Our websites are created after careful planning and consideration to ensure our designs fulfil your company’s needs and deliver your message effectively.
This week we’ve shared how we go about doing this, from the initial meeting to the final launch of your website. So, let us begin with the first stage of our process.
Stage One – Research, Planning & Architecture
Initially, we want to get to know you and your business as well as we can so we’ll meet with you and ask you a lot of questions.
We want to determine what your business goals/aims are, who are your target customers and ideal users and how a website can help you achieve your goals.
This information gathering will help us identify on the requirements of your company’s and decide on what features would be required or desired. We’ll establish the purpose of your company’s website, whether its to promote a service, sell products, share information or all of these.
The next stage of the process is to design your website’s architecture by considering the structure of the content and navigation. We want to maximise your users’ experience so we’ll take in how a user will interact with your website and how to make it efficient at performing tasks. At this point we’ll create a content audit and navigational structure that allows you to see how your website will be used.
Stage Two – Visual Design Concept
The next stage of the process is for our designers to create the artwork for your website.
We’ll begin by brainstorming ideas and discussing themes, colour schemes and any particular requirements for the design. We want to create a strong corporate identity for your company so often we’ll design around your brand.
All good designs originate as designs on paper. We’ll sketch out ideas and note how the website will function, as our aim to create a great user interface with usability in mind. From our chosen paper prototype, we’ll begin designing the artwork in Photoshop.
We’ll get your feedback about the initial designs and ensure they tie in with your needs and desires. We’ll make changes to the artwork to suit you and when you’re happy with the final design we’ll move on the next stage of the process.
Stage Three – Page Coding
It’s now time to build your website. We’ll begin with the front-end development, turning your visual mock-ups into the actual, functioning website.
We use valid XHTML & CSS to display the elements of your website, then use a range of programming languages including Javascript, JQuery and PHP to give your website added functionality.
We’ll begin by creating the home page of your website, to give you a flavour of how the completed project will look and feel. We’ll then create our template page that will contain the main navigational structure of your website. This will allow us to distribute your content throughout the website and add interactive elements, including call-to-actions and web forms.
Stage Four – Content Management System Integration
If required, we can implement content management into your website so that clients are free to manage their own website content. Our system can be rolled out quickly and can be adapted to suit your development needs, whether it’s a content management system (CMS), e–commerce system, or a custom application specific to your business model. So if you simply want to edit existing content, or you’d like to create new content or a new page, we can accomodate you! Alternatively, you can give us full control over your website and we’ll handle the maintenance for you.
Stage Five – Content Editing & Input
Your new website should meet of your business needs and promote your business with high quality content, as well as great functionality and aesthetics. We’ll guide you on what content your website should include and give you our input and if desired, help create some of your content.
Stage Six- SEO & Stats Analysis Software
We know how important it is to have good Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). That’s why we have various different stages of the SEO process laid out, to ensure that we can achieve the best search result rankings for your site.
We’ll conduct some research into what keywords users commonly search for to find your website or similar sites, then implement this to improve your website’s search engine result rankings. Key things such as the Heading Tags, Meta Description, Alt tags and Title tags which are used will be structured so that the main keywords in the content provided will be represented.
We can also run some analytic software on your website to gather statistics on the use of your website, which will give us feedback about your users and help us make improvements to your site.
Stage Seven – Testing & Launch
The final stage of our design and development process is to ensure everything is accurate and functions efficiently. We test our websites throughout the design process to ensure it looks the way it should on a range of screen sizes and in various browser (including Internet Explorer). We’ll make final tweaks at this stage to ensure our client is fully satisfied with the outcome.
It is then time for the website to go live so the world can view the final product, so an official launch will take place.
The process doesn’t end there though. We’ll help you promote your new website using a range of marketing strategies, including email marketing and social media. We’ll also be ready to keep your website updated and always be on-hand to deal with your online needs.