Some people come to us thinking buying a website is similar to buying a hat or a new rug from the market. They just bring us money and we have a website packed into a box ready to pull out after their credit card processes. But luckily for our clients, we don’t make building a website quite that uninvolved.
So how do we build new website?
It’s simple process really: lots of effort, a little bit of money, and tons of love! Well, I guess research and love could be considered synonyms really. We love research. Ok, here’s the breakdown:
Off to a Great Start
After a client contacts us, from the beginning we start thinking about how we can increase value for that person/business. We send them a list of questions like “tell us more about your brand, “”what is your end goal ” and “what differentiates your business from the rest.” We want to make a website that differs from the competitors websites. If that client doesn’t have competitors (not usual), we still want to make sure the website will make an amazing impression on it’s visitors. And to do that, we need the client to think critically about how they can set apart from the rest.
We also ask a huge list of other questions. It seems daunting at first, and most clients are thinking “I knew a new pair of Nike’s would have been better”, but later they always come around. Since this is the most important part of the process, we try to start people thinking about it even before they pay us. And that (no hidden motives here, we promise) also helps that client know if this is really a process they’re ready for: weeks of answering questions, sending over imagery and content, approving design drafts, and testing the final website—it’s definitely not the kind of thing you want to jump into without warning. But is it worth it? Ask any of our clients who chose 180 for their new website instead of their nephew who wants to do a high school web project. We’re the company you go to when you want high quality, great end results, and (best of all) to actually be proud again to hand out that business card.
The BEST Part: Design
After getting a down-payment (oh yeah, did we forget that in the first section?), and spending time with the client working on their branding – we begin doing research. We get deep into the target audience, trying to put a name and a face on that potential visitor. Sometimes, we’re even targeting a new audience – so it’s essential that we get as much information as possible. One of the best way’s to do this is (you’d never have thought of it) a survey of past contacts. We even do focus groups. Anything to get real life, reliable data that can help us determine the best way to enhance the online branding.
When we actually put together a design draft, it will simply be a snapshot of what the main page and maybe a few interior pages will look like. Nothing fancy here – just a jpeg that we send, inside an online demo, that allows the client to preview their new product. It’s not unusual for their to be some revisions, which is why we’re only showing a jpeg here… it’s much easier to make changes at this point then after the site is built.
Once the client approves a design, we put on the hard hats.
Breaking Ground
This part is boring. To you anyway, to us – this is where we thrive. We’re very intentional to do a lot of research before design about what new technologies are available, how we envision the site to interact, and what we want it to ultimately feel like when it’s live. That allows us to take the design and run.
Sometimes while we’re building the website, we allow the client to have a few last seconds to get that content together (yes, the content they were probably asked to do before design, but we’re not pushy you know). That content will be needed just as soon as the live draft is ready
The BEST BEST part: Going Live
After the draft is ready, we do tons of testing. Good ol’ Internet Explorer gets a monopoly on our attention usually during this phase, but we also test in all the other current browsers.
After all the content is uploaded, scanned for mistakes, and everything works perfects – we GO LIVE! It’s usually like the first week after buying a new car – they just can’t help but keep looking at it from the kitchen window. We just hope they don’t forget to keep it washed regularly.