When you're starting a new business or simply launching your brand online for the first time, there are a lot of options out there as far as website design is concerned.
To save money and quickly gain an online presence, some companies opt to use DIY website builders. While this can be an affordable solution on the front-end, you need to remember that you get what you pay for. Unless you, yourself, have years of experience in website design and development, you probably won't be getting a website that truly functions for your business by going this route.
To save money and quickly gain an online presence, some companies opt to use DIY website builders. While this can be an affordable solution on the front-end, you need to remember that you get what you pay for. Unless you, yourself, have years of experience in website design and development, you probably won't be getting a website that truly functions for your business by going this route.
The truth is, creating a website that is as beautiful as it is functional requires just as much time planning it as it does developing it. Understanding this, we've adjusted our process at New York Ave quite a bit over the past few years and have refined it to dedicate more time to planning.
I'm going to tell you a little bit about our agency's website design and development process and why you, too, should want to work with a boutique that spends as much time planning websites as they do developing them.
Planning With The Customer
When a client first approaches us for website design and development, we spend quite a bit of time getting to know the client. This includes understanding who their customers area, who their competitors are, and what they want to accomplish with the website.
It should be noted that we strongly believe in purposeful design. This means that every page on the website MUST have a purpose; otherwise, it doesn't make the cut. We understand that your visitors are coming to your website for a reason, and if they can't quickly and easily get the information that they need, your website is not working for your business.
Planning With The Team
Once the planning stage with the customer is complete, our website design and development team spends quite a bit to time planning as well. Not only do we take to heart the client's ideas for the website, but we make a number of observations from the research that we conduct in the client's market.
We take these ideas and observations to the whiteboard to sketch the client's story and then turn to the computer to produce wireframe mockups. This allows us, as a team, to bring our observations and ideas to life in a limited format and test the usability of the new website before we develop and design it.
Let me touch on the importance of testing your website for a moment. Your goal should be to make your website as user-friendly as possible so that it will ultimately contribute to your bottom line. Testing to see how your website looks and functions using different browsers and devices can let you know first-hand what your user experience is like. To help make your website a conversion machine, you'll want to test other factors too such as how well CTAs perform, how the page layout is perceived, and how quickly pages take to load.
Website Design And Development
Once we've worked through all of the planning, both with the client and with our team, we're ready to begin the website design and development stage. The valuable information gained from the planning stage such as the client's target audience will help to dictate the website's overall design.
All of the planning that happens at the beginning of this process with our client and our team greatly impacts the development stage as well. At this point, our client has already determined the purpose of each page on the website, and it is our job as the developer to make sure that each page is functional. Just like in the design phase, we like to communicate with our clients during the development stage to confirm that the website will function in the way that it was initially discussed during the planning stage.
As you can see, it's really a learning process to design and develop a website that will truly function for our clients and serve the needs of their business. It requires a lot of planning and some trial and error in order to implement a process that works well for both us and our clients.
Therefore, with all of this being said, when it comes to launching a website for your business, don't put the cart before the horse. If you really want a website that works for your business, planning needs to be a crucial part of the equation. It's human nature to want instant gratification, but careful planning and intentional website design and development will pay off.
I'm going to tell you a little bit about our agency's website design and development process and why you, too, should want to work with a boutique that spends as much time planning websites as they do developing them.
Planning With The Customer
When a client first approaches us for website design and development, we spend quite a bit of time getting to know the client. This includes understanding who their customers area, who their competitors are, and what they want to accomplish with the website.
It should be noted that we strongly believe in purposeful design. This means that every page on the website MUST have a purpose; otherwise, it doesn't make the cut. We understand that your visitors are coming to your website for a reason, and if they can't quickly and easily get the information that they need, your website is not working for your business.
Planning With The Team
Once the planning stage with the customer is complete, our website design and development team spends quite a bit to time planning as well. Not only do we take to heart the client's ideas for the website, but we make a number of observations from the research that we conduct in the client's market.
We take these ideas and observations to the whiteboard to sketch the client's story and then turn to the computer to produce wireframe mockups. This allows us, as a team, to bring our observations and ideas to life in a limited format and test the usability of the new website before we develop and design it.
Let me touch on the importance of testing your website for a moment. Your goal should be to make your website as user-friendly as possible so that it will ultimately contribute to your bottom line. Testing to see how your website looks and functions using different browsers and devices can let you know first-hand what your user experience is like. To help make your website a conversion machine, you'll want to test other factors too such as how well CTAs perform, how the page layout is perceived, and how quickly pages take to load.
Website Design And Development
Once we've worked through all of the planning, both with the client and with our team, we're ready to begin the website design and development stage. The valuable information gained from the planning stage such as the client's target audience will help to dictate the website's overall design.
All of the planning that happens at the beginning of this process with our client and our team greatly impacts the development stage as well. At this point, our client has already determined the purpose of each page on the website, and it is our job as the developer to make sure that each page is functional. Just like in the design phase, we like to communicate with our clients during the development stage to confirm that the website will function in the way that it was initially discussed during the planning stage.
As you can see, it's really a learning process to design and develop a website that will truly function for our clients and serve the needs of their business. It requires a lot of planning and some trial and error in order to implement a process that works well for both us and our clients.
Therefore, with all of this being said, when it comes to launching a website for your business, don't put the cart before the horse. If you really want a website that works for your business, planning needs to be a crucial part of the equation. It's human nature to want instant gratification, but careful planning and intentional website design and development will pay off.