A well-designed, professional website is essential in effectively marketing your business, no matter what size your organisation. But while we’re all familiar with the finished result, what exactly goes into the all-important web design process? We’ve asked MIH Creative Director Natalie Brown to share her insights into what’s involved in creating the perfect website for your business…

Step One: Gathering Information

The first step in the web design process involves collecting information about your business. It is vital for a web designer to have a comprehensive understanding of the specifics of your organisation to ensure the resulting website is right for your particular needs and objectives.

Before starting on your site, we’ll ask questions such as:

- What is the aim/purpose of the website? What messages do you want it to convey?
- What do you want the website to achieve?
- Who is the target audience of the website and what trigger factors are this demographic likely to respond to?
- What type of content/information do you want to feature on the website?

Step Two: Planning and Site Map Development

Next, we’ll develop a plan for your website based on the information you’ve provided us with, as well as developing a site map. We’ll discuss with you which elements/technologies you want included on your site, offering advice on what we feel will work best.

Your site map outlines each webpage to be included on your website and where it will sit within the site. The site map shows how various topics are connected and will give you an idea of how users will navigate around your website.

Step Three: Designing Your Site

We can now begin designing the look and feel of your website. We’ll craft your site design around the requirements, goals and target audience identified in the information gathering stage, ensuring the design is appropriate to the site’s purpose and objectives. Your site design will be informed by the identity of your company, incorporating elements such as your logo and corporate colour scheme – this will ensure your website is consistent with the rest of your branding and easily recognisable as part of your organisation by your audience.

We’ll usually create a number of design options in order for you to select your preferred design, as well as giving you access to a ‘work in progress’ area of your site so you can get a feel for how it will look and navigate. Your feedback is essential for us to create a website that best suits your business, so we encourage you to share your likes and dislikes at every stage of the design process.

Step Four: Website Development and Testing

This stage involves the programming/coding needed to create the website and its various elements, as well as the loading of content.

Each webpage will be developed and specific technologies, such as ecommerce shopping carts, interactive elements and flash animations, are added and tested for functionality. We’ll then load all the content for your website, ensuring it is added exactly as it appears in the provided format.

During the development stage, we’ll continuously test the site for functionality, making sure that everything works correctly and correcting any problems such as broken links, incorrect coding or cross-browser compatibility issues. Throughout the process, you’ll be able to access the ‘work in progress’ site to keep up-to-date with the developments made to your website.

Step Five: Delivery

Once the entire website has been carefully checked and tested, we’ll ask for your final approval so we can deliver your site. We’ll then upload the website to your server and perform one final run-through to ensure that all files have been uploaded correctly.

Your website is now officially ‘live’!

Step Six: Maintenance

While some clients prefer to update their own website content using a CMS (content management system), we are always happy to continue working with you on the ongoing aspects of your site.

We can work with you to maintain your website, adding new content as and when necessary, making amendments to existing content if required and introducing additional features to your site. Updating your website on a regular basis is important in providing your audience with fresh and relevant material, as well as keeping the information contained on the site up-to-date and reflective of your business.

Website maintenance is often required to introduce new features which you may not have chosen to incorporate at the start of the web design process. For example, you may decide at a later stage to introduce SEO (search engine optimisation) or professional website copywriting to improve your site – we can assist you in implementing these steps and updating your website accordingly.

So there you have it – the MIH web design process revealed. Now we’d like to hear from you on what you think makes a good website – is it the design, the content, the ease-of-use. or something else? Get in touch and share your opinions with the MIH community – leave your comments below.