6: Build a customer-centric website
Plan your website. Fully define a plan for every page, panel and feature on the website, with documents kept together for each section or page, including the copy and plan for that piece. Add all copy to the wireframes, as well as detailed design and technical notes and use this information to communicate your vision for every aspect of the website.
Keep reworking and revising all wireframes and copy documents until everything is complete. You might, for example, want to wait until the website is fully planned before commissioning new photos, as you’ll have greater clarity on the specific images required. Don’t proceed beyond this stage until all stakeholders are on board.
Design the website. Each webpage template is designed following the defined visual style and wireframes and working with the image bank. A simple site might need 6 to 10 templates, a larger site might require 10 to 30.
All templates are reviewed and polished until every aspect is on-brand, perfectly illuminating each element of the communications. The design team will define how pages and elements are to load, move and interact. With all stages approved by the stakeholders, requests for amendments should be minor.
Coding the website. With the website templates, design and technical specifications in place, the web development or engineering team can build the website. If everything is fully defined and prepared before handover, then little interaction is required until the website is fully built.
A complete, as-planned, fully tested, responsive website should emerge in 4 to 10 weeks, depending on the scale of the site and the size of the development team.
Backed by the thorough approach set out in stages 4 – 6, you can expect your website to be a dynamic, 24/7 business development engine that generates a steady flow of right-fit opportunities.