The first step is to conduct or gather brief industry research. This allows us to know:
- who the major buyer segments are (your audiences)
- the various products and services that are being purchased within the category
- who the major competitors are
- any relevant trends (opportunities and threats)
Please get in touch with us if you’d like us to provide you with an up-to-date research report for your industry.
It may be helpful to also conduct a brief SWOT analysis within the context of the purpose of this project, which will produce a strategy that takes those elements into account, as well as the goals of the organisation which leads is to the next step.
Determine the goals of the website. What specifically do you want the website to achieve and how that will be measured over time as part of the broader marketing strategies. For example, generate leads, sales, to educate etc.
The next step is to gather branding information and assets for the business. Ideally, the brand will be able to provide an updated style guide that will provide all branding, style, look and feel guidance as well as the assets which must be used.
Since competitors have been identified, you may now conduct a review of how what their goals are and how they are accomplishing them. This may involve observing any innovative tools or resources that your potential customers may already have access to from your competitors. Conversely, you may be able to identify any gaps or problems buyers are experiencing which you can fulfil as part of your new build.
Optionally, from this point inwards, creative brainstorming may assist you in ways you can achieve your goals more effectively and efficiently.
Now the website, UX and content structure can be outlined and designed based on all of the above contextual information.
Wireframes are flow charts which indicate the intended user journey and design skeleton of your pages and content. They can be used to gather initial feedback on these important factors, which also indicates what content will be required as well as any necessary functionalities or interactivity.
Once confirmed, copy and media may now be organised and collected while the remainder of the build takes place.
The next stage will involve the visual UI design process of each individual page and section on each, to provide colour and presentation style options. Further feedback and refinement will take place, using fictitious content as needed.
It is also important to design responsive (views for different devices) as well as and desired interactive elements as part of this stage.
As with any design process, it is important for senior marketing team to review the initial work provided by designers so important feedback can be given to keep the project within the parameters of the market requirements. This ensures options are not provided to more stakeholders that should not be on the table in the first place, as well as contextual justifications and rationale for why designs were made the way they were which should be communicated during the presentation of designs to additional stakeholders.
Once feedback has been gathered and the final designs have been officially approved, the web development or other appropriate team members then proceed with the build, ideally once all content has been provided – which can be added and to assist in the refinement of final designs along the way.
Once designs are complete, it is now required to introduce functionality. This may involve forms, chat, navigation, notifications and more.
Testing of all pages, interactivity and functionalities should occur internally once designs are complete, providing any feedback and revision opportunities for the development team.
Depending on whether this project is internal or externally provided, training can be provided to the brand’s internal team on how to manage and refine content (if applicable) at this strategically critical junction of the project. This will allow the project to be presented to them, give them the ability to adjust content themselves if needed, and for the external project team to make any further adjustments that are required of them based on the final feedback received.
Once complete, launch can now be scheduled with any further support or maintenance provided thereafter.
From here, iterations may now take place once enough activity and trends have been identified based on the observed behaviour of or feedback provided by users. A/B testing is optional and may not be required due to the highly strategic and intentional structure, UX and style of the website determined by all earlier elements of this process. Minor improvements such as section order and content editing are still expected based on user analysis insights.
Any major structural, branding or content changes may take place if more advanced sales optimisation and analysis is conducted over time using more robust tools or research processes, however this process serves as a strong basic conversion rate optimisation and optimised design process.
