Website Design

Our Website Design Process and Approach

Step 1

Current State Debrief

We will work with your team to understand the evolution of your website and what functionality and design elements work best. This will help us plan and give direction for the new website design. This will include items listed below:

• Reviewing the current sitemap, content value, and which pages are a priority in the new architecture
• Better understanding your target users and what you know about them regarding content expectations
• Reviewing the competition to gain insights into their design and content strategy

Step 2

Design / Code Framework Definition

This is part of the planning phase in which we will find a framework that has the functionality and elements needed to create your new website.  The framework will be chosen based on the following goals:

• Inherent Functionality
• Code Base Efficiency
• Design Efficiency
• Page Builder Used

Making sure your website’s framework runs efficiently, is easy to use, and is flexible enough to integrate additional 3rd party functionality will be key for expanding functionality and building elements that address your user needs.

Step 3

Information Architecture

How your website’s content is structured is not only beneficial to SEO, but it needs to align with your users’ expectations. We will create your website’s information architecture, aligning it with user expectations and search engine value. This includes:

• Extracting and analyzing the content sets
• Organizing/consolidating content sets to align with user behavior and SEO value
• Building an optimized sitemap and site structure that aligns with the expectations of your target audience

Step 4

Design and Development

Once we have the final content set and sitemap finalized, we will start creating the new responsive design that will hold and showcase the content sets. This stage starts with creating a working model to show the basic layout and functionality of the website.

Once the model is completed and approved we will start designing the website. The design process will include the following:

• Creating a design for the website to optimize page structure for users and search engines and help communicate brand values through design
• Website development, testing, and optimizing the code for search engines, mobile devices, and site speed
• Form implementation that allows for integration with CRM systems and the easy capture and collection of lead information

Step 5

Search Engine Optimization

All our designers make it a priority to work with our SEO team to include on-site SEO to ensure the search engines like your newly launched website’s design and content. Prior to adding the new content set to the website, we will optimize it for search engines.  This includes optimizing the following:

• Title Tags, Images, and Content
• On-page Content Hierarchy
• Internal Link Structure and Navigation
• PDF Optimization

Step 6

SEO and User Transition Plan

Having a transition plan in place when redesigning a website is vitally important to ensure the user journey remains uninterrupted and search engines can efficiently and effectively apply value to the new website. Missing this step or poor implementation can cause traffic loss and user satisfaction decline.

Because we’ll be doing the design, coding, and strategy, most of our transition plan will be integrated into those elements.

Step 7

Measurement Strategy

Making sure you can effectively track KPIs, goals, and inform Google that you have a new website, we will work with your team to integrate and setup Google Analytics and Google Search Console into your new site. This will include the following items:

• Goal Definition Session
• Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools Setup
• Reporting Strategy

Step 8

Brand Book

Having a brand book is key to ensuring that whether it’s an email, a brochure, merchandise, or a 10-foot sign, your company’s identity will be consistent across all customer and user touchpoints. Your brand book will include the following:

• The variations of your logo, how to (and not to) use them, and visual examples
• Your brand’s color palette with color values for screens, websites, printed materials, and Pantone printing
• Your brand’s typography and how to use it most effectively in print and online
• Information on secondary graphic elements, iconography, and where and when to use it
• Breakdown of key templated documents like brochures, business cards, and technical briefs
• Examples of proper applications on different materials and merchandise