Your business website is your digital storefront to convert virtual traffic into customers and loyal fans. It needs to both look great and also be designed in a functional way to lead visitors to the desired end goal (“Here is a great offer to help you! Invest in it, please!”). Professional websites bolster consumer confidence and trust, which makes visitors more likely to purchase something from you.
In this week’s blog post, I have outlined my exact, two-week website design process. Whether you are using it to create your own website or wanting to get a better idea of the experience you would have working with me, these steps will walk you through how to level-up your online presence and convert visitors into customers.
Website Design Process
Preliminary Activities:
Before your design week begins, I will start a Trello board for your project. Trello is a project management system used to organize a process seamlessly from beginning to end. In the Trello board will be a list of Brand Discovery Questions. Some of the questions will be:
“Who is your target market?”
“What are three keywords to describe your business?”
“What are a few websites you are attracted to and why?”
These questions are to be completed before your design week to set the process in motion. They will allow us both to gain a clear direction of your vision and end goals.
Week One:
Monday + Tuesday:
Monday morning, we will get on a Zoom call. We will go over all of the Brand Discovery Questions and review what we will include on the website. This call also allows you to ask any questions remaining after the preliminary activities.
I use the remainder of Monday and Tuesday to create a wireframe of the website in Adobe XD. A website wireframe is a simple mockup layout of the website to show you what the website will look like when it is fully designed and brought live.
The first draft of the website wireframe is then emailed to you by the end of the workday on Tuesday. Delivering the wireframe Tuesday night gives you time to look over the initial draft and give me your first round of revision requests by 8 am on Wednesday.
Wednesday:
Wednesday morning, with your revision requests in mind, I begin making edits to your website wireframe. The revised wireframe will be sent to you by the end of the work day to allow for another round of revisions by 8 am Thursday.
Thursday:
Thursday is used to make the second round of revisions to your website. All of the changes will be implemented, leaving you with your beautiful, fully designed wireframe website.
Friday:
I will email you a link to your completed website wireframe. The link will allow you to go through all of the website pages and add your custom copy over the weekend.
Week 2:
Week 2 is dedicated to redesigning the wireframe into a live site format. By the end of this week, your website will be ready to launch for the world to see!
Monday + Tuesday:
Monday and Tuesday are usually workdays for me. I spend these two days developing everything from the front-end visuals to back-end functionalities for your new website. By the end of the day on Tuesday, I will send you a link to view your website. This will give you until 8 am on Wednesday to review your website and submit any first-round revision requests.
Wednesday:
I will review your revision requests and use Wednesday to make all of your desired changes to the website. I also use this time to work on back-end site functionality to ensure it is SEO Optimized and Responsive on all screen sizes. By the end of the day on Wednesday, I will send you a link to your revised website to review and send any final revision requests by 8 am Thursday.
Thursday:
Thursday is used to make any final changes to the website and make sure it is ready to go live. This is also when we will start migrating your website DNS to your domain to be launch-ready on Friday morning.
Friday:
YOUR SITE IS LIVE! WOOHOO!! On Friday, your site will be ready to go live. You do not have to launch it on Friday (some people need more time to finish their copy), but it will be ready when you are. I will help you bring your website live and complete the process by sending you a video of your customized training tutorial showing you exactly how to go back and make edits to your site whenever you please.
There you have it! This two-week website design process will have your online storefront looking spectacular and functioning as a sales-generating machine in no time. Next week’s blog post will feature specific ways to spice up your website design layout and elements to increase conversion rates and build a loyal following. Until then, friends…
Upward and Onward,
Bailey Thibodeaux
Founder of Honeywave Creative
