Creating a great website, like making a cake, is a detailed process that requires careful planning, attention to detail, and collaboration between your development team and you. The website is often the first point of contact between a business and its customers, and it’s essential that it makes a positive and lasting impression.
A well-designed website can help a business to build its brand awareness, attract new customers, and establish stable credibility within your industry. In this article, we will discuss the process needed to create a great website for our clients and highlight why it’s so important to get it right.
Keep in mind that the specifics of the process may vary depending on the size and complexity of the project, the client’s needs, and the web development team’s workflow.
Initial Meeting:
The first step in building your website is to meet with you to discuss your needs, goals, and expectations for the site. During this meeting, you will be asked detailed questions to help us to understand your business, target audience, brand, and design/colour scheme preferences.
Proposal and Contract:
After the initial meeting, we will create a proposal outlining the scope of the project, the timeline, and the budget. Once you and your business partners approve the proposal, we will create a contract detailing the terms and conditions of the project. This is not as scary as it sounds. It will list all the things we will do and what we expect from you. Easy.
Content and Site Structure:
With the contract signed, we will work with you to develop the content and site structure. We will create a sitemap to outline the pages and subpages of the site and work with you to develop the content for each page. If you already have the content you wish to use, that is as simple as sending us a file clearly labeled.
Once the content and site structure is finalized, we will create wireframes and mock-ups to provide you with a visual representation of the site’s design and functionality.
Site Development:
With the wireframes and mock-ups approved, you will move on to the development phase. We now incorporate the design and functionality outlined in the mock-ups. Including plugins, security, copy, images, videos, and other media. and site settings.
Launch:
With the site completed and tested, we will launch the site on your domain. We will also configure any necessary integrations, such as Google Analytics or social media accounts.
Initial Training:
After the site is launched, we will provide you with training on how to use WordPress to manage the site’s content, including adding new pages, editing existing content, and installing plugins.
Maintenance and Support:
Finally, we can provide ongoing maintenance and support to ensure that the site remains up-to-date and functions properly. This may include installing updates, resolving issues, adding and providing new content, and providing technical support to the client.
Client Training
Client training is an important part of the website development process. It ensures that our clients can manage their site’s content independently and make updates as needed. Providing comprehensive training can also help to reduce the client’s reliance on the web development team for ongoing support.
Even when we provide the website SEO and Maintenance it’s still a good idea to provide our clients with training. While we are responsible for ongoing maintenance and updates, our clients may still want to make occasional changes to their site’s content or structure. By providing training, we empower our valuable clients to make those changes themselves, rather than having to rely on us for every update.
This can help to build a better working relationship with the client and reduce their overall costs. Additionally, providing training shows our clients that we are invested in their success and are willing to go the extra mile to help them achieve their goals.
I hope this has dispelled any worries you may have had regarding your website build or rebuild.