A well-designed website is more than aesthetics. The design plays a vital role in attracting customers, branding through text, variations, and encompassing visuals.
The most important thing is all elements of the website design should work towards a defined goal. It can only happen when you take the right approach to the website design process. Here, we have discussed the ideal approach that takes function and form into account.
DiscoverÂ
The primary phase of the website design process is information-gathering. The design agency should understand the client’s business niche, industry, customers, target market, and other important things related to business. Based on the research findings, the agency should suggest the right web design packages to their clients.
Plan
After information-gathering, the next step involves selecting web app design services. Most designers would love to jump to the design task, but you need good planning and research to clarify the objectives you want to achieve. Hence, it would help if you spent time planning the design process. It will save you time and money in the long run. The planning phase also helps the clients know the deadlines and their role in completing the project.
DesignÂ
The look of the website depends on the web design packages you select for website development. In the design stage, website developers create a website wireframe made of widgets, navigation, header, and other web page elements. Most developers use advanced software like Photoshop to bring website wireframes to life.
The design of the website is not only about visual elements. It needs to accommodate the content that you want visitors to notice. Website developers often discuss the overall look of the website with their clients. The discussions are generally centered on the choice of imagery, typography, and colors.
Develop
In this stage, website developers generally focus on writing code for the website design and make it work for your business. The development stage is lengthy, and design agencies keep the clients informed about the progress. Some of the necessary steps of website development are
- Installing WordPress on the testing server or localhost
- Installing a WordPress theme
- Installing a backup plugin
- Creating mockup and using them to make the site live
- Testing and optimize the site
These steps are related to the WordPress website. Building a website from scratch would involve choosing the right platform, web technologies to write code, and build webpages.
LaunchÂ
It refers to making the site live for public viewing. Before launching a website, the developer’s final polish design elements, test features, and interactivity, including every aspect related to user experience.
The launch stage may also include moving your website to a permanent server. It is always good to test the website after moving it to new hosting as servers are known to have different features. You might see an unexpected behavior due to different database host addresses.
The launch stage is not the end of the website design process. The website development work is never finished. Once your site is live, you need to test for new features and rectify any errors that might not have appeared in a production environment.
Maintain
Maintenance of the website is part of the website development that is often ignored. It is the agency’s responsibility to explain to their clients that owning a website is a long-term responsibility. Just like your house or car, the website also needs regular maintenance. Some of the maintenance tasks for the WordPress website include:
- Installing WordPress updates
- Plugin and theme updates
- WordPress security
- WordPress backups
- WordPress hosting
- Reporting and Analytics tracking
The website maintenance also extends to other areas like SEO, adding new content, spam cleanup, and comment replies.
Conclusion
To sum up, following a standard design process would ensure everything goes smoothly. It is essential because you want clients to see value in their website and experience greater satisfaction.
