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Creating your very first website, or launching fresh new web design, can be a daunting prospect. We’ve put together the ultimate cheat sheet on the web design process to help guide your business’ growth. It’s vital you have some form of checklist to guide you through the exciting journey of web design! Either follow ours here, or print this page off to make notes along the way.
Before You Begin The Web Design Process
If you are thinking of updating your website (or creating a new one), first ask yourselves these questions.
Why do I need this?
First thing’s first, why are you considering a new website?
What is wrong with my current website?
More specifically, what is your website not doing now, that it could do with a new design?
What are my business goals?
Will a new website help you achieve your business goals?
How do my customers find me?
Is spending time and money on a new website going to make it easier for my customers to find me (hint, for 99% of people – the answer will be yes)?
What is my budget?
Before you reach out to a marketing or web design agency, you should calculate how much budget you have to put towards your new website. That way the agency can propose a level of work that won’t blow your budget.
Finding Someone To Create Your Website
Once you’ve got your answers for those questions it’s time to track down a web design expert. As we’ve mentioned before, creating a website is a very involved process so whoever you chose to work with on your new website, must be a good match for you. You should see them as a partner rather than a vendor.
- Ask for recommendations from friends, colleagues and family. If you have any, make a note of them here.
- Turn to Google (or your favourite search engine). Have a look at the websites of all of the results and ads you get shown.
- What traits do you want in a marketing or web design agency? Write them down and then revisit the websites of the agencies you want to work with to see if they have those traits.
- Reach out to your top options to get a quote and arrange a meeting. Before you meet with them, think of what you want to ask them in order to help you make your decision.
Once you are ready to make your decision of who to work with, be sure to thoroughly read through your agreement with that person or agency so you know exactly what work they will be creating for you. You may find there are other things you want to to add into the contract too. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. This is especially important if it is your first time working with a marketing or web design agency. The more thorough you are with checking the contract, the smoother the whole process will be.
The Website Build
Now you understand why you need a new website, and who you are going to work on it with, you are ready to begin the web design process. We have gone over our web design process in our previous blog in nine easy-to-understand steps. Whichever web design agency you chose to work with should have a detailed process that they can go over with you.
After Launch
Congratulations, your new website has now launched!
Did you think you were done? Oh no! Once a website has launched, there is still plenty more to think about. Especially if you chose to work with a marketing agency on your website. In the first few weeks following your launch, it’s important to monitor daily traffic to ensure nothing is going wrong. To get the most out of your new website, you should consider ongoing marketing and maintenance tasks too. First, let’s go through some more questions about your business.
Website Updates
Is there anyone at your organisation with the ability to run website updates?
If not, you may want to consider choosing to work with a company who can continue to run updates for you after your website has launched. As time goes on, and your website traffic increases, there are standard updates that may be required to ensure your website performs at its best.
SEO
Is there anyone at your organization with the capacity and ability to update and write new content for your website?
Monitoring the customer journey, redirects and SEO is vital in the days following the launch but there is more to think about longer term too. If you chose to work with a marketing and web design agency on your new website, they will have explained the importance of SEO copy but, SEO is an ongoing job. Regularly updating copy on your website helps search engines recognize your website is being kept up-to-date and would therefore be a good website to present to people on a results page. Having an SEO expert on side can do your website the world of good so if you see your new website as a long term investment, we certainly recommend ongoing SEO support.
PPC
Is there anyone at your organization with a Google AdWords qualification?
Or should we say, an up-to-date qualification? You can test your own AdWords knowledge here. PPC advertising is another way of getting your website seen by the right people. If you want to make sure all of the work and time that has been spent on your new website doesn’t go to waste, consider working with a marketing agency on ongoing PPC support. P.S stay tuned, as next month, we’ll be talking lots more on the power of PPC advertising.
Social Media
Is there anyone at your organization with the capacity and knowledge to run your social media channels?
And we don’t just mean posting the occasional photo. At Cucumber Marketing, we believe the future of marketing is branding and part of any branding and marketing strategy, should be a social media campaign. Social media is great for building awareness, running ads to bring people to your website, and getting feedback from potential and existing customers. If you haven’t been seeing results from running your social media channels in house, perhaps it is time to consider working with an agency on developing those channels.
Woah! So, that’s a lot to think about! But as our web design month comes to an end at Cucumber Marketing, we wanted to make sure you had all the information you needed to make your next website flourish. If you would like to find out how we can help you with your new website, or have more questions now that before you began reading this, call us, send us a message, or stop by our marketing and web design agency in Downtown Vancouver – we always have chocolate!