(inspired by Website Design Process: Step by Step Megan Weeks Design Co)
How It Works – Step by Step
To get started, fill out my contact form, email me or book a free consultation call. After that I’ll either phone you or we’ll meet over Zoom to discuss your project. We’ll cover what you’re looking for: what is the purpose of your website, do you need a brand new website or to redesign an existing website? Are you a DIYer looking for assistance setting up your site or ongoing support as you build your site? Are you moving from Squarespace or Wix to WordPress? Or are you converting your WordPress website to a static site or a Ghost blog? Do you need someone to care for your website by regularly making backups, troubleshooting issues, updating themes and plugins? What’s your budget? Have you worked with a web designer or web developer before?
You’ll either choose one of my packages or I’ll send you a proposal outlining the work we discussed during our call. The proposal will outline what your project is all about, the scope of what your project involves, dates, an estimated cost of the project, a start date and a payment plan. If you’re interested, we’ll have a second call to discuss the proposal in detail.
Once the contract is accepted, payment is received and we’ve agreed on a start date, it’s time to begin! I’ll send you an email with detailed information about what comes next. Depending on the project, I might be sending you a link to your client portal, homework for you to complete, and set up the project in Asana (project management software), so it’s clear what we’re working on together and when everything is due.
We’ll discuss design. I’ll ask you to provide examples of websites you like and tell me what you like about them. I’ll ask about colours, fonts and anything else related to your brand. Depending on whether you’re hiring me to customize an existing theme or design and develop a custom website, we’ll sort out your preferences. If we’re working on a custom design, I’ll create a layout in Figma to give you a picture of what your website will look like. If you need me to write your content, we’ll talk about that too.
I’ll send you layouts of pages I’ve created in Figma or wireframes (drawings that give you an idea of how the website pages might look). If it’s straightforward, I might create rough versions of your website pages and ask you for feedback on whether it’s what you had in mind. I might use software that allows you to make comments about the page design right on the page.
Once I have your feedback, I’ll adjust the page designs. Once they’re approved, I will ask you for your content (logo, text, images, blog content, relevant links etc.) Then the web development phase begins. This usually takes between two and three weeks. The time it takes depends on the number of pages and how much customization is involved.
Your content will be added to a staging site where I’ll turn the designs you approved into reality. During this phase, we’ll have weekly meetings where I’ll show you the site’s progress.
During this next phase, which can take up to two weeks, I will run Quality Assurance checks to make sure your site is ready. This involves verifying links, making sure menus are correct, setting up your favicon and site identity, setting up images for social media sharing, contact form setup and testing, writing error messages and messages for forms, setting up spam protection, testing your site’s speed and performance, performing a technical SEO audit, adding privacy and cookie policies and more. I may ask you to take a look and report anything I’ve missed. Once all the checks are done, it’s time to move your site.
Launch time! Your site is live and it’s time to celebrate. You have free support from me for 30 days. This is when we’ll discuss whether you’re interested in a website care plan. If you’d like to take care of your site on your own, I’ll provide documentation.
