.
If your website has ecommerce utilities this is where we’d need your product details and photography. Or if you prefer, we can set up the tools for product additions and provide you with a tutorial run-through so you can start adding your products yourself.
Testing, Review and Launch
We’re nearly there now, but before we go live we need to do some testing. At our end we’ll thoroughly test every page on mobile, tablet, laptop and desktop monitors to make sure they all work perfectly, no matter the size or orientation of the screen. We’ll also test any ecommerce tools, contact forms, links or subscription protocols to make sure you never miss out on any sales or leads.
Once this is completed, we’ll ask you to run through the site to see if there’s any changes you’d like made. We’d also recommend doing some user tests to see if people outside of the project have any difficulties or suggestions which we can fix or implement. If helpful we can also provide this service for you.
Once the testing is complete and any changes have been made the website is ready to launch! We can also help with advice or designs for marketing material to help promote your new site.
Maintenance
Your website is live and it’s going great, but it doesn’t end there. A website is like an organism, it needs to be maintained, fed and encouraged to grow and prosper! That’s why we offer a maintenance service to help you keep your site in full health. We continuously check the site to make sure all code, external links and plugins are up to date to help with security and provide your users with the best service possible. We also regularly create backups and are available to make any content changes as soon as you think of them.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve found this article helpful and hopefully the idea of building a website doesn’t seem so daunting now. Every stage of the process is as important as the last, and at Carlito.Design we treat them as such. If you have any questions feel free to drop us an email or if you think you’re ready to take your website to the next level let us know and we will be more than happy to discuss your requirements and put a competitive quote together for you.
Thanks for reading.
Carlos.
