The Website Design Process

How do we build a website for you? What can you expect during the web design process? What will you need to do to help us build your website?

Developed for over 8 years we found our current process is the easiest to follow and most successful for everyone involved in the website project.

We work together from start to finish, so you get the site that you want, and will work for you and your business. It doesn’t matter how big or small your business is, as long as you are committed to the project we can build a great website for you together. You bring knowledge about your business and industry and we bring the web design, development and online marketing skills to the table.

The Consultation – Stage 1

We have a chat, talk about your ideas and requirements. If we decided to work together on your web design project we can have a face to face meeting if necessary. Usually if it’s just a small project a face to face meeting is not required. We can gather your requirements over the phone, on Skype, via email, using drop box…. it’s saves us time and money that way.

Once we have all the information required, we will provide an estimate. The estimate at this stage will be based solely on what we know at that point in time and is without the benefit of a deeper exploration of your needs.

Analysis and Exploration of Ideas – Stage 2

Once you’re happy with the estimate (and the deposit has been paid), we’ll kick off with the full web design process. We now have time to full delve into your requirements, which allows for better understanding of your requirements. We will investigate your market, your industry, your customers, your competitors, your products, your current branding and any other relevant information that will help with the design.

We’ll present you with any additional costs for ideas and requirements uncovered at this stage and you can either decide to include them in the current phase of the project or not.

Design Concept – Stage 3

We will now create a design concept for your website. This is a flat image of how your home page will look. We may also include other page layouts if necessary.

We will send you a web link or PDF format design for you to view the image and consider if it suits your requirements and business. The content is not usually relevant. We use sample data in most cases.

We allow a few days for you to consider the design, then we’ll have a chat over the telephone and review the initial website design. Typically this stage throws up minor changes and amendments, but never anything major.

Building the website – Stage 4

Once we’ve agreed the overall design direction, we can then begin turning the design into an actual website.

We will use WordPress CMS to build the website. If you are wanting to sell products online we will use OpenCart or Woocommerce plugin for WordPress depending which is best suited.

This is the longest phase so we will also provide a web link for you to watch the website being built and keep you up to date informed about progress.

Training and Content – Stage 5

If you need any training to use your website (if it is built using WordPress or OpenCart), then we can start that once the build is complete.

The website content is crucial and we will have already agreed who is creating that. We can provide an estimate for copy writing service at any point in the process. If you choose to write the website content yourself, we can offer guidance about what works well online.

Please be aware that content is crucial to successful placement in search engines. Your website is unlikely to rank highly on Google for instance if you do not provide adequate amounts of well written content with search engines in mind.

Launching the Website – Stage 6

Once you’re happy, we’ll make the website live. The project might be complete at this point, although we may have identified opportunities earlier which we can begin working on now. Maybe you want more content writing or social media and advertising campaigns, maybe you need some business cards or leaflets, regardless, there is typically other ongoing strategy work which we can do to help your business grow online.

Post launch, we normally offer 30 days, free of charge bug fixes on the website. Please take this time to review your new website and let us know of any issues which might need attention. After that period has lapsed, time is billable and clients can chose a support package which best fits their needs