Excellent web design is more than just the integration of social media buttons or even slick visuals. It involves a website creation process to help every client reach their goals. Here at Salazar Digital, our process of web design includes eight steps.
- Meet with clients to identify goals.
- Taking ideas and samples that the client provides.
- Mockup of the website.
- Staging site set up.
- Actual web design.
- Website optimization
- Testing and revisions.
- Publishing the website.
Following the process of web design helps us achieve a harmonious synthesis of elements. Let us look at the eight steps to help every client achieve form and function in their website.
Process Of Web Design #1 – Meet with Client
The first step that Salazar Digital does is to meet and talk to our clients. This way, we can determine the goals of the new website in fulfilling its purpose. In this initial stage, it is essential to identify the end goal of the website design.
Here are some questions to explore and answer to help us design and build a website.
- Who is your target audience?
- What are the things your audience is expecting to see on your website?
- Is the website for providing information, selling, or entertainment purposes?
- What is the focus of the website? Is it to convey the brand’s core message or interact with its audience?
- If there’s any, what are some of the competitors’ websites?
- How would you like your website to stand out against its competition?
It may sound like the most straightforward step in the entire process of web design, but it is an essential part of any web development process. Without answering these questions, the whole website can go in the wrong direction.
One or more explicitly defined targets or a one-paragraph description of the planned goals can be helpful. It assists every web designer in getting the concept on the right track. Salazar Digital identifies and understands the website’s target demographic to have a good understanding of the market.
Process Of Web Design #2 -Take Ideas and Samples.
After identifying the site’s goals, it is time to provide some ideas and samples for the client. It helps in understanding the web pages and features to include on the site.
This helps also determine the scope of the work that needs to be done. The client may begin with a single target in mind, but sometimes may change while going through samples. It becomes a problem if the client does not have samples or forgets to provide us with information of programs or developments they would like on the website.
Expansions are not a bad thing, but they can lead to more complicated jobs in the future. So it is essential to get ideas and samples while aligning the client’s plan in the future.
Process Of Web Design #3 – Mockup Of The Website
A website mockup is a high-fidelity approximation of how a website would appear in the field of web design. Website mockups integrate the form and logic of a wireframe with the images, textures, and user interface features present in the finished product.
Although a website mockup lacks the transitions and functional features compared to site products, it has simple navigation and interactions. So, the client can have a better idea of how the website would look before publishing.
The mockup website includes the information architecture or the organization of the website’s vital information. The client can also see how a web visitor can interact through the website. Color, typography, images, and other layout are also visible in a mockup design.
Sitemap and wireframe are essential in mockup websites. A well-designed website illustrates the relationships between the different sites and content components. It helps web designers get a better picture of the website’s layout.
Meanwhile, a wireframe acts as a guide for designers to how the final website would look. It may also serve as a source of inspiration for the layout of different components. Creating a website without a sitemap and wireframe is like building a home without a blueprint. Almost all things and designs wouldn’t match and work together.
Process Of Web Design #4 – Staging Site Setup
A staging site is a copy of the live website that you can use to validate updates before publishing them. Staging sites aid in the detection of bugs, ensuring that the live page is not harmed. Many users test updates by installing WordPress locally on their Windows or Mac computers. The web hosting server hosts the staging site. It uses the same server as the live website, so it helps in avoiding errors after publishing the website.
Process Of Web Design #5 – Design
Web design is more than just the layout. It requires content creation like videos, images, and other texts. A well-designed website needs the best visual elements. So, our fifth step in the process of web design is designing.
First, content creation. It refers to making individual web pages with images, videos, or other pieces of content that tell the benefit of your products or services. But there’s more! For every content, headings, and subheadings – it is crucial to keep search engine optimization (SEO) in mind. It helps the entire website to rank on different search engines, like Google or bing.
Great pieces of content can increase web traffic and engagement that can convert into action. But SEO is another topic to understand. So, check out our blog post about content optimization to learn more.
Content inspires readers and motivates them to take the steps required to achieve the site’s objectives. Any piece of material on your website must be written and presented in a specific manner. The interest of visitors is rarely held for long by dull, lifeless, and overlong writing. Web visitors click through to other pages with short, snappy, and intriguing material.
Even if your pages need a lot of text, properly “chunking” it by splitting it up into short paragraphs and supplementing it with visuals will help it maintain a light, entertaining feel.
Process Of Web Design #6 – Optimize The Website
Content also improves a site’s search engine visibility. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is creating and optimizing content to rank higher in search results. Any website’s popularity hinges on the accuracy of the keywords and key phrases.
Some use Google Keyword Planner or other keyword search tools. These tools display the search volume for new target keywords and phrases. So, it allows you to focus on what real people are looking for on the internet.
Your content plans can get more sophisticated as search engines get more intelligent. Google Trends is also helpful in finding search keywords that users already use. But what’s more important is to look for keywords that your target audience would possibly type in search engines.
If you are into the furniture industry, you want your website to show on the first page of Google when someone in your target area types in “furniture for sale near me.” After searching for keywords, make sure to apply them in your H1 tags, meta description, and body content.
It is also essential to provide well-written and informative content. Input your keywords, but never lose their quality just because you want to insert a specific keyword. This process is crucial to make your website easier to find.
Process Of Web Design #7 – Testing and Revisions
Now that you’ve created all of your pages and described how they’d appear to site visitors, it’s time to test it. It means your website is ready for testing. This process is essential to identify broken links and other interface problems. Loading speed is another thing to consider.
Testing each page makes sure that all links are working and loads appropriately on all devices and browsers. A tiny error may result in a lost potential client or customer. It can be painful to fix these broken links and interface problems, but it is better to make revisions now than when your web visitors see it in public.
Process Of Web Design #8 – Publish
Now that you’ve got everything right, it is time to publish your website!
It’s time to prepare and conduct the web launch until everything is in order. It should require both pacing and coordination plans for the launch. Ask yourself when you will publish and how will you inform the rest of the world?
Conclusion
The process of web design is all about finding the right balance between form and function. How you design your website affects the credibility of your brand. So, use the right fonts, colors, and themes. The way how web visitors navigate and experience your site is essential as well.
If you are not sure where and how to begin designing your website for your business in San Jose, look for skilled web designers in the Bay Area to help you. Salazar Digital can help you create a well-designed website based on the processes we have mentioned. Feel free to contact us if you have any inquiries about our process of web design.
SBZD MARKETING
3165 Olin Ave Suite #11, San Jose, CA 95117, USA
408-882-1307
