My Web Design Process

I have a time tested process for designing and building beautiful, quality websites that produce results. We work together from start to finish, so you get the site that you want, but also the site that’ll do the best job for you. I seek out clients who are passionate and knowledgeable about their business, and who recognize the value of collaboration. No one knows your business better than you, and my job is to take your message and convey it as efficiently as possible to the world. The truly successful sites are those that are created out of a healthy back and forth, utilizing everyone’s input.

Web Design takes both a natural talent for aesthetics and hard-won practice, as well as knowledge about why certain colors make people feel a particular way, how everything from shapes to verbiage alter a user’s perception, and of course the development of it all takes years of experience writing HTML, CSS, Javascript and PHP so that you’re not just putting a website together, you’re crafting a work of art that will get results from both search engines and visitors.

The information below is the typical process for Web Design, but I offer many additional services.

Research

We look at what you’re currently working with – whether it’s an existing website that needs improvement, or if we’re starting from scratch as far as the web goes.

If you’ve got a site, we look at what’s currently working on your site–not just what you and I think might be working, but what’s actually producing clicks, traffic and leads–and build on that. If something isn’t working, we look at how it falls into your strategy. If it’s not important, we get rid of it. The less fluff, the better, allow your visitors to get right to the point.

If it’s mission critical, we look at what’s failing currently and get it fixed.

Design Phase

Initial Questions

After we’ve established what your website will be for (ie, e-commerce, a web app, a blog, etc.), we move onto a few initial questions like “What is the primary goal of your website?” and “What are any other secondary or tertiary goals?”, then move into fun things like company branding, example websites and what you like about them, and what types of content you’ll have on the site.

Web Design

I then go off and create a homepage design for you, in Photoshop, and present it for your critique. You indicate what you like or don’t like, or what you might like to see different, and I make those changes and we repeat the process. Oh, and with my full price packages, I provide unlimited design revisions, so that you’re completely happy with your new website!

Development Phase

Web Development

Largely out of your view, I go off and build your new Web Design using HTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, jQuery, or whatever other tools might be needed. I meticulously code every file to be as optimized for the web, your visitors and SEO (i.e., the search engines) as possible. For the vast majority of sites, I put WordPress behind them as a CMS, so you have control over your site’s content. Then I present to you…

The Beta

The Beta is, for all intents and purposes, your finished website. It’s our design, my code, and WordPress all mixed together like a batch of grandma’s cookies, ready to elevate your business as high into the ranks of Web stardom as your content will take you. During the Beta, you have the opportunity to both review the front end and make certain everything is as we had discussed, that we haven’t missed anything, as well as dive into WordPress to get familiar with how to create, manage and format pages, upload images, create galleries, add YouTube videos, Google Maps, and any custom functionality I’ve built into your website. We walk through exactly how everything works, and if you need any extra help adding or creating content, I offer that service as well.

Testing

Everything above gets us a website that is certain to get you better results with Google, keep your visitors around longer, and gear them toward achieving the goals you want them to complete.

For most purposes, your site is complete. However, for those of you who want to make your website an active part of your business, continuous testing–from your message to the placement of calls to action on your pages–will take your new site from just being great to an amazing part of your business’ strategy as a whole.

Significant testing can be done from $500 – $1000 / month. The longer we do it, the less we may need to do it…and you can even be trained to take the reigns yourself. Typically, we can do meaningful testing over six months. Even if you go no further after those six months, you’ll be quantifiably further along with your business. Let the rewards (and profits!) amass, and down the road when you’re ready to increase them again, well, I’m just an email away.

Support

All the support you can ask for is provided completely free of charge during the Beta process. Even after the site has been handed over to you, I’m always available for questions, to help resolve issues, or to add new functionality down the line as your site and organization grows. Simple questions are usually answered in a day or two and are completely free. More complicated requests–such as those which involve additional development time–do come with an additional charge.