WEBSITE DESIGN PROCESS GUIDE
The website design process is more than just coding. It is easy to get lost in it, that is why we bring you our short guide of 7 simple steps in the website design process.
The web design process often consists of several stages depending on the designer, developer, or company that runs it.
But each process starts with collecting relevant data about the project, followed by design and development, all the way to monitoring.
These are the top 7 steps in the process of website design that we like to discuss with our clients and that we believe every web design and development company should go through:
- 1. Analysis
- 2. Design
- 3. Development
- 4. Optimization
- 5. Testing
- 6. Launching
- 7. Tracking
Request analysis
In the first phase of the website design process, we try to find out as much information as relevant to the project. The first step is the most important. It includes detailed knowledge of the business the website is designed for, your business. We need to know what is the purpose of the website, and what your target audience is. During this phase, we discuss the technical requirements as well. Do you need a CMS system, reservation system, webshop, online payment, extended forms for specific inquiries, etc. Analyzing the obtained data we create a technical specification of the website.
Website design
When designing a website, we use pre-made templates that we additionally modify and adjust with the visual identity of your company. We opted for this way of working because it significantly speeds up the process of web design and reduces its price, but not quality.
We usually offer 3-5 different design styles. When choosing a design style, it is important to consider the website’s target audience. At this stage, we also define the layout of all subpages and add your content to the website (text and images). We certainly strive to satisfy your wishes, and we will give our expert opinion to achieve the best possible user experience.
Website development
Once you have a signed off website design, our web developers will start the process of coding this design into your new website. This will involve making it work on a mobile responsive framework and testing it on a range of different devices and web browsers.
A key element to the design implementation will be fleshing out the sections of the website which haven’t had website mockups made for them.
You will have an opportunity during the full site review phase to provide feedback on these areas and discuss any sections you feel could be fine tuned.
Optimization
It happens that many skip the website optimization phase, so we will try to raise awareness of the importance of this step in the website design and development process. Users search the Internet every day where there are countless websites. Those first few web pages that appear on search engine results (Google, Yahoo. Bing, etc.) usually grab all the attention of users. Wondering how to get to the top of the search? The answer is SEO optimization. Technical SEO optimization involves a series of actions that need to be taken for search engines to better rank a website for relevant keywords. Many details affect the ranking of a website in search and it is certainly important that the website is at least technically SEO optimized, because what is the purpose of a website that no one can find. Therefore, each of our offers includes basic SEO optimization. Our goal is that your customers find you on the Internet!
Testing
Now that the website is ready, testing follows. First of all, we like to know if our design code is up to standard, so we test the entire website in a W3C validator that goes through our HTML code in detail and notifies us of any errors. Then we evaluate the programming code, making sure that we do not have any bugs. SEO optimization is also tested by running a website through a so-called SEO checker (Online SEO checkers). Finally, we do the most common human test, where we carefully check every element on the website, click on everything that can be clicked, send all inquiries, and so on.
Launching
When we are convinced that everything is as we imagined to be, we are ready for the launching phase. On the day of launch, there is no need for additional changes on the website because the final version of your new website has been on our test server for several days. Therefore, on that day, your new website is just transferred to our production server, the domain is redirected and the e-mail messages are synchronized. It takes one to two business days to launch a website online. Why? Because it is a process that involves our physical work, and then the time it takes for internet providers to register the new change. When your website is online we test it one more time, just to be sure everything works.
Tracking
Now that we have launched your website online, our job is done. We are kidding! Our business by no means stops with delivery. We regularly monitor the work of your website. We communicate with you, in case something needs to be changed, upgraded, or repaired. A big job remains on you, or your marketing and sales team to present your website to your current and future clients.
We hope this little website design process guide has helped you. It was a pleasure for us to share our work process with you. If you like the way we work and want to work with us, drop us a message at encomwebdesign@gmail.com
