The first step of the web design process is the design brief. This is when I discover the details of the project. Understanding your company’s goals for the website is essential. The design brief allows me to gather as much information about your company as possible from the basics of what your company actually does right up to your target audience and demographic. It also helps me to learn whether the company has an already established colour scheme and/or visual presence that needs to be incorporated into the new website. In some cases, a new website might be a good chance to start fresh and create a brand new visual identity, whereas in other cases it might be important that some kind of consistency is maintained.

Once enough information has been gathered about your business and creative goals, the next stage is research. The design brief should have given me all that I need about your company, so now it’s time for me to look further at the industry you’re in, the current design trends that might run through that industry and also look at your competitors identity design systems to gain an insight into the effectiveness of various website styles.

Once I have enough research information, the next stage is the build plan. Work out the framework that the website will be built on, how many pages, how the pages are linked together etc. At this point, I find that it helps to visualize the structure by creating a flowchart type graphic. This helps in a few ways as it’s something I can send to you so that you can understand the basics of the site and I also refer back to it throughout the build and design process. Think of it as a ‘bluprint’ of the site.

4. Develop Once the overall structure is worked out, then it’s time to build the site around that structure. This involves adding text, images, creating a colour scheme, adding menus and developing the overall look of the site. I usually start with the landing page or home page as this may have a more visually defining look than the rest of the content pages. The main page really has to stand out and make your visitors want to look further. This may involve anything from sliders and animations to custom artwork, the possibilities are endless, but this is the most important page of the whole site. Once that page is complete, I then move on to the rest of the sites inner pages. Adding content, images, galleries, social interaction etc. This step of the process is the most time consuming, but it’s where the whole sites comes together.

Once I have the look and feel of the site flowing, I like to step away from the project for a while. At this stage, I will invite you to view the site so far and provide me with feedback. This break acts as a time of reflection, a chance to get feedback from you and people around me which enables me to return to the project with a fresh perspective. Designing a website is a very involved process; so gaining insight from an extra pair of eyes (or two) is highly beneficial.

Once the feedback has been received, I can then go ahead with any requested changes. The improved site will then again be presented. It’s important to me to get the website 100% as envisioned, so unlimited changes are not a problem. Once we’re all happy with look and overall design, then it’s time to test, test and test again. The website will be fully cross platform and browser tested which means I will make sure that your sites performs exactly as it should on all the most popular web browsers and on all mobile devices from phones and tablets to laptops and pc’s.

After the testing, I will again invite you to view and test the site. This final review is important so it needs an in depth look. I’ll need you to go through the whole site and make sure you’re happy with every detail. If any part of the site needs refining, now is the time.

Once any details have been ironed out and you’re 100% happy, it’s time to GO LIVE! This would be a good time to invite other people to view your site, have them take a look around and get some feedback. Any further refinement can be done on the fly without any disruption.

The final stage, once the site is live, is to add it to all the major search engines. You’ll probably be wondering, how long will it be before searchers find your site in the search engine results page (SERP). The simple and honest answer is: There is no set time for Google specifically to initially index your site – the time taken can vary based on: Popularity of the site (whether it has any inbound links to it) Whether the content is crawl-able (server responses and content type) Site structure (how pages interlink) It is possible for a site to be crawled/indexed within 4 days to 4 weeks, but it may take longer. The good news is that you can cover the first point by using social media, commenting, guest blogging, and email marketing. Share your site!